684 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



sented on the part of the bones of the fossil birds in Prof. Cope's 

 collection. It occurred only in specimens of swans, geese, and 

 ducks, and consisted in a more or less abundant exudation of 

 spongy, osseous material that appeared upon the proximal part 

 of the first or pollex metacarpal of the carpo-rnetacarpus (Fig. 

 2, a). It was present in a good many specimens of all the fami- 

 lies enumerated above ; it was entirely absent in a lesser num- 

 ber of specimens of two or three of the same groups. It would 

 seem to me that such a condition could only be brought about 

 by some blow or other given at the point in question, which 

 point is one in the wing of those birds that is quite superficial, in 

 so far as the bone is concerned, and might, upon receiving a 

 square rap of sufficient force, injure its periosteum to such an ex- 

 tent as to have a subsequent osseous exudation result there. The 

 vast majority of those fossil anserine birds of that region were 

 identical with those species now in existence in our avifauna, and, 

 it is but fair to presume, possessed habits similar to them. Yet in 

 Pliocene time they may all have had some different habits : it 

 occurred to me that they may have fought each other with their 

 wings — or, may be, fought some common enemy as yet unknown 

 to us. The fossil bones exhibiting this disease may have be- 

 longed only to the males, and they may have fought during the 

 breeding season ; or it may have occurred only in the females, who 

 for some reason may have been called upon to fight with their 

 wings in defense of their young. Some existing birds have large 

 spurs upon certain bones of their hands, and they are known to 

 fight with their wings at the present time; but in some future 

 epoch, if the descendants of those forms persist, the necessity for 

 such an armature may pass away, and with it the spurs them- 

 selves. Modern swans are known to strike a blow with their 

 wings in defending themselves or their young. With these 

 thoughts in my mind I asked Prof. Cope for his opinion in the 

 premises, and, without hesitation or hint from me as to my own 

 musings, he answered, " Why, possibly, they fought each other 

 with their wings/' I have never observed any similar patho- 

 logical condition in our modern Anseres, and I have both made 

 and examined skeletons of a great many of them. 



A Danish archaeologist, G. V. Smith, has been experimenting upon the prac- 

 ticability of using the simpler forms of flint implements for working in wood. He 

 fitted handles of various forms to the flints and worked with them on pine with 

 complete success. He was in some cases convinced that the same flint hatchet 

 would serve equally well for working harder wood than pine. With these primi- 

 tive tools it would be possible to bring down large trees and execute all kinds of 

 simple carpentry work. 



