314 CIRCUS CYANEUS. 



in diameter. It almost immediately dilates into a very 

 large sac, three inches and a quarter long behind, two 

 inches and ten-twelfths deep, and two inches and a 

 quarter in breadth. This part is extremely thin, fur- 

 nished with scarcely apparent muscular fibres, and to- 

 tally destitute of glandules. At its entrance into the 

 thorax it contracts to one inch. The proventriculus is 

 completely surrounded with glandules, and expands to 

 join the stomach. That organ is oval, somewhat com- 

 pressed, two inches long, its tendons five-twelfths in 

 diameter. The intestine is thirty-five inches in length, 

 and at its upper part has a diameter of four-twelfths, 

 which gradually contracts to little more than one-twelfth. 

 The cloaca is an inch and a half in diameter ; the large 

 intestine varies from half an inch to a quarter ; and the 

 coeca are merely two oblong bodies one-twelfth of an 

 inch in length. 



The tarsus had fifteen anterior scutella, the first toe 

 six, the second six, the third sixteen, the fourth seven. 



In the crop was a considerable quantity of flesh and 

 feathers undigested, and the stomach was filled with 

 the same. On washing and drying some of the fea- 

 thers I found them to be those of a ptarmigan. This 

 confirms Mr Martin's statement, and that of my young 

 friends mentioned above, and proves that the hen-har- 

 rier is not so spiritless and feeble a bird as some per- 

 sons would have us believe it to be. 



The male was formerly named the Hen Harrier, 

 while the female, which was considered as a distinct 

 species, bore the name of Ring-tail. Country people 

 name it Blue Kite, Blue Hawk, Ring-tail, Brown 

 Kite, or Gled ; and the Highlanders call it Breid-air- 



