A LABRADOR SPRING 



wings as they pour forth their love-song. This 

 happens regularly in the case of such birds as 

 the pipet, the horned-lark and the long-billed 

 marsh wren, and less regularly in the song 

 sparrow, oven bird, and Maryland yellow- 

 throat. 



In these cases the slight music made by the 

 rapid and forcible fluttering of the wings is 

 wholly subordinate to the song. In the case 

 of the ruffed grouse on the other hand, the 

 music of the wings is everything, there is no 

 vocal music and no locomotion, for the bird 

 stands on a log and flutters its wings so rapidly 

 that a loud whirring or " drumming " sound is 

 made, by which the bird expresses, doubtless, 

 the same emotions as are expressed by the fox 

 sparrow with its wonderful song. 



Mr. William Brewster, in his description of 

 a drumming grouse, says: " Suddenly he paused 

 and sitting down on his rump and tarsi, cross- 

 wise on the log, ... he stretched out his wings 

 stiffly at nearly right angles with the body. . .. . 

 Now the wings were drawn slightly back, a 

 quick stroke given forward, at the air, and a 

 pulsating throb, entirely different from any 

 sound I have ever heard, struck my ear, pro- 



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