RUFFED GROUSE. 33 
grouse at dusk balancing on the ends of birch l)ranchcs and snipping 
off buds. As with the pophir, both leaf buds and flowci- buds are 
taken. A grouse shot in Quebec December IH, LSDC), had filled its 
cro}) with 200 catkins of the canoe birch. As a rule birds a])pear to 
prefer the male to the female flowers. Haird, Brewer, and Kidgway 
are authority for the statement that in Maine the buds of black 
birch are so freely eaten that they impart to the bird's flesh a dis- 
tinctive and agreeable flavor. The ruffed grouse feeds also on the 
buds and leaves of different species of willow, as Major Bendire" 
and other authors have reported. A bird shot on Koseau River. 
Minnesota, October 20, 1896, had eaten 20 willow flowers. In bud- 
ding, the grouse often clips from a fourth to half an inch of a twig 
which bears two or three buds. 
In addition to the buds and leaves of willow, birch, and poplar, 
browse from miscellaneous plants i)rovides the bird with 27.91 per- 
cent of its food. Such relatives of the willow as the alder, hazel, 
beech, ironwood, and hornbeam furnish a part of the above. Apple 
trees on outlying parts of farms are favorite sources of supply. This 
fact, noted by many observers and confirmed by the present investiga- 
tion, has given rise to considerable discussion as to whether or not the 
trees are seriously injured by the budding. Dr. Clarence M. Weed 
says : ^ 
The ruffed grouse, liowever, is capable of inflicting real damage by a to(> 
close pruning of buds, and cases are known where apple orchards located near 
woods have been rendered useless by them. 
Mr. C. J. Maynard states that he took 180 apple buds from one 
( rop, and says that in Massachusetts at one time a bounty of 25 cents 
was offered by certain towns for the birds' heads.^ Miss M. E. 
]*aine, of Kovalston, Mass., in a letter to the writer describes her 
observations on the budding of apj)le trees V)y grouse as follows: 
The ruffed grouse eats the buds of apple trees, but it is a helj) rather than a 
damage. Last year a wild ai>i)le tree on top of a hill, between pasture and 
mowing, was almost entirely budded. I thought entirely at first, but the ter- 
i.iinal buds were almost always left uninjured, also many minute buds on each 
limb. The result was the terminal buds were pushed out and grew rapidly and 
strongly. The tree blossomed abundantly and the fruit hung in clusters toward 
the ends of the branches. The tree is of medium size and the branches droop 
to the ground. In the fall the golden ai>ples occu|)ied fully as nuich room as the 
green leaves, and as one l()()ke(h at the tree a few rods away — a perfect pic 
lure, barrels of apples on it, all nearly perfect and fair, just the result of a 
vigorous trinnning. This year it was not so badly budded^less snow in 
winter. Many small buds farther back in the branches have started again this 
a Life Hist. X. A. IVirds, [I], p. G(i, 1892. 
6 Birds in Their Relation to Man. p. 40, 1003. 
c Birds of Eastern X. A., p. 35.**,, 1881. 
