THE FOSSIL AVIFAUNA OF THE 
ill 
toed than P. 7'uber. Some of the best distinguishing characters are seen in the 
coracoids of the two birds. While the sternal ends of tlie.se hones agree very well, 
their summits are different. In P. ruber this part is tuberous and bmad trans- 
versely and a general concavity exists just below it upon the mesial aspect of the 
upper part of the shaft. In P . copei the summit is niarkedh- narrower while the 
mesial aspect of the shaft just below it is a circumscribed, Hat area. The scapular 
process in P. rtiber is narrow in the vertical direction, — broader in P. copci. The 
distance from the anterior edge of the glenoid cavity to the anterior border of the 
shaft in P. miber measures ten millimetres ; in P. copci only eight millimetrcs. 
(See Figs. 41, 42, and 43, PI. XV, also Figs. 28, 29, 38, PI. XVII.) 
In dedicating this species to Professor E. I). Cope of Philadel[)hia I feel that 1 
pay but a very slight tribute to one who has done so much to advance the science of 
paleontology in America. 
Phcsnicopterus copei was discovered at Fossil Lake, in the Pliocene formation. 
Oregon, by Mr. C. H. Sternberg. 
, THE BONES. ! 
Greatest length of proximal phalanx of index digit (including disral proces.s)| 
Greatest width of the same 
Coracoid (longest diameter) 
Coracoid greatest width, sternal end 
Greatest width of distal end of tibio-tarsns 
Antero posterior diameter of inner condyle, tibio-tarsus .... 
Greatest width of trochlear end of tarso-metatareus 
Length of ba.«al phalanx, mid-anterior toe 
HERODIONES. 
Aedea pai.occidentalis sp. nov. 
Represented by the lower part of the shaft and distal trochlea' of the right 
tarso-metatarsus. This bone, from a medium-sized Heron, 1 have compaivd with 
the correspionding one in several of our smaller Ai'dcidce^ as Ardca candidissima. .1. 
cwj'ulea, A. virescens and the Black-crowned Night Heron {Nycticorax n. ncreius). 
and although it agrees very closely with most of them in its ostcological characters, 
it agrees with none of them in point of size. It belonged to a Heron larger than .1. 
cajididissima and smaller than A. egiAta, and I am of the opinion that the s|)eeies 
is extinct. Transverse diameter of trochlear extremity equals eleven milliinetres. 
(See Fig. 31, PI. XVII.) 
Cope collection : Pliocene of Oregon. 
PALUDICOL.®.' 
FhlICA AMERICANA. 
Cope has alrecady proven that the American Coot was rcpre.sentcd in the 
Un February la.st (1892), Professor Cope did me' the honor of submitting to me for .lewriplion the fewii 
bone of a bird from Texas. My description appeared in a paper published by liiinself mid entitle.!. " A Con- 
54 JOUR. A. N. S. rniLA., VOL. IX- 
r. ruber 
P. riiiKri 
.M. 
M. 
4.'{ 
40 
10 
10 
(>8 
0.'> 
35 
.■P) 
17 
17 
20 
20 
20 
22 
47 
4S 
