268 USEFUL BIRDS. 
and ends in a rolling, accelerated tattoo. It has a ventrilo- 
quial property. Sometimes when one is very close to the 
bird the drumming seems almost soundless ; at other times 
it seems much louder at a distance, as if through some prin- 
ciple of acoustics it were most distinctly audible at a certain 
radius from the bird. It is the bird’s best expression of its 
abounding vigor and virility, and signifies that the drummer 
is ready for love or war. 
The female alone undertakes the task of incubation and 
the care of the young. Once, however, when I came upon 
a young brood, the agonized cry of the distressed mother 
attracted a fine cock bird. He raised all his feathers, and, 
with ruffs and tail spread, strutted up to within a rod of 
my position, seemingly almost as much concerned as the 
female, but not coming quite so near. The hen sometimes 
struts toward the intruder in a similar manner when sur- 
prised while with her young. She can raise her ruffs and 
strut exactly like the cock. 
The Grouse has so many enemies that it seems remarkable 
how it can escape them, nesting, as it does, on the ground. 
Instances are on record, however, where birds that probably 
have been much persecuted have learned to deposit their 
eggs in old nests of Hawks or Crows, in tall trees. When- 
ever the mother bird leaves the nest the eggs are easily seen, 
and while she sits it would seem impossible for her where- 
abouts to remain a secret to the keen-scented prowlers of the 
woods. But her colors blend so perfectly with those of the 
_ dead leaves on the forest floor, and she sits so closely and 
remains so motionless among the shadows, that she escapes 
the sharp-eyed Hawk. She gives out so little scent that the 
dog, skunk, or fox often passes quite near, unnoticing. 
The Grouse does not naturally fear man; more than once 
in the wilderness of the northwest a single bird has walked 
up to within a few feet of me. They will sit on limbs 
just above one’s head, almost within reach, and regard one 
curiously, but without much alarm. Usually in Massachu- 
setts when a human being comes near the nest the mother 
bird whirs loudly away. She has well learned the fear of 
man ; but ina place where no shooting was permitted, a large 
