Canal of the Martineta Tinamou. 63 



and packed in several large glass bottles placed in a case, 

 were, with great liberality, handed over to me by Mr. Sclater 

 for study and description. 



On opening the first individual, I saw directly that Mr. 

 Hudson had not in any way exaggerated the remarkable 

 appearance presented by a part of the alimentary canal; 

 but that instead of being diverticula of the stomach, as might 

 possibly be inferred from Mr. Hudson's description, the two 

 tubes in question az'e simply the caeca, which, in this bird, 

 as in so many others, lie across the abdominal cavity and 

 reach as far as the gizzard. 



So far, then, there is nothing abnormal about the anatomy 

 of Calodromas elegans ; it would be abnormal, in fact, if it 

 did not possess caeca : these appendages of the alimentary 

 tract are invariably (so far as our present knowledge goes) 

 found in the Crypturi; they are proportionately of large 

 size, and like those of Gallinaceous birds in being rather 

 thin. This will be seen by the figure of the caeca of Nothura 

 maculosa (fig. 1, p. 62), taken from those of a fresh specimen 

 which have been distended by alcohol. 



It was an extremely difficult task to distend the caeca of 

 Calodromas ; they were tolerably full of semidigested food, 

 among which was a great quantity of minute sharp-edged 

 pebbles ; these were forced against the walls of the caeca by 

 the pressure of the water employed to clean out the alimen- 

 tary tract, and easily cut their way through. In no case was 

 it found possible to make a good permanent preparation of 

 the caeca ; but in one instance the caeca remained distended 

 for a sufficiently long time to enable Mr. Smit to make 

 the accurate drawing which is reproduced in the accom- 

 panying woodcut (fig. 2, p. 64). 



From that drawing it will be at once seen that the caeca 

 of Calodromas elegans not only differ from those of all 

 other Crypturi, but that their form is quite unique among 

 birds. Instead of beiug simple tubes, the caeca of Calodromas 

 are furnished with numerous minute diverticula, which are 

 crowded together and are particularly well developed in the 

 lower part of the caeca. Towards the free extremities the 



