78 The Ruffed Grouse 



ency is very much more pronounced with the broods, however. 

 When the figures are corrected to a per acre basis, these two types 

 prove to be far more intensively used than all others. Correspond- 

 ingly, the use made of the woodland types is much lower than for 

 adults. 



The cover used by broods may be divided into two types of major 

 significance, brushy cover and woodland. Differentiation in use of 

 the several woodland types is of little significance. The greater pref- 

 erence for overgrown land as compared with slashings is of consid- 

 erable significance. It is one of the major explanations of the greater 

 grouse-carrving capacity of separated coverts as compared with 

 continuous forest cover. The extensive forest has very little of this 

 overgrown border cover, and the only approach that the forest has 

 in this direction is their slashings and the occasional alder runs along 

 stream courses. The need of brushy cover for broods also poses one 

 of the biggest problems in grouse management,— and offers one of 

 the biggest opportunities for raising the carrying capacity in many 

 coverts. 



A more detailed analysis of cover used by broods brings to hght 

 further interesting trends, all of them consistent with the principle 

 that hardwood bushy cover is best for broods. Of the overgrown 

 land subtypes, that which contains a high proportion of young coni- 

 fers is used less, the mixed hardwoods and pure stands of popple 

 prove to be used more than the type as a whole. Likewise, hardwood 

 woods that have been "spot-lumbered" have a use rating nearly 

 double that for the entire type group. As would be expected, the 

 younger woodland stands are much more used by broods than are 

 the mature woods. In hardwoods the comparison is about four to 

 one for stands under twelve inches d.b.h. compared to older stands, 

 while in mixed woods the use intensity for the younger stands is over 

 twice that for mature woods. 



Corollary to the predominant use of the brushy types by broods 

 is the relation between the location of edges of brushy or open land 

 for the broods that are actually found within woodland types. Most 

 of them are found within fifty feet of such an edge and records of 

 broods over a hundred feet from an edge definitely are unusual. 

 Thus the interspersion of the more open types is of the greatest 

 importance in determining the productivity of the range. 



The changes in cover type use by broods from birth to the time 



