192 
COMMON MOCKING-BIRD 
tips of secondary coverts, edges of primary quills, and a large spot at the 
end of the three lateral tail-feathers, white ; lower parts whitish, marked 
with triangular dusky spots, of which there is a distinct line from the base 
of the bill ; throat, middle of the breast, abdomen, and lower tail-coverts 
unspotted. 
In an adult male of this celebrated bird, the roof of the mouth is flat, 
with two narrow longitudinal palatal ridges, and 
an anterior median prominent line ; the posterior 
aperture of the nares is oblongo-linear, margined 
with acute papillae, with which also the whole 
membrane of the palate is covered. The tongue 
is slender, 7 twelfths long, emarginate and pa- 
pillate at the base, channelled above, horny and 
thin toward the end, which is slit and lacerated. 
The width of the mouth is 6 twelfths. The 
oesophagus, a b c, is 3 inches long, and of the 
nearly uniform width of 4 h twelfths, unless at 
the commencement where it is a little wider. 
The proventricular glands form a belt 5 twelfths 
of an inch in breadth. The stomach, c d e, is 
rather small, broadly elliptical, 9 twelfths long, 
73 twelfths broad, considerably compressed ; its 
muscular coat moderately developed, the right 
muscle being 13 twelfths thick, the left 1 twelfth ; 
the epithelium dense, tough, reddish-brown, with 
seven longitudinal rugae on one side and three on 
the other. The intestine, e f g h i j k, is of 
moderate length and width ; the duodenum, efg, 
curves at the distance of 1£ inches, and- is 3 
twelfths wide, as is the rest of the intestine, of 
which the entire length is 93 inches ; the cloaca, 
/c, very little enlarged; the coeca, i, 2 twelfths 
long, and i twelfth broad, their distance from 
the extremity 8 twelfths. 
The right lobe of the liver is very large, being 1 inch 13 twelfths in 
length, and extending under the anterior part of the stomach, in the form 
of a thin-edged rounded lobe; the left lobe is 10 twelfths long, and 
lies under the proventriculus and left side of the stomach. The heart 
is of moderate size, 73 twelfths long, 5 twelfths in breadth, of a conical 
obtuse form. 
The aperture of the glottis is 13 twelfths long, and furnished with the 
