Page:The birds of America, volume 7.djvu/114

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twelfths long, papillate at the base, the outer papilla on each side larger, the tip sharp and horny. The oeso- phagus, a b c, is 5 inches long, very wide, its greatest diameter 9 twelfths. The stomach, c d e, is oblong, 1 inch 2 twelfths in length, 10 twelfths in breadth; its lateral muscles moderate. Its contents are coleopterous and hy- menopterous insects, together with small crabs. The epithelium is thick, strong, prominently rugous, of a red- dish-brown colour, and exactly re- sembling that of the smaller Gulls. ,. The proventricular glandules are very small, and form a belt ^ inch in breadth. The intestine, f g h i, which is 1 foot 8 inches long, is wide, its average diameter being 4j twelfths. The coeca, which come off at the dis- tance of 2 inches from the anus, are very small, being 3 twelfths long, and 1 twelfth in diameter. The trachea is 4 inches 2 twelfths long, at the upper part 4 twelfths in breadth, gradually contracting to 1^ twelfths. The rings, about 110, are feeble and unossified. The bronchial rings are about 20. The contractor muscle is so thin as to be scarcely perceptible; the sterno-tracheal ex- tremely slender. There is a single pair of inferior laryngeal muscles. The stomach of another female contains the remains of crustaceous animals, one of which, nearly entire, is a small roundish crab, 11 twelfths in breadth.