Revieu's — A. Alilne-Echcarda on Fossil Birds. 419 



they have also enabled us to appreciate more fully the physical 

 conditions of the globe at these remote epochs. 



M. Edwards infers from the study of the bones found in the recent 

 deposits of the Mascarines — and which belong to extinct species, as 

 the Dodo, Solitaire, Aphanapteryx, Giant Gallinule, Parrots, etc. — 

 that these islands once formed part of a greater extent of lan-d, the 

 intervening portion having been gradually submerged, thus separating 

 them, as Mauritius, Rodriguez, and Bourbon, so that these islands 

 became the refuge of the last representatives of the terrestrial popu- 

 lation of more ancient times ; but the animals being thus confined in 

 too limited a space, and exposed to various destructive agencies, have 

 gradually disappeared. 



Madagascar was not in immediate connexion with these islands ; 

 for, when the Europeans first visited them, they did not find 

 Mammalia, except some large Bats. None of the Lemuriens, so re- 

 markable and special to the Malagash fauna, exist in the Mas- 

 carines. The study of fossil birds leads to the same result. The three 

 species of jEpyornis that M. A. Grandidier and M. Milne Edwards 

 have recognized ainong the fossils received from the south-west sido 

 have enabled them to recognize their affinity to the Dinornis, the 

 Aptornis, and Palapteryx of New Zealand. All the species belong 

 to the same zoological type, and prove that at a more or less remote 

 epoch there existed a communication between these lands so distant 

 from one another. Probably a group of islands now submerged 

 afforded intermediate stations, — 'Of which, however, there is no longer 

 any trace. 



In the first age of Man the remains of birds, whether found in 

 caverns or elsewhere, afltbrd valuable indications of the climatal 

 condition of the period. Some of the species have entirely dis- 

 appeared, a great number of others have gradually retired northwards. 

 These are the Grouse and the great Snowy Owl, which then 

 were extremely common in the counti-y. Their presence is signifi- 

 cant ; for if, according to some naturalists, the Eeindeer has lived in 

 France only since its introduction by the Finnish inhabitants, the 

 same explanation cannot apply to birds, which have never been 

 domesticated. There ai'e also found in the caverns a great number 

 of species identical with those which now inhabit temperate Europe. 

 Among others the Domestic Fowl, believed to be originally from 

 India, but which, on the contrary, has been coeval with the first age 

 of Man. The middle Tertiaries have especially afforded a rich 

 collection. Thus, in the Department of the Allier, about 70 species, 

 referred to various groups, have been recognized, some of which do not 

 belong to the present fauna. The Parrots and Trogons inhabited 

 the woods; the Edible Swifts built their nests among the rocks, similar 

 to those found at present in certain parts of Asia and the Indian Archi- 

 pelago. A "Secretary-bird" {Gypogeranus), closely related to that of 

 the Cape of Good Hope, sought, in the plains, the Reptiles which, at 

 this epoch as now, form its natural food. The great Marabout Stork 

 Flamingo, and Falceodus, birds of singular foruis, lived at the same 

 time with the ordinary Wading birds. The Ibis frec[uented the 



