GREAT AMERICAN WHITE EGRET. 137 



Space between the bill and eye, and around the latter, bare. Plumage 

 soft, blended; the feathers oblong, with their filaments generally disunited, 

 unless on the wings and tail. There is no crest on the head, but the feathers 

 on its upper and hind part are slightly elongated; those on the lower part of 

 the neck anteriorly are elongated; and from between the scapulas arises a 

 tuft of extremely long, slightly decurved feathers, which extend about ten 

 inches beyond the end of the tail, and have the shaft slightly undulated, the 

 filaments long and distant. The wing is of moderate length; the primaries 

 tapering but rounded, the second and third longest, the first slightly shorter 

 than the fourth; the secondaries broad and rounded, some of the inner as 

 long as the longest primaries, when the wing is closed. Tail very short, 

 small, slightly rounded, of twelve rather weak feathers. 



Bill bright yellow, as is the bare space between it and the eye; iris pale 

 yellow; feet and claws black. The plumage is pure white. 



Length to end of tail 37 inches, to end of claws 49, to end of wings 57i, 

 to carpus 23^, to end of dorsal plumes 57; bill along the ridge 4 T 7 2, along 

 the edge of lower mandible 5^; wing from flexure 16-^; tail 6i; extent of 

 wings 55; bare part of tibia 3^; tarsus 6^\; hind toe 1|, its claw 1 T 2 2-; second 

 toe 2jj, its claw jj> third toe 3y|, its claw T 9 2; fourth toe 3 T 2 2, its claw y|. 

 Weight 2\ lbs. 



The Female is similar to the male, but somewhat smaller. 



The roof of the mouth is slightly concave, with a median and two lateral 

 longitudinal ridges, the palate convex, the posterior aperture of the nares 

 linear, without an anterior slit. The mouth is rather narrow, measuring 

 only S twelfths across, but is dilatable to- 1^ inches, the branches of the 

 lower mandible being very elastic. The aperture of the ear is very small, 

 being 2 twelfths in diameter, and roundish. The oesophagus is 2 feet 2 

 inches long, 1 inch and 4 twelfths in diameter, extremely thin, the longitu- 

 dinal fibres within the transverse, the inner coat raised into numerous longi- 

 tudinal ridges. The oesophagus continues of uniform diameter, and passes 

 as it were directly into the stomach, there being no enlargement at its termi- 

 nation indicative of the proventriculus, which however exists, but in a 

 modified form, there being at the termination of the gullet eight longitu- 

 dinal series of large mucous crypts, about half an inch long, and immediately 

 afterwards a continuous belt, lj inches in breadth, of small cylindrical 

 mucous crypts with minute apertures. Beyond this the stomach forms a 

 hemispherical sac lj inches in diameter, of a membranous structure, having 

 externally beneath the cellular coat a layer of slender muscular fibres, 

 convex towards two roundish tendons, and internally a soft, thin, smooth 

 lining, perforated by innumerable minute apertures of glandules. The 



Vol. VI. 19 



