Length to end of tail 15 3/4 inches, to end of wings 12 1/2, to end of claws 11 1/2, to carpal joint 3 3/8; extent of wings 31 1/2; wing from flexure 9 8/12; tail 7 1/2; bill along the ridge 1 2/12, along the edge of lower mandible 1; tarsus 1; hind toe 3/12, its claw 10 1/2/12; middle toe 10/12, its claw 10/12; inner toe 8 1/2/12, its claw 11/12; outer toe 6/12, its claw 10/12.
Adult Female. Plate CCCLXXVIII. Fig. 2.
The Female is somewhat larger, and resembles the male, but is of a lighter tint, especially on the wings and tail, where the white markings are smaller and less decided.
Length to end of tail 17 1/2 inches.
An adult male, presented by Thomas M. Brewer, Esq. of Boston, and preserved in spirits.
Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
The palate is concave, with two longitudinal, parallel, papillate ridges. The posterior aperture of the nares is lanceolate, with an anterior fissure, the space between which and the lateral ridge is papillate. The tongue is short, fleshy, deeply emarginate and papillate at the base, rounded and notched at the end; its length 7 1/2 twelfths, its breadth 3 1/4 twelfths. The mouth is very wide, measuring 1 inch 1 twelfth across. The œsophagus, a b c, which is 4 3/4 inches in length, is of nearly uniform diameter, its greatest breadth being 11 twelfths, and at its entrance into the thorax 10 twelfths. Its walls are extremely thin; but its longitudinal and transverse muscular fibres are distinctly seen. The proventricular glandules are very large and cylindrical, forming a belt, b c, 1 inch 1 twelfth in breadth. The stomach, c d e, is of moderate size, roundish, 1 inch 5 twelfths long, 1 inch 1 1/2 twelfth broad; its walls very thin, the muscular coat being composed of slender fasciculi converging toward two roundish tendinous spaces; the inner coat or epithelium very soft and rugous, but partially dissolved by the gastric juice. The pylorus has a semilunar margin, but is otherwise destitute of valve. The contents of the stomach are tufts of reddish hair, resembling that of some hare. The duodenum, e f g, which is 3 1/2 twelfths in diameter, curves backwards and upwards, running across to the left side, and returning upon itself opposite the fifth rib; it then proceeds to the right side under the liver, receives the biliary ducts, passes behind and above the stomach, and forms three folds, terminating in the rectum, which is laterally curved, and ends in a globular cloaca, j k, 10 twelfths in diameter. The entire length of the intestine, e f g h k, is 18 inches, its diameter from 4 twelfths to 1 1/2 twelfth. The rectum is 2 inches long. The cœca, Fig. 2, a b, a b, are 2 1/4 inches in length, for 1 inch and 2 twelfths very narrow, their diameter varying from 1 to 2 twelfths, their greatest diameter 4 twelfths, their extremity blunt.