406 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. 12, 1904. 
minutes, she exhibited a little anger, and scolded him so 
sternly that he sneaked off in evident chagrin. 
The smaller puppies liked to play with the big ones, 
nevertheless, and soon became so active that they' were 
amply able to defend themselves. Several times have I 
observed one of the little ones prone on its back begging 
its huge opponent to be gentler, suddenly hurl "the big 
ruffian" off, throw him backward, and roll him rapidly 
down hill, as a very active man rolls an empty barrel, 
pushing with the forepaws as if they were hands, and 
growling as if in unaffected rage. 
These same little Gipsies can perform one feat I never 
knew any dog to succeed at: they can climb straight up a 
soft-barked tree, cat-like; but of course this power will 
soon cease when they get to digging. 
L. R. Morphew. 
Drumming Grouse. 
Jersey City, Nov. i. — Editor Forest and Stream: L. 
F. Brown in this week's Forest and Stream asks 
whether partridges drum in the fall months. I have 
heard them drum at that time of year, and on more than 
one occasion I have watched an old drummer at it on 
an old log near the farmhouse where I was stopping, in 
Sullivan county, New York. 
I could never tell where the drumming sound came 
from, whether from hitting the log or his breast with the 
wings. I have heard it said that it was caused by the 
wings coming together over the bird's back. I believe, 
though, it is caused by striking the breast or sides. At 
different times I have heard the drum of a partridge 
while 'coon hunting late at night in the fall. 1 know a 
party in Sullivan county who will drum up a partridge, 
and I have been with him several times when he has done 
it. Fie would select for this performance a spot near a 
drumming log; and concealing ourselves as near the log- 
as possible, he would imitate the drum of a partridge to 
perfection by striking his breast with his clenched right 
hand. Generally after two or three "drums" we would 
be rewarded by seeing the bird coming, almost on a 
run, and always along a log or on the rocks, never on 
the ground if logs or stones were near. I have seen them 
fly from one log to another rather than walk on the 
ground. The reason he gave for partridges answering 
to his drum; was that an old drummer "keeps" in that 
certain piece of timber, and hearing the drum of another 
bird in his section of country he comes forth to give bat- 
tle and drive the intruder off. 
I have seen one come within fifteen feet of where we 
were hiding, the bird strutting back and forth as if he 
were trying to locate where the sound same from. And 
what a grand picture that noble bird would make, his 
head, neck and shoulder feathers on end, his tail in full 
spread, and with wing-tips touching the ground, he, Sir 
Partridge, ruler of that certain bit of timber, stood ready 
to give battle to any intruder on his sacred domain. To 
kill partridge in that manner would be looked down upon 
by all true sportsmen, and properly labeled pot-hunting, 
and I sincerely hope the day is not far distant when the 
killing of moose in the calling season, using very nearly 
the same methods, shall be looked upon in the same light. 
Otto.Keim. 
Editor Forest and Stream.: 
Mr. L. F. Brown's article anent the fall-drumming 
grouse, shows that he was the butt of his companions, 
and the victim of a practical joke. If he ever really saw 
a grouse drum, he ought to have seen that neither m the 
first four or five slow beats, nor in the subsequent faster 
ones, did his wings strike his breast. 
The Old Angler. 
Orange County, N. Y.— Oct. 29.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: I had always supposed that all partridge hunters 
and all country boys knew perfectly well that the_ ruffed 
grouse drums in autumn. Let me depose that this very 
day, on Shinnecock Mountain, five miles back of Storm 
King I heard partridge drum at four different times dur- 
ing the day. I flushed and saw two partridges, and 
flushed and heard, the roar of several others as they 
evacuated the premises. I had no gun or I would have 
killed something. I am sure of this, for we never miss 
the bird in these hypothetical stories of what we would 
have done "if." „ ,, T „ , , ,, 
How does the partridge drum? Well, now, why don t 
your anxious inquirer look it up in the books? Audubon 
would tell him. This is what Audubon says of the drum- 
ming bird : "It beats its sides with its wings m the man- 
ner of the domestic cock, but more loudly, and with such 
rapidity of motion, after a few of the first strokes, as to 
cause a tremor in the air, not unlike the rumbling of dis- 
tant thunder." ,. . 
