174 AMERICAN AVOSET. 
23; extent of wings 302 ; wing from flexure 91; tail 31; bill along the 
ridge 33 ; bare part of the tibia 22,; tarsus 38; hind toe and claw ¥, ; 
middle toe and claw 143; breadth of foot extended 23. Weight 163 oz. 
The Female is similar to the male, but somewhat smaller. 
Young in winter. Plate CCCXVIII. Fig. 2. 
The young in winter is similar to the adult, but with the head and 
neck white, the dark colours of a browner tint. 
Length to end of tail 18 inches, to end of wings 18}; extent of 
wings 303. Weight 13 oz. 
In structure the Avosets are similar to the Numenii and Totani. 
In an adult female the tongue is very short in proportion to the length 
of the bill, being only 1} inch long, slightly emarginate at the base 
with a few conical papille, slender, tapering to a point, horny on the 
back, and flattened above. On the palate are two longitudinal series 
of blunt papilla. The posterior aperture of the nares is linear, 10 
twelfths long, papillate on the edges. ‘The cesophagus is 7 inches and 
9 twelfths long, inclines to the right side, and when the neck is bent 
becomes posterior at the middle, as in the Herons and other long-neecked 
birds; its diameter 5 twelfths at the upper part, dilated to 8 twelfths 
previous to its entrance into the thorax. The proventriculus is 1 inch 
long and 7 twelfths in diameter ; its glandules cylindrical, 1 twelfth 
long. The stomach is a gizzard of moderate strength, oblong, 14 inch 
in length, 10 twelfths in breadth, its right lateral muscle 4 twelfths 
thick. Its contents were remains of small shells. Its immer membrane 
of moderate thickness, hard, longitudinally rugous, and deeply tinged 
with red. The intestine is 3 feet long, and 4 twelfths in diameter ; 
the rectum 2 inches long ; of the coeca one is 2} inches long, the other 
24, their diameter 2 twelfths. 
In another individual the intestine is 3 feet 9 inches long; one of 
the coeca 23 inches, the other 3; the stomach 13 by 1,3. Its contents 
small shell-fish and fragments of quartz. 
The trachea is 63 inches long ; its rmgs extremely thin and unossi-~ 
fied, 140 in number, its diameter 3; twelfths, nearly uniform through- 
out, but rather narrower in the middle. The lateral muscles are very 
thin. The bronchi are short, of about 10 rings. 
ws... 
