The geographical distribution of animals, with a study of the relations ...

chap, vm.] BIRDS. 163discovered in the Upper Eocene of Paris.Picariae of equal antiquityare found. Cryptomis, from the Paris Eocene, and Halcyornisfrom the Lower Eocene of the Isle of Sheppey, wereboth allied to kingfishers ; while a form allied to Centropus agenus of cuckoos, or,as Milne -Edwards thinks, to the MadagascarLeptosomus, has been found in the Upper Eocene of.France.Several Accipitrcs of somewhat doubtful affinities have beenfound in the same country; while Lithomis, from the LowerEocene of the Isle of Sheppey, was a small vulturine bird supposedto be allied to the American group, Catliartcs. Amongthe waders, some extinct forms of plovers have been found, and agenus (Agnoptems), allied to the flamingoes ; while there aremany swimming birds, such as pelicans, divers, and severalextinct types of doubtful affinities. Most intersting of all is aportion of a cranium discovered in the Lower Eocene of Sheppey,and lately pronounced by Professor Owen to belong to alarge Struthious bird, allied to the New T Zealand Dinornis andalso perhaps to the ostrich. Another gigantic bird is the Gastornis,from the Lower Eocene of Paris, which was as large as anostrich, 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 Europeanstrata till we come to the wonderful Archceoptcryx from theUpper Oolite of Bavaria ; a bird of a totally new type, with abony tail, longer than the body, each vertebra of which carrieda pair of diverging feathers.North America.—A number ofbird-remains have lately beenfound in the rich Tertiary and Cretaceous deposits of the UnitedStates ; but here, too, comparatively few are terrestrial forms.No Passerine bird has yet been found. The Picariae are representedby Uintornis, an extinct form allied to woodpeckers, fromthe Eocene of Wyoming. Species of turkey {Melcagris) occurin the Post-Pliocene and as far back as the Miocene strata,showing that this interesting type isa true denizen of temperateNorth America. The other birds are, Accipitrcs; waders andaquatics of existing genera ;and a number of extinct forms ofthe two latter orders—such as, Alctornis an Eocene wader;