142 The Ruffed Grouse 



but pale jewelweed also probably is used. It is listed as tenth in 

 importance as a summer food producer for both adults and young 

 (IV. Y. S. Cons. Dept. Ann. Rep. 1937). Darrow found that jewel- 

 weed products composed one per cent of the food of the chicks in 

 the Adirondacks, two-tenths of one per cent in the Catskills, and 

 one and nine-tenths per cent in the remainder of the state. In New 

 Hampshire, MacGregor found this food to rank second from mid- 

 June to mid- July (five and six-tenths per cent), second also during 

 August and September (five and eight-tenths per cent), then drop- 

 ping to a mere trace in fall. 



Minnie-bush (Menziesa pilosa): The buds furnished one and 

 three-tenths per cent of the November-December food in Virginia 

 ( Nelson ) . 



Bishop's cap ( Mitella diphylla ) : The leaves are taken in the fall, 

 and to a small extent in the winter from New England to Pennsyl- 

 vania. Smyth found them to comprise six and two-tenths per cent of 

 the October food and seven and three-tenths per cent of the Novem- 

 ber food in the Northeast. 



Bayberry (Myrica): The fruits of two species, M. carolinensis 

 (see Plate SOB) and M. cerifera, and tlie buds of sweet fern (M. 

 asplenifolia) are used during the fall and winter. M. carolinensis is 

 the only one of much importance to grouse. It contributed one and 

 two-tenths per cent of tlie fall food in New England ( Gross ) . Hosley 

 recorded bayberries as comprising one and two-tenths per cent of 

 the fall and winter food in Massachusetts, four and three-tenths per 

 cent in Rhode Island, and four and five-tenths per cent in Connecti- 

 cut. In grouse range near the seacoast they become a primary food 

 from Maine southward to Connecticut, and are used to a lesser ex- 

 tent in New York and Pennsylvania. 



Black gum (Nyssa sylvatica): The fruit, leaves, and buds are 

 taken during fall and winter from Maine to Virginia, but not usually 

 in very significant amounts. In Pennsylvania, Hosley records one and 

 one-tenth per cent of black gum seeds; all other records show less 

 than one per cent. 



Sorrel (Oxalis) : Leaves of at least three species of sorrel are taken 

 during fall, wdnter, and spring. This foliage ranked eighth in the 

 spring food records in the Adirondacks of New York (Darrow). 

 Smyth recorded it as totaling one per cent of October food in the 

 Northeast, and somewhat less in November. It is also recorded from 



