536 COllVUS FRUGILEGUS. 



viewed at a distance. The general form however is moderately 

 full. The bill is of considerable length, robust, slightly arched, 

 compressed, and tapering to a point ; the upper mandible with 

 the dorsal line arcuato-declinate, the ridge convex, the sides 

 sloping and convex, the edges some^vhat inclinate, acute, over- 

 lapping, the tip narrow and considerably prolonged ; the lower 

 mandible with the angle medial, rather narrow and acute, the 

 outline of the crura straight, the dorsal line straight and in- 

 clined upwards, the sides flattened and inclined outwards, the 

 edges sharp and inclinate, the tip narrow. The gape-line is 

 slightly arched. 



Internally the upper mandible is concave and longitudinally 

 marked with seven prominent lines ; the lower deeply concave, 

 w^th a central prominent line. The palate is flat ; the pos- 

 terior aperture of the nares narrow, and edged w4th small 

 papillae, as is the aperture of the glottis. The tongue is oblong, 

 emarginate and papillate at the base, flat above, horny, thin- 

 edged, its point slit. At its base and under it a cavity can be 

 produced by the dilatation of the skin in the angle of the jaw, 

 forming a kind of pouch in which food is carried to the young. 

 The oesophagus is wide, of nearly equal diameter, eight inches 

 long; the proventriculus bulbiform, studded all round with 

 cylindrical glandules. The stomach is a moderately strong 

 gizzard of an oblong form, a little compressed, with rather 

 large central tendons, and thin, longitudinally rugous, cuticular 

 lining. The intestine is three feet six inches long, wider in its 

 upper part ; the coeca adnate, cylindrical, about three twelfths 

 long, and placed at the distance of two and a half inches from 

 the anus. 



The eyes are of moderate size ; the eyelids feathered, with a 

 papillate margin ; the nostrils broadly elliptical or roundish ; 

 the external aperture of the ear round, of moderate size. 



The feet are of ordinary length, rather robust ; the tarsus 

 rounded before, with eight scutella, compressed, posteriorly 

 edged, the lateral plates meeting behind. The second and 

 fourth toes are nearly equal, the third considerably longer, all 

 scutellate above, marginate, granulate and padded beneath ; 

 the first with eight, the second with nine, the third with thir- 



