94 Recently published Ornithological Works. [Ibis, 



VIII. — Notices of recent Ornithological Publications. 



Andrews on a New Fossil Bird. 



[Note oil the Sternum of a large Cavinate Bird from the (?) Eocene of 

 Southern Nigeria. By C. W. Andrews, D.Sc, etc. Proc. Zool. See. 

 1916, pp. 519-524, 4 figs.] 



The British Museum has recently received from Southern 

 Nigeria an interesting collection of fossils obtained by 

 Mr. J. Eaglesome in a railway-cutting on tlie new railway 

 from Port Harcourt to the interior. The beds appear to be 

 of Eocene age, but the exact horizon is not yet definitely 

 settled. In the present paper Dr. Andrews describes the 

 anterior half of a sternum which appears to have belonged 

 to a very large bird, twice the size of an Albatross, and un- 

 doubtedly a ])owerful flier; it was probably a good swimmer 

 and diver as well. The characters point to a bird in most 

 respects intermediate between certain of the Tubinares and 

 Steganopodes, but obviously generically distinct from all 

 recent forms. Dr. Andrews proposes for it the name Gigan- 

 tornis eaglesomei, gen. et sp. nov. 



Bryant on the Roadrunner. 



[Habits and Food of the Roadrunner in California. By Harold C. 

 Bryant. Univ. Cal. Publ., Zool. vol. xvii. 1916, pp. 1-4, 4 pis., 

 2 text-figs.] 



There are few more interesting and curious types than 

 the Roadrnnner of western North America (Geococcyx 

 calif ornianus). A terrestrial Cuckoo with the look of a 

 small hen Pheasant, which runs more often tiian it flies 

 and which builds its own nest, it has suffered a good deal 

 of persecution of late years owing to its supposed partiality 

 for nestling Quails. 



The present paper contains the results of a careful exa- 

 mination of the contents of the stomachs of some eighty 

 individuals. From this it appears that it is omnivorous, 

 though ground-beetles and grasshopi)ers form the largest 

 uercentages of the food-matter examined. The vegetable 



