OCR Text |
Show 62 SEXUAJJ SELEC'l'ION : BIRDS. PART U. "fallen tree," or, accordin~]; to Audubon, against his own body; the sound thus produced is compared by some to distant thunder, and by others to the quick roll of a drum. The female never ch·ums, "but flies directly to "the place where the male is thus engaged." In the Himalayas the male of the Kalij-pheasant " often makes " a singular drumming noise with his wings, not unlike "the sound produced by shaking a stiff piece of cloth." On the west coast of Africa the little black-weavers (Ploceus ?) congregate in a small party on the bushes round a small open space, and sing and glide through the air with quivering wings, "which make a rapid "whirring sound like a child's rattle." One bird after another thus performs for hours together, but only durinp: the courting-season. At this same season the males of certain night-jars (Caprimulgus) make a most strange noise with their wings. rrhe various species of woodpeckers strike a sonorous branch with their beaks, with so rapid a vibratory movement that " the head appears " to be in two places at once." The sound thus produced is audible at a considerable distance, but cannot be described ; and I feel sure that its cause would never be conjecturecl by any one who beard it for the first time. As this jarring sound is made chiefly during the breeding-season, it has been considered as a lovesong; but it is perhaps more strictly a love-call. rrhe female, when driven from her nest, bas been observed thus to call her mate, who answered in the same manner and soon appeared. Lastly the male Hoopoe (Upupa epops) combines vocal and instrumental music; for during the breeding-season this bird, as Mr. Swinhoe saw, first draws in air and then taps the end of its beak perpendicularly down against a stone or the trunk of a tree, "when the breath being forced down the " tubular bill produces the correct souncl." \Vhen the oCIIAl'. Xlll. INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC. oS ~~ale. utte.rs its cry wit.hout striking his beak the d Is qmte dtfferent. Gl soun f In the £o rego·w g cases sounds are made by tl 'd o structures already present and oth . . le ai Lut · th .c 1 · erw1se necessary . .m e lO lowmg cases certain fe th . h ' ~pec~ally modified .cor· the a ers ave been l' express purpo f d · the sounds rrhe d . se 0 pro ucmg h . · rummmg, or bleating or nei h · 0' t ~ndermg noise, a:; expressed by diffi' . t gb mo, or whiCh is made b h . eren o servers, must have sur JIIs~cl e ~~:mon smpe ( Scolopaw gallinago) This bird, duri~O' the .r!. one who h~s ever heard it. "' thousand £ t t: b .pan~,ng-season, flies to "perhaps a . ee m mght, and after zi -za inO' for a time descends in a . ll' . g gg o abont and qui,·erino· . . c:rrvec me, With outspread tail o pnuons, with surprising ve 1o c1' ty to the Fig. 11. Oute r t nl' I ••r eathcr of Scolopa.x galllnngo (from p roc. Zo ol. Soc. 1858). €arth. The sound is emitted l . . clesccnt. No one was a Lie t only. durmg this rapid M M o exp am the ca ·r . eves observed that one h 'd use, unt1 feathers are peculiarly for acd s~ e of the tail. the outer sabre-shaped shaft with t~e ~rg. 41), hanng a stiff length, the outer '~ebs bei e o t. Iqule barbs of unusual ng s IOng y bound together. -------- ' '61 .For the foregoing several fncts s . ThlCrleben,' Banrl iii u 32" 0 eo, on Bll'ds of Paradise BrchJn B A or. meric. : Birds,' p·. '3" 43 a0n• d 35nD . C-' 'rou. s' e, R'r c h ardson, ' 'Fauna' Sportsmnn in Cannda, 1866 156 , MaJor W. Ross Kinrr '''fli BI' O~raph. ' ' ' p. . Audubo 'A . o• o vol. i. p. 216. On th 'K .. n, mencan Ornitholo"'. Inch~,' vol. iii. p. 533, On theW~ ~hJ~ph~a.sunt, Jordon, 'Birds ~f th~ ~nmbcsi,' 1865 p. 425 0 ,;vms, Llvwgstone's Expedition to BntJsh. Birds,' vol.' iii. 1S.!o )n oodpec:kcrs, Macgillivmy, 'llist. of Mr., Swmhoe, in' Proc. Zool~2 ·s~!'• 88, 8:.1, and 95. On tho Hoopoe ~uuubon, ibid. vol. ii. p 255 o· Tl · ~un~ 23, 1863. On the Ni"'ht-Jor' m the spring a curious ~oisc ·,, .· 1e .' nghs!l Night-Jar likcwis~ makes' ummg 1ts raptd flight. |