make menuconfig error

[Dale Morris <dlm@well.com>]

I'm trying to compile my new 2.2.16 kernel and when I run make menuconfig, I get the following error:
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux/scripts/lxdialog'
gcc -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -O2 -fomit-frame-pointer -DLOCALE  -DCURSES_LOC="<curses.h>"   -c -o lxdialog.o lxdialog.c
In file included from lxdialog.c:22:
dialog.h:29: curses.h: No such file or directory
make[1]: *** [lxdialog.o] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux/scripts/lxdialog'
make: *** [menuconfig] Error 2
luc:/usr/src/linux# 

I know I need a development library here. Can anyone tell me which one it is?
thanks