FOSSIL BIRDS. 
357 
tion, suggesting their typical resemblance to the corresponding 
bones in the heron (Ardea). These remains have received the 
classificatory appellation of Palceornis Cliftii. Subsequently, 
in 1845, Professor Owen retracted his opinion, and in a paper 
before the Geological Society expressed his conviction that 
these so-called birds’ bones were really those of Pterodactyles. 
Dr. Mantell contested this recantation ; and thus the matter 
remains. In 1857 the Eev. Mr. Dennis, of Bury St. Edmund’s, 
proved, by an examination of the microscopic structure of some 
fragments of bone from the Stonesfield slate, the existence of 
birds at that epoch. The next traces of birds in time are the 
fragments found in the Upper Greensand of Cambridge by the 
late Mr. Lucas Barrett, who so sadly lost his life a few weeks 
since in a submarine exploration off the shores of Jamaica.* Of 
these remains or their relations we are unable to speak. They 
are not preserved at Cambridge ; nor can Mr. Harry Seeley, 
the curator of the University collection, afford us any informa- 
tion about them. In the museum at Philadelphia, U.S., there 
are birds’ bones from the Greensand of New Jersey — the 
equivalent of the European “ Senonian,” or Upper Chalk age 
— which have been referred by Dr. Harlan to the genus 
Scolopax, or snipe. 
With the dawn of the Tertiary period, birds’ remains become 
more numerous and varied in character. Cuvier has recorded 
eleven species from the gypsum of Montmartre. Owen has 
described the breastbone and sacrum of a vulturine bird from 
the London clay, of a smaller species than any now existing ; 
Jourdain and Gervais have recorded bird-remains from ter- 
tiary strata of the south of France ; and the German palaeonto- 
logists others from the Miocene or middle tertiaries of Weise- 
nau and Wiesbaden. From the Eocene period then there are 
species of turkey -buzzard ( Cathartes ), vulture ( Litliornis vultur- 
inus, Lithornis ? emeuinus), bald buzzard ( Pandion ), owl 
(/ Strix ), protornis ( Protornis Glarisiensis) , kingfisher ( Halcyornis 
toliapicus) , curlew ( Numenius gypsorum) , snipe ( Scolopax ), sea- 
lark ( Pelidna ), sandpiper ( Tringa ), pelican ( Pelicccnus ), and 
gastornis ( Gastornis Parisiensis). 
Of the Miocene age we have species of thrush ( Turdus ), finch 
( Fringilla ), partridge ( Perdix ), fowl ( Gallus , sp. and Gallus 
Bravardii) , flamingo (Phoenicopterus Groizeti), stork ( Giconia ?), 
heron (Ardea), snipe (Scolopax), coot (Fulica ?), corvorant 
(Phalacrocorax), duck (Anas), merganser (Mergus Bonzoni). 
In the Pliocene : falcon (Falco), snipe (Scolopax ?), and wild 
swan (Gy gnus ferox). 
From caverns and diluvial deposits there have been 
* For a brief sketch of his life,' see “ Summary of Geology.” 
