272 USEFUL BIRDS. 



insects, it was usually impossible to make out just what those 

 insects were ; but in confinement the young are very fond 

 of flies, maggots, beetles, slugs, thrips, plant lice of various 

 kinds, and spiders. Professor Forl)es found mostly insects 

 in the stomachs of three birds about three daj^s old. Thev 

 had eaten cutworms, grasshoppers, Lampyrid beetles, ants, 

 parasitic wasps, buffalo tree hoppers, and spiders. Professor 

 King found that a Grouse about a week out of the shell had 

 eaten a white grub, seven spiders, and thirteen caterpillars. 

 I found in July the remains of a young bird that had been 

 killed by a Hawk; it must have been at least six weeks old. 

 Its stomach contained beetles and the seeds of weeds. The 

 young are often found in grassy fields and pastures near 

 woods. I have seen them apparent!}^ catching grasshoppers, 

 crickets, and other grass-eating insects in such localities, and 

 they seem as fond of such food as are young Chickens. 

 Whenever such insects are plentiful, they form apart of the 

 summer food of the birds. Young Grouse evidently are very 

 useful as insect eaters, but as they grow older the}^ depend 

 more upon vegetable food. Dr. Judd, who has given the 

 best account of the food of the Grouse, says that at Chocorua, 

 N. H., in September, 1898, they were feeding very largely 

 on the red-legged grasshopper or locust (^Melanoj)Jus femur- 

 ruhrum) , a ver}" destructive insect. Seven adult birds, killed 

 in the breeding season, had eaten insects to the amount of 

 thu-ty per cent, of their food. 



The Rufled Grouse at times eats many caterpillars, par- 

 ticularly those species which, like the cutworms and army 

 worms, live largely upon the ground. 

 It seems probaljle also that it takes 

 caterpillars from the trees, as nuni- 

 Fig. 123. — Red-humped ])ers of rcd-liumped apple caterpillars 



ciitGrv)illtir. 



(^Schizura concinna) and oak caterpil- 

 lars (^SymmerUta alhifrons) have been found in its stomach. 

 Dr. Judd says that the Grouse prefers beetles to other insects. 

 This seems to be true of the young also, although when first 

 hatched they appear to relish softer-bodied insects more. 

 The old birds are persistent scratchers, and unearth many 

 ground beetles, which they eat greedily. They sometimes 



