478 



B.-W. SHUFELDT. 



coukl not pick up its food, except by partial guess-work, 

 and so failcd in the long run to obtain sufficient to sustain 

 life. After tliis Curlew had been mounted by Mr. ter 

 Meer, it was deposited in the private collection of R. Baron 

 Snonckaert van Schanburg at Doorn (Province of 

 Utrecht, Holland) where it now is, 



Growths of the character here dcscribed in birds, as 



A remarkable growth on the bill of a Curlew (N. cu\iuatus) 



well as the diseases of this groiip of vertebrates are of 

 extreme interest to the comparative pathologist, and in 

 not a fcw instances throw light upon the qiiestion of the 

 evolutionof some particular malady or maladies. 



Nearly twenty yearsago (April 1881)1 called attention to 

 the value of tlie study of the diseases and injuries in birds, 

 and publislied a brief paper upon it in the Americaii Natu- 

 ralist at tiic time. 



Since then I have read quitc a number of articles on 

 the subject fromthe pensof other writers, but neitlier in 

 my personal experienco, nor in my reading have l 



