THE FOOD OF THE RED GROUSE 101 



Heath Bed-straw (Galium saxatile). 



Marsh Lousewort (Pedicularis palustris). 



Heath Lousewort (Pedicularis sylvatica). 



Yellow Violet (Viola luted). 



Bracken Fern (Pleris aquilina). 



The seeds of the following plants are greedily eaten, and are 

 most useful as late autumn and winter food : 



Mouse-tail Grass (Alopecurus myosuriodes). 



Purple Melio Grass (Molinea ccerulea). 



Common Orache (Atriplex patuld). 



Chickweed (Cerastium triviale), and other moor cerastia. 



Persicaria (Polygonum aviculare, and P. persicaria), and 

 Knot Grasses of all species. The flower-heads are also 

 eaten. 



In their season, too, Grouse are very fond of capsules of the 

 moor mosses, such as the Great Golden Maidenhair Moss (Poly- 

 trichum commune), and the smaller fungi. 



PART II. THE INSECT FOOD OF YOUNG GROUSE BASED 

 ON AN EXAMINATION OF CROPS AND GIZZARDS. 



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 contents of many chicks with a 

 view to ascertaining the nature of their diet. 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 the commencement of these investigations that young 

 Grouse were 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 those 

 in Yorkshire, were visited with the following objects. 



(1) To obtain a number of young Grouse chicks and to 



