Additional archival information on the history of the holotype of Testudo nigra (= T. californiana ) confirms that there is probably no possibility of establishing its island of origin within the Galapagos. Both names should be suppressed as nomina dubia , despite the fact that T. nigra was relatively recently resurrected as the species name for all Galapagos tortoises. The status of the name Testudo nigrita as a nomen dubium is here further confirmed by the fact that its lectotype no longer exists.

In a 24 hr period during 23–25 December 1975, I documented a minimum of 282 dead individuals of Oceanic Puffer Lagocephalus lagocephalus that had washed ashore on the remote South Atlantic island of Trindade, 1200 km east of the coast of Brazil. All of the more than 50 individuals for which I determined the sex had been reproductively active males. The locality is much farther south than the species has been previously recorded in the western Atlantic. I present evidence from ephemeral sources that report similar die-offs of Lagocephalus lagocephalus in the Hawaiian Islands and Fanning Atoll in the Pacific, and the Gulf of Guinea and Gabon in the eastern Atlantic for which, unfortunately, no scientific details, such as the sex of the individuals or other information that could explain cause of death, appears to have been published. The Trindade observation suggests that mass mortalities of this puffer may be associated with reproductive swarms.

A new species of small crested caracara, Caracara seymouri , from Quaternary asphalt deposits of the Talara Tar Seeps, northwestern Peru, is described from most major elements of the skeleton. Specimens reported in the literature from late Pleistocene deposits at La Carolina, Ecuador, are referred to the same species. These fossils had previously been identified as Polyborus (now Caracara ) plancus , but they possess a combination of characters not present in the living species of caracaras, C. plancus or C. cheriway and are from a much smaller and more gracile bird. Caracara seymouri is similar in size to the extinct species C. creightoni from the Bahamas and Cuba but differs in having the skeletal elements less robust, especially the premaxilla. This is the second paleospecies described for the genus Caracara in the Quaternary of South America.

Although currently treated as feminine, the rules of nomenclature dictate that the proper gender of the generic name Chelonoidis Fitzinger, 1835 , used for certain tortoises of South America and the giant species of the Galapagos, is masculine. This necessitates changes to the endings of the following specific names Chelonoidis niger, C. californianus, C. nigritus, C. carbonarius, and C. denticulatus .

The nomenclatural history of the small Antillean species that now goes by the name Audubon's Shearwater Puffinus lherminieri is briefly summarized. The type material of Puffinus lherminieri Lesson, 1839 , supposed to be in a museum in Rochefort, France, could not be located and is presumed lost. The stated type locality “ad ripas Antillarum” is so general as to encompass almost the entire breeding range of the species, which is widely distributed in the Antillean region and has been regarded as showing variation meriting subspecific designation. Although the type locality was apparently legitimately restricted to Guadeloupe in 1948 or earlier, it was elsewhere erroneously restricted to “Straits of Florida” from 1931 to 1998 and up to the present. To resolve these numerous conflicts and uncertainties, a neotype collected in Saint Barthélemy, once administratively part of Guadeloupe, is here designated.

A large, relatively intact fossil bird's egg collected on Bermuda over a century ago is identified here as that of a Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis , a species known historically only as an occasional vagrant in Bermuda. Although the exact provenance and age were originally unknown, contemporary descriptions of the stratigraphy and subsequent amino acid ratios of the attached limestone matrix establish the age as a Middle Pleistocene interglacial, probably Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 11 or perhaps slightly older. The presence of an egg is a very likely indication of at least a small former breeding colony of Brown Pelicans on Bermuda. Ecological conditions during interglacial periods and presence of potential fish prey would have made such a colonization feasible.

The history of discovery of the fossil goose Geochen rhuax Wetmore on the island of Hawaii is reviewed through archival records and the literature. Although the age of the fossil was previously undetermined, recent radiocarbon dates establish that the age of the lava flow immediately overlying the bones was 9170 ± 100 yrs b.p. A very large extinct, flightless goose that is abundant in latest Holocene lava tubes on the western versant of the island of Hawaii was previously determined by mtDNA to be part of the Hawaiian radiation of Branta . This goose is now also known from the southeastern versant of the island. Although the holotype of Geochen rhuax is somewhat smaller in size, it is considered to belong to the same species lineage as the more recent fossils, and all giant goose fossils from Hawaiian Island are here referred to as Branta rhuax , new combination.

Fossils of woodpeckers (Picidae) occur on Bermuda in late Pleistocene and Holocene deposits. Most of these are from a flicker ( Colaptes ), presumably derived from the North American Colaptes auratus that was smaller than all mainland forms of that species. The Bermuda flicker was larger than C. a. gundlachi of Grand Cayman and is named as a new species Colaptes oceanicus , that probably persisted into the colonial period (1600s). Three fossils are referred to the migratory Yellow-bellied Sapsucker ( Sphyrapicus varius ), which winters in small numbers on Bermuda. One distal end of a tarsometatarsus of a woodpecker appears to differ from either of the previous species, but its identity was not further determined. Colaptes oceanicus would probably have excavated nest holes in the resident palm trees ( Sabal bermudana ) and in rotten limbs and stumps of hardwoods. These excavations would have been crucial for the evolution of the small owl Aegolius gradyi and probably provided shelter for other Bermuda organisms as well.

