458 COMMON CORMORANT. 



sides greenish-black ; the lower surface of the Avings dusky ; the lower 

 tail-coverts greyish-brown, the feathers before them brownish-black. The 

 feet greyish-black ; the inner edge of the middle claws very slightly pec- 

 tinated. The foot, when stretched to its full extent, ineasures, from the 

 tip of the first to that of the fourth claw, 5j§ inches. 



The tongue is oblong, carinate above, -^^ long, j'tj broad. The pala- 

 tal slit or aperture of the posterior nares is linear, 1 j^g long, with a soft 

 flap on each side. The mouth is ly^^ wide ; the bill 3i along the back, 

 4 along the edge of lower mandible. The aperture of the ear is circular, 

 only half a line in diameter. 



On blowing into the posterior nares no air passes. The internal ca- 

 vities are separated by a longitudinal membranous dissepiment ; each ca- 

 vity is transversely divided by a membranous partition, but neither of the 

 chambers thus formed has any external communication by the mandible. 

 The lachrymal duct, which is wide, passes obliquely forward and down- 

 ward into the anterior cavity. On gradually slicing the horny covering 

 of the mandible over the place where the nostril ought to be, its position 

 is found clearly defined, there being a slight discontinuity of the bone at 

 that part ; but on cutting farther all traces disappear, the original aper- 

 ture being closed by ossification. 



The aperture of the glottis has thick prominent rounded edges, which 

 unite behind and terminate in three knobs, and there is a small transverse 

 flap on each side behind. 



The heart is triangular, depressed, obtuse, 2^ inches long, its greatest 

 breadth l/g. The liver has two very unequal lobes, the right 5 inches, 

 the left 3 inches long; the former 9,\ broad, the latter 1|. The gall-bladder 

 is 9,\ long, \% in diameter, rounded, but not much enlarged at the ex- 

 tremity. 



The oesophagus is 22i inches long; at its upper part when dilated 

 upwards of two inches wide, extremely thin, its circular fibres distinct. 

 It is contracted in the whole length of the thorax, where its smallest dia- 

 meter is ^\, the largest {%\ but this part, which in the ordinary state has 

 its inner coat folded into numerous longitudinal wrinkles, is capable of 

 being dilated so as to present a diameter of more than 3 inches, when the 

 internal rugae disappears. The proventriculus seems at first to form part 

 of the stomach ; its walls are extremely thick and studded with glandules, 

 disposed in two circular patches, which are separated by a space of about 

 j\ of an inch. The stomach properly so called is very small ; its mus- 



