94 THE COMPLETE WILDFOWLER 
ably. Alarm a greenshank and note its call—a sharply-uttered 
loud ‘‘tue-tue-tue.’’ Listen to him when in search of a mate; 
his notes are the same, but much slower, and they have a softer 
sound—i.e., not so shrill. It may be seen that to call the green- 
shank’s notes sharply would be simply to alarm the bird and 
tend to drive it away, rather than attract it. This is a crude 
example of modulation, but it may serve to illustrate my mean- 
ing and show the importance of observing what might be termed 
trifling details by the careless and unobservant. These remarks 
apply equally to ventriloquism. I might cite the corncrake 
as being a good example of a bird possessing ventriloquial 
' powers. He does not use such powers without some natural 
service being at the end of it all. Study this bird closely, and 
you will soon note the fact. There is but one month (May) he 
will come to acall. Listen to the corncrake grinding in the 
meadow: all the calls are of one strength of loudness. Call 
him (I say ‘‘him” because he will be a male if he comes) by 
using part of a hand-saw blade and a strip of hoop-iron. He 
may on first hearing your call fly within a few feet of you, but, 
seeing you, he will drop, and, though only perhaps ten feet off, 
he may call, and this call to you may sound as coming from 
half-way across the meadow. Further, he may for some 
minutes run round (out of sight, of course, in the long grass), 
grating away. Now call him, and note how he calls. The 
ventriloquism is truly wonderful. As he suspects the genuine- 
ness of your call, his ‘‘crakes” will appear farther away. 
Cease calling, and without doubt he will strike up full power 
again, thinking his rival has departed. Now, if the corncrake 
uses the power here alluded to, I think my readers will admit 
that shore-birds can, and in my opinion do, employ the same 
method, though, of course, not in such a marked manner. 
Suffice it to say, however, that enough ventriloquism is 
practised by shore-birds to make this feature noteworthy 
to the shore-bird caller, and, indeed, highly essential when 
