12 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 8/ 



Order GRUIFORMES 

 Family GRUIDAE. Cranes 



Among miscellaneous fragments from a locality " about 3 milc^ 

 south of Smithsonian Hill ", /. c, from the Plesippiis quarry, there 

 is a section of the premaxilla of a crane (U.S.N.M. no. 12235) that is 

 as large as the whooping crane, Gnis americana. This specimen 

 seemingly represents a peculiar type of this family, as the groove on 

 the low^er surface is unusually narrow, owing to the approximation of 

 the projecting overhanging walls on either side. 



Family RALLIDAE. Rails, Coots, and Caliinulcs 

 GALLINULA CHLOROPUS 



The distal end of a right tibio-tarsus (U.S.N.M. no. 12822) was 

 found November 8, 1930. by Elmer Cook in Canyon 9, 54 miles south 

 of the main quarry at a level 400 feet above the river. This specimen 

 agrees in size with males of the modern Florida gallinule, being closely 

 similar to U.S.N.M. no. 318852 male, from lie a Vache, Haiti. While 

 Fnlica and Galliniila are closely similar in this part of the skeleton and 

 in some individuals cannot be separated, this specimen shows the 

 narrowed intercondylar sulcus and the form of the posterior articular 

 surface characteristic of well-marked tibio-tarsi of GaUinuJa. Some 

 modern birds have the intercondylar sulcus broader, but as indicated 

 above this fossil is identical with at least one modern skeleton at hand. 



The identification of this bone carries this species back into the 

 Pliocene ; it has been recorded previously as fossil from the Pleistocene 

 of the Seminole Field and Itchtucknee River, Florida. 



Rallidae 



The distal end of a tibio-tarsus (U.S.N.M. no. 122^,"/) from the 

 deposit 3 miles south of the fossil quarry, and 200 feet above Snake 

 River, is distinctly ralline in form, but from the fragment at hand 

 cannot be definitely allocated except to state that it represents either 

 a coot {Fnlica) or a gallinule {GaJIiiiula)- — probably the former. It 

 comes from a bird about one half or less the size of the modern 

 American coot. 



Another species of this family, represented by a fragment of a meta- 

 carpal intermediate in size between the sora {Porzana Carolina) and 

 the king rail {Rallus clcgans), was collected by Elmer Cook in 1932 

 at a point about 3 miles south of the Plcsippns quarry, and 200 feet 

 lower in elevation (U.S.N.M. no. 12832). The specimen is too 

 fragmentary to be definitely identified. 



