RUFFED GROUSE—PARTRIDGE 153 
“I have once seen the old cock with the brood, and 
on this occasion ‘he gallantly defended the rear until 
the rest made good their escape. He stood with wings 
raised and tail spread, ready to fight the intruder. I 
have seen the young fly into a tree when still in the yel- 
low down, and when not larger than a pine grosbeak 
they will fly long distances, giving the alarm note of 
‘quit, quit,’ just like an old bird. The young a few 
days old are shyer than the wariest adult. The noise 
made by the ruffed grouse in flying ‘is made on purpose’ 
to alarm others in the vicinity; they can fly as quietly 
as any bird if they choose. 
“The males never congregate during the breeding 
season or after, and I never but once saw two adult 
males within one-fourth of a mile of each other between 
April and September. I consider that the drumming 
is not a call to the females, as they drum nearly or 
quite as much in the fall as in the spring, and I have 
heard them drumming every month in the year. I have 
never seen the least evidence that the ruffed grouse is 
polygamous.” 
With this last statement I quite agree. I know of 
no evidence to justify the common assumption that this 
grouse is polygamous. 
When the young birds are two or three weeks old 
their wing feathers have grown enough to enable them 
to fly, and sometimes, if suddenly surprised, some of 
them may leave the ground and fly up into low 
branches, where they stand motionless with their necks 