But probably Mr. Allen Kelly, or some other distin- 
guished "myth buster" will rise up and m "tongue un- 
known to script" explain to us that Audubdn did not 
know a thing when he thought he saw it, and is old- 
fashioned and out of date and superseded as a back num- 
ber anyway. So or not so, we cannot have too many 
records of original observation on such subjects, and i 
hope to see more in your columns. , _ 
Bv the way, I thoroughly enjoyed, and I suppose all 
your readers did, Mr. Kelly's letter in your issue of this 
week which was of the nature of serving a writ of re- 
plevin on Mr. Seton for those "Monarch" bear stones. 
My sympathy is always with the man who has lost a 
bear," and it did me good all through to see Mr. Kelly 
round up his stolen grizzly and the rest of his band of 
bears But we must not be too harsh m our judgment of 
the animal novelists. When a writer makes an honest at- 
tempt Tuch as, according to Mr. Kelly Mr Seton made 
to see actual wild bears at large 111 the wilderness and 
fails to find them, what is he to do except take bears 
from books, Kelly's or other folks's, and thus make his 
"intimate studies" in the only way open to him?^ ^ 
ming the bird docs strike its body with its wings. Nut- 
tall says : 
"In the month of April the ruffed grouse begins to be 
recognized by his peculiar drumming, heard soon after 
dawn and toward the close of evening. At length, as 
the season of pairing approaches, it is heard louder and 
more frequent till a later hour of the day, and commences 
again toward the close of the afternoon. This sonorous, 
crepitating sound, strongly resembling a low peal of dis- 
tant, thunder, is produced by the male, who, as a prelim- 
inary to the operation, stands upright on a prostrate log, 
parading with erected tail and ruff and with dropping 
wings in the manner of the turkey. After swelling out 
his feathers and strutting forth for a few minutes, at a 
sudden impulse, like the motions of a crowing cock, he 
draws down his elevated plumes, and stretching himself 
forward, loudly beats his sides with his wings with such 
an accelerating motion, after the first few strokes, as to 
cause the tremor described, which may be heard rever- 
berating in a still morning to the distance of from a 
quarter to that of a half mile. This curious signal is 
repeated at intervals of about six or eight minutes. The 
same sound is also heard in autumn as well as spring, 
and given by the caged bird as well as the free, being, at 
times, merely an instinctive expression of hilarity and 
vigor. To this parading ground, regularly resorted to 
by the male for the season," if undisturbed, the female 
flies with alacrity ; but, as with other species of the genus, 
no lasting individual attachment is formed, and they live 
in a state of limited concubinage. The drumming parade 
of the male is likewise often the signal for a quarrel; 
and when they happen to meet each other in the vicinity 
of their usual and stated walks, obstinate battles, like 
those of our domestic fowls for the sovereignty of the 
dung-hill, but too commonly succeed. When this sound, 
indeed (acording to Audubon), is imitated by sriking 
carefully upon an inflated bladder with a stick, the 
jealous male, full of anger, rushes forth from his conceal- 
hient and falls an easy prey to the wily sportsman." 
If I am not in error in my recollection, other observers 
have reported practically the same thing in your columns 
in former years. John Black. 
Beaumaris, Ont.— Editor Forest and Stream: I notice 
in your number for October 29 an inquiry as to whether 
partridges ever drum in the fall months. I felt certain 
that on several occasions I had heard them, but, strange 
to say, while taking a stroll in the brush this afternoon 
I distinctly heard one, but did not see it. Two years ago 
I also recollect not only hearing one, but watching it for 
some time; this was between the 15th and 30th of Sep- 
tember, and was an old bird, and I have no doubt but 
in all cases it is the old birds which drum m the fall. 
J. H. W. 
Editor Forest and Stream: . 
The following from Nuttall (Montague Chamberlain s 
edition, Vol. II., page 32), has a bearing on the grouse 
Question as showing that the drumming is done m the 
autumn as well as in the spring, and that when drum- 
Editor Forest and Stream: . 
