BIRDS. 



155 



TINOCHORUS RUMICIVORUS. Eschsch. (Male.) 

 Trachea of uniform diameter, furnished with one pair of sterno-tracheal muscles, from which a few 

 fibres descend on each side to the upper rings of the bronchia? ; oesophagus of large diameter 

 to about half its length, where it is furnished with a craw, and afterwards contracted to the 

 proventriculus ; the craw where it is connected with the oesophagus is much contracted, after- 

 wards it expands into a large sac ; proventriculus small ; gizzard large, and very muscular ; 

 the grinding surfaces hard, concave in the middle, and furnished with longitudinal grooves 

 in the concave part; the intestinal canal is of moderate length, small next the gizzard, largest 

 at the entrance of the cteca, from whence it slightly tapers to the cloaca, which is small; caeca 

 long, of greatest diameter at the opposite extremity to their entrance into the rectum; the 

 gizzard and oesophagus were filled with reeds, mixed with very small pebbles ; liver bilobed. 



Length of oesophagus from glottis to gizzard 3 inch. 



from oesophagus to outer extremity of craw f inch. 



Perpendicular diameter of craw 7 lines 



Greatest diameter of gizzard obliquely to the grind- 

 ing surfaces 1 inch. 



Diameter parallel to the grinding surfaces \ 



Length of intestine from gizzard to cloaca 13 



from cseca to cloaca - 1| 



of caeca 3 



A second specimen, a female, did not differ, except in sex. Skeleton light; bones in general thin. 

 Sternum broadest posteriorly, and indented on its posterior margin with two large fissures ; keel 



deep, its inferior edge rounded, much scolloped out anteriorly ; a moderate-size bifid manubnal 



process between the junction of the coracoids. 

 Pelvis broad, of moderate length, similar to that found among the genus Strepsilas. 

 Os furcatum much arched, furnished with a small flattened process, where the ligament unites it to 



the sternum ; coracoid of moderate length, strong, furnished with a large process externally 



near their junction with the sternum ; ribs flattened, posterior process long, slightly curved, 



and narrow. 



o 



7 



us; 





 12 

 16 



No. of cervical vertebra 14 



dorsal " 



sacral 12 



caudal 7 



Total. 



:!!• 



No. of true ribs . 

 false ditto. 



Length of sternum 16 



Breadth anteriorly 7 



posteriorly H 



Width of fissures 4 



Depth of ditto 



keel 



Length of pelvis 



Width anteriorly 



posteriorly 



Length from occiput to point of bill 



Breadth of head 6^ 



Length of coracoids 7J 



Remarks. The bill of this curious bird much resembles that of the genus Glareola, but the 

 soft skin covering the nostrils is more developed, in which respect it resembles the quails, and other 

 gallinaceous birds. The structure of the tarsi, feet, and nails approach near to that of Strepsilas, 

 but differ in the latter being sharper, and in the scales on the feet and tarsi being more apparent, 

 which may, perhaps, have been caused to a certain degree by the bird having been for a long 

 while in spirits. 



Total 8 



