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THE MUSEUM. 



horse, camel, and giraffe are much in- 

 ferior in this respect. It was, says 

 Mr. Ameghino, the most formidable 

 bird's head that could be imagined. 

 The form is that of the preceding 

 species, but with proportions a third 

 larger. The bones of the leg indicate 

 an animal little inferior to the Aepy- 

 ornis ingens. The leg bones of the 

 latter, according to Mr. Oustalet, 

 measured as follows: femuer, 13 inches; 

 tibia, 25-5 inches; metatarsus, 1675 

 inches; say altogether a leg about 55 

 inches in length. These measure- 

 ments are approximate and based up- 

 on a comparison of the bones, partly 

 broken, with those of the preceding 

 species. The toes, of which all the 

 phalanges are known, are extremely 

 large, that of the center being more 

 than 10 inches in length, and its un- 

 gual phalanx alone measuring 2-5 

 inches in a straight line. This is 

 strongly curved and pointed, and the 

 basilar tubercle forming a heel is great- 

 ly developed — characters that are found 

 again in the didus and indicate a poor- 

 er runner than the tepyornis and the 

 dinornis. 



If the phororhacos cedes a little, as 

 to stature, to the ajpyornis, the Bron- 

 tornis Burmeisteri, of which it remains 

 for us to speak, was certainly the most 

 colossal of all the birds known. It 

 was much more massive in build than 

 the phororhacos. The bill, while pos- 

 sessing the same ' form, was shorter, 

 wider and thicker vertically. The leg 

 was really monstrous, as is shown by 

 the following dimensions: femur, 16 

 inches; tibia, 30 inches; metatarsus, 17 

 inches; in all, 63 inches for the height 

 of the haunch, say 9-5 inches more 

 than the Aepyornis ingens. This bird 

 must have been more than 13 feet in 



height. The shaft of the femur was 3 

 inches in diameter and the head of this 

 bone measured no less than 7 inches. 

 The toes were shorter and more mas- 

 sive than those of the phororhacos and 

 the ungual phalanges were much wid- 

 er, flatter and less pointed, like those 

 of running birds. The ungual phal- 

 anx of the median toe was 2-5 inches 

 long and 2 inches wide at the base. 

 These characters indicate habits some- 

 what different from those of the phoro- 

 rhacoses. What were the habits of 

 these large birds, so remarkable by 

 reason of their strong hooked bill, so 

 different from the short and conical 

 bill that characterizes the aepyornis 

 and dinornis.'' We know that the diet 

 of the latter was almost exclusively 

 vegetable, like that of the ostriches 

 and cassowaries, but, when it concerns 

 the phororhacoses and the brontornis- 

 es, it is difficult to admit that this 

 powerful bill could have served only 

 for pulling up roots and breaking 

 branches of trees. 



It is asserted that the didus fed up- 

 on plants solely, but the habits of this 

 so quickly exterminated bird are scar- 

 cely known to us except from the 

 stories of sailors who are ignorant and 

 but slightly observant of things relat- 

 ing to nature. It is more probable 

 that this large bird was omnivorous 

 and fed indifferently upon fruits, roots, 

 mollusks and reptiles. 



Such must also have been the diet 

 of the wingless birds of Patagonia, 

 several species of which do not exceed 

 our swans or the marabouts of Calcut- 

 ta in size. What confirms this hypo- 

 thesis is that Mr. Ameghino has found 

 upon the skull and bill of the phoror- 

 hacoses certain exostoses and distor- 

 tions that can be nothing but the trace 



