122 THE CONDOR Vol. XXIV 
Let us now revert to our leading question in order to see how it looks in the 
light of the facts we have been examining. That question was, you will recall, 
How nearly perfect is the adaptation of the activities connected with food gath- 
ering and storing by the California woodpecker? If the facts are really as pre- 
sented no one can, I think, fail to see that none of the adaptations are perfect 
and that some of them are so imperfect that they are apt to result in serious in- 
jury or even death to the birds. 
So here these ‘‘Further Observations’’ must end. One is terribly tempted 
to plunge into a flood of inquiry as to what such facts about the lives of wood- 
peckers may mean for the lives of men. But, of course, when such a plunge 
would involve pulling with one an entire company of his fellow beings, he must 
forbear. Forbearance can not, however, restrain me from saying this much as 
my positively last ending: | 
The only possible way of correcting imperfections in adaptations of the. 
sort we have been considering, is through what we name intelligence. And this 
is equivalent to saying that Nature’s way of reducing to a minimum the imneffr- 
ciency, the wastefulness, and the dangers involved im all living nature is what. 
has been given the name Intelligence. Such is the central thesis of my psycho- 
biological philosophy. 
Scripps Institution for Biological Research, La Jolla, Califorma, March 23, 
1922. 
FOSSIL BIRDS FROM THE PLEISTOCENE OF McKITTRICK, 
CALIFORNNIA | 
By LOYE MILLER 
T HAS been my good fortune and a great pleasure the past winter, to coop- 
erate with mammalian Palaeontologists in the exploration at McKittrick, 
California, of a new exposure of Pleistocene asphalt comparable in nature, if 
not in extent, with the renowned Rancho La Brea beds of Los Angeles. Merriam 
and Stock (Science, n. s., Liv, p. 566, Dec. 9, 1921), have published a: 
brief note upon these beds, enumerating the more characteristic mammal re- 
mains that have come to light in a brief reconnaissance. At the invitation of Dr. 
Stock, under whose direct supervision the work is going on, I spent a brief time 
with his field party from the Museum of Palaeontology and have undertaken 
the study of the avian remains excavated. This preliminary note is offered to 
Conpor readers because of the live interest they have taken in the work at Rancho 
La Brea and the right good service that many Cooper Club members have ren- 
dered in contributing comparative material. All specimens taken out are depos- 
ited in the Museum of Palaeontology of the University of California at Berkeley. 
The most casual inspection of the three hundred thirty odd specimens of 
McKittrick birds now on hand brings out some marked differences between this 
assemblage and those from other western horizons. To determine the underlying 
forces that have brought about these differences constitutes the present problem. 
