294 BIRDS AS INSTRUMENTALISTS 



stag-beetle that swings by at eventide with a sound 

 like that of an aeroplane in the clouds. 



Birds, we have seen, do not shine as instrumen- 

 talists; the wonder is that, shaped as they are, they 

 have been able to produce any music other than 

 vocal, and by music I mean sound for its own sake. 



We may suppose that their inability to produce 

 sound in any other way owing to their conformation 

 has only served to make them more vocal, so that 

 their voices exceed those of all other creatures, 

 human or animal, in power and brilliance and purity 

 and all lovely qualities, if we except the sounds 

 which are lovelier to us because of their expression, 

 or, in other words, because they are human and ours. 

 Nevertheless, some species have succeeded in pro- 

 ducing instrumental sounds, and in a few the sound 

 is made with the beak alone. Thus, the storks rattle 

 their long powerful horny beaks to express quite a 

 variety of emotions — alarm and anger, or as a challenge 

 or threat to an enemy; they also rattle greetings to 

 their friends, and again rattle to express a happy or 

 contented frame of mind. The rattling then becomes 

 a sort of rude music, less elaborate but in character 

 similar to the teeth-gnashing musical performances 

 of my friend the Basque described in a former chapter. 



Many other birds — the owls are an example — snap 

 their beaks, but this sound, so far as I know, is 

 solely an expression of anger. 



In the woodpeckers the beak is used as a stick to 

 drum on wood, and this drumming is a wonderful 



