272 USEFUL BIRDS. 
insects, it was usually impossible to make out just what those 
insects were; but in confinement the young are very fond 
of flies, maggots, beetles, slugs, thrips, plant lice of various 
kinds, and spiders. Professor Forbes found mostly insects 
in the stomachs of three birds about three days old. They 
had eaten cutworms, grasshoppers, Lampyrid beetles, ants, 
parasitic wasps, buffalo tree hoppers, and spiders. Professor 
King found that a Grouse about a week out of the shell had 
eaten a white grub, seven spiders, and thirteen caterpillars. 
I found in July the remains of a young bird that had been 
killed by.a Hawk; it must have been at least six weeks old. 
Its stomach contained beetles and the seeds of weeds. The 
young are often found in grassy fields and pastures near 
woods. I have seen them apparently catching grasshoppers, 
crickets, and other grass-eating insects in such localities, and 
they seem as fond of such food as are young Chickens. 
Whenever such, insects are plentiful, they form a part of the 
summer food of the birds. Young Grouse evidently are very 
useful as insect eaters, but as they grow older they depend 
more upon vegetable food. Dr. Judd, who has given the 
best account of the food of the Grouse, says that at Chocorua, 
N. H., in September, 1898, they were feeding very largely 
on the red-legged grasshopper or locust (Melanoplus femur- 
rubrum) , avery destructive insect. Seven adult birds, killed 
in the breeding season, had eaten insects to the amount of 
thirty per cent. of their food. 
The Ruffed Grouse at times eats many caterpillars, par- 
ticularly those species which, like the cutworms and army 
worms, live largely upon the ground. 
It seems probable also that it takes 
caterpillars from the trees, as num- 
Fig. 123.—Red-humped bers of red-humped apple caterpillars 
caterpillar. 5 5 . 
(Schizura concinna) and oak caterpil- 
lars (Symmerista albifrons) have been found in its stomach. 
Dr. Judd says that the Grouse prefers beetles to other insects. 
This seems to be true of the young also, although when first 
hatched they appear to relish softer-bodied insects more. 
The old birds are persistent scratchers, and unearth many 
ground beetles, which they eat greedily. They sometimes 
