1901." I OMMOW VXD JACK SNIPES. 599 



very different from that shown by the quite heart-shaped foramen 

 magnum of G. gallinula. Moreover, the foramen in the first- 

 named bird is slightly longer than it is broad, while the reverse 

 is the case in G. gallinula. This very striking difference is showu 

 in the drawings (see text-figures 64 & 65, p. 597). A more striking 

 difference, perhaps, is shown in the condition of the maxillo- palatine 

 plates in the two birds. En both species the plates in question are 

 firmly ankylosed to the palatines without a trace of division. 

 But while in G. coelestis these projecting plates are thin and bent 

 downwards at the free edge, they are large swollen bullae in the 

 Jack Snipe. 



A final difference in the skull structure of these two birds 

 appears to me to be, although but slightly marked, of some little 

 importance. It is well-known that the Scolopacinae differ from 

 other Limicoline birds in the fact that the auditory meatus Lies 

 below the orbit, and even rather in front instead of rather behind 

 it as is the more normal arrangement in birds. Gallinago coelestis 

 shows in this character the typical Scolopacine arrangement ; but 

 in the species G. gallinula the auditory meatus is definitely 

 although slightly farther back, and thus approaches the more usual 

 ornithic arrangement. This is quite obvious when the skulls are 

 placed one below the other, or side by side as in the sketches (text- 

 tigs. 66, 67, p. 598). 



It becomes a matter of interest to enquire how these various 

 characters apply when the genus Scolopax {sensu strictiore) is taken 

 into account. The skull of the Woodcock (S. rustictda) is 

 considerably more massive than that of the Common Snipe ; but 

 apart from that it agrees very closely with the skull of Gallinago 

 cask 8tig, The position of the external auditory meatus is precisely 

 as it is in that Snipe. The foramen magnum is of exactly the 

 same form, though the occipital foramina are rather farther away 

 from the foramen magnum than is the case with either of the two 

 species of Snipe. 



The schizorhiny of Scolopax rusticula is as pronounced as in 

 Gallinago coslestie, and therefore more pronounced than in 

 G. gallinula. The maxillo-palatiue plates in the Woodcock are so 

 much reduced, that there is hardly the slightest projection of bone 

 that can be identified with them. This state of affairs is in 

 nality an exaggeration of what is to be seen in the skull of 

 G. ccelestie, where the bones in question are narrow shelf-like 

 processes. The large swollen bulla? of G. gallinula are almost 

 equally different from the maxillo-palatines of both Woodcock and 

 Common Snipe. 



The syrinx of Gallinago gallinula is represented in the accom- 

 panying drawings (text-tigs. 68, 69, p. 600), from which it will be 

 Been that it is very different in detail from that of G. cosltstit. 

 The difference is mainly caused by the laterally bowed syringeal 

 semirings at the commencement of that organ, which cause the 

 syrinx to project at this point very far beyond the level of the 



trachea. Thu is, of course, merely an exaggeration of the usual 



