( 587 ) 



LONG-BILLED CURLEW. 



NUMENIUS LONGIROSTRIS, WiLS. 



PLATE CCXXXI. Vol. III. p. 240. 



The two palatal ridges meeting anteriorly to the aperture of the 

 nares forjn an elevated line in 

 the middle, running all the way 

 to the tip of the upper mandi- 

 ble, and the lower mandible 

 has a median groove ; both are 

 internally formed by two in- 

 clined planes, which leave a 

 vacant space when the bill is 

 closed. The tongue is very 

 small, triangular, narrow, flat 

 above, pointed, homy beneath ; 

 its base sagittate and papillate -, 

 its length only 1 inch 2 twelfths, 

 whereas that of the bill, from 

 the opening to the tip, is 8 

 inches. The width of the 

 mouth is 10 twelfths. The oeso- 

 phagus, a be, is 8| inches long, 

 of the nearly uniform width of 

 7 twelfths, contracting to | 

 inch within the thorax ; but 

 the proventriculus, be, expanded 

 to 9 twelfths ; at the top, how- 

 ever, it is funnel-shaped, where 

 its greatest width at the hyoid 

 bone is 1 inch. The stomach, 

 cdef, is a large and very strong 

 gizzard, of a roundish or trans- 

 versely eUiptical form, 1^ inch 

 long. If inch in breadth; its 



