109 



PHASIANUS. PHEASANT. 



Bill short, strong, slightly decurved, deeper than broad at 

 the base, depressed at the end. Upper mandible with a 

 deep nasal sinus, the dorsal outline sloping at the base, ar- 

 cuato-declinate towards the end, the sides convex, the edges 

 slightly arched, horny, sharp, and overlapping nearly in their 

 whole length, the tip rounded and thin-edged. Lower man- 

 dible narrower than the upper, its angle of moderate length and 

 rounded, the dorsal outline very slightly convex, the back 

 broad, the sides convex, the edges direct, thick, and rather 

 blunt, the tip obtuse. 



Mouth rather narrow ; mandibles internally concave. Palate 

 flat, with two curved longitudinal, slightly papillate, soft ridges, 

 terminating behind the aperture of the nares in a slight papil- 

 late lobe. The aperture of the posterior nares is oblong behind, 

 linear before, papillate in its whole length, its posterior lateral 

 space covered with very small sparse papillae, the anterior with 

 several transverse series of papillae. A soft ridge from the 

 fore part to the mandible, and on each side a deep groove 

 within the edge of the mandible. Tongue of moderate size, 

 fleshy, tapering to a point, triangular in its transverse section, 

 slightly concave above, horny beneath, with two transverse 

 rows of papillae at the base. There are two masses of mucous 

 crypts in the angle of the lower jaw ; also a series on the lower 

 side of the tongue on each side towards the base ; and a great 

 quantity in the space between the root of the tongue and the 

 aperture of the glottis, which is defended by two transverse 

 flaps of pointed papillse. 



Oesophagus narrow, but opening into, or enlarged so as to 



