276 AYES CLASS iv 



a supposition that gathers strength from the presence of an allied form, 

 Filholornis, in the Upper Eocene of Southern France. 



Order 8. GALLINAB. 



The GalUnae are birds having a typically schizognathous skull, the maxillo- 

 palatines being (with rare exceptions) widely separated, the vomer sometimes 

 absent, small and pointed when present; there are basipterygoid facettes on the 

 sphenoid. The sternum is four-notched, very deeply cleft in the true fowls, 

 and much less so in the curassows and Australian Megapodes, the other two 

 groups included in the order. The probable affinities of the fowls with the 

 tinamous have already been noticed ; through the sand-grouse, Pterodetes, they 

 are connected with the pigeons, Columbae, both of w^hich are placed in orders 

 by themselves, although the former is not here noted. Another order, 

 Hemvpodii, is usually made for the reception of the small birds of the genera 

 Coturniz and Pedionomus, familiarly known as button quails or bush quails, 

 and ranging from Spain to Australia. 



A small, generalised form, GaUinuloides, nearly related to the existing 

 Ortalis, but considered as representing a distinct family, has been described 

 from the Green River Eocene of Wyoming, and true Gallinae of the genera 

 Palaeortyx, Taoperdix, and Tetrao occur in the Upper Eocene of France. The 

 genus Phasianus, not found native in Europe as an existing genus, occurs in 

 the Miocene of France. Coturnix dates back to the Eocene, and Columha to 

 the LoAver Miocene of Europe. 



Order 9. COLUMBAE. 



The Columbae, or pigeons, have a schizognathous skull and schizorhinal 

 nostrils, a point Avherein they diifer from fowls. The furculum is U-shaped 

 and devoid of a hypocleidium, the sternum four-notched and normally with 

 a deep keel, the pigeons as a rule being birds of powerful flight. The angle 

 of the mandible is usually truncate, and the deltoid crest of the humerus 

 produced into a point. 



Remains of existing genera occur from, the Miocene upwards in various 

 parts of the Avorld. 



Order 10. ACCIPITRES. 



The Accipifres, as here considered, contain the diurnal birds of prey, the' 

 owls, the American vultures, and the secretary bird, four very distinct groups. 

 They have an imperfectly desmognathous skull, the spongy maxillo-palatines 

 being only partly united with one another, and in some species even free. 

 Basipterygoid facettes are absent in the diurnal birds of prey, but present in 

 the other members of the order. The owls, or Striges, are thought to be 

 related to the Caprimulgi, and are characterised by having the orbits facing 

 forwards, and by the reversion of the outer toe, this last feature being 

 possessed also by the somewhat exceptional and widely distributed osprey, 

 Paitdion. 



The earliest known members of the order are Lithornis from the London 

 Clay, Eocene, Pakieocircus from the Eocene of the Paris Basin, and Bubo from 

 the Eocene of AVyoming. Teracus, Palaeohierax, and representatives of modern 



