330 BIRDS. INERTES. 



furnished with hair ; nostrils opening near the point of the 

 mandible, at the end of a tubular furrow ; legs short, feathered 

 to the knees ; wings rudimentary, terminated by a spur. 



A. Amtralis, Shaw. Southern Apteryx. Ferruginous-gray, with 

 yellowish-brown bill and legs. 2^ feet long. Inhabits New Zea- 

 land. Maw, Nat. Mis. xxiv. pi. 1057, 1058. 



Gen. 2. DIDUS, Lin. 



Bill long, stout, broad, compressed ; upper mandible bent at 

 the point, transversely furrowed ; lower mandible straight, 

 gibbous and bent upwards at the point ; nostrils in the mid- 

 dle of the bill, placed obliquely in a furrow ; tarsus short ; 

 three toes before, divided, the hind toe short, claws short, 

 bent ; wings incapable of flight. 



D. ineptus, Lin. The Dodo. Plumage cinereous,, soft ; belly and 

 thighs whitish; head large ; wings and tail yellowish ash-colour. 

 Nearly 3 feet long. Inhabits the Mauritius. Shaw, xiv. pi. 40. 



Fossil remains of birds are known under the name of Orni- 

 tholites. They are more rare than the fossil remains of qua- 

 drupeds, either from their being more recent productions of the 

 animal kingdom, or because the bones of birds are more suscep- 

 tible of decomposition. Such remains as are found are also less 

 easily referred to known genera ; for the parts which in birds 

 serve to characterize the different families, as the corneous man- 

 dibles and the claws, have in most instances lost their form, 

 from the compression and rupture to which they have been 

 subjected. 



The principal and best authenticated fossil remains of birds 

 have been found in the gypsum quarries in the neighbourhood 

 of Paris, where fragments referable to six or seven genera have 

 been discovered. 



