74 



ME. F. E. B1:L)DARD OX THE 



likeness to the Bustards. The loop differs, however, in being 

 considerably wider than it is in the Bustards. These birds form 

 together a part of Mr. Sclater's Order Alectorides, and, as they 

 obviously agree together very closely in the characters of the gut, 

 I deal with these provisionally under that name ; for there is, at 

 any rate, no very general agreement as to their position among 

 I'elated groups and their affinities with each other. 



Text-fiff. 23. 



Intestinal tract of Eupodotis australis. 

 Lettering as before. 



Among the Limicol/E, with which, as 1 think, the Gulls and 

 Terns are obviously to be placed, there are several variations to 

 be seen in the coils of the alimentary tract. The most pi-imitive 

 form of the alimentary tract known to me among those birds is 

 shown in the case of Pluvianus cp.gyptius, for leasons which I 

 shall indicate after describing the facts. The duodenal loop is 

 fairly wide and the pancreas extends back to the very, end of that 

 loop. The jejunum is not definitely distinguishable from the 

 ileum, but the whole length of the small intestine, before it bends 

 upon itself to form the straight region which bears the small 

 and Passerine caeca, is loosely disposed as in Gallinaceous birds. 

 The last part of this jejuno-ileic region runs, as in Gallinaceous 



