Part II.] FOOD PLANTS. 203 



ture, two lists of plants attractive to birds are given, pages 

 374 to 376 and pages 430 to 432. For lack of space and because 

 they would largely duplicate the two lists above they cannot 

 be repeated here, nor can the long lists of food plants of the 

 ruffed grouse and bobwhite, printed in my "Game Birds, Wild 

 Fowl and Shore Birds," be included in this circular, but for 

 the convenience of those who wish to attract game birds the 

 following by Mr. McAtee from the Yearbook of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture for 1909 is appended: — 



While the establishment of preserves for land game birds is yet a new 

 movement in this country, it is certain to become of great importance. 

 Hence it is desirable to disseminate information as to the food and covert 

 plants that are favored by the grouse and quail. Bobwhites frequently 

 use covers of rose, alder and blackberry bushes, and thicldy set barberry, 

 bayberry and dense banks of honeysuckle are suitable. These plants also 

 furnish food for the birds, but they should be supplemented by others 

 more exclusively adapted for this purpose. Sumac, Japanese clover, buck- 

 wheat, sorghum, millet, vetches, cowpeas, and any plants of the pea family 

 producing small seeds, are valuable and should be sown in large quantities. 

 The seeds of milk pea (Galactia), partridge pea {Chamcechrista) , hog pea- 

 nut (Fa Zcato), wild bean (Strophostyles) , and smartweeds (Polygonum) 

 are important natural foods of the eastern quail, but should be encouraged 

 only where they cannot become weed pests. The western quail are fond 

 of the seeds of sumac, but clover, alfilaria, lupines, napa thistle and turkey 

 mullein plants; but where these plants are liable to become nuisances the 

 food plants recommended for the eastern quail will serve. 



Coverts for grouse, as the sharptail, should abound in such plants as 

 rose, sumac, blueberry, bearberry, buffalo berry, dwarf birch and alder. 

 The ruffed grouse thrives among scrub oak, bayberry, rose, sumac, dwarf 

 birch, alder, poplar, willow and such fruit-bearing plants as partridge 

 berry, hawthorn, viburnum, wild grapes, mountain ash, blueberry, black- 

 berry and cranberry. Cover of this nature is suited to the heath hen also, 

 and to the unported pheasants and the Hungarian partridge, but in all 

 cases it is well to supplement the food supply furnished by these shrubs 

 and trees by planting small grains and legumes, as recommended for 

 quail. 



Some of the plants named in the above list are not native to 

 New England, and probably the cowpea and the milk pea will 

 not mature in Massachusetts, but most of them can be utilized 

 here. 



It is impossible within the limits of this circular to give 

 even a list of the important plants which attract wild ducks 



