46 R. W. Shtifeldt 



owl had some aquiline affinity, judging from the characters presented 

 on the part of this proximal end of the carpo-metacarpus. It was a 

 form decidedly larger than Bubo virginianus, and were it living today, 

 no systematist in ornithology would ever think of placing it in the 

 same genus. In my owai mind, I picture a large strigine form, w^hich 

 was, as I say, larger than Bubo virginianus, and perhaps a diurnal 

 species exhibiting similar habits. 



In this connection it will be well to remember that, while the owls 

 are, in a way, related to the Caprimulgidce, we have nevertheless a 

 Hawk Owl (Surnia), as well as a remarkable Hawk — the Fish Hawk 

 (Pandion)— that has some curious strigine characters in its skeleton. 



Then again, as this extinct species was found in the Bridger Eocene 

 (Dry Creek, Upper Crossing, Wyo.), it lived a great many thousands 

 of years ago — perhaps over one hundred and fifty thousand — and 

 during that time there may have existed, and probably did exist, 

 raptorial species that brought the S*rigidK and the Falcon idoe much 

 nearer together than they appear to be at the present time. Were 

 this so, Minerva antiqua may have been one of the intermediary 

 affines, and one, were it in our present avifauna, would appear no 

 more strange than any other "outlier" among birds, as, for example, 

 a Hoatzin or a Kiwi. 



Cat. No. 861 (PI. XV, Figs. 131-136), Peabody Museum, Yale University 

 Tule Spring, Wyoming. ? Eocene. J. W. Chew, collector. 



Here we have additional fossil fragments of bone which belonged 

 to a specimen of Minerva antiqua. The characteristic claw is well 

 shown in Figure 134, and this articulates perfectly with the basal joint 

 of hallux shown in Figure 133. This articulation is a very beautiful 

 and unusually strong one, the approximation of the two articular sur- 

 faces being that of complete contact throughout, and a most extensive 

 one. When powerfully extended, the proximal end of the process of 

 the ungual joint fits snugly in a concavity intended for its reception 

 on the dorsal distal end of the basal hallucial phalanx, an arrangement 

 never noticed heretofore by me anywhere. 



Unfortunately, the "accessory" or first metatarsals were not found 

 with this material, or they may have been and since lost. 



This basal phalanx of hallux in Minerva antiqua is double the size 

 of the corresponding bone in Nyctea, and perceptibly larger than in 

 Bubo virginianus. With respect to form, it appears to be more 

 aquiline than strigine, while the basal phalanx of the second digit or 



