Ornithichnology. ' 333 



I 



4 



part of the heel to the extremity of the claw ;* and yet, it sometimes 

 weighs eighty or one hundred pounds^ and In walking, its head is as 

 high as that of a man on horseback ; or from seven to nine feet. 

 May we not infer, that some of these ancient birds, whose feet are 

 sixteen or seventeen inches Ions, must have been almost twice as 

 heavy and high as the ostrich ? I do not believe that any man will 

 doubt this, after having examined their tracks. From a i^^ trials, I 

 do not believe that the legs of a bird, (including the thigh,) whose 

 ^ordinary step was four feet, could have been much less than six feet. 



occu 



the now delightful valley of the Connecticut. At that time, we 

 have every reason to believe that valley to have been an estuary: 

 for the organic remains of the new red sandstone, are chiefly ma- 

 rine, as is shown in my Report on the Geology of Massachusetts. 

 And to show that other organic beings, that were cotemporaries with 

 these huge birds, were their compeers in size, I would refer to a de- 

 scription in that work of a sea fan, [Gorgonia Jaclsoniy) found in 

 the new red sandstone of West Springfield, that has been uncovered 

 without reaching its hmits, eighteen feet in length," and four feet in 

 width ! Indeed, the colossal bulk of these birds, is in perfect accord- 

 ance with the early history of organic life in every part of our globe. 

 The much higher temperature that then prevailed, seems to have 

 been favorable to a giant like development of every form of hfe. 



The enc^uiry is often put, by those who examine these oraithich- 

 nhes, how near the spots are, where they are found, to Connecticut 

 river: and when told, that for the most part, they occur upon its 

 immediate banks, they often infer, that the rock was deposited by that 

 stream ; but the geologist knows that the Connecticut river, certain- 

 ly not then in existence, has had nothing to do with the deposition of 

 the new red sandstone, that forms its banks ; and from the facts men- 

 tioned in the last paragraph, he infers, with strong probabihty, that it 

 was deposited beneath the ocean, and has since been elevated. 



are found ? But this 



tracks 



impor 



' For this fact, I am indebted to Prof. Mussey of Dartmouth College, which he obtained 

 a skeleton of the ostrich in his museum. He adds, al.o, that « the length of the leg. m. the d\n 



hettf 

 must 



vary With the direction of the axis of the body, which, as the skeleton noxr stands, U not quite 

 horizontal, but rises a very little anteriorly." All that is now wanting, to enable um to form a 

 probable estimate of the size aud height of the bird that produced the O. g,ganteu» and O. ,»- 

 ff«.., is the length of the ordinary step of the ostrich. If I m=iy be allowed to conjectiire, I 

 should say, that the head of the new red sandstone bird must have been elevated from twelra 

 to fifteen feet above the ground ! 



