128 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
Canada grouse performs its drumming upon the trunk 
of a standing tree of rather small size, preferably one 
that is inclined from the perpendicular, and in the 
following manner: Commencing near the base of 
the tree selected, the bird flutters upward with some- 
what slow progress, but rapidly beating wings, which 
produce the drumming sound. Having thus ascended 
fifteen or twenty feet, it glides quietly on wing to the 
ground and repeats the maneuver. Favorite places 
are resorted to habitually, and these drumming trees 
are well known to observant woodsmen. I have seen 
one that was so well worn upon the bark as to lead 
to the belief that it had been used for this purpose 
for many years. This tree was a spruce of six inches 
diameter, with an inclination of about fifteen degrees 
from the perpendicular, and was known to have been 
used as a drumming tree for several seasons. The 
upper surface and sides of the tree were so worn by 
the feet and wings of the bird or birds using it for 
drumming, that for a distance of twelve or fifteen feet 
the bark had become quite smooth and red as if 
rubbed.” 
Major Bendire quotes Manly Hardy as saying: “My 
father, who had opportunities to see them drumming, 
told me they drum in the air while descending from a 
tree. They would fly up on a tree and then start off 
and drum on their way to the ground like a Quaker 
grasshopper. When on the ground they scratch a great 
deal more than other grouse do.” 
