
THE RUFFED GROUSE. 365 
fossil drift-wood buried in the ancient banks now some two 
hundred feet above the present level. These remains indicate 
afar more abundant vegetation than at present, and that when 
the lakes spread their broad sheets over the now barren val- 
„leys, and the rivers were near the surface of the Mesa, all 
the land was covered by great forests of pine, among which 
huge elephants roamed and cropped the succulent leaves. 
Time has sapped this green, luxuriant youthfulness, and in 
its seared and wrinkled old age, though grander and more 
majestic, the country is bald and unfruitful. 

THE RUFFED GROUSE. 
k BY AUGUSTUS FOWLER. 
Tus beautiful bird, the Bonasa umbella, is a resident in 
Massachusetts. It commences breeding very early in the 
= Season, so early indeed, that the nest and birds are frequently 
= Covered with the late snows. 
: It is at this time of the year, more than at any other, that 
the male practices the peculiar habit of drumming, to cal 
= his mate., He usually selects for the purpose the trunk of 
some fallen tree, and, mounting it, struts back and forth, 
with tail expanded and head thrown back and wings lowered 
till they drag upon the log. These are the preliminary 
movements. Suddenly he stops, throws his head forward, 
lowers his tail, compresses his feathers, and then commences 
to strike his sides with his wings, increasing the rapidity of ` 
the strokes, until the sound produced resembles low distant 
dunder, 
They build their nest on the ground, in some secluded 
place, under a brush-heap, or by a log or fallen fence. It is 
composed of whatever suitable materials lie about the spot, 
Such as dried grass, twigs, and dried leaves. After the 










