own by the name of
quail, the appellation of partridge being there given to what in
Pennsylvania is called the pheasant, and which in the Ornithologies
bears the name of the Ruffed Grouse, (_Tetrao Umbellus._ WILSON.) It
inhabits a very extensive range of country, being found at Hudson's
Bay, in Kentucky and Indiana, Oregon and the Floridas. Its favorite
places of resort are high mountains covered with the balsam, pine,
hemlock and other evergreens, and as we descend from such heights to
the lower country they become more rare; and in the Carolinas, Georgia
and Florida they are very scarce. The manners of the pheasant are
solitary, they are seldom found in coveys of more than four or five
together, and more usually in pairs, or singly. They are often shot in
the mornings in the roads over the mountains bounding the Susquehanna;
where they come for gravel. On foggy mornings very considerable
numbers may be seen in these situations, moving along with great
stateliness, their broad fan-like tail expanded to its fullest extent.
The _drumming_ of the pheasant, a sound compared by Wilson to that
produced by striking two full blown ox bladders together, but much
louder; the strokes at first slow and distinct, but gradually
increasing in rapidity till they run into each other, resembling the
rumbling sound of very distant thunder dying away gradually on the
ear. This drumming is the call of the male bird to his mate, and may
be heard in a calm day nearly half a mile. Wilson thus describes the
manner in which this singular noise is produced. The bird, standing on
an old prostrate log, generally in a retired and sheltered situation,
lowers his wings, erects his expanded tail, contracts his throat,
elevates two tufts of feathers on the neck, and inflates his whole
body something in the manner of the turkey-cock, strutting and
wheeling about with great stateliness. After a few manoeuvres of this
kind he begins to strike with his stiffened wings in short and quick
strokes, which become more and more rapid until they run into each
other, as has been already described. This is most common in the
morning and evening, though Wilson states that he has heard them
drumming at all hours of the day. By means of this the pheasant leads
the gunner to the place of his retreat, though to those unacquainted
with the sound there is great deception in the supposed distance, it
generally appearing to be much nearer than it really is. Audubon
mention