6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I45 



the gray jay today are inhabitants of northern coniferous forests, and 

 the sharp-tailed grouse and the magpie also are northern and north- 

 western in modern distribution. None of the birds may be regarded 

 as typically southern since all the others identified are species that, 

 while found today as residents or migrants in Virginia, range widely 

 to the north. The presence of all at the end of the Pleistocene in 

 what Mr, Guilday has named the Natural Chimneys local fauna is 

 definitely of outstanding interest since this is the first extensive avian 

 fossil deposit reported for the State. The list includes 38 species, 

 with 2 others identified to genus. Fragmentary bits that could not be 

 named include several additional small passeriform species. 



The bird bones are pale ivory to nearly white in color, except for 

 a few that are gray or blackish gray, due apparently to staining, as 

 none are mineralized. All are well preserved, only occasional ones 

 being friable or brittle. A few come from juvenile individuals, some 

 of them probably from young grouse, though this is not certain, 



ANNOTATED LIST OF SPECIES 

 Family AN ATIDAE : Ducks 



Atias discors Linnaeus: Blue-winged Teal. 



At least two individuals : Central section of right ramus of a 

 mandible, from the anterior end of the surangular forward to include 

 somewhat more than half of the dentary ; proximal ends of two right 

 humeri ; left tarsometatarsus with the head missing. 



Difference in size in the fragmentary wing bones indicates that 

 male and female birds may be represented. The part from the lower 

 leg is one with maximum development of the sculptured lines marking 

 the location of tendons and their attachment found in individuals 

 more than a year old. 



This teal is recorded from several Pleistocene localities in Florida. 

 Biicephala albeola (Linnaeus) : Bufifiehead. 



One individual : A left carpometacarpus, with the shaft of meta- 

 carpal III missing. This agrees in the details of length of the distal 

 symphysis, angle of anterior slope of metacarpal I, form of the facet 

 for articulation of the pollex, and angular compression of the inner 

 margin of the shaft of metacarpal III, with modern specimens. 



The several Pleistocene records for the buflflehead include reports 

 from Oregon, California, and Florida, 

 Oxyura jamaicensis (Gmelin) : Ruddy Duck, 



One individual : Proximal two-thirds of a left humerus. The small 



