290 Sporting Sketches 



grouse, and who is warned by the actions of the dog 

 that the game is somewhere in the tree immediately 

 above, frequently has difficulty in locating the quarry. 

 His safest plan is first to let his eye follow the trunk 

 to the top, as the probability is that the game will 

 be perched near the trunk. If this fails, the next 

 thing is to begin with the lowest limb and examine 

 it from the trunk to tip, and repeat the process limb 

 after limb. This, of course, must eventually locate 

 the game, but the sportsman will do well to keep his 

 gun ready for instant action. Strange as it may 

 appear, the bird seems to know the instant it is 

 observed; then it is apt to at once take wing. 



Most people who have enjoyed the pleasures of 

 the woodland path have heard the peculiar ventrilo- 

 quial sound, known as the drumming of the ruffed 

 grouse. This drumming, while most frequently 

 heard during the breeding season, is continued at 

 intervals during the summer and autumn months. 

 It is a low, mufHed beating, yet it may be heard 

 at a considerable distance. It is caused by a pecul- 

 iar beating of the wings, beginning with measured 

 strokes which rapidly run into each other buff 

 buff buff buff bur-r-r. It is a popular belief 

 that the grouse always drums upon a fallen log and 

 produces the sound by beating the log with stiffened 

 wings. This is erroneous, for the bird will drum 

 upon a stone, a grassy or mossy mound, or upon 

 the ground, as suits its fancy. It may be a call 

 to the female, but it certainly is continued long 

 after the breeding season. I have a notion that 

 the motive for the drumming i the same which 

 prompts the barnyard cock to clap his wings and 



