NO. 2 FOSSIL AND SUBFOSSIL BIRDS — WETMORE I5 



Fox sparrows have been recorded from two Pleistocene localities 

 in California. 

 Melospiza melodia (Wilson) : Song Sparrow. 



One: A right humerus. 



The widely ranging song sparrow is reported from the Pleistocene 

 of California. 



V. BONES OF BIRDS FROM COCKROACH ISLAND, BERMUDA 



In November 1958, David B. Wingate forwarded a considerable 

 collection of bones from Bermuda, collected on Cockroach Island, 

 located in Harrington Sound off the base of Abbott's Cliff. Most of 

 these specimens were dug from about 4 cubic feet of sandy soil and 

 rubble, some of them from near the surface where they were among 

 roots of plants. Many are of young birds, ranging from nearly adult 

 to half or even one-third grown indicating a breeding colony. In 

 careful digging no associated skeletons were encountered, so that 

 the site was one where separate bones had accumulated. 



While the age of these specimens is unknown, the material prob- 

 ably is Recent, though, with one exception from the pre-Columbian 

 period. The few remains of the white-tailed tropicbird obviously are 

 of modern age. The uniform pale brownish-white cast in all the other 

 material indicates a deposit of some antiquity, though whether this 

 is of hundreds of years or of a longer period remains uncertain. 

 A few molluscan shells that accompanied the bones have been identi- 

 fied by Dr. J. P. E. Morrison of the National Museum as Poccilo- 

 conites bcrmudcnsis Pfeiffer, a living species that in time ranges back 

 to deposits of Pleistocene age. 



There have l.ieen several reports of bones of birds from caves in 

 the Bermudas but usually without identification, the earliest account 

 that I have seen being that of Nelson (1840, p. 113). In view of 

 the small amount of definite information on such deposits in Ber- 

 muda, I have prepared the brief account of the collection made by 

 Mr. Wingate which follows. 



Family PROCELLARIIDAE : Shearwaters, Fulmars 

 PUFFINUS LHERMINIERI Lesson: Audubon's Shearwater 



Piifflnus [sic] Iherminieri Lesson, Rev. Zool., vol. 2, No. 3, April (May), 1839, 



p. 102. (Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles.) 

 Puffinus parvus Shufeldt, Ibis, ser. 10, vol. 4, No. 2, Oct. 2, 1961, p. 632. (Recent 



deposits in the bone caves of Bermuda.) 



The few bones of this species include humeri, radii, ulnae, meta- 



