Genus — ^DITELMATIAS nov. 
Type Gallinago hardwickii Gray . 
Galltnageste birds as hereafter defined, with eighteen tail-feathers. 
The bill is very long, narrow, not deep at the base, straight and not 
expanded at the tip, where it is wrinkled: the wrinkling is only seen at the 
terminal third, and the culmen shows scarcely any flattening at that point. 
The nostrils are short slits placed in a groove near the base of the culmen: 
this groove extends about two-thirds the length of the bill, but becomes 
indistinct after the middle. The lower mandible is similarly grooved and 
punctulate, and is shorter than the upper, which becomes thickened at the 
tip and overlaps it. The wing is long and pomted, the first primary longest, 
and is more than twice the length of the culmen. The legs and feet are 
strictly totanine : the metatarsus is short, regularly covered with scutes 
both in front and behind, and is about half the length of the culmen. The 
toes are long and not webbed between ; the middle toe is slightly shorter than 
the metatarsus, but with the claw slightly exceeds it. The hind toe and claw 
are long and slender and regularly totanine iu appearance. 
The tail is composed of eighteen feathers, which show httle attenuation 
throughout, though the outermost is thin and but little shorter than the 
central ones. The tail is more nearly even than in the typical gaUinagine 
birds: the outermost tail-feather in G. gallinago Linne is much shorter than 
the middle ones. 