A.s Mr L. F. Brown has asked if grouse drum m the 
fall I will say that in Maine and New Brunswick they 
drum nearly as much in the fall as in spring I have 
shot a great many when drumming in the fall, I hey 
usually drum more in the afternoon 111 the fall, and 1 
have sometimes heard them drum all night. Only a few 
years ago I shot one at about 9 P. M. by moonlight which 
was drumming. I crept close up to his log, but it was too 
dark to see him till probably mistaking me for some ani- 
mal he flew up into a tree which brought him into the 
light so I could see to shoot. I once heard seven drum m 
one afternoon, and several times have shot three m an 
afternoon in the fall. Mv son shot two drummers last 
week ; Manly Hardy. 
The Woodcock in England- 
Here to-day and gone to-morrow is only too often 
the case with woodcock, but sometimes these birds will 
choose a certain wood and stick to it persistently with- 
out any apparent reason. Year after year they may be 
found in one particular spot, and nowhere else for miles 
around, although other adjacent coverts would appear 
to be equally well suited to their needs. It is when such 
a covert is known to hold 'cock that the sportsman can 
enjoy the shooting at its best. In settled weather the 
birds are likely to stay; but, since our climate is as 
erratic as a woodchuck's whims, it is best to lose no 
time in looking for them. Open weather and a lull 
moon are the conditions most propitious for good sport. 
The birds, being nocturnal feeders, depend upon the 
moon for light, and on mild nights the worms work up 
to the very surface of the meadows and provide abund- 
ance, even for such a voracious appetite as that of a 
famished 'cock. Satisfied and snug m their dry beds, 
the birds will lie well next day, and can be flushed one 
by one at close quarters. After a dark night or m 
frosty weather, when the ground is too hard for pene- 
tration by their sensitive bills, the birds will be hungry 
restless and wild. On a continuance of frost, they will 
work into the deep, sheltered corners of the covert, and 
diligently turn over the dead leaves or probe the solt 
mould in their search for insect food. Then, perhaps, 
suddenly they will be gone. 
By using the plural in speaking of their movements 
there is some risk of conveying an impression that 
woodcock are gregarious, or at least moved by some 
feelino- 0 f sociability, which induces them to act m con- 
cert & Any such bond of friendship, however, certainly 
does not" exist. A dozen 'cocks may haunt the same 
wood, but each is in reality a hermit, living and mov- 
in°- in total disregard and independence of his neighbor, 
ignoring even his very presence. But, following the 
dictates of nature, every bird leaves his hiding place for 
his feeding ground at the same time, probably sharing 
the same fat worm pastures, and returns at the same 
time in the small hours^of the morning. But there is no 
sign of comradeship in their movements; each bird 
chooses his own course from the solitary resting place 
to the particular corner of the meadow which he con- 
siders yields the richest fare. Spasmodic and versatile 
in all other respects, the woodcock displays system and 
regularity in his flights. So methodical is he that every 
evening he takes the same line and emerges from the 
same opening in the wood, flitting silently out, and 
making straight for his feeding ground It is by watch- 
ing at dusk that the sportsman can discover the line 
taken by each bird, and make sure of getting a shot at 
flight time. 
A chance of a woodcock never seems to lose its 
charm — rareness of opportunity may in some degree 
account for it, for satiety in this bird is a thing un- [ 
known. If flushed in the daytime, he springs up, a 
startling apparition of rich brown, which slips noise- 
lessly through the first opening in the treetops — beak 
down, shoulders up, and a large liquid eye shining like 
a big black bead, set well back in his curious head. 
There is no mistaking a woodcock; he is like nothing | 
else. 
At dusk he is no less startling, even though one be f 
standing alert and expectant on the border of the wood. 
1 here is a touch of the uncanny about the bat-like bird 
as he silently flits out in the twilight with undulating 
wavy flight. Seen against the darkening sky for a 
moment, be looks twice his actual size. The next 
instant, unless the gun be thrown up smartly and held 
straight, he has vanished in the gloom. 
