353 



COCCOTHRAUSTES. GROSBEAK, 



Bill of moderate length, straight, direct, conical, extremely 

 thick, acnte, subpentagonal, and deeper than broad at the base, 

 the mandibles nearly equal : upper mandible with the dorsal 

 outline very slightly convex, the ridge broad and rounded, the 

 sides rounded, the edges slightly inflected and sharp, but over- 

 lapping, with a slight notch close to the tip ; lower mandible 

 broader at the base, and somewhat larger, although seemingly 

 smaller on account of the overlapping of the edges of the upper, 

 its crura extremely thick, its dorsal outline straight, the angle 

 extremely short, broad, and slightly rounded, the back very 

 broad, the edges sharp and inflected ; the gape-line a little 

 arched. 



Mouth rather wide ; both mandibles deeply concave, the 

 upper with a medial prominent line, and a slight prominence 

 on the fore part of the palate. Aperture of the posterior nares 

 linear, and with that of the glottis margined with acute papillae. 

 Tongue sagittate, fleshy, narrow, grooved above, the tip bifid. 

 (Esophagus thin, of nearly equal diameter ; proventriculus 

 bulbiform, and furnished all round with numerous roundish 

 glandules. Gizzard roundish, compressed, with two very strong 

 lateral muscles, and radiated tendons ; its cuticular lining dense, 

 tough, and marked with broad longitudinal rugge. Intestine 

 of moderate length, rather wide, of nearly equal diameter 

 throughout, with two very small, cylindrical, adnate coeca near 

 its extremity ; rectum very short. 



Nostrils small, elliptical, oblique, basal, in the fore part of 

 the extremely short and broad nasal groove, so as to seem 



A a 



