86 GUIDK TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. 



Gallery Xo. 2— F(J8.sLL BUIDS. 



Kemains of birds are very rare am(jiig fossils, exce^tt in 

 comparatively modern deposits on land ; and even under 

 these circumstances they are usually quite fragmentary. 

 They occur most commonly in swamps, such as the English 

 Fenland ; in the bed of silted-up lakes ; and in caverns and 

 fissures. They are only found Ity rare accident in the 

 marine deposits of an earlier geological date. 



Class.— AYES. 

 Order L— CARINAT^. 



Table-case The English Prehist<jric and I'leistocene birds, so far as 

 ^3- known from the local deposits just mentioned, were essen- 

 tially similar to those which have lived in this country 

 during historic times. Of special interest, however, is the 

 discovery of remains of the pelican in the Fenland, and in 

 refuse heaps on the site of an ancient British village near 

 Glastonbury. It is also worthy of note that tlie great auk or 

 gare fowl (Alca impennis), which became extinct in 1844, has 

 been found in deposits in tlie north of England, Scotlantl, 

 and Ireland ; and a complete skeleton of tliis bird, discovered 

 by Professor John Milne in a guano deposit on Funk Island, 

 off Newfoundland, is exhiljited in a special Case marked 

 KK, near tlie S.E. window. 



Among older remains of European flying birds exhibited 

 in Table-case 13, may be noted a leg-ljoue of an albatross 

 (Biomedea) from the Eed Crag of Suffolk ; bones of flamingo- 

 like birds (Palaslodus, Phcenicopterus), a species of ibis, ducks 

 and other Ijirds from the ]\Iiocene of France ; and various 

 eggs and feathers in Miocene fresliwater limestones and 

 lignite from France and (Tcrmany. 



Still older is the unique collection of remains of Lower 

 Eocene birds from the London Clay exhibited in the same 

 Table-case. These fossils chiefly represent fish-eating sea- 

 birds, among which Odontopteryj^ and Prophaethon are 

 especially noteworthy. The skull of Odontopteryx (Fig. 83) 

 is remarkal)le for its strongly serrated jaws, tlie little pointed 



