574 IIIRUNDO LRIJICA. 



tinct. The mouth is five-twelfths of an inch in breadth ; both 

 mandibles are slightly concave internally, with a central pro- 

 minent line ; the palate is flat, and but slightly arched ; the 

 tongue short, triangular, three-twelfths of an inch long, emar- 

 ginate and papillate at the base, its tip slightly bifid. The 

 oesophagus is two inches and a quarter long, and gradually 

 contracts to a diameter of two-twelfths ; the proventricular 

 glandules are half a twelfth long, and about half as broad. 

 The stomach, a gizzard of moderate power, and of an ellipti- 

 cal form, is six twelfths of an inch in length, its cuticular 

 lining thin, dark brown and nearly smooth, its lower muscle 

 not distinct from the right lateral, its tendons large. The in- 

 testine is seven inches long, rather wide, its greatest diameter 

 two and a half twelfths ; the coeca a twelfth and a half, of an 

 oblong form, and eight-twelfths from the extremity. 



The nostrils are elliptical, very small, being only three- 

 fourths of a twelfth in length ; the aperture of the eyes a 

 twelfth and a half in diameter ; that of the ears two and a 

 half twelfths. The feet are very short ; the tarsus extremely 

 short, rather stout, with six anterior scutella, but thinly 

 covered all round with feathers ; the toes are rather short, 

 and very slender, scutellate above, but thinly feathered, the 

 first rather stronger and having six scutella, the second eight, 

 the third twelve, the fourth twelve ; the claws are moderately 

 stout, arched, much compressed, laterally grooved, acute, that 

 of the first toe shorter than that of the third. 



The plumage is very soft, and blended ; on the head and 

 part of the back splendent, but elsewhere without lustre ; the 

 feathers ovate and rounded, without plumule. The wings are 

 extremely long ; the quills eighteen, the primaries nine ; the 

 first and second equal and longest, the rest rapidly graduated ; 

 the primaries tapering to a rounded point ; the secondaries 

 short, obliquely rounded and emarginate. The tail is rather 

 long, and deeply forked, of twelve nearly straight feathers, 

 the lateral longest and exceeding the medial by about ten- 

 twelfths of an inch. 



The bill is black, the mouth yellow ; the iris brov^^n ; the 

 scutella and claws pale yellowish-grey. The upper part of the 



