514 SEMI PALMATE D SNIPE.
medial, beyond it the outline slightly ascending and straight, sides grooved
as far as the angle, and convex, the edges broad and flat, the point narrow
and slightly incurved.
Head small, oblong, narrowed before. Neck rather long, slender.
Body slender. Feet long and slender; tibia bare for nearly half its length,
scutellate before and behind; tarsus long, slender, covered before and behind
with numerous scutella, the narrow lateral spaces with extremely
small oblong scales. Toes small, slender, scutellate above, flat beneath,
marginate, the anterior toes connected by basal membranes which extend
along their sides, the outer membrane larger than the inner; first toe extremely
small, second and fourth about equal, third little longer. Claws
small, compressed, slightly arched, obtuse, that of third toe with a dilated
inner edge.
Plumage soft and blended, on the fore part of the head very short,
on the neck short and very soft. Wings long, very acute, narrow; primaries
tapering and rounded, the first longest, the second little shorter,
the rest rapidly graduated; secondaries obliquely rounded, the inner
elongated and tapering. Tail short, of twelve narrow, rounded feathers,
the two middle ones a little longer than the rest.
Bill light blue, dusky towards the end. Iris brown. Feet light blue;
claws black. Head and neck brownish-grey, streaked with blackishbrown
; the throat, and a band from the bill over the eye white. Fore
part of back and scapulars brownish-grey, variegated with central markings
and bars of blackish-brown ; the hind part of the back brownish-grey
with a gloss of olive. Wing-coverts grey with central lines of brownishblack
; primary coverts and primary quills brownish-black, but the latter
white in their basal half; outer secondaries white, inner like the scapulars.
Lower wing-coverts dusky ; breast and sides white, the latter undulatingly
barred with brownish-black; abdomen and lower and upper tail-coverts
white, some of them, however, with a few dusky bars. The four middle
tail-feathers are barred with brownish-black and brownish-grey, the rest
pale grey fading to white on the outer, and all more or less minutely
mottled with pale brown.
Length to end of tail 15£ inches, to end of wings 15, to end of claws
17^ ; extent of wings 27f ; wing from flexure 8£; tail & fs ; bill along the
back 2\; along the edge of lower mandible %T%; tarsus 2%; middle
toe l ^ j , its claw j . Weight 7 oz.