28 The RuflFed Grouse 



few minutes the tlu-ihiug beats started again— slowly at first, then at 

 an increasing tempo, until at the end they blended into an indefinite 

 whir— as though the speed had so increased as to have passed the 

 field of audible vibrations. The hen bird's heart was in her throat as 

 she came closer. Then suddenly, as she peered around the end of an 

 old windfall, she beheld the object of her search. It was the grandest 

 grouse she had ever seen. She froze in her tracks. 



The Courtship. Apparently the old cock bird had spied her the in- 

 stant she saw him. Facing her with his head turned slightly sideways 

 he stood erect on a huge old fallen log. His tail was held high and 

 spread into a huge fan; his wings drooped deliberately at his side, 

 while the head was drawn stiffly back into an encircling black ruff, 

 raised high ( see Plate 2B ) . His sharp eyes held her attention stead- 

 fastly, as though he were attempting hypnosis. Slowly and carefully 

 he took a stiff step forward— then another, and another. For several 

 feet along the old log he thus slowly strutted towards her. Then he 

 broke his gait and quickly jumped down from the log, and just as 

 quickly regained the strutting pose again. After a moment he reached 

 quickly down with his head and pretended to peck at each of a 

 couple of leaves in front of him. In an almost continuous gesture, he 

 began shaking his head forward and somewhat downward and side- 

 ways, first on one side and then on the other, and with each shake 

 emitting a most peculiar sound. With each headshake he made a 

 double hiss— something like "shh— ushh," the first half with an exhale 

 and the second with an inhale. After a few preliminary, evenly 

 spaced hisses, the headshakes gradually became more rapid and the 

 hisses speeded up with an increasing crescendo, finally reaching the 

 point where it became physically impossible to shake the head any 

 faster. A final, long, letting-oS^-steam hiss following the finish of the 

 headshaking was accompanied by a quick little forward run toward 

 the hen bird during which every muscle in his body relaxed in a 

 convulsive quiver. 



By this time the female was so overcome with emotion at this 

 devastating exhibition that she squatted, limp, on the giound. But 

 when the male suddenly set upon her and struck her vicious blows 

 about the head, she quickly regained her senses and beat a hurried 

 retreat. 



This performance Allen ( 1934 ) has called the "intimidation dis- 



