137 
Ornithology from Formosa. 
their attendance, chasing flies on the roof-tops and about the 
verandahs, and occasionally delighting us with their song. 
September 23rd, I came across a small party of Curlews, 
Numenius uropygialis, feeding on the mudflats on the banks of 
the river, and knocked over three, but only succeeded in bagging- 
two. They were much tamer than N. arcuatus; their note has 
a much deeper trill ; and the sound birds did not gather and 
wheel round and show concern for the wounded as do the 
winter-species : my exposing a wounded bird for a decoy only 
resulted in the loss of the specimen itself. Of the two I 
secured, one exceeds the other a good bit in the length of bill, 
wings, legs, and toes. This I took at first to be a sexual differ¬ 
ence ; but on dissection they both proved to be females; and on 
subsequent examination of the sterna , I find that that of the 
smaller specimen is less developed, and I conclude therefore 
that the lesser bird was simply the younger. In a grove along 
the avenue at the inner foot of Apes 5 Hill I heard the unmistake 
able “ pic 55 of the small Woodpecker [Pious kaleensis), and soon 
had the satisfaction of procuring the pair. The gizzards of the 
small Curlews above-mentioned contained remains of small 
crabs, were muscular, and like inverted saucers, as in the Rails 
and Rhynchcea. The caeca were long and vermiform, and the 
unique caecal appendage (shaped like, and the size of, a full- 
grown blowfly-maggot) occurred on the intestine about a foot 
from the anus. With respect to this appendage, and to the 
shape of the stomach, Rhynchcea approaches Numenius ; but in 
the relation of their sterna they stand widely apart. That of 
Rhynchcea is Scolopacine, while that of Numenius is Totanine, 
having double open foramina *. In its Ralline affinities and 
plumage Rhynchcea is analogous to Eurypyga helias , and may be 
* [The number of foramina or emarginations at the posterior end of the 
sternum in Snipes, Sandpipers, and kindred groups is by no means con¬ 
stant in the different generally recognized genera, as our contributor 
seems to suppose. Scolopax gallinago and Totanus ochropus have each a 
single emargination on each side of the keel, while Scolopax gallinula and 
Totanus glareola have double emarginations. It would be easy to enume¬ 
rate many more instances; we only mention these to show that the terms 
Scolopacine and Totanine as indicating different types of structure in the 
sternum are insufficiently precise.— Ed.] 
