NO. 2 FOSSIL AND SUBFOSSIL BIRDS — WETMORE 5 



identified, without question, as Grus amcricana (Linnaeus), the 

 wiiooping crane. 



The specimen, Chicago Natural History Museum No. P25538, 

 found one-half mile northwest of Ferry, Oceana County, Mich., in 

 what was reported to be a Pleistocene marl, was presented to the 

 Museum by George W. Bowen. The record is of particular interest 

 since it is not only a new fossil locality for this species, but also is 

 the first report of this crane from the State of Michigan. 



The species has been recorded previously as a fossil from the 

 Upper Pliocene of Idaho, and from the Pleistocene of California and 

 Florida. 



IV. BIRDS OF LATE PLEISTOCENE AGE FROM 

 AUGUSTA COUNTY, VIRGINIA 



Through the kindness of John E. Guilday of the Carnegie Museum 

 a collection of bird bones from small caves and fissures at the bases 

 of the rock columns known as the Natural Chimneys, a mile north 

 of Mount Solon, Va., has come to me for study. y\ccording to data 

 supplied by Mr. Guilday, the presence of bones at this site was re- 

 ported first in 1949 by Theodore B. Ruhoff, who has collected the 

 bulk of the material. Parties from the Carnegie Museum, directed 

 by J. LeRoy Kay, curator emeritus of the section of vertebrate paleon- 

 tology, also participated, until 1961. The work was possible through 

 the kind permission and assistance of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon E. Brown, 

 owners of the property. 



The bird remains were associated with abundant bones of mammals 

 and a smaller representation of reptiles and amphibians. Most of the 

 specimens are of such size and condition as to indicate the probability 

 that the deposit was accumulated through pellets regurgitated by 

 ancient owls. It must be stated, however, that no bones of owls are 

 included. The casual intrusion of fragments of larger birds is assumed 

 to have come through predators that sheltered in the caves, or through 

 the activities of wood rats, abundantly represented among the small 

 mammals. 



A complete report on the site prepared by Mr. Guilday (in press) 

 will contain a list of all the vertebrates, a detailed account of the 

 mammals, and a discussion of the entire fauna and its significance. 

 In the present account it is sufficient to state that the mammalian 

 remains include a number of boreal forms foreign to the area in 

 historic times, as well as four extinct species of the Pleistocene. These 

 indicate the probable age as near the end of Wisconsin time. The 

 birds support this assignment, as among them the spruce grouse and 



