NAN´US, _a._ or _n._ Dwarf; pigmy.
NAPE, _n._ (49.) See NUCHA.
NAR´IS, _n._; pl. _nares_. Nostril (always paired). (28½.) The _external
nares_ open upon the bill, or its cere, in very various shape and
position; the _internal nares_ open slit-wise upon the back part of the
palate.
NA´SAL, _a._ Pertaining to the nostrils. _Nasal bones_, a pair at the
root of the upper mandible.
NAS´CENT, _a._ About being born; beginning to grow or exist.
NATA´TION, _n._ Act of swimming.
NATATO´RES, _n. pl._ A group of swimming-birds.
NATATO´RIAL, _a._ Capable of swimming; belonging to swimming-birds.
NEARC´TIC, _a._ Indigenous to the northern portion of the Western
Hemisphere.
NEBULA´TED, _a._ Clouded with various indistinct colors.
NECK, _n._ (47.) See COLLUM.
NEOGÆ´AN, _n._ Indigenous to the Western Hemisphere or “New World.”
NEOS´SINE, _n._ Substance of the “edible birds’-nests.”
NEOSSOL´OGY, _n._ Study of young birds.
NEOTROP´ICAL, _a._ Indigenous to the tropical portion of the Western
Hemisphere.
NER´VINE, _n._ Nerve substance.
NEU´RAL, _a._ Pertaining to nerves. _Neural canal_, the tube of the
backbone. _Neural spine_, the so-called spinous process of a vertebra.
_Neural axis_, cerebro-spinal axis. _Neural arch_, see NEURAPOPHYSIS.
NEURAPOPH´YSIS, _n._ The laminate process of a vertebra, which, meeting
its fellow at the neural spine, closes the canal for transmission of the
spinal cord.
NEURILEM´MA, _n._ Sheath of nerve fibre.
NEUROL´OGY, _n._ Study of the nerves.
NIC´TITATING MEM´BRANE, _n._ The third or inner eyelid of birds.
NIDIFICA´TION, _n._ Nest-building; mode of nesting.
NI´DUS, _n._ Nest.
NI´SUS FORMATI´VUS, _n._ The formative tendency; the unknown law which
determines the rudiment of an animal to take its proper shape, “each
after its kind.” “Plastic force.”
NODE, NO´DUS, _n._ A swelling; hence, a joint, as bones usually enlarge
at their articulating extremities. Compare INTERNODE.
NOMEN´CLATURE, _n._ The sum of the words or terms peculiar to any
department of knowledge; as, ornithological _nomenclature_; in this
sense equivalent to _terminology_. Also, the naming of objects according
to some fixed principle; as, the binomial _nomenclature_. It is
essential to the integrity of nomenclature that it should rest upon
classification, or _taxonomy_.
NON-. Not. A frequent prefix in scientific literature, denoting
negation, used much like _dis-_, _un-_, _in-_, etc.
NOS´TRIL, _n._ (28½.) See NARIS.