Bill greenish-yellow, dusky toward the end of both mandibles, but especially of the upper; iris hazel; feet lead-grey, claws dusky. The general colour of the plumage is chocolate-brown, the upper parts glossed, with purple and bronze reflections; the fore part of the head paler, inclining to grey, each feather with a greyish-white central line; the sides of the head and the throat are still lighter, and a small portion of the throat is whitish, these parts being streaked with greyish-brown and greyish-white; the lower eyelid white. The hind part and sides of the neck are marked with elliptical spots of white in regular series, there being one on each feather, some of them extending forwards to the posterior angle of the eye. Some of the feathers on the middle of the breast and the lower wing-coverts are similarly marked with lanceolate white spots; the tail is more highly glossed and coloured than the rest of the upper parts.
Length to end of tail 25 3/4 inches, to end of wings 25, to end of claws 32, to carpal joint 13 3/4; extent of wings 41; wing from flexure 12 1/2; tail 5 1/2; bill along the ridge 4 7/12, along the edge of lower mandible 4 3/4; bare part of tibia 2 1/2; tarsus 4 8/12; hind toe 1 1/12, its claw 7/12; second toe 2 4/12, its claw 3 1/2/12 twelfths; third toe 3 1/2, its claw 10/12; fourth toe 2 8/12, its claw 8/12.
The Female is somewhat less, but resembles the male.
Length to end of tail 25 inches, to end of claws 33 1/4; to end of wings 24, to carpal joint 12 3/4; extent of wings 42; wing from flexure 12; tail 4 3/4; bill along the gape 4 3/8.
The young when fully fledged is of a much lighter tint; the head and fore-neck brownish-grey, the lower parts greyish-brown. The bill is yellowish-green, darker toward the end; the feet much darker than in the adult. Excepting the quills, primary-coverts, tail-feathers, and the rump, all the plumage is marked with spots of white, of which there is one along the centre of each feather; those on the neck elongated, on the back, wings, and breast lanceolate. In this state it is figured in the continuation of Wilson’s American Ornithology, by the Prince of Musignano.
Length to end of tail 23 inches.
This remarkable bird has exercised the ingenuity of the systematizing ornithologists, some of whom have considered it as a Heron, others a Crane, while many have made it a Rail, and many more a genus apart, but allied to the Rails, or to the Herons or to both. It seems in truth to be a large Rail, with the wings and feet approaching in form to those of the Herons; but while frivolous disputes might be carried on ad libitum as to its location in the system of nature, were we merely to consider its exterior; it is fortunate that we possess a means of determining its character with certainty:—if we examine its digestive organs, we shall at once see if it be a Rail, or a Heron, or anything else. If a Heron, it will have a very wide œsophagus, a roundish, thin-walled stomach, very slender intestines, and a single short obtuse cœcum; if a Rail or Gallinule, or bird of that tribe, it will have a narrow mouth, a narrow œsophagus, a very muscular stomach, intestines of moderate width, and two moderately long, rather wide cœca. Here then are two specimens, shot in Florida, and preserved in spirits.
The first, which is found to be a female, has the mouth narrow, measuring only 7 twelfths across; the tongue very long and extremely slender, trigonal, pointed, extending to within half an inch of the tip of the lower mandible, being 3 7/12 inches in length. The œsophagus, a b c d, which is 12 inches long, is narrow in its whole length, its diameter at the upper part being 6 twelfths, below the middle of the neck 8 twelfths. The proventriculus, b c, is nearly 1 inch long, 9 twelfths in its greatest diameter, bulbiform; its glandules cylindrical, 1 1/2 twelfth long. Between the termination of the proventriculus, and the commencement of the stomach, the space, c d, is more elongated than usual, an inch and 2 twelfths, and presents the appearance of a tube curved toward the left in the form of the letter S. The circular fibres of this part are strong, and its epithelium is very thick, soft, and raised into twelve very prominent rounded longitudinal rugæ. The stomach, properly so called, d e f g is an extremely powerful gizzard, of an orbicular form, compressed, with its axis a little inclined toward the right side, its length 1 inch and 9 twelfths, its breadth 1 inch and 8 twelfths, its thickness 11 twelfths. The left lateral muscle, d f, is much larger than the right, occupying nearly one-half of the organ; the muscles are thick, but not very remarkably so, their greatest thickness being 4 twelfths; the epithelium is very hard and rugous. The duodenum, g h i, curves in the usual manner, folding back upon itself at the distance of 3 inches. The intestine, g h i j k, is of moderate length, 31 inches, its greatest diameter 3 twelfths; the rectum, k l, 3 inches long, including the cloaca, l m, which is globular, 1 1/2 inch in diameter; the cœca, n n, of moderate size, 1 3/4 inch long, for nearly half their length 2 twelfths in diameter, in the rest of their extent from 4 to 6 twelfths, obtuse; their distance from the cloaca 10 twelfths.
The trachea, o p, is 10 inches long, narrow, of nearly uniform diameter, being narrowest in the upper third of its length, unless for three-fourths of an inch at the commencement. Its rings 186 in number, are ossified, and a little flattened. The contractor muscles are slender, as are the sterno-tracheal; and there is a single pair of inferior laryngeal. The bronchi, p q, are wide, tapering, of about 15 narrow cartilaginous half rings. The heart is of moderate size, 1 7/12 inch long, 1 inch in breadth. The liver is small, its lobes, which are equal, being 1 inch in length.
The other individual, a male, has the œsophagus 12 inches long; the distance from the proventriculus to the stomach 1 2/12 inch; the stomach 1 8/12 inch long, and the same in breadth; the cœca 2 inches long, the greatest diameter 5 twelfths; the intestine 32 1/2 inches in length, their greatest diameter 3 1/2 twelfths.