302 COLYMBUS SEPTENTRIONALIS. 



oblong, and anteriorly narrowed. The bill is nearly as long 

 as the head, almost straight, being but slightly recurved, 

 rather slender, but strong, compressed, tapering, and pointed ; 

 the upper mandible with the dorsal line almost straight and 

 direct, the ridge convex, the sides prominently convex, the 

 edges sharp, much inflected, the tip narrow and pointed ; the 

 lower mandible with the intercrural space very long and ex- 

 tremely narrow, the lower outline of the crura straight, the 

 sides prominently convex, the dorsal line much ascending and 

 straight, the edges sharp and much inflected, the tip acumi- 

 nate ; the gape-line a little recurved. 



The mouth is of moderate width, but extensile, the gape- 

 line commencing under the eyes ; the palate with two promi- 

 nent papillate ridges, and six medial series of reversed 

 papillae merging anteriorly into three ; the tongue, an inch 

 and nine-twelfths long, fleshy, trigonal, tapering, longitudi- 

 nally grooved above, with the point extremely slender and 

 horny. The oesophagus, fourteen inches long, is two inches 

 in width along the neck, but contracts considerably in enter- 

 ing the thorax, and again enlarges, the proventriculus being 

 two inches in breadth. The stomach is rather large, muscu- 

 lar, roundish, an inch and ten-twelfths in breadth, two inches 

 in length, its lateral muscles of moderate thickness, the epi- 

 thelium dense, thick, and rugous, with roundish, concave 

 grinding surfaces. The intestine, five feet two inches long, 

 varies in M'idth from eight-twelfths to five-twelfths. The 

 coeca are tAvo inches and nine-twelfths in length, half an inch 

 in breadth near the end, which is rounded. The rectum, 

 only two inches in length, has a globular dilatation, an inch 

 and a half in diameter. 



The nostrils, small, linear, direct, and pervious, are four- 

 twelfths long, and have a curious slender lobe-like flap above ; 

 the aperture of the eye four-and-a-half-twelfths ; that of the 

 car nearly a twelfth-and-a-quarter. The feet are short, and 

 placed at the extremity of the body ; the tibia covered by the 

 skin of the body to the end ; the tarsus short, extremely com- 

 pressed, edged before and behind, covered all over with angu- 

 lar scales. The hind toe extremely small, elevated, connected 

 with the second by a membrane, which is partly free and 



