212 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



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 dis- 

 tance. 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 be- 

 ing their favorite diet. Early in autumn, when the weath- 

 er 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 neigh- 

 borhood, a second opportunity will probably occur of bring- 

 ing more of the family to bag. In many portions of the 

 United States and Canada they are known by the misno- 

 mers of partridge and pheasant. Frequently, when trout- 

 fishing in the wilds of the State of Maine, I have come sud- 

 denly upon them, when they would rise into the nearest 

 tree, and remain with unconcern watching me ; from evi- 

 dent curiosity they would stretch their necks and get into 

 all kinds of grotesque attitudes; and so little would they 

 then regard the report of a gun that I have known pot- 

 hunters kill quite a number of the same family by always 

 shooting the lowest birds first. But when the ruffed grouse 

 becomes familiar with man he is perfectly cognizant of the 



