280 



GENERAL HABITS 



days before. In captivity. o;rouse experience no difliculty in druniniint; on the flat wire floors 

 of their pens. 



Little preference as to the location of dniniminp logs seems to be shown, except that they 

 are usually found in woodland cover and where possible associated with conifers. Open or 

 overgrown land types and steep slojjes tend to be avoided. 



A TYPICAL GROUSE DRUMMING LOG 



During the drumming season, logs in regular use may be recognized b\ the presence of 

 numerous fresh droppings on or beside them. If such droppings are in some way obliterated 

 from a series of logs and the subsequent accumulation noted at the end of a definite interval, 

 one may secure some indication of the degree of use of each. This varies with the mimber of 

 logs per male, the amount i>f competition, size of territorv. and other factors. A curious 

 incident was noted on the Adirondack area when a bird, whose favorite log was located in a 

 swam|>. contimied to utilize it while it was complelciv surrounded bv water from an overflow- 

 ing brook. Manv logs are used vear after vear. 



Number of Logs Used. Male grouse usually establish iiiorc than one dniiinning log. In ad- 

 dition to individual differences between males, there is some indication that the miinbcr mav 

 tend to \ar\ direclK with the di'grcc of competition with other males, and inverscK with the 

 relative mimber of females influenced. On the olhci liaiid. in several instances, isolated pairs 



