RUFFED GROUSE 145 



" E. J. Sawyer, after watching from a distance of a dozen feet the 

 beginning, progress, and ending of at least a hundred drumming.- 

 during the spring of 1921, concludes in the Roosevelt Wild Life 

 Bulletin for March, 1923 : 



1. Tlie outward and upward motion [of the wings] is chiefly responsible for 

 the drumming sound, particularly during the first half of the performance, tho 

 inward and forward motion of the wings being for the most part silent or 

 nearly so. 



2. The striking of the air alone with the wings is practically the sole cause 

 of the sound. 



"With this framework to build upon, the writer here submits 

 pictures (pis. 26, 27) of a grouse drumming, taken from the rear, 

 which are made from enlarged motion pictures. Unfortunately it is 

 not practicable to reproduce all the 123 frames making up the drum 

 but a careful analysis of the pictures printed should satisfy the most 

 skeptical as to how the sound is produced. The film was made in 

 the spring of 1929 on Connecticut Hill, 17 miles southwest of Ithaca, 

 N. Y., after four nights spent in a blind about a dozen feet from the 

 drumming log. The first night, April 26, the bird came to the log at 

 1.40 a. m. and drummed every 5 minutes until 5 o'clock. He then 

 moved to another log about 100 feet away and drummed until 

 6 o'clock. 



" The night of April 27 was cloudy and windy but warmer and 

 the grouse did not arrive until 4 a. m. He drummed every 3 min- 

 utes until 5 a. m. and then every 5 minutes until 5.30, and then 

 walked off the log not to return that morning. 



" Stormy weather prohibited returning to the blind at the drum- 

 ming log until May 4, when we resolved to try an experiment that 

 might hold the grouse on the log later in the morning and at the 

 same time throw some light on the object of the drumming as well 

 as the method. We hoped it might also give us an indication as 

 to the polygamous proclivities of the grouse. Accordingly we took 

 with us a captive female grouse in a crate with 2-inch wire netting 

 over the top. This we set in front of the log, concealing the sides 

 with boughs so that the female would be most visible from the 

 log. The experiment was entirely a success. 



" The night was cloudy, and it rained intermittently with occa- 

 sional snowflakes. At 4.45 we were awakened by a fluttering in the 

 crate and peering through the peephole beheld the male bird in 

 full display — tail up, ruffs extended, wings drooping but pressed to 

 the body and not touching the log. He moved along the log ever 

 so slowly until near the female. Then he lowered his head, ex- 

 tending his neck and shaking out the ruffs still more, and made 

 a few pecks at the log in front of him, though not always hitting 

 it, with his bill. Next he started shaking his head and ruffs with 



