84. ANIMALS OF THE PAST 



it has been drawn with just a suggestion of 

 Archseopteryx about it. 



The most extraordinary thing about Hespe- 

 rornis, however, is the position of the legs rela- 

 tive to the body, and this is something that 

 was not even suspected until the skeleton was 

 mounted in a swimming attitude. As anyone 

 knows who has watched a duck swim, the usual 

 place for the feet and legs is beneath and in a 

 line with the body. But in our great extinct 

 diver the articulations of the leg bones are such 

 that this is impossible, and the feet and lower 

 joint of the legs (called the tarsus) must have 

 stood out nearly at right angles to the body, 

 like a pair of oars. This is so peculiar and 

 anomalous an attitude for a bird's legs that, 

 although apparently indicated by the shape of 

 the bones, it was at first thought to be due 

 to the crushing and consequent distortion to 

 which the bones had been subjected, and an 

 endeavor was made to place the legs in the 

 ordinary position, even though this was done 

 at the expense of somehttle dislocation of the 

 joints. But when the mounting of the skele- 

 ton had advanced further it became more 



