486 THE DESCENT OF MAN 



Strange cries and notes uttered by male birds during the 

 breeding season serve as a cbarm or merely as a call to 

 the female. The soft cooing of the turtle-dove and of 

 many pigeons, it may be presumed, pleases the female. 

 When the female of the wild turkey utters ber call in 

 the morning, the male answers by a note which difEers 

 from the gobbling noise made when, with erected feathers, 

 rustling wings, and distended wattles, he puffs and struts 

 before her." The spel of the black-cock certainly serves 

 as a call to the female, for it has been known to bring four 

 or five females from a distance to a male under confinement; 

 but as the black-cock continues his spel for hours during 

 successive days, and in the case of the capercailzie "with 

 an agony of passion," we are led to suppose that the fe- 

 males which are present are thus charmed." The voice 

 of the common rook is known to alter during the breeding 

 season, and is therefore in some way sexual." But what 

 shall we say about the harsh screams of, for instance, some 

 kinds of macaws; have these birds as bad taste for musical 

 sounds as they apparently have for color, judging by the 

 inharmonious contrast of their bright yellow and blue 

 plumage? It is, indeed, possible that, without any ad- 

 vantage being thus gained, the loud voices of many male 

 birds may be the result of the inherited effects of the 

 continued use of their vocal organs, when excited by the 

 strong passions of love, jealousy, and rage; but to this 

 point we shall recur when we treat of quadrupeds. 



We have as yet spoken only of the voice, but the 

 males of various birds practice, during their courtship, 

 what may be called instrumental music. Peacocks and 

 Birds of Paradise rattle their quills together. Turkey- 

 cocks scrape their wings against the ground, and some 

 kinds of grouse thus produce a buzzing sound. Another 



* 0. L. Bonaparte, quoted in the "Naturalist Library: Birds," voL rfv. 

 p. 126. 



«• Ii. Lloyd, "The Game Birds of Sweden," etc., ISeT, pp 22, 81. 

 " Jenner, "Philosoph. Transactions," 1824, p. 20. 



