116 The Ruffed Grouse 



Parts used: Mainly the fruits altliough buds are taken to a sUght 

 degree. 



Geographical importance: Dogwoods are an important fall grouse 

 food throughout the region. C. canadensis is primarily important in 

 the northern portions of New England and New York, C. paniculata 

 from Pennsylvania northward. C. florida is important both in fall 

 and winter from southern New England to Pennsylvania and Ohio 

 southward. The Virginia dogwood records of Nelson et al. (1938), 

 even if entirely C. florida, are low in volume although considerable 

 in rate of incidence. However, many of Smyth's winter records 

 were from Virginia and showed a high incidence of flowering dog- 

 wood, which indicates that the species is used where available. 

 Gilfillan and Bezdek ( 1944) found flowering dogwood fruits favored 

 highly in Ohio. 



The dogwoods vary widely in type of plant and in their position 

 in the habitat. Bunchberry is a small, almost herbaceous plant 

 found in the ground cover of northern woodlands, usually in associa- 

 tion with hemlock or spruce. Silky cornel and red osier (see Plate 

 23D ) are medium-sized shrubs usually found on open streambanks 

 or in damp swales. Gray dogwood, roundleaved dogwood and 

 roughleaf cornel are medium-sized shrubs usually located in dry 

 or well-drained thickets in old fields or along woodland borders. 

 Flowering dogwood (see Plate 23C) and blue cornel are large 

 shrubs or small trees found in the woodland understory, mainly along 

 the edges. 



The fruits of the dogwoods are eaten by many other birds includ- 

 ing the quail, ring-necked pheasant, wild turkey, and numerous song 

 birds, and by Virginia deer, gray fox, beaver, cottontail rabbit, 

 eastern chipmunk, and gray squirrel. Since the available dogwood 

 fruits are to a considerable extent exhausted each season, these ani- 

 mals compete with the grouse for this food. This competition may 

 cause the grouse to shift to a greater proportion of less palatable 

 foods, but is rarely an important factor in maintaining grouse 

 numbers. 



Chemical composition: Gray dogwood fruit: water-3.6 per cent; 

 protein-10.1 per cent; fat-18.8 per cent; nitrogen-free extract-30.0 

 per cent; fiber-34.8 per cent; ash-2.8 per cent (Hosley, 1938). 



