60 MR. F. E. BEDDARD ON THE 



a considerable tract of ileum is attached by the ileo-duodenal 

 ligament. 



The PiCARiAN Birds, Cuckoos, Touracous, and Passerines 

 really form one grouj) so far as their intestinal convolutions go. It 

 is impossible, as I think, to distinguish between the Picarian 

 Podargus cuvieri * and the Passerine Gymnorhhia lenconota, 

 which may be compared a,nd cannot be contrasted in the accom- 

 panying figures (text-figs, 14, 15, pp. 58 & 59). The salient 

 features in these two cases appear to me to be the great width 

 of the ileic loop (its extreme narrowness in e. g. the Parrots places 

 them at the op]30site end of the series) and the close mesenteric 

 connection by the ileo-duodenal ligament of the two loops in 

 question. The great width of the ileic loop in Nyctidromus, 

 Cypselus^ and Trogon can be inferred from Dr. Mitchell's figures T, 

 though he does not, except in the case of Cypsehis^ identify the 

 loop. These figures suggest undoubtedly the primitive gnt of a 

 Ratite or Gallinaceous bird ; j^erhaps they are compai'able with 

 MelaneiyesX. 



Furthermore, the total absence of specialised loops in the 

 middle region of the small intestine is to be noted. Mitchell, as 

 well as his predecessors in this field, has commented upon the 

 spiral arrangement in certain Passeres, and has remai'keil upon 

 the tendency to a spiiul even where there is no a,ctual regular 

 spiral formation. This affects the middle or jejunal loop, and is 

 greater in the Raven than in any other bird which Mitchell has 

 described or I have examined. I found in that bird a spiral of 

 no 'less than nine double turns, whereas Mitchell has figured much 

 fewer in Corvus capellanus. A complete spiral of this kind is, 

 however, not common among the Passeres. Besides the Crov/ 

 tribe I know it only in the Tanager, Euphonia v'olacea. The 

 tendency to a spiral I have observed in many Passeres, among 

 which I may mention anumbei'of Birds-of- Paradise which I have 

 lately had the opportunity of studying : these ai'e Diphyllodes 

 hunsteini, Paradisornis rudolplii^ Paradisea raggiaria. 



It seems to be universal or nearly so for the ileo-duodenal 

 ligament to connect those two loops of the intestine along their 

 whole lengths, and also for the pancreas to extend up to the very 

 end of the duodena,! loop. I have found both these characters 

 to exist in Ixocincla crassirost7-is §, Sycalis flaveola, Eaplionia 

 violacea, Gracidus religiosus, Buaros cylindrica, Ttbrdus migra- 

 torius, Ptilonorhynchus violaceus, Cassidix oryzivora, and the first- 

 named character in a number of other genera of which I happen 

 to have no note as to the pancreas. Both these anatomical 

 features seem likely to be characteristic of the Picopasseres 

 generally, even if not univei'saljy found among the members of 

 that order of Birds. 



* 1 have examined two specimens of this hlrd. 



t Trans. Linn. ^Soc. torn. cit. figs. 08, 69, 70. 



X V. infra, p. 63. 



§ A peculiarity of the gut of this Passerine has been already referred to, v. p. 53. 



