NO. 20 PLIOCENE BIRD REMAINS WETMOKE C 



deposits of the Hagennan Lake beds, in the NW:|- Sec. i6, T. 76, 

 R. 13 E., about 2 miles west of Hagerman, Idaho. 



Description. — Head quadrilateral in general outline, with angles 

 rounded ; humeral facet well depressed ; ulnar facet slightly rounded, 

 with head projecting at this point beyond line of shaft ; ligamental 

 l>apilla strong, projecting as a shelf below level of head: bici])ital 

 tubercle located only a short space below head, forming a sharji- 

 angled ridge of slight prominence ; shaft moderately strong, somewhat 

 inflated below head, flattened slightly from side to side at first, with 

 a marked projection forming a ridge on outer aspect below head; 

 beyond this the shaft becomes somewhat trihedral in outline, with the 

 side facing the ulna more flattened, and then assumes a more rounded 

 form ; shaft with a strong sigmoid fle:^ure. 



Measurements.— Tr^.n?,\trst diameter of head at right angles to 

 ligamental papilla y.^ mm ; transverse diameter of head through and 

 including ligamental papilla 9.5 mm ; distance from center of bicipital 

 tubercle to margin of humeral facet 7.0 mm ; transverse diameter of 

 shaft near center 6.8 mm. 



Remarks. — The radius, while susceptible of identification in dealing 

 with fossil or modern birds, ordinarily is a bone with such slight 

 dififerential characters that I have usually considered it of doubtful 

 value in determining the identity of species where other material cor- 

 roborative of the identification was lacking. The specimen used here 

 as a type, though laid aside with scant attention when first brought 

 to me, to my surprise has on study proved to be so characteristic that 

 it serves to establish an extinct form without the slightest doubt or 

 confusion. It is therefore used as the basis for a new name. 



In outline this bone is a diminutive replica of the corresponding- 

 part in the American white pelican, common today in the general 

 area under discussion. It difTers distinctly from the salt-water-in- 

 habiting brown pelicans, in which the bicipital tubercle is located 

 relatively farther below the head. In size Pelecamu halieus is slightly 

 smaller than the West Indian race of P. occidentalis. Resemblance to 

 the white pelican, except for its smaller dimensions, is remarkably 

 close, so that there is the distinct impression that the bird is closely 

 related to P. erythrorhynchos. 



Family PHALACROCORACIDAE. Cormorants 



PHALACROCORAX IDAHENSIS (Marsh) 



Gracuhis idahensis Marsh, Amer. Journ. Sci., ser. 2, vol. 49, 1870, p. 216. 



The distal portion of a left ulna (U.S.N.M. no. 12240) was col- 

 lected in 1930 about 200 feet above Snake River and the same distance 



