BIRDS WITH TEETH. 



35 



During the Cretaceous period the Rocky Mountains were not 

 yet the high elevation which they are now, but were existing 

 probably only as a succession of low islands. The land of several 

 States of the Union was deposited at that time at the bottom of 

 the ocean, east of this line of islands. One of these States is 

 Kansas, in which, therefore, the cold water was then still more 

 supreme than it is now. In the Cretaceous deposits of Kansas 

 the remains of the bird Hesperomis have been found. It was a 



Fig. 3. Hesperornis regalis (restored by Marsh). 



large animal, about five feet long, with well-developed, strong 

 legs, but perfectly obsolete wings. The anatomical construction 

 indicates the way of living. It was entirely without the power 

 of flight, living in the way of penguins, mostly on the water, 

 diving for fish, which it was admirably adapted to catch, and 

 with which the Cretaceous ocean here was teeming. The shores 

 were visited probably only for the purpose of breeding. There is 

 nothing very peculiar in it's anatomy, with the exception of one 

 fact, which, however, distinguishes it at once thoroughly from 

 all birds living now : its long bill was provided with teeth, teeth 

 which resemble those of reptiles. Few discoveries have at their 

 time caused so much interest among geologists as when through 



