Osteology of the Chatham Island Snipe. 699 



of the Rail's e^gs. The appearance of the nestling young 

 is also aberrant in virtue of the absence of all markings 

 whatever, the downy plumage above being of a uniform 

 umber-brown coloration. The nestling young of Chionis 

 minor of the Antarctic islands also exhibits this same uniform 

 brown coloration, but it is to be noted that both birds seem 

 to nest in as protected and as dark situations as they can 

 find. 



So far as one can gather from accounts of its habits, the 

 Chatham Island Snipe seems to be more than usually 

 nocturnal, for it is said to hide in the daytime in hollow 

 trunks or tree-stumps, or iu any scrap of cover protected 

 from the light. 



Description oj the skull o/Coenocorypha as seen from above. 



(a) If the skull of C. pusilla is examined from above 

 and compared with similar aspects of the skulls of the 

 Woodcock, Common Snipe, Jack-Snipe, and Dunlin (cf. 

 PI. VIII. figs. 3-7), we are at once struck with the fact that, 

 as regards its general configuration and outline, the skull 

 of the Chatham Island Snipe approaches the skull of the 

 Dunlin much nearer than is the case with regard to either 

 the Woodcock, the Common Snipe, or the Jack-Snipe. In 

 C. pusilla, for instance, we miss the peculiar oval outline 

 of the hinder part of the skull (that part caudad of the pre- 

 maxillse, nasals, etc.) so characteristic of the true Scolopacine 

 type. In figs. 5-7 we see this oval or ovate configuration 

 of the Scolopacine skull well depicted. In them, too, one 

 notes that the outer margins of the lacrymals and the 

 superior and inferior orbital rims merge one into the other 

 in one continuous and smoothly curved outline. If this 

 contrast between the two types of skull depicted in figures 

 3-7 is appreciated, it will be still more apparent iu the 

 case of the skull of the Painted Snipe [Rhynchaea) seen in 

 fig. 1. 



(b) The backward position of the orbital cavity, so 

 characteristic of the true Snipe (Scolopacinse), more espe- 

 cially of the Woodcocks, is also conspicuous by its absence 



