110 FIELD SHOOTING. 



In places where it is seldom shot at, the bird, 

 at the approach of man, instead of taking wing, 

 often spreads its tail, ruffles up the feathers of 

 the neck, and struts off with the proud air of 

 the true cock of the woods. In the spring of the 

 year, at the approach of breeding-time, and at 

 other seasons just before stormy, rainy weather, 

 the male bird drums at dawn of day. It may 

 sometimes, too, be heard performing this singu- 

 lar feat in the night, and on a sultry afternoon 

 when a thunder-storm is brewing. The drumming 

 is usually made on an old log, and each male 

 bird seems to have his favorite place for the 

 joyous performance. He begins by lowering his 

 wings as he walks to and fro on the log, then 

 making some hard strokes at intervals, and finally 

 so increasing the swiftness of the movement that 

 the sound is like the rapid roll of a snare-drum 

 muffled by a position in the depths of the woods. 

 The sound is very deceptive as to the place of 

 the bird. ' He may be comparatively near, while 

 his drumming really seems like muttered thunder 

 a long way off'. On the other hand, the hearer 

 sometimes supposes the hidden drummer to be 

 close at hand when he is at a very considerable 

 distance. In wild situations, near lonely preci- 



