chap, vm.] BIRDS. 163 



discovered in the Upper Eocene of Paris. Picariae of equal anti- 

 quity are found. Cryptomis, from the Paris Eocene, and Hal- 

 cyornis from the Lower Eocene of the Isle of Sheppey, were 

 both allied to kingfishers ; while a form allied to Centropus a 

 genus of cuckoos, or, as Milne -Edwards thinks, to the Madagas- 

 car Leptosomus, has been found in the Upper Eocene of. France. 

 Several Accipitrcs of somewhat doubtful affinities have been 

 found in the same country; while Lithomis, from the Lower 

 Eocene of the Isle of Sheppey, was a small vulturine bird sup- 

 posed to be allied to the American group, Catliartcs. Among 

 the waders, some extinct forms of plovers have been found, and a 

 genus (Agnoptems), allied to the flamingoes ; while there are 

 many swimming birds, such as pelicans, divers, and several 

 extinct types of doubtful affinities. Most intersting of all is a 

 portion of a cranium discovered in the Lower Eocene of Shep- 

 pey, and lately pronounced by Professor Owen to belong to a 

 large Struthious bird, allied to the New T Zealand Dinornis and 

 also perhaps to the ostrich. Another gigantic bird is the Gas- 

 tornis, from the Lower Eocene of Paris, which was as large as an 

 ostrich, but which is believed to have been a generalised type, 

 allied to wading and swimming birds as well as to the Struthiones. 



Beyond this epoch we have no remains of birds in European 

 strata till we come to the wonderful Archceoptcryx from the 

 Upper Oolite of Bavaria ; a bird of a totally new type, with a 

 bony tail, longer than the body, each vertebra of which carried 

 a pair of diverging feathers. 



North America. — A number of bird -remains have lately been 

 found in the rich Tertiary and Cretaceous deposits of the United 

 States ; but here, too, comparatively few are terrestrial forms. 

 No Passerine bird has yet been found. The Picariae are repre- 

 sented by Uintornis, an extinct form allied to woodpeckers, from 

 the Eocene of Wyoming. Species of turkey {Melcagris) occur 

 in the Post-Pliocene and as far back as the Miocene strata, 

 showing that this interesting type is a true denizen of temperate 

 North America. The other birds are, Accipitrcs; waders and 

 aquatics of existing genera ; and a number of extinct forms of 

 the two latter orders — such as, Alctornis an Eocene wader; 



