CHARACTERISTIC OF THE MALE 



279 



mittent activity may often be heard throughout the day, it commences with regularity again 

 about an hour before twilight and continues until dark and sometimes later. The frequency of 

 successive drums increases as the height of the season approaches. Grouse have been ob- 

 served to drum regularly for several hours at from 3- to 5-minute intervals. Birds have also 

 been recorded which drummed for periods of half an hour at intervals of less than a minute 

 and on several occasions have been seen to drum a second time with hardly a pause between. 



V^-^'. 



tr. 





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Ri^f''-rt U . Uarrnw 



WHERE A GROUSE DRUMMED IN THE SNOW ON A GRANITE LEDGE IN FEBRUARY 



During this Investigation, few instances of fall drumming approaching the regularity re- 

 corded by Brewster™ have been observed. 



The Drumming Log 



For a bandstand, a drummer usually mounts a fallen log, hence the term "drumming log". 

 Most commonly chosen is some old, more or less moss-covered relic of fairly large diameter 

 mouldering on the forest floor. Sometimes an old stump or upturned root is used, but 

 freshly-cut logs or stumps are seldom favored. In rocky country such as the Adirondacks, 

 boulders and ledges frequently serve this purpose. Birds have also been observed to drum 

 from most any small mound on the forest floor, even stones or bunches of moss no larger than 

 the crown of one's hat. It is probable, however, that in such cases, the bird usually has a 

 more characteristic rostrum elsewhere, since individual males usually have more than one 

 drumming station. Perhaps the most unusual "log" is recorded by Grinneir% who found a 

 bird drumming on the carcass of another bird which had been shot and unrecovered a few 



