HABITS OF THE RUFFED GROUSE. 203 



States and Canada being more backward than ours, if 

 they were introduced here they would do so a month 

 earlier. They lay from ten to sixteen eggs, their nest, 

 which is a very primitive one, being generally secreted 

 in brush or under the shelter of a fallen log. They 

 are most affectionate parents, and use the same artifices 

 as the wild duck to draw away the intruders from the 

 vicinity of their youthful progeny. This grouse has 

 two distinct calls, one a soft, mellow, prolonged note, 

 generally used in gathering after the covey has been 

 broken up ; the other an extraordinary drumming 

 sound made by the cocks in the pairing season, and 

 capable of being heard in still weather a great distance. 

 The latter noise is caused by the rapid vibration of the 

 wings when the male is perched on a fallen tree or 

 stump. Indiscriminately they live on a great variety 

 of food ants, grubs, alder-berries, wild cherries, and 

 grain being their favourite diet. Early in autumn, 

 when the weather is fine, particularly in the morning 

 and evening, they will be found in the open cultivation, 

 more especially if there be rough ground with brush in 

 the vicinity ; but as severe weather approaches, the 

 woods will become their constant resort. In shooting 

 the ruffed grouse, great difficulty is always experienced 

 in marking them. Their flight, as I have previously 

 said, is wonderfully rapid, and they have a method of 

 doubling back in the reverse direction to which they 

 started ; however, as they do not generally go far, 

 (about three or four hundred yards), with patience and 

 a selection of the nearest irregular ground which has 

 young timber upon it, or the densest brush that is in 

 the neighbourhood, a second opportunity will probably 

 occur of bringing more of the family to bag. In 



