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Volume XIII July- Aug' list, 1911 Number 4' 
A SYNOPSIS OF OUR KNOWLEDGE CONCERNING THE FOSSIL BIRDS 
OF THE PACIFIC COAST OF NORTH AMERICA 
By LOYR ailLLPIR 
P REVIOUS to the discovery of the Pleistocene beds at Rancho La Brea only 
three localities on the Pacific Coast of North America had yielded any in- 
formation regarding fossil birds. Of these three localities two were rep- 
resented by but a single bone each. 
Since the exploration of the Rancho La Brea depo.sits brought out the impor- 
tance of the subject, avian fossils from four other localities have been studied, mak- 
ing thus a total of eight different horizons which now contribute to our knowledge 
of the birds of previous geological time. 
In 1894 Cope (l ) described the new pelecanid form Cyphoruis niag-nns from 
a single bone taken in the Eocene of Vancouver. This specimen probably repre- 
sents the largest known bird of flight. 
Lucas (2) in 1901 described from the upper Miocene of Los Angeles the flight- 
less diver Mancalla calif ornicus , represented by the major part of a humerus. 
All the other known specimens are from the Pleistocene of Oregon and Cali- 
fornia. Fossil Lake in Oregon is a lacustrine deposit. The Rodeo formation on 
San Francisco Bay is littoral marine, three localities in middle and northern Cali- 
fornia furnish cavern deposits, while the great mass of material from Rancho La 
Brea represents animals entrapped in soft asphalt. 
The Fossil Lake beds yielded to Cope (3), to Shufeldt (4) and to Miller (.5) 
fifty-two species of birds, the large majority of which were recorded by Shufeldt. 
Of these species 67.3 per cent are still liA’ing. All except one belong to recent 
genera. 
The results thus far published on the Rancho La Brea collections by Miller 
