342 • MEIIGULUS ALLE. 



order to please the fastidious, to assume an air of solemnity 

 in describing the feathered race, I would call it quaint or 

 funny. A thing so diminutive, so active, so plump, so much 

 at its ease, and so at home, in the midst of tlic wide Avaters, 

 cannot but excite a pleasant feeling allied to mirth in him 

 who meets with it. Not much larger than a Quail, it is yet 

 of a robust form, having the body full and compact, the 

 neck short and stout, the bill about half the length of the 

 head, and formed somewhat like that of a Grouse, but still 

 manifestly bearing a resemblance to that of the Auks, and 

 even having faint traces of grooves and ridges on both man- 

 dibles. But as all that has been stated in the generic 

 character applies to it, a specific description would be super- 

 fluous. There are, however, eighteen distinct, very broad, 

 and very short scutella on the tarsus ; tliirty-two on the 

 middle toe, thirty-three on the outer, and twenty-four on 

 the inner. The digestive organs, also, may be more par- 

 ticularly described. 



The palate is flat, broad, and covered Avith numerous 

 short, horny, reversed papilla?. The tongue large, fleshy, 

 ten-twelfths of an inch long, emarginate at the base, flat 

 above, obtusely pointed, horny beneath. The oesophagus is 

 three inches and ten-twelfths long, of moderate Avidth ; the 

 proventricular glandules cylindrical, very nimierous, forming 

 a belt half an inch in breadth. The stomach is oblong, 

 eleven-tAvelfths in length, eight-tAvelfths in breadth, Avith its 

 mviscular coat moderately thick, and forming tAvo pretty 

 distinct lateral muscles, with large tendons ; the epithelium 

 dense, thick, Avith numerous longitudinal and transverse 

 rugse. The intestine is sixteen inches and a half in length, 

 two-tAvelfths and a quarter in Avidth ; the caeca four-twelfths 

 and a qiuirter long, half a tAvelftli in diameter ; the rectum 

 an inch and a quarter, three-tAvelflhs in Avidth at the com- 

 mencement, gradually enlarging into a globular cloaca, nine- 

 tAvelfths in breadth. 



The nostrils are very small, oblong, Avith a strong, 

 angular, horny operculum. The eyes small, their aperture 

 measuring a tAvelfth and n half. That of tbe oar one- 

 twelfth. 



