434 THE RUFFED GROUSE. 



General Range. — Eastern United States and southern Canada, west to Min- 

 nesota, south in the mountains to northern Georgia, Mississippi, and Arkansas. 



Range in Ohio. — Formerly common throughout the state except in prairie 

 portions; now great!} reduced in numbers and locally restricted. Most common 

 in hilly portions south and northeast. 



APPRECIATION of the Ruffed Grouse is about equally divided between 



the nature-lovers and the sportsmen. Be he gunner or poet there is none who 

 can withstand the charms of the October woods in which it lives, when the 

 air is crisp and the fallen leaves are rustling smartly. The trees are not yet 

 entirely stripped, but certain clusters of saplings have great windrows piled 

 about their feet, and the carpet of the woods is everywhere pregnant with 

 possibilities. The poet feels the overhush of autumn and the gunner the 

 undercrush of leaves, hut both alike are startled by the first wing-rush of the 

 Partridge, as it lmrsts from cover and whirls away like a cyclone to the utter- 

 most parts of the woods. Time was when the Partridge treed from curiosity 

 at yelping cur or whistling human, hut now there is just a half moment for 

 the gunner, or the chase must he renewed. 



On the drumming log those marvelous wings which stir the blood like 

 none others, ma}' he heard again : 



"1 learest thou that bird? 

 I listened, and from 'midst the depth of woods 

 Heard the love signal of the Grouse that wears 

 A sable ruff around his mottled neck : 

 Partridge they call him by our northern streams 

 And Pheasant by the Delaware. He beats 

 "Gainst his barred sides his speckled wings, and makes 

 A sound like distant thunder; slow the strokes 

 At first, then fast and faster, till at length 

 Tliev pass into a murmur, and are still." 

 The purpose of this extraordinary music is well known: it is to attract 

 the female and guide her to the tryst. It is not, however, certainly known 

 whether the bird is monogamous or not. Bendire thinks he is. On the other 

 hand, Henry William Herbert once saw seven hen birds grouped about a strut- 

 ting male. "And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, 

 We will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel: only let us be called 

 by thy name: take thou away our reproach." 



Various theories have been advanced as to the real method of sound pro 

 duction in drumming. The reverberating sounds were long supposed to be 

 due to the impact of the wings upon the breast. A very creditable imitation 

 may be produced by a sound-winded man who pounds upon his lungs with 

 clenched fists. Others affirmed that the ictus was made by the contact of 

 wings as they met over the back. Bendire says: -|t is generally conceded 



