NO. 2 AVIFAUNA OF PLEISTOCENE IN FLORIDA WETMORE I9 



CYGNUS BUCCINATOR Richardson 



Trumpeter swan 

 Cygniis buccinator Richardson, Faun. Bor.-Amer., vol. 2, 1831, (1832), p. 464. 



One entire and three fraomentary humeri, a metacarpal, a coracoid, 

 and a tibio-tarsus are inchided in the Florida State Geological Survey 

 collections from near the head of the Itchtucknee River in Columbia 

 County (Catalog nos. V-4576 ; V-4589 ; V-45(^ ; V-4598, 2 specimens ; 

 V-4599 and V-4826). These lx)nes are in an excellent state of preser- 

 vation, part being dark and part light in color. They agree perfectly 

 with the modern bird, and are larger and stronger than the correspond- 

 ing bones in the whistling swan. This fine bird, known previously from 

 the Pleistocene of Fossil Lake, Oregon, formerly ranged widely 

 through interior and western North America but at the present time 

 is at so low an ebb of abundance as to be nearly extinct. It wintered 

 formerly from southern Indiana and southern Illinois to Texas but 

 has not been reported previously from Florida. 



BRANTA CANADENSIS (Linnaeus) 



Canada goose 

 Anas canadensis Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. i, 1758, p. 123. 



From the Seminole Field this goose, a common species on the 

 northern part of the Gulf Coast of modern Florida, is represented by 

 the lower end of a left tibio-tarsus and the distal ends of right and 

 left ulnae. Two ulnae and a broken metacarpal are found in collec- 

 tions in the Florida State Geological Survey from near the head of 

 the Itchtucknee River in Columbia County. 



BRANTA CANADENSIS HUTCHINSI (Richardson) 



Hutchins' goose 

 Anscr hutchinsii Richardson, Faun. Bor.-Amer., vol. 2, 1831 (1832), p. 470. 



In the Holmes collection from the Seminole Field near St. Peters- 

 burg there is a distal end of a left ulna of the Braiifa type that is a 

 cotmterpart of B. caimdoisis except for its smaller size. Part of an 

 ulna comes from the Itchtucknee River, and material secured near 

 Melbourne for the Museum of Comparative Zoology by C. P. Single- 

 ton includes a right hmnerus that also has the same characters. These 

 are identified as from the Hutchins' goose, a species rarely recorded 

 from modern Florida. Current custom in recognizing this bird as a 

 subspecies of the Canada goose is here followed though some doubt 

 may be expressed as to whether the two are not specifically distinct. 



