596 STURNUS GUTTATUS. 



of a compact form, rather stout, with the body ovate, rather 

 deeper behind than before ; the head of moderate size, ovato- 

 oblong, flattened above, narrowed anteriorly ; the feet rather 

 short and strong ; the wings of moderate length ; and the tail 

 rather short. In form it bears a greater resemblance to the 

 Jackdaw than to a Thrush, and when mixed with a flock of 

 Crows, might seem to a person unacquainted with it to be of 

 the same family. 



The bill is shorter than the head, straight, rather slender, 

 tapering, pentagonal, towards the end depressed ; the upper 

 mandible with its dorsal outline nearly straight, convex and 

 declinate towards the rather sharp tip, the ridge very narrow 

 at the commencement, flattened over and beyond the nostrils, 

 then convex, the sides sloping at the base, convex toward the 

 end, the edges sharp and overlapping, the notch obsolete ; 

 lower mandible with the angle narrow and pointed, the sides 

 sloping outward and concave on the crura, the dorsal line 

 straight, the edges sharp. The gape-line ascends at the base, 

 and is afterwards direct, the lower jaw being a little bent in 

 the middle. 



Internally both mandibles are slightly concave with a cen- 

 tral prominent line ; the palate straight, very narrow, sloping 

 upwards at the sides. The aperture of the nares is linear, 

 edged with large pointed papillas directed backwards. The 

 tongue, PI. IX, Fig. 6, a, is sagittate, of moderate length 

 (eight twelfths of an inch), slender, papillate at the base, con- 

 cave above, horny and thin-edged towards the point, which is 

 narrow and slightly lacerated. The aperture of the glottis is 

 defended behind by numerous slender papillae. The oesoiihagus, 

 6, 0, d^ is of moderate width, uniform in diameter, three inches 

 long ; the proventriculus, r/, encircled by numerous oblong 

 glandules. The stomach ^, /, ^, is broadly elliptical, com- 

 pressed, its muscular coat thick with round tendinous centres, 

 the cuticular lining rugous ; in short it is a gizzard of mode- 

 rate power, as in the Crows. The intestine, g, h^ /, j, k, is 

 fifteen inches long, nearly uniform in diameter, the duodenal 

 portion a little wider, being four twelfths of an inch ; the 

 coeca, Fig. 7, c, d, which are at the distance of an inch and a 



