94 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



ligations it is clear that tlit-y liave strong affinities to Ghireola and otlior Charailroid 

 Gralhu. In fact, tla-y incline toward the latter as does C/iionis towanl the gulls. 

 The most noteworthy j)eciiliarity of their structure is the formation of the jialate, 

 wliich is of a "spuriously icgithognathous nature," on account of the broad, anteriorly 

 rtumded vomer, and the manner in which the nasal cartilages are there connected, as 

 originally shown by Professor Parker. 



The habits of the Thinocoridie are very little known, and what we know consists 

 chiefly of what Darwin and — nearly forty years after — Mr. Durnford have ascer- 

 tained an<l jiublished concerning the 'gachita,' as Thiiiocurus rin/iicirorits is called in 

 Uueiios Ayres, according to !Mr. Hudson. 'J'iie former says: "This very singular 

 bird, which in its h.abits and appearance partakes of the character both of a wader 

 and one of the Gallinaceous order, is found wherever there are sterile i)lains, or o))en, 

 dry jiasture land, in soutliern South America. Ujion being apjiroacluil they lie close, 

 and tiien are very difficidt to be distinguished from the ground. When feeding they 

 walk rather slowly, with their legs wide apart. They dust themselves in roads and 

 sandy places." He goes on, showing that in all tliese res])ects of habit and external 

 apjiearance the bird resembles a quail. "But," he continues, "ilirectly tlie bird is 

 seen flying, one's opinion is changed ; the long, pointed wings, so different fi'ora those 

 in the gallinaceous order, the high, irregular flight, and ]>laintive cry uttered at the 

 moment of rising, recall the idea of a snipe. The sportsmen of the ' Beagle ' unani- 

 mously called it the 'short-billed snipe.'" Mr. Durnford ascertained that they breed 

 in Patagonia and visit Buenos Ayres in winter [May to September], sometimes in 

 large flocks. He l.nys especial stress upon this similarity in habits to the quails antl 

 sand-pipers. "When disturbed," he says, "they fly round, uttering a low whistle, 

 and in\ ariably aliglit head to wind. They remind me of flocks of Ca/idrig ureiitinu 

 (the s.'inderling) as they stand motiotiless on the grounil." During his join-ney in 

 central Patagonia (lfS77-78), he was able to discover its breeding liabits, of which he 

 gives tiie following account: "I took eggs at the end of Oetolier; and the young 

 were running in the middle of November: but this sjiecies ])robably has two or more 

 broods in the season ; fori found chicks in March. The nest is a slight depression 

 in the ground, sometimes lined with a few blades of grass ; and before leaving it 

 the old bird covers up the eggs with little pieces of stick. The eggs are pale stone 

 ground-color, very thickly speckled with liglit and dark chocolate markings. The 

 chick is finely mottled all over with light and dark brown." 



As far as species and individuals arc concerned, the suipcr-family now following, the 

 SCOLOPACOIDE^E, makes uj) the bulk of the present order. The group is a rather 

 well circninscribed <ine, though a few forms are still in dis])ute, since some authors, 

 following Huxley and Forbes, are inclined to exclude the bustards and thick-knees as 

 being holorhinal. The question is one of the many in systematic ornithology which 

 cannot be settled at jiresent, ami the most judicious course is, probably, ti> establish a 

 separate super-family for the bustards, equivalent to those of the snipes and the cranes. 

 As the arrangement now is, the characters defining the grou]is are hardly absolutely 

 treui-liant, but may be said in general to be the ]iresence of narrow an<l jirominent basi- 

 pterygoid jirocesses and tlie slender and abruptly recurved jirocess of the angle of the 

 mandible in the Scolopacoideae. They are all schizorhinal, except the Otidida- and 

 CEdicnemidne. The myological formula of the schizorhinal forms is ABXY or AXY ; 

 that of the holorhinal men'.bers, ABXY or BXY. The bill is elongated and conqjara- 

 tively slender. The ratio of the phalanges of the toes is normal, that is, they diminish 



