YELLOW WOODWREN. 365 



The bill is rather short, slender, broader than high at the 

 base, compressed towards the end, and in all other respects 

 corresponds with the description of that organ given in the 

 generic character, the sides sloping and towards the end con- 

 vex, the tip declinato-decurvate, very narrow, but truncate, 

 and having a distinct notch. The tongue is slender, three and 

 a half twelfths long, emarginate and papillate at the base, con- 

 cave above, its tip slit, with two acute points, and slightly 

 bristled. The oesophagus is two inches long, its average dia- 

 meter two-twelfths. The stomach when distended is half an 

 inch long, and four and a half twelfths in breadth, of an ellip- 

 tical form and moderately compressed ; its muscular coat thin, 

 but divided into three somewhat distinct muscles ; the inner 

 coat with broad longitudinal rugae. The intestine is only five 

 inches long, its duodenal portion a twelfth and a half in dia- 

 meter, the rest diminishing to one-twelfth ; the coeca one- 

 twelfth long, and an inch distant from the extremity. 



The eyes are of moderate size, their aperture having a dia- 

 meter of two-twelfths. That of the external ear is two and a 

 half twelfths. The feet are very slender ; the tarsi of moderate 

 length, much compressed, with seven anterior scutella, of 

 which the upper four are very long and indistinct ; the toes of 

 moderate length, much compressed, the first with eight, the 

 second with eight, the third with ten, the fourth also with 

 ten scutella. The claws are arched, acute, extremely com- 

 pressed, laterally grooved, that of the hind toe curved in a 

 semicircle. 



The plumage is very soft and blended, the feathers large, 

 ovate, rounded, with very loose barbs ; the nasal membrane 

 with short roundish feathers ; the basal margins of the upper 

 mandible with small bristle-feathers. The wings are rather 

 long, their tips when closed reaching to within a third of the 

 end of the tail ; the quills, nineteen in number, are all round- 

 ed, excepting the first which is pointed and only half an inch 

 long ; the second nearly two-twelfths shorter than the third, 

 which is about half a twelfth longer than the fourth ; the third, 

 fourth, and fifth have the outer web cut out towards the end ; 



