COURTSHIP. 93 



Some others Imve deep trumpet-like notes which 

 are used for a similar purpose. In some of these, 

 as in certain swans and cranes, the keel of the 

 breast-bone forms a hollow tunnel into which a 

 part of the windpipe coils itself on its way to 

 the lungs. In the painted snipe, curassows, the 

 manucode, and some other birds, the windpipe is 

 coiled many times between the skin and the 

 muscles of the breast. In many ducks at the base 

 of the windpipe there is a curious enlargement, 

 forming a hollow chamber. It is generally sup- 

 posed in such cases, that birds so modified have 

 very powerful voices, or voices in some way 

 peculiar. This does not however seem to be 

 borne out by facts. In ducks, for instance, it is 

 the female which has the loudest voice. The 

 boom of the bittern a2:ain is a loud enouorh note 

 yet the windpipe is in no w^ay specially modified. 

 In the female emu, the front of the windpipe, 

 about half-way down the neck, opens into a 

 curious bag, which, when filled with air, can be 

 made to produce the curious drumming sound 

 which this bird makes. 



Certain other cries express danger signals, or 

 it may be are intended as notes of defiance or 

 challenges to battle. 



Some birds sing in concert. Mr Hudson has 

 vividly pictured for us such a concert, the per- 

 formers being the crested screamer of South 

 America. These birds, he tells us, often sing 

 together in vast flocks at intervals during the 

 night. He tells us how that on one o:casion 

 he was surprised by "an awful and overpowering 

 burst of 'melody' which saluted him from half a 



