3o6 WITH THE U. S. NATURALISTS 



not exist. Every bird has some scales, especially 

 on the legs. A Fowl's leg is scaled like the body of 

 a snake. Sometimes scales may even be fomid in 

 the wings. A Penguin's wing is totally devoid of 

 quills and at first sight it appears as though there 

 were no feathers at all on it. Careful examina- 

 tion, however, reveals that it is covered with little 

 scaly looking feathers, not unlike the scales on the 

 legs. They are feathers, however, and show very 

 curiously the close relation between a feather and 

 a scale. In a few other birds, the quills form a 

 complete covering. The Ostrich, Emu and Cas- 

 sowary chick may be regarded as covered with 

 scales, when hatched, though these scales are 

 quills. As such they must not be confounded with 

 porcupine quills, for example, which are modifica- 

 tions of hair. 



" But the Archseoptery^x was not the only primi- 

 tive toothed bird. There were a great many 

 others, among them Hesperornis the Great 

 Toothed Diver, also primitive in form. Such 

 forms as the Phororhacos and the Diatryma repre- 

 sent early types of birds which show dimly their 

 relationship to early reptilian ancestors." 



''You were speaking a little while ago," the boy 

 said, "of the Tooth-Billed Pigeon of Samoa, and 



