Charley s Wonderful Journeys. 



233 



" The Icthyornis," repeated Charley; 

 " the other birds that have teeth, and long 

 wings for flying, and dash down and catch 

 the little fishes when they come near the 

 surface." 



" But all birds have teeth and catch 

 fishes, don't they ? Which one do you 

 mean ? " 



"I mean the one that's got a fish's back- 

 bone, and that's why they call him Icthy- 

 ornis." 



" I am sure I never heard a bird called 



are young birds, they'll get teeth before 

 they are as old as I am. Haven't you any 

 teeth ?" 



"Yes'm," said Charley, showing his 

 grinders. 



" But why don't you tell me who you 

 are ?" said the Hesperornis. "I keep on 

 asking you, and you keep on telling me 

 about birds, but you're not a bird; now 

 why can't you tell me who you are ? " 



" If you please, ma'am," said Charley, 

 " that's what I was coming to. After the 



RISING TO HIS FEET HE FOLDED HIS HANDS BEHIND HIS BACK. 



Icthyornis, and you had better not let any 

 of them hear you call them by any such 

 outlandish names. But what has that got 

 to do with you ? I asked you what you 

 are." 



" If you please, ma'am, that's what I was 

 going to tell you when you asked. First 

 came you and the Icth — . I mean the 

 other birds with the teeth, and next came 

 the birds with beaks and no teeth." 



"What became of their teeth?" asked 

 the Hesperornis. 



"That I don't know," said Charley; I 

 only know that when you turn over the 

 next leaf of the great stone book the birds 

 hadn't any teeth at all." 



" Oh, nonsense, that's only because they 



birds came the animals that went on four 

 legs "— 



" Oh, I know," said the Hesperornis, 

 " that's the saurians, but they were always 

 there." 



" No, ma'am, if you please, not the sau- 

 rians, because they had cold blood, but 

 four-footed animals with warm blood, like 

 the birds." 



" But how do you know that birds have 

 warm blood," asked the Hesperornis, sus- 

 piciously. 



" Because," said Charley, " if birds sit 

 on their eggs it makes them warm, but if 

 fishes and saurians sat on their eggs it 

 wouldn't." 



" That's quite true," said the Hesper- 



