Bob Whites, Grouse, etc. 



The "drumming" of a male ruffed grouse, its most famous 

 characteristic, is surely as remarkable a bird call as is heard in all 

 nature. A thumping, rolling tattoo, like the deep, muffled beat- 

 ing of a drum, sonorous, crepitating, ventriloqual, admirably 



written down by Mr. Ernest Seton Thompson, thump thump 



thump thump, thump; thump, thump-rup, rup, rup, r-r-r- 



r-r-r-r-r-r, announces the presence of a cock hopeful of attracting 

 the attention of some shy female hidden in the underbrush. Any 

 one will do, for he is a sadly erring mate, a flagrant polygamist, 

 in spite of much that has been said to whiten his character. On 

 a fallen log, a wall, or broad stump that has been used as a drum- 

 ming ground perhaps for many years, and well known to the 

 hens as a trysting place, the male puffs out his feathers until, 

 like a turkey cock, he looks twice his natural size, ruffs his neck 

 frills, raises his crest, spreads and elevates his tail, droops his 

 trailing wings beside him, and, with head drawn backward, struts 

 along the surface with the most affected jerking, dandified gait. 

 Suddenly he halts, distends his head and neck, and beats the air 

 with his wings, slowly at first, then faster and faster, until there 

 is simply a blur where wings should be, so marvelously fast do 

 they go. Because they vibrate at a speed at which the human 

 eye can scarcely follow, the method of drumming is a vexed 

 question among the most reliable observers. Thoreau was ready 

 to swear that he had seen the ruffed grouse strike its wings to- 

 gether behind its back to produce the sound, Audubon to the 

 contrary notwithstanding. Most woodsmen will tell you either 

 that the male strikes the log on which he is standing, or the sides 

 of his body; but the strongest scientific judgment now favors 

 the abundant testimony that the bird beats nothing but the air; 

 its wings neither meet behind the back, nor do they touch its 

 sides, nor strike against any substance whatsoever. The drum- 

 ming may occur at any season, most frequently and vigorously 

 at nesting time, of course; but besides being a love "song," it is 

 doubtless also a challenge to rival cocks, that fight like gamesters 

 until blood and feathers strew the ground; or it may be simply 

 an outlet to the bird's inordinate vanity and vigorous animal 

 spirits. In a lesser degree the sound is precisely the same as 

 when the grouse begins its flight. 



Quite ignored by her lover when maternal duties approach, 

 the female scratches a slight hollow in some secluded place, usu- 



274 



