36 SHUFELDT, Contributions to Arian Paleontology. [jan. 



sternum, to pass with certainty on the missing portions; one or two 

 of the long bones complete — or very nearly so — and, if possible, 

 a few skulls and pelvic fragments. Lacking the last, a more or less 

 complete coraeoid and scapula are great aids in the matter of 

 establishment. A complete furcida is of the utmost importance 

 in a great many birds, and to this the gallinaceous ones are by no 

 means exceptions. But, as in the case of Meleagris untiqua for 

 example, Marsh had no such material before him; only the imper- 

 fect, fragmentary distal end of a numerous, that was all I 



When Professor Cope was good enough to turn over to me several 

 hundred fossil bones of birds for description, — had I made new 

 species of all that I might have dour, there would have loomed up 

 in the list of fossil birds in the A. 0. U. Check-List quite an exten- 

 sive and varied fauna of extinct species and the higher groups; but 

 I passed such fragmentary evidence by, and recommended that it 

 l>e allowed to stand until some more material came from the same 

 horizon and locality. 



This is what should be done in the case of the two imperfect, 

 fragmentary bits that Marsh had, and upon which he proposed to 

 establish two extinct species of Meleagris. 



PLATE III. 



Fig. 1. Anconal aspect of the distal extremity of the right humerus of 

 "Meleagris antiguus" of Marsh. 



Fig. 2. Palmar aspect of the same specimen as shown in Fig. 1. 



Fig. 3. Anterior aspect of the proximal moiety of a tarso-metatarsus 

 of Meleagris celer of Marsh. 



Fig. 4. Posterior aspect of the same fragment of bone shown in Fig. 3. 



Fig. 5. Outer aspect of the same fragment of bone shown in figures 

 3 and 4. All figures natural size. Reproduced from photographs made 

 direct from the specimens by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt. 



11. Studies of the Fossil Birds of the Oregon Desert. 



Some twenty years or more ago. Professor E. 1"). Cope o( Phila- 

 delphia placed in my charge for description a large collection of 

 fossil vertebrates, that had been collected by himself and his assist- 

 ants at Fossil and Silver Lakes in the Oregon Desert. To this 

 collection were added numerous other fossils oi a similar description, 



