A LONGTAILED DUCK C LANGULA HYEM ALIS THE NORWICH CRAG OF SUFFOLK
FROM
C . J . O . HARRISON
In the latter part of the last Century G. R. E. Leach collected two fragments of bird bones from the Norwich Crag deposits at Yarm Hill, near Southwold, Suffolk. The specimens are now in the collection of the Institute of Geological Sciences, the larger specimen being the distal end of a left tarsometatarsus, no. G S M 116455, and the smaller a distal end of a f e m u r , no. G S M 116454. T h e specimens were seen by E. T. Newton (1891) who, in his ' V e r t e b r a t a of the Pliocene deposits of Britain' said that the tarsometatarsus' . . . agrees so closely with that of the C o m m o n Guillemot as to leave no doubt that it belongs to this or a closely allied species'. T h e specimen is a complete end of a bone with a short portion of the shaft, but with the articulating portion of the trochlea for digit 3 (the middle toe) slightly damaged. It has been re-studied and is not referable to an auk. It matches the corresponding bone of the Longtailed Duck Clangula hyemalis but has the shaft a little stouter than those of recent specimens. T h e Longtailed Duck is a small waterfowl, known in Britain mainly as a sea duck. It is a tundra-breeding species a n d at the present day occurs in winter as far south as the southern Baltic, northern Holland and Northumberland and sporadically on the East Anglian coast. B r o d k o r b (1964) does not record the fossil or subfossil occurrence of this species in the British Isles but a proximal end of a tarsometatarsus from a cool phase of the Ipswichian (last) interglacial, found in Bacon Hole Cave on the Gower Peninsula of South Wales, has been identified as belonging to this species. H e r e it occurred in the same period as the Bean G o o s e Anser fabalis, another tundra-nesting bird wintering f u r t h e r south (Harrison 1977). T h e other specimen, the distal end of a small femur, was said by Newton (1891) to agree with that of the Little Auk Alle alla. Only the end of the bone is present, with the condylar edges damaged. It is possible to say that it is not that of a Little A u k , but it seems inadvisable to attempt to refer it to another species in view of its damaged condition and lack of good characters for identification.
DUCK FROM THE NORWICH CRAG OF SUFFOLK
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References Brodkorb, P. 1964. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 2. Bull. Fla. St. Mus. Biol. Sei. 8: 195-335. Harrison, C. J. O. 1977. Non-passerine birds of the Ipswichian Interglacial from the Gower Caves. Trans. Br. Cave Res Ass. 4: 441-442. Newton, E. T. 1891. The vertebrata of the Pliocene deposits of Britain. Mem. Geol. Surv. U.K. [un-numbered series]. C. J. O. Harrison, British Museum,
Sub-department of Ornithology, Natural History, Tring, Herts.