THE AMERICAN COOT. 
143 
mouth is i inch. The tongue i^ fleshy, thick, 11 twelfths long, concave 
above, with the tip narrowed, but rounded. The oesophagus, a b c, is 8 
inches long, of the uniform width of i inch ; the proventriculus 9 twelfths in 
breadth. The stomach, ode, is a very large, extremely muscular, trans- 
versely elliptical, oblique gizzard, 1§ inches long, 2 inches in breadth ; its 
lateral muscles extremely 
developed, the right 10 
twelfths, the left 1 inch in 
thickness ; the tendons ra- 
diated, and covering nearly 
the whole surface ; the in- 
ferior and superior muscles 
narrow and prominent. Its 
contents are sand and re- 
mains of shell-fish. The 
epithelium forms two large 
grinding plates, of which 
the right is concave, the 
left convex. The intestine, 
efg li ij, is long and very 
wide ; it first curves along 
the edge of the stomach to 
the distance of 4i inches, 
returns to the liver, runs 
along the right side to the 
extremity of the abdomen, 
is convoluted in an ellip- 
tical form, with 12 folds. 
Its length is 4 feet 8 inches, 
its width from h inch to 3£ 
twelfths, toward the rectum 
enlarging to \ inch, and so 
continuing to the end. The 
coeca are extremely elon- 
gated, being 11 inches in length, for 2 inches at the commencement only 2 
twelfths in width, afterwards 4 twelfths, and again contracting to 2 
twelfths, toward the end, which is obtuse ; their distance from the extre- 
mity 4 inches. There is no cloacal dilatation. 
The extremely developed gizzard, with its large grinding surfaces, the 
very long and wide intestine, and the extraordinarily large coeca, together 
with the uniform undilatcd rectum, indicate the most direct proximity to 
