Interrelationships of Ruffed Grouse to Mammals and to 



Other Birds 



SPECIES THAT PREY UPON GROUSE 



Discussion of predators is fraught with many dangers. Not the 

 least of these is prejudice in dealing with creatures that compete 

 with us. This attitude we must completely discard. The otlier major 

 difficulty is the tendency to accept simple action and reaction as a 

 complete story of the relations between predator and prey species. 

 That is far from justifiable. The subject of predation is one of the 

 most intricate, if not the most complex, in the field of animal rela- 

 tionships. But before we consider the drama of predation as it re- 

 lates to grouse, let us become acquainted with the actors. For 

 present purpose the grouse is the prey species and we know it 

 reasonably well. Let us take a look at its natural enemies, and then 

 some of the other creatures that play subordinate roles to the victim 

 and the "villains." 



A bare list of the enemies of the grouse is impressive even though 

 we know little of their specific depredations. Study reveals that some 

 of them exact a greater toll than others. They vary, too, as to the 

 time of their attacks, some during nesting season as egg eaters, 

 others in the summer as destroyers of the young, or at any time as 

 predators on the grown birds. We have listed in three categories in 

 Table 8 those of significance in the Northeast, those of primary, 

 secondary, and occasional importance. It has been necessary to list 

 a few in more than one classification because they require separate 

 ratings for dijfferent types of predation. 



The species in the first group are listed in probable order of im- 

 portance for south-central New York. This order varies considerably 

 in diflFerent parts of the Northeast, and some of those listed as sec- 



196 



