60 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



It is generally a resident and breeds wherever found, ranking with the 

 Bob White in importance as a game bird. The Ruffed Grouse is naturally 

 tame and unsuspicious, and let it once realize that it is protected it becomes 

 almost as much at home in the immediate vicinity of man as a domestic fowl, 

 and quickly learns to know its friends. At the fine country residence of the 

 Hon. Clinton L. Merriam, near Locust Grove, New York, especially during the 

 winter, it is not an unusual sight to see several of these handsome birds uncon- 

 cernedly walking about the shrubbery surrounding his home, and even coming 

 on the veranda of the house to feed. They, like many other animals about the 

 place, have learned that here at least they are among friends, and plainly show 

 their full confidence in them. Even during the mating season a cock Grouse 

 may frequently be seen in the act of drumming within 50 yards of some of the 

 outbuildings. 



How different are the habits of these birds from those of the Ruffed 

 Grouse as we usually see them. From the almost constant persecution they 

 are subjected to throughout the year, in the more thickly settled portions of 

 the United States at least, they have become a most cunning and extremely 

 wary bird, and it takes a quick eye as well as steady nerves to arrest its swift 

 and powerful flight when once on the wing and bring it to bag. 



Notwithstanding the army of sportsmen, who leave this bird but little rest 

 during, the open season, and the great number annually snared, the numerous 

 four-footed enemies it has to contend with during the breeding season, includ- 

 ing cats, mink, weasels, foxes, and squirrels, as well as crows and birds of 

 prey — like a few of the hawks and owls, which destroy either the eggs or 

 young — and natural causes, such as wet and cold seasons, which are also 

 exceedingly destructive to the newly-hatched young, this noble game bird 

 seems, nevertheless, to hold its own fairly well over the greater portion of its 

 range, and while they may be scarce one season, in the next they may be 

 comparatively common. 



The Ruffed Grouse is partial to an undulating and hilly country, one well 

 wooded and covered with considerable undergrowth, interspersed here and 

 there with cultivated fields and meadow lands. In the southern portions of its 

 range, this bird is confined to the more mountainous and Alpine regions, being 

 seldom found far away from such places, excepting in the late fall. As win- 

 ter approaches, the coveys leave their feeding grounds in the mountains and 

 repair to more congenial' haunts along the edges of the neighboring valleys. 



The mating season occasionally commences early in February, but usually 

 about the beginning of March, when the familiar drumming of the male may 

 be frequently heard, though the bird is hot often seen. This drumming of the 

 Ruffed Grouse has been often described, and many different theories have been 

 advanced as to how the sound is produced. It is generally conceded now by 

 most naturalists, including such well-known ornithologists as Brewster, Mer- 

 riam, and Henshaw, that the sound is produced by the outspread wings of the 

 bird being brought suddenly downward against the air, without striking any- 

 thing. 



