The “booming” or “tooting” sounds made by these birds is heard before daybreak, and also at all hours before sunset, in places where they are abundant and tame; but where they are rare and wild they are seldom heard after sunrise, and their meetings then are in silence. Even in the fall the young males evince their natural pugnacity by engaging in short battles, which their parents usually interrupt and put a stop to.
This bird nests, according to the locality in which it is met with, from the beginning of April to the last of May. In Kentucky, Mr. Audubon has found their nests with eggs early in April, but the average period there was the first of May. Their nests he describes as somewhat carelessly formed of dry leaves and grasses, interwoven in a tolerably neat manner, and always very carefully placed among the tall grass of some large tuft in the open ground of the prairies, or, in barren lands, at the foot of a small bush.
The eggs are said to be from eight to twelve in number, never more; they are larger and more spherical than those of the common umbellus, and are of a darker shade. The female sits upon them about twenty days, and as soon as the young can extricate themselves from the shell the mother leads them away, the male having previously left her.
Early in the fall the various broods begin again to associate together, and at the approach of winter it is not uncommon to see them in flocks of several hundred individuals.
The young broods, when come upon suddenly and taken by surprise, instantly scatter and squat close to the ground, so that, without a dog, it is impossible to find them. The mother gives a single loud chuck as a signal of danger, and the young birds rise on the wing and fly a few yards in different directions, and then keep themselves perfectly still and quiet until the mother recalls them by a signal indicating that the peril has passed. In the meanwhile she resorts to various devices to draw the intruder away from the place.
This Grouse raises but a single brood in a season; and if the first laying has been destroyed or taken, the female seeks out her mate, makes another nest, and produces another set of eggs. These are usually smaller in size and less in number than those of her first laying.
The Pinnated Grouse is said to be easily tamed, and may be readily domesticated, though I do not know that the experiment has been thoroughly tried. Mr. Audubon once kept sixty of them in a garden near Henderson, Ky. Within a week they became tame enough to allow him to approach them without being frightened. He supplied them with abundance of corn and other food. In the course of the winter they became so gentle as to feed from the hand, and walked about his garden like so many tame fowl, mingling occasionally with the poultry. In the spring they strutted, “tooted,” and fought as if in their wild state. Many eggs were deposited, and a number of young birds were hatched out; but they proved so destructive to the vegetables that the experiment was given up and the Grouse were killed. The male birds were conspicuous for their courage, and would engage in contest with the Turkey-cocks, and even with the dunghill cock, rather than yield the ground.
In severe weather these birds have been known to roost in trees, but they generally prefer to rest on the ground. Advantage is sometimes taken to secure them by visiting their resting-places in the night with nets. On the ground they walk somewhat in the manner of the common Hen, but in a more erect attitude. When surprised, they rise with a whirring sound; but if they perceive the approach of any one at a sufficient distance, they run off with considerable speed, and hide by squatting in the grass or among bushes. They are fond of dusting themselves in ploughed fields or in dusty roads, rearranging their feathers in the manner of the Wild Turkey.
When the female, with her young brood, is surprised, she instantly ruffles up her feathers, and acts as if she contemplated flying in your face; this she rarely, if ever, attempts, but resorts to various artifices to decoy the intruder away.