A Bit of Grouse Hunter's Lore. 189 



ing spectacle for one who knows how to 

 approach them with due caution. The 

 leaves of the bishop's cap ( Tiarella cordi- 

 folia and T. mida) are as staple an article 

 of diet with ruffed grouse as bread and 

 butter are for the American citizen, and 

 at all seasons of the year fragments of the 

 rough-lobed leaves may be found in their 

 crops ; even to the exclusion of all other 

 articles of diet at times. During the winter 

 the food consists principally of the buds of 

 birch, poplar, and maple trees, the leaves 

 and berries of the wintergreen, and the 

 leaves of the bishop's caps ; and as there 

 are very few days during the winter when 

 grouse cannot find an abundance of some 

 one of these forms of provender they are 

 almost always in good condition and "as 

 plump as partridges." Kalmia leaves, which 

 are sometimes eaten by them in winter, are 

 said on good authority to make the flesh 

 temporarily poisonous for man, and the 

 fact that the birds' food directly affects their 

 flesh is exemplified in the delicious aro- 

 matic flavor of grouse that have been feed- 

 ing extensively upon birch buds and win- 



