28 Mr. T. C. Eyton’s Notes on Birds. 
ischium, and united only to that bone at the upper extremity, so as to 
form a deep and unbroken fissure between it and the ischium from 
the obturator foramen along its whole length. The whole length of 
the cranium from the tip of the bill to the occiput is six inches and 
eight-tenths ; its greatest breadth, which is immediately behind the ~ 
eyes, is one inch and one-tenth ; the frontal bones are elongated over 
the orbits of the eyes, and measure immediately above them half an 
inch in breadth ; a larger portion of ethmoidal bone than is usual in 
the order Grallatores is apparent on the forehead. The lacrymal 
bones project laterally and posteriorly in the same plane with the 
nasal bones, forming two processes projecting backwards towards the 
orbits of the eyes. ‘The septum between the orbits of the eyes is not 
complete, but has a large irregularly-formed foramen through it pos- 
teriorly. 
The inferior maxillary bones are slightly curved downwards, flat- 
tened, broadest at their base and gradually tapering to their tips; 
the rami are anchylosed together for nearly one-third of their length 
towards the tip ; the base of each ramus is perforated by a large oval 
foramen half an inch in length and two-tenths in breadth. 
The femur is three inches in length and slightly curved in a down- 
ward direction. The trochanter is of moderate size and edged. 
The tibia is six inches and three-quarters in length. ‘The fibula 
extends down two-thirds of the length of the tibia; the internal crest 
is large, flattened laterally and rounded anteriorly ; the tarsi measure 
four inches and eight-tenths in length, and are rather robust for the 
size of the bird. 
The wing-bones are short and weak; the length of the humerus is _ 
four inches, that of the ulnar bones four inches and seven-tenths of 
an inch, and that of the metacarpus two inches. 
The formula of the vertebree is— , 
Cervical 16; Dorsal 7 ; Sacral 18; Caudal 7. 
The ribs are nine in number, with one false one anteriorly and one 
posteriorly ; they are light and weak, and all, with the exception of 
the false ones and the last posterior true one, furnished with long 
narrow osseous splints directed rather acutely upwards. 
Remarks.—In the anatomy of the intestines and cesophagus 
this bird approaches closely to the Rallide. The stomach how- 
ever is not furnished with such powerful muscles, which would 
not be required in a bird which, judging from the contents of the 
present subject’s stomach and cesophagus, feeds entirely on soft 
animals. JI am not aware of any bird that has a similar convo- 
lution of the trachea to that represented in the Plate among Gral- 
latores, or indeed in any other order ; convolutions occur in the 
trachea of Athropoides Stanleyanus, Vig., Ardea Virgo, Linn., and 
in the Common Spoonbill, all of which have been figured by 
Mr. Yarrell in the ‘ Linnean Transactions’; in the two former 
however the trachea enters the sternum, and in the latter the con- 
volution takes place in the interior of the thorax, and is of a dif- 
