Chap. XIII. Instrumental Music. 375 



turkey utters her call in the morning, the male answers by a note 

 which differs from the gobbling noise made, when with erected 

 feathers, rustling wings and distended wattles, he puffs and 

 struts before her. 49 The spel of the black-cock certainly serves 

 as a call to the female, for it has been known to bring four or 

 five females from a distance to a male under confinement; but 

 &g the black-cock continues his &pd for hours during successive 

 days, and in the case of the capercailzie " with an agony of 

 " passion," we are led to suppose that the females which are 

 present are thus charmed. 50 The voice of the common rook is 

 known to alter during the breeding-season, and is therefore in 

 some way sexual. 51 But what shall we say about the harsh 

 screams of, for instance, some kinds of macaws; have these 

 birds as bad taste for musical sounds as they apparently have 

 for colour, judging by the inharmonious contrast of their bright 

 yellow and blue plumage ? It is indeed possible that without 

 any advantage being thus gained, the loud voices of many male 

 birds may be the result of the inherited effects of the continued 

 use of their vocal organs, when excited by the strong passions 

 of love, jealousy and rage; but to this point we shall recur 

 when we treat of quadrupeds. 



We have as yet spoken only of the voice, but the males of 

 various birds practise, during their courtship, what may be called 

 instrumental music. Peacocks and Birds of Paradise rattle their 

 quills together. Turkey-cocks scrape their wings against the 

 ground, and some kinds of grouse thus produce a buzzing sound. 

 Another North American grouse, the Tetrao umbelhis, when with 

 his tail erect, his ruffs displayed, " he shows off his finery to the 

 " females, who lie hid in the neighbourhood," drums by rapidly 

 striking his wings together above his back, according to Mr. E. 

 Haymond, and not, as Audubon thought, by striking them 

 against his sides. The sound thus produced is compared by 

 some to distant thunder, and by others to the quick roll of a 

 drum. The female never drums, " but flies directly to the place 

 u where the male is thus engaged." The male of the Kalij- 

 pheasant, in the Himalayas, " often makes a singular drumming 

 " noise with his wings, not unlike the sound produced by shaking 

 " a stiff piece of cloth." On the west coast of Africa the little 

 black-weavers (Ploceus ?) congregate in a small party on the 

 bushes round a small open sjDace, and sing and glide through 



49 C. L. Bonaparte, quoted in the Sweden,' &c, 1867, pp. 22, 81. 

 Naturalist Library : Birds,' vol. 5X Jenner, ' Philosophy Transac- 



riv. p. 226. tions,' 1824, p. 20. 

 M L. Lloyd, ' The Game Birds of 



