BIED-BONES FOUND IN THE CAVES. 227 



tissue of the metacarpal is altered in places, and presents in the carpal region 

 such exostoses as those resulting from violent contusions. The bones are smaller 



o 



than those of Aquila imperialis, Bechstein, and are also distinguished from them 

 by their less squat forms, and less prominent muscular ridges. 



In the Station of Bruniquel an ulna and several digital phalanges were found, 

 which appear to belong to the same species. Other phalanges come from the 

 Moustier Cave and from that of Lacombe-Tayac (Dordogne); and, lastly, a frag- 

 ment of a sternum was discovered in the Gourdan Cave, near Montrejeau (Haute 

 Garonne), by M. Piette ; but it is- impossible to be certain if these last belonged 

 to the Tawny Eagle or to an allied species, such as the Imperial or the Golden 

 Eagle : the materials for the determination are wanting. The Tawny Eagle is 

 not commonly seen in Perigord : it is common and remains throughout the year 

 in the Alps, but it is rare in the Pyrenees. 



2. THE SCBEA.MING EAGLE. Aquila clanga, Pallas ? L'Aigle criard. 



To this species, I think, should be referred a nearly perfect leg-bone found in 

 the Cave at Massat (Ariege). I hesitated much for a long time about the iden- 

 tification of this tarso-metatarse, the length of which is about the same as in 

 Aquila fulva ; but the proportions are different, the bone being more slender, and 

 narrower at the articular extremities. On the other hand, it is stouter than that 

 of the Spotted Eagle (Aquila ncevia of Brisson), and even than that of the Barred- 

 tailed Eagle (A.fasciata, Vieillot). But having recently procured the skeleton of 

 the Screaming Eagle, I found that the leg-bone of the female of this bird had 

 almost exactly the same dimensions as our fossil ; I am therefore led to believe 

 that the bird of the Massat Cave differed in nothing from A. clanga. At the 

 present day the latter does not show itself in France, but is met with in Poland 

 and Germany ; and it is common in Southern Russia and the adjacent parts of 

 Asia, where it prefers to remain in the vicinity of rivers, lakes, and marshes. 



A humerus found by M. E. Lartet in 1860, in the celebrated Human Station of 

 Aurignac (Haute Garonne), seems to me to have belonged to the same species. 



3. THE COMMON SEA-EAGLE. Fkiltur albicilla, Linne" ; Haliceetus albicilla, Leach. 



Le Pygargue ordinaire. 



The only bones of this Bird which I have ever been able to study came from the 

 Cave at Gourdan, where they had been found by M. Piette. The researches made 

 in the lakes of Switzerland have led to the discovery of a number of remains of 

 the Sea-Eagle ; but until now the presence of that bird had not been noted in the 



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