. The American natural history : a foundation of useful knowledge of the higher animals of North America . Natural history. 244 ORDERS OF BIRDS—UPLAND GAME-BIRDS the Ruffed Grouse should be called by that name, and no other! It is called "Ruffed" because of the ruff of feathers that it wears just in front of its shoulders, and under the name "Redruff" this bird has been most charmingly introduced by Mr. Ernest Thompson Seton to many thou- sand readers who never had known it previously. This Grouse is in every respect a forest-bird. Its ideal home is mixed forest of hardwood
. The American natural history : a foundation of useful knowledge of the higher animals of North America . Natural history. 244 ORDERS OF BIRDS—UPLAND GAME-BIRDS the Ruffed Grouse should be called by that name, and no other! It is called "Ruffed" because of the ruff of feathers that it wears just in front of its shoulders, and under the name "Redruff" this bird has been most charmingly introduced by Mr. Ernest Thompson Seton to many thou- sand readers who never had known it previously. This Grouse is in every respect a forest-bird. Its ideal home is mixed forest of hardwood and coniferous trees, with the white-tailed deer and. EASTERN RUFFED GROUSE. gray squirrel for company. Its home extends from Massachusetts and northern New York to northern Georgia, and westward very sparingly bej'ond the Mississippi to the Dakotas. Besides being beautiful, it is a bird of interesting habits, and its flesh is entirely too fine for its own good. In size it is smaller than the pinnated grouse, or prairie-chicken, but in intelligence it is second to no other grouse living. The prevailing color of the Ruffed Grouse is rusty brown, but the mottlings of black, gray and white defy intelligent description. Open or shut, the tail is a dream—cross-barred, band- ed and mottled most exquisitely. It is no wonder that the male bird is fond of strutting, with spread tail; but besides this it has a still more effective means of attracting the female. It perches on a log, secures a good grip with its feet, then beats the air with its wings until you hear at the end of the performance a long, quiv- ering resonance disturbing the solitude, like beating upon a Hindoo tom-tom. The beats start slowly, but quickly increase in rapidity to the end, thus: "Dum!-dum!-dum!- ; The bird does not beat the log, and it does not beat its own sides. Thoreau declares that its wings strike together behind its back! This "drumming" of the Ruffed Grouse
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