UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO. 



grouse and quail are much more insectivorous than the adults. The browse 

 in the food of the dusky grouse and spruce grouse is mostly coniferous 

 foliage. The sage grouse feeds principally upon leaves, shoots and buds, 

 especially the wild sages. It is the largest North American member of the 

 family except the turkey, and is a good table bird if drawn immediately 

 after killing and properly prepared. In Colorado it is common in the sage 

 brush areas of the northern and northwestern parts of the state, the dusky 

 grouse is common throughout the mountains, 1 form of the sharp-tailed grouse 



occurs in a few places, and the prairie hen is occasionally seen on the plains. 

 The ptarmigan, still common at and above timber line in Colorado, feeds 

 chiefly, so far as known, upon buds, berries, leaves, etc. The ring-necked 

 pheasant has been introduced in the Denver Basin. McAtee and Beal (85) 

 report that oats and wheat formed 34% of the contents of 12 stomachs of 

 this species from Oregon and Washington, doubtless waste, as they were 

 autumn and winter birds, the next largest item of food being March flies, of 

 which one contained 360 and another 432, and 8,000 chickweed seeds were in 

 one. The bobwhite has been introduced into much of the plains area of 

 Colorado, and the California quail in a few places. 



The following figures adapted from Aughey's report show actual numbers 

 of insects, not merely averages, in stomachs of various species (86) : 



Judd estimates that in Virginia and North Carolina, from September 1 to 

 April 30, the bobwhite eats 1,341 tons of weed seeds, and in the remaining 6 

 months, when one-third of its food is insects, it takes 340 ton? of weed 

 seeds (87). 



(85) McAteo and Beal. TT. S. Dent. Agric., Farmers' Bull. No. 497, p. 14. 



(86) Aughey. First Kept. U. S. Entom. Com., App. II. pp 46-48. 



(87) Judd, U. S. Biol. Surv., Bull. No. 21, pp. 14-15. 



