391 



CARDUELIS. THISTLEFINCH. 



Bill shortish, straight, direct, strong, conical, tapering to a 

 slender point, subpentagonal at the base, deeper than broad in 

 its whole length, more especially towards the end ; upper man- 

 dible w^ith the dorsal outline nearly straight, the ridge narrow, 

 the sides sloping and slightly convex, the edges sharp and 

 direct, destitute of notch, the tip very acute and considerably 

 extended beyond that of the lower ; lower mandible with the 

 angle semicircular, the dorsal line straight or slightly concave, 

 the ridge convex at the base, narrowed towards the end, the 

 edges sharp and inflected. Gape-line nearly straight, at the 

 base slightly deflected. 



Mouth narrow, both mandibles deeply concave within, the 

 upper with a medial and two lateral prominent lines, and four 

 grooves. Aperture of the posterior nares linear, and with that 

 of the glottis margined with acute papillae. Tongue sagittate, 

 subulate, involute, the tip terminated by a pencil of short bris- 

 tles. CEsophagus dilated on the middle of the neck into a kind 

 of crop, afterwards narrow ; proventriculus bulbiform, and fur- 

 nished all round with numerous cylindrical glandules. Gizzard 

 roundish, compressed, with two very strong lateral muscles 

 with radiated tendons, and a narrow^ prominent basal muscle ; 

 its cuticular lining dense, tough, and longitudinally rugous. 

 Intestine of moderate length, rather wide, of nearly equal dia- 

 meter throughout, with two very small cylindrical, adnate 

 coeca near its extremity ; rectum very short. 



Nostrils circular, basal, in the fore part of the short and 

 broad nasal depression, and concealed by the reflected feathers. 



