DISTRIBUTION OF BIRDS IN TIME AND SPACE. 187 



in this part of the skeleton and its muscles 

 can only be appreciated by a comparison of 

 the skeletons of say one of the modern divers, 

 and an eagle or albatross, for the pelvis of 

 Hesperornis is scarcely distinguishable from 

 that of the former, and differs from that of 

 Ichthijornis, as does the living diver from the 

 eagle. 



From this we gather that the distribution of this 

 ancient group — the divers' — was a moderately 

 wide one, and that some retained the power of 

 flight, finding it still necessary. From these have 

 sprung our modern divers and grebes. The form 

 of the hip-girdle is exactly the same, both in 

 living and fossil forms. 



Hesperornis, then, was a highly specialised, or 

 intensified water-bird, built for diving. We will 

 now pass on to consider its opposite, the inten- 

 sified land-bird. 



This we have in the gigantic moa of New 

 Zealand which stood some ten feet or more in 

 height, but other species existed, the smallest 

 of which was not much bigger than a large 

 turkey. They are now extinct, and are gener- 

 ally believed to have been exterminated for 

 the purposes of food by the ancient Maories, 

 as the charred bones and egg-shells have been 

 found mixed with charcoal representing the fuel 

 which served to cook them. 



This " intensified land-bird," as we have called 

 it, is only one of many, but is selected for illus- 

 tration here because of the completeness with 

 which this intensification has been carried out. 



First and foremost it was flightless. The wing 



