. The birds of America : from drawings made in the United States and their territories . ength and width; coeca small; cloacaglobular. Trachea simple, with a single pair of inferior laryngeal on the ground, rudely constructed. Eggs few, not exceeding four,spotted. Young covered with down. Genus I.—RHYNCHOPS, Linn. SKIMMER. Bill longer than the head, nearly straight, tetragonal at the base, suddenlyextremely compressed and continuing so to the end; upper mandible muchshorter than the lower, its ridge sharp, the sides erect but a little convex,the edges approximated so as to leave m


. The birds of America : from drawings made in the United States and their territories . ength and width; coeca small; cloacaglobular. Trachea simple, with a single pair of inferior laryngeal on the ground, rudely constructed. Eggs few, not exceeding four,spotted. Young covered with down. Genus I.—RHYNCHOPS, Linn. SKIMMER. Bill longer than the head, nearly straight, tetragonal at the base, suddenlyextremely compressed and continuing so to the end; upper mandible muchshorter than the lower, its ridge sharp, the sides erect but a little convex,the edges approximated so as to leave merely a very narrow groove betweenthem, the tip a little rounded, when viewed laterally; nasal groove rathershort, near the margin; lower mandible with the angle extremely short, thedorsal line straight or slightly decurved, the sides erect, obliquely grooved,the edges united into a very thin blade, which fits into the narrow groove ofthe upper mandible, the tip rounded or abrupt, when viewed linear-oblong. Head rather large, oblong, considerably elevated in !.-?. BLACK SKIMMER. 67 front; neck rather short, thick; body short, ovate. Feet short, moderately-stout; tibia bare below, with narrow transverse scutella before and behind;tarsus short, anteriorly covered with broad scutella; toes very small, the firstextremely short and free, unless at the base; middle toe slightly longer thanouter; anterior toes united by deeply emarginate webs. Claws long, com-pressed, slightly arched, rather obtuse. Plumage moderately full, soft, andblended; wings extremely long, and very narrow; primary quills excessivelylong, the first longest; secondaries short. Tail of moderate length, deeplyforked, of twelve feathers. Tongue short, triangular, tapering; oesophaguswide; stomach rather small, oblong, muscular, the cuticular lining dense,with nine broad longitudinal rugEe; intestine rather long, narrow; coeca verysmall; cloaca large, globular; the digestive organs are precisely


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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1840