690 Mr. P. R. Lowe on the 



XXXV. — Studies on the Charachiiformes. — II. On the 

 Osteology of the Chatham Island Snipe (Coenocorypha 

 pusilla Buller). By Percy R. Lowe, M.B., M.B.O.U. 



(Plate VIII. ; Text-figures 12-14.) 



The ultimate objects which ornithologists have in view 

 are, I take it, first, to acquire as complete a knowledge of 

 present existing birds as is possible; secondly, to co-relate 

 this knowledge with what we know o£ the birds of past 

 geological ages ; and, finally, out o£ the sum of knowledge 

 thus obtained, to construct an ideal genealogical tree, which 

 shall demonstrate in as vivid a way as possible the phylo- 

 geuetic relationships and history of the whole class under 

 consideration. In attempting to do this, ornithologists 

 are, perhaps, handicapped to a greater extent than any 

 other class of zoologists, chiefly owing to the gaps in the 

 geological record. Imperfect as this record is in every 

 branch of the animal kingdom, it is, I think, an admitted 

 fact that in the class Aves the record is more imperfect than 

 in any other. As a compensating factor to set against this 

 undoubted handicap we have, however, an asset which I am 

 inclined to think is sometimes overlooked. I refer, of course, 

 to the extraordinary persistency of bird-types. As a result 

 of this persistency, we not only find that certain birds of 

 to-day present the most surprising likeness to the birds of, 

 let us say, a geological age as far back as the Pliocene or 

 Miocene, but that in the present age we meet with many 

 types which are for all practical purposes " living fossils." 



Of these " living fossils " we must, in lieu of fossils proper, 

 make the most we can. So far as one has been able to 

 gather from an examination of a complete skeleton in the 

 British Museum, the Chatham Island Snipe might be said 

 with very little exaggeration to be one of these 'Miving 

 fossils," — there is little doubt, at any rate, that it is an 

 ancient and generalised Snipe, which from the point of view 

 of the pliylogeny of the Scolopacinae is of great interest. 



