THE SHOWY HERON. 
167 
Length to end of tail 225 inches, to end of wings 23, to end of claws 305 ; 
extent of wings 38 ; wing from flexure 105 ; tail 3 ; loose feathers 1 £ beyond 
the tail; bill along the ridge 3^; along the edge of lower mandible 31; bare 
part of tibia 2J ; tarsus 3f| ; middle toe 21, its claw Weight 12 oz. 
The elongated feathers of the back are composed of two scapular series, 
and of those crossing the humerus. The mouth as in the other species. 
Tongue 1 inch 3 twelfths long, as in the last species. (Esophagus 14 inches 
long, at the commencement 1 inch 9 twelfths in width, contracting to 10 
twelfths ; its greatest diameter within the thorax 1 inch 4 twelfths ; proven- 
tricular belt 8 twelfths in breadth. Stomach remarkably small, roundish, 
10 twelfths in diameter, with a globular pyloric lobe, 41 twelfths in diameter; 
its muscular coat thin, the tendons 4 twelfths in breadth ; the inner surface 
smooth and soft. Lobes of the liver 1£ inches and 11 inches in length ; 
gall-bladder oblong, 9 twelfths long, 5 twelfths broad. Intestine 3 feet 105 
inches long, of 24 folds ; its greatest width in the duodenal part twelfths, 
its smallest near the rectum 1 twelfth. The rectum is 2 inches 10 twelfths 
long, 23 twelfths in breadth; the cloaca globular, 11 inches in diameter; the 
coecum a small knob 1 twelfth long, and of the same width. 
Trachea 10 inches long, its average breadth 21 twelfths, considerably 
flattened; the rings 188, with 4 dimidiate. Bronchial half rings 18 and 16. 
Muscles as in the other species. 
FAMILY XXXIX. — ANATINTE. DUCKS. 
Bill of moderate length, stout, straight, depressed toward the end, obtuse, 
covered with soft skin ; upper mandible transversely convex, with the mar- 
gins internally lamellate, the tip furnished with a decurved horny broad 
unguis; lower mandible with the angle long and narrow, the crura slender, 
flattened, the edges internally lamellate, the tip a flattened unguis. Nostrils 
elliptical, open, sub-basal. Head of moderate size ; neck long or of mode- 
rate length, slender; body full; legs generally short, stout, with little of the 
tibia bare ; tarsus scutellate ; toes four, first small ; anterior three palmate. 
Claws moderate, arched, compressed, obtuse. Plumage very full, dense, 
