622 RED-NECKED GREBE. 



series of large fasciculi ; its tendons, e, circular, 9 twelfths in breadth ; 

 the epithelium thick, soft, longitudinally rugous. The proventricular 

 glands are of a cylindrical form, the largest being ^ inch long, and 

 1 twelfth in breadth ; they form a complete belt 1\ inch in breadth. 

 The inner coat of the stomach is destitute of epithelium, being quite 

 soft and smooth. The stomach, therefore, is in all respects similar to 

 that of the truly piscivorous birds, such as Divers and Herons, and 

 totally different in structure from that of the Coots, to which the Grebes 

 might be supposed to be allied, on account of the structure of their feet. 

 On the other hand, they differ from the Divers and Cormorants in the 

 form of the oesophagus, which in these birds is extremely wide, where- 

 as in the Grebes it is exceedingly contracted, and more resembles that 

 of the Coots, Gallinules, and Rails. The proventriculus is interme- 

 diate between that of the birds just mentioned, and the Cormorants. 

 There is a pyloric sac of small size, approximating to that of the Peli- 

 can family. The stomach is moderately distended with a great quan- 

 tity of feathers, apparently those of the bird itself, or of some species 

 of the same genus. These feathers are intermixed with vertebrae of 

 small fishes, easily distinguishable by their concave surfaces and three 

 prominent spines. The duodenum curves round the stomach, return- 

 ing at the distance of 5| inches, ascending to the hver as usual, passing 

 down the right side; and forming several convolutions, the number of 

 turns being twelve. Its length is 33 inches ; its width i inch at the 

 upper part, towards the rectum only 3 twelfths. The cceca are 2 inches 

 long, 2 twelfths in breadth, uniform, unless at the base, where they are 

 narrower ; their distance from the extremity 3 inches. The cloaca is 

 globular, li inch in diameter. 



The trachea is 9| inches long, of the nearly uniform width of 

 3J twelfths, unless at the lower part, when it is narrowed to 2 twelfths ; 

 flattened in its upper half, and compressed in the lower ; the rings mo- 

 derately firm, 180 in number. The Grebes differ from almost all other 

 birds in having the bronchial rings complete and firmly ossified. In 

 the present species, they are only 8 in number, the remaining part of 

 the bronchi being membranous. There are the usual eleido-tracheal 

 muscles ; the sterno-tracheal, part of which is continuous with the late- 

 ral muscles, but the inferior portion distinct, and attached to several of 

 the rings ; there is also a single pair of inferior laryngeal muscles. 



The jugular veins are of vast size, and toward the lower part of the 



