201 



AQUILA. EAGLE. 



Bill shorter than the head, very hi(i;h, at the base of nearly 

 the same breadth and height, gradually compressed : upper 

 mandible with the cere broad and bare, the dorsal line nearly 

 straight along the cere, then decurved in about the third of a 

 circle, the ridge broad and convex on the cere, narrowed but 

 convex in the rest of its extent, the sides sloping, toward the 

 end slightly convex, the edges soft to beneath the nostrils, 

 then sharp, with a slight festoon, the tip prolonged, slightly 

 curved inwards, trigonal, acute, concave beneath ; lower man- 

 dible with the angle of moderate width, and rounded, the 

 edges soft, obtuse and straight for half their length, towards 

 the end sharp, inflected, and decurved, the dorsal line convex, 

 as are the sides, the tip rounded and thin-edged. 



Mouth wide ; palate flat, with two longitudinal soft pro- 

 minent papillate lines ; upper mandible slightly concave within, 

 the lower more deeply concave ; posterior aperture of nares 

 oblong, with an anterior slit. Tongue fleshy, deeply emar- 

 ginate and papillate at the base, with one of the lateral pa- 

 pilla large, concave above, the sides nearly parallel, the tip 

 rounded, slightly emarginate. (Esophagus very wide, dilated 

 into a very large crop lying toward the right side. A broad 

 belt of pro ventricular glands. Stomach large, roundish, its 

 muscular coat thin and composed of a single series of fasciculi ; 

 the tendinous spaces round and thin. The intestine rather 

 short, wide, at the anterior part, very narrow toward the 

 rectum, the duodenum forming a single loop ; coeca very small, 

 cloaca very large and globular. Plate XX, Fig. 2. 



Nostrils broadly elliptical, oblique, subbasal, in the fore part 

 of the cere. Eyes large, with a broad projecting superciliary 

 ridge ; eyelids bare, edged with bristly feathers having a few 

 filaments at the base. External aperture of ear large, round, 



