74 GAME-BIBDS OF INDIA 



To the above, Dr. Bahr adds in a letter to me : — 



" An old friend of mine, a very keen naturalist and observer. 

 Master Leherer Praht, of Lilienthal, Germany, has been a disbeliever 

 in the tail theory from observations extending over forty years. He 

 has now had the following experience which has converted him to 

 my way of thinking. 



" He had winged a snipe which ran before him, and in so doing 

 spread its tail with the thin outer feathers stiffened in front of the 

 others, and, as a strong wind was blowing, the feathers began to 

 vibrate and the bird actually ' bleated ' whilst lying on the ground. 



On the strength of the above article by Dr. Bahr, Mr. W. S. 

 Paget-Tomlinson made some interesting experiments which fully 

 confirmed what Dr. Bahr had already written. These experiments 

 Mr. Paget-Tomlinson described in the Times of the 21st August, 

 1909, and 26th December, 1908, as follows :— 



" However, the proof is best furnished by a simple experiment 

 devised by Dr. Bahr. Pierce the shaft of each outer tail-feather 

 with a pin, to which it must be firmly bound. Insert the pins with 

 their attached feathers on each side of a small cork, taking care that 

 the outer web (narrow edge) of each feather faces the same way. 

 Fasten the cork to the end of a short stick (6 inches long). Through 

 a hole in the other end of the stick pass a long string. When the 

 apparatus is whirled round the observer's head, cai-e being taken that 

 the outer web of the feathers meets the resistance of the air (as 

 occurs with the outer tail-feathers of the snipe when it makes its 

 descent) a long drawn-out note is first produced, which gradually 

 rises in pitch until the typical bleating sound is heard. The same 

 effect can be obtained by holding the cork and its feathers outside 

 a railway carriage window when the train gets up speed, but only 

 when the outer or narrow web of the feathers cleaves the air. This 

 outer web may be actually removed from the feather without alter- 

 ing the bleating sound, but if the broad inner web be seriously 

 damaged no sound is produced. The second outer tail-feathers 

 produce a fainter sound, the remaining ones none at all. 



" Mr. Lee Warner, of Walsingham Abbey, suggested to me that it 

 would be interesting to try the experiment of shooting an arrow with 

 the tail feathers of the bird attached, so as to imitate nature as far as 

 possible. I have recently tried this, with the most perfect success. 

 Employing an ordinary ladies' arrow as used in archery, I slipped 

 a small perforated cork down the shaft, as far as the feathers of 

 the arrow. Having tied the cork securely, I fixed the pins, each 

 carrying an outer tail feather, one on each side of the cork, at right 

 angles to the shaft of the arrow, taking care that the outer or narrow 



