5SS MR. F. E. BEDDAUD OX THE [DeC. 3, 



the single tract divides between the shoulders. This division is 

 only just recognizable ; it exteuds for such a very short way, 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 of 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. 



Alimentary 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 caecum and the cloaca. The cwca 

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

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

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

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

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

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

 inch in length. Tringa canuia agrees almost exactly in the lengths 

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

 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 Rhynchcea differs from 

 both Scolopax and Gallinayo, where the two lobes are subequal, 

 but, it must be noted, different in sh.ipe. In Tringa canuia and 

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

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



Muscular Anatomy. 



Fiirbringer has dealt in detail with the wing musculature of 

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

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

 Limieolae. In the majority of genera, as Garrod pointed out 1 , the 

 formula is the reduced one, i. e. A.X.Y., the ainbiens being also 

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

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

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

 Garrod to be "small." Rhynchcea agrees with the genera JEgiaUtis, 

 Himantopus, Hcrmatcypus. Recurvirostra, and Xvmenius in having 

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

 femoro-caudul is a large and strong muscle. 



1 Collected Papers editor! by W. A. Forbes (London, 1881), p. 203. 



