366 M, A. Milne-Edwards on the former Existence 



of our Pelican in the peat-bogs of the neighbourhood of Cam- 

 bridge ; for it belongs to a young bird, consequently too weak to 

 undertake distant voyages. It is sufficient to cast a glance on 

 the bone of which I am giving the history, to be assured that 

 the process of ossification was not completed, as is shown by the 

 state of the articular extremities. One must not for a single 

 moment think that this bird had left Russia or Africa and, driven 

 from its course by atmospheric currents, come to die in England, 

 on the borders of the Fens, where the beds of peat in which it 

 was found are deposited. One must not invoke such an expla- 

 nation ; and evidently this Pelican was a native of that country. 



We may be inclined perhaps to wonder that a single bone, be- 

 longing to a young animal, and consequently not presenting all 

 its anatomical characters, should permit the exact recognition of 

 the genus and species of bird to which it belongs. So precise a 

 determination would not be always possible; but in the present 

 case there need be no doubt ; for I have shown, in another work*, 

 that the wing-bone in the genus Pelicanus offers extremely clear 

 distinctive peculiarities, which do not allow of its being con- 

 founded with that of any other bird. 



The length of the bone furnishes a character which should 

 not be neglected ; for there is no other bird of flight, except the 

 Albatros, which has the humerus so long ; and in this last genus 

 its characters are otherwise clearly different. Indeed this bone 

 is very slender, and its articular extremities are much compressed. 

 Besides, above the epicondyle there is a hook-shaped apophysis 

 to which is attached the long extensor muscle of the manus. 

 In the Pelican, on the contrary, the humerus is stout, relatively 

 to its length, its articular extremities are bent back, and there 

 is no upper epicondylian apophysis. 



All other birds have the wing-bone much smaller than the 

 Pelicans ; and even if we dismiss this empiric character, we find 

 in the conformation of the bone fundamental differences which 

 permit of its easy recognition. Notwithstanding its bulk it is 

 extremely light, which is due to the development of the internal 

 air-cells, which open by a large orifice situated at the upper ex- 

 tremity beneath the trochanterian tuberosity. The bony tissue 

 * [Oiseaux fossiles de la France, p. 230. — Ed.] 



