THE REFERENDUM 



95 



preferable to quarter them and remove the 

 heart-wood as well as the bark and sap. 

 When this is done the quartered logs are 

 split, as shown in one of the accompanying- 

 sketches. The froe is not always of the same 

 shape. Sometimes it resembles a meat-axe 

 with a particularly broad back. In splitting 

 the large Douglas fir and Sitkan spruce of 

 the Pacific coast, it is customary to use sev- 

 eral large iron sledges that are driven in 

 with a heavy sledge-hammer, but as this sort 

 of work is exceptional, so also is the need of 

 such implements. 



Hiram Swift, St. Paul, Minn. 



A WAKEFUL GROUSE. 



A few weeks ago Mr. J. E. Kezar, of Lin- 

 coln, N. H., sent in an interesting communi- 

 cation dealing with the habits of the ruffed 

 grouse. One of his statements seemed so 

 contrary to the usual experience of investi- 

 gators that I ventured to ask him if he was 

 quite certain as to his facts. He had stated 

 that a ruffed grouse was drumming at mid- 

 night. He replied : 



"I am sure that the partridge was drumming 

 at thirteen minutes past eight, on April 16th, and 

 not only am I certain of that, but 1 am as positive 

 that he was drumming at twelve o'clock of that 

 same night, and had been at it all the evening. 

 He drums on an old log in front of my store, 

 and only a few yards away. On April 16th, at 

 11.30 p. m., I went out and drove him off the log; 

 I had a lantern, and got within ten feet of him 

 before he flew into a tall spruce fifty yards away. 

 At twelve o'clock he .was back again. I had just 

 retired, but he kept it up until about one o'clock, 

 when I went out and threw sticks at him, and 

 drove him away for the rest of the night. 



"However, he was back at daylight next morning. On 

 cold or windy nights, or dark nights, he does not drum. 

 It is the first time I remember hearing a partridge 

 drum at night, but come up here any warm, bright 

 night and I will convince you that he is on duty. 

 I often go down on dark nignts to look at him with 

 a lantern. He roosts in the same place every night, 

 and I have made him move to another log about 

 fifty yards from here." 



I have seen a great deal of the ruffed 

 grouse, having lived for months in the woods 

 where they were abundant, but of my own 

 knowledge I have never known a ruffed 

 grouse to drum after dark. I, therefore, ven- 

 tured to show Mr. Kezar's letter to Profes- 

 sor Frank M. Chapman, of the American 

 Museum of Natural History. His experi- 

 ence had been the same as mine,, but he sug- 

 gested that the subject be referred to Dr. 

 C. F. Hodge, of Clark University, Worcester, 

 and to William Brewster, of Cambridge, they 

 being recognized authorities on the habits of 

 the ruffed grouse. 



Dr. C. F. Hodge replied to my letter of 

 inquiry as follows : 



"I have visited my grouse almost nightly before 

 retiring, but have observed no signs of activity. 

 My experience thus tallies with yours. Still, I 

 have always understood that the grouse do drum 

 quite commonly on still, moonlight nights, and 

 though I have never happened to hear them myself, 



have had no reason to doubt the possibility. In 

 Forest and Stream, 1900, p. 405, H. H. Kussell 

 reports the occurrence and the editor remarks it is 

 not uncommon. Of course my birds are only a 

 year old, there are more hens than cocks, they 

 have not drummed very much or persistently, and, 

 so far, we have had very cold, windy, moonlight 

 nights. I am still in hopes later of catching them 

 in the moonlight scene, and, if I do, I shall try 

 to write you again about it." 



Mr. William Brewster had the following 

 to say : 



"Your correspondent's statement is undoubtedly 

 correct. I have heard ruffed grouse drum at all 

 hours of the night, and, on one occasion (in April), 

 near where I was camping, apparently through one 

 entire night. At least I heard it at short, regular 

 intervals whenever I was awake, which was very 

 often, for the night was cold and, for the season, 

 I was poorly supplied with blankets, so I kept 

 waking up and dozing off again, getting hardly 

 any sound, prolonged sleep. There was, I re- 

 member, a full moon that night. The grouse 

 ceased drumming shortly after daybreak, I think." 



I venture to think that of the thousands of 

 men who have studied more or less intimate- 

 ly the habits of the grouse, few are aware 

 that on warm, bright nights the male will 

 drum throughout the hours of darkness. My 

 own experience has been largely in the 

 Northern woods, where foxes were extreme- 

 ly abundant ; and I think that a ruffed grouse 

 that permitted itself to drum at night, unless 

 it is possible that he does it on the branch of 

 a tree, would soon fall a victim to some 

 prowling reynard ; so it is quite possible that 

 the best country in which to hear a partridge 

 drumming throughout the night is a fairly 

 civilized region where foxes are scarce. 



— Editor. 



BRAVE WASHINGTON GIRLS. 



Editor Recreation : 



The crop of 1905 fawns will be fairly large 

 this year, as owing to the lack of snow 

 during the open season there were compara- 

 tively few deer killed in this section (N. E. 

 Washington and the Pan Handle of Idaho). 

 A year ago last winter the slaughter of deer 

 in some places was shameful — one man in 

 Stevens county, Washington, is credited with 

 murdering nineteen deer in one day — ran 

 them down in deep snow with snow shoes 

 and shot them at short range — nothing don? 

 with him. 



The lawmakers of our sister State, Idaho, 

 recently discovered that cougar destroyed 

 deer and with praiseworthy alacrity passed a 

 law intended to punish the cougar. It pro- 

 vides a bounty of $15 for each and every cou- 

 gar killed in the State. The right fore-leg 

 is skinned out and the bone taken by the pro- 

 per official and burned. 



The first bounty was' claimed a few days 

 ago, the animal being taken in a trap set fo- 

 a bear. This is a move in the right direction. 

 These animals are very hard on deer and, 

 like some city hunters, kill more than they 

 can use. 



