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Show PART II'. SEXUAL SELECTION: BIRDS. 66 b 'ncr not . . . the first "sharp note Cl b an ext raOI· d1nary 1101 .. c, 1 · , uG " unlike tho crack of a '" up. c f cl 1\ir Sclnter, in l'roc. Zoo!. s.oe: Fig 45. Secondary ",m· g- feathers of l'iJ}I'O. de!iciosa (fr~~ th~ ~hree lower correspondmg 1 . a b c from the mn e , is so). The th~·e;r~!p~·cf~~~)n;cs.' ' ' ' surfnce b nod e. feathers, d, e,j' th of male and female, up~n . l~w~r surface. a. and t.l. Fifth secondary wl~~~~~':cc. er c and f. Seventh secen al y, Sixth secomlary, upper • t 'U . nds both vocal and .ms r - rrhe diversity of the sou f ' y species dunng the mental, made by the males o man . z 1 oc' 1860, p. 90, and in 'lbi:;,' vol. iv. 56 Sclater. in 'Proc. . oo: 'Ibis' 1860, p. 37. 1862, p. 175. Aho f-\nhm, Ill ' C iiAP. XIII. VOCAL AND INSTRUl\IENTAL MUSIC. G7 breeding-season, and the diversity of the means for producing such sounds, arc highly I'emarlmble. We thus gain a high idea of their importance for sexual purposes, and are reminded of the same conclusion with respect to insects. It is not difficult to imagine the steps by which the notes of a bird, primarily used as a mere call or for some other pmpose, might have been improved into a melodious love- ong. This is somewlw.t more difficult in the case of the modifieu feathers, by which the drumming, whistling, or I'Oaring noises are produced. But we haye seen tlmt some Lirds during their courtship flutter, shake, or rattle their unmodified· feathers together ; and if the females were led to select the best performers, the males which possessed the strongest or thickest, or most attenuated feathers, situated on any part of the body, would be the mo. t successful; and thus by slow degrees the feathers might be modified to almost any extent. The females, of course, would not notice each slight successive alteration in shape, but only the sounds thus produced. It is a curious fact that in the same class of animals, sounds so different as the drumming of the snipe's tail, the tapping of the woodpecker's beak, the harsh trumpetlike cry of certain water-fowl, the cooing of the turtledoYe, and the song of the nightingale, should all be pleasing to the females of the several species. But we must not judge the tastes of distinct species by a uniform standard ; nor must we judge by tho standard of man's taste. Even with man, "·e should remember what discordant noises, the beating of tom-toms and the shrill notes of reed::;, please the ears of savages. Sir S. Baker remarks, 5 7 that "as the stomach of the " Arab prefers the mw meat and reeking liver taken b7 ''l'hc Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia,' 18G7, p. 203. F 2 |