14 



RED-BREASTED SNIPE. 



Length to end of tail 10i inches, to end of wings 10, to end of claws 1 li; 

 extent of wings 18^; wing from flexure 6^; tail 2-*-; bill along the ridge 2 V*; 

 along the edge of lower mandible 2-f; bare part of tibia ^; tarsus 1|?; middle 

 toe and claw l^j hind toe and claw |?; inner toe and claw 1; outer toe and 

 claw \ k . Weight 3i oz. 

 Adult in winter. 



The bill, iris, and feet as in summer. Upper part of head and hind neck 

 dusky grey, with which the feathers of the fore part of the back, scapulars 

 and wing-coverts are margined, their central parts being brownish-black. 

 A white band from the bill over the eye; margins of eyelids also white. 

 Hind part of back and tail barred with dusky as in summer. Quills as in 

 summer, the inner marked with grey in place of brownish-red. Loral space, 

 cheeks, and sides of the neck, pale grey; throat and lower parts white; the 

 sides, axillary feathers, and lower tail-feathers, barred with dusky; lower 

 wing-coverts dusky, edged with white, and having a central streak of the 

 same. Individuals exhibit great differences in the length of the bills and 

 tarsi. 



On the upper mandible internally are three series of minute papillae, which 

 become larger on the palate. While the upper mandible is flat beneath, the 

 lower is deeply concave, and its crura elastic and capable of being separated 

 near the base to the distance of three-fourths of an inch. The tongue, which 

 is 2i inches long, and of a slender form, carinate beneath, with the tip point- 

 ed, lies in the deep hollow of the lower mandible, and being deeply concave 

 above, leaves a vacant space, by which, when the bill is immersed in the 

 mud and the tips separated, the food passes along. The cesophagus is 4f 

 inches long, i inch in diameter, and nearly uniform. The proventriculus, 

 a, b, c, is bulbiform, its diameter 6 twelfths. The stomach, c, d, e,f, is an 

 oblong gizzard of moderate strength, with the lateral 

 and inferior muscles decided, the tendons large, its 

 length 1 inch, its breadth 8 twelfths. The epithelium 

 is dense, tough, with numerous longitudinal ruga?, and 

 of a reddish colour. The contents of the stomach 

 were very small hard hemispherical seeds and vege- 

 table fibres. The intestine, /, g, h, 19^ inches long, 

 its diameter 3 twelfths in its upper part; the cceca If 

 inches long, and from 1 to 2 twelfths in diameter, 

 with the extremity obtuse. 



The trachea is wide, flattened, 3^ inches long, 2f 

 twelfths broad at the top, gradually diminishing to 2 

 twelfths; the rings about 130. The contractor mus- 

 cles are very thin, the sterno-tracheal slender; and 

 there is a pair of inferior laryngeal. The bronchial half rings are about 25. 



