124 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
the first (outer) feather, especially, very peculiarly constructed ; the shaft 
uncommonly stiff, sabre-shaped; the rays of the web strongly bound together, 
and very long, the longest reaching nearly three-fourths of the whole length 
of the web, these rays lying along the shaft like the strings of a musical 
instrument. If you blow from the outer side upon the broad web, it comes 
into vibration, and a sound is heard, which, though fainter, resembles very 
closely the well-known ‘ neighing.’ 
“But to convince one’s self fully that it is the first feather which 
produces the peculiar sound, it is only necessary carefully to pluck out 
such a one, to fasten its shaft with fine thread to a piece of steel wire 
a tenth of an inch in diameter and a foot long, and to fix this at the end 
of a four-feet stick. If now you draw the feather, with its outer side 
forward, sharply through the air, at the same time making some short 
movements or shakings of the arm, so as to represent the shivering motion 
of the wings during flight, you produce the ‘ neighing’ sound with the most 
astonishing exactness. 
“If you wish to hear the humming of both feathers at once (as must 
be the case from the flying bird), this also can be managed by a simple 
contrivance. * Take a small stick, and fasten at the side of the smaller end 
a piece of burnt steel wire, in the form of a fork; bind to each point a 
side tail-feather; bend the wire, so that the feathers receive the same 
direction which they do in the spreading of the tail as the bird falls 
through the air in flight; and then with this apparatus draw the feathers 
through the air as before. 
“ Such a sound, but in another tone, is produced when we experiment 
with the tail-feathers of other kinds of Snipe. But in Scolopax major, 
capensis, and frenata are found four humming feathers on each side, which 
are considerably shorter than in the species we have been speaking of. 
Scolopax javensis has eight on each side, which are extremely narrow and 
very stiff. 
‘« Since in both sexes these feathers have the same form, it is clear that 
both can produce the ‘humming’ noise; and by means of experiment 
I have convinced myself that it is so. But, 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.” 
This is the theory upon which I should be glad to hear some 
expression of opinion from English naturalists. I have tried the 
experiment for myself, and have succeeded beyond expectation in 
producing a sound like the ‘‘ humming” of the Snipe; but I am 
still sceptical. In the first place, the outer tail-feather is not the 
only one which will emit a sound on being drawn through the air 
in the manner indicated, although I must admit that it is the only 
