Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 May 2009
Remains of birds from the “Forest Bed” were known to Mr, Green in 1842 (History of Bacton), and they are mentioned by Mr. A. Bell (Geologists' Assoc. 1871), in his list of “Forest Bed” Vertebrata, as bones of indeterminable species. These appear to be the only published instances in which Avian bones from these deposits are referred to, and hitherto no closer determination has been made. This is not very surprising, for the bird bones which have been found, although in some numbers, are either in a fragmentary condition or else they are not characteristic parts of the skeleton. Portions of vertebræ, scapulæ, coracoids, and limb-bones probably indicate the existence, at that time, of at least half a dozen different forms; but at present only two genera have been identified, and one of these is very doubtful.