34 GROUSE AND WILD TURKEYS OF UNITED STATES. 
year and ^rowii, and it is well fruited, owinj; to the buddinjj 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 weijxht is 
too great. 1 1 
The present investigation of ^.tomachs revealed only an insignificant " 
l)ercentage of apple buds, probably because most of the grouse exam- 
ined were shot in places remote from orchards. The bird has been I 
known to eat also pear and peach buds, and probably would not 
refuse cherry buds. From one crop, leaves of blackl)err>^ or raspberry 
(Rubus sp.) were taken, and bud twigs of blueberry {Vacchmim 
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 
{Epigcaa 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 {Riimex 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 {DryopterlH spinidom^ 
Botrychium ohliquum^ and Polypodkim 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 arborvita^ (Thvja 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 {Kalniio lati- 
folia). On this subject Alexander Wilson writes:'" 
Durini; the deej) snows of the winter, they have recourse to the buds of alder, 
and the tender buds of the laurel. I have freciuently found their crops dis- 
tended with a large handful of thes(» latter alone: and it has been confidently 
asserted, that, after having fed for some time on the laurel buds, their flesh 
becomes highly (lang<>rous to eat, partaking of the poisonous (pialities of the 
plant. 
« Our Northern and Eastern Birds, p. .387, 1883. 
i-Nat. Hist. Coll. in Alaska, p. i:n, 1888. 
cAm. Ornith., vol. II, p. 319, 1831. 
