Food and Water 145 



Skunk cabbage {Sijmplocarpus foetidus): The seeds are eaten in 

 fall and winter from New England to Pennsylvania. In spring the 

 flowers and leaves also are taken. Darrow Usts products of this plant 

 as ninth in importance among winter foods in the Adirondacks region 

 of New York, while Kelso found them to make up over one per cent 

 of the winter food of New York grouse. Hosley ( 1941 ) lists skunk 

 cabbage as first among herbaceous foods in Connecticut and second 

 in Rhode Island. It has also been recorded in smaller but still sig- 

 nificant amounts in the fall food in New England and Pennsylvania. 



False miterwort ( Tiarella ) : Leaves have been recorded as a fall 

 and early winter food. They are probably taken to some extent 

 throughout the Northeast but seem definitely most important from 

 Pennsylvania to Virginia. Smyth fomid them to compose three and 

 two-tenths per cent of October food in the Northeast, one and four- 

 tenths per cent in November and one and one-tenth per cent in the 

 winter. They ranked seventh in the list of November foods in Penn- 

 sylvania (Kuhn, 1940), amounting to four and seven-tenths per cent 

 of total food, and sixteenth in 1941 with one and seven-tenths per 

 cent (Kuhn); and were taken in small amounts in Virginia. 



Clovers {Trifolium): The leaves of both wild white and red 

 clovers are taken during fall and winter, the former being the more 

 important. Clover is used throughout the Northeast region but is 

 primarily important in the North, New York and New England. 

 Nowhere in this region does it approach the use it receives in the 

 midwest states, however. Smyth found that it composed two and 

 four-tenths per cent of October food in the Northeast, one and four- 

 tenths per cent in November, and less in the winter. Gross lists it 

 ninth among fall foods in New England, where it amounted to three 

 per cent of total food. Hosley ( 1941 ) records it as first among herba- 

 ceous foods in Vermont and second in New Hampshire and Massa- 

 chusetts. MacGregor ranks it second among October foods m New 

 Hampshire comprising six and eight-tenths per cent of all food, and 

 ninth among November foods (two and three-tenths per cent). 



Violets (Viola): Both the leaves and seeds are used throughout 

 the Northeast. They are most important as a summer food for chicks 

 and adults but are used to some extent in the fall. From the existing 

 records, the area of greatest importance of violets in grouse diet is 

 clearly New York, but if summer records were available from other 

 states, it is likely that they would prove to rank highly elsewhere. 



