328 PALEONTOLOGY. 



eocene tertiary system at Meudon, near Paris, the leg and 

 thigh bones (tibia and femur) of a bird {Gastornis Parisiensis) 

 have been discovered : they indicate a genus now extinct. 

 They belonged to a species as large as an ostrich, but more 

 robust, and with affinities to wading and aquatic birds* 



In the eocene clay of Sheppy, fossil remains of birds have 

 been found, indicating a small vulture (Lithornis vulhirinus) ; 

 also a bird, probably of the king-fisher family (Halcyornis 

 toliapicus), and a species of the sea-gull family. In the same 

 formation at Highgate, remains of a species of the heron family 

 have been found. 



The fossil bones of birds from the gypsum quarries at 

 Montmartre were referred or approximated by Cuvier to eleven 

 distinct species. Good ornitholites have been obtained from 

 the Hordwell fresh-water deposits. 



The most ancient example of a passerine bird is the Pro- 

 tornis Glarisiensis, founded on an almost entire skeleton dis- 

 covered in the schistose rock of Glaris, referable to the older 

 division of the eocene tertiary series. This skeleton is about 

 the size of a lark, and in some respects similar to that bird. 



Comparisons of the ornitholites of the eocene tertiaries 

 shew that the following ordinal modifications of the class of 

 birds were at that period represented : the raptorial, or birds 

 of prey, by species of the size of our ospreys, buzzards, and 

 smaller falcons, and most probably also by an owl ; the inses- 

 sorial, or tree-perching birds, by species seemingly allied to 

 the nuthatch and the lark ; the scansorials or anisodactyles, 

 by species as large as the cuckoo and king-fisher ; the 

 rasorials, by a species of small quail ; the cursorials, by a 

 species as large as, but with thicker legs than, an ostrich ; the 

 grallatorial, by a curlew of the size of the ibis, and by species 



* Hebert, " Comptes Eendus de l'Acad. des Sciences," 1855. Owen "On 

 the Affinities of Gastornis Parisiensis," Quarterly Journal of Geological Society, 

 vol. xii., 1856, p. 204. 



