58 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



marked on the sternal body and keel in this Curlew, being carried 

 back, in each case, nearly to its xiphoidal extremity. 



The chief differences presented to us in the sternum of u\\ borcalis 

 are a greater width of the mid-process posteriorly, and a very decided 

 protrusion forwards of the carinal angle anteriorly. In all other 

 respects the sternum of the Eskimo Curlew seems to be the very minia- 

 ture of the bone I have just described for the Sickle-bill Curlew. 



Passing next to the sternum as we find it in Scolopax, F/iiloIwla, and 

 GaIliiiai:;o, it is to be observed that the bone has, in its general form, 

 precisely the same pattern as it has in Niimeniiis. The carinal angle, 

 however, is more prominent and pointed, and the sterna of these birds 

 lack the internal pair of xiphoidal notches. I have one sternum of a 

 specimen of Wilson's Snipe ( Gallinago') though, that on the right hand 

 side has a foramen at the locality where the inner notch occurs in 

 other Liiiiicolce. Most Sandpipers have a sternum like what we found 

 in the Curlews, but the posterior xiphodal border, as indicated by the 

 ends of the xiphoidal processes, lays more in a transverse line, not 

 being nearly as much rounded as it is in N'lnnciiiiis. Lii/iosa has the 

 inner pair of notches very small, and they are absent again in such 

 genera as Pavcvicella and Rliyacophilus. Avocets have all four of the 

 notches, and in them they are about of equal depth, while in Totanus 

 they agree with Limosa. Bartramia lougicauda shows a small pair of 

 inner notches in its sternum, with very deep outer ones. 



Gallinago has the manubrium very small, and in the sternum of that 

 .species the pectoral muscular lines on the sides of the carina are raised 

 and rounded welts. This last character is wanting in Woodcocks, and 

 in them the manubrium is larger. I believe in all the unmentioned 

 species the sternum is four-notched, and in other respects substantially 

 has the pattern of that bone as it is seen in N'liDieidus. 



Of tJic Appciuiiciilar Skeleton. — All the bones of both limbs in the 

 Liniicolee are non-pneumatic in character. As a rule, the long bones 

 are straight, and comparatively very long. They are also strong and 

 otherwise perfectly developed — shore-birds being, as we know, good 

 fliers. 



The OS hiiniero-scapnlare seems to be absent, its place being taken 

 l)y ligaments, as in other birds where this ossicle does not appear. 



The humerus (Fig. 2 i ) of Numenius longirostris has a shaft that is 

 much straighter than is commonly seen among birds, where it is usually 

 tormed like a long /', Its proximal extremity is comparatively widely 



