292 The Fowl-like Birds 



When about to drum, he would straighten up without really standing up, much 

 as a duck flapping his wings while sitting on the water. Beginning with slow, 

 short, interrupted strokes he would beat against his sides, or the air, faster and 

 faster, finally, still fajst but with less force, causing the sound to die out in a sort 

 of whirr, when he would resume his former position. The drumming occurred 

 at intervals of six to ten minutes. He did not ' strut up and down the log,' 

 nor did he strike the log with his wings; he did not even stand up. It seemed 

 to me that the sound was caused by the air being forced between the wings 

 and the body by the short, quick strokes." The drumming is mostly in the 

 spring, its object being to attract the female, but occasionally throughout the 

 summer and fall the long roll may be heard in the forest. By some the Ruffed 

 Grouse is considered to be polygamous, but this is doubted by Bendire and other 

 equally good authorities, and all that can be said at present is that it may be, 

 but the case is not proven. The nest, a mere depression in the ground, is placed 

 in a great variety of situations, such as alongside a stump, fallen tree, or rock, 

 or among tangled vegetation, in a brush pile, or occasionally in a more open 

 and unexpected place. The nest is scantily lined with a few leaves, grasses, 

 or pine needles, and the complement of eggs varies from eight to fourteen, rarely 

 more. In color they are pale ochraceous-buff, about half of them being more 

 or less minutely spotted. When flushed from the nest, the female is often success- 

 ful in decoying the intruder to a distance by feigning lameness or a broken wing, 

 so that a fox, for example, may be led on, thinking his prey is just within his 

 grasp, until he is a quarter of a mile or more from the nest, when the bird takes 

 wing and is gone like a flash. The young run about within a few hours after 

 they are hatched, and can fly for short distances at the end of a week. They 

 are fed at first mainly on insects, but soon berries, fruits, and grain are added, 

 and this varied list represents their food until winter, when they subsist largely 

 on catkins, buds, and leaves. Often when the ground is covered with snow the 

 birds drop into a soft bank and burrow under for a short distance, where they 

 spend the night in comparative warmth, though the freezing of the snow into 

 a crust above them may sometimes turn the shelter into a tomb. 



The Hazel Hens (Tetrastes), of which four forms are recognized, are smaller 

 birds than the Ruffed Grouse, none of them exceeding fourteen inches in length, 

 and, as already stated, they are without the frilled ruff on the sides of the neck. 

 The best-known species is the common Hazel Hen, Hazel Grouse, or "Gelinotte " 

 (T. bonasia), a handsome bird of Europe and northern Asia. The male is grayish 

 or rufous, barred with black above, while the chin, throat, and breast are black, 

 the latter margined with white. The female is similar but smaller and has 

 the chin and throat mostly white. According to Von Wright there is a tradition 

 among the Finns that, " at creation, this bird was the largest of the feathered 

 tribe, but that year after year it has decreased in size, and will continue to do 

 so until at last it will become so very diminutive as to be able to fly through the 

 eye of a needle; and when that happens the world will come to an end." The 

 Hazel Hens frequent the "lower pine forests, birch-woods and hazel-copes," 

 but appear to enjoy a local rather than a general distribution. Their flight, 



