274 



AVES 



CLASS IV 



Chenomorjjhae, by others to the Herodiones, their affinities to both leading 

 Huxley to place them in a separate group termed Amphimorpliae. It may be 

 that we have in the flamingoes the survivors of a group from which both the 

 storks and ducks were derived, since the group is an old one and its range 

 formerly much more extensive than at present. The earliest known member 

 is Scaniornis, from the Cretaceous of Sweden, while the allied genus Agnopterus 

 comes from the Eocene of the Paris Basin, and Elornis from the Eocene and 

 Miocene. Several species of Palaeolochis, a shorter-legged bird than the 



flamingo, also occur in the 

 Miocene of France, and . a 

 true FJwenicopferus in the 

 Pliocene of Oregon and 

 Miocene of France. 



Gastornis, from the Eocene 

 of Europe, is a large bird, 

 placed at first with the 

 ostriches, but more generally 

 regarded as an aberrant 

 member of the Chenomorphae. 

 It is remarkable from the 

 fact that the bones of the 

 skull seem to have remained 

 free from one another 



throughout life. 



^:^ 



Ducks are not uncommon 

 in the Miocene of France 

 and Pliocene of Oregon, and 

 a large, flightless species, 

 Cnemiornis calcitrans, occurs 

 in the Pleistocene of New 

 Zealand. This bird well 

 exemplifies some of the diffi- 

 culties in the way of deter- 

 mining the exact affinities 

 from isolated bones, since 

 while from the 



sternum Parker believed it to be a rail ; the discovery of the skull showed it 

 to be unequivocally a goose. Numerous species of Anas (Fig. 373), as well 

 as isolated representatives of Anser, Cygnus, Fuligula, Spatula, Mergus, and the 

 like are known from the late Tertiary of various European localities. 



Anas Uanclmidi, Jliliie-Edw. Miocene; St. Gerand-le-Piiy 

 France. Restoration of skeleton, s/g (after Milne-Edwards). 



from the tibia Owen considered it to belong with the Moas 



Order 5. HERODII. 



The Herodii, containing the herons, storks, and ibises, may be defined as 

 wading birds with unusually long legs, having desmognathous skulls without 

 basipterj^goid processes, and (save for few exceptions) with the angle of the 

 mandible truncate, the exceptions occurring in the spoonbills, Platalea. 



The herons appear first in the Lower Eocene, Proherodius occurring in 

 England, and Gypsornis and P ropelargiis from the Upper Eocene of France. 

 An ibis, Ihidopsis, is found in the Upper Eocene of England, and Ihidopodia in 



