ornithichnite
(ɔːnɪˈθɪknaɪt)
[ad. mod.L. ornīthichnītēs, f. Gr. ὄρνις, ὀρνῑθ-, bird + ἴχνος track: see -ite1 and ichnite. Often used in the L. form.]
A fossil footprint of a bird, or bird-like reptile; applied orig. to those found in Triassic deposits in Connecticut, now attributed to dinosaurs.
| 1836 Hitchcock in Amer. Jrnl. Sci. XXIX. 315, I include all the varieties of tracks under the term Ornithichnites;..signifying stony bird tracks. Ibid. 324 Some of the specimens of Ornithichnites, which I regard as produced by a three toed bird, may have been made by one with four toes. 1845 Lyell Trav. N. Amer. I. 93 Red sandstone..remarkable for its ornithichnites. 1848 Lowell Biglow P. 12 Apr. (1867) 93 The Runes resemble very nearly the ornithichnites or fossil bird-tracks of Dr. Hitchcock. |
So ˌornithichˈnology [see -ology], the branch of palæontology which deals with ornithichnites.
| 1836 Hitchcock in Amer. Jrnl. Sci. XXIX. 315 Since this is a department of oryctology hitherto unexplored..I should call it ornithichnology. |