164 
DISTRIBUTION OF EXTINCT ANIMALS. 
[part II. 
Palccotringa, allied to the sandpipers, and Telniatobius to the 
rails, both Cretaceous ; with Graculavus , allied to Graculus ; 
Laornis allied to the swans ; Hesperomis a gigantic diver ; and 
Icthyornis a very low form, with biconcave vertebra, such as are 
only found in fishes and some reptiles— also from Cretaceous 
deposits. 
South America. — The caverns of Brazil produced thirty-four 
species of birds, most of them referable to Brazilian genera, and 
many to still existing species. The most interesting were two 
species of American ostrich (Rhea), one larger than either of 
the living species ; a large turkey-buzzard (Cathartes) ; a new 
species of the very isolated South American genus Opisthocorrms ; 
and a Cariama , or allied new genus. 
Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands. — We have here only 
evidence of birds that have become extinct in the historical 
period or very little earlier. First we have a group of birds in- 
capable of flight, allied to pigeons, but forming a separate family, 
Dididoe ; and which, so far as we yet know, inhabited Mauritius, 
Bodriguez, and probably Bourbon, Aphanapteryx , an extinct 
genus of rails, inhabited Mauritius ; and another genus, (. Erythro - 
machus ), Kodriguez. A large parrot, said by Prof. Milne Edwards 
to be allied to Ara and Microglossus, also inhabited Mauritius ; 
and another allied to Eclectics , the island of Bodriguez. None 
of these have been found in Madagascar ; but a gigantic Strutliious 
bird, JEpyornis, forming a peculiar family distinct both from 
the ostriches of Africa and the Dinoi'nis of New Zealand 
inhabited that island; and there is reason to believe that 
this may have lived less than 200 years ago. 
New Zealand. — A number of extinct Strutliious birds, form- 
ing two families, Dinornithidce and Palapterygidm, have been 
found in New Zealand. Some were of gigantic size. They seem 
allied both to the living Apteryx of New Zealand and the emu 
of Australia. They are quite recent, and some of them have 
probably lived within the last few centuries. Bemains of 
Dinornis have also been found in a Post-Pliocene deposit in 
Queensland, N. E. Australia 1 — a very important discovery, as it 
1 Trans. Zool. Soc. of London , vol. viii. p. 381. 
