UPLAND SHOOTING. 
161 
Mr. Audubon here states his doubts, whether this sound is pro¬ 
duced by the feathers of the wing,—or rather almost asserts his 
conviction that it is ventriloqous. I have lain on the turf for 
hours, watching them when in this mood, and when all farther 
attempt at pursuit of them would have been useless, and have 
observed their motions with a good glass. I am myself satis¬ 
fied that the sound is produced by the fact, that the bird, by 
some muscular action or other, turns the quill-feathers edgewise, 
as he drops plumb through the air; and that, while in this posi¬ 
tion, during his accelerated descent, the vibration of the feathers, 
and the passage of the air between them, gives utterance to this 
wild humming sound. 
Such likewise is the account given by European naturalists 
of the same sound which is produced by the Snipe there at the 
same vernal period ; they mention, moreover, a peculiar cry of 
the male bird at this season, different from his shrill squeak, on 
being flushed, which is precisely identical in the American and 
European species—this they describe as resembling the word 
“ Peet,” thrice repeated in a shrill whistle. This I never have 
noticed in the American birds; but, on two different occasions, 
when the birds were at the very wildest, drumming away for 
hours at a stretch, and not giving even a chance of a shot, I 
have observed another cry, which I cannot find recorded either 
by Wilson or Audubon, any more than the practice, by which 
it is accompanied, of alighting on fences, stumps, and even on 
tall tree-tops. 
This cry is a sharp, reiterated chatter, consisting of a quick, 
jarring repetition of the syllables, kek-kek-kek-kek-kek, many 
times in succession, with a rising and falling inflection, like that 
of a hen which has just laid an egg. This singular sound is 
uttered as the bird is descending from its gyrations and musical 
performances ; and, after having descended, while it is skim¬ 
ming low over the surface of the bog meadows, previous to 
alighting. While in this humor, I have never seen them alight 
directly into the grass, but have invariably observed them to set¬ 
tle first on the stump of a dead tree, or on a rail fence, and 
