Vol. xix.] 72 



Mr. P. H. Bahr gave a most interesting exhibition of the 

 mode in which the ' drumming ' or ' bleating ' of the Snipe 

 is produced, and made the following remarks : — 



" Three theories have been advanced to account for the 

 production of the sound : 



(1) Vocal ; 



(2) By means of the wings ; 



(3) By means of the tail. 



"The last mainly concerns us. In 1856 Meves, of Stock- 

 holm, by reason of a misprint of ' tail-' for ' wing-' 

 feathers in a paper written by Naumann in 1846, was led 

 to experiment with the tail of the Snipe, and found that he 

 was able to reproduce the bleat. 



" If, with the aid of strong glasses, one observes a bird 

 bleating, it will be seen that the two outer tail-feathers are 

 spread well beyond the other twelve, and held out rigidly 

 during the descent, at which time the sound is produced. On 

 procuring a quantity of tails of Snipe it was found that on 

 transfixing the outer pair of feathers with a pin and fastening 

 them into a cork, a bleating sound could be produced on 

 moving the apparatus through the air. Only the outer pair 

 produce the intense vibrating sound, the next or sixth pair do 

 so in a lesser degree. The cocks bleat as well as the hens ; 

 this fact has been observed in the field, and on dissection the 

 tail-feathers of the male are found to have the same properties 

 as those of the female. The newly assumed tail-feathers of the 

 bird of the year possess the same properties as the adult 

 feathers. Towards autumn, on account of the worn condition 

 of the feather, the sound produced is not so loud. The 

 musical feathers are the last to be assumed after the moult. 



''The muscles of the tail do not differ markedly from 

 those of any other members of the genus, but there is a small 

 muscle attached to the outer feathers by means of which 

 they can be spread beyond the rest. 



" The inner web of the feathers is the main sound- 

 producer; the narrow outer web can be cut off without 

 altering the sound ; if, however, the rami of the inner web 

 are disarranged no sound is produced. If the feathers are 

 exposed to the resistance of the air, with the narrow outer 



