SCOLOPACEOUS COURLAN. 185 



more elongated than usual, an inch and 2 twelfths, and presents the appear- 

 ance of a tube curved toward the left in the form of the letter S. The 

 circular fibres of this part are strong, and its epithelium is very thick, soft, 

 and raised into twelve very prominent rounded longitudinal rugae. The 

 stomach, properly so called, d efg, is an extremely powerful gizzard, of an 

 orbicular form, compressed, with its axis a little inclined toward the right 

 side, its length 1 inch and 9 twelfths, its breadth 1 inch and 8 twelfths, its 

 thickness 11 twelfths. The left lateral muscle, df, is much larger than the 

 right, occupying nearly one-half of the organ; the muscles are thick, but not 

 very remarkably so, their greatest thickness being 4 twelfths; the epithelium 

 is very hard and rugous. The duodenum, g h i, curves in the usual manner, 

 folding back upon itself at the distance of 3 inches. The intestine, g h ij k, 

 is of moderate length, 31 inches, its greatest diameter 3 twelfths; the 

 rectum, k I, 3 inches long, including the cloaca, / m, which is globular, l-£ 

 inches in diameter; the coeca, n n, of moderate size, If inches long, for 

 nearly half their length 2 twelfths in diameter, in the rest of their extent 

 from 4 to 6 twelfths, obtuse; their distance from the cloaca 10 twelfths. 



The trachea, op, is 10 inches long, narrow, of nearly uniform diameter, 

 being narrowest in the upper third of its length, unless for three-fourths of 

 an inch at the commencement. Its rings, 186 in number, are ossified, and a 

 little flattened. The contractor muscles are slender, as are the sterno- 

 tracheal; and there is a single pair of inferior laryngeal. The bronchi, p q, 

 are wide, tapering, of about 15 narrow cartilaginous half rings. The heart 

 is of moderate size, 1 T 7 2 inches long, 1 inch in breadth. The liver is small, 

 its lobes, which are equal, being 1 inch in length. 



The other individual, a male, has the oesophagus 12 inches long; the 

 distance from the proventriculus to the stomach 1 T 2 2 inches; the stomach 1 T 8 2 

 inches long, and the same in breadth; the coeca 2 inches long, the greatest 

 diameter 5 twelfths; the intestine 32^ inches in length, their greatest 

 diameter 3j twelfths. 



Now, in all this there is nothing indicative of any affinity to the Herons; 

 the structure of the intestinal canal being essentially like that of the Coots, 

 Gallinules, and Rails. Even the external parts sufficiently indicate its 

 station, the bill; the plumage and the colouring being more like those of the 

 Rallinte than of any other family. 



The Prince of Musignano, who first described this bird as a Rail, Rallus 

 giganteus, afterwards adopted for it Vieillot's genus Jlramus, and con- 

 sidered it as belonging to the Jirdeidse, forming a connecting link with them 

 and the Rallidse, and "aberrating somewhat towards the Scolopacidse, as 

 well as tending a little towards the Psophidse, sub-family Gruinse" and 

 claiming "again a well-founded resemblance to the most typical form of the 



