OF IfOEIHXJMBEELAIfD AlfD DrRHAM. 109 



comparatively soft. The tail-featlier of this species is stated, in 

 Meves's paper, "to differ considerably from that of the others," 

 and "that it gives upon experiment no humming sound." JS'ow, 

 this species is known to produce when on the wing, during 

 the breeding season, a peculiar noise, which is evidently of the 

 same nature as the drumming in question. The late Mr. WoUey 

 is the authority for this. That gentleman, when on the great 

 marsh at Muonioniska, heard ' ' an extraordinary noise, uidike 

 anything that he had heard before ; but soon found that it was 

 made by a small bii'd flying at a wild pace, at a great height, 

 over the marsh. I know not," continues this gentleman, "how 

 better to describe the noise than by likening it to the cantering 

 of a horse in the distance over a hard hollow road ; it comes in 

 fours with a similar cadence." It was not long after it was heard 

 that he ascertained that the "remarkable humming noise" in 

 the air was made by the Jack Snipe. 



The Painted Snipe of India has the tail very short, and the 

 lateral feathers of it do not differ much, either in form or texture, 

 fi'om the others; they are all soft. The greatest deviation in the 

 form of these feathers is found in the Pin-tailed Snipe of India 

 {Gallinago stenura, Temminck). This species, which greatly re- 

 sembles the Common Snipe, has twenty -two tail-feathers, seven 

 or eight of which, on each side, are exceedingly attenuated, the 

 web being scarcely wider than the shaft, which is stiff and sabre- 

 shaped. The lateral feathers are not only reduced to a little 

 more than mere shafts, but are much shorter than the central 

 ones, of which there are six or eight, and are almost concealed 

 by the tail-coverts, which extend beyond them. This species 

 is evidently very closely allied to, if not the same as, Scolopax 

 J(wensis, which is stated, in Meves's paper, to have eight similar 

 lateral feathers on each side, which are considered to be sono- 

 rous instruments. Other species have the same almost webless 

 feathers at the sides of the tail, varying only in number. Here, 

 then, we see a species in which the so-called sonorous or "musi- 

 cal feathers" do not possess the structure, firmness of web, and 

 length of the rays, which appear to be mainly relied on as the 

 sound-producers ; though the rigidity and form of the shaft are 



