98 UPLAND SHOOTING. 



and, if properly cooked, rank with the best of game 

 birds. 



A belief prevails in districts where the laurel (Kalmia 

 latifolia) grows, that the flesh can not be eaten with 

 safety when snow covers the ground. If, from a scarcity 

 of other food, there be reason to think that the bird has 

 eaten of this poisonous shrub, the crop and intestines 

 should be removed immediately after death, and examined. 

 The fact that the bird is not killed by an occasional indul- 

 gence, seems to indicate that the laurel is not a virulent 

 poison, or that dangerous absorption is possible only 

 after death. The examination, however, will put the 

 mind at rest, if our Southern brother sportsmen be in 

 doubt regarding this absorption in life. 



The food of this species consists, in summer, of straw- 

 berries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, huckleber- 

 ries, wheat, choke-cherries, grasshoppers, and other 

 insects; in the fall, of wild grapes, cranberries, the seeds 

 of blackberries, insects, haws, wintergreen berries and 

 leaves, buckwheat, corn, thorn-apples, and partridge- 

 berries; in the winter, of thorn-apples, acorns, winter- 

 greens, grape seeds and leaves, and cone-seeds of ever- 

 greens; and during the early spring, principally of the 

 buds of the birch, the poplar, the beech, the alder, and, 

 rarely, those of the apple. 



Whenever ruffed grouse enter a grain-field, which 

 is not often, they keep close to the fence, and upon the 

 first intimation of danger, retire to the nearest sequestered 

 retreat. Like the domestic fowl, they avail themselves of 

 sunny, sandy spots wherein to dust and scratch. 



Mr. Audubon states that, where very abundant, these 

 birds perform partial migrations, evidently in search of 

 food. These sallies have always been extremely rare, and 

 now that birds are no longer abundant, have undoubt- 

 edly ceased. 



