268 MILVUS REGALIS. 



Female. — The female, although considerably larger, differs 

 little from the male in colour, the upper parts being merely of 

 a deeper tint, the head paler and tinged with grey. The fol- 

 lowinf is the description of a fine individual obtained in Dum- 

 bartonshire. The tongue is ten-twelfths of an inch long, with 

 the base emarginate and papillate, the tip rounded. The oeso- 

 phagus six inches long, the crop an inch and a half in width. 

 The stomach globular, an inch and four-twelfths in diameter ; 

 its muscular coat very thin, being composed of a single series 

 of fasciculi. The whole length of the intestine is five feet six 

 inches ; the duodenum, which is eighteen inches long, is con- 

 voluted in four folds. The cloaca is globular, an inch and a 

 quarter in width. On the tarsus are seven scutella, of which 

 one of the lower is slit ; on the first toe three, on the second 

 three, on the third ten, on the fourth six. The wings extend 

 half an inch beyond the fork of the tail, of which the lateral 

 feathers are three inches and a half longer than the middle. 

 The first quill is three inches and a quarter shorter than the 

 second, which is an inch and three quarters shorter than the 

 third, this latter being four-twelfths shorter than the fourth, 

 which exceeds the fifth by ten-twelfths. The bill and claws 

 black ; its base and the cere rich yellow, as are the tarsi and toes ; 

 the iris pale yellow. The head and upper part of the neck are 

 greyish-white, longitudinally streaked with blackish-brown. The 

 general colour of the fore part of the back, scapulars, and wing- 

 coverts, is brownish-red, each feather with an elongated central 

 deep-brown space, broader on the scapulars, and much narrower 

 on the wing-coverts. Alula, primary coverts, and outer five 

 quills brownish -black, the other primaries greyish-brown ex- 

 ternally ; the secondaries deep brown, the inner greyish-brown. 

 The inner w^ebs of the primaries toward the base are greyish- 

 white, of the secondaries grey, all barred or mottled with dark 

 grey. The middle and hind parts of the back, with the upper 

 tail-coverts, light red, each feather with a brownish-black shaft- 

 line. The tail light red, the two outer feathers on each side 

 dusky on their outer webs, all barred with deep brown, the 

 bars on the outer feathers twelve, on the middle reduced to 

 nine small central traces. The lower parts are light red, with 



