1278 A GLIMPSE OF THE POSP-TERTIARY AVIFAUNA OF QUEENSLAND, 
few that is in comparison v^ith the very large number of mam- 
malian and reptilian remnns accompanied by them : not so few 
considering how scantily as a rule, traces of birds occur in the 
rocks, and how rare it is to meet with a bii’d bone in the bush. 
With the exception of a single fragment referred dubiously to a 
cockatoo {Cacatua), the-e has not yet been recognized a bone 
of any bird of a grade higher than that of the old order Gralla- 
tores, the majority of t’em belonging to the Anseres and Rallidie.* 
..Tn the present notie those remains alone find place which can 
with sufhcieiii, v. 'fidnce be referred to known genera. A series 
of skeletons of Australian and New Zealand birds, though fairly 
rich, may perhaps afford too narrow a field of comparison for 
determining with certainty that a fossil species is both extinct and 
undescribed ; but if it should prove either that an Australian post- 
tertiary bird is still extant elsewhere, or that it has already been 
described as an extinct species occurring in an extra-Australian 
deposit, the writer will be content to know that such discovery 
has resulted from his attempt to add somewhat to the knowledge 
of post-pliocene life. 
Nyroca robusta, n.sp. 
(PI. XXXIII. figs. 1-2.) 
For a predecessor of the white-eyed duck, Nyroca australis, Gld., 
the name proposed is suggested by the superior strength indicated 
by its bones. 
Right humerus . — The bone repi’esented by its distal half has a 
sub-cylindrical and sub-elongate shaft, and a distal expansion of 
moderate width. The tubercle terminating proximad the border 
of the radial tuberosity, developed in marine birds of flight into 
a large “ ectocondylar process,” and in varying degrees and forms 
pei’sistent in the great majority of ten-estrial birds, is here entirely 
absent, and replaced by a sigmoid depression or scar commencing 
on the palmar surface, and curving over the foot of the radial 
tuberosity, the edge of which is compressed and proceeds directly 
* Since this was written a large pigeon has been determined. 
