Part IV. 



SYSTEIHATIC SYNOPSIS 



Oh- THE 



FOSSIL BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA, 



There is at present no satisfactory evidence tliat Birds existed in North America before 

 the Jurassic period ; the footprints in the sandstone of the Connecticut Valley attributed to 

 Birds having probably all been made by Dinosaurian Reptiles (p. 62). A number of Creta- 

 ceous Birds have been known for some years, as given in the original edition of this work 

 (1872) ; but it is only since 1881 that this class of vertebrates has been traced back to the 

 Jurassic by the discovery of Laopteryx jjriscus on a geologic horizon nearly that of the famous 

 Arch(Eopteryx. 



The Tertiary Birds of North America belong to genera identical with, or nearly related 

 to, those now living. The case is otherwise with the earlier forms from the Cretaceous and 

 the Jurassic. Most of these are " Odontornithes," or Birds with teeth ; having the teeth im- 

 planted either in grooves (Odontolcce) , or in sockets {Odontotormce), as illustrated by the genera 

 Hesperornis and Ichthyornis respectively. 



In the original edition of the Key these Cretaceous types were ranged with those from the 

 Tertiary, their characters not having been fully worked out at that time. They have since 

 become well known, through Professor Marsh's restorations and illustrations (Odontornithes, 

 4to, Washington and New Haven, 1880). 



It is deemed advisable to present the Fossil Birds of North America under the three cate- 

 gories of Tertiary, Cretaceous, and Jurassic forms ; the first-named being ranged under the 

 several orders to which they are supposed to belong, as described in this work ; the re- 

 mainder, with few exceptions, being Odontornithes, which are most conveniently catalogued 

 alphabetically. 



A* — Tertiary Hirds, 

 CAHINATjE (p. 244). 



PASSERES (p. 244). 



PAL^OSPIZA BELLA. 



FaUcospiza bella Allen, Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr, iv. No. 2, May 3, 1878, pp. 443- 

 445, pi. 1, tigs. 1, 2. — Am. Journ. Sci. xv, May, 1878, p. 381. — Amer. Nat. xv, Mar. 1881, 

 p. 253. — CouES, Key, 2d ed. 1884, p. 822. — A. 0. U. Check-List, 2d ed. 1895, p. 345. 



