Posted by Matthew Kenne (209.163.4.203) on December 12, 2000 at 10:46:06:
In case anyone is tempted to "blow off" my nostril suggestion, I made some highly accurate measurements with one of my kids' school rulers. From the illustrations in the text of Shorebirds, I get the following ratios of distance-from-projecting-feathers-to-nostril/bill length: Greater- .056, Lesser- .022. The Mystery Bird got a score of .045-.068, depending on if I measured the first measurement as 1 or 1.5 mm. I have absolutely no idea if this works on specimens, but Hayman's plates are heavily based on them. I don't have access to many photos, so please check for yourselves and see if this works.