Chap. XIII. 



INSTKUMENTAL MUSIC. 



65 



Fig. 44. Primary •wing-feather of a 

 Humming-bird, tlie Selasphorus pla- 

 tycerus (from a slcetch by Mr. Salvin). 

 Upper figure, that of male ; lower 

 figure, corresponding feather of fe- 

 male. 



species is known to make a humming noise whilst 

 courting the female.^* In a widely different group of 

 birds, namely the Humming-birds, the males alone 

 of certain kinds have either 

 the shafts of their primary 

 wing-feathers broadly dilated, 

 or the webs abruptly excised 

 towards the extremity. The 

 male, for instance, of Selasplio- 

 rus flatycerciis, when adult, 

 has the first primary wing- 

 feather (fig. 44), excised in 

 this manner. Whilst flying 

 from flower to flovver he 

 makes '• a shrill, almost whistling, noise ; " ^^ but it 

 did not appear to Mr. Salvin that the noise was inten- 

 tionallv made. 



Lastly, in several species of a sub-genus of Pipra or 

 Manakin, the males have their secondary wing-feathers 

 modified, as described by Mr. Sclater, in a still more 

 remarkable manner. In the brilliantly-coloured P. 

 deliciosa the first three secondaries are thick-stemmed 

 and curved towards the bodv ; in the fourth and fifth 

 (fig. 45, a) the change is greater ; and in the sixth 

 and seventh (b, c) the shaft "is thickened to an 

 " extraordinary degree, forming a solid horny lump." 

 The barbs also are greatly changed in shape, in com- 

 parison with the corresponding feathers (d, e, f) in the 

 female. Even the bones of the wing which support 

 these singular feathers in the male are said bv Mr. 

 Fraser to be much thickened. These little birds make 



" Jerdon, ' Birds of India,' vol. iii. p. CIS, G21. 



•''■' Gould, ' Introduction to the Trocliiiidte,' 18G1, p, 49. Salvin, 

 ' Proc. Zoolog. So?.' 1867, p. 10 J. 



VOL. II. F 



