237 



PANDION. OSPREY. 



Body compact, of moderate size ; neck of moderate length ; 

 head ovate, and not remarkably large. 



Bill shorter than the head, stout, as broad as high at the 

 base, gradually compressed : upper mandible with the cere 

 rather narrow, the dorsal outline a little declinate and slightly 

 convex as far as the edge of the cere, then decurved in about 

 the fourth of a circle, the ridge broadly convex at the base, 

 narrowed toward the end, the sides rapidly sloping and con- 

 vex, the edges sharp, slightly inflected, with a festoon, and a 

 wide sinus at the curvature, the tip deflected, trigonal, very 

 acute ; lower mandible with the angle short and rather wide, 

 the dorsal line convex, the back broadly rounded, the sides 

 convex, the edges inflected, decurved toward the end, the tip 

 being obliquely truncate and rounded. 



Mouth rather wide ; palate flat, with two prominent papil- 

 late ridges, and an anterior median ridge. Tongue short, 

 emarginate at the base, with numerous very slender papillae, 

 one of which on each side is large, its upper surface concave, 

 the tip rounded. CKsophagus very wide, enlarged into a crop 

 of great capacity, then narrowed in entering the thorax, again 

 enlarged at the proventriculus, of which the glands are ex- 

 tremely numerous, very small, oblong, and form a broad con- 

 tinuous belt. Intestine extremely long and slender, forming 

 very numerous convolutions ; coeca very short ; cloaca very 

 large and globular. Plate XXI, Fig. 1. 



Nostrils oblong, oblique, lateral. Eyes of moderate size, 

 without projecting superciHary ridge ; eyelids edged with 

 bristly feathers. Aperture of ear rather small and roundish. 

 Feet very robust ; tibite long and muscular ; tarsi very short, 

 thick, covered all round with imbricated scales, of which the 

 posterior are smaller, and have the upper angle elevated into 



