338 Tuttle, Drumming of the Ruffed Grouse. [j ( "i y 



when moved to within six feet of the log, in spite of the adversity 

 of the weather, in spite of the countless other logs on which he 

 might have drummed, and on which he had drummed before he 

 fixed his preference on the one which later came under my observa- 

 tion, he continued to arrive at the log within five or ten minutes 

 of the appointed time, hurrying to it, after he had carefully recon- 

 noitred the woods for possible enemies, as if irresistibly drawn by a 

 power over which he had no control. He was obviously reluctant 

 to leave the log when disturbed and usually returned to it, if the 

 hour was still early, as soon as he had satisfied his inherent caution. 



I was unable to study to what extent the drumming serves as a 

 mating call, because the hen, whose nest was some two hundred 

 and fifty yards to the north, had finished laying her complement of 

 fourteen eggs on the fifth of May and had begun to set before the 

 third, day of my observation. May second and third were the 

 only two days on which I might have seen the birds together at 

 the log, and on neither of these days did the hen appear. On May 

 second, however, after leaving my blind and walking about a 

 hundred yards in the direction in which I had seen the cock dis- 

 appear, I flushed the cock and another Grouse within a dozen feet 

 of each other. This second bird I feel sure was the hen of the pair, 

 because there were no other Grouse in this particular little second 

 growth swale and because the nest was but a stone's throw away; 

 nor was the hen on the nest when I walked over to it directly after 

 flushing the pair of birds. 



Inferences from the bird's attitude while on the log are largely 

 speculation. The watchfulness which he displayed at all times 

 was doubtless quite as much in the interest of his own safety as in 

 the endeavor to discover the presence of his mate, yet there was 

 one characteristic habit that might be interpreted as indicative 

 of the fact that the Grouse was on the lookout for the hen. This 

 was the fact that whenever I made a noise within the blind, such 

 as might have been made by the football of the hen on the leaves, 

 he at once craned his neck in the direction of the sound and imme- 

 diately drummed. I made such a noise several times, with the 

 intention of imitating a bird's footsteps, and on each occasion he 

 displayed a lively interest, quickly followed by an exhibition of his 

 wing power. 



