146 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



b. Thighs feathered down to tibio-tarsal joint; pileum transversely barred or banded. 

 (Woodcocks.) 

 c. Outermost primaries normal, the first (from outside) longest or equal to the 



longest Scolopax (p. 149). 



cc. Outermost primaries abnormal, the fourth or fifth (from outside) longest, the 



first three shorter and abruptly much narrower Philohela (p. 155). 



bb. Thighs with lower portion naked; pileum longitudinally striped. (Snipes.) 



Gallinago (p. 159). 

 aa. Bony orbital ring very incomplete, widely interrupted below and anteriorly; 

 ear-orifice posterior to middle of orbit; mandibular rami much less strongly 

 and abruptly deflected; posterior profile of skull subquadrate, at least as broad 

 above as below. 

 b. Nasal f 03338 relatively broad posteriorly, contracting anteriorly into a narrow 

 groove which extends nearly to tip of maxilla. (Eroliinx) . a 

 c. Anterior toes more or less webbed at base. 

 d. Exposed culmen more than one-third as long as wing. 

 e. Tip of bill*very slightly expanded, the expanded portion very short, not 

 distinctly puuctulate; tarsus nearly to quite twice as long as middle 

 toe without claw, sometimes more than twice as long. 

 /. Bill straight (not at all upturned distally), very slightly flattened ter- 

 minally; legs relatively longer (bare portion of tibia usually longer than 

 middle toe without claw, tarsus usually more than one-third as long as 

 wing); toes longer and more slender, the middle one, with claw, 

 usually more than one-fifth as long as wing; claw of middle toe long 

 (about one-third as long as rest of toe), linear, much flattened and 

 straight or even slightly recurved terminally, fragile, pectinate. 



Limosa (p. 177). 

 ff. Bill distinctly upturned distally, much flattened for distal third or 

 more; legs relatively shorter and stouter (bare portion of tibia us- 

 ually shorter than middle toe without claw, tarsus usually less than 

 one-third as long as wing); toes shorter and stouter, the middle one, 

 with claw, less than one-fifth as long as wing; claw of middle toe 



normal (short, blunt, decurved, nonpectinate) Vetola (p. 182). 



ee. Tip of bill distinctly expanded or dilated, the expanded portion occupying 

 the distal third or more and distinctly punctulate; tarsus much less 

 than twice as long as middle toe without claw. 

 /. A distinct web between inner and middle toes at base. 



Pseudoscolopax (extralunital). ^ 

 ff. No web between inner and middle toes Limnodromus (p. 195). 



a The following osteological characters are given by Lowe (Ibis, 1915, 612) as distin- 

 guishing this subfamily from the Tringinae: Distal end of premaxilla depressed, 

 slightly, sometimes conspicuously, spatulate (e. g. Eunjnorhynchus), minutely 

 pitted; pterygoid processes short, thick, and conspicuously divergent; palatal plates 

 wider posteriorly than anteriorly; maxillo-palatine process completely fused with 

 prepalatal portion of palatal plate on either side, as a thin, elongate plate with parallel 

 internal border devoid of sculpturing; inwardly projecting plate of maxillary fenes- 

 trated; line of culmen making an obtuse angle (about 140°) with the basi-sphenoidal 

 rostrum; zygomatic arch or quadro-jugal rod making a very distinct angle with the 

 maxillary process of premaxillary; supraorbital grooves indistinct; post-articular 

 process of mandible directed upward in abruptly hook-shaped fashion; supra-occipital 

 region of skull, viewed from above, rounded. 



b Pseudoscolopax Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, xxviii, 1852, 280; type, Macro- 

 rhamphus semipalmatus Jerdon. Eastern Asia; monotj'pic. 



