232 ON FOSSIL BIRD-REMAINS. 



(8) Grotta del Capo. 



This cave is at Sagro, near Sisio, Cape Corso, N. Corsica, and 

 among the fossil remains Thrush and Blackbird are the only 

 Avian species recognized. 



(9) Monte /Santa Cave. 



Monte Santa is near Guisba in N.W. Sardinia, and from this 

 cave we have representatives of two birds — the Red-legged 

 Partridge (Caccabis rufa Linn.) and the Woodcock (Scolojxix 

 rusticula Linn.). 



10. Nesakia, Isle of Cerigo, Greece. 



The remains of four species of birds are recognized among 

 these Grecian island fossils — namely, Blackbird, Rook (?), Pigeon, 

 and Barn- Owl (Strix flammea Linn.). 



The species mentioned in these notes are without exception 

 living forms : but those marked with a star (*) have not hitherto 

 been recorded from these Mediterranean islands f . Dr. Forsyth 

 Major appears to have no doubt as to the deposits at all the 

 above localities, excepting No. 6, being of Pleistocene age, and 

 doubtless the Mammalian remains which he has collected will 

 justify this opinion ; but the Birds, being only referable to 

 modern species, offer no sure grounds for a judgment in this 

 respect. As remarked by Mr. R. Lydekker t, many modern 

 species of birds, especially among Passerine forms, are distinguished 

 by their plumage rather than by any osteological differences, and 

 possibly these fossil bones, although like those of modern species, 

 may have been differently clothed in Pleistocene times, and in 

 this way have differed from their descendants of the present day. 



Since these notes were written, I have had the pleasure of 

 seeing the valuable and detailed work of M. M. Boule on the 

 Vertebrate fossils from the Grimaldi Caves §, in which many 

 Birds' bones are beautifully figured and carefully described. As 

 might have been anticipated, these caves of the mainland have 

 yielded a very similar Avian fauna to those of the Mediterranean 

 Islands. 



Dr. Forsyth Major's specimens will be deposited at the 

 Natural History Museum, South Kemsington. 



f See John Whitehead, "Ornithological Notes from Corsica," Ibis, 1885, 

 pp. 24-48 and plate. 



X Proc. Zool. Soc. 1891, p. 468. 



§ 'Les Grottes de Grimaldi' (Monaco, 1919), Tome i. Fasciculus iv. p. 299. 



