Chap. XIII. INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC. 63 



male utters its cry without strikiug his beak the sound 

 is quite different.^^ 



In the foregoing cases sounds are made by the aid 

 of structures already present and otherwise necessary ; 

 but in the following cases certain feathers have been 

 specially modified for the express purpose of producing 

 the sounds. The drumming, or bleating, or neighing, or 

 thundering noise, as expressed by different observers, 

 which is made by the common snipe (Scolojoax gcdlinago) 

 must have surprised every one who has ever lieard it. 

 This bird, during the pairing-season, flies to "perhaps a 

 " thousand feet in height," and after zig-zagging about 

 for a time descends in a curved line, with outs2)read tail 

 and quivering pinions, with surprising velocity to the 



Fig. 41. Outer tiiil-feailier of Scolopax gallinago (from Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858). 



earth. The sound is emitted only during this rapid 

 descent. No one was able to explain the cause, until 

 M. Meves observed that on each side of the tail the outer 

 feathers are peculiarly formed (fig. 41), having a stiff 

 sabre-shaped shaft, with the oblique barbs of unusual 

 length, the outer webs being strongly bound together. 



■^1 For the foregoing several fticts see, on Birds of Paradise, Brehm, 

 ' Thierleben,' Band iii. s. 325, On Grouse, Kichardson, ' Fauna 

 Bor. Americ. : Birds,' jx 343 and 359; Major W. Boss King, ' TIjg 

 Sportsman in Canada,' 186G, p. 156; Audubon, 'American Ornitholog. 

 Biograpli.' vol. i. p. 216. On the Kalij-iiheasant, Jerdon, ' Birds of 

 India,' vol. iii. p. 533. On the Weavers, 'Livingstone's Expedition to 

 the Zambesi,' 1865, p. 425. On Woodpeckers, Macgillivray, 'Hist, of 

 British Birds,' vol. iii. 1840, p. 84, 88, 89, and 95. On the Hoopoe, 

 Mr. Swinhoe, in ' Proc. Znolog. Soc.' June 23, 1863. On tlie Night-Jar, 

 Audubon, ibid. vol. ii. p. 255. The English Night-Jar likewise makes 

 in the spring a curious noise during its rapid flight. 



