298 



Bird -Lore 



Crane and Raven. Falcons, now belonging to tropical America, then ranged 

 California. 



Of birds not found, Loye Holmes Miller, who has made a study of this 

 deposit and named a dozen species never before identified, particularly notes 

 the absence of the Mourning Dove. As this is now the commonest species 

 in the vicinity, of the approximately eighty species of Pigeons in the Americas 

 today. Miller concludes that it was not here at the time the tar-pools were 

 making this most nearly complete collection of the fauna of the epoch imme- 

 diately preceding man that has yet been discovered. 



He also notes the absence of certain other forms one would expect to find, 

 as the King Vulture and Harpy Eagle, both now found along the Mexican 

 border. There are no Parrots, now common a few degrees south. The Spoonbill 

 and Ibis are absent, now close at hand. Neither is there a trace of birds that 

 do not fly, so the question of whether the South American Rhea entered by 

 way of Alaska or whether it is a product of the southern continent is still 

 unsolved. But scientists believe that some day the discovery of members of 

 this subclass will be made, as it is believed they entered from the north, as 

 did cats, deer, elephants, and other mammals of Old-World origin that reached 

 us via the land-bridge of Alaska. There were no large carnivora in South 

 America until the felines, or cat family, reached there in relatively late geo- 

 logical times. 



Somewhat allied to the Condors, though without any near relatives, so 



TAR-LAKE AT RANCHO LA BREA, SHOWING ASPHALTUM SEEPAGE IN FOREGROUND 



AND EXCAVATIONS AT RIGHT 



Photographed by M. C. Frederick 



