588 MR. r. E. BEDDARD OX THE [DeC. 3, 



the single tract divides between the sboulders. This division is 

 only just recognizable ; it extends for such a very short wa}', that 

 on a superficial inspection one might be disposed to deny that the 

 tract did divide at all. The rest of the dorsal tract does not, as 

 Nitzsch correctly states, enclose any space. It begins close up to 

 the first part oB the dorsal tract, and consists of soft feathers 

 scattered irregularly over the back. Just in front of the oil-gland, 

 however, there is a short row of stiff feathers, bat not such strong 

 feathers as those which form the first part of the dorsal tract. 

 The ventral tracts are double on each side, and the outer half of 

 each is rather wider and composed of somewhat stronger feathers 

 than the more ventrally placed row. 



A limentary Viscera. 



The gizzard of this bird is strong and muscular, with 'extensive 

 tendinous sheets on either side. It is altogether quite a typical 

 gizzard of a grain-eating bird. The intestine is 16 inches long, of 

 which 2 inches lie between the eascum and the cloaca. The cceca 

 are If inch long. The proportions of the various sections of the 

 gut differ from those of many Limicolas. But it must be admitted 

 that they are not far from those of the Jack Snipe (GalUnago 

 giiUinuJa). In that bird the intestines are one foot in length 

 and the caeca 1 inch each. Scolojxix, on the other hand, is very 

 different, with an intestine of 4 feet and caeca of only half an 

 inch in length. Tringa canuta agrees almost exactly in tlie lengths 

 and proportions of intestine and caeca : it has an intestine of 18^ 

 inches and caeca of li inches. 



The liver-lobes differ greatly in size, the right being quite twice 

 the size of the left ; they are, moreover, of a different shape, the 

 right being broader in proportion to its length than is the left. 



In these proportions of the liver-lobes EJii/nchcea differs from 

 both Sc.olopax and GalUnago, where the two lobes are subequal, 

 but, it must be noted, different in shnpe. In Tringa canvAa and 

 Charadritis pluvialis the same proportions of the liver-lobes as in 

 EJiynchcea obtain, also, it may be observed, in the Parridae. 



Muscular Anatomy. 



Fiirbringer has dealt in detail with the wing musculature of 

 Mhynchcea. I have only concerned myself with the muscles of the 

 hind limb, which show some differences in the various genera of 

 Limicolae. In the majority of genera, as Garrod pointed out', the 

 formula is the reduced one, ^. e. A.X.Y., the ambiens being also 

 present in all Limicoline birds. This is the formula of Scolopax and 

 Qallinago ; and it must be noted that in these two genera, the 

 supposed allies of lUiyncluea, the femoro-caudal is reported by 

 Garrod to be "small." Rhyncluea agrees with the genera JSgialitis, 

 Himantopus, Ilcematopus, Mecurvirostra, and Nitmenius in having 

 the full muscle-formula of the hind limb, viz., A.B.X.T., and the 

 femoro-caudal is a large and strong muscle. 



1 Collected Papers edited by W. A. Forbes (London, 1881^, p. 203. 



