AVKS 291 



joint much higher than the other two, and projecting backwards 

 above the middle joint ; it indicates a bird about the size of a 

 woodcock. 



In the conglomerate and plastic clay at the base of the 

 eocene tertiary system at Mendon, near Paris, the leg and thigh 

 bones (tibia and femur) of a bird {Gastornis Parisiensis) have 

 been discovered : they indicate a genus now extinct. They 

 belonged to a species as large as an ostrich, but more robust, 

 and with affinities to wading and aquatic birds.* 



In the eocene clay of Sheppy, fossil remains of birds have 

 been found, indicating a small vulture {Litlwrnis vulturinus) ; 

 also a bird, probably of the king-fisher family {Halcyornis 

 tolicqncus), and a species of the sea-gull family. In the same 

 formation at Highgate, remains of a species of the heron family 

 have been found. 



The fossil bones of birds from the gypsum quarries at 

 Montmartre were referred or approximated by Cuvier to eleven 

 distinct species. Good ornitholites have been obtained from 

 the Hordwell fresh-water deposits. 



The most ancient example of a passerine bird is the Pro- 

 tomis Glarisicnsis, founded on an almost entire skeleton dis- 

 covered in the schistose rock of Glaris, referable to the older 

 division of the eocene tertiary series. This skeleton is about 

 the size of a lark, and in some respects similar to that bird. 



Comparisons of the ornitholites of the eocene tertiaries 

 show that the following ordinal modifications of the class of 

 birds were at that period represented: the raptorial, or birds of 

 prey, by species of the size of our ospreys, buzzards, and smaller 

 falcons, and most probably also by an owl ; the inscssoriat, or 

 tree-perching birds, by species seemingly allied to the nuthatch 

 and the lark ; the scansorials or anisodactyles, by species us 



* llebert, " Comptes Rendus lie l'Acad. des Sciences," 1855. Owen "On 

 the Affinities of Gastornis Parisiensis,'' Quarterly Journal of Geological Society, 

 vol. xii., 18513, p. 204. 