Every sportsman remembers shooting his first wood- 
cock, and the satisfaction with which he placed the 
coveted pin-feather in his hatband. How easy to recall 
every detail. First, flushing the bird from under a j 
holly bush in the little wood; the subsequent discovery 
of his line of flight; the diplomatic bribery which in- 
duced the gardner to lend his muzzleloading "bird 
scarer"; the moments of anxious suspense and hopeful 
expectation at dusk, rewarded time after time by the 
same result; a deafening report, a bird flying serenely 
on, and a boy taking a sitting posture on the grass, the 
'cock being eventually shot, perhaps, by some one else. 
Yet that first woodcock lives in the memory as no 
other bird can ever do. 
The alleged decrease of woodcock in England is be- 
lieved by many to be more imaginary than real — would 
that it were so! That the birds breed with us in greater 
numbers than formerly there can be no doubt; so any 
decrease must be in the migrants which reach these 
shores in October and November. The comparative 
mildness of recent winters would in some degree ac- 
count for fewer 'cocks coming south, as the migratory 
instinct does not seem so strong with these birds as 
with many others. It is probably due to the many exjj 
tensive areas of covert under strict preservation that 
woodcock breed more freely in England nowadays. And 
for the same reason — i. e., reluctance to disturb pheas- 
ant coverts — a good many 'cocks are never seen or 
shot where in former days they would have been the 
center of attraction, and would have gone to make up! 
those bags we read of in our fathers' diaries — and which 
to-day, with a sigh, we pronounce to be impossible. — 
London Field. 
As to Sleeping- Ducks. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I once saw two black ducks fast asleep. There is no 
mistake about this. I was camped on an island in a 
meadow early in April. The meadow was open, but the 
pond above was still frozen solid. I had been out till late 
the night before shooting muskrats, and there were no 
ducks on the meadow. In the night it froze all over the 
meadow except a small place near my camp. On looking 
out very early in the morning, I saw something in the 
center of the open place which I knew was not there the 
night before. They proved to be two black ducks, which 
had dropped in during the night, and their heads were so 
flat that as one lay partly behind the other they looked 
like a short piece of a log. After watching them a while, 
I went to camp, got my gun and shot one with my rifle 
barrel. If those ducks were not sound asleep, then I have 
never seen anything asleep in my life. M. Hardy. 
New York, Nov. 2. — Editor Forest and Stream: — I ac- 
cept Mr. Ackert's offer to show me two or more dusky 
mallards "all asleep together" on floating ice in the Hud- 
son next March. 
There can be but one opinion among -sportsmen if he 
shot sleeping ducks without first making them fly. And 
it is interesting to note that with him, "duck-and-man 
telepathy" does not "work." L. F. Brown. 
Birds in the Efie Museum. 
A lady here in Erie, Mrs. Brandes, has placed in the 
public museum several cases of the finest mounted speci- 
mens of birds that I have ever seen. There are five 
cases ; but the one that will be the first to attract attention 
portrays a tragedy of the woods. A gray fox, which looks 
as natural as when alive, is in the foreground ; he is 
sneaking off carrying a quail in his mouth, while another 
quail, probably this one's mother, sits fluttering in a 
branch above him. A - handsome wood duck stands in 
among the grass in another case; he seems to be on the 
watch here, as if he were in his. native woods. Another 
case has a fine English pheasant and his mate, two- of the 
handsomest I have, ever seen. Then there is a ringed 
gull, and then some English grouse. Next come two 
snowy owls that must be looked at very closely to> find 
out that they are not still alive. A bird of paradise occu- 
pies another case, and there are several other specimens, 
all of them of the greatest interest. Cabia Blanco. 
A Beaver Colony. 
Montreal, Oct. 29. — From the Desbarats, Ont., Canada, 
news columns of the local paper I have cut out the fol- 
lowing item, showing that in Ontario, at least, the game 
laws are respected : "The township council is up against 
a hard proposition. A colony of beavers have dammed 
a creek in the Center Line road, opposite Mr. Chas. I 
Steinburg's farm, and the road is flooded and is now im- i 
passable. Mr. McMaster, of Rock Lake, nearly lost his 1 
team there last week. The dam has been torn away 1 
several times, but the beavers immediately repair the j 
break. The council will have to close the road until spring | 
or else crossway the dangerous part of the road. The 
beavers are protected by the game act, but the council is 
seeking permission from Game Warden Tinsley to destroy* 
this particular colony." 
