BUTEO. BUZZARD. 181 



minate in a similar curved edge behind. Posterior aperture 

 of the nares narrow-elliptical behind, linear before, with papil- 

 late margins. Tongue short, fleshy, rather narrow, concave 

 above ; its sides nearly parallel, the tip rounded and emargin- 

 ate, its free part beneath horny ; the lower surface of the sides 

 toward the base furnished with large mucous crypts ; the base 

 concave, and fringed with pointed papillae directed backwards. 

 Space between the base of the tongue and the aperture of the 

 glottis covered with mucous crypts, of which there is also a 

 lateral series on each side ; the posterior part of the pharynx 

 supplied with similar bodies irregularly disposed. Aperture 

 of the glottis defended behind by a number of papillae directed 

 backwards, and arranged in two lateral lobes, with a small in- 

 termediate lobe. CEsophagus very wide, and about the middle 

 of the neck dilated into a large sac or crop, inclining to the 

 right side. At the upper part it has a slight outer layer of in- 

 conspicuous longitudinal muscular fibres, and in its whole 

 length is encircled by transverse fibres ; its inner coat is smooth 

 and even when dilated, but when contracted is thrown into 

 longitudinal rugae. At the lower part is a broad belt of cylin- 

 drical crypts, constituting the proventricular glands. The 

 stomach is large, round, a little compressed ; its muscular coat 

 thin, and composed of a single series of fasciculi converging 

 toward two roundish thin tendinous spaces ; the inner coat 

 smooth and very thin. The pylorus with three or four pro- 

 minent rugae. The intestine of moderate length, rather wide ; 

 the coeca very small ; the rectum wide, and dilated into a 

 globular cloaca. 



Nostrils broadly elliptical, oblique, lateral, nearer the ridge 

 than the edge. Eyes large ; eyelids fringed with bristly fea- 

 thers ; a thin projecting superciliary ridge. Aperture of the 

 ear roundish, and rather large. 



Legs of moderate length, stout ; tibia rather long and mus- 

 cular ; tarsus roundish, feathered anteriorly for half its length, 

 with broad scutella before and behind, scaly on the sides. Toes 

 of moderate size ; the first and second stoutest, the latter a little 

 longer, the third much longer, the fourth longer than the second, 

 and connected at the base by a pretty large web ; all scutellate 



