CHAPTER VI 



THE LOVE DISPLAYS OF BIRDS 



Bird music — Vocal music of birds — Variety in song— Capri- 

 ciousness of song — The origin and purpose of avine 

 song — Individual variation in the song of birds — Imita- 

 tion — Do birds sing by instinct or imitation ? — Vocal 

 sounds of birds — The instrumental music of birds — 

 Made by ordinary appliances — Made by special modi- 

 fications of the plumage — The drumming of the Snipe 

 — Modifications in the wings of the Humming-Birds — 

 In other species — Wing modification in the Manakins 

 — Sounds made by air sacs or pouches — The love dis- 

 plays of birds — Aerial displays of Humming-Birds — Of 

 Tyrant Birds — Love displays of the Birds of Paradise — 

 Of Bustards — The love-posturing of the Argus Pheasant 

 — The Bower Birds — Their curious "bowers" — The 

 dances of certain Rails — Of the South American Jacana 

 — Of the Spur-winged Plover — Of certain Ducks — 

 Parades of plumage— The meaning and purpose of 

 this display — Sexual selection — The vitality, excitability, 

 and pugnacity of birds. 



We will now proceed to the consideration of 

 another class of phenomena peculiar to birds, 

 and absolutely unique so far as all the rest of 

 the animal kingdom is concerned. This more 

 especially relates to the music or song of birds, 



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