36 PROCEEDINGS OP THE 



kins of the higher shrubs and trees, or upon food especially 

 provided by their kind-hearted human friends. 



The Ruffed Grouse feeds, I am informed, on the apple buds, 

 which are numerous in the Poconos, and upon birch catkins, 

 aspen and ironwood, wild azalea, and sometimes sumac, and 

 occasionally upon laurel leaves, but not on rhododendron or 

 alder, and when there is no snow on the ground acorns and 

 chestnuts form a large portion of their food. 



In spite, however, of the native food-supply and the hardy 

 character of the Grouse, they will venture close to the farm 

 house and pick up with especial relish the buckwheat and other 

 grain thrown out for them. They soon learn to know the 

 favored spot, and will come day after day, early in the morn- 

 ing, where with so little effort they can get a full meal. 



One of the most interesting features of the trip was the animal 

 and bird tracks on the snow. Although we saw but one Ruffed 

 Grouse, there were hundreds of their tracks, besides the tracks 

 of smaller birds; rabbits, which crossed in every direction, 

 squirrel tracks along fences, on trees and across the woods; 

 common skunk, mink, and apparently the tracks of a wildcat. 

 It was most interesting to note by the impressions whether an 

 animal had been sitting, walking, running, or springing. A 

 Grouse had spread its wings and tail, leaving a perfect impres- 

 sion on the snow when it sprang into the air, and the wildcat 

 had been making express time, spreading sixteen feet at a leap 

 through an open field and across the road. The rabbit tracks 

 in one place practically covered the surface for a large area, as 

 if there had been a regular convention or camp-meeting. 



The unfortunate Quail during this remarkably cold and snowy 

 winter were apparently the only birds that could not survive. 

 Their food-supply was practically buried and during December 

 and January they came fearlessly up to the farmhouse to be 

 fed, and the farmer or his wife faithfully spread buckwheat, 

 until during several severe storms early in February, shortly be- 

 fore my visit, they appeared no more. In the following 

 spring many frozen birds were found, whole coveys in several 

 instances being discovered huddled together under fences or 

 tangled brush. I was told that one farmer picked up twenty- 



