64 R. W. Shufeldt 



This humerus is a trifle larger than that of Uria affinis, but other - 

 wise agrees with it in all of its characters. Both birds, in life, were 

 true Murres of the genus Uria, and very likely distinct species. 



This specimen is slightly chipped at its proximal end. There is not 

 a particle of matrix adhering to it, and it is rather rough to the touch. 

 Its color is of a rather dark earth-brown. The head of the bone has 

 been broken off at some time, and very carefully glued on again. 



BIRD (indetermined). 

 {Plate XV, Fig. 124.) 

 Cat. No. 940, Peabody Museum, Yale University. Virginia. Miocene. 



Distal part (third?) of a right humerus of a bird. Adult. Fossil. 

 (Extinct?), This belonged to some species about one-fifth smaller 

 than a Night Heron {Nydicorax); but it is too much chipped and 

 worn to be of any special use in the matter of reference (Fig. 124). 



PLEISTOCENE BIRDS. 



Branta canadensis. 



{Plate XIII, Figs. 99, 100.) 



Cat. No. 910, Peabody Museum, Yale University. Alameda Co., California. 

 Post-Pliocene. L. G. Yates, collector. 



A right fossil carpo-metacarpus (adult) which agrees in all essential 

 particulars with that bone as it is found to be in the existing Canada 

 Goose {Branta canadensis), with which I have compared it. x^bout 

 the middle third of the shaft has been shattered into bits, while 

 the terminal portions are quite perfect. The "bridge" referred 

 to on the slip, as noted above, is a small, osseous span found on the 

 palmar aspect near the distal end of the main shaft. It probably 

 spans the tendon of the flexor minimi digitl muscle, ^ as the latter 

 passes to its insertion. We have no assurance that it is a constant 

 character, and even if it were, it is not of a kind to establish a new 

 species upon, unless other more important features were associated 

 with it. 



On previous occasions, and in other places, I have touched upon 

 fossil metacarpi of Brania canadensis; for instance, in my "Review 

 of the Fossil Fauna of the Desert Region of Oregon, with a Descrip- 

 tion of Additional Material Collected There"; and in other contribu- 

 tions, fossil specimens are described which represent this species of 



1 Shufeldt, R. W. "The Myology of the Raven," p. 148. [87.] 



