590 MR. ¥. E. HEDDAED ON TlITi: [DeC. B, 



I can confirm this siateinent. A? the accompanyiug figui-e (text- 

 fig. 56) shows, the windpipe is slightly con-voluted in a female bird 

 which I dissected, while I found it to be straight in the male. I 

 have thought it worth while, however, to have a special figure 

 prepared, inasmuch as those of Mr. Wood-Mason do not show with 

 great plainness the remarkable asymmetry of the extrinsic muscles 

 of the syrinx. It will be noted in the accompanying figure that 

 the two muscles, instead of arising on opposite sides of the wind- 

 pipe, arise close together and on the left side. This asymmetry 

 reminds one of that of the Pigeons, a group which is by some 

 considered to be allied to the Limicolse. I think also that my 

 figure is a little clearer in the details of the rings which constitute 

 the syrinx. 



As to the intrinsic muscles, there are a slender pair which are 

 shovrn in my figure. These muscles seem to be inserted, as is 

 shown in that figure, into the interspace between two rings of the 

 syi'inx, and not into one of the rings themselves. Por purpose of 

 comparison, I have had sketches made of the windpipes of the two 

 birds, which have been generally supposed to be near allies of the 

 genus Rhynchcea, but which I do not regard as nearlj' akin to that 

 Limicoline. Text-fig. 57 represents the windpipe in the neighbour- 

 hood of, and including, the syrinx in the Common Woodcock, while 

 text-fig. 58 is a corresponding figure of the syrinx of a Common 

 Snipe {Gallinago ccelestis). In both of these birds the syrinx has 

 a more regular shape than it has in the rather exaggerated case of 

 Rhynchcea. The two genera with which I compare Rhynchcea have 

 syringes which are quite like those of the Ardeidse, for example, 

 and of many birds whose syringes are not greatly modified from 

 the common ground-plan of that organ among birds. It is not 

 necessary for me to go into detail in my comparisons of the organ 

 in the three types ; my object is rather to point out the several 

 salient differences that have been indicated. I may remark, how- 

 ever, that in the Snipe there are but slight intrinsic muscles. 

 In Scolopax rusticula, on the other hand, the syrinx has a pair 

 of better developed intrinsic muscles, which, however, differ from 

 those of RhyncJwa in the fact that their lower ends are not 

 attached to an interspace between two syringeal rings, but to one 

 of those rings themselves. The difference is not an important one, 

 but, such as it is, it exists. Nor, indeed, can I, in view of the great 

 differences in details of anatomy which distinguish the syringes 

 of closely allied forms in some cases, lay too much weight upon 

 the contrasting facts which I here bring together. But in any case 

 I am justified in pointing out that, while the genera Scolopax and 

 Gallinago (if we allow them to be distinct genera, which everyone — 

 for example the late Mr. Seebohm — does not) possess syringes 

 which are very much alike even in details, both of these genera 

 differ markedly in the syringes from their supposed ally Rhynchcea. 



The Skull. 

 The skull in its general aspects is quite typically Limicoline. 



