As he was reloading his gun, we heard at a distance a singular noise, like a muffled drum, mingled with the sound made in sharpening a saw.

It might be savages; and we plunged into a thicket, and there discovered the cause of the noise in a brilliant green bird, seated on the withered trunk of a tree.

It spread its wings and tail, and strutted about with strange contortions, to the great delight of its mates, who seemed lost in admiration of him.

At the same time, he made the sharp cry we heard, and, striking his wing against the tree, produced the drum-like sound.

I knew this to be the _ruffed grouse_, one of the greatest ornaments of the forests of America.