British Fossil Birds, 385 



of other members of that group in their general characters. 

 Thus the coracoid may be recognized by its length and 

 slendernesSj the small subclavicular process^ without a per- 

 foration at its base, and the descending hook-like process 

 from the head. The humerus is a very characteristic bone^ 

 having a forked ectepicondylar tuberosity at its lower end 

 near the radial condyle, and a minute tubercle on the middle 

 of the palmar surface of the same, just above the condyles. 

 The tibia may be recognized by the width of the gorge sepa- 

 rating the equal-sized and everted condyles on the anterior 

 surface of the lower extremity, in the middle of which is a 

 small depression for the attachment of the articular ligament. 

 Part of a smaller tibia presenting the above characters from 

 the superficial deposits of Palling, Norfolk, belongs to the 

 Crow (C co7-OH€ = C. comix) ; whilst the former existence of 

 the Chough [Pyrrhocoraoc graculus) in Yorkshire is proved 

 by an ulna from Kirkdale cave preserved in the British 

 Museum. Of late years the nearest localities to Yorkshire 

 where the Chough has been recorded are the neighbouring 

 counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland. 



Striges. — The leg-bones of the Owls are so easily recog- 

 nized that there is no possibility of confounding them with 

 those of any other birds except Fandion among the Acci- 

 pitres. Thus- the tibia is peculiar among European birds in 

 having no bony bridge over the grooves for the extensor 

 tendons on the anterior surface of the lower end. Again, 

 the tarso-metatarsus is comparatively short and wide, with 

 the lower part of the front of the shaft convex, and a deep 

 depression on the upper part of the same ; the hinder sur- 

 face being deeply channelled, and the three distal condyles 

 reaching to nearly the same level, aud arranged in an arch. 

 In the tarso-metatarsus of all the larger species there is (as 

 in Pandion) a bony bridge over the inner half of the large 

 superior depression on the front surface. The only two Owls 

 hitherto recorded from British strata are the Eagle Owl and 

 the Snowy Owl. The Eagle Owl {Bubo ignavus), now so 

 rare in England, is represented by an incomplete tarso-meta- 

 tarsus from the Norfolk Forest-bed ; this bone being com- 



