364 OSPREY OR FISH-HAWK. 



The eggs, which measure 2^ inches in length, If in breadth, are 

 rounded, but otherwise as ah'eady described. 



An adult female, from New York, preserved in spirits. Length to 

 end of tail 25^ inches, to end of wings 26|, to end of claws 21^ ; extent 

 of wings 58 ; wing from flexure 21 ; tail Q/j. 



The palate is flat, with two prominent ridges, margined with papil- 

 lae, and corresponding to the tongue, and an anterior median ridge. 

 The posterior aperture of the nares is oblong, 4| twelfths in length, with 

 an anterior slit, and the usual transverse papillate flaps. The tongue is 1 

 inch long, slightly emarginate behind, with numerous very slender pa- 

 pillae, one of which on each side is large ; it is very concave above, 

 horny on the back beneath, with the tip rounded. The width of the 

 mouth is 1 inch 3 twelfths. The oesophagus is 9^ inches long, its width 

 at the commencement 1 inch, but it soon enlarges into a crop, of which 

 the greatest breadth is 2^ inches, and in entering the thorax contracts 

 to 9 twelfths. The proventriculus is 1 inch in breadth. If long. The 

 stomach is round, 1 inch 10 twelfths in length and breadth ; its mus- 

 cular coat very thin, its fasciculi extremely slender, the central tendons 

 5 twelfths in breadth ; the inner coat smooth. The proventricular 

 glandules are extremely numerous, 2^ twelfths long, and ^ twelfth in 

 breadth. The duodenum forms the usual curve at the distance of 4 

 inches from the pylorus, its entire length being only 8 inches, in which 

 respect it more resembles that of the true Eagles and many Hawks, than 

 of the Haliaeti. The intestine, which is extremely long and slender, 

 forms very numerous convolutions, there being 46 folds in all, and mea- 

 sures 9 feet 9 inches in length, its greatest diameter in the duodenal 

 part being 2\ twelfths, the smallest near the rectum ^ twelfth. The 

 rectum, which is 4 inches long, including the cloaca, has a width of 4 

 twelfths ; and the coeca form two oblong adherent sacs of an elliptical 

 form, 3| twelfths long, 2\ twelfths in breadth. The cloaca, as usual, 

 is very large and globular. 



The heart is 1 inch 5 twelfths long, 1 inch 8 twelfths broad, and 

 therefore of a much more dilated form than usual. The left lobe of the 

 liver is much larger than the right, which is also very unusual, it being 

 2 inches 5 twelfths in length, the other 2 inches 1 twelfth. The gall- 

 bladder is elliptical, and 1 inch in length. 



The trachea is 7 inches 2 twelfths long ; its breadth at the upper 



