1901.] ON THE ANATOMY OF EHYNCH^A. 587 



4. Notes upon the Anatomy and Systematic Position of 

 Rhynchaa. By Frank E. Beddard, M.A., F.E.S., Vice- 

 Secretary and Prosector to the Society. 



[Eeceived November 19, 1901.] 



(Text-figures 56-63.) 



The acquisition by the Society of three Kving examples of the 

 " Indian Painted Snipe " and the death of them has enabled me 

 to add something to the existing knowledge of Uhyncluea. This 

 bird is usually arranged by authors of to-day in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of the Snipes and Woodcocks. It is so placed, for 

 example, by the late Mr. Seebohm^ and by Dr. Blanford ". Those 

 who know the bird wild are often disposed to deny its Snipe-like 

 characters, while Dr. Elliott Coues regards it as "exactly between the 

 true Snipe and the Grodwits." Prof, i'iirbringer^, iniluenced mainly 

 by the condition of certain muscles of the wing, by the number 

 of the rectrices, and by the form of the wing and its capabilities 

 of flight, is inclined to place the bird nearer to the Parridee, and, 

 in fact, to make for it a special subfamily of Limicoline birds — 

 Kh^ynchaeinae, equivalent to his two other subfamilies, viz. Chara- 

 driinae and Scolopaeinae. The last-mentioned author points out that 

 others have been struck with certain Rail-like characters in this, 

 at least aberrant, genus of Scolopacidae. My own investigations 

 into the anatomy of this bird lead me in the first place to entirely 

 deny any close affinity to the Scolopacinse (in the sense adopted by 

 Dr. Blanford, i. e. as including RhynGJicea, Gallinago, and Scolopax), 

 and to agree to some extent with Dr. Eiirbringer's opinion that 

 an alliance with the Parridae is not at all unreasonable. As a 

 matter of fact, Fiirbringer does not seem to be correct in his state- 

 ment as to the rectrices. But I shall consider this matter under 

 the 



External Characters. 



Nitzsch, who examined the pterylosis of this bird, found it to 

 differ in a number of peculiarities from the Woodcock. He stated, 

 among other facts, that the number of rectnces was only 10, the 

 prevalent number being 12 to 16 and even more in the Snipes. Dr. 

 Blanford allows no less than 14 rectrices. I can only find 12 in 

 the two examples which I have examined for this purpose. A 

 special resemblance therefore to the Parridae falls to the ground. 

 As to the remiges, I agree with JSTitzsch that 20 is the right 

 number. 



The oil-gland of course is tufted. The dorsal pterylosis seems 

 to me to have been correctly described by Nitzsch. I would add that 

 the strong feathering of the dorsal tract ends abruptly just where 



^ ' The Geographical Distribution of the Charadriidse ' (London, 1887). 



^ Fauna of British India : Birds, vol. iv. p. 28^. 



3 ' Untersuchungeu zur Morphologic und Systemalik der Vogel ' (Amsterdam, 



1889). 



