248 



Bird -Lore 



A DRUMMING RUFFED GROUSE 

 Untouched photograph from nature 



of the wing-beats with the ^ound made by striking my leg just above the knee 

 with the lower (little finger) side of my clenched hand. 



One point which should have prevented the belief that the noise is made 

 by the wings striking the bird's perch is the characteristic uniformity of the 

 sound which is of the same nature as the well-known hum of this bird's wings 



in flight. It does not vary, as would be 

 the case in thumping against different 

 kinds of wood in various stages of decay. 

 Most of the drumming logs are old 

 and more or less moss-covered; the bark 

 has quite disappeared from many, but 

 they are solid enough to afford the Grouse 

 a good foothold, though often consider- 

 abl\' worn away, when barkless and 

 somewhat soft, by long continued use of 

 the grasping feet. When a spot has 

 been used for drumming even a week 

 or two, it begins to have the appearance 

 of a chicken roost. If it is a log, as 

 usual, the ground, especially on one side, 

 and perhaps the top will be fouled at the 

 points where the Grouse stands. There are sometimes half a dozen or more 

 of these drumming spots on one long log; by these "signs" together with 

 a worn or chafed appearance drumming logs may readily and infallibly be 

 known. 



The log shown in the photographs was a section sawed from a large tree. 

 It was hollow but otherwise sound. Two similar logs, one end to end with it, 

 the other a rod away, were also used by the same Grouse as drumming-places. 

 The first day I watched him the bird drummed only from the other two logs, 

 while my blind was built nearest and camera focused on the one unused. The 

 next day before the bird appeared in the afternoon I placed sticks over the entire 

 length of two of the logs, leaving untouched the log nearest my blind and camera. 

 After two hours' waiting the Grouse first appeared on one of the brush-strewn 

 logs. He tried his wings in a few places on this log, and then actually drummed, 

 though the tips of his wings brushed the sticks about him. He then walked along 

 the log, gingerly picking his way among the sticks, looking evidently for a better 

 spot, and soon went to the other brush-covered log where he drummed several 

 times. Still hampered by the brush, he finally hopped to the log before my 

 camera where all seemed to his satisfaction, for he remained here a long while, 

 drumming repeatedly. That evening I added enough brush to the troublesome 

 logs to prevent drumming on them, and had no farther difficult)- in that way, 

 the Grouse thereafter coming directl\- to the desired place. 



The photograph made of the bird just mentioned, sht)wing a side view, 



