Thus, amongst the Swimming Birds
(_Natatores_) we find examples of forms allied to the living
Pelicans and Mergansers; amongst the Waders (_Grallatores_) we
have birds resembling the Ibis (the _Numenius gypsorum_ of the
Paris basin); amongst the Running Birds (_Cursores_) we meet with
the great _Gastornis Parisiensis_, which equalled the African
Ostrich in height, and the still more gigantic _Dasornis
Londinensis_; remains of a Partridge represent the Scratching
Birds (_Rasores_); the American Eocene has yielded the bones of
one of the Climbing Birds (_Scansores_), apparently referable
to the Woodpeckers; the _Protornis Glarisiensis_ of the Eocene
Schists of Glaris is the oldest known example of the Perching
Birds (_Insessores_); and the Birds of Prey (_Raptores_) are
represented by Vultures, Owls, and Hawks. The toothed Birds of
the Upper Cretaceous are no longer known to exist; but Professor
Owen has recently described from the London Clay the skull of a very
remarkable Bird, in which there is, at any rate, an approximation
to the structure of _Ichthyornis_ and _Hesperornis_. The bird
in question has been named the _Odontopteryx totiapicus_, its
generic title being derived from the very remarkable characters
of its jaws. In this singular form (fig. 227) the margins of
both jaws are furnished with tooth-like denticulations, which
differ from true teeth in being actually portions of the bony
substance of the jaw itself, with which they are continuous, and
which were probably encased by extensions of the horny sheath
of the bill.
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