Birds. 4633 



and is serrated with a hardened edging inclining down the gullet, 

 which the bird uses with great force and power in reducing its food 

 for digestion previous to swallowing. 



The head is 7 inches long, and is barred over with a triangular- 

 shaped band of featherets on a naked white skin : across the crown it 

 measures 3 inches. The neck is bare of feathers, is of a pale dirty 

 flesh-colour, and is 7 inches long from the base of the skull to the 

 ruffle at the root of the neck ; it is furnished with a ruffle of stiff 

 broad feathers, with elongated points at the root of the neck, into 

 which it buries its neck when at rest. Its legs are of a dirty w r hite 

 colour, and measure 10 inches from the knee-joint to the end of the 

 claw of the main toe. The feet consist of four toes, which are armed 

 with strong black curved claws ; the middle toe is 5j inches long, 

 which includes a claw of lj inch in length ; the hind toe with claw is 

 only 1^ inch long. The breadth of the foot across the palm is 2j 

 inches. The length of the legs, from the hip-joint to the end of the 

 middle toe, is 15 inches. 



The egg of the bird, as I am informed by a fifteen-year resident of 

 California, is 3 inches broad by 5 inches long, about one-third larger 

 than a goose's egg. Its colour is a dirty pale blue, spotted brown, and 

 it is nearly as thick as an ostrich egg. The same person informs me 

 that the female lays only one egg during a season, and makes her nest 

 on the ground in the ravines of the mountains, and generally near the 

 roots of the red- wood and pine trees. It is three months before the 

 young bird can fly. 



The eye of the bird is 1 inch long by 1 inch broad, and weighs 

 half an ounce ; the iris is a beautiful light pink. The brain is shaped 

 like a heart flattened, and weighs 1 oz. ; it measures 1^ inch in 

 breadth and length. The heart, lungs and liver are nearly the dimen- 

 sions of a year-old pig's ; the gut is short and wide ; the gall-bladder is 

 Jths of an inch long. The bird, when erect, stands above 4 feet from 

 the ground, and, from its huge wings, when spread out or even closely 

 folded, looks a mountain of black feathers. The feathers are of a 

 uniform dusky brown and black colour, with the exceptions mentioned. 

 The body is covered closely with a long lead-coloured feathery down, 

 with a thick skin (or hide rather) which is underlaid over the whole 

 body, and particularly its under part, with a compact layer of bright 

 yellow fat, of a strong musky smell. The flesh is of a bright arterial 

 red, and, with large flakes of air-cells under the wings and breast- 

 sides, copiously fills out the contour of the animal. The muscular and 

 bony development of the wings, neck, head and legs, is enormous, and 



