282 



FOSSIL BIRDS 



metatarsus from the London Clay near St. James's Park confirming 

 its Ardeine relationship. Several associated bones of a bird from 

 Sheppey were described by Sir R. Owen as Lithornis and provision- 



Remains of Head of Odontopteryx, from the original in the British Museum. Side view. 



3 natural size. 



The same, seen from above. 



ally referred to the Accipifres. The shale of Plattenberg at Glarus 

 has produced the skeleton of a bird probably belonging to the 



Fasseres, and called by Von Meyer Fro- 

 iornis, but since renamed Osteornis by M. 

 Gervais. 



The bird-bones of the Upper Eocene 

 of the Paris Basin deserve fuller notice. 

 First brought to light towards the end 

 of the last century, many of the remains 

 fell under the notice of Cuvier, by whom 

 they were more or less exactly determined. 

 Following his investigations, the labours 

 of MM. Gervais, Blanchard, and Desnoyers 

 added considerably to our knowledge of these ornitholites, till 

 finally Prof. A. Milne-Edwards,^ having compared all the specimens, 



^ I cannot let the name of this distinguished naturalist pass without 

 acknowledging the very many tokens of friendship received at his hands in connec- 

 tion with the present subject. His magnificent work on tlie Fossil Birds of France 

 is known to all, and together with his article on Fossil Ornithology, in the second 

 edition of D'Orbigny's Dictionnaire universelle d'histoire naturelle, has been of 



The same, seen from behind. 



