10 



THE GAME BREEDER 



"the grouse will add appreciably to the 

 value of any farm." Quickly they will 

 double the value and in fact any farm 

 which has an abundance of grouse easily 

 can be 'sold for several times its present 

 value or the shooting can be rented for 

 a substantial amount in ' the States 

 which have laws permitting the profit- 

 able breeding of game. Sport has noth- 

 ing to fear since the shooting necessarily 

 is prohibited in most of the States 

 where it still is illegal to look after the 

 birds profitably. 



The food habits of the prairie grouse 

 and the sharp-tailed grouse are very 

 similar. Both birds are highly insectiv- 

 orous in the Spring and Summer and in 

 places where strips of cover and food 

 are planted and left standing there al- 

 ways will be plenty of insects during the 

 period when insects are eaten. Grass- 

 hoppers, Rocky Mountain locusts, bee- 

 tles and many other insects common on 

 the prairie farms are eaten and the 

 grouse breeder need have no fear of in- 

 sects being sufficiently plentiful, until 

 the grouse become over-abundant. 



In the fall and winter the grouse 

 subsist largely upon vegetable food : 

 fruit, leaves, flowers and shoots, seeds 

 and grain. In places where wheat and 

 other grains are grown extensively the 

 birds will find much food in the stub- 

 -bles after the harvest. They are partial 

 to corn and when abundant they should 

 be fed some extra grain in the winter 

 when the natural foods are largely 

 buried beneath the snow. Corn is said 

 to be the favorite cereal and this un- 

 doubtedly is the best winter food. It 

 can be fed on the cob to advantage and 

 a safe place to feed is in briar patches 

 where vermin will find it difficult to take 

 the birds when feeding. The grouse are 

 very fond of fruit. Blackberries afford 

 not only food but excellent cover. Ap- 

 ples, both the buds and the fruit, are 

 eaten, and a few apple trees planted in 

 the area reserved for the grouse will 

 be appreciated and will tend to keep the 

 birds at home. The grouse have a 

 marked taste for flowers: rosebuds and 

 thousands of golden-rod heads have been 

 found in the stomachs of the birds. The 

 rose hips are an excellent winter food 



which can be taken above the snow and 

 the hard hips are said to contain grit as 

 well as food. Sunflowers are an excel- 

 lent food; Red and white clover and the 

 seeds of many weeds and grasses also 

 are eaten. Sumac is a good winter food. 

 Wild cherries, wild grapes, strawberries 

 and other berries will tend to make the 

 ground attractive and prevent straying. 



I am quite sure two of the most im- 

 portant foods are the wild rose and the 

 sunflower. Blackberries and other briar 

 are important covers, as well as foods. 

 The greater variety and abundance of 

 food the better, of course, and many 

 seed-bearing weeds and grasses surely 

 will make their appearance on the 

 ground reserved for the birds. 



An excellent plan to hold the birds 

 evenly distributed on a large area would 

 be to plant double hedges of cover be- 

 tween the fields and across the center of 

 some of the large fields such as are com- 

 mon in the prairie States. A double row 

 of berry briars, wild rose and sumacs, . 

 with an intervening strip of grass, in- 

 cluding clover, weeds and plenty of sun- 

 flowers and golden-rod will be ample to. 

 hold a big head of grouse and afford 

 them safe covers and foods during the 

 time when all the foods in the fields are 

 turned under by the plow. The land set 

 aside for the birds can be made to yield 

 more money (from grouse and eggs) 

 with less labor, after the hedges are 

 once made, than any crop which can be 

 grown on the reserved area. 



Where there is a slough or stream 

 running through the farm the weeds, 

 rushes and wild rice will make excellent 

 covers and furnish some food. If a row 

 of briars, wild roses, sumacs, a few 

 apple trees and wild grapes and any of 

 the other foods be planted as a border 

 to the tall cover of the slough the place 

 will be unusually safe and attractive and 

 large numbers of grouse easily can be 

 reared in a wild state. 



The natural enemies of the grouse 

 should be extirpated as far as possible, 

 and if their numbers be fairly well kept 

 down the birds easily can be made far 

 more abundant than they ever were. They 

 should produce thousands of dollars 

 every year and should not interfere with 



