150 ANIMALS OF THE PAST 



with those of an ostrich : but lest you may for- 

 get, it may be said that the same bone of a 

 fourteen-pound turkey is 5^ inches long, and 

 one inch wide at either end, while that of an 

 ostrich measures 19 inches long and 2 inches 

 across the toes, or 3 at the upper end. 



If Brontornis was a heavy-limbed bird, he 

 was not without near rivals among the JNIoas, 

 while the great Phororhacos, one of his con- 

 temporaries, was not only nearly as large, but 

 quite unique in build. Imagine a bird seven 

 or eight feet in height from the sole of his big, 

 sharp- clawed feet, to the top of his huge head, 

 poise this head on a neck as thick as that of a 

 horse, arm it with a beak as sharp as an ice- 

 pick and almost as formidable, and you have a 

 fair idea of this feathered giant of the ancient 

 pampas. The head indeed was truly colossal 

 for that of a bird, measuring 23 inches in 

 length by 7 in depth, while that of the race- 

 horse Lexington, and he was a good-sized 

 horse, measures 22 inches long by 5J inches 

 deep. The depth of the jaw is omitted be- 

 cause we wish to make as good a case as possi- 

 ble for the bird, and the jaw of a horse is so 



