SiniKi.nr : ( )srK(»i,(ii;v <»!■ iiii', I ,imic()I,.k. 



41 



is very ])C(uliar in the woodcock, for from a median lamelliform ])late 

 between the nostrils it gradually swells beneath the culmen as it 

 passes to the front of those apertures, then again soon contracts to 

 merge with the narrow and llattened median process of the premaxil- 

 lary, near the June ture of the anterior and middle thirds of this part 

 of the hill. Ilelow this point the dentary processes of the jjremaxil- 

 lary arc thin and horizontally llattened. In front of this again the 

 mandible becomes solid, being only grooved in the middle line upon 



Fig. 13. Left lateral views, natural size, of skulls of /'////<'// t-A? minor (E), Gal- 

 linago wilsoni (F), and Ilirnantoptis iitexicanus, (G). «, nasal ; //, palatine; //, 

 pterygoid ; q, quadrate, and a, articular. 



its nether asjjcct. Now from this ])lan of structure we have in this 

 straight superior mandible of the woodcock a section about a centi- 

 meter long, which from the thinness of the bones isfjuite flexible in the 

 vertical direction, the continuity of the o.sseous beak both in front and 

 behind this section being much firmer and stronger. This feature, if 

 anything, is still better marked in the sni])e. It is well known that 



