108 NATURAL III STORY OF BIRDS. 



course, each species has peculiarities of its own. They need, however, not detain us 

 lierc, with tlie exception of one feature whicii does not seem to he generally known, 

 viz., that some of the species during the breeding season are ca])aljle of jiro<lueing a 

 real song, which is consider.ablj' superior to that of many a " song-bird " proper. Says 

 ^Ir. Secbohni, for instance, oi Actodromus temtuiiickii: "I first made the acquaint- 

 ance of Teniminck's stint at Troniscr, on the west coast of Finniark, whei'e it was very 

 common. These charming little birds were in full song in the middle of June. It 

 was a most interesting sight to watch them flying up into the air, wheeling round and 

 round, singing almost as vigorously and nearly as melodiously as a sky-lark. Some- 

 times they were to be seen perched on a rail or a post, or even on the slender branch 

 of a willow, vibrating their little wings like a wood-wren, and trilling with all their 

 might; and often the song was uttered on the ground as they ran along the short 

 grass with wings elevated over the back. The song of this bird is not unlike that of 

 the grasshopper warbler, but is louder and shriller." Of I'otanus glareola, tlie wood- 

 sandjiijier of the Old World, the same author says: "The note wliich the male utters 

 during the jiairing season is much more of a song than that of the grassliojiper war- 

 bler, which it somewhat resembles; it is a monotomous til-il-il, begun soinewhat low 

 and slow, as the bird is descending in the air with fluttering ui)raised wings, becom- 

 ing louder and more rapid, and reaching its climax as the bird alights on the ground 

 or on a rail, or sometimes on the bare branch of a willow, the points of its trembling 

 wings almost meeting over its head when its feet find support. Tliis song is a by no 

 means unmusical trill, and has an almost metallic ring about it." 



Concerning another s])ecies, the pectoral sandpijier (^Actodromus ritacuhitiis), Mr. 

 E. W. Nelson made some very interesting notes during his explorations in ^Vlaska, to 

 the effect that the male, during the breeding season, can fill its ccsophagus with air to 

 such an extent that the breast and throat are inflated to twice or more the natural 

 size, the great air-sac thus formed giving a pecidiar resonant quality to the note which 

 he describes as deep and hollow, but at the same time liquid and rnu>i(Ml. The skin 

 of the throat and breast becomes very flabby and loose, so as to hang ilowu " in a i)en- 

 dulous ilai> or foM, exactly like a dewlais about .an inch and a halt' wide," even when 

 not inflated. " The male m.ay frequently be seen running .along the ground close to 

 the female, its enormous sac inflated, and its head drawn back, and the liill ]iointing 

 directly forwards; or, filled with spring-time vigor, the l)ird flits with slow but ener- 

 getic wing-strokes close along the ground, its head raised high over the shoulders, and 

 the tail hanging almost directly down. As it thus flies, it utters a succession of the 

 booming notes adverted to above, which have a strange ventriloquial quality. At times 

 the m.ale rises twenty or thirty yards in the air, and, inflating its throat, glides down 

 to the ground with its sac hanging below ; .again he crosses back and forth in front of 

 the female, putting out liis breast, and bowing from side to side, running h'ere and there 

 as if intoxicated with jiassion. Whenever he ]iursues his love-making, his rather low 

 but far-reaching note swells and dies in musierd cadence, and forms a striking jiart of 

 the great bird chorus at that season in the north." 



When speaking .abovi. i.f the nniformity in .structure and habits of the birds com- 

 l>osing this suli-faiuily, a mental reservation was made in regard to the rulT {Pavon- 

 cellapugnat). The male, during the breeding season, has the face covered with naked 

 yellowish tubercles, and an enormous ruff of erectile feathers appears simultaneously 

 on the neck. Tlie colors of this ruff esiiecially, as well as of the body, are so diver- 

 sified that hardly two individuals can be found precisely alike, though it is s.aid that 



