270 GOOSANDER. 
The rectum 5 inches long, including the cloaca, which has a diameter 
of an inch and a quarter. . 
The trachea, 104 inches long, has at first a diameter of 4 twelfths, 
dilates gradually to 8 twelfths, then contracts to 4 twelfths, enlarges a 
second time to 7 twelfths, and gradually contracts to 3 twelfths. In 
this space the rings, 146, are strong, broad, and osseous. At its lower 
part is an enormous dilatation composed of numerous united rings, 
bulging irregularly on the right side and behind, and on the left ex- 
panded into a case having two large spaces filled by membrane; the 
greatest diameter of this tympanum is 2 inches and 2 twelfths. The 
bronchi come off at the distance of nearly an inch from each other, and 
are short, but wide, with about 25 half-rings. The lateral or contractor 
muscles are very strong, give off a pair of cleido-tracheals from the 
second enlargement, and at the commencement of the labyrinth the 
sterno-tracheals, which are also very large; but there are no other in- 
ferior laryngeal muscles. 
The intestine of a male in the first winter is 6 feet 8 inches long, 
its greatest diameter half an inch, wider towards the rectum than at 
the upper part, where the diameter is 4 twelfths. Rectum 4} inches 
long, exclusive of the cloaca. Coeca 2} inches. Contents of stomach, 
remains of fishes and a great quantity of quartz fragments. 
An adult Female. M£sophagus 104 inches long ; stomach 2 inches 
long ; intestine 5 feet 3 inches; rectum 43; cceca 27%. The trachea 
9 inches long, of uniform diameter, 4 twelfths, with a very slight dila- 
tation toward the lower part, and at the lower larynx contracted to 3 
twelfths ; the last ring is very large, laterally dilated, but symmetrical ; 
the bronchi come off at the distance of 5 twelfths from each other, and 
are composed of 25 rings. The tracheal rings 150. 
With respect to their digestive organs, the Mergansers are perhaps 
more allied to the Divers than to the Ducks. In this, as in other re- 
spects, they seem to be placed on the limits of the two families. 
