22 GROUSE AND WILD TURKEYS OF UNITED STATES. 



berries. The insect material consisted of a lepidopterous chrysalis 

 and the remains of beetles and black ants {C amponotus pennsyl- 

 vaiiicus) . Another young bird, about 8 days old, taken by the same 

 collector, had been exclusively insectivorous. It had eaten such 

 beetles as weevils, ground beetles (Harpalus herhivagus), the lady- 

 bird {Anisosticta seriata), and the click beetle {Dolopius lateralis), 

 also 2 cutworms, 9 sawfly larvae, such leaf hoppers as Tettegonia sp. 

 and Eelochara communis, and 1 leaf spider. The sharp-tailed grouse 

 is fond of grasshoppers. Vernon Bailey shot 3 birds at Elk Eiver, 

 Minn., September 17, 1894, which had eaten, respectively, 7, 23, and 

 31 grasshoppers. The species is a destroyer also of the Eocky Moun- 

 tain locust. Of 9 birds collected by Professor Aughey from May to 

 October, inclusive, 6 had eaten 174 of these pests." The bird eats 

 also a few crickets and, like other, gallinaceous game birds, devours 

 the Colorado potato beetle {Leptinotarsa decemlineata) . It has been 

 known to feed on the bugs Oncometopia lateralis and Oncometopia 

 costalis. The lack of sufficient material to determine exactly the 

 bird's relation to insects is to be regretted, but enough is at hand to 

 demonstrate the fact that its insect food is much like that of its 

 relatives. 



VEGETABLE FOOD. 



The vegetable food of the sharp-tailed grouse, so far as ascertained 

 in the laboratory, comprises weed seeds, 7.39 percent; grain, 20.50 

 percent ; fruit, 27.68 percent ; leaves, buds, and flowers, 31.07 percent, 

 and miscellaneous vegetable food, 3.06 percent; making a total of 

 89.81 percent. The weed-seeii element consists of the seeds of black 

 bindweed {Polygonum convolvulvs) and other polygonums, wild 

 sunflower {Helianthus sp.), ragweed {Ambrosia artemisicefolia) , 

 peppergrass {Lepidium) , blue-eyed grass, sedge, and catchfly {Silene 

 antirrhina). The seeds of a number of leguminous plants are eaten, 

 including those of alfalfa. Like many other game birds, the species 

 feeds on mast (largely acorns), including acorns of the scarlet oak 

 {Quercus coccinea). Corn is eaten, but wheat is the favorite grain. 

 It formed 17.21 percent of the food. A thousand kernels of wheat 

 were sometimes found in one stomach. 



The sharp-tailed grouse is a great browser. It makes 31.07 percent 

 of its food of leaves, buds, and flowers. Ernest Thompson Seton 

 found it eating the buds of willow and birch. It feeds on the leaves 

 of Cottonwood, alder, blueberry, juniper, and larch; also leaves of 

 quillwort {Isoetes), vetch, dandelion, grass, and rush {Juncus). 

 Hearne says that in winter it eats the tops of the dwarf birch and the 

 buds of poplars. Flowers form 19.90 percent of its diet, the species 



"First Rep. U. S. Entom. Comm., Append. II, p. 47, 1877 (1878). 



