134 BULLETIN 162, UNITED STATES NATIONAL. MUSEUM 



hoppers of various kinds and sizes, numerous ripe raspberries, a few 

 leaves of Spiraea foment osa and (in one crop only) a few larch 

 spills." Evidently these birds had wandered out of their usual haunts 

 for a change of diet. He says further : 



In this connection it may be well to add that in the crops of two young 

 Spruce Grouse only about half-grown and killed in the Tyler Bog on August 13, 

 1873, I found raspberries, blueberries, checkerberries, and balsam buds as well 

 as needles ; that from the crop of an adult female shot near Mollidgewauk 

 Stream on September 28, 1890, I took 51 berries of Viburnum lent ago?, some 

 fragments of small mushrooms, and a few spills of the black spruce ; and that 

 a young male found and killed in company with the old female just men- 

 tioned had in his crop 13 Viburnum berries, uncounted pieces of mushrooms, 

 and a few larch spills. Hence it will appear that food of various kinds other 

 than that supplied by the foliage of coniferous trees is partaken of rather 

 freely by Spruce Grouse in late summer and early autumn. 



Behavior. — Although they usually flutter awkwardly away or 

 silently fly for very short distances in the thick woods, when flushed 

 in the open by Brewster (1925) they behaved quite differently, "ris- 

 ing all at once like Quail, from within a space no more than two yards 

 square, with what seemed a deafening roar of wings, they sped 

 straight for the woods, flying precisely like Ruffed Grouse and quite 

 as swiftly.'' 



Forbush (1927), while walking on a trail, almost stumbled over 

 a male spruce grouse. He says : 



The bird was somewhat startled and flew heavily up into a near-by spruce, 

 alighting near the tip of a little limb about 20 feet from the ground. As the 

 limb drooped under his weight, he walked up it to the trunk, hopped up a 

 branch or two higher, and immediately began to feed on the foliage. After a 

 few minutes of this, he moved a little into another tree and continued feeding. 

 Pounding on the trunk with an axe did not alarm him, and it was only after 

 several sticks had been thrown and one had hit the very limb on which he sat 

 that he was induced to fly. 



Edwyn Sandys (1904) writes: 



The writer has twice caught mature specimens with his bare hands, and it 

 is a common trick of woodsmen to decapitate a bird with a switch, or noose it 

 with a bit of twine. Once the writer came precious near hooking one with a 

 trout fly, at which the grouse had pecked. Only a dislike to needless cruelty, and 

 a respect for a fine rod, saved this particular bird. Quite often the brood is met 

 with in the trail, when they will sedately step aside about sufficiently far to 

 make room for the intruder's boots, meanwhile regarding him with a laughable 

 air of affectionate interest. No doubt this grouse could fly rapidly should it 

 choose to exert its powers, but it is content with more leisurely movements. 



Game. — The spruce grouse is not much esteemed as a game bird, as 

 it lacks most of the qualities that appeal to the sportsman. Its haunts 

 are usually too difficult to hunt in, it is too tame and stupid to make 

 its pursuit interesting, and, except when on rare occasions it is found 

 in open clearings or on meadows, it seldom offers a flying shot. It is 



