522 



YELLOW BILLED CUCKOO. 



end of the tail is llf inches ; to end of Avings 9, to end of claws 8i ; 

 extent of wings 15| ; wing from flexure bf^ ; tail 5jV 



The roof of the mouth is flat, and covered with a transparent skin, 

 as in Goatsuckers and Owls ; the upper mandible very narrow towards 

 the end, and slightly concave, with three longitudinal ridges ; the pos- 

 terior aperture of the nares oblong behind, linear before, only 4 twelfths 

 long ; the width of the mouth 

 7 twelfths ; the lower man- 

 dible channelled. The tongue 

 is very slender, lOJ twelfths 

 long, emarginate at the base, 

 with long slender papillae, 

 its breadth at the middle 

 only li twelfth, horny in the 

 greater part of its length, with 

 the edges lacerated, the tip 

 rather acute and slight. CE so- 

 phagus, a6c, 3 inches 7 twelfths 

 long, at its commencement 6 

 twelfths in width, gradually 

 diminishing to 4 twelfths ; the 

 proventriculus, he, 5 twelfths 

 in breadth. The stomach, 

 cde, very large, broadly ellip- 

 tical, compressed, 1 inch 2 

 twelfths long, 1 inch in 

 breadth, and when distended 

 seeming to occupy almost 

 the whole cavity of the ab- 

 domen ; in which respect, as 

 well as in its structure, it is 

 precisely similar to CMCM?^^sca- 

 norus ; its walls are extremely 

 thin, its muscular coat being 

 formed of a single series of 

 small fasciculi. It is turgid with the remains of insects, among which 



