ETJFFED GBOtrSE. 35 



Dr. John H. Brinton, of Jefferson Medical College, has known sev- 

 eral cases of glossitis (inflammation of the tongue) caused by eating 

 grouse that had fed on laurel," and Dr. N. Shoemaker has also known 

 of serious illness from the same source.* V. K. Chestnut, Department 

 specialist on poisonous plants, gave an extract made from laurel 

 leaves to a chiclten, which he subsequently killed and fed to a cat. 

 The cat was seriously affected, but ultimately recovered. In Phila- 

 delphia in 1790 the public was alarmed over the possibilities of laurel 

 poisoning, and the sale of these birds was for a time forbidden. Dr. 

 B. H. Warren shot 10 birds when the ground was deeply covered with 

 snow, and found their crops stuffed with laurel buds.*' Not more 

 than half a dozen siomachs of the 208 examined by the Biological 

 Survey contained fragments of this plant, the explanation probably 

 being that only a few stomachs were collected in late winter, when 

 birds most resort to it. Four of the birds that contained laurel were 

 used for food, with no evident ill effect. One of these had eaten 14 

 grams of laurel, nearly all leaves, with only a few buds. The leaves 

 had been clipped into bits as if by scissors. Investigation of this 

 habit of the grouse, known to be a common one, is much needed. The 

 maple is often selected for budding, and sometimes the spicebush. 

 Flowers are sometimes plucked by browsing grouse. Asters and red 

 clover have been identified in their food, and the green ovary of 

 bloodroot (Sanguinaria) was found in a bird's crop by Amos W. 

 Butler. 



The following plants also are in the list of browse of this bird : 



Heuchera {Hetichera americana). Meadow rue (ThaUctrum sp.). 



Chickweed (Alslne puhera). Smilax (Smilax glaiica). 



Catnip (Sepeta cataria). Horsetail rusli (Equisetum sp.). 



Clnquefoil (Potentilla argentea). Azalea (Azalea sp.). 



Buttercup {Ranunculus luliosa Pal.se goat's beard (Astilbe sp.). 



and ;?. acris). Aster (Asier sp.). 



Speedwell (Veronica offlcinalis). Cud weed (Gnaplialium purpu- 

 Saxifrage (Saxifraga sp.). rcum). 



Live-forever (tiedum sp.). 



The ruffed grouse is preeminently a berry eater. Xot only does it 

 consume more fruit than the bobwhite, but it is our most f rugivorous 

 game bird. More than one-fourth of its yearly food— 28.32 percent- 

 consists of fruit, distributed as follows : 3.82 percent rose hips, 2.46 

 percent poison ivy and sumac, 3.01 percent grapes, and 19.03 percent 

 miscellaneous fruits. 



a Warren, Birds of Penn., p. 108, 1890. 



6 North Am. Med. Journ., I, pp. 321-322, 1826. 



c Birds of Pennsylvania, p. 108, 1890. 



