250 
Ruffed Grouse 
years ago, when Dr. C. F. Hodge photographed a Rufifed Grouse in thejC 
act of drumming, and did this over and over again. It was then seeni 
that, instead of doing what tradition had declared — beating his wings 
against a stone, a hollow log, or his breast — the grouse, in fact, beats 
them only against the air. While he performs this act, the bird throws 
himself into various curious and fantastic positions, which one would 
never expect of a Ruffed Grouse. 
Obviously, the drumming is a mating call ; though it is quite possible ■ 
that it may also be a challenge. It is performed in autumn as well as in r 
spring. It is said that on occasions sportsmen, by imitating the drumming ■ 
sound, have caused grouse in the woods to come to them. 
The Ruffed Grouse’s nest is made, and she begins to lay her eggs, in r 
May ; and it is early June, or the middle of the month, before the tiny young ■ 
have hatched. When the brood leaves the nest, there i 
Nesting may be from a dozen to twenty of the little fellows, i 
hardly as large as one’s thumb, very active on their t 
feet, and covered with a silky, tawny down of various shades. Only by . 
the merest accident and the greatest good fortune can one hope to see e 
one of these little families, and to watch it undisturbed. Usually, if they i 
have any warning, the tiny chicks squat motionless among the dead leaves ? 
on the ground, where they escape notice; while the anxious mother, pre- - 
_ tending to be hurt and unable to fly, flutters along the ground, trying to ' 
lead the enemy to pursue her and to leave the young ones. The ruse f 
is almost always successful. Dog, boy, and man are quite sure to be 
deceived, and to follow the fluttering bird, which acts as if she were sorely 
hurt and could be seized the next moment; but, after she has enticed the f 
pursuer away from the point of danger, she takes wing and flies swiftly ^ 
away. j 
Once, passing quietly through some big woods, I saw, beyond a little 
rise only a few steps distant, a dark spot on the leaves, which I recognized ! 
as a mother-grouse hovering her brood with outspread 1 
Young wings. She was as much surprised as I, and, losing ; 
her presence of mind, flew at once, while from the : 
place where she had been nesting fifteen or twenty tiny young streamed I 
out in every direction. Of most of these I at once lost sight, but on one 
I kept my eye, and presently, taking two or three steps forward, picked i 
it up from the ground. It crouched on my palm, unafraid, looking at 
me with a bright, soft eye. Perhaps it was a week old, for the quills of 
the wings were about a quarter of an inch in length. Putting it down 
on the leaves, I slowly withdrew to a little knoll, forty or fifty feet distant, 
and there listened and watched for the mother-bird, which soon came 
creeping cautiously through the undergrowth until within a few feet of 
where her babies had been left. There she mounted a stump and talked 
to them in low notes, and there I left her, easy in mind, I hope, about 
the little family. 
When autumn comes, and berries and seeds are ripe, and brown nuts 
