CHAP. VIII.] 
BIRDS. 
163 
discovered in the Upper Eocene of Paris. Picariee of equal anti- 
quity are found. Cryptornis , from the Paris Eocene, and Hal- 
cyornis from the Lower Eocene of the Isle of Sheppey, were 
both allied to kingfishers; while a form allied to Centropus a 
genus of cuckoos, or, as Milne-Edwards thinks, to the Madagas- 
car Leptosomus , has been found in the Upper Eocene of France. 
Several Accipitves of somewhat doubtful affinities have been 
found in the same country; while Lithornis, from the Lower 
Eocene of the Isle of Sheppey, was a small vulturine bird sup- 
posed to be allied to the American group, Cathartes. Among 
the waders, some extinct forms of plovers have been found, and a 
genus ( Agnopterus ), allied to the flamingoes ; while there are 
many swimming birds, such as pelicans, divers, and several 
extinct types of doubtful affinities. Most intersting of all is a 
portion of a cranium discovered in the Lower Eocene of Shep- 
pey, and lately pronounced by Professor Owen to belong to a 
large Struthious bird, allied to the New Zealand Dinornis and 
also perhaps to the ostrich. Another gigantic bird is the Gas- 
tornis, from the Lower Eocene of Paris, which was as large as an 
ostrich, but which is believed to have been a generalised type, 
allied to wading and swimming birds as well as to the Struthiones. 
Beyond this epoch we have no remains of birds in European 
strata till we come to the wonderful Archaeopteryx from the 
Upper Oolite of Bavaria ; a bird of a totally new type, with a 
bony tail, longer than the body, each vertebra of which carried 
a pair of diverging feathers. 
North America . — A number of bird-remains have lately been 
found in the rich Tertiary and Cretaceous deposits of the United 
States ; but here, too, comparatively few are terrestrial forms. 
No Passerine bird has yet been found. The Picarise are repre- 
sented by Uintornis , an extinct form allied to woodpeckers, from 
the Eocene of Wyoming. Species of turkey ( Meleagris ) occur 
in the Post-Pliocene and as far back as the Miocene strata, 
showing that this interesting type is a true denizen of temperate 
North America. The, other birds are, Accipitres } waders and 
aquatics' of existing genera ; and a number of extinct forms of 
the two latter orders — such as, Aletornis an Eocene wader; 
m 2 
