162 . DISTRIBUTION OF EXTINCT ANIMALS. [part ii. 



kite (Milvus), eagle-owl {Bubo), and screech-owl (Stria) ; with 

 the African secretary-bird (Serpentarius), and some extinct forms, 

 as Palceocercus, Palceohierix and Palceetus. 



Aquatic and wading birds were abundant, including numerous 

 rails, bustards, herons, sandpipers, gulls, divers, and pelicans. 

 There were also many ducks, some allied to the genus Denclro- 

 cygna; the Oriental genus of storks, Lcptoptilus ; lbidipodia, a 

 remarkable form allied to Ibis and Ciconia ; Elornis, near 

 Limosa; Pelagornis, a large bird allied to gannets and pelicans ; 

 Hydrornis, allied to the ducks and petrels ; DolicJwpterus, allied 

 to plovers. Perhaps the most interesting of these extinct birds 

 are, however, the flamingoes, represented by forms hardly distin- 

 guishable from living species, and by one extinct genus Palce- 

 lodus, which had very long toes, and probably walked on aquatic 

 plants like the tropical jacanas. 



The Miocene beds of North India have furnished few birds ; 

 the only one of geographical interest being an extinct species 

 of ostrich, not very different from that now inhabiting Arabia. 



On the whole, the birds of Europe at this period were very 

 like those now living, with the addition of a few tropical forms. 

 These latter were, however, perhaps more numerous and import- 

 ant than they appear to be, as they belong to inland and forest- 

 haunting types, which would not be so frequently preserved as 

 the marsh and lake-dwelling species. Taking this into con- 

 sideration, the assemblage of Miocene birds accords well with 

 what we know of the mammalian fauna. We have the same 

 indications of a luxuriant vegetation and subtropical climate, 

 and the same appearance of Oriental and especially of African 

 types. Trogon is perhaps the most interesting of all the forms 

 yet discovered, since it furnishes us with a central point whence 

 the living trogons of Asia, Africa, and South America might 

 have diverged. 



In the Eocene we find ourselves almost wholly among extinct 

 forms of birds. The earliest known Passerine bird is here 

 met with, in Protornis, somewhat similar to a lark, found in 

 the Lower Eocene of Switzerland ; while another Passerine form, 

 Palwgithalus, and one allied to the nuthatch {Sitta), have been 



