555 



HIRUNDO. SWALLOW. 



Bill very short, much depressed, very broad at the base, nar- 

 rowed to the point, so as to present a triangular form when 

 viewed from above : upper mandible with its dorsal outline 

 slightly convexo-declinate, the ridge obliterated, the sides slop- 

 ing at the base, sloping but convex toward the end, the edges 

 slightly inflected, the tip slender but rather blunt, the notch 

 distinct ; lower mandible with the angle very large and wide, 

 the dorsal outline ascending and nearly straight, the sides slop- 

 ing outwards but convex, the edges a little involute, the tip 

 narrow but rather obtuse ; gape-line commencing beneath the 

 anterior angle of the eye, nearly straight. 



Mouth very wide ; the upper mandible slightly concave, with 

 a slender prominent central line, the lower also shallow, with a 

 similar line ; the palate flat, but slightly arched, with two faint 

 lateral lines ; the posterior aperture of the nares linear, papil- 

 late behind, and having its lateral spaces also covered with 

 small papilloe. Tongue short, sagittate, emarginate and papil- 

 late at the base, two of the papillae much larger, flat above, its 

 tip bifid. The oesophagus is wide at its commencement, gra- 

 dually contracts, and preserves a nearly uniform diameter ; the 

 proventriculus being but slightly enlarged. The stomach is a 

 broadly elliptical, moderately compressed gizzard, of which the 

 lateral muscles are of moderate thickness, the cuticular lining 

 thin and broadly rugous. The intestine is short, and rather 

 wide ; the coeca very small. The oesophagus is rather narrow ; 

 the lateral muscles of the stomach of considerable strength, the 

 lower muscle not distinct from the right lateral. PI. XXII, 

 Fig. 4. 



The nostrils are small, linear-oblong, in the fore part of the 

 large nasal membrane, which is bare anteriorly and along the 

 outer edge. The eyes are of moderate size ; the eyelids bare. 



