CARINATjE 



Accipitriformes 



European Kestrel. Tinnunculus alaudarius. Plate XXXV. 



The principal coloration of the fundus is a light brown, or brown- 

 ish-gray. The lower quadrants are streaked with orange-red, 

 choroidal capillaries that run in a more or less vertical direction, 

 and become more distinct and brighter red as they approach the 

 periphery of the field. The optic disc is a long, white oval, showing- 

 its margins well beyond the pigmented and fringed pecten. The 

 central area of the papilla appears to be hollowed out like a canoe 

 and the pecten does not overlap it at any point of its circumference, 

 as is so frequently the case in avian fundi. 



The disc extends as far downwards towards the fundal periphery 

 as the observer's eye can reach. At its lower extremity several small 

 choroidal capillaries can be seen. 



The pecten has a rounded, pyramidal form, sloping towards the 

 centre of the disc at both ends. It is of a dull brown color, and 

 corrugated like a photographic camera. At the junction of pecten 

 and papilla are scattered numerous brown dots, so disposed as 

 to give the former the appearance of a web. The upper part of the 

 eyeground is quite devoid of choroidal vessels, but is covered with 

 minute white dots. The fundus is much clearer of tin- retinal shimmer 

 or reflex noticed in most birds. The two macular regions are distinctly 

 visible. The nasal macula is situated just above the upper end of the 

 disc and about half a disc-length on the inner or beak side of the eye- 

 ground. It is a dark-brown spot with a pale area all around it. ( hit - 

 side of this region and enclosing it are two distinct, pale green filiform 

 reflex rings, the interior rings being quite free from the white dots. 

 On the outer aspect of the eyeground, about one-third the length of 

 the disc above and two-thirds to the outer side of the disc, is the tem- 

 poral macular region. At its centre is a light, gray spot surrounded 

 by a dark brown area. Both these area? are in their turn encircled by 

 a small, pale-green, reflex ring about one-fourth the diameter of the 

 corresponding circle about the superior macula. Slender, opaque 

 nerve fibres run out at right angles to the disc on both sides. 



Little Bustard. Tetrax tetrax. Plate XXXVI. 



The fundal coloration is mostly a warm gray, covered with small, 

 dull orange-red dots. In the lower half of the field and on each side 

 of the optic nerve entrance is a number of choroidal vessels of a dull 

 orange-red color, running parallel with the disc. 



So far as seen the papilla is a dead white; optic fibres form a 

 fringe-like setting about it. The central zone of the disc is covered 

 by a mass of minute, brown, pigment deposits of irregular shape. 

 Opaque nerve fibres extend at right angles to the disc on either side. 

 A little to the temporal side, about one disc-length from the upper 

 end of the optic nerve, is a small, brown spot like a tiny hole. This 

 macular area is surrounded by a brilliant, green reflex ring. The 

 pecten, of a dark chocolate-brown color and shaped like a corkscrew, 

 comes well forward towards the inferior border of the lens. 



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