>On Wed, 22 Feb 1995, Dennis Paulson wrote:
>
>> All I can contribute to the commentary on Rufous Hummingbird tail notching
>> and sound is to note that tail modification is correlated with mechanical
>> sound-making in snipes and woodcocks. And there are wing modifications in
>> birds that make mechanical sounds with their wings (some manakins, for
>> example, and perhaps some hummers). It's the end of the day, and my brain
>> is wearing out; maybe someone can think of additional examples.
>
>How about the narrowed outer primaries in Common Snipe? I had assumed
>they were used in the "winnowing" display flight to produce the
>"huhuhuhu" noise
>
>Chris Hill
>Seattle, WA
>cehill at u.washington.edu

Well, Chris, thanks for your response. My brain really was tired
yesterday, or I would have written that woodcocks have narrowed *outer
primaries* that are responsible for their mechanical sounds during display
flight. Several species of snipes have narrowed *outer rectrices* (tail
feathers); their primaries are normal. We made complementary errors that
have now cancelled each other out!

Some mechanical sounds don't have obvious associated morphologies. I just
examined Common Nighthawk and Common Goldeneye wings and can't see any
particular modifications that enhance their sound-making abilities.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416