Fossil remains of a small owl found in eight separate localities on Bermuda ranging in age from the end of the last interglacial period (Marine Isotope Stage 5a, ca. 80,000 years ago) and up into the Holocene are described here as a new species, Aegolius gradyi , the only representative of its genus known from a remote oceanic island. This differed from its probable North American ancestor, A. acadicus, in its more robust hindlimb elements, smaller head, and a possible tendency for smaller wing elements. Its colonization was probably made possible by the unique conditions of suitable habitat for hunting, roosting, and nesting afforded by Bermuda, including the presence of woodpeckers (Picidae) that would have excavated nest sites suitable for the owls in the endemic palm trees ( Sabal bermudana ). From accounts dating to the early 1600s, the species appears likely to have persisted into the historic period.

Pipilo naufragus, new species, is described from Middle and Late Pleistocene to Holocene cave and pond deposits on the island of Bermuda. It is most similar to the Eastern Towhee P. erythrophthalmus but differs in having a heavier bill, more robust hindlimbs, and reduced wing and pectoral girdle, with the sternum in particular being shorter, wider, and with a much smaller carina. At least one early historical account (1610) contains a description of a large bunting-like bird that almost certainly refers to this species, which would have been exterminated by introduced pigs, rats, and cats following human settlement of Bermuda in 1612.

Feducciavis loftini , new genus and species, is described from a single partial associated skeleton from the Middle Miocene Calvert Formation of Virginia. This bird was evidently most closely related to the noddy terns (Anoinae, Anous , Procelsterna ). Compared with those genera, the tibiotarsus was much shorter and the ulna much longer in relation to the size of the humerus. The absolute size of the wing was considerably larger than in Anous stolidus , but the sternum was smaller. Aspects of the configuration of the quadrate and mandibular articulation are very distinct from any genus of modern gulls or terns, so that Feducciavis must have had singular feeding habits.

Four bones of a dove from Bermuda are tentatively identified with the West Indian Zenaida Dove as cf. Zenaida aurita . These occur in deposits dating to about 55,000 to 28,000 years ago that formed during the last glacial period when the land area of Bermuda was much larger. At that time, the West Indies would have been a much more likely source area than eastern North America for dove as a potential colonist of Bermuda. The Bermuda dove appears to have been a resident and perhaps became extinct as a result of flooding of the Bermuda platform and reduction in land area during the present interglacial. The two doves found on Bermuda today (Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura and Common Ground Dove Columbina passerina ) are absent in the fossil record and apparently did not become established on the island until after human settlement in the seventeenth century.

Turdus trichas Linnaeus, 1766 is a composite of two species. To preserve the name as currently used for the Common Yellowthroat Geothlypis trichas , the specimen illustrated by Edwards (1758) is designated as lectotype and Charleston, South Carolina, is designated as the revised type locality.

Calonectris kurodai , new species, is described from the Middle Miocene Calvert Formation of Virginia and Maryland. This shearwater was much smaller than any living congeneric species and provides the earliest record for the genus Calonectris . A femur referred to Calonectris sp. is probably from later Miocene deposits of the Choptank Formation and was about the size of the smallest living species C. edwardsi .

Study of the type series and much new fossil material of the Cuban teratorn, Teratornis olsoni Arredondo & Arredondo, shows that this species possessed unique characters within the family Teratornithidae, including a shorter and more flattened humerus and femur, and a tarsometatarsus with a long trochlea II. The differences are so great as to merit a new genus, Oscaravis , for the species. Some osteological characters of Oscaravis suggest that it was less derived than Teratornis and possibly more similar to Argentavis . As the only insular member of the Teratornithidae, Oscaravis shows that teratorns were capable of overwater dispersal, so that the expansion of the family into North America from the south need not have been dependent on the presence of a land bridge.

ABSTRACT Remains of at least 26 individuals of a Calonectris shearwater were recovered from a Pleistocene beach deposit on Bermuda that formed when sea-level was more than 21 m above present level during an interglacial (Marine Isotope Stage 11) 400,000 yr ago. Two prefledging juveniles in the sample indicate breeding on the island. This shearwater was the general size of C. d. diomedea of the Mediterranean but differs in proportions and in qualitative characters and is described as Calonectris wingatei , new species. The species appears to have become extinct shortly after the time of deposition, when rising sea-level is also thought to have caused the extinction of the Short-tailed Albatross Phoebastria albatrus on Bermuda. The Neogene history of the taxa of Calonectris in the Atlantic basin is examined in the context of major geological and oceanographic events.

ABSTRACT Bermuteo avivorus , new genus and species, is described from rare Quaternary fossils from the island of Bermuda. Although clearly referable to the Buteoninae, its relationships within that group are difficult to assess. Considerable size variation may be attributable to sexual dimorphism associated with bird-catching behavior. It is uncertain if the species survived into the historic period. Factors contributing to the rarity of hawk remains in the fossil record of Bermuda are discussed. One fragmentary ulna is from a larger hawk, possibly the Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis .