192 



COMMON MOCKING-BIRD. 



tips of secondary coverts, edges of primary quills, and a large spot at the 

 end of the three lateral tail-feathers, white; lower parts whitish, marked 

 with triangular dusky spots, of which there is a distinct line from the base 

 of the bill; throat, middle of the breast, abdomen, and lower tail-coverts 

 unspotted. 



In an adult male of this celebrated bird, the roof of the mouth is flat, 

 with two narrow longitudinal palatal ridges, and 

 an anterior median prominent line; the posterior 

 aperture of the nares is oblongo-linear, margined 

 with acute papillae, with which also the whole 

 membrane of the palate is covered. The tongue 

 is slender, 7 twelfths long, emarginate and pa- 

 pillate at the base, channelled above, horny and 

 thin toward the end, which is slit and lacerated. 

 The width of the mouth is 6 twelfths. The 

 oesophagus, a b c, is 3 inches long, and of the 

 nearly uniform width of 4\ twelfths, unless at 

 the commencement where it is a little wider. 

 The proventricular glands form a belt 5 twelfths 

 of an inch in breadth. The stomach, c d e, is 

 rather small, broadly elliptical, 9 twelfths long, 

 l\ twelfths broad, considerably compressed; its 

 muscular coat moderately developed, the right 

 muscle being 1^ twelfths thick, the left 1 twelfth; 

 the epithelium dense, tough, reddish-brown, with 

 seven longitudinal rugae on one side and three on 

 the other. The intestine, e f g h i j k, is of 

 moderate length and width; the duodenum, efg, 

 curves at the distance of li inches, and is 3 

 twelfths wide, as is the rest of the intestine, of 

 which the entire length is 9| inches; the cloaca, 

 k, very little enlarged; the coeca, i, 2 twelfths 

 long, and -£- twelfth broad, their distance from the extremity 8 twelfths. 



The right lobe of the liver is very large, being 1 inch l£ twelfths in length, 

 and extending under the anterior part of the stomach, in the form of a thin- 

 edged rounded lobe; the left lobe is 10 twelfths long, and lies under the 

 proventriculus and left side of the stomach. The heart is of moderate size, 

 7^ twelfths long, 5 twelfths in breadth, of a conical obtuse form. 



The aperture of the glottis is 1| twelfths long, and furnished with the 



