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REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



and a tuft of dusky feathers on the vertex. Chick : Above light rufous, beneath 

 rusty white; uniform above and below; a dusky postocular streak inclining down- 

 wards across the auriculars. Bill whitish. ("History of North American Birds."*) 



This beautiful bird is found from the Eastern United States westward to the edge 

 of the Great Plains, and from Northern New York, Southern Ontario, Canada, and 

 Minnesota, southward to Northern South Carolina and Northwestern Georgia, 

 Tennessee, and Arkansas. In the northern portion of its range it is found in the 

 lowlands, and in the southern, in the highlands. In the northern part of this State it 

 intergrades with a gray variety, the Canadian Ruflfed Grouse, known as Bonasa 

 umbclhis togata, R. It breeds throughout its range and is highly appreciated as a 

 game bird and as an article of food for man. The habitat preferred by this bird is a 

 hilly, wooded country with much undergrowth and some meadows and cultivated 

 fields near by. During the close season or period when protected by law, and during 

 the early part of the open season, it is very confiding and is often seen out in the 

 open fields; but when the fall shooting commences, it soon learns to keep near or in 

 the brushy woods. They commence to mate in March, when the loud and characteristic 

 booming or drumming sound of the male may be heard. He selects a log near the 

 edge of the woods, and after considerable strutting, spread of tail and show of black 

 rufT or neck-feathers, he stretches himself on his perch and commences to beat the air 

 vigorously with his wings, at first rather slowly, but soon with such rapid vibrations 

 that one would scarcely believe that voluntary muscular fibre can be made to move so 

 rapidly. 



There has been much discussion as to how this drumming sound is produced, some 

 persons holding that it is caused by the wings striking the log; others say that the 

 wings strike the inflated body of the bird ; but it is now generally agreed that the 

 sound is made by the feathers of the wings cutting rapidly through the air. The 

 noise produced is of the same nature and practically made in the same manner as the 

 whirring sound of the bird's wings when it suddenly takes flight by being frightened. 

 Although the drumming is mostly done in the spring time, the sound may be heard 

 almost every month of the year, and it is probable that it is for the purpose of 

 notifying the female of his whereabouts. The same drumming site is usually selected, 

 not only from day to day and month to month, but from year to year. This habit of 

 the birds in frequenting one spot has often led to their destruction, as boys frequently 

 place snares arranged with spring-poles along the log and catch the grouse by their 

 necks. There they are found hanging dead. However, this is now illegal. 



• These descriptions are from R. Ridgway, in " The Ornithology of Illinois," Nat. Hist. Survey 

 of 111., Pt. I, Vol. II. 



