102 GRALLATORES. MACRORAMPHUS. LONGBEAK. 



mediate one by a membrane as far as the first joint ; the 

 inner one not so far ; hind toe articulated upon the tarsus, 

 and resting on its tip only. Plumage close and adpressed. 



This genus, first established by Dr LEACH, upon the cha- 

 racters presented by the Scolopax grisea of authors (Brown 

 Snipe of PENNANT'S Arctic Zoology, Red-breasted Snipe of 

 WILSON'S North American Ornithology), and which, as yet, 

 remains the only known species, appears to form a link connect- 

 ing more intimately the Godwits with the Snipes and Wood- 

 cocks. In it we find the bill approaching closely in form to 

 that of the latter, and furnished with a nervous apparatus of 

 nearly equal extent, as shewn by the rugosity apparent after 

 death ; the tip, however, is proportionally more dilated, and 

 the base thicker, as in the Godwits. Its feet differ from those 

 of the Scolopaces by the toes being shorter, and by the outer 

 toe being joined to the middle one by a membrane, or web, 

 extending as far as the first joint, as in the genera Limosa 

 and Totanus. Its habits and manners, as described by those 

 writers who have had an opportunity of studying them, are 

 also essentially different from those of the true Snipes ; and 

 its plumage, as far as regards colour and periodical change, 

 is equally at variance, but in both respects closely assimilated 

 to that of the Godwits. With such peculiarities of habits 

 and form, I concur with Mr STEPHENS in the propriety of 

 retaining Dr LEACH'S designation, and separating this bird 

 from the genus Scolopax^ as now restricted, this being in 

 perfect accordance with its affinities, and the intermediate 

 station it holds with respect to the Godwits and Snipes. Nor 

 do I think it less entitled to a generic distinction than many 

 of the genera established by Mons. TEMMINCK himself, who, 

 in the second edition of his valuable " Manuel d'Ornitholo- 

 gie," has, in strong terms, condemned Dr LEACH for sepa- 

 rating it from Scolopax, although, at the same time, he has 

 thought it necessary to institute a third sectional division in 

 that genus for the express reception of this bird, as if such 



