136 PTERYLOGRAPHY. 



however, I found a faint indication above the lumbar vertebrae. The remarkably short wings 

 contain about twenty obtuse remiges, of which the second is the longest. In the tail I found 

 only ten, feathers. 



3. Scolopax. The coalescence of the lumbar tracts with the posterior part of the dorsal 

 tract, and the remarkably large space which this tract encloses, are the most important pterylo- 

 graphic characters of this genus (Plate IX, fig. 10). The lateral neck-space extends to the head; 

 the inferior space, only to the lower extremity of the neck ; the spinal space, as usual, scarcely to 

 the level of the shoulders. In the species examined I found the following numbers of feathers : 

 8. rusticula, twenty-six remiges, sometimes only nine on the pinion, and twelve rectrices. S. major, 

 twenty-five remiges, sixteen rectrices. S. gallinula, twenty-four remiges, twelve rectrices. S. 

 stenoptera, twenty -five (?) remiges, of which ten are certainly on the pinion, but twenty-six rectrices, 

 of which the eight outer ones on each side are of a remarkably narrow, linear form, and terminate 

 in rounded ends. S. minor, twenty-six remiges, the first three singularly narrowed and curved 

 into a sabre-like form, the fourth and fifth the longest ; fourteen rectrices. S. yrisea, twenty (?) 

 remiges and twelve rectrices. The oil-gland in this genus is also very remarkable for its broad 

 cordate form and long cylindrical mamilla, which is held extended by the tubes of the feathers 

 of the circlet, as in the Hoopoe ; but the cavities of the two halves are separated, each reaching 

 far into the substance of the gland, and becoming pointed behind. 



4. Tringa. The pterylosis has nothing remarkable about it ; all the species possess twelve 

 rectrices, and the smaller ones from twenty-three to twenty-four, the larger ones from twenty-five 

 to twenty-six remiges, of which the first is the longest. The spinal space reaches to the caudal 

 pit, and the inferior space appears not to pass far beyond the base of the neck. The species 

 examined were T. subarquata, minuta, temmincJcii, platyrhyncha, islandica, alpina, andpttynaa:. 



5. Limosa. The inferior space is continued as far as the middle of the neck, otherwise 

 everything as in Tringa ; the number of rectrices is also the same, but the remiges amount to 

 twenty-eight. L. nifa and L. melanura were examined. 



6. Totanus. The pterylosis agrees exactly with that of Limosa, even to having, as in 

 Tringa, the undivided uropygial band very broad and sparsely feathered, but not connected with 

 the long, narrow lumbar tracts. Of rectrices I always find twelve ; but the remiges are sometimes 

 twenty-four (T. hypoleucus], sometimes twenty-five (T. oc/tropits), twenty-six (T. glareola and 

 bartramius), or twenty-seven (T. glottis and maculatus), of which the first appears to be always 

 the longest. 



7. Phalaropus. The dorsal tract is narrow and weak; but the main bands of the inferior 

 tract are broad, and only separate close in front of the furcula. The lateral neck-space reaches a 

 little beyond the middle of the neck. I always found twelve tail-feathers, and twenty-five long, 

 pointed remiges, of which those ", on the pinion are much longer than those on the ulna; the 

 first is the longest of all. The hypopterum unites, not with the tip, but with the middle of the 

 outer branch. P. fimbriatus, platyrhynchus, and hyperboreus were examined. The brood-spots 

 which I have observed in this bird have been already mentioned. 1 They are situated between 

 the main stem and the outer branch of the inferior tract, and are produced by the want of the 

 down-feathers, which fall out spontaneously. Brood-spots formed in precisely the same manner 

 have been met with by me in several other species of this family. 



1 Footnote, ante, p. 33. 



