BONASA UMBELLA : RUFFED GROUSE. 1 53 



habit of making the noise called "drumming." Here 

 again not only sportsmen but the best naturalists are 

 singularly discordant in the explanation they give of the 

 curious feat. Mounted upon a fallen log or stump, the 

 Grouse puffs out its feathers, spreads its tail, raises its 

 crest, and opens its " umbrellas ; " and then, with its head 

 drawn close to the body, struts stiffly and consequen- 

 tially about. So far, the performance tallies with what 

 every one has seen when a Turkey-cock displays what a 

 superb masculine creature it takes itself to be, and 

 probably all of our Grouse exploit in a similar manner, 

 though each one after a fashion of its own, when inflated 

 with erotic vanity. Just as the Turkey-cock "gobbles" 

 at such times, so do other GallincE give vent to the most 

 uncouth sounds, the volume of which is so vastly in- 

 creased, in the cases of many of the Grouse, by the 

 great air-sacs which are developed beneath the skin of 

 the neck, that the hollow reveberations may be heard at 

 a great distance. The noise which proceeds from the 

 Ruffed Grouse, however, is not vocal but instrumental, 

 and that it results from amazingly rapid vibration of the 

 wings is certain. For one who is near enough during 

 the performance may see that the wings move so rap- 

 idly that the strokes dissolve to the eye in a haze on 

 each side of the creature, like that perceived when a 

 Humming-bird is hovering before a flower. But just how 

 the noise is made is a question which has been confi- 

 dently answered in at least four different and irrecon- 

 cilable ways. First, say some, the bird beats its wings 

 against the log or stump upon which it stands. Sec- 

 ondly, it strikes the outside of the wings together over 

 its back. Thirdly, it claps its wings against the sides 

 of its body, like a rooster about to crow. Fourthly, it 



