14 
RED-BREASTED SNIPE. 
Length to end of tail 10^ inches, to end of wings 10, to end of claws 111 ; 
extent of wings 18-g- ; wing from flexure 6s ; tail 2 4 ; bill along the ridge 
2 ! s 5 ; along the edge of lower mandible 2f; bare part of tibia 1; tarsus If; 
middle toe and claw If; hind toe and claw f; inner toe and claw 1; outer 
toe and claw f. 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 papillm, 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 oesophagus is 4f 
inches long, $ 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 
ob ong 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 rugae, and 
of a reddish colour. The contents of the stomach 
were very small hard hemispherical seeds and vege- 
table fibres. The intestine, f g, h, 194 inches long, 
its diameter 3 twelfths in its upper part ; the caeca 11 
inches long, and from 1 to 2 twelfths in diameter, 
with the extremity obtuse. 
The trachea is wide, flattened, 34 inches long, 2| 
twelfths broad at the top, .gradually diminishing to 2 
twelfths ; the ririgs 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. 
