Fossil Birds in the Marsh Collection of Yale University 45 



I have also compared the fossil bones of this fossil owl with the 

 corresponding ones in a skeleton of Pseudoptynx hlakistoni (No. 

 18227, Coll. U. S. Nat. Mus.), and I find that they have a somewhat 

 more general resemblance to them than to those of a typical Bubo, as 

 B. virginianus. Moreover, the distinctive process on the claw of 

 hallux, although not produced as in the extinct owl, is slightly more in 

 evidence than it is in the bubonine owls. Doctor Sharpe placed 

 Pseudoptynx in the genus Bubo, but on what grounds I do not remem- 

 ber. Unfortunately I have not at hand for comparison skeletons of 

 either Scotiapex nebulosa nor some of the big owls of Africa. 



After I had prepared and made Plate XV, I discovered that both 

 the condyles of the right tibio-tarsus were among the fragments, and 

 that they were simply broken apart. They were readily brought 

 perfectly together and fastened with strong glue. In Figure 153 e 

 only the outer aspect of the external condyle is shown, but when the 

 two were assembled, a very different appearance of things was pre- 

 sented. The two condyles were seen to be very prominent; the valley 

 between them — the intercondylar space — was very narrow and deep, 

 being entirely smooth, whereas, in all true eagles of the North American 

 avifauna, this intercondylar valley is broad, shallow, and the condyles 

 not particularly prominent. 



In Bubo and Nyctea the condyles of the tibio-tarsus are very promi- 

 nent, with the space between them narrow and smooth. In other 

 words, in its general character the distal condylar portion of the tibio- 

 tarsus of Minerva antiqua more closely resembled that of an owl than 

 an eagle. But in Bubo and Nyctea the outline or contour of the 

 internal condyle of these two is quite circular, the bounding rim being 

 raised as a sharp ridge, and the included surface is smooth, all to a 

 little minute tubercule near its center. Now the internal condyle of 

 this bone in an eagle is distinctly reniform or kidney-shaped in out- 

 line, with the surrounding border rounded off, and the aforesaid 

 tubercule very prominent. This distinctly and in all particulars 

 agrees with what I find in Minerva antiqua. The form of the external 

 condyle of the tibio-tarsus of this extinct owl is more like what we 

 see in Aquila chrysaetos than in either Bubo or Nyctea. Nevertheless, 

 the general fades of the distal part of the tibio-tarsus of Minerva 

 antiqua is very evidently more strigine than it is aquiline. 



The rest of the fragments in this lot are so fragmentary (tarso- 

 metatarsus, distal end of radius, etc.) that they throw no further light 

 on the subject. Such as they are, however, it is very evident that 

 they belonged to a large owl. I am incHned to beHeve that this big 



