THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



Part II. — The Insect Food of Young Grouse based on 

 AN Examination of Crops and Gizzards 



By Percy H. Grimshav; 



The Committee have devoted special attention to the question of the food of 

 the Grouse in the earlier stages of its existence, and have examined the crop 

 Variety of Contents of many chicks with a view to ascertaining the nature of their 

 chicks diet, ^jg^ Their dietary is extraordinarily varied, and probably we have 

 as yet by no means exhausted the list of what they eat. It was observed from 

 Insect food *^^ commencement of these investigations that young Grouse were 

 common, much more addicted to insect food than were the adult birds, and in 

 order to complete the Committee's knowledge on the subject it was found 

 advisable to obtain the services of an entomologist. 



In the months of June and July 1908 the moors in Inverness-shire, 

 Morayshire, and Banffshire and at a later period also in Yorkshire, were visited 

 with the object of investigating the food of the young Grouse. 



(1) In the first place it was desirable that a number of young Grouse chicks 

 should be obtained, and the contents of their crops and gizzards examined, with 

 a view of ascertaining both the nature of their food, and also, if possible, 

 the intermediate host (supposed to be some insect or mollusc) of the Cestode 

 parasites which infest these birds. 



(2) To exactly determine the various fragments found in the crop, pro- 

 ventriculus, and gizzard of Grouse by the careful collecting of insects on the 

 feeding grounds of the young birds. In many cases the remains in the crop 

 or intestine were so broken up and crushed that it was only possible to 

 determine and name them by careful comparison with whole specimens obtained 

 on the same spot.' 



(3) To collect and put into spirit large numbers of insects and spiders for 

 the purpose of dissection and microscopic examination for possible cysts of 

 tajieworms. 



The list of insects collected was most interesting, and included many rare 



' a complete list of the insects obtained on the moors during the course of this Inquiry has been published 

 in the "Annals of Scottish Natural History," pp. 150-162, July 1910. 



