OTUS AURITA. 277 



Of the Kite [Milvus regalis, Briss.] . 



The oesophagus becomes very large before it enters the thorax. The 

 stomach is as in birds of this kind, and is pretty large. The duo- 

 denum makes a turn and a half upon itself and follows the same 

 course throughout, then the intestine goes on attached to the edge of 

 the mesentery ; but, near the termination of the ileum, it makes a 

 short fold on itself, and is closely connected to the posterior part of the 

 stomach. The length of the intestines was three times the length of 

 tbe whole bird, and six times the length of the trunk ; the length of 

 the rectum was 3 inches ; it was very large at the anus, where the 

 small part terminates all at once in a somewhat valvular way : I could 

 not find any cavity [bursa Fabricii] above the anus. The liver is as 

 usual. The ducts enter the duodenum where it comes out of the turn- 

 ings. The flesh was pretty red, but very tough and strong. The 

 muscles of the neck were very strong. 



In a blue hawk, or kite (which birds are to be found chiefly in Scot- 

 land), the toes were of an orange colour, so were the legs; the bill 

 and claws were black. There is a crop as in other carnivorous birds. 

 The stomach and the caeca were similar [to those in the hawk tribe]. 

 There is a gall-bladder, with a hepato-cystic duct which is of some 

 length between the liver and the bladder ; this duct enters obliquely, 

 and a groove is continued from it into the cystic duct, which enters 

 the gut at the last turn of the duodenum. There were no hepatic 

 duct or ducts; so that all the bile must pass through the bladder. 

 The pancreatic duct entered the duodenum about an inch before the 

 last turn. The testes were pretty large, of a whitish colour : there 

 were two penises as in a cock [erectile papillary terminations of the 

 vasa deferentia]. 



The Horn-Owl [Otus aurita, Ray], 



The oesophagus is long below the lungs : it is very large, and much 

 longer than that of an eagle. The stomach adheres by its whole ante- 

 rior surface to the abdominal muscles ; it is white, and in shape some- 

 thing like a gizzard. The duodenum passes out on the right side, then 

 down and bends up again : at this bend the whole makes a little turn: 

 it passes up as high as the liver, is then bent aown regain nearer to the 

 back : from this bend the intestines become more loose, but even this 

 loose intestine makes three folds upon itself, having a pretty broad 

 scolloped middle mesentery. The first fold is the shortest, the second 

 the longest : the last part of the last fold has tne two caeca running on 



