SiiriF.i.nr : ( )s i i'.oi.odn ok nil'. I ,iMKi)r..K. 57 



In the Avocet and in the Oyster-catchers when the shoulder-girdle is 

 /// silii, the coracoids touch each other in the median plane over 

 the nianubrial process of the sternum. 



The Willets (.Sj7///'//<'w/<J'), Totanus flavipcs and Bartramia longi- 

 cainia all have the costal process of the coracoid ijuite prominently 

 developed; in Z////^V(? ///v?/i;4,''/aZr> (Smithsonian Collection, No. 12,590) 

 it is broad and cjuadrilateral in outline and but slightly curved upwards. 



Of ihe Sternum (see various figures). — 'J'his bone is greatly de- 

 \clopecl in all the limicolinc birds, and in Z. io/ii^irosfris it is unusally 

 so, when we come to take into consideration the size of the species to 

 which it belongs. The manubrium is for the most part a thin com- 

 pressed median i)latc, with shar]) edge below and thickened border 

 above. At its base superiorly, it is contracted again to an edge, that 

 just keeps the coracoids apart in the articulated skeleton. The cora- 

 coidal grooves lie in the horizontal plane ; they are broad from above 

 downwards, convex at their middles, and concave at their inner and 

 outer limits. Anteriorly, the margin of the keel is very sharj), being 

 carried clear uj) to the l)ase of the manubrial process. It appears 

 above, however, merely as a line on the front of that column of bone 

 that descends in this situation, to be gradually lost as its expands on 

 either side of the keel l)elow within this anterior margin. The cari- 

 nal angle in JV. /o/igi/-ostris is rounded in front, being partly covered 

 by the raised rim that bounds the entire length of the keel below. 

 This latter part of the sternum is exceedingly deep, being carried 

 backwards to the very end of the sternal body by a graceful curve 



(Fig. 15)- 



Upon the costal border we observe six transverse facets for articu- 

 lation with the hffimapophyses. They are limited beyond by a low 

 (juadrate costal process — a feebly-pronounced feature in the sternum 

 of our Curlew. So high do the sides of the sternal body itself arise 

 that it reminds one very much of a very deep spoon with slender 

 processes projecting from its free border in front, corresponding to the 

 hinder border of the sternum. These processes are four in number, 

 two on either side, making this sternum a four-notched one. Their 

 shape and arrangement can best be seen by referring to my drawing 

 in Fig. 14. On the suj)erior aspect of the sternum, in the median 

 line, and just within the anterior boundary, we find a deep pit with 

 rounded margins. At its base, there seems to be a itw minute, pneu- 

 matic perforations. The usual muscular lines are found to be strongly 



