PROCEEDIlSrGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



vou 64, 



Family MELEAGRIDAE. 



AGRIOCHARIS, species. 



A broken right tarso-metatarsus (fig. 5) secured in a quarry two 

 and one-half miles south of Benson near the Gum Ranch, March 8, 

 1921, represents an ocellated turkey, a genus not previously recorded 

 within the limits of the United States. The specimen consists of 

 the lower half of the tarso-metatarsal bone of an adult male, with 

 the middle trochlea complete, but with both lateral ones broken 

 away. Through the kindness of Dr. Loye H. Miller, I have been 

 able to examine a tarso-metatarsus of a modern Agi^ocharis ocellatay 

 and have also had available a figure of that species 

 taken from a photograph published by Dr. R. W. 

 Shufeldt." 



The fossil bone, while not absolutely identical 

 with the specimens available for comparison, agrees 

 closely with them. The slight differences that it 

 offers consist mainly in slightly different sculpturing 

 of the sides of the median trochlea, characters that 

 may perhaps vary with age. Should further ma- 

 terial become available it is possible that the fossil 

 may be described as specifically distinct from the 

 modern bird. 



At the present period the ocellated turkey is found 

 only in Guatemala, Honduras, Campeche, and Yuca- 

 tan, where it ranges in tropical regions. The present 

 record for southern Arizona is a distinct addition 

 to what we consider the typically North American 

 avifauna, and marks a considerable extension in the 

 known range of the genus in question. As this Avould 

 seem to indicate a former distribution throughout 

 much of Mexico, further records will be awaited with 

 considerable interest. Especial attention should be 

 paid to scrutiny of turkey bones from caverns and 

 from ancient sites of Indian villages, as it is barely possible that 

 Agriocharis may have survived in the north until comparatively 

 recent times. 



Identification of this fossil from Arizona led naturallj^ to exami- 

 nation of the remarkable species Parapavo calif ornicus L. H. Miller, 

 described from the Pleistocene asphalt beds at Rancho La Brea. 

 Three tarso-metatarsi (the type bone in this species) were loaned for 

 this purpose through the kindness of Dr. C. Stock, of the University 

 of California. The species in question was first described by Doctor 



Fig. 5. — Broken 



TAESO-ilETATAR- 



sus OP Agrio- 

 charis, SPECIES, 



anterior view. 

 (Nat. size.) 



' Aquila, vol. 21, 1914, pi. 14, fig. 52. 



