24 FEATHERED GAME 



choice. Perhaps we should say ^'ladies," for 

 he usually has several wives and would take 

 more if he could get them. He struts up and 

 down on some old fallen tree, with his tail 

 erect and widespread to its fullest extent, then 

 suddenly dropping it and pressing it closely to 

 the log, his short, powerful and deeply con- 

 caved wings beat a continuous roll, slowly at 

 first, but rapidly increasing in speed and vol- 

 ume, then dying away again. This noise 

 sounds like the rumble of far-off thunder and 

 may be heard a long distance on a still day. 

 The manner in which this "drumming" is pro- 

 duced was a question for a long time undecided, 

 many different theories being advanced. The 

 old idea was that he struck his wings upon a 

 hollow log, but if this were the case how does 

 he drum upon stones, sound logs, or the top 

 rail of a fence? The solution most generally 

 accepted is that this strange music is caused by 

 the vibration of the stiff quill feathers in their 

 rapid motion through the air, these never touch- 

 ing the body. The sound is very difficult to 

 locate and from its peculiarly muffled tone ac- 

 curate judgment of the performer's distance is 

 almost impossible. The bird will use the same 



