THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 56.-) 



examining the tail of a freshly-killed bird it is quite easy, by 

 spreading out the tail, to make it assume the arrangement shown. 

 I was unable, however, to find any special muscle peculiar to the 

 species controlling in outer two tail-feathers. The muscle pubo- 

 coccygeus ext. is inserted into the base of the shaft of the outer 

 two tail-feathers, and is quite capable of perfoming this function. 

 This muscle is to be found equally well developed in the other 

 species of Plovers and Waders which I examined. The nomen- 

 clature of the muscular system of the tail is that of Gadow in 

 Bronn's " Thier-Reich." 



" I have tried the same experiments as I have just described with 

 the primaries from the wing of the snipe, and was not able to 

 produce any more sound with them than with others taken from 

 other kinds of Waders, Pigeons, etc. There seems to have existed 

 an opinion at one time that the bird produces two sounds, one 

 with the wings and the other with the tail, the former being 

 known as humming or drumming and the latter whirring or 

 bleating produced while the bird is on the ground (cf. " Zoologist, " 

 1881, p. 212, and 1846, p. 1501). I cannot say that this agrees 

 with my own experiences." 



To the above Dr. Bahr adds in a letter to me : " An old friend 

 of mine, a very keen naturalist and observer, Master Leherer Praht 

 of Lilienthat, Germany, has been a disbeliever in the tail theory 

 from observations extending over 40 years. He has now had 

 the following experience which has converted him to my way ol 

 thinking. 



" He had winged a snipe which ran before him and in so 

 doing spread its tail with the thin outer feathers stiffened in front 

 of the others and, as a strong wind was blowing, the feathers began 

 to vibrate and the bird actually " bleated " whilst lying on the 

 ground." 



On the strength of the above article by Dr. Bahr, Mr. W. S. 

 Paget-Tomlinson made some interesting experiments which fully 

 confirmed what Dr. Bahr had already written. These experiments 

 Mr. Paget-Tomlinson described in the Times of the 21st August 

 1909 and 26th December 1908 as follows:— 



" However, the proof is best furnished by a simple experiment 



