34 GROUSE AND WILD TURKEYS OF UNITED STATES. 



year and grown, and it is well fruited, owing to the budding two years in 

 succession. No tree could have been more entirely budded, but the grouse can 

 not stand so as to reach the outmost terminal buds, as a rule ; their weight is 

 too great. 



The present investigation of stomachs revealed only an insignificant 

 percentage of apple buds, probably because most of the grouse exam- 

 ined were shot in places remote from orchards. The bird has been 

 known to eat also pear and peach buds, and probably would not 

 refuse cherry buds. From one crop, leaves of blackberry or raspberry 

 (Rubus sp.) were taken, and bud twigs of blueberry {Vaccinium 

 pennsylvanicum) and other species were not at .all uncommon. The 

 twigs severed by the sharp-edged bill of the grouse are all about the 

 same length, one-third of an inch. They appeared in the stomachs 

 as little whitish sticks, from which digestion had removed the bark. 

 The extent to which the ruffed grouse browses on leaves and twigs 

 suggests an herbivorous mammal rather than a bird. 



The ruffed grouse feeds on leaves and buds of the mayflower 

 {Epigoea repens), and likes exceedingly the leaves of the partridge 

 berry. (Mitchella repens). It nips off also leaves of both red and 

 white clover, to the extent of 1 percent of its food. It is partial to 

 the leaves of sheep sorrel {Rumex acetosella), which it cuts across as 

 sharply as if by a pair of scissors, but it eats yellow sorrel {Oxalis 

 stricta) with less relish. It appears to like dandelion greens, and 

 has a queer taste for the fronds of ferns {Dryopteris spinulosa, 

 Botrychium obliquum, and Polypodium vulgare). In its relation 

 to conifers it differs widely from the spruce grouse, for it derives 

 therefrom, only an insignificant percentage of its food, while the 

 spruce grouse obtains nearly 50 percent. Spruce needles and foliage 

 of arborvitse {Thuja occidentalis) have been seen in several stomachs. 

 Edward A. Samuels believes that the ruffed grouse will eat leaves of 

 evergreens' only when all other food is lacking." In Alaska, E. W. 

 Nelson found the bird feeding exclusively on spruce buds. He states 

 that the flesh becomes disagreeable from this pitchy diet.'' The effect 

 of highly flavored food on the flesh of game birds has already been 

 referred to. 



The ruffed grouse buds the highly poisonous laurel {Kalmia lati- 

 folia) . On this subject Alexander Wilson writes : " 



During the deep snows of the winter, they have recourse to the buds of alder, 

 and the tender buds of the laurel. I have frequently found their crops dis- 

 tended with a large handful of these latter alone; and it has been confidently 

 asserted, that, after having fed for some time on the laurel buds, their flesh 

 becomes highly dangerous to eat, partaking of the poisonous qualities of the 

 plant. 



" Our Northern and Eastern Birds, p. 387, 1883. 

 s Nat. Hist. Coll. in Alaska, p. 131, 1888. 

 c Am. Ornith., vol. II, p. 319, 1831. 



