. Salvin that the noise was intentionally made.
[Fig. 45. Secondary wing-feathers of Pipra deliciosa (from Mr. Sclater, in 'Proc. Zool. Soc.' 1860). The three upper feathers, a, b, c, from the male; the three lower corresponding feathers, d, e, f, from the female. a and d, fifth secondary wing-feather of male and female, upper surface. b and e, sixth secondary, upper surface. c and f, seventh secondary, lower surface.]
Lastly, in several species of a sub-genus of Pipra or Manakin, the males, as described by Mr. Sclater, have their SECONDARY wing-feathers modified in a still more remarkable manner. In the brilliantly-coloured P. deliciosa the first three secondaries are thick-stemmed and curved towards the body; in the fourth and fifth (Fig. 45, a) the change is greater; and in the sixth and seventh (b, c) the shaft "is thickened to an extraordinary degree, forming a solid horny lump." The barbs also are greatly changed in shape, in comparison with the corresponding feathers (d, e, f) in the female. Even the bones of the wing, which support these singular feathers in the male, are said by Mr. Fraser to be much thickened. These little birds make an extraordinary noise, the first "sharp note being not unlike the crack of a whip." (57. Sclater, in 'Proceedings, Zoological Society,' 1860, p. 90, and in 'Ibis,' vol. iv. 1862, p. 175. Also Salvin, in 'Ibis,' 1860, p. 37.)
The diversity of the sounds, both vocal and instrumental, made by the males of many birds during the breeding-season, and the diversity of the means for producing such sounds, are highly remarkable. We thus gain a high idea of their importance for sexual purposes, and are reminded of the conclusion arrived at as 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 purpose, might have been improved into a melodious love song. In the case of the modified feathers, by which the drumming, whistling, or roaring noises are produced, we know that some birds 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 most 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 trumpet-like cry of certain water-fowl, the cooing of the turtle-dove, and the song of the nightingale, should all be pleasing to the females of the several species. But we must not judge of the tastes of distinct species by a uniform standard; nor must we judge by the standard of man's taste. Even with man, we should remember what discordant noises, the beating of tom-toms and the shrill notes of reeds, please the ears of savages. Sir S. Baker remarks (58. 'The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia,' 1867, p. 203.), that "as the stomach of the Arab prefers the raw meat and reeking liver taken hot from the animal, so does his ear prefer his equally coarse and discordant music to all other."
LOVE ANTICS AND DANCES.
The curious love gestures of some birds have already been incidentally noticed; so that little need here be added. In Northern America large numbers of a grouse, the Tetrao phasianellus, meet every morning during the breeding-season on a selected level spot, and here they run round and round in a circle of about fifteen or twenty feet in diameter, so that the ground is worn quite bare, like a fairy-ring. In these Partridge-dances, as they are called by the hunters, the birds assume the strangest attitudes, and run round, some to the left and some to the right. Audubon describes the males of a heron (Ardea herodias) as walking about on their long legs with great dignity before the females, bidding defiance to their rivals.