July, 1922 FOSSIL BIRDS FROM McKITTRICK 123 
Perhaps the most striking feature that was brought out in the study of the 
Rancho La Brea birds some years ago was the great abundance, both in species 
and in individuals, of its raptors, many of which were of large size. ‘Three con- 
dors, two smaller cathartids, two Old World vultures, a caracara, and the great 
Teratornis made up the contingent of scavenging raptors. ‘Six eagles, three 
buteonines, three falcons, the marsh hawk, and the white-tailed kite, represented 
the active predators by day, while a night shift of six species of owls continued 
the predatory work after sunset. More than half the total bird remains taken 
from these beds came from birds of the orders of raptorial habit—a most unusual 
situation indeed. . 
The collection from McKittrick is admittedly a limited one, yet it is suffi- 
cient to show the totally different proportions of its fauna. The golden eagle 
(Aquila chrysaétos) is the only raptor represented by more than one or two spe- 
cimens, but of this lusty fellow there appear some ninety determinable bones. 
Poiyborus (sp.) is the next raptor in point of numbers, with seven bones; the 
little Falco sparverius follows with four; and Circus hudsonius, falco peregri- 
nus, Geranoaétus (?), Cathartes (?), and Teratorms, with one specimen each. 
In contrast with this limited predatory population, the water birds, so scarce at 
Rancho La Brea, constitute more than two-thirds of the determinable remains 
thus far taken from the new horizon. <Anserines, ranging in size from a teal to 
a goose, are in the majority, being represented by 33% of the whole collection. 
Limicolines follow in order with 20%, whereas at Rancho La Brea they number 
less than one in ten thousand. Two large storks resembling Cicoma maliha and 
Jabiru mycteria are present in numbers approaching 15%, while herons and 
cranes are well represented. 
The order of the scratchers has contributed to the collection thus far but a 
single bone, the coracoid of a quail indistinguishable from the present bird of the 
region, Lophortyx califormca. Rancho La Brea, though equally poor in quail 
remains, is abundantly rich in the big Parapavo, as yet undiscovered in the 
McKittrick. The two localities agree in the total absence of all the gull tribe, 
as well as in the great scarcity or entire absence of all sorts of diving birds, a 
matter of considerable interest in view of the abundant ducks and geese. 
While the collections from McKittrick are admittedly meager as yet, they 
are, nevertheless, very strongly indicative of topographic differences that must 
have existed between the locality and that of Rancho La Brea at the time of 
entombment of the bird remains. The indicated contrast lies in the different 
amounts of open water and of cover offered as attractions to them. 
At Rancho La Brea, the great abundance of Varapavo strongly suggests a 
considerable amount of timber, at least in spots. There are, to be sure, osteologic¢ 
differences between this bird and its present-day relatives, sufficient to admit 
of great diversity of habit, yet Parapavo could scarcely have been a bird of the 
open plains. The presence of bedded leaves, of twigs, and even of goodly sized 
tree trunks further bears out this impression of cover, while the scarcity of anser- 
ines and the almost total absence of limicolines indicate the absence of shallow, 
open water in bodies of any great size. Water there was to be sure, but it might 
well have been in very narrow basins or in brushy seepage areas augmented dur- 
ing the rainy season into a slow-moving stream along the bed of a slight depres- 
sion. Just such conditions, except for the absence of timber, prevail in the im- 
