106 TURDUS PILARIS. 



of the other set, to neither, or to either of which therefore it 

 may be referred according to caprice, while according to nature 

 it is the connecting link of both. It is a rather stout bird, to 

 which the length of the wings and tail impart a considerable 

 degree of elegance. 



The bill is of moderate length and size, slightly ascending, 

 a little broader than deep at the base, where it is pentagonal, 

 compressed towards the end, acute ; the edges sharp and direct, 

 those of the upper mandible slightly overlapping, with a small 

 notch close to the tip ; the upper mandible with the ridge 

 rather narrow and rounded, the sides convex, internally con- 

 cave with a central prominent line ; the lower mandible with 

 the back and sides rounded, the angle medial, narrowish, 

 rounded, the outline slightly convex ; the gape-line slightly 

 curved towards the end. The palate is nearly flat, with two 

 prominent lines ; the posterior aperture of the nares oblongo- 

 linear. The tongue is sagittate wath long conical papillae at 

 the base, narrow, the tip rounded and bristly. The oesophagus 

 is three and a half inches in length ; the stomach roundish, 

 compressed, an inch and four-twelfths in its greatest diameter ; 

 the intestine seventeen inches long ; the coeca three-twelfths 

 and a half in length, and at the distance of an inch and a quar- 

 ter from the anus. 



The nostrils are elliptical, direct, two-twelfths long, with a 

 narrow operculum, exposed, in the fore part of the nasal mem- 

 brane. The eyes are of moderate size, their aperture two- 

 twelfths and a quarter in diameter. The ear is large, its aper- 

 ture four-twelfths across. The legs are of ordinary length, 

 rather strong, the tarsus compressed, covered anteriorly with a 

 long undivided plate above, and four scutella below, posteriorly 

 with two plates meeting at a very acute angle, inferiorly rugoso- 

 granulate. The toes are moderately stout; the first with eight, 

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

 eleven scutella. The claws are of moderate length, compressed, 

 laterally grooved, slightly arched, acute. 



The plumage is rather blended, soft, and slightly glossed ; the 

 feathers oblong, rounded, with the barbs discrete at the end, 

 and a very slender plumule composed of a few long filaments. 



