224 BIRDri IX THEIR RELATIONS TO MAX. 



crops and gizzards being literally gorged with hundreds of 

 seeds of ragweed." 1 



The RUFFED GROUSE as a game-bird ranks higher in popular 

 esteem in the East than any other bird. The flesh is white 

 and delicious, and its wariness and rapid flight exact the best 

 efforts of even the most experienced sportsman. Its food habits 

 are of secondary importance, but nevertheless interesting. 

 The following, from the pen of Dr. A. K. Fisher, of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, Washington, bears directly on this point. 



THE Kl'FFE 



" The ruffed grouse is very fond of grasshoppers and 

 crickets as an article of diet, and when these insects are 

 abundant it is rare to find a stomach or crop that does not 

 contain their remains. One specimen, shot late in October, 

 had the crop and stomach distended with the larvae of Edema 

 albifrons, a caterpillar which feeds extensively on the leaves 

 of the maple. It is called the red-humped oak-caterpillar. 



1 Judd, Yearbook, Dept. Ag., 1898, p. 231. 



