110 Zoological Collections. Vertebrata. 



Isles Malouines of M. BufFon, figured in the " Planches Enluminces " [No. 

 222,] and which was subsequently named Perdix Falklandica by Dr Latham. 

 This bird has been added to the genus Ortyx by modern authors, but erro- 

 neously ; as the structure of the wing, in which consists the chief difference 

 between the Ortyx of America and the genus Coturnix or the Quaik of the 

 Old World, associates the Magellanic bird more closely with the latter group, 

 than with the birds of its own continent. — Ibid. 



The red-knohbed Curassow, (Crax Yarrellii.) — In the last number (XIV) 

 of " the Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society delineated," Mr 

 Bennett describes what he considers to be a new species of curassow, under 

 the above specific denomination, the propriety of which will, as he states, " be 

 at once recognized by those who are familiar Muth Mr Yarrell's extensive 

 and valuable researches into the structure of the organs of voice of birds in 

 general, which have embraced a striking example of this particular group. " 

 The Crax Yarrellii is nearly equal, in size, to the crested curassow, and, 

 consequently, somewhat inferior to the globose species ; but exactly agrees 

 with both those birds in the colouring of its plumage, which is entirely of a 

 deep glossy black, with the exception of the under surface of the body behind 

 the legs, and the posterior part of the legs themselves, where the feathers 

 are pure white. Its crest, too, is, in all respects, similar to that of the more 

 common birds. But its cere, instead of being yellow, as in those species, is 

 deep crimson, surmounted by an elevated prominence much inferior in size 

 to that of the globose curassow, and enlarged beneath, on either side of the 

 lower mandible, by a peculiar gibbous projection, which is not met with in 

 any other species. The space, too, })etween the eyes and the base of the 

 bill is occupied by a line of feathers, leaving the naked skin surrounding the 

 eyes of the same deep black with the plumage of the head, from which it is 

 hardly to be distinguished. This species appears to be nearly allied to that 

 described by M. Temminck, under the name of Crax carunculata, from 

 Brazil, but differs from it in the upper mandible being less deep, in the 

 possession of the knob-like elevation, which is entirely wanting in the 

 G carunculata, and in the cere, though enlarged beneath the lower mandible, 

 bearing no resemblance to a wattle. 



The specimen upon which this species is founded, Mr Bennett believes to 

 have been brought home, by Lieutenant Maw, from South America ; it is 

 now in the gardens of the Zoological Society. 



Notes on the arterial system of Birds. — Dr Barkow, in his anatomico-phy- 

 siological researches on the arterial system of birds, rectifies an error of 

 MM. Meckel and Nitzsch, who have described the two common carotid 

 arteries of the common bittern (Ardea stellaris) as uniting into a single 

 trunk. The tw^o vessels are entirely distinct, and only appear to unite, 

 because the one, in passing behind the other, adheres very intimately to it. 



M. Bauer has remarked, that, in some birds, the termination of the occi- 

 pital artery anastomoses with the extremity of the vertebral ; and Dr Barkow 

 has found this disposition in all the birds he has injected. Tiedemann is, 

 therefore, inaccurate in saying that the vertebral artery has the same termi- 

 nation in birds as in man. 



Birds have not an internal maxillary artery like the mammalia ; the place 

 of this arcery being supplied by branches of the external and internal 

 carotids, and the facial, all of which sometimes unite to form the maxillary 

 plexus, described by Bauer, as met with in the goose and duck, (Anas.) 



In the storks, (Ciconice,) the anterior mesenteric artery only goes to that 

 part of the small intestines where the diverticulum is situated, w hich would 

 make it appear that it originally represents the omphalo-mesenteric artery. 

 Dr Barkow has also assured himself of the existence of anastomosing arches, 

 denied by Tiedemann. 



