212 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 
mellow, prolonged note, generally used in gathering after 
the covey has been broken up; the other an extraordinary 
drumming sound, made by the cocks in the pairing season, 
and capable. of being heard in still weather a great dis- 
tance. The latter noise is caused by the rapid vibration 
of the wings when the male is perched on a fallen tree or 
stump. Indiscriminately they live on a great variety of 
food—ants, grubs, alder-berries, wild-cherries, and grain be- 
ing their favorite diet. Early in autumn, when the weath- 
er is fine, particularly in the morning and evening, they will 
be found in the open cultivation, more especially if there be 
rough ground with brush in the vicinity; but as severe 
weather approaches, the woods will become their constant 
resort. In shooting the ruffed grouse, great difficulty is 
always experienced in marking them. Their flight, as I 
have previously said, is wonderfully rapid, and they have 
a method of doubling back in the reverse direction to 
which they started ; however, as they do not generally go 
far (about three or four hundred yards), with patience and 
a selection of the nearest irregular ground which has young 
timber upon it, or the densest brush that is in the neigh- 
borhood, a second opportunity will probably occur of bring- 
ing more of the family to bag. In many portions of the 
United States and Canada they are known by the misno- 
mers of partridge and pheasant. Frequently, when trout- 
fishing in the wilds of the State of Maine, I have come sud- 
denly upon them, when they would rise into the nearest 
tree, and remain with unconcern watching me; from evi- 
dent curiosity they would stretch their necks and get into 
all kinds of grotesque attitudes; and so little would they 
then regard the report of a gun that I have known pot- 
hunters kill quite a number of the same family by always 
shooting the lowest birds first. But when the ruffed grouse 
becomes familiar with man he is perfectly cognizant of the 
