346 BR. W. Shufeldt—Extinct Bird from South Carolina. 
of mine in some particulars, but not in all; in any event it would 
not invalidate the evident resemblance and certain actual agreements 
of this fossil specimen with the thigh-bone of several anserine genera 
and others remotely related to them.* 
In Chauna torquata the femur is very pneumatic, and this bird has 
long been suspected of having certain relationships with the Anseres, 
as have the Palamedeiformes generally.2, The general facies of the 
femur of Chauna bear not a little resemblance to the specimen in 
hand, though in the first-named bird the rotular channel is relatively 
deeper. The external condyles in the two are very similar. This 
likewise applies to Olor and to other swans, but to Branta and other 
genera of geese to a somewhat lesser degree. 
In other words, as far as this fossil fragment of a femur will carry 
us, I am of the opinion that it belonged to the skeleton of some very 
large, generalized, anserine bird, which existed, during late Miocene 
times, in the eastern section of this country and probably elsewhere. 
As faras the fragment carries, it confirms the affinity of the Screamers 
(Palamedeiformes) with the Anseres, but it throws no light upae the 
anserine affinities of the Flamingoes. 
Inasmuch as we have already discovered the fossil remains in this 
country of such ponderous swan and goose species as Anser condont, 
Shuf., and Olor paloregonus (Cope), it “should not surprise us to find 
even bigger ones than these; in my opinion we have one here. 
Others of large size represent the extinct Gastornithiformes in other 
parts of the world.® 
Confining ourselves to America—although it is doubtless also true 
of the extinct avifauns of all countries—I may say here that when 
we find fossil birds in a formation as early as late Miocene, and they 
are of comparatively large size, it is just possible—indeed, quite 
probable—that, in the case of.some of them, they may represent an 
ancestral type, from which has descended several branches to be 
represented in the existing avifauna. Upon the extinction of the 
early ancestral stock, it is often very puzzling to conjecture what 
the true relations of the forms, genera, and families in existence may 
be that were derived from the aforesaid ancestor or ancestors. It is: 
not at all unlikely that the fossil here described may be the ancestral 
type of several groups still in existence in this country or in the 
Americas. In this connexion it would be well to bear in mind 
the possible relationships of the Anseres, the Palamedeiformes, the 
Phcenicopteride, and others. 
Finally, the fossil I have here described appears to be not unlike 
1R. W. Shufeldt, ‘‘Osteology of Birds’?: New York State Hducation 
Department, State Museum Bull. 130, 1909, pp. 330-40. Attention is 
especially invited to what I say on p. 335 as to the femur in Branta agreeing 
with that bone in Olor. There are, of course, certain minor swan and goose 
characters of this bone, which can be both recognized and appreciated, and 
which would properly fall in the category of ‘* general and special characters ”” 
otherwise; the statement there made will hold good. » 
2 BR. W. Shufeldt, ‘‘ An Arrangement of the Families and Higher Groups of 
Birds’’: Amer. Nat., vol. xxxviii, Nos. 455-6, pp. 833- Bi Nov. —Dec., 1904. 
> R. W. Shufeldt, ibid., p. 337. 
