Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, S^c. 233 



are closely connected in their external form, the one being larger 

 and having fewer rectrices, especially the thin lateral ones, than 

 the other. They both differ from G. burka in the narrowness 

 of the apical portion of the bill, and in the close zigzag streak- 

 ing of the under wing-coverts, as also in the high and rounded 

 shape of the head. In the presence of the small tympanic 

 membrane, dividing the trachea from each bronchus, they 

 approach Rhynchcea ; but in the length of cseca that form 

 is approached more nearly by G. media, while at the same time 

 this is alienated from the other two, whose cseca are very 

 minute. All these, however, have the same kind of stomach, 

 while that oi Rhynchcea wanders off in shape towards that of the 

 Rallidce. They all agree, I suspect, in having the curious csecal 

 excrescence. Rhynchcea, as might be guessed from the want of 

 nervous development at the tip of the bill, is more a surface- 

 feeder than the true Snipes, and, as I have found, feeds on small 

 mollusks and crustaceans : hence the need of the powerful 

 stomach. 



The sternum of G. stenura is larger and longer, especially in 

 the keel, than that of G. burka, and the crest of its keel is more 

 protracted and protrudes further forward beneath the apex of 

 the furculum. It has not the tubercular excrescence that 

 distinguishes the upper or concave line of the crest of the keel 

 in G. burka. In other respects the two bones are very much 

 alike, except in some trifling points, which may be attributed to 

 differences in age or sex. I have not got a sternum of G. soli- 

 taria by me. 



The sternum of Rhynchcea is Snipe-like. The female^s is 

 nearly one-third longer than that of the larger male. The most 

 striking differences are : — The lateral bony support of the single 

 open foramen, which is very short and weak in the true Snipes, 

 is, in this bird, strong, and advances to nearly the level of the 

 hind-line of the sternum. The concave edge of the keel, in- 

 stead of protruding the crest, lies nearly within the vertical 

 plane. The apex of the furculam is a little outside the plane of 

 the crest, instead of being pushed well within it. The coracoids 

 are larger and more dilated at their basal wings, and the scapu- 

 lars are a fair bit longer. 



r2 



