216 BASHFUL DRUMMERS. 



grouse, as I now learned to call him) re- 

 mained a mystery. I read Emerson's de- 

 scription of the " forest-seer : " 



" He saw the partridge drum in the woods ; 

 He heard the woodcock's evening hymn ; 

 He found the tawny thrushes' broods ; 

 And the shy hawk did wait for him ; " 



and I thought : " Well, now, I have seen 

 and heard the woodcock at his vespers ; I 

 have found the nest of the tawny thrush ; 

 the shy hawk has sat still on the branch just 

 over my head ; but I have not seen the par- 

 tridge drum in the woods. Why should n't 

 I do that, also ? " I made numerous at- 

 tempts. A bird often drummed in a small 

 wood where I was in the habit of rambling 

 before breakfast. The sound came always 

 from a particular quarter, and probably 

 from a certain stone wall, running over a 

 slight rise of ground near a swamp. The 

 crafty fellow evidently did not mean to be 

 surprised ; but I made a careful reconnois- 

 sance, and finally hit upon what seemed a 

 feasible point of approach. A rather large 

 boulder offered a little cover, and, after sev- 

 eral failures, I one day spied the bird on the 

 wall. He had drummed only a few min- 



