82 TURDUS MERULA. 



long ; the legs rather strong ; the wings of moderate length ; 

 and the tail long. The bill is of moderate size, compressed 

 towards the end ; the upper mandible with its outline arcuato- 

 declinate, the ridge rather narrow and rounded, the sides con- 

 vex, the edges direct and sharp, with a slight notch close to 

 the narrow, rounded, sharp-edged tip ; the lower mandible 

 with the back and sides rounded, the angle or junction of the 

 crura medial, narrow and rounded, the edges sharp and erect ; 

 the gape-line slightly arched. Both mandibles are deeply con- 

 cave within, with a prominent medial line. The tongue is nar- 

 row, sagittate with long conical papillae at the base, the tip round- 

 ed and bristly. The oesophagus, PL XIV. Fig. 2, is four and 

 a half inches long, and of nearly uniform diameter ; the proven- 

 triculus oblong, with short cylindrical glandules. The stomach 

 is of a roundish, compressed form, its greatest diameter an 

 inch and five-twelfths, its lateral muscles large, its tendons 

 radiated; the inner coat tough, dense, and rugous. The intestine 

 is twenty inches long, and has an average diameter of four- 

 twelfths ; the coeca cylindrical, three-twelfths of an inch in 

 length, and coming off at the distance of an inch and a quarter 

 from the anus. 



The nostrils are of moderate size, two-twelfths of an inch 

 long, elliptical, partially concealed by the feathers. The aper- 

 ture of the eye is two-twelfths and a quarter in diameter, that 

 of the ear four-twelfths. The legs are of ordinary length, rather 

 strong ; the tarsus compressed, covered anteriorly with a long 

 undivided plate above, and three large scutella below, pos- 

 teriorly with two undivided plates meeting at an acute angle, 

 inferiorly rugoso-granulate. The toes are of moderate length, 

 rather strong ; the second and fourth about equal, the first 

 large, the third considerably longer ; the third attached to the 

 fourth as far as the second joint ; the first with eight, the 

 second with ten, the third with thirteen, the fourth with 

 eleven scutella. The claws are long, moderately arched, com- 

 pressed, obscurely grooved on the sides, tapering, acute. 



The plumage is full, soft, and glossy, the feathers oblong, 

 rounded, with the barbs discrete at the end, and a very slender 

 plumule, composed of a few long barbs. The frontal feathers 



