178 



Game Survey of the North Central States 



Peculiar roosting habits were described to me by Wisconsin observers as 

 follows: 



TABLE 32. Roosting habits of pinnated grouse 



Observer and locality 



Date 



Remarks 



Sutherland, 



Rock County, Wisconsin. . 



Schmoker, 

 Buffalo County, Wisconsin. 



Blomberg, 



Price County, Wisconsin . 



Hornberg, 



Portage County, Wisconsin 



1881 



1928 



Chickens (pinnated) when formerly abund- 

 ant did not migrate, but formed packs 

 and roosted in trees. Will also burrow 

 in snow to roost. 



Chickens (pinnated) plunged into snow to 

 roost but only in exceptionally bad 

 weather. Usually roosted in trees in 

 river bottoms. 



Chickens (both sp.?) here stay the winter 

 in blueberry swamps. Eat cranberry 

 vines and berries. Tunnel for these 

 foods under the blueberry brush when it 

 is weighted with snow, and thus form 

 regular "yards" like deer. 



Chickens (pinnated) flew into jack pine 

 thickets just before dark. Some plunged 

 into snow as evidenced by the hole, but 

 some possibly roosted in the trees. 



The pinnated grouse, as is well known, gathers in large packs in winter, the 

 maximum size of which in Wisconsin is indicated by the following instances: 



TABLE 33. Size of winter packs 



The pack of 1,500 was first seen by Robinson in the Spencer Marsh west of 

 Antigo. Two weeks later he encountered one of similar size 35 miles north near 

 Monico. These birds were in a tamarack thicket. The extreme size makes it seem 

 likely that both observations represent the same pack. The distance travelled 

 illustrates the extreme winter mobility of the species. 



Sharptails form packs to some extent, but the details are not known to me. 



The sex ratio of winter packs should be determined. If, as Widmann says, 

 winter migration may have consisted of females only, it is not impossible that 



