Ruffed Grouse 
241 
No other orchestra contains a member who can 
drum without a drum. Even that famous 
drummer, the woodpecker, needs a dead, dry, 
resonant, hardwood limb to tap on before he 
can produce his best effects. How does the 
grouse beat his deep, muffled, thump, thump, 
thumping, rolling tattoo ? Some scientists have 
staked their reputation on the claim that they 
have seen him drum by rapidly striking his 
wings against the sides of his body; but other 
later-day scientists, who contend that he beats 
only the air when his wings vibrate so fast that 
the sight cannot quite follow them, are un- 
doubtedly right. 
On a fallen log, a stump, a rail fence or a wall, 
that may have been used as a drumming stand 
for many years, the male grouse will strut with 
a jerking, dandified gait, puff out his feathers, 
ruff his neck frills, raise and spread his fan- 
shaped tail like a turkey cock, blow out his 
cheeks and neck, then suddenly halt and begin 
to beat his wings. After a few slow, measured 
thumps, the stiff, strong wings whir faster 
and faster, until there is only a blur where they 
vibrate. This is the grouse’s love song that 
summons a mate to their trysting place. It 
serves also as a challenge to a rival. Blood and 
feathers may soon be strewn around the ground, 
for in the spring grouse will fight as fiercely as 
game-cocks. Sportsmen in the autumn woods 
