386 



University of California Publications. [Geology 



Introduction 



There is assembled in the collections of the Department of 

 Palaeontology at the University of California an extensive and 

 highly interesting collection of vertebrate remains from the 

 Pleistocene cave deposits thus far known to the state. The 

 material was secured during the exploration of the caves by the 

 immediate efforts of Dr. Wm. J. Sinclair and Mr. E. L. Furlong, 

 working under the direction of Professor John C. Merriam. 

 General accounts have been published by both Sinclair 1 and 

 Furlong 2 , giving the location of the caves, nature of the deposits 

 and lists of determined species. The bird material from these 

 collections forms the subject of the present paper. 



Occurrence 



The caverns yielding bird remains are three in number. 

 Potter Creek and Samwel caves are in the lower region of the 

 McCloud River in Shasta County, California. Both are limestone 

 caverns of considerable extent. Hawver Cave is in Eldorado 

 County and is likewise of limestone origin. All three localities 

 have present elevations between 1300 and 1500 feet above sea 

 level and lie in the same faunal zone as determined by the dis- 

 tribution of Recent vertebrates. The Pleistocene age of the 

 deposits is indicated by the fact that about thirty per cent of the 

 mammalian species represented are at present extinct. Elcphas, 

 Mastodon, Eucerathcrium, Megalonyx, Eqmis, Camelus, and 

 Arctotherium appear among the genera which are either extinct 

 or are no longer represented in this region. Students of the 

 mammalian fauna consider that the indications point to the 

 greater age of the Potter Creek deposits although, as noted below, 

 the evidence furnished by the avian remains is somewhat to the 

 contrary. 



The specimens obtained were in many cases badly fractured 



i Sinclair, W. J., Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. Ethn., vol. 2, pp. 1-27, 

 1904. 



- Furlong, E. L., Am. Jour. Sci., vol. 22, pp. 235-247, 1906; and Science, 

 n.s., vol. 25, pp. 392-394, March 8, 1907. 



