Snipe ' drumming ' 75 



So j'ou may \\'atcli a bird, sonK^timcs for an hour or more at a 

 stretch, continuing these bold aerial ihglits up and down over the 

 marsh in all directions, but the sound is only heard during the doivn- 

 zcard pitch. 



The action of the wings is very peculiar. They are, as I have 

 said, half closed, or, at any rate, nothing like fully expanded, and the 

 Inmierus is held fi.xed and rigid. But you will notice, when th^ebird 

 happens to execute a " drunnning " stoop within easy re c^i of 

 accurate observation, tliat tlie distal parts of the wings are shivering 

 with a tremulous \-ibrator\- moxement, this movement being imparted 

 by the muscles of the forearm and hand ; that is, that all movement 

 takes place from the elbow and below, while the arm remains hxed 

 to the trunk. 



Such is a cursory description of the " drumming " flight : the 

 manner in which the sound is produced has been, and still remains, 

 one of the most ve.xed questions in ornitholog}-. 



As long ago as 1856, Herr Meves, the curator of the Stockholm 

 Museum, wrote an elaborate paper on the subject, which was trans- 

 lated by John WoUey, and published in the Proceedings of the 

 Zoological" Society for 1858 (p. 251 et seq.). 



As recently as January 15th of the present year, P. H. Bahr 

 read a paper " on the bleating or drumming of the Snipe " before the 

 same society, confirming Meves's original observations, and extending 

 his experiments to other members of the family. 



In his paper, Herr Meves advanced the view that the sound 

 originated through the current of air falling on the two outer feathers 

 of the tail, and throwing them into vibration. According to him, 

 the outer tail feathers were responsible for the drumming, and no 

 other mechanism was called into play ; neither the vocal organs 

 nor the wings taking any part in the production. 



In support of his theory, he made a number of ingenious experi- 

 ments ; he mounted one of the outside tail feathers, " the sonorous 

 feathers," as he called them, on a fine wire, and this again on to a 

 stick. B\- drawing this stick sharply though the air, he succeeded 

 in reproducing the drumming soimd with great exactitude. 



Prior to Meves's paper, the drumming had been attributed by 

 some* to a vocal sound, and by still more to a vibratory sound caused 

 by the movements of the primary feathers of the imng. Among 

 the supporters of the wing theory, were many distinguished natural- 

 ists, including Naumann, Macgillivray, Jardine, Saxby, Blyth, 

 Hancock and Harting. These observers altogether refused to accept 

 Meves's experiments as conclusive, and some of them have written 

 very able papers in support of their own views. 



We have now three groups of theorists : 



(i) The vocal (only) ; (2) the tail (only) ; (3) the wing (only), 



* e.g. Bechstein, " Naturgeschichte Deutch," vol. iv.. p. 190 ; Hintz, I.e. : Zoppritz 

 ' Ornith, Centralblatt," Nov., 1880. Seebohm, " British Birds," iii., p. 244, inclined towards thp 

 ^'ocal theory, but did not commit himself to it. The Rev. H. H. Slater," British Birds," illustrated 

 by Frohawk, vol. v., p. 112, al.so supports the vocal theory. — Editor. 



