year new facts are being discovered which lend weight to its importance.

Winter feeding in the northern states is of especial importance 
due to snow and sleet which make food unavailable. In addition.to the 
climate there are other factors which make game bird feed scarce during the

winter. Mice often destroy the weed seed and grain which lie under the 
snow so that whenthe snow melts the game birds are still short of fo&d.

Quail, prairie chickens, pheasants, and Hungarian partridges depend on 
weed seeds to pull them through the winter, but it often happens that even

if not covered with snow this food supply is exhausted bmidwinter, due to

the raids of large flocks of snowbirds, juncoes, tree sparrows, English 
sparrows, longspurs and other seed eating winter birds. In dry years, 
prairie and forpst fires destroy thousands of acres of game bird cover. 
In dry years fruits of all kinds are scarce or poor in quality, and as a

result game bird food is scarce in the fall as well as winter. Severe 
frosts may also cause the destruction of wild fruits and nuts. In agri- 
cultural districts natural winter food is scarce, due to the high percent-

age of pastured and plowed land. 
The chief purpose of winter feeding is to remedy any shortage of food 
due to such causes as those outlined above. 
In Wisconsin the ruffed grouse, the sharp-tailed grouse,and the 
pinnated grouse have been subject to a violeit fluctuation in numbers every

eight or nine years. As yet there is no definite pooof that lack of grain

and grit during heavy snow is the cause of sickness irlisconsin game birds,

except that most animals are more suscdptible to disease when undernourished

than wherwell feed. 
Errington (19314 ound that Wisconsin quail decreased rapidly in 
number when their food supply was cut off. Aside from actual starvation,

the quail under observation were easily killed by cold weather and predators

when weakened by lack of food. 
1 
I.,JrI FL                  C*U Savr  Wij+er;1           W eJ6CA43C^aIGe 
'WaoVAsder 1930 .