wilkin] THE RUFFED GROUSE 367 



on which it stands, still others believe the drumming is made by 

 the wings striking the sides of the bird. A more recent theory 

 and probably the correct one is that the sound is made only by the 

 rapid vibrations of the wings. 



The cock mounts on his particular log, puffs out his feathers 

 until he is twice natural size and then struts up and down very 

 much like a turkey. Then he throws his body forward, stretches 

 out his neck and commences to beat the air with his wings. The 

 beats are rather slow at first, then quicken, growing faster and 

 faster until the wings disappear entirely and only a blur is left to 

 the eye. The muffled tone, low at first swells with the increased 

 rapidity of the beats until a loud solemn roll is borne thorugh the 

 neighboring woods. 



When flushed, the grouse reveals its cunning and ability to take 

 care of itself. It rises with a tremendous whir which can be heard 

 for a long distance and is extremely disconcerting to the inexperi- 

 enced hunter. Its flight is extremely swift and powerful. As a 

 rule it makes a zigzag course until it can place a tree or bush be- 

 tween itself and the hunter. A flock of grouse will never all rise 

 at once. Usually two will go up at first and then one at a time 

 after that. 



Along about the latter part of April, the female or hen grouse 

 will slip off quietly and make her nest. Not much care is taken to 

 build the nest as it is merely a hollow scratched in the ground and 

 lined with grass, leaves, needles from the pine tree and similar 

 materials. However, the lack of pains taken in making the nest 

 is more than made up for in the care with which it is concealed. 

 Usually it is beneath some bush or log, or in a dense thicket along- 

 side some overhanging rock or in the tangled top of some fallen 

 tree. If one has the good luck to run across a nest he will find 

 nine or ten eggs of varying shades of buff, dotted with different 

 sized spots of pale reddish brown. The hen is a very close sitter 

 and never goes away except when in imminent danger and then 

 returns to the nest often at great danger to herself. One day, a 

 year ago last spring, I was working on a fence around a ten acre 

 wood lot and I accidentally found a nest, eggs, bird and all. I 

 had gone a short distance into the woods to, get a rail which was 

 resting against a tree. When I started back I just missed stepping 

 directly into the nest. The eggs were warm and I knew the bird 

 had not been off the nest long. As I returned to the fence I kept 



