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THE MUSIC OF THE GOLDEN-EYE. 
(Glaucionetta clangula america/na.) 
Charles W. Townsend, M. D. 
The sounds made by most birds are vocal in character, 
but some are instrumental and depend on wing or tail feath¬ 
ers or on other structures. A few birds produce both vocal 
and instrumental music. The Golden-eye is an example of 
the latter class, for this duck is able to produce not only 
vocal sounds which are of considerable interest, owing to 
the complicated structure of its vocal organs, but also 
sounds made with its wing feathers. From the latter, which 
are of a whistling character, it obtains its common name 
of “Whistler.” 
The human larynx, with its vocal cords situated at the 
upper end of the trachea or windpipe, is the source of the 
human voice, which is variously modified by the action of 
the tongue, lips and palate. In birds the larynx is devoid 
of vocal cords and produces no voice, although it is prob¬ 
able that the sounds produced lower down are modified by 
the approximation or separation of its rigid margins. The 
true voice in birds is produced in the syrinx, which is situ¬ 
ated at the lower end of the trachea and at the adjoining 
bifurcation of the bronchi. The varied vocal sounds and 
songs of birds arise in this organ from the vibratory mem¬ 
branes which are acted upon by the syringeal muscles, of 
which singing birds or oscines have five or seven pairs. 
Various dilatations and loopings of the trachea assist in 
the making or modify the character of the sounds, but the 
tongue plays no part in the modulation of the voice, unless 
it be in the case of birds with large fleshy tongues, as in 
parrots. The slitting of the tongue, sometimes practiced 
in birds that are taught to talk, can be, therefore, of no 
possible aid. Photographs of birds in song do not show the 
tongue, which lies flat on the floor of the mouth and is not 
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