234 Life aid Immortality. 
increases in power and rapidity, until the swiftly-vibrating 
wings appear only as a semi circular outline of mist above 
the bird, thus giving rise to a sound which may be appro- 
priately likened to the reverberations of distant, muttering 
thunder. These sounds are most generally heard during the 
cool hours of the morning, when his spirits are buoyant after 
a night of refreshing slumber. But as the day advances, they 
are less frequent, and irregular. So nicely can they be 
imitated, that many a bird is drawn to his doom, when 
advancing, as he supposed, to meet an antagonist. 
As the drumming is as often heard in the fall as in the 
spring, it has long been a mooted question as to its signifi- 
cancy as the call-note of the male during the period of 
breeding. But there can be no doubt of the correctness of 
this interpretation, for incontestable proof exists of it in the 
responsive actions of the female. Nuttall is probably correct 
in ascribing the autumnal exhibition of the power to self- 
gratification, and in affirming it to be, in many instances, “an 
_ instinctive expression of hilarity and vigor.” 
Besides the peculiar drumming sound which the males 
produce during the love-season, they give expression to 
other vocal utterances no less remarkable. These are gener- 
ally enunciated when about to arise from the ground, and 
consist of two well-defined and characteristic notes. The 
first may be described as a sort of cackle, repeated several 
times in lively succession; and the other, which closely 
follows in its wake, as a peculiar lisping whistle, which has 
not inaptly been compared to the cry of a young bird. These 
notes doubtless play a considerable part in the reconciliation 
and bringing together of the sexes after their temporary 
separation. 
While the courting-season lasts, it is not an uncommon 
occurrence to find a single male in the midst of several 
females before whom he is engaged in showing off his many 
good qualities and graces, or two males displaying, upon the 
same fallen log, the excellent beauties of their person and 
