The Drumming of the Ruffed Grouse 



2+7 



and a m()(k■^l -clf-satisfartioii. Tlu- next in-tant he turns crossways of ihc log, 

 ihr lu'ad i> rai-t'd, \hc fcatlu-rs of tlu- lunk and the lilack ruff (.'Xpandt'd l)y the 

 >amc act, llu' tail is spread, and at the same lime the wings heat the air three 

 or four clearh distinct tinie> with a niuffled icliir at each heal — such is the force 

 of the >troke and then hang straight down for an instant, as also l)et\veen the 

 strokes just des( riheil. Now begins the ])art of the drumming which is so famiHar 

 to man\- as a distant rumhle and characteristic wood sound. As the interval 

 between the strokes, whiih at lirst is about a second, gradually shortens the bird 

 assumes a more and more hori/.ontal jiosition until at the end, when the drumming 



DKUMMIXG RUI-FED GROUSE 

 Enlargement of tlie following photograph retouched by E. J. Sawyer 



has become one prolonged whir of the constantly moving wings, the head sets- 

 down close to the shoulders. In the latter part of the drumming the outline 

 of the wings is entirely lost in a gray haze which, however, serves to show the 

 extent of their motion; they are held just free from the sides and fluttered rather 

 than flapped at the close of the act. In the first part of the drumming it may 

 easily be observed that the tij^s of the wings are brought as far forward as the 

 feet and backward about to a horizontal position. The tail lays flat on the log 

 if the latter is large. The only device I can think of which seems calculated 

 closely to imitate the rapid drumming is a soft, yet solid, rubber ball dropped 

 on the top of a velvet-covered wooden vessel. I have often compared the tone 



