The Ruffed Grouse 371 



"May 1st. — Made 15 snapshots of grouse from blind No. 1 

 while watching him for one and a half hours about noon. Until 

 about 11 :oo or 11 130 a. m. it rained gently by spells with no direct 

 sunshine between, then the sun shone for brief periods for an 

 hour or two. Until about 1 1 :30 hardly a grouse was heard ; then 

 the drumming began, apparently in two or three places, within 

 hearing from my tent two hundred fifty feet from blind No. I, 

 and it continued with the usual regularity at the latter station until 

 I left the thicket entirely or at least beyond hearing distance of the 

 log. From about 11:00 to 12:30 I watched the grouse, the rain 

 having stopped. His actions were as usual except that he seemed 

 as peevish as a wet hen over his dampened feathers, shaking him- 

 self vigorously a few times and preening [see figure 114]. Once he 

 left the log and soon I heard him shaking himself, apparently close 

 to the blind and directly in front of it. When a dog barked and 

 yelped and came rushing along until probably about two hundred 

 feet from the log the Grouse was quite alarmed and started a few 

 times as if to leave the log; then the dog as loudly and rapidly 

 retreated, whereupon the grouse at once " registered " false alarm 

 and drummed [see figure 115], the dog still barking one hundred 

 and fifty yards away. This is the blind I entered a few days ago, 

 alarming the grouse before I could reach the peephole, and there- 

 upon he had flown to the lower branches of a cedar above the log, 

 twitched his tail characteristically while for several minutes he 

 sounded his note of alarm, then hopped to the ground and disap- 

 peared. Then I had fixed up the blind inside and out with a screen 

 of cedar boughs. Evidently I was better hidden today than hereto- 

 fore ; twice today I changed film rolls in the blind, the Grouse being 

 on the log. Last night I heard warblers in the thicket and saw 

 one or two Black-throated Greens. White-throated Sparrows sang 

 at dawn this morning. Robins have all along been numerous in the 

 thicket, with several Purple Finches and an occasional flock of 

 Cedar Waxwings. Blue Jays and Chickadees are numerous here. 

 Field Sparrows are numerous in the surrounding clearings." 



" May 5th. — For the first time I saw a grouse actually strutting, 

 tail raised and fully spread, chest expanded, crest raised [see figure 

 116]. This was Grouse No. 2. The bird had stopped in the midst of 

 drumming; when I looked out to see the cause he was in this strutting 

 attitude and walked a foot or two back and forth, turning round 

 slowly a few times. His attitude suggested a spectator in the form 

 of a mate, but I saw nothing of the latter. His alert and watchful 

 mien was different from a turkey gobbler's self-engrossed manner. 

 He drummed rather briefly once or twice in the strutting attitude, 

 with tail raised and expanded throughout the act. After strutting 

 two or three minutes he soon left the log." 



Much has been said and written about the " lordly strutting, like 

 a proud turkey cock " of the male Ruffed Grouse. My own observa- 

 tions, however, seem to indicate that the strutting is far less com- 

 mon than reported and that it is rather more a matter of attitude than 

 action ; in particular, that it is not like the blustering strut of the 



