Its line is believed to
survive in the gannets, cormorants, pelicans, and frigate-birds
of to-day. The less numerous Hesperornis group were large and
powerful divers. Then there is a blank in the record,
representing the Cretaceous upheaval, and it unfortunately
conceals the first great ramification of the bird world. When the
light falls again on the Eocene period we find great numbers of
our familiar types quite developed. Primitive types of gulls,
herons, pelicans, quails, ibises, flamingoes, albatrosses,
buzzards, hornbills, falcons, eagles, owls, plovers, and
woodcocks are found in the Eocene beds; the Oligocene beds add
parrots, trogons, cranes, marabouts, secretary-birds, grouse,
swallows, and woodpeckers. We cannot suppose that every type has
been preserved, but we see that our bird-world was virtually
created in the early part of the Tertiary Era.
With these more or less familiar types were large ostrich-like
survivors of the older order. In the bed of the sea which covered
the site of London in the Eocene are found the remains of a
toothed bird (Odontopteryx), though the teeth are merely sharp
outgrowths of the edge of the bill.
Pages:
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377