UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS 



BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 



GEOLOGY 



Vol. 5, No. 30, pp. 439-448 ANDREW C. LAWSON, Editor 



WADING BIRDS 



FROM THE 



QUATERNARY ASPHALT BEDS 



OF 



RANCHO LA BREA 



BY 



LOYE HOLMES MILLER. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



Introduction 439 



Cieoniidae, Storks 440 



Ciconia maltha, n. sp 440 



Jabiru mycteria (Liehtenstein) 446 



Gruidae, Cranes 446 



Grus minor, n. sp 446 



Grus canadensis (Linn.) 448 



Ardeidae, Herons 448 



Ardea herodias (Linn) 448 



INTRODUCTION. 

 Comment has previously been made 1 on the unbalanced 

 avifauna of the Raneho La Brea beds. Accepting the almost 

 unavoidable conclusion that the herbivorous mammals found there 

 were attracted in some measure by water, it seems most strange 

 that the wading birds should be so poorly represented in the 

 collections from these beds. Thus far there have been discovered 

 in the large mass of material excavated by the University of 

 California, but five species of the wading birds. Of these five 

 species, three are represented by but one individual each. It is 

 of interest also to note that fourteen out of a possible seventeen 



> Miller, L. H., Univ. Calif. Publ. Geol., vol. 5, no. 21 ; also Condor, 

 Jan., 1910. 



