150 AMEKICA]Sr GAME BIRD SHOOTIl^G. 



it is always heard before rain, and they, as a conse- 

 quence, look upon the grouse as the best of weather 

 proj)hets. If they see the birds flying to the trees when 

 the day is fine, they expect rain; but if they remain on 

 the ground, though the sky should be threatening, fair 

 weather is expected. When the males are drumming for 

 the hens they often wage exceedingly severe battles, for 

 one looks upon the other as a rival, whose presence 

 should not be tolerated. A love-call is considered a 

 challenge for the affection of some russet dame by these 

 feathered knights, and on hearing it they answer in the 

 most defiant manner, and boldly fly to meet the chal- 

 lenger. Should they encounter each other, the battle is 

 commenced without any preliminaries, and fought with 

 a pluck and energy worthy of game-cocks. The contest 

 is much severer if a hen is a spectator than if she is not, 

 for her presence seems to nerve them to the utmost limit 

 of resistance; the result is that they fight until one is 

 killed, or seeks safety m flight. The victor then marches 

 away with the feathered Helena, and breathes his notes 

 of love into her ear, even before he has recovered from 

 the exhaustion of the fierce struggle he waged for her. 



Bishop Esaias Tegner, the author of " Frithiofs 

 Saga," wrote a poem called '' Fogel-Leken," or " The 

 Birds at Play," which graphically describes the wooings 

 and battles of the capercailzie during the pairing period, 

 and as his description applies almost equally well to the 

 ruffed grouse, I give the following selection from it, as 

 translated by Lindholm: 



" Hark ! now their love notes, saluting the day, 

 Awaken the fair ones to innocent play, 

 How tender those notes, full of longiag so sweet. 

 With which the fond singer his bride doth greet ! 

 . Now courting the coy one, who's pretending to know 

 But little, if aught, of his grief and his woe. 

 List 1 iu how sad and how mournful a strain 

 He telleth the heart's oft-told legend again ; 



