134 PTERYLOGRAPHY. 



is never a freely separated outer branch, such as occurs in all the Scolopacinee. The dorsal tract 

 is also quite Stork-like as far as the pelvis, but the two limbs of the posterior part unite earlier, 

 even at the commencement of the pelvis, and consequently form a long uropygial band, which is 

 distinguished only by the closer arrangement of its feathers from the general sparse plumage of 

 the entire pelvic region, with which the lumbar tracts are also connected. In other respects I find 

 everything as in the Common Stork. In the wing, the humeral portion of which has a very long 

 Stork-like form, I found various numbers of remiges, namely, twenty- seven in I. f akin ettus, 

 twenty-five or twenty-six in /. rubra, and thirty in /. hucon and /. sacra : there were, however, 

 always ten on the pinion, and the second and third were the longest, although certainly often 

 scarcely longer than the first, fourth and fifth. The tail always contains twelve feathers. The 

 oil-gland had the same form as in the Storks, but I could only discover one orifice in each half. 



7. LlMICOL^ *. ScOLOPACINjE. 



Next to the Passerine and Gallinacea, this group appears to present the smallest pterylo- 

 graphic differences. This is very remarkable when we consider that it is composed of so many 

 members often differing so widely from each other in external characters. In its general 

 conditions it has all the characters of a Wading Bird, but a proportionally larger after-shaft, 

 and more scanty down-feathers, these being entirely wanting on several spaces, e.g.. the inferior 

 space in the region between the outer branch and the main stem, during the breeding season. 

 In the form of the tracts it most closely approaches the Rallina, or still more exactly some 

 Alectorides (Psophia, Grus), from which the Scolopacinte only differ in the comparatively greater 

 width of the tract-bands. Among these agreements may be mentioned particularly the complete 

 division of the dorsal tract into two halves ; an anterior stronger one, which is forked between 

 the shoulder-blades ; and a much weaker hinder one, which contains the rather narrow longi- 

 tudinal space. The inferior tract presents a still greater similarity, inasmuch as it forms a broad 

 but perfectly free outer branch, which lies about in the middle of. each half of the breast, whilst 

 the narrower inner main stem is placed quite close to the sternal crest, and only turns more 

 outwards in a bow on the belly. Here, also, it is usually dilated and more sparsely feathered 

 exteriorly, whicli is an approximation to the type of many Natatores (see the next Chapter), and 

 in many cases is more distinct than is shown in the figure of Charadrius pluvialis (Plate IX, fig. 8). 

 The lumbar tract is weaker than in the Eallinoi ; but it is also long, and usually composed of two 

 rows of feathers. In the true Snipes alone (Plate IX, fig. 10) I have seen it united to the hinder 

 part of the dorsal tract ; this is due to its remarkably oblique position. One species of this genus 

 (8. rusticula) presents a difference in that the hinder part of the dorsal tract is completely 

 coalescent with the anterior part, which is distinguished as a separate portion only by its rather 

 strong plumage ; the other species of Scolopax, on the contrary, follow the ordinary type, 

 although the division of the hinder part is somewhat longer than in Charadrius. Sometimes as, 

 for example, in Rhynchcea capcnxis there is no true division of the hinder part of the dorsal tract, 

 this being scarcely indicated by the very sparse position of the feathers in the middle of the 

 tract. The commencement of the hinder part also extends between the limbs of the anterior 

 part ; a character which also occurs in those genera in whicli the longitudinal space is only narrow 



