MACKIE— ON FOSSIL BIRDS. 



445 



FOSSIL BIRDS. 

 By the Editor. 



{Continued from page 424.) 



The thick folio book of Athanasius Kircher is an extraordinary 

 one in many respects, and chiefly in respect to the numerous subjects 

 it treats of, and the number of its woodcut illustrations. Bough as 

 these are, they give us a better idea than mere descriptions of the 

 objects he speaks about. Like other of these old authors, he copies a 

 great deal from his predecessors and contemporaries ; indeed one gets 

 wearied of this eternal copying by these, for the most part, old doctor- 

 naturalists, and of the endless cross-references from one to another. 

 Still, for our purpose, which is to give all the literature on the sub- 

 ject, we must submit some few more extracts from old books. 



The title of Kircher' s book is ' Mundi Subterranei,'* and the first 

 reference we meet with is, in Tom. ii. lib. viii. de Lapidibus, sect. 1, 

 cap. ix. p. 34, fig. " avium in lapidibus expressio," — of birds expressed 

 on stone. (See Yol. VII. PI. II. Fig. 6.) 



We next come to numerous figures of other " flying creatures" at 

 p. 35, etc. Tab. I. is headed, " Figure Volucrum, quas Natura in 

 lapidibus depinxit, ex variis Museis decerptse et aliunde transmissse." 



" Figures of winged creatures, painted by nature on stones, taken 

 from various museums, and otherwise transmitted." 



Then follows the descriptive translation below : — 



" The first figure represents a head of a Stork, together with some, 

 but I do not know what, quadruped. At the top is something like a 

 human face. Extracted from Aldobrandino"t (see PI. XXIII. Fig. 1). 

 "2. Shows various forms and parts of animals, winged creatures as 

 well as quadrupeds, although very imperfect, the cause of which we 

 give in the physical examinations" (see PI. XXIII. Fig. 2). " 3. Re- 

 presents the figures of two birds expressed by nature on marble in 

 the church of St. George's, at Venice, referred to by Ambrosinus" 

 (see Vol. VII. PI. II. Figs. 3, 4). "4. Shows the hoad of an Owl, 

 surrounded by rudiments of other birds" (see PI. XXIV. Fig. 2). 

 " 5. Represents the figure of a Wagtail, or as others prefer, of a 

 Peacock " (PI. XXIV. Fig. 3). " 6. Shows the figure of a monstrous 

 bird " (Vol. VII. PI. II. Fig. 4). " 7. The figure of a Merle " (Vol. 

 VII. PI. II. Fig. 5). 



" Prima Figura notat Ciconics caput, et annexum ei nescio quid animalis 



* " Athanasii Kircheri e Soc. Jesu Mundi Subterranei Tomus IIus, in V. Libros di- 

 gestus, quibus Mundi subterranei fructus exponuutur, et quidquid tandem rarum, insolitum 

 et portentosum in foecundo Naturse utero continetur, ante oculos ponitur puriosi Lectoris. 

 " f Os vaeis Kara irdvra fxepei Koffjxoio yevapxa* 



'Os Sairavas jxzv aTravra, Kai a#£eis Zjj.ira.Aiv civtovs. 

 " Omnes qui partes habitas, mundique Genarcha, 

 Absumis qui cuncta eadem, qui rursus adauges. 

 " Amstelodami, Ex Officina Jaussonio-Waesbergiana, anno 1678." — Orpheus. 



+ The inscription under the fig. 1 {fiiconia et Nocture, figura) does not correspond 

 with this explanation. 



