420 Revieics — A. Milne-Edwards on Fossil Birds. 



margins of rivers, where insects and molluscs abounded ; the Pelicans 

 swam on the lakes; lastly, the Gangas and many Gallinacege assisted 

 in giving to this ornithological fauna a very striking physiognomy, 

 which recals the pictures that Livingstone has sketched in certain lakes 

 of South Africa. Some forms were very common in these old Miocene 

 alluvium deposits of Saint-Gerand le Puy, of Vaumas, etc., while 

 others were rare or only represented by a few bones. 



The aquatic species are most common, the remains of Ducks being 

 numerous. On the other hand, the Cormorant is found only in certain 

 parts, showing that at this epoch, as at present, these birds were very 

 locally restricted. The small Diver \Colymhoides minutv,s) is less 

 abundant than the Sea-gulls, of which two species, Larus elegans and 

 L. totanoides, were very numerous. It is the same for some of the 

 shore-birds belonging to the genera Totanus and Tringa (Sand- 

 pipers), whilst the Elorius and Himantopus (Stilt) are re^Dre- 

 sented by few individuals. Numerous bones of Ibis and of Palceodus 

 ambiguus are found. The four other species of this genus — P. gracilipes, 

 P. minutus, P. crassipes, P. goliath — are far less common. 



Portions of the skeleton of the Flamingo, but rarely found entire, 

 occur at St.-Gerand le Puy; while at Cournon and Chaptuzat they are 

 well preserved. Bones of young individuals have been found once 

 at Marabout. Cranes are rare, their bones are nearly always broken, 

 and often gnawed by Eodents, as if they had remained some 

 time on the shore before being imbedded at the bottom of the lake. 

 The Eails, Gallinace^, Pigeons, Gangas, Passerines, Eaptores, and 

 the Parrots have left only few traces of their existence. These birds, 

 from their habits, are not constantly found on the margin of lakes and 

 water-courses ; their remains may have been destroyed or devoured 

 in place, and it could be only under exceptional conditions that they 

 might have been carried into lacustrine alluviums. It was onlj^ after 

 ten years' exploration of these deposits by M. Milne Edwards that 

 bones of the Parrot, Ganga, Secretary-bird, and of Eaptores were 

 found ; and some, of which remains were long since found, have not 

 again occurred. The majority of these birds apjoeared not merely to 

 have chosen this district as a passage-station, but (if they did not 

 inhabit it throughout the year) they at least built their nests, as is 

 evident from the fossil eggs, which are found in a perfect state of 

 preservation, and the great mass of bones of young birds, of which 

 the epiphyses were not even anchylosed. 



Many Mammalia, belonging to different orders, lived with these 

 birds. The Carnivores, Eodents, Euminants and Pachyderms were 

 abundant. The Cainotheria collected here in numbers, and served 

 as food, not only to the Amphycyon, but also to the small Carnivora 

 which frequented the shores, as the Lutrictis, Plesiogales, the Plesictis, 

 of which there are many species. All the bones of birds from 

 the Miocene strata of Weissenau, in the Mayence basin, present a 

 complete similarity to those from the Department of the Allier. 



The ornithological fauna from the celebrated dejDosit of Sansan, 

 in the Department of Gers, presents another character. None of its 

 representatives are found in the lacustiine deposits of the Bourbonnais 



