332 Ttjttle, Drumming of the Ruffed Grouse. [July 



clear, he abandoned his stealthy countermarches and long motion- 

 less delays, and hurried with careless steps to the log which seemed 

 to draw him like a magnet. 



I waited till five-ten for my first shot at one-fifth of a second, 

 selecting the moment just after drumming, in the hope of catching 

 him with his tail erect. At five-twenty with full sunlight I pulled 

 the second thread at one twenty-fifth, endeavoring to picture him 

 during the pause at the end of the four preliminary wing beats. 

 (The first picture was successful, but the plate in the second had 

 been badly fogged, possibly owing to a defective plate holder. 

 There was no image on it.) 



At six o'clock the Grouse was in full sunlight, bright enough for 

 a fast exposure. He scratched his head with his toe, a pose that 

 I should like to have caught. If luck had been with me, an ex- 

 posure of a fiftieth of a second would have caught him at the end 

 of a wing stroke, as there was a pause of slight duration at the end 

 of each beat. He preened himself, then took one wing beat, and 

 as if unsatisfied with his stance, turned about. The Grouse takes 

 the first beat after partially squatting as if to steady himself. He 

 then draws himself erect and takes four, the last of which often 

 has as much force as the ones that follow. Here there is a slight 

 pause, the upper breast is swelled, and the bird stands even more 

 erect, the body being almost perpendicular, the head thrust for- 

 ward. In this position the Grouse slightly resembles a pouter 

 pigeon, and suggests Browning's description of Napoleon before 

 Ratisbon, " with neck out-thrust, you fancy how — ' The next 

 beat comes with increased volume and is followed by about twenty 

 strokes in ever quickening succession till the "roll." This is made 

 up of ten or possibly twenty beats, rolled into a crescendo that 

 frequently stirs the leaves ten feet in front of the drum log. At the 

 end of the roll the bird stands on tiptoe, the ruffs are prominently 

 displayed, the tail is erect at an angle of forty-five degrees and 

 gradually subsides, first to a horizontal position and then to a 

 position resting on the log, the ruffs slide back into their normal 

 place, and the small feathers on the throat, which are ruffed the 

 wrong way during drumming, become smooth. 



The Grouse now hopped off the log on the far side, but the temp- 

 tation was too strong, and he returned, facing west for a short 



