Vol-j^^I"] Correspondence. 109 



paid unusual attention to the anatomy of the Limpkin (Aramus), which 

 Audubon called the '' Scolopaceous Courlan," and his studies of it appear 

 in Volume V (pp. 184-187). There is one full-page illustration devoted to 

 the digestive tract and the trachea or windpipe. Audubon evidently be- 

 lieved the bird to be a big Rail; and in so far as its habits and nesting were 

 concerned, "very nearly alhed to Rallus elegans." After rendering his 

 account of it, Macgilhvray's follows immediately, and among other things 

 he points out that "this remarkable bird has exercised the ingenuity of the 

 systematizing ornithologists, some of whom have considered it as a Heron, 

 others a Crane, while many have made it a Rail, and many more a genus 

 apart, but allied to the Rails, or to the Herons, or to both. It seems in 

 truth to be a large Rail, with the wings and feet approaching in form to 

 those of the Herons; but while frivolous disputes might be carried on ad 

 libitum as to its location in the system of nature, were we merely to con- 

 sider its exterior, it is fortunate that we possess a means of determining its 

 character with certainty; — if we examine its digestive organs, we shall 

 at once see if it be a Rail, or a Heron, or anything else. If a Heron, it will 

 have a very wide ojsophagus, a roundish, thin-waUed stomach, very slender 

 intestines, and a single short obtuse coecum; if a Rail or Gallinule, or bird 

 of that tribe, it will have a narrow mouth, a narrow CESophagus, a very 

 muscular stomach, intestines of moderate width, and two moderately long, 

 rather wide coeca." 



Following this, Macgilhvray states that he has before him two specimens 

 of the Limpkin, which were shot in Florida and preserved in spirits, and he 

 sets forth in the ensuing three paragraphs his account of their anatomy. 

 "Now, in all this," he adds, "there is nothing indicative of any affinity to 

 the Herons; the structure of the intestinal canal being essentially like that 

 of the Coots, Gallinules, and Rails. Even the external parts sufficiently 

 indicate its station, the bill, the plumage and the coloring being more like 

 those of the RalUnse than of any other family. 



"The Prince of Musignano, who first described this bird as a Rail, 

 Rallus giganteus, afterwards adopted for it Vieillot's genus Aramus, and 

 considered it as belonging to the Ardeidoe, forming a connecting link with 

 them and the Rallidce, and ' aberrating somewhat towards the Scolopacidw, 

 as well as tending a little towards the Psophidce, sub-family Gruince,' and 

 claiming ' again a well-founded resemblance to the most typical form of the 

 genus Rallus.' Finally, he reverts to his original idea, and places it at the 

 head of the Rallidce. Mr. Swainson refers it to the Tantalidce, associating 

 it with Anastomus, Tantalus, and Ibis, to which it certainly has very fittle 

 affinity in any point of view." 



Under date of September 14, 1915, I have an interesting letter from my 

 esteemed correspondent, Herr. Prof. Dr. H. von Ihering, Director of the 

 Museu Paulista, Sao Paulo, Brazil, in which he says : "Your letter of the 6th 

 of August has given me the satisfaction to see that you are in accordance 

 with me in separating the Aramidce from the famous 'family' of Gruida. 

 .... It was a very useful and necessary work of you to study the anatomy 

 -of Aramidce and its allies." 



