396 



BIRDS. 



former are only the Owls, and in the latter are the Hawks, 

 Falcons, Eagles, and Vultures. The earliest representative of 

 the Raptores in past time is the Lithornis vulturinus of the Lon- 

 don Clay of Sheppey, a bird probably related to the existing 

 vultures. In the Gypseous series of Montmartre (Eocene), 

 there are also remains of an Owl (Strix), and of a Harrier 

 (Circus). In later Tertiary and Post-tertiary deposits occur 

 unimportant remains of Eagles, Hawks, and Vultures. 



ORDER VIII. SAURURJE. This order includes only the ex- 

 tinct bird, the Archaopteryx macrura, a single specimen of 

 which and that but a fragmentary one has been discovered 

 in the Lithographic Slates of Solenhofen (Upper Oolites). 

 This extraordinary bird (fig. 333), appears to have been about 

 as big as a Rook ; but it differs from all known birds in having 

 two free claws belonging to the wing, and in having a long 

 lizard-like tail, longer than the body, and composed of separate 

 vertebrae. 



Fig. 333. Arthaopteryx tttacrum, showing tail and tail-feathers, 

 with detached bones. 



The tail was destitute of any ploughshare-bone, and each 

 vertebra carried a single pair of quill-feathers. The metacar- 

 pal bones also were not anchylosed, as they are in all other 

 known birds, living or extinct. Milne Edwards concludes 

 that Archceopteryx was probably a vegetable feeder, and that it 

 ordinarily perched upon trees. 



