In dissecting this bird, the extreme compression of the body strikes one with surprise, its greatest breadth being scarcely an inch and a half, although it is capable of being much dilated. The great length and thickness of the neck are also remarkable; but these circumstances are not peculiar to the present species, being equally observed in many other Herons. On the roof of the mouth are three longitudinal ridges; the aperture of the posterior nares is linear, with an oblique flap on each side; the lower mandible is deeply concave, its crura elastic and expansile; the tongue 2-1/12 inches long, sagittate at the base with a single very slender papilla on each side, trigonal, tapering, flattened above; the width of the mouth is 10 twelfths; but the pharynx is much wider. The œsophagus, _a b c_, which is fifteen inches long, is very wide, having at its upper part, when inflated, a diameter of 2 inches, but gradually contracting to 1/2 inch at its entrance into the thorax, and again expanding to 1 inch. Its walls are extremely thin, and when contracted, its mucous coat forms strongly marked longitudinal plaits. The proventriculus is very wide, its glandules oblong and arranged in a belt 10 twelfths in breadth. The stomach, _e_, is of moderate size, membranous, that is with its muscular coat very thin, and not forming lateral muscles; its tendinous spaces large and round, its inner coat smooth and soft; its greatest diameter 1 inch. There is a small roundish pyloric lobe, as in other Herons. Both lobes of the liver lie on the right side of the proventriculus; one, _i_, being 1 inch 10 twelfths, the other, _j_, 1 inch 2 twelfths long; the gall-bladder large, 11 twelfths long. The intestine is long and very slender, measuring 4 feet 7 inches, with a diameter of only 2 twelfths at its upper part, and 1-1/2 twelfth at the lower, when inflated; the rectum 4 inches long, and 4 twelfths in diameter, its anterior extremity rounded, and having a minute papilliform termination, only 1 twelfth long. The trachea, which is 12-1/2 inches long, differs from that of ordinary Herons in being much compressed, especially at its upper and lower extremities; the middle part being less so. It is also proportionally wider, and its rings are narrower. At the top its diameter is 5 twelfths, at the middle 4-1/4 twelfths, towards the lower part 4-3/4 twelfths, at the end 4-1/4 twelfths. The rings are osseous, in number 180; the five lower divided in front and behind, and much arched, the last measuring half an inch in a direct line between its extremities. The bronchi are in consequence very broad at their commencement, but gradually taper, and are composed of about 18 half rings. The contractor muscles are inconspicuous, the sterno-tracheal slender; and there is a single pair of inferior laryngeal, going to the first bronchial ring. The aperture of the glottis is 8 twelfths long, without any papillæ, but with a deep groove behind, and two thin-edged flaps.