ORIGIN OF WING-MUSIC 297 



One is not certain as to how the curious grunting 

 followed by shrill glass-shattering sounds emitted by 

 the woodcock when roding, as its aerial love-per- 

 formance is called, are produced. To my ear they 

 are like a combination of the two kinds of sound. 



Sound of some kind is produced by the wings in 

 flying in most birds, the notable exception being the 

 owls that have softened feathers; and it is from the 

 involuntary sounds — creaking, humming and whist- 

 ling — that whatever wing-music exists has been 

 evolved. There is reason to believe that the birds 

 themselves have as much enjoyment in it as in their 

 vocal exercises. We see this in the snipe, that makes 

 the most of its feather-sounding powers in its down- 

 ward rushes, with the feathers set at the right angle. 

 Also in all those birds that produce horn-blowing 

 sounds with their wings. I have heard these from 

 birds of widely different orders — hawks, shore birds 

 and others. It is also probable, in all those song- 

 birds, like the pipits, that have the habit of rising 

 high in the air to come down like a parachute, the 

 wings pressed to the sides with the flight feathers 

 thrust out at a sharp angle, that the wing-music as 

 it descends singing is to the bird itself an essential 

 part of the performance. 



Pigeons make a distinct musical sound with their 

 wings when gliding, and one cannot but think that 

 they glide for the pleasure they have in the sound. 

 Again, there are numberless species that produce 

 when flying a more or less musical humming sound, 

 continuous or intermittent in those that have a rising 



