Os furcatum thin, much arched, furnished with a flattened reflexed process at its junction with the sternum; the points of the rami bent forwards at their junction with the coracoids.
Coracoids of moderate size and length, inserted deeply into the sternum; scapula of moderate size, broader near the extremity.
| lines | |
|---|---|
| Length of sternum | 11 |
| Breadth anteriorly | 6¼ |
| posteriorly | 8¼ |
| Depth of keel | 4½ |
| Length of pelvis | 12 |
| Width anteriorly | 4½ |
| posteriorly | 11 |
| Length from occiput to point of bill | 19 |
| Breadth of cranium | 7½ |
| Length of coracoids | 8 |
| No. of cervical vertebræ | 12 |
| dorsal ditto | 7 |
| sacral ditto | 10 |
| caudal ditto | 7 |
| Total | 36 |
| No. of true ribs | 5 |
| false ditto | 2·1 |
| Total | 8 |
UPPUCERTHIA DUMETORIA. Geoff. & D’Orb. (Female.)
Tongue short, compared with the length of the bill, pointed, armed with a few spines at the base; trachea of moderate size, acted upon by one pair of sterno-tracheal muscles, which go off to the sternum, about ⅛ of an inch above the inferior larynx; from the upper ring of the bronchiæ on each side, a process proceeds upwards to the point from which the muscles diverge, to which point only the rings of the trachea are continued, two spaces therefore, one on the anterior, the other on the posterior side of the trachea, immediately above the bronchiæ, are left devoid of osseous matter, being bounded laterally by the process above mentioned, inferiorly by the upper rings of the bronchiæ, and superiorly by the lower ring of the trachea, which is slightly enlarged; œsophagus small, slightly dilated a little above the proventriculus, which is of moderate size, and not contracted before entering the gizzard; gizzard large, oval, very muscular, inner coat hardened, deeply furrowed longitudinally, and filled with the remains of insects; intestinal canal of moderate size, without cæca; rectum very slightly enlarged; liver bilobed.
| Inches | |
|---|---|
| Length of œsophagus, including proventiculus | 2 |
| of gizzard | ¾ |
| Breadth of ditto | ½ |
| Length of intestinal canal | 10 |
With the exception of being larger than Furnarius cunicularius, and in having the bill more bent and longer, the skeleton presents no material difference from that of the above-named bird.
| lines | |
|---|---|
| Length of sternum | 13 |
| Breadth anteriorly | 6 |
| posteriorly | 7¼ |
| Depth of keel | 4 |
| of fissures | 4 |
| Breadth of ditto | 1 |
| Length of pelvis | 14¼ |
| Breadth anteriorly | 4 |
| posteriorly | 9¼ |
| Length from occiput to point of bill | 27 |
| Breadth of cranium | 8 |
| Length of coracoids | 11 |
| No. of cervical vertebræ | 11 |
| dorsal ditto | 7 |
| sacral ditto | 11 |
| caudal ditto | 6 |
| Total | 35 |
| No. of true ribs | 5 |
| false ditto | 2·1 |
| Total | 8 |
OPETIORHYNCHUS VULGARIS. Gray. (Male.)
The structure of the soft parts, both in this species of Opetiorhynchus, and the two following ones, so closely resemble that of Furnarius and Uppucerthia, that one description will almost serve for the whole; those differences that do exist being not more than are generally found in species of the same genus; the external characters also being slight, I cannot but doubt the propriety of separating them; the cæca are slightly developed in this species, measuring ⅛ inch in length.