64 
SEXUAL SELECTION : BIRDS. 
Pakt 
Fig. 42. Outer tail-feather of Scolopax frenata. 
Fig. 13. Outer tail-feather of Scolopax javensis. 
length, the outer webs being strongly bound together' 
He found that by blowing on these feathers, or by fasten' 
ing them to a long thin stick and waving them rapidly 
through the air, he could exactly reproduce the drum' 
ming noise made by the living bird. Both sexes » rfl 
furnished with these feathers, but they are generally 
larger in the male than 
in the female, and ein't 
a deeper note. In soW e 
species, as in S.frend <* 
(fig. 42), four feather®) 
and in /S', javensis (h$* 
43), no less than eigl’J 
on each side of the tan 
are greatly modified. Different tones are emitted l 1 ) 
the feathers of the different species when waved throng' 1 
the air; and the Scolopax Wilsonii of the United Staff 5 
makes a switching noise whilst descending rapidly 1° 
the earth. 52 
In the male of the Chamrepctes unicolor (a large gall*' 
naceous bird of America) the first primary wing- feather 
is arched towards the tip and is much more attenuated 
than in the female. In an allied bird, the Peneloff 
nigra, Mr. Salvin observed a male, which, whilst ’ 
flew downwards “ with outstretched wings, gave fot^ 
“ a kind of crashing, rushing noise,” like the falli 11 ' 
of a tree. 62 The male alone of one of the Indim 1 
bustards ( Sypkeotides auritus ) has its primary win? 
feathers greatly acuminated; and the male of an alH e ‘ 
52 Sec M. Meves - luteresting paper in ‘Proc. Zool. Soc.’ 1858, p. U) 
For the habits of the snipe, Maegillivray, ‘Ilist. British Birds,’ vol- ’ ' 
p. 371. For the American snipe, Capt. Blakiston, ‘Ibis,’ vol. v. ' 
p. 181. ... 
33 Mr. Salvin, in ‘ Proc. Zool. Soe.’ 1867, p. 160. I am much 1 
debted to this distinguished ornithologist for sketches of tho feather 3 
the Chamrepctes, and for other information. 
