Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, ^c. 231 



I have handled three, two males and one female. They vary 

 greatly in size, but the female is the largest. They are all in the 

 same dress — the green plumage, which appears to be the winter 

 garb, and not, as I had supposed, peculiar to the male alone. Bill 

 yellowish-olive; legs greenish-yellow ; eyes brown-black. I dis- 

 sected two males and one female of this species. In neither sex 

 was the trachea convoluted. There were, of course, no laryngeal 

 muscles j the bronchial tubes were very short, their osseous rings 

 being thicker and more widely set than in the trachea ; each tube 

 was separated from the trachea by a triangular membrane, ossi- 

 fied round, except at the apex. The testes were "4 in. long by 

 nearly '2 in. broad, longo-ovate, the right one the smaller. 

 Stomach oval, 1'2 in. long, *9 in. at greatest breadth, and '7 in. 

 at greatest depth, shaped like two saucers inverted face to face, 

 with large lateral radiating tendons. Epithelium thick, contain- 

 ing detritus of marine shells and one small univalve entire. The 

 contents of the stomachs of both males were exactly the same. 

 The intestine was 21 inches long, and from "25 to "15 in. wide, 

 Cseca situated 1*1 in. and 1*3 in. from the anus, about '18 in. 

 long and '1 in. wide, rather thicker at apical end. About 8'25 

 in. from anus occurs a curious conical maggot-like excrescence 

 on the intestine, "4 in. long by '15 in. at its base. Is this a 

 supplementary caecum placed on the small intestine ? The pro- 

 ventriculus is smooth on its external coat. The large female 

 had only 20 inches of intestine, and the curious csecal appendage 

 occurred about 8-75 in. from the anus. Right caecum situated 

 1"2 in. from anus, and 2*3 in. long; left one rather higher up, 

 and 2*5 in. long; both vermiform. Stomach contained small 

 Crustacea, and one small black pebble. 



A Gallinago burka, c? , with fourteen tail-feathers, examined on 

 the 24th of November, had the bill yellowish-olive for two-thirds 

 of its length ; apical part deep brown. The legs are light olive- 

 ochre, touched at the joints with grey ; claws black. Total 

 length 10-75 in. ; bill, from forehead, 2'6 in. ; wing 5-2 in. ; tail 

 2*5 in.; bare part of tibia "6 in.; tarse 1*2 in.; middle toe and 

 claw 1*4 in. Bronchi compai'atively longer than in Rhynchaw, 

 their rings rather thinner than those of the trachea ; the trian^ 

 gular meoibranous interval wanting, the tracheal rings coming 



N. S. — VOL. I. R 



