APPRAISAL OF THE VARIOUS SPECIES 



335 



gave every indication of associating the flushing of a grouse with the possibility of finding a 

 clutch of eggs. After attempting unsuccessfully to catch her it returned and deliberately 

 sniffed the base of one tree after another until it located the nest. In fact seven nests were 

 believed to have been destroyed in one 200-acre wood lot by this same fox. 



Foxes have the habit of taking several eggs from a nest but leaving the remainder. Some- 

 times they return, sometimes not. In fact, they have been known to leave a few even after 

 the second visit. Losses of this type have been very small. 



Next comes the weasel, including both the New York and Bonaparte. Over most of the State 

 the latter is the more common. Although it would appear from the table that the skunk might 

 rank second, analyses of the available evidence indicates otherwise since a large proportion 

 of the records listed as "fox or weasel" in actuality were the work of the latter. In no case 

 did the evidence point to the mink but this certainly does not suggest that this animal would 

 refrain from plundering a grouse nest if it found one. 



Regarding the hawks and owls they of course are not egg-eaters. Yet they now and then 

 cause nest failure by killing the female bird. Similarly the pheasant sometimes lays its eggs 

 in a grouse nest and when they hatch first the deceived hen sets out with the foster brood 

 leaving her own to die. 



Occasionally a nest has been found when the eggs had all been removed and buried intact 

 nearby, either under the debris of the woods door or down a hole in the ground. Apjiarently 

 chipmunks or mice have been responsible. Similar activities of these rodents have been 

 noted by King"° and Gross*. 



Brood Period 



As has been pointed out analysis of predation among grouse broods has been a most difiB- 

 cult problem. Undoubtedly young chicks often fall prey to predators. But they are either 

 devoured "hide, hair and all" or the remains are so quickly obliterated that the most intensive 

 field work has failed to reveal them. A great many are thoroughly sound healthy birds. On the 

 other hand there is considerable evidence that the bulk of these early losses is fundamentally 

 the result of something other than predation^. 



TABLE 41. PREDATORS CONSIDEHKI) RESPONSIBLE FOR DEAD GROUSE CHICKS FOUND 

 ON CONNECTICUT HILL AND ADIRONDACK STUDY AREAS— 1930-1942 



Mortality during the latter two-thirds of the summer, however, seems more directly asso- 

 ciated with this factor. At this time also remains begin to be found. In table 41 are pre- 



* GroBS. L. S., Circular Letter, U. S. Forest Service, Allegheny National Foresi, June 15, 1936. 

 A See discussion of Role of Predation During Brood Period, p. 316. 



