BIRD ORNAMENTS AND TOURNAMENTS. 57 



these, and all other musical dull-plumaged birds, 

 strive their utmost to out-sing their rivals during 

 the period of courtship. These little singing-birds 

 may be watched in spring-time warbling against 

 each other, and working themselves up into a 

 perfect state of frenzy by their voice, the melo- 

 dious contest very often leading to a pitched 

 battle for the favours of the females. The Willow 

 Wrens will sing and sing at each other in the 

 birch trees, then dart, like little meteors, through 

 the branches, fighting and warbling almost at the 

 same time. The Yellow Bunting will do the same; 

 and Robins are so pugnacious at this season that 

 each male will endeavour to out-sing all rivals 

 within hearing, and follow up his triumphs by 

 fighting long and fiercely for supremacy. The 

 vocal music of birds, however, is not the only 

 sound they are capable of making to further their 

 courtship. Some birds, in paying their attentions 

 to the females, or in the presence of rivals, rattle 

 their quills together ; other birds make various 

 sounds by rapidly vibrating the wings and tail. 

 In some species, certain feathers in the wings and 

 tail have been modified in structure and form, so 

 that when the birds are in the air, they can pro- 

 duce a variety of sounds, as, for instance, the 

 " drumming" made by the Snipe. Thus, then, 

 we see that the various feathered ornaments of 

 birds, their gay plumes, their sweet, melodious 

 songs, their strange sounds and singular antics, 

 have been developed and acquired for a purpose 



