130 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
impossible to accept. More than twenty-five years ago people assumed the 
‘tail-theory’ to be proved by moving a stick with a tail-feather attached 
violently to and fro. To-day they may obtain the same proof by holding a 
Snipe’s tail in the hand and moving it repeatedly to and fro! Comprehend 
this who may! 
“Tf we make the experiment with a tail thus expanded, we shall find 
that no sound is audible. In short, taking everything into consideration, 
of all the grounds advanced in support of the wing and tail theories, none 
in my opinion stand proof. Anyone with any knowledge of mechanics, or 
physics, if he sufficiently examines a dead Snipe, must be convinced that 
so small a bird, with wing- and tail-feathers so comparatively weak, cannot 
possibly produce sounds with them which are at such a distance so sharply 
accentuated. Hence I indulge the hope that the adherents of the wing 
and tail theories will now withdraw their opinions and acknowledge that 
‘to err is human.’” 
To this article Dr. Altum, in the ‘ Ornithologisches Central- 
blatt’ (15th Jan., 1881), has replied, briefly, as follows :— 
“After recording the new facts imparted to me by Herr A. Schmidt, 
I should have felt no occasion for writing further on this subject, but should 
have contented myself with the assurance that I have many supporters 
in my theory, had it not been that Herr Schmidt has been placed in 
a somewhat disparaging light by Herr Zéppritz. I was pleased to see, 
in ‘ Ornithologisches Centralblatt’ (1880, No. 22), that his expressions were 
more modified, and that Dr. Reichenow (the editor) in his notes had broken 
the point of many of Herr Zéppritz’s objections. Nevertheless, I feel myself 
called upon to defend Herr Schmidt's reputation for veracity, which has been 
called in question through my publication: and it can do no harm to have 
the facts placed before us in a clearer snd more detailed manner than was 
formerly done. 
“ Referring to the contents of the article just mentioned, Herr Zoppritz 
gives the following reasons for disputing the ‘ tail-theory,’ or, shall I say, in 
proof of the ‘throat-theory’:—(1) The bleating sound produced by the 
feather and wire does resemble the Snipe’s ‘drumming,’ but it is too weak ; 
(2) There is no analogy to be found in the bird-world; (3) Herr Schmidt has 
been mystifying us; (4) Anyone with the slightest knowlege of mechanics 
or physics would be convinced, on examination of a dead Snipe, that my 
opponent's theory is untenable. , 
“These are the reasons which are to induce every opponent to ‘ with- 
draw, and acknowledge the truth of the saying “to err is human.”’ If 
Herr Zéppritz could give me his word that he had held a living Snipe in his 
hand, or kept one in captivity, and had seen and heard its ‘ throat-bleating’ 
in his own immediate presence, I would lewer my colours, and say no more 
