162 DISTRIBUTION OF EXTINCT ANIMALS. [PART Il. 
kite (Milvus), eagle-owl (Bubo), and screech-owl (Strix) ; with 
the African secretary-bird (Serpentarius), and some extinct forms, 
as Paleocercus, Paleohierizx and Paleetus. 
Aquatic and wading birds were abundant, including numerous 
rails, bustards, herons, sandpipers, gulls, divers, and pelicans. 
There were also many ducks, some allied to the genus Dendro- 
cygna ; the Oriental genus of storks, Leptoptilus ; lbidipodia, a 
remarkable form allied to Jbis and Ciconia ; Elornis, near 
Limosa,; Pelagornis, a large bird allied to gannets and pelicans ; 
Hydrornis, allied to the ducks and petrels ; Dolichopterus, allied 
to plovers. ~Perhaps the most interesting of these extinct birds 
are, however, the flamingoes, represented by forms hardly distin- 
guishable from living species, and by one extinct genus Pale- 
lodus, which had very long toes, and probably walked on aquatic 
plants like the tropical jacanas. 
The Miocene beds of North India have furnished few birds; 
the only one of geographical interest being an extinct species 
of ostrich, not very different from.that now inhabiting Arabia. 
On the whole, the birds of Europe at this period were very 
like those now living, with the addition of a few tropical forms. 
These latter were, however, perhaps more numerous and import- 
ant than they appear to be, as they belong to inland and forest- 
haunting types, which would not be so frequently preserved as 
the marsh and lake-dwelling species. Taking this into con- 
sideration, the assemblage of Miocene birds accords well with 
what we know of the mammalian fauna. We have the same 
indications of a luxuriant vegetation and subtropical climate, 
and the same appearance of Oriental and especially of African 
types. Zrogon is perhaps the most interesting of all the forms 
yet discovered, since it furnishes us with a central point whence 
the living trogons of Asia, Africa, and South America might 
have diverged. 
In the Eocene we find ourselves almost wholly among extinct 
forms of birds. The earliest known Passerine bird is here 
met with, in. Protornis, somewhat similar to a lark, found in 
the Lower Eocene of Switzerland ; while another Passerine form, 
Palegithalus, and one allied to the nuthatch (Sitta), have been 
