188 FALCO VESPERTINUS. 



The cere is short, its margin on each side forming a 

 convex curve before the nostril, which is round, with a 

 central papilla. The lower mandible has the angle 

 very broad and short, the dorsal line convex, the back 

 broad and rounded, the sides convex, the sharp edges 

 inflected, the tip directly truncate, with a semicircular 

 notch on each side behind it. • 



The tarsi, which are anteriorly feathered more than 

 a third down, are slender, covered with angular scales, 

 of which a few (about four} on the inner and fore part 

 are scutelliforni, while over the joint there are three 

 distinct scutella. The toes are slender, the anterior 

 connected at the base by short webs, of which the outer 

 is longer ; the first toe short, the second shorter than 

 the fourth, the third much longer. On the first toe 

 are five, on the second eight, on the third thirteen, on 

 the fourth six scutella, besides scales at the base. The 

 claws are small, compressed, curved in the fourth of a 

 circle, that of the third toe with its inner edge much 

 dilated. 



The plumage of the head and neck is blended, the 

 feathers having loose edges ; that of the back rather 

 compact, of the abdomen and tibite loose. The cere is 

 bare on its upper and fore part*, as are the eyelids, 

 which are furnished with ciliary bristles. The radia- 

 ting loral feathers, and those about the base of the bill, 

 are bristle-tipped, but distantly barbed in the greater 

 part of their extent. The feathers in general are ovate 

 and rounded. The wings are long, rather broad, point- 

 ed ; the primary quills strong, tapering, rounded, the 

 second longest, the first longer than the third, the rest 

 i:apidly graduated. The first quill is abruptly cut out 



