K(iUL'S liKUS OF THE OREGON DESERT. 
r •:”%“. l:::;.;,,:,,™ h.. m t^ey diner r™.. «,. ti. 
Tiuv e.,,,..n.n,l. F..»,il ulna „f stout and heavy, extrem.hes 
rail, or ..ruuily dovoluH- '-•■'if"' ““ 
(W follfction : IMioceiie oi On-gon (Siher Lake). • 
I llnvc not nt .nv foni.nun.l Hkeletcns of Charztonetta albeola nor Htstrtomcus 
AhtMcus, oinl I think it likely that the first named species occurred on Silver 
loakc and it« aiater hUo.‘U> of water during the later tertiary. There are four tarsiv 
,„..|«Un.i ill CoiK*-- collection that lielonged to Ducks evidently related to either 
t.hHcionftta or CharilomUa they may have lielonged to Ducks long since e.xtinct 
hut in the nlweiiw of the skeletons of birds I have mentioned above, I prefer at 
pnKent to |Mu*s them over to the non-identified material, and give some future 
ul.MTVer an op|Hirtunity to compare them with the forms that the present writer 
lacks. Then* an* a nuinlKT id* other lxnie.sof the Aiiatidcp that I could not identify 
ipiile to niy satisfaction. 'These for the present 1 have also laid aside. I 
strongly siis"|HH-t that Isdli Mcr/ianser serrator and americaiius occurred during 
Tliin-ne limes on those* lakes; they may, so far as I know of anything to the con- 
trary, iMvur then* to-ilny. Anas slrepera and Erismatiira riibida may also have 
figiiriil in former times along with the other fossil forms w'e have been examining. 
1 have not had s|M*cimens of this skeleton for comparison. Nothing at present 
leads me to lu'lleve that then* wen* Ducks during the Pliocene in Oregon which 
havesinci* Imiimiii* extinct, hut then* may have been, and no evidence on the subject 
has ns yet «nne to light. My own idea is that the Anatida;, at least, existed pretty 
much the same in thosi* times as they do at the present day, and their descendants 
in our ivc«*nt fauna exhibit hut few. if any, marked structural departures from them. 
It is a gn*nt pity that then* is such u total absence of the fossil an.serine skulls, for 
that )Mirt of the skeleton would show changes, had any in reality existed, better than 
any other part of the economy. 
.\»»r.a oosDosi Kp. nov, 
I his (tiMua*. now extinct, must have lx*en nearly as large again as our coinmon 
wild raiindn Gihmu* [liratita eanai/ensis). Its remains are represented in Professor 
t o|s* s colUH*tion hy a fract«n*d os furcula and the parts of two others. 
Ihe..s*I have most can*fully compai-ed with the furcula* of a number of our 
r« l •■'"'’iTi"?' Dcndrocygfia and Olor, 
/” ****”" ‘ “* "*'”**^* majority of its characters are most like such a 
gtnwc as . I Hsrr alhi/rons. 
limhofthe^ left^Vt" ”*'*C'*** lower arc of the furcida, a nearly complete upijer 
Uu^ v" corresponding part from one or hvo 
W^ m im r <>ur existing Geese, the o^ furcula of condoni 
- pnunnnttc. es,Hv.ally the su,K*nor limbs, atrd it is upon the side of the 
