﻿5 8 FIELD AND FOREST. 



ornithology is evidently burdened with an enigma in the shape of this 

 question which apparantly the practical observation and theorizing of 

 half a century have been unable to unriddle. 



Of the various theories, the earliest supposes the noise to proceed 

 from the throat of the bird. 



The next in importance, that of Audubon and Nuttall, is to the ef- 

 fect that the bird "draws the whole of its feathers close to the body, 

 and stretching itself out, beats its sides with its wings in the manner 

 of the domestic cock, but more loudly aud with such rapidity of mo- 

 tion, after a few of the first strokes, as to cause a tremor in the air, 

 not unlike the rumbling of distant thunder." 



Wilson describes the act in similar words, but does not commit 

 himself beyond the fact that the sound is made in some way with the 

 wings. We do not recollect who asserts that the sound is produced 

 by the birds beating a log, stump, or similar object, with its wings. 



Mr. Robert Ridgway printed in the American Sportsman the 

 following explanation, furnished him by Mr. H. W. Henshaw : 



"The bird sits crosswise upon the log, resting upon the back of the 

 tarsi (not standing erect, as described by some writers,) its tail project- - 

 ing nearly horizontally behind (not erect) and spread ; the head is drawn 

 back, the feathers pressed close to the body. The wings are then 

 raised and stiffened, and drumming commences by a slow, hard stroke 

 with both wings, downward and forward ; but they are stopped before 

 they reach the body. The rapidity of this motion is increased after the 

 first few beats, when the wings move so fast that only a semi-circular 

 haze over the bird is visible, this rapid vibration causing the rolling 

 noise with which the sound terminates. The movements of the wing, 

 and the rumbling thereby produced, are entirely analogous to those 

 produced by the Humming-bird when hovering over a flower." 



The above called forth, from Mr. J. H. Batty, this : 



"The peculiar sound made by the Ruffed Grouse is caused by the 

 backs or exterior sides of the wings striking each other as they are 

 forcibly raised over the back of the bird. I have seen the Grouse 

 drum, within a few yards of me, a number of times. ***** When 

 going the round of my mink and muskrat traps, I found a male Ruf- 

 fed Grouse caught in one of them by the leg. I carried the Grouse 

 home and put it in a large feed-box, which was standing in the open 

 air under the shade of an apple-tree. When returning from a hunting 



