THE CANADA GROUSE, 53 



Mr. Manly Hardy, of Brewer, Maine, a reliable and careful observer, 

 writes me as follows: "I have been over every ])art of this State where this 

 bird is likely to be aljundant, east from Penobscot, from the sea to the North 

 Corner Monument, but I have always found the Canada Grouse very scarce 

 everywhere. Five once and six at another time are the largest numlier I 

 ever saw together. I have many times traveled a month, and sometimes 

 two months constantly in the woods, where they ought to be, without seeing 

 over one or two. 



"A Micmac Indian, whom I consider reliable, tells me of having seen a 

 pack of many thousands somewhei'e east of Halifax, Nova Scotia, on which their 

 whole village lived for weeks, moving after them Avhen they moved. The 

 males greatly preponderate over the females, at least two to one. They feed 

 almost entirely on the needles of spruce and fir, also hackmatack and berries 

 in summer. They show a preference for some fir trees over others, as I have 

 seen them return to the same tree until it was nearly stripped. When dis- 

 titrbed, they alwavs take to the trees, walking about in tliem, from one bi-anch 

 to another. Mv father, who had opportunities to see them drum, told me they 

 drummed in tlu^ air while descending from a tree. They would fly up on a 

 tree, then start off" and drum on the way to the groimd, like a Quaker grass- 

 hopper. When on the ground they scratch a great deal more than other 

 (jrrouse do." 



Another description of the drumming is as follows: "The Canada Grouse 

 performs its 'drumming' upon the trunk of a standing tree of rather small size, 

 jireferably one that is inclined from the perpendicular, and in the folhiwing 

 manner: Commencing near the base of the tree selected, the bird flutters 

 u})ward with somewhat slow progress, but rapidly beating wings, which pro- 

 duce the drumming sound. Having thus ascended 15 or 20 feet it glides 

 quietly on wing to the ground and repeats the mana;u^•re. Favorite places 

 are resorted to habitually, and these 'drumming trees' are well known to 

 observant woodsmen. I have seen one that was so Avell worn upon the bark 

 as to lead to the l)elief that it had been used for this purpose for many 

 years. This tree was a spruce of 6 inches diameter, with an inclination of 

 about 15 degrees from the perpendicular, and was known to have been used as 

 a 'drumming tree' for several seasons. The upper surface and sides of the 

 trunk were so worn by the feet and wings of the bird or birds using it for 

 drumming, that for a distance of 12 or 15 feet the bark had become quite 

 smooth and red as if rubbed."' 



Mr. Watson L. Bishop, of Kentville, Nova Scotia, has succeeded in domes- 

 ticating the Canada Grouse, and he has published ."several very interesting 

 accounts of their habits as obsei-ved by him, in the "Forest and Stream," giving 

 its many readers a great deal of new and valuable infonuation aboiit the life- 

 history of these birds, a portion of which I extract. He says: "As the nest- 

 ing season approaches I prepare suitable places for them by placing spruce 



'Birds of Maine, Everett Smitli, Forest ami Stream, February 8, 188;?, p. 20. 



