32 
GROUSE FAMILY. 
the buds of trees, the catkins of the hazel and alder, even 
fern-buds, acorns, and seeds of various kinds, among which I 
have met with the capsules, including the seeds of the com- 
mon small Canadian Cistus (Jlelianthemiim'). At times I 
have seen the crop almost entirely filled with the buds of the 
apple-tree, each connected with a portion of the twig, the 
wood of which appears to remain a good while undigested j 
cinquefoil and strawberry-leaves, buds of the Azaleas and of 
the broad-leaved Kalraia, with the favorite partridge-berries 
{Gaultheria procumhens), ivy-berries {Cisstts hederacea), zxA 
gravel pebbles are also some of the many articles which form 
the winter fare of our bird. In summer it seems often to 
prefer berries of various kinds, particularly dewberries, straw- 
berries, grapes, and whortleberries. 
In the month of April the Ruffed Grouse begins to be recog- 
nized by his peculiar drumming, heard soon after dawn and 
towards the close of evening. At length, as the season of pair- 
ing approaches, it is heard louder and more frequent till a later 
hour of the day, and commences again towards the close of 
the afternoon. This sonorous, crepitating sound, strongly 
resembling a low peal of distant thunder, is produced by the 
male, who as a preliminary to the operation stands upright on 
a prostrate log, parading with erected tail and ruff and with 
drooping wings in the manner of the Turkey. After swelling 
out his feathers and strutting forth for a few moments, at a 
sudtlen 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 reverberating in a still morning 
to the distance of from a quarter to that of half a 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, 
