RUFFED GROUSE PARTRIDGE 149 



was astonished to find what I supposed a stone to be 

 a dead male grouse. Upon it the drummer had stood 

 and drummed, and about it he had paraded as described. 

 The dead bird had one shot only, through his head. 

 It was the same I had shot a couple of days before, 

 which had flown there and fallen dead. 



"I have read that the drumming of the ruffed grouse 

 is a demonstration of love and courtship, but from 

 this incident I conclude that it is also either one of 

 rivalry and triumph, or sounding a knell or requiem 

 of a departed mate or friend." 



With this should be compared Audubon's account of 

 the actions of a wild turkey cock after a fight in which 

 he has killed his rival. 



This same correspondent of Forest and Stream, an 

 observant man, has expressed the view that the grouse 

 drums to announce the approach of day at dawn, to 

 announce any approaching unusual atmospherical 

 change during the night or day, to make his where- 

 abouts known to the female, to celebrate her coming, 

 to announce a triumph over a rival, to sound a requiem 

 over a dead mate or friend, to amuse himself. Most 

 of these motives are precisely those which are supposed 

 to actuate the domestic cock in his crowing, or in the 

 flapping of his wings which commonly accompanies 

 the crowing. It is certainly true that the grouse drums 

 at night as well as by day, and that he frequently drums 

 just before daylight and often just before "a change of 

 weather." 



Although so excellent an observer as Captain Ben- 



