Two whistler instabilities are investigated by means of the linear Vlasov dispersion equation. They are called the electron/ion parallel and oblique whistler instabilities and are driven by electron/ion relative drifts along the magnetic field. We demonstrate that the enhanced fluctuations from these instabilities can explain several properties of magnetic noise bursts in and near the plasma sheet in the presence of ion beams and/or field-aligned currents. At sufficiently high plasma &bgr; these instabilities may affect the current system in the magnetotail. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1987