Concord, Mass.
1911.
April 17
(No 2)
[April 17, 1911]

Ruffed Grouse fighting.

they were not hens, certainly, but a pair of fine cock
Partridges either at the beginning or end of a difference of
opinion. The bird on the right was evidently the aggressor.
The other assumed what seemed an attitude of defence
with an apparent unwillingness either to continue or begin a
fight. This bird sat mostly upright on his tarsi, bending
slightly forward at an angle like this [diagram, angle of approximately sixty degrees] & was
motionless throughout the whole controversy till the final
denouement. He sat rigidly still but keenly alert,
keeping watch on the movements of his adversary, who with
head bent like a fighting cock, pecked at the ground
& made constant quick little arcs of circles back & forth
in front. The position of this bird's body was horizontal
 & simulated exactly [that of] the barn yard fowl in a 
scrap. Every few moments he made quick, short advances
as if to hurl himself against the other but each time