RUFFED GROUS. 
659 
In the month of April, the Ruffed Grous begins to be 
recognised by his peculiar drumming , heard soon after 
dawn, and towards 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 commenc- 
es again towards the close of the afternoon. This sono- 
rous crepitating sound, strongly resembling a low peal of 
distant thunder, is produced by the male, who, as a pre- 
liminary 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 
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 reverber- 
ating, in a still morning, to the distance of from a quar- 
ter to that of half a mile. This curious signal is repeat- 
ed at intervals of about 6 or 8 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 individ- 
ual attachment is formed, and they live in a state of lim- 
ited 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 do- 
mestic fowls for the sovereignty of the dung-hill, but too 
commonly succeed. When this sound, indeed, (according 
to Audubon,) is imitated by striking carefully upon an 
