RED TAILED HAWK. 379 



it breeds, as well as in the Floridas ; but in Labrador I saw only a 

 single individual. 



The eggs measure two inches and one-eighth in length, an inch and 

 five and a half eighths in breadth, and are thus much rounded, though 

 still broader at one end than the other. 



The roof of the mouth is flat, with two longitudinal soft ridges and 

 an anterior ridge ; the posterior aperture of the nares 1 inch long, ob- 

 long behind, linear before, papillate on the edges. The tongue is 11 

 twelfths long, emarginate and papillate at the base, concave above, 

 horny beneath, narrowly rounded at the tip. The mouth is very wide, 

 measuring 1 inch 4 twelfths across. The oesophagus is 7^ inches long, 1 

 inch 2 twelfths in width at the upper part, dilated into a large crop 2^ 

 inches in width, then contracted to 1 inch as it enters the thorax. The 

 proventricular glands are small, cylindrical, 1 twelfth long, forming a 

 belt 1 inch in breadth. The stomach is roundish, a little compressed, 

 1 inch 9 twelfths in diameter ; its muscular coat thin and composed of 

 a single series of fasciculi, as in other Hawks ; its tendons ^ inch in 

 diameter ; its inner coat soft, smooth, faintly rugous. The pylorus has 

 three knob-like valves. The intestine is rather short and wide, its 

 length 2 feet 11 inches, its width from 4| twelfths to 21 twelfths. 

 The duodenimi ciu-ves in the usual manner, returning at the distance 

 of 2h inches, and the intestine forms ten single curves. The rectum 

 is 3 inches 8 twelfths long, including the cloaca, which is 2 inches in 

 diameter. The cceca form two very small sacs scarcely distinguishable, 

 being only 1| twelfth long, and ^ twelfth wide ; the rectum ^ inch wide 

 at the commencement, the cloaca large and globular. 



The trachea is 6 inches long, rather wide, flattened ; its breadth at 

 the top 5 twelfths, towards the lower part 3^ twelfths. The rings, 

 102 in number, are partially ossified. The bronchi are of moderate 

 width, and of about 16 cartilaginous half rings. The contractor muscles 

 expand over the whole anterior surface for the length of 2^ inches, then 

 become lateral, and are very strong. The sterno-tracheales come ofi" at 

 the distance of 10 twelfths from the inferior larynx ; and there is a pair 

 of inferior laryngeal muscles, which, as usual, are a continuation of the 

 posterior parts of the lateral or contractor muscles, and attached to the 

 first bronchial ring. 



