The Descent of Man

directly to the place where the male is thus engaged."
The male of the Kalij-pheasant, in the
Himalayas, 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 during the
courting-season. At this season, and at no other
time, the males of certain night-jars (Caprimulgus)
make a strange booming noise with their
wings. The 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 source would never be conjectured by