Food and Water 105 



WINTER FOODS 



Insects are a negligible item of food during the winter months. 

 The greatest proportion of winter food consists of buds and twigs, 

 with fruits and mast taken as available, and a surprising amount of 

 green leaves taken, considering the general difficulty in finding ex- 

 posed ground vegetation. In the region from mid-Pennsylvania, 

 northward, the buds of cherry, birch, apple, and popple are abun- 

 dantly used, with those of hophombeam vying with them in impor- 

 tance in New York. Fruits of dogwoods, apple, and grape are very 

 important foods throughout the Northeast, while those of greenbriar, 

 acorns, and laurel leaves are among the most important items of diet 

 from Pennsylvania southward. Others indicated as of considerable 

 importance by the leading food studies are the leaves of ferns, Can- 

 ada mayflower, strawberry, sheep sorrel, and partridgeberry; fruits 

 or seeds of sumac, rose, partridgeberry, hawthorn, and winter- 

 green; and buds of maple, blueberry, and blue beech. Beechnuts are 

 used intensively when available but have not amounted to a primary 

 item in any recent analysis (see under relation of food to cover 

 types ) . 



Taking the Northeast as a whole, the records show that from 

 forty-seven to sixty-four per cent of the winter food normally comes 

 from plants of twelve genera that average two per cent or more each 

 in total volume of food taken. 



The remainder is derived from plants of a large number of genera. 

 In each individual study from ten to all twelve of these genera were 

 recorded in significant quantities, and from six to nine were found to 

 compose two per cent or more of the total food. These twelve genera 

 and their contribution to the winter food are summarized in Table 3. 



SPRING FOODS 



Actual analyses of spring-collected grouse are confined to those 

 made by the New York investigation and a scattering from the rec- 

 ords of Smyth, Judd, and others. It is, therefore, necessary to inter- 

 pret somewhat our knowledge of foods palatable and food available 

 in order to present a broad summary of the birds' diet at this time 

 of year for the whole Northeast. There is a gradual transition from 

 staple bud and twig foods available all wdnter, regardless of snow. 



