36 RUFFED GEOUSE 



resonant drumming. He often does this at night 

 in spring and fall, and has been known to drum 

 by moonlight when the snow was on the ground 

 and the mercury near zero. He usually has one 

 special drumming log, and the roll of his tattoo 

 coming through the woods is one of the best- 

 loved sounds in nature, calling one's thoughts to 

 the quiet shaded depths of the forest. 



As the Grouse is a shy woods bird, it is a rare 

 pleasure to have him live on your preserves ; but 

 it can easily be accomplished. Protect your 

 woods with signs forbidding hunting, and in 

 winter when he can no longer find maple-leaf 

 worms, and the buds of the trees are small, scatter 

 corn and buckwheat between the house and the 

 woods, and soon you will find his pretty footprints 

 in the snow beside the tracks of the squirrels. 

 Then some winter morning, as you look through 

 your blinds, perchance you will be rewarded by 

 the sight of the handsome bird himself, with ruffs 

 and tail spread out, strutting turkey-cock fashion 

 before his mate. In summer you may have the 

 added pleasure of coming on a brood of young 

 Partridges, soft and downy as little chickens, stroll- 

 ing along the wooded edge of a meadow, daintily 

 picking wild strawberries under the eye of their 

 mother. She clucks to them, and when they have 

 had their fill squats on the ground and takes 

 them under her protecting wings like a devoted 

 hen. The Partridge is an anxious parent, decoy- 



