152 THE CANADA GROUSE (DENDRAGAPUS CANADENSIS) 



also fed upon while young and tender. I lost one fine bird by 

 eating oones after they had become too hard and woody to be 

 digested. This seemed to cause great distress and pain. The 

 sick bird would sit for hours on the ground with his body quite 

 upright, and keep continually moving his neck and body from 

 side to side. I could not understand the cause of this strange 

 conduct until later. 



After a few days in this condition, during which time he 

 would eat nothing, he died. On examination I found a hard 

 spruce cone which had lodged in the narrow passage before 

 reaching the gizzard. This explained the strange position and 

 movements of the body during the illness. He was trying to 

 force the obstruction along and thus ease the pain. Gangrene had 

 set in where the cone lodged and ultimately resulted in death. 



I do not think this accident would have happened in a wild 

 state as there would be a greater supply to select from and the 

 hard cones would not have to be eaten. At this season almost 

 any kind of tender young grass would be eaten. Later when 

 the common grasses became tough and hard, clover and 

 dandelions would be eaten, and these were supjjlied by cutting 

 up the sod on which they grew and placing it in the pen. 

 Grasses supj)lied in this way would not dry up as cut grasses. 

 They would keep fresh and green until all was used up. Other 

 food such as green peas and wild berries, bunch berries, and 

 winter green particularly, were relished best. At all times 

 in the year it is necessary to keep a good supply of fresh spruce 

 where they can have all they want. This being one of their 

 most natural supplies, tends to keep them in good health. 



One winter, in February, a man brought me two of these 

 birds in a small basket, just large enough to contain their 

 bodies, with a cloth tied over the top having two holes to allow 

 their heads to stick, out. They were brought in on a slow ox 

 team a distance of 15 miles. The two birds having been con- 

 fined to so small a space and covered with a cloth became so 

 hot that one was dead when it arrived, and the other did not 



