232 THE COMMON GALLINULE. 



blunt papillae, behind which are two rows; aperture of posterior nares linear. 

 (Esophagus 7 inches long, of moderate width, its greatest diameter, at the 

 lower part of the neck, where it is a little dilated, 8 twelfths. Proventri- 

 culus 1 T 2 2 long; its glandules 1 T % long. Stomach a large and powerful 

 gizzard, broadly elliptical, lj inches long, 1 T 5 2 broad, its lateral muscles 

 large, the tendons covering nearly their whole surface, the left muscles i 

 inch thick, the right T 5 2, the cuticular lining moderately rugous. Intestine 

 21 inches long, from ^ ^° Tz i Q diameter. Rectum 2|- inches; cceca 2, their 

 diameter T 3 5 towards the end. 



Trachea, moderately extended, 5j inches long, its greatest breadth 3^, its 

 least 1 T *2- Its rings 130, very slender, unossified, collapsed, and owing to 

 their narrowness in the middle line before and behind, seeming as if broken 

 there; bronchi with 15 half-rings. The contractor muscles moderate, the 

 sterno-tracheal slender; a pair of muscles on the lower larynx, from the 

 lower rings of the trachea to the membrane over the first bronchial ring. 



In the mouth was a small frog, in the pharynx two, in the oesophagus two 

 more, a large piece of root, numerous fragments of insects, and a leach; the 

 frogs 2\ inches long. In the gizzard were seeds, and fragments of white 

 fleshy roots. 



THE COMMON GALLINULE. 



+Gallinula Chloropus, Linn. 



PLATE CCCIV— Male. 



The two species of Gallinule which occur in the United States are con- 

 fined within a comparatively small range in that extensive country, the 

 southern portions of which appear to suit them better, at all seasons of the 

 year, than the other districts. The Common Gallinule is extremely abun- 

 dant during winter along the rivers, fresh-water creeks, lagoons, ponds and 

 lakes between the Gulf of Mexico and the eastern shores of the Floridas, 

 while in spring and summer a good number migrate eastward into the 

 Carolinas, and now and then a few stragglers may be seen on the fresh 

 waters of the Middle Districts, beyond which none, to my knowledge, have 



