A Oberholser, Genera and Species of Cygnince. [^^^ "|"|y 



Chars, sp. — Tarsometatarsus ridged distally on external side, its 

 shaft rather robust, posteriorly convex, with two lateral and a 

 narrow median ridge, proximally convex on inner side, with deep 

 concavity on outer side ; third crest of hypotarsus reaching below 

 foramen, and longer than second, fourth sending a keel over 

 foramen ; distal tendinous foramen large. Length of tarsometa- 

 tarsus, 115 mm. ; median tranverse diameter, 11 mm. 



Type Locality. — Silver Lake region, south-west central Oregon. 



Geographical Distribution. — Silver Lake region, Oregon. 



This fossil species was discovered in the Pliocene formation of 

 Oregon, in the so-called Equus Beds of the now famous Silver Lake 

 region, and was described chiefly from several tarsometatarsi. It 

 is apparently nearest to Olor columbianus, though distinct and 

 somewhat intermediate between the latter and Olor buccinator.* 



Olor columbianus (Ord). 



Anas columbianus, Ord, Guthrie's Geogr., 2nd Amer. ed., ii., 1815, 



P- 319- 



Cygnus americana, Sharpless, Doughty's Cab. Nat. Hist., i.. No. 

 8, 1831, p. 185, pi. 16 (North America). 



Cygnvis americanus, Sharpless, Amer. Journ. Sci. Arts, xxii., 1832, 

 p. 83 (North America). 



Chars, sp. — Lores and basal portion of the bill black in adult, the 

 lores with a small oval spot of orange or yellow; entire plumage 

 white ; wing, 510-575 mm. 



Type Locality. — The Dalles, Oregon. 



Geographical Distribution. — Extreme northern North America, 

 from the northern part of Hudson Bay to Alaska ; in migration 

 west to the Commander Islands, south to Newfoundland, Massa- 

 chusetts, Florida, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Southern 

 California, Central Lower California, and Guanajuato, Mexico ; 

 casual on the Bermuda Islands ; accidental in Scotland. 



* Doctor R. B. Sharpe cites (Handlist Gen. and Spec. Birds, i., 1899, p. 207) 

 another fossil species, Cygnus herentlialsi, from the Crag clay (Pliocene), Belgium, 

 credits it to Van Beneden, Bull. Acad. Belg. , xxxii., 1871, p. 217, and in the 

 Zoological Record for 1871, Aves, p. 30, gives the title of Ven Beneden's paper as 

 " Les Oiseaux de I'Argile Rupelienne et du Crag." The description of this species 

 is, nevertheless, not to be found at the place designated (Bull. Acad. Roy. Sci. Belg., 

 xxxii., 1871, p. 217), nor, indeed, anywhere in the volume. Furthermore, this title 

 does not appear in the Royal Society's "Catalogue of Scientific Papers;" nor have 

 we been al)le to discover any other reference to it, aside from those of Sharpe above 

 quoted. There is, however, an article by Van Beneden, entitled " Les Oiseaux de 

 I'Argile Rupelienne," in the same volume (Bull. Acad. Roy. Sci. Belg., xxxii., pp. 

 256-261, pi. ), describing several fossil species, which Doctor Sharpe mentions in 

 the Zoological Record iox 1871, from pages near those of the mysterious citation of 

 Cygnus herenthalsi — but pages on which they do not occur in the complete volume. 

 It is possible that Van Beneden originally included the description of Cygnns heren- 

 thalsi in an advance separate, that later he changed his mind regarding some of the 

 species, and omitted them from the paper as it finally appeared in the volume with a 

 later pagination ; for Doctor Sharpe cites in the Record at least one other bird — Anser 

 scaldi — that is missing from the article in the " Bulletin." 



