56 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



comes in contact with the clavicle when the bones are /;/ sifii. The 

 posterior margin of this latter process is given up wholly to the scapula, 

 which in life abuts against its entire length, as well as the shaft behind 

 as far as the glenoid cavity. 



In Nuinenius horealis the coracoid is a mere miniature of the l)one 

 I have just described for the Sickle-bill. Its costal process is, how- 

 ever, much less strongly marked, and would hardly attract special 

 notice. The coracoids, as well as the other bones of the shoulder- 

 girdle, are non-pneumatic in the genus A'l/i/it'iiiits, and I believe gen- 

 erally so among the Liinicohe. 



When articulated, the coracoids lean well forward as they spring 

 from their sternal beds in the Curlews, while the scapulae make angles 

 with them of about 90°. They do not quite meet in the median line 

 in any of the species, but are seperated at this point by a thin com- 

 pressed surface on top of the manubrium. 



The anterior extremity of the scapula in N. longirostris is decurved, 

 broad, and compressed from above downwards. The blade of the 

 bone, which is comparatively long, becomes thinner and slightly 

 wider posteriorly, to be very obliquely truncate at the inner side of 

 its posterior third. The angles thus formed are well rounded off, 

 resulting in the ])roduction of a very ordinary form of this bone 

 (Fig. 20). N'. horealis has the hinder moiety of the scapula broader, 

 more blade-like, the truncation more decided, and its posterior apex in 

 the articulated skeleton overhanging the anterior margin of the ilium. 



In other limicoline birds the coracoids and scapulae have always 

 much the same general appearance that those bones have in the Cur- 

 lews. 



In the European Woodcock the coracoids are relatively longer 

 than in Niaiicniiis, and they are inclined to be compressed in the an- 

 tero-posterior direction. The costal process of one of them is con- 

 spicuous, and the summit of the head of the bone is marked by an 

 oval pit. This last character is also seen in Aphriza, Tringa, 

 and in the coracoids of many other shore birds. Everything else 

 being ecjual, the coracoids in Gallinago are shorter and more slender 

 than they are in the Woodcocks. Comparatively speaking they be- 

 come still shorter among the Sandpipers. The scapula agree pretty 

 well all round, varying only with the size of the species, and occa- 

 sionally in the pattern of its jjosterior third, where the style of acumi- 

 nation is apt to vary. 



