GALLINAGO 73 



Furthermore, if the feathers be damped, they appear to act better, 

 thus explaining, perhaps, why snipe are found to be liable to bleat in 

 damp weather. I think this simple experiment readily explains away 

 the ' adverse cases ' of Prof. Altum (' Ornithologisches Centralblatt,' 

 October, 1880), already mentioned. 



" That the hens bleat as well as the cocks is now, I suppose, 

 a well-known fact [cf. Von Preen, ' Naumannia,' 1856, pp. 426-27, 

 and Meves, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1859, p. 200). I have observed 

 it on several occasions myself. In the summer of 1902, I found 

 four newly-hatched snipe in a patch inhabited by only a single 

 pair ; while lying concealed in the neighbourhood, I observed 

 repeatedly both old birds drumming over me. From the similarity 

 of structure of the tail-feathers in both sexes — a fact which I have 

 ascertained by dissection — one would infer that both sexes drummed- 

 I cannot, however, agree with Meves that ' as the feathers of the 

 hen are generally less than those of the cock bird, the noise also 

 made by them is not so deep as in the other case ' {Op. cit., p. 200). 

 I can find no difference either in the length of the feathers or in 

 the intensity of the sound produced by the feathers of either sex. 

 I have received a letter from Mr. S. A. Buturlin, in which he says that 

 in 1905 on the Kolyma Delta he frequently observed both sexes of the 

 Eastern representative of our species {Gallinago raddci) drumming. 



" Since the two outer feathers are extended beyond the other 

 twelve during the descent, as I have described, I sought to find 

 by dissection a mechanism by which this might be produced. On 

 examining the tail of a freshly-killed bird, it is quite easy, by 

 spreading out the tail, to make it assume the arrangement shown. 

 I was unable, however, to find any special muscle peculiar to the 

 species , controlling its outer two tail-feathers. The muscle pubo- 

 coccygeus ext. is inserted into the base of the shaft of the outer 

 two tail-feathers, and is quite capable of performing this function. 

 This muscle is to be found equally well-developed in the other 

 species of plovers and waders which I examined. The nomen- 

 clature of the muscular system of the tail is that of Gadow in 

 Bronn's ' Thier-Reich.' 



" I have tried the same experiments as I have just described with 

 the primaries from the wing of the snipe, and was not able to 

 produce any more sound with them than with others taken from 

 other kinds of waders, pigeons, &c. There seems to have existed 

 an opinion at one time that the bird produces two sounds, one with 

 the wings and the other with the tail, the former being known as 

 humming or drumming, and the latter whirring or bleating, produced 

 while the bird is on the ground {cf. ' Zoologist,' 1881, p. 212, and 

 1816, p. 1501). I cannot say that this agrees with my own 

 experiences.' 



