NO. 2 AVIFAUNA OF PLEISTOCENE IN FLORIDA WETMORE 3I 



PANDION HALIAETUS (Linnaeus) 



Osprey 

 Faico haliactus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. i, 1758, p. 91. 



A nearly complete left metatarsus was obtained by J. W. Gidley on 

 April 5, 1929, in the Number Two bed at Melbourne where it was 

 associated with remains of a peculiar extinct bear, Arc tod lis flori- 

 damis. In 1930 a femur was secured in the Itchtucknee deposits by 

 Mr. and Mrs. H. H. Simpson. These are the first reports of the 

 osprey in the Pleistocene of our continent. 



Family FALCONIDAE 

 POLYBORUS CHERIWAY (Jacquin) 



Audubon's caracara 

 Falco (chcrhcay) Jacquin, Beytr. Gesch. Vogel, 1784, p. 17, pi. 4. 



On the golf course near Melbourne, Gidley collected an ulna that is 

 identical with that of modern birds. On the west coast W. W. 

 Holmes obtained numerous remains in the Seminole Field, these in- 

 cluding parts of humeri, ulnae, a femur, a tibio-tarsus, and several 

 metatarsi. Two fragmentary humeri and the lower end of a tibio- 

 tarsus are similar in size to small modern specimens of the caracara 

 from Florida. Parts of four metatarsi agree in having the distal troch- 

 leae distinctly smaller than in any of the three modern birds seen. 

 Ulnae and part of a femur also seem smaller than usual. It will be 

 recalled that two subsj^ecies of this caracara are now recognized, 

 Polyhorus cJicr'nvay chcrnvay of northern South America, and Poly- 

 horns cJicrkvay aitduboiii of Florida and the southwestern part of the 

 United States south into Mexico, the former being smaller in size. 

 The smaller fossil bones here under discussion seem to show approach 

 to the modern race of South America. 



Remains of the caracara are common in the Pleistocene deposits 

 of California but are here reported for the first time outside that State. 

 In Florida the species at the present time is peculiar to the prairies of 

 the Okeechobee and Kissimmee regions, where it is locally common. 



FALCO SPARVERIUS Linnaeus 



Sparrow hawk 

 Pako sparzicrins Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. i, 1758, p. 90. 



Material collected in Saber-tooth Cave at Lecanto, Florida, in 1928 

 by W. W. Holmes includes parts of right and left tibio-tarsi of this 

 species, a common bird in this area at the present time. 

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