36 Annals of the Carnegie Museuai. 



cies, and this elliptical pit on the posterior wall of the orbit, just above 

 the quadrate, is cjuite a striking feature of the skull. Ossification is so 

 far deficient in the interorbital septum opposite the exit for the optic 

 nerves that this aperture is here one large circular opening. To its 

 outer side, however, separate and minute circular foramina exist for 

 the third pair. This latter condition seems to be common to all the 

 species. The olfactory nerve in the anterior part of each orbit has for 

 its reception a well-marked canal that leads to a foramen i^N. longi- 

 f'ostris), or a notch (N. phcvopiis), into the rhinal chamber. A side 

 view of the skull presents for examination, in addition to other ])oints 

 already noticed, the osseous entrance to the ear, which is here shielded 

 behind by a rather prominent tympanic wing. The sphenotic process 

 in all curlews, except iV. borcalis, is a long, sharp-pointed spine, and 

 even in the excepted species it may become c^uite long in old birds. 



An upper and lower spine project forward from the squamo.sal, over 

 the articulation for the quadrate. This feature is more prominent in 

 the continental species, N. arqi/ata, than in any of our American forms 

 of curlews, though it is by no means entirely absent on the lateral as- 

 pect of the skull of N'. /o/igirosfris. 



In the eye the usual sclerotal plates are found ; they are compara- 

 tively small and about twenty in number. The superior aspects of 

 curlew skulls offer some very diverse characters. In all the cranio-facial 

 region is concave and traversed by a faint longitudinal median groove 

 that becomes lost beyond on the premaxilla. This groove is deepest 

 in iV. arquata. In AT. longirosfris the superior orbital peripheries are 

 but slightly serrated, and the orbital roof just within them is pierced 

 by but very few minute foramina. 



The "glandular depressions" are shallow. The surfoce between 

 them is depressed, though the inner margins or boundaries of these 

 depre.s.sions are somewhat raised and prominent. These margins, 

 in N. pliicopi/s, merge into a single median ridge or crest ; the 

 orbital rims are decidedly serrated with small incomplete foraminal 

 perforations, and the glandular depressions would hardly attract atten- 

 tion. 



The raised median line is single and still more prominent in ^V. 

 arquata, causing the depressions to ajjpear more concave. In my 

 specimen one large foramen is seen close to the orbital rim on one 

 side, situated rather posteriorly, with a corresponding notch on the 

 opposite side. In JV. hiidsoincus the orbital rims are comj^aratively 



