!> 1 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 52. 



THE DRUMMING < >F THE RUFFED GR< >USE. 



I'.V LYNDS JONES. 



Appropos of the revived discussion in regard to the manner in 

 which the male Ruffed Grouse produces the well known drum- 

 ming sounds, 1 wish to contribute some personal experiences 

 with this bird in my old home woods in central Iowa. Unfor- 

 tunately, this part of Northern Ohio, Lorain Count)-, has seen 

 about the last of this interesting and disappearing grouse. 



The old home grove was divided into two tracts by an inter- 

 mittent stream with its grassy bottom. The small eastern por- 

 tion covered but three hills, the much larger western portion 

 covered eight hills, all of which radiated from a neck of the 

 highland scarcely one hundred yards wide, yet the semi-cir- 

 cumference of these eight hills, as they faced Sugar Creek to 

 the north and west, was fully a miie and a half. The west part 

 of the woods always boasted two breading pairs of Ruffed 

 Grouse, both of which occupied the central hills for drumming. 

 Their drumming places varied from year to year, but were 

 never near the bottoms of the ravines. Xor did I find them 

 upon the hill-tops, rather a little to one side of the top, gener- 

 ally to the right, as one faces the creek. 



The woods was wholly deciduous, hardwoods predominat- 

 ing. In about 1850 the large timber had been almost intirely 

 cut off, but here and there old logs, the remains of trees some- 

 times five feet in diameter, lay rotting. Here and there one 

 of the original giants stood, overtopping the second growth for 

 nearly half its height. A few large boulders lay exposed on 

 the hill-tops. Huge stumps were numerous, most of them 

 well rotted. In most places the second growth was thick, with 

 the hazel bushes and berry vines making a dense thicket, except 

 where the wild plum and crab-apple thickets occurred. 



In this woods the grouse could be heard drumming at al- 

 most any time of day, from March well toward November, 

 though after May the drumming was far less frequent, and 

 sometimes practically ceased during July and August. 



As a boy I often stole near the drumming grouse, but was 



