April, 1918 
FOREST AND STREAM 
201 
far-off thunder, is often heard in late sum¬ 
mer and autumn. Dr. George Bird Grin¬ 
ned thinks it is possible that this autumnal 
drumming is made by the young males, 
just as sometimes in autumn a young male 
songbird may be heard to practice in low 
tones the lay which it will utter during 
the mating season of the following spring. 
I have often been asked why the grouse 
drums, but the more I think about it and 
observe the birds, the more I do not know. 
Some believe it is a call to attract the hen 
Beat followed beat, faster and faster 
bird. While this may be true in the spring¬ 
time, it certainly does not apply in October 
when the birds are scattered and paying- 
scant attention to each other. 
Others assert that it is simply the ex¬ 
pression of an impulse to show off his 
finery, like a strutting turkey cock, or like 
a magnificent swan I once knew who arched 
his wings, laid his head back between them, 
and sailed majestically about, turning and 
The wings evidently struck at the back 
pirouetting and displaying himself as long 
as any one would look at him. 
A correspondent of Forest and Stream 
has expressed the view that a grouse drums 
from the same motives that actuate the 
barnyard cock to crow and flap his wings, 
namely, to announce the approach of day, to 
attract the female dr to triumph over a rival. 
Mr. Beard suggests that it is purely an 
involuntary impulse which seizes the bird 
at periodic intervals and that the bird can¬ 
not help it any more than one can help 
sneezing. This explanation sounded 
especially reasonable on that bleak 
October day, when the bird seemed 
thoroughly disgusted at the pros¬ 
pect of approaching winter, and 
one might almost imagine* that he 
was simply going through an ex¬ 
ercise to keep warm. 
One of the best descriptions of 
the process of drumming is that 
given by Mr. Manly Hardy, of 
Brewer, Maine, who says: “The 
cock grouse usually selects a 
mossy log near some open 
hedge, clearing or woods 
road, and partly screened by 
bushes, where he can see and 
not be seen. When about 
to drum he erects his neck 
feathers, spreads his tail, and with 
dropping wings steps with a jerky 
motion along a log for some dis¬ 
tance each way from his drumming 
place, walking back and forth sev¬ 
eral times and looking sharply in 
every direction. Then standing 
crosswise, he stretches himself to 
his fullest height and delivers the 
blows with his wings fully upon his 
sides, his wings being several inches 
clear from the log. After drum¬ 
ming he settles quietly down into 
a sitting posture and re¬ 
mains silently listening for 
five or ten minutes, when, if 
no cause for alarm is discovered, 
he repeats the process.” 
It is said that if, during the 
drumming, another male grouse 
makes its appearance near the 
drumming place, the birds fight 
with much spirit. An account of 
such a battle is given by a corre¬ 
spondent of Forest and Stream, 
who writes from Schenectady, 
New York, and signs him¬ 
self “Dorp.” He says, in 
substance: 
“I was walking along a 
country road, about the first 
of June, when I heard 
from the depths of an ad¬ 
jacent wood an unusual rustling 
sound for which I could not ac¬ 
count. The sound stopped, began 
again, again stopped, and was re¬ 
peated at intervals of a minute or 
two. Not knowing what caused the 
sound, I crossed the fence and 
cautiously approached the place. 
After I had gone about fifty yards, 
screening myself as much as pos¬ 
sible behind trees, I came up to 
within twenty yards of a large dead 
log, upon which stood two 
ruffed grouse in battle array. 
They stood something like 
six feet from each other, 
with the black feathers 
around their necks raised till 
they almost pointed toward their 
heads, which were lowered, and 
The wings did not strike the breast at all 
back to the log, where a short tussle took 
place, when they separated and moved 
back to a distance of about six feet from 
one another. 
“After an interval they advanced toward 
each other again and repeated the same 
performance as before. The desperate 
battle went on by ‘rounds’ till several were 
fought. How long the fight had been go¬ 
ing before I came upon the scene I had no 
means of knowing, but after they had come 
together several times in my presence, the 
bird that seemed the smaller moved back¬ 
ward, still presenting a defiant attitude, 
He subsided placidly into a ball of feathers 
with his head lowered, till he came to the 
end of the log, when he jumped off and 
disappeared. 
“Upon this the victor raised himself and 
stretched up until he nearly stood on his 
toes, expanding his wings at the same 
time. It looked for a moment as if he 
would crow. Then settling himself back, 
he brought his wings down against his 
breast with a sound like that produced by 
forcibly striking a bass drum. Again he 
(continued on page 244 ) 
which they were shaking at each 
other in defiance. In a few mo¬ 
ments they gradually approached 
each other, and when about two 
feet apart they rushed together, the 
momentum and their wings carry¬ 
ing them into the air about a foot 
above the log. While there they 
struck repeated blows and then fell And carefully rearranged his shaken plumage 
