RUFFED GROUS. 659 



In the month of April, the Ruffed Grous begins to be 

 recognised by his peculiar drumming, heard soon after 

 dawn, and towards the close of evening. At length, as 

 the season of pairing approaches, it is heard louder and 

 more frequent till a later hour of the day, and commenc- 

 es again towards the close of the afternoon. This sono- 

 rous crepitating sound, strongly resembling a low peal of 

 distant thunder, is produced by the male, who, as a pre- 

 liminary to the operation, stands upright on a prostrate 

 log, parading with erected tail and ruff, and with drooping 

 wings in the manner of the Turkey. After swelling out 

 his feathers, and strutting forth for a few moments, at a 

 sudden impulse, like the motions of a crowing Cock, he 

 draws down his elevated plumes, and stretching himself 

 forward, loudly beats his sides with his wings, with such 

 an accelerating motion, after the first few strokes, as to 

 cause the tremor described, which may be heard reverber- 

 ating, in a still morning, to the distance of from a quar- 

 ter to that of half a mile. This curious signal is repeat- 

 ed at intervals of about 6 or 8 minutes. The same sound 

 is also heard in autumn as well as spring, and given by 

 the caged bird as well as the free, being, at times, merely 

 an instinctive expression of hilarity and vigor. To this 

 parading ground, regularly resorted to by the male, for 

 the season, if undisturbed, the female flies with alacrity; 

 but, as with other species of the genus, no lasting individ- 

 ual attachment is formed, and they live in a state of lim- 

 ited concubinage. The drumming parade of the male is 

 likewise often the signal for a quarrel ; and when they 

 happen to meet each other in the vicinity of their usual 

 and stated walks, obstinate battles, like those of our do- 

 mestic fowls for the sovereignty of the dung-hill, but too 

 commonly succeed. When this sound, indeed, (according 

 to Audubon,) is imitated by striking carefully upon an 



