32 GROUSE FAMILY. 



the buds of trees, the catkins of the hazel and alder, even 

 fern-buds, acorns, and seeds of various kinds, among which I 

 have met with the capsules, including the seeds of the com- 

 mon small Canadian Cistus {Heliattthemmn). At times I 

 have seen the crop almost entirely filled with the buds of the 

 apple-tree, each connected with a portion of the twig, the 

 wood of which appears to remain a good while undigested ; 

 cinquefoil and strawberry-leaves, buds of the Azaleas and of 

 the broad-leaved Kalmia, with the favorite partridge-berries 

 i^Gaultheria procumhens) , ivy-berries i^Cissus hederacea), and 

 gravel pebbles are also some of the many articles which form 

 the winter fare of our bird. In summer it seems often to 

 prefer berries of various kinds, particularly dewberries, straw- 

 berries, grapes, and whortleberries. 



In the month of April the Ruffed Grouse begins to be recog- 

 nized by his peculiar drumming, heard soon after dawn and 

 towards the close of evening. At length, as the season of pair- 

 ing approaches, it is heard louder and more frequent till a later 

 hour of the day, and commences again towards the close of 

 the afternoon. This sonorous, crepitating sound, strongly 

 resembling a low peal of distant thunder, is produced by the 

 male, who as a preliminary to the operation stands upright on 

 a prostrate log, parading with erected tail and ruff and with 

 drooping wings in the manner of the Turkey. After swelling 

 out his feathers and strutting forth for a few moments, at a 

 sudden impulse, like the motions of a crowing Cock, he draws 

 down his elevated plumes, and stretching himself forward, 

 loudly beats his sides with his wings with such an accelerating 

 motion, after the first few strokes, as to cause the tremor 

 described, which may be heard reverberating in a still morning 

 to the distance of from a quarter to that of half a mile. This 

 curious signal is repeated at intervals of about six or eight 

 minutes. The same sound is also heard in autumn as well as 

 spring, and given by the caged bird as well as the free, being, 

 at times, merely an instinctive expression of hilarity and vigor. 

 To this parading ground, regularly resorted to by the male for 

 the season, if undisturbed, the female flies with alacrity ; but, 



