paleonet Bird bone preservation

["James Mahaffy" <Mahaffy@xxxxxxxxx>]

Folks,

I am reviewing a manuscript in which the author talking about the Dodo
bird says, "as a comparatively heavy non-flying bird, its bones are
thicker than those of most birds, and would have had a better chance of
surviving than the bones of almost all birds."   

Is it true that fossil preservation is biased toward birds with large
bones?   If anything I would think small bird bones would stand a better
chance of getting permineralized and perhaps less apt to be crushed.   

Obviously environment of deposition plays a big role and birds that die
close to a swamp or perhaps shore birds buried in a storm have a better
chance than the average bird of being preserved.  However, I was
wondering ( since I am thinking of commenting on the authors above
statement), if all other things are equal,  are larger bird bones more
apt to be preserved.  

James Mahaffy (mahaffy@dordt.edu)        Phone: 712 722-6279
Biology Department                                     FAX :  712
722-1198
Dordt College, Sioux Center IA 51250