32 The Ruffed Grouse 



ming log only about fifteen feet away. I had hoped to photograph 

 this bird and had rigged a litde hemlock blind in which the camera 

 was ready for action. This particular log was a very old, well-rotted, 

 mossy granddad of a log, and had been used for drumming for many 

 years, judging by the deeply worn drumming spot. The drumming 

 spot was quite near one end of the log, where it hung suspended a 

 few inches off the ground. And it so happened that at this particular 

 moment the log broke off, right at the drumming spot, and the free 

 end fell to the ground. Of course the cock left the place in a hurry. 

 I figured that my chance of getting a photograph, or even of seeing 

 the grouse again at tliat place, was remote, although at the moment 

 I was not sure just what had happened. 



Before completing this episode, I must note that there was a small 

 mossy mound right next to the foot of my sleeping bag, and I went 

 back to sleep. The next I knew I awoke suddenly just as dawn was 

 breaking to hear the bird drumming so close it seemed to be almost 

 on top of me. And truly, he almost was, for I could feel the wing 

 beats against my feet at the side of the bag— he had selected the little 

 mossy momid to drum on after having his regular log broken. To say 

 that I thrilled to the tips of my hair is putting it mildly. 



In dmmming, the bird stands crosswise of the log, braces himself 

 back on his tail, and brings the wings forward and upward with 

 quick strokes like the beats of a well-trained crew ( see Plate 2A ) . 

 Slowly at first, then wdth increasing speed, the beats roll on until 

 finally ending in a rapid whir. The quality of the drmus may best be 

 called a dull, hollow thumping. They possess a peculiar ventriloqual 

 quality, often deceiving one as to the direction from which they 

 come. They are also deceiving as to distance, drumming a quarter 

 of a mile away sounding practically as loud as if only a hundred 

 yards off. 



The mechanics of the sound was long in dispute. Some held that 

 the wings struck together behind the back, others tliat they came 

 together in front; it was believed by still others that the wings struck 

 the breast, or the log. It remained for Allen to prove by slow-motion 

 movies that it actually results from the cupped wings striking the 

 air. Mathews ( 1904 ) places the pitch of the sound at from A flat to 

 B flat. Smythe (1925) savs: "... the first tones are staccato and 

 widely separated but the last are run together in a rapid roll . . ." 

 (see musical expression on next page). 



