388 Mr. R. Lydekker an 



preserved in the British Museum, and, since it is indistin- 

 guishable from the corresponding bone of the Common Cor- 

 morant (P. carbo), has been referred by M. Milne-Edwards 

 to that species. The proximal extremity of a coracoid from 

 the Norfolk Forest- bed is considered by Mr. E. T.Newton as 

 sufficient evidence of the existence of the Cormorant at that 

 still earlier epoch. Remains of the Cormorant are also re- 

 corded by Mr. S. Laing from " kitchen-middens " in Caith- 

 ness, which have likewise yielded bones of the Shag (P. gra- 

 culus) and of the Gannet [Sula bassana). 



Herodiones. — The only remains of this group from British 

 superficial deposits are a few bones of the Bittern {Botaurus 

 stellaris) from the Cambridgeshire fens, figured in the great 

 work of M. Milne-Edwards. Among these are a humerus 

 and a tarso-metatarsus ; the former of Avhich exhibits the 

 characteristic sleuderness and slight expansion of its 

 extremities distinctive of the Ardeidce ; while the latter, 

 besides exhibiting the comparatively long and slender shaft, 

 large proximal talon, and the disposition of the three distal 

 trochlese on nearly the same horizontal line, which are cha- 

 racteristic of the Heron family, also shows the relative 

 shortness and stoutness by which the metatarsus of the 

 Bittern differs from that of the Heron. The Cambridgeshire 

 and Norfolk fens were among the last strongholds of the 

 Bittern in this country. 



Anseres. — iVs might have been expected from their habits, 

 bones of Anseres are among the commonest bird-remains 

 found in the British superficial deposits ; but from the lack 

 of a sufficiency of recent skeletons in our museums for com- 

 parison, to which allusion has already been made, many of 

 these specimens cannot be specifically — or even generically 

 — determined; while in other cases some of the determina- 

 tions which have been made must be regarded as more or 

 less provisional. The bones of Anseres are generally easily 

 recognized ; this being especially the case with regard to the 

 tarso-metatarsus, tibia, humerus, and coracoid, which are 

 some of those most commonly met with. The most charac- 

 teristic features of the tarso-metatarsus arcits shortness and 



