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Show 1891.] PLEISTOCENE BIRD-REMAINS. 471 C. garrula. Fossil. Length of tibio-tarsus .. 0,044 0,043 „ of tarso-metatarsus . . 0,024 0,0225 These show that not only are the fossil bones rather smaller than those of C. garnda, but that in the former the tarso-metatarsus is shorter in proportion to the tibio-tarsus than in the latter. It appears that the two sexes of the Blue Roller do not differ in size, and it is therefore pretty evident that the fossil bones do not belong to that species. They may, however, be referable to the Abyssinian Roller (C. abyssinica), of which I have been unable to see a skeleton. That bird, of which only one specimen appears to have been recorded in Europe, is common in parts of Abyssinia and likewise occurs in Arabia. The fossils may, however, equally well have belonged to the N. African C. pilosa. The woodcut represents the coracoid of the Sardinian Roller. Fig. 1. Ventral aspect of right coracoid of Coracias, c}. abyssinica; from Tavolara. IV. PASSERES. Corvus corone, Linn.-Evidence of the presence of the Crow in the Sardinian Pleistocene fauna is afforded by the coracoid from Tavolara represented in fig. 5 of the Plate. This specimen, which belongs to the right side, accords in every respect with the corresponding bone of recent skeletons. Fringillidce.-Several species of Fringillidce are indicated by humeri and other bones, but from their small size, and the large number of the existing species of these birds, the specific, and in some cases even the generic, determination is difficult. It may be observed that the humerus of this family is easily recognized by the great development of its tricipital fossa, which is separated from the subtrochanteric fossa merely by a thin septum of bone in its upper half, the lower portion of the two fossae being confluent. In this respect the Fringillidcx differ widely from the Corvidce (near to which they are usually placed), in which the tricipital fossa of the humerus is scarcely developed at all. Of the specimens which can be more or less definitely recognized, |
