Vol. 6] 



Miller: Avifauna of Fossil Lake. 



si 



quite at variance with the concentration of other remains upon 

 the lee shore. Instances in support of this view are abundant in 

 the experiences of the author while collecting - the skeletons of 

 sea birds cast upon the beach. The ligaments of the foot and 

 shank are among the first to loosen, making these the parts most 

 frequently wanting in the beach specimens. It is otherwise dif- 

 ficult to account for the preservation of such fragile bones as the 

 pneumatic coracoid, while the dense, strong tarsus is so sparsely 

 represented in the assembled material. 



The specimens composing the collection are in a beautiful 

 state of preservation. Where not actually fractured, the form 

 and markings are almost as perfect as though freshly macerated 

 from the Recent specimen. This shows particularly well in such 

 a specimen as the femur of a grebe, where the lTigosities are 

 normally so well defined. The cavities of the long bones and the 

 spaces of the cancellated bone where broken are commonly filled 

 with fine yellowish gray sand, which formed the matrix in which 

 they were buried. 



PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE OP THE FOSSIL AVIFAUNA. 



The fossil avifauna previously known from the Fossil Lake 

 Beds has been discussed very thoroughly in an extensive memoir 

 by Sehuffeldt 3 embodying the results of his examination of the 

 private collections of Cope and Condon. These collections were 

 more extensive than the one at present under discussion. As 

 might be inferred, therefore, the number of species determinable 

 in the California collection is less than that determined by 

 Sehuffeldt. There are represented, however, three forms not 

 reported by Sehuffeldt, one of which, a species of Mchmophorus, 

 is new to science. 



The age of the Fossil Lake Beds was assumed by Sehuffeldt 

 to be Pliocene. This was the estimate made by Cope from a 

 study of the mammalian fauna, which he correlated with the 

 Subapennine of Europe. The more extended study of various 

 western horizons made by other writers has unquestionably 

 proven the Pleistocene age of these beds. 



a Sehuffeldt, R. W., Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., no. 9, p. 389. 1892. 



