Page:Madras Journal of Literature and Science, series 1, volume 6 (1837).djvu/96

76 Form. The female is 13 inches long, by 35 in expanse of wings, and 8½ oz. in weight. The male is about 1 inch smaller, and seldom weighs above 7½ oz. Both have the same aspect. The following is a detail of the dimensions of a male:—

inches. parts.

Tip bill to tip tail 12 ½

Bill, length, from gape 1 1/16 Bill, length, from brows 0 13/26 Bill, basal height... 0 10/

Bill, basal width 0 15/16

Length of tail 5 Expanse of wings 34 0

Length of a closed wing 10 ½ Length of tarsus, to sole 1 7/16

Length of central toe 1 {{illegible/16

exclusive of talons.

Length of inner fore toe 0 13/16

Length of outer fore toe 0 11/16

Length of hind toe..... 0 9/16

Length of hind talon (straight) 0 11/16

The bill, from the gape, is as long as the head, that is, actually long: but from the brow it is more distinctly short: a peculiarity caused by the width of the mouth and by the advanced position of the frontal plumes. Both the bill and the head, from the nares to the occiput, are distinguished by great breadth; but the bill, before the nares, is much compressed and feeble. The bill is slightly curved from the base; its hook is long and sharp; its upper mandible has a conspicuous accipitrine festoon; and its lower one is rather abruptly truncated but not notched. The cere is of mean size, and is nearly hid by soft curling hairs which radiate from the four angle of the eyes and clothe the lores and orbits: the nostrils are oval, longitudinal, lateral, with a full and free membranous edge on the upper margin. The eye is large and is furnished with a conspicuous salient opercule. The wings are very ample, and usually exceed the tail by 1½ inch. Next to their length, their chief feature is the breadth and softness of the webs or vanes of the feathers. The second quill is invariably the longest; and the third is longer than the first, the former being about, and the latter ⅝, of an inch less than the second. The primes exceed the tertials by more than a third of the entire length of the former. The