The Ruffed Grouse m 



most interested — the sportsmen. Not so long 

 ago these men, as a class, knew comparatively 

 little about the habits of their favorite game dur- 

 ing the close season. They hunted and shot, and 

 while so doing naturally familiarized themselves 

 with the ways of the quarry during the open 

 season. That knowledge was necessary, for it 

 enabled them to get the game ; but further than 

 that few of them cared to go. The sportsmen- 

 naturalists, so numerous to-day, were then few 

 and far apart — it was to kill, not to combine 

 entertaining study with killing in moderation. 

 Hence, when untrained eyes did not know how 

 to look, they misread many of the signs. They 

 saw the male grouse upon his favorite drumming- 

 log, saw him flap his wings, heard the drumming, 

 and jumped to the conclusion that the grouse got 

 upon a log because he wanted to thump it with 

 his wings and so produce the sound. It never 

 occurred to them that a bird's wings striking a log 

 could not produce the sound, or that wings so 

 used would of necessity speedily wear out, or at 

 least show plain evidence of hard usage. So they 

 told about seeing grouse beat logs with their wings, 

 and their listeners, or readers, not knowing any 

 better, accepted the stories. 



The fact is that the drumming grouse beats 

 only the air and possibly his own body with his 

 wings. Variations of the habit are common 



