ih ~ ar 
‘% sf barely Sis 

Propagating Ruffed Grouse 
In his report, dated Dec. 1, 1905, to the 
Massachusetts Commission of Fisheries and 
Game, Prof. Clifton F. Hodge, of Clark Uni- 
versity, Worcester, who has gained notoriety 
through his experiments in domesticating 
ruffed grouse, stated that the grouse he had in 
captivity for the commission were very easily. 
brought through the previous winter. For 
housing they were given the choice of a large 
flying cage filled with trees and brush, and 
sunny compartments on the south side of a 
small building, also filléd with branches of 
different trees. In severe weather they were 
observed to spend the days mainly in the 
building, wallowing in the dry earth with 
which the floor was covered, or perched about 
in the branches. The nights were always 
passed outside, either perched in the trees or 
within their extensive snow burrows. 
Water was provided daily, but there was no 
evidence that they touched it while snow was 
on the ground. On the other hand, they were 
seen frequently eating snow. 
For food they were constantly given free 
choice of as large a variety as possible. Bud- 
ding brush of apple, black cherry, poplar, 
maple, willow, spruce, oak, chestnut and some 
others were liberally supplied, and they were 
observed to bud mainly on poplar and apple. 
They were also frequently observed to eat 
the dry brown leaves—oak, apple and chestnut 
—with which they were supplied. Rose hips 
and thorn apples were eagerly eaten, and the 
berries of black alder were taken sparingly. 
Their main foods, however, consisted of seeds 
and erains—corn, kafhr corn, sunflower seeds, 
wheat, rye, buckwheat, millet, oats and barley. 
Oats and barley were eaten sparingly; peas and 
beans were refused. Sunflower seeds, kaffir 
corn, corn, buckwheat and wheat were pre- 
ferred in the order given, The birds also ate 
all the acorns and chestnuts that could be pro- 
cured, and also quantities of cranberries, 
apples and cabbage, with which they were 
always supplied. 
In the spring their yard was spaded, freshly 
sodded in part and the rest thickly planted with 
ferns from the woods, mosses, wintergreen 
and sweet fern. So eager were the grouse for 
the fresh fern leaves—although they had cab- 
bage, lettuce, plantain and many other growing 
plants—that among the scores of large clumps 
planted in the enclosure not a frond was 
allowed to unroll. From this Prof. Hodge 
infers that the tender fern buds must form a 
staple article of food for the grouse in the early 
spring. 
Only one of the birds reared from the egg 
was a cock. He was large and vigorous, and 
from the time that he first began to strut in 
September his captor expected daily to hear 
him drum. However, the fall and winter 
passed, and about the middle of February the 
strutting began afresh, but no sign of drumming. 
The other cock, captured the fall before, but 
tame and entirely at home in the enclosure, 
began persecuting his rival. He was therefore 
put in a cage by himself some distance from 
the rest. ‘I hoped in this way,” Prof. Hodge 
continues, “‘to ascertain the motive of the 
grouse in drumming. If the lone cock drummed, 
it might indicate either a mate call or a male 
challenge. If the other cock answered, it 
would suggest the male challenge. However, 
nothing happened, and as the middle of April 
approached I was about ready to conclude 
that probably both cocks were yearlings, and 
that they would not drum in captivity or with- 
out instruction from the birds in the wild. 
Just at this juncture a letter from Mr. J. B. 
Battelle was received, in which he stated that 
his ruffed grouse (captured birds) never 
drummed in captivity, because, as he thought, 
the hens were left with the cocks. Accordingly 
as a last resort, I shut up all the hens. The 
cock was greatly excited, and ran eagerly about 
searching for his mates; then, almost before I 
had time to take in the situation, he sprang 
to the top of a bit of stone wall, and, stretching 
himself up to full height, began to drum. As 
the wings moved faster he slipped off, and 
finished his first performance on the ground. 
This was April 14, and three days later the 
first egg of the season was laid. For about 
three weeks he continued to drum whenever 
the hens were shut up, but never when they 
were with him. During a drumming bout he 
would perform about once in three minutes, 
the act ” itself lasting from twelve to fifteen 


