226 MERGANSER CUCULLATUS. 



the bill longer and more attenuated, and thus agi'ceing better 

 Avith that of the Mergansers. Its body is oblong, full, much 

 depressed ; the neck of moderate length ; the head rather 

 large, oblong, and compressed. 



The bill is about the same length as the head, straight, 

 slender, considerably higher than broad at the base, tapering, 

 and becoming nearly cylindrical beyond the nostrils ; the 

 upper mandible with its dorsal line gently dechnate for half 

 its length, then direct, on the unguis suddenly decurved, the 

 ridge broad and flattened at the base, gradually narrowed, 

 toward the end convex, the sides with a faint gi-oove near the 

 margin, less distinct than in the Mergansers, but more so 

 than in Mergus albellus, the edges marginate, straight, with 

 about thirty short, oblique, dentiform lamella?, of wliich the 

 outer ends are rather broad and abrupt, and project conside- 

 rably, the unguis elliptical, convex, much decurved,' the 

 nasal sinus oblong, sub-basal, covered by the soft membrane 

 of the bill ; lower mandible Avith the intercrural space very 

 long, extremely narroAv, and partially bare, the crura slender, 

 with their outlines straight, the sides convex, grooved above, 

 the margins with about twenty-five distinct dentiform la- 

 mellae, and an anterior nearly continuous plate, with fifteen 

 grooves, the unguis ovato-triangular, convex in both direc- 

 tions. 



The mouth is narrow, measuring seven-twelfths and a 

 half across. The palate is flat, as is the anterior part of the 

 roof of the mouth, on which, besides a median ridge, aie two 

 longitudinal series of slender oblique lamellae, independently 

 of the dentiform lamina? of the margin. The tongue is fleshy, 

 slender, an inch and a half in length, Avith tAvo roAvs of 

 reversed horny papillae above, and on each side tAvo series of 

 bristly filaments. The oesophagus, seven inches and a quarter 

 in length, an inch in Avidth along the neck, but considerably 

 enlarged Avithin the thorax, has the Avails thick, Avith distinct 

 muscular fibres ; the proventricular belt of very small cylin- 

 drical glandules, an inch and a quarter in breadth. The 

 stomach is muscular, being a gizzard of moderate strength, 

 an inch and a half in length, an inch and a third in breadth, 

 Avith the lateral muscles seven-tAvelfths tliick ; the epithelium 



