SiiLi-Ei.Di : ()sTi;()Lot;v ov iiiK I.i.micoi-.k. 31 



tatsus, the inner one is of a broad (luadrilateral form inclined out- 

 wardly, while the external one is a rounded, claw-like, and sharp ])rocess, 

 curving downwards. The usual osseous bridgelel for the confinement 

 of tendons is seen in front just above the condyles. 



The ///'///(/ is a very delicate spicula of bone, reaching down, in the 

 articulated skeleton, only half way to the e.xternal condyle. 



The hyf'otarsal protuberance of the tarso-7nctatarsus is in reality 

 converted into two processes, so deep is the tendinal grooving down 

 its posterior as])ect. In .-E. ino/itaiia the inner process is the larger, 

 and sends from its lower portion a sharp ridge of bone that is carried 

 down on the shaft and gradually merges with it. The pits to receive 

 the condyles of the tibio-tarsus on the superior aspect of the head of 

 the tarso-metatarsus are deep, and a knob-like apophysis arises be- 

 tween them on the anterior boundary. Just below this a fo.ssa exists, 

 at the base of which a foramen is seen, which pierces the shaft from 

 before backwards, coming out behind to the inner side of the larger 

 process of the hypotarsus. In all our plovers the shaft of this bone 

 of the leg is long and straight, and the mid-trochlea projects well be- 

 yond its fellow on either side. The usual foramen is seen just above 

 its base and on the outer side. 



Among our jjlovers it is only in C. squatarola and in ra/wl/i/s that we 

 find a small hallucial joint present, hung rather high on the shaft of 

 the tarso-metatarsus. It is altogether absent in the Killdeer and others. 

 Otherwise the podal joints are normal, both in arrangement and char- 

 acter, so far as the three anterior digits are concerned. 



Measuring from the summit of the trochanteric crest of the femur, 

 on a straight line to the apex of the claw of the mid-digit in the skele- 

 ton of the leg in ^. t/ioiita/ia, we find it to be in the adult male, 15.5 

 centimeters in length. Of this the femur takes 3.0, the tibio-tarsus 

 5.6, the metatarsus 4.2, and the mid-digit 2.7 centimeters. 



With respect to its skeleton, no true Plover will depart in any 

 marked degree from the pluvialine skeletal characters as they have 

 been set forth in the above account. 



On the Compa rathe Osteolo}:;\ of N^iiiiieiiiiis loni:;irostris . 



Curlews agree with all other true limicoline types in being typically 

 schizorhinal birds. (See Fig. 10.) 



In the skull the nasal bones are arranged and formed much as they 

 are in the Phalaropes, but without an immature specimen, which I anj^ 



