Some Birds of Prey from the Upper Pliocene of Kansas
Some birds of prey from the Upper Pliocene of Kansas.---Although many arian fossils from the local faunas of the Rexroad formation (Upper Pliocene), Meade County, Kansas, have now been reported, several species of birds of prey remain. These fossils, which Dr. C. W. Hibbard of The University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology a.nd his field parties collected, come from the Rexroad and Fox Canyon local faunas of the Rexroad formation. These two localities arc described by Hibbard (1950). The two local faunas have been treated as one in the past, but Hibbard's (1967) latest view is that they arc distinct. The Fox Canyon local fauna is now considered to be older than the Rexroad and is distinct on the basis of its small mammals (Hibbard, 1967). Birds have bccn reported previously from these local faunas by Wetmore (1944), Tordoff (1951, 1959), Brodkorb (1964, 1967), Collins (1964), Ford (1966), Murray (1967), a.nd Fcduccia (1967, 1968). The birds of prey represented arc as follows: Accipiter sp.---Two distal ends of tibiotarsi represent an accipitcr approximately the size of the Recent A. cooperi, but the clements arc not sufficiently diagnostic to warrant the naming of a new species or the definite assignment of the fossils to the Recent form. One bone, a 42-mm piece of the distal end of a left tibiotarsus (UMMP No. V57506, from the Rexroad local fau.na, loc. no. 3) measures 10.8 mm in width through condyles. The same measurement for eight specimens of Recent A. cooperi females gives a mcan of 10.1 mm, with a range of 9.2-10.9 mm. The smaller fossil, a 17.1-mm piece of the distal end of a left tibiotarsus (UMMP No. V45422, from the Rexroad local fauna, loc. UM-K3-53) measures 9.0 mm in width through condyles. The same measurement for five males of Recent A. cooperi gives a mean of 8.5 mm, with a range of 8.3-8.8 mm. Whether or not both fossils represent females or one a female and the other a male cannot bc dctcrmi.ned, but it is probably best to assume that only one species is represented. Buteo sp.--A fragment of a right coracold (UMMP No. V24767, from the Fox Canyon local fauna, loc. UM-K1-47) represents a large species of Buteo close in size and morphology to B. jamaicensis, but it is too fragmentary to permit allocation. No useful measurements could be taken.
THE PLIOCENE RAILS OF NORTH AMERICA
To increase our understanding of Pliocene local faunas of North America, several recent studies of fossil birds have been made from material collected by Claude W. Hibbard and his field parties from the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology. Ibises have been reported by Collins (1964), owls by Ford (1966) and Ford and Murray (1967), grebes by Murray (1967), a gallinule by Brodkorb (1967), crane and stork fossils by Feduccia (1967a), and a swallow by Feduccia (1967b). The fossil material has been recovered mainly from four localities: the Sawrock Canyon, Fox Canyon, and Rexroad local faunas from Kansas, and the Hagerman local fauna from Idaho. Birds reported previously from these localities include those studied by Wetmore (1944) and Tordoff (1951, 1959) from the Rexroad local fauna, and by Wetmore (1933) and Brodkorb (1958) from the Hagerman local fauna. The present study was undertaken to learn more about the rails from these local faunas. Rallus phillipsi Wetmore from Mohave County, Arizona, and Fulica infelix Brodkorb from Malheur County, Oregon, are included in the systematic list to complete the North American Pliocene rail fauna. During the course of this study, 46 Recent species representing 19 genera of rails were examined in the collections of the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, the United States National Museum, and Pierce Brodkorb. The specimens examined included seven species of Rallus and five species of Porzana. The type humerus and some of the referred material of Rallus prenticei were loaned through the kindness of W. A. Clemens of the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History and sent to me by Pierce Brodkorb who had them on loan. Several skins were examined to gain some idea of size where skeletal material was not available. The fossils examined are in the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology (UMMP) and the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History (KU). The classification of rails used is that of Peters' Check-list (1934).
Notes on fossil turkeys
Both Shufeldt (1913) and Howard (1963) suggested that Meleagris antiqua Marsh (1871) is not a turkey. Study of the holotype, the distal end of a right humerus, Yale Peabody Museum no. 537, confirms this view and indicates that it is referable to the family Cracidae. The ectepicondyle is low, lying below the level of the proximal end of the external condyle, with the tubercles protruding laterally. The pit for the palmar branch of flexor carpi ulnaris is very deep. The external condyle has its distal end elevated above the internal condyle, as in Crax. The entepicondyle is broad in medial view, with the anconal margin forming an angle of about 45 degrees, not compressed into a point as in the turkeys.