UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS 



BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 



GEOLOGY 



Vol. 5, No. 19, pp. 285-289, PI. 25 ANDREW C. LAWSON, Editor 



PAVO CALIFORNICUS, A FOSSIL PEACOCK 



FROM THE 



QUATERNARY ASPHALT BEDS 



OF 



RANCHO LA BREA. 



BY 



LOYE HOLMES MILLEK. 



The Phasianinae constitute a group hitherto unrecorded 

 from the geological horizons represented on this continent, and, 

 as far as I am able to determine, unknown to the Western Hemi- 

 sphere. The genus Pavo seems not to have been noted thus 

 far as a fossil form ; hence the occurrence in the Quaternary 

 of California of the remains described in this paper, which seem 

 unquestionably to represent this genus, suggests an interesting 

 problem in the history of geographical distribution. For a dis- 

 cussion of the locality and the formation in which the specimen 

 was found, reference should be made to a paper now being pub- 

 lished by Professor John C. Merriam of the University of Cali- 

 fornia, 1 through whose courtesy the present paper is made pos- 

 sible. 



Pavo californicus, n. sp. The type specimen (no. 11300, 

 Univ. Calif. Col. Vert. Palae.) is a right tarso-metatarsus ob- 

 tained in the Quaternary asphalt beds at Rancho La Brea, near 

 Los Angeles, California. The specimen was found at the Uni- 

 versity of California collecting locality, no. 1059, three feet 

 below the surface, where it was covered by layers containing 

 the characteristic extinct Quaternary mammalian forms of these 



i See, also, Merriam, J. C, Science, N. S., vol. 24, p. 248, 1906. 



