88 ANIMALS OF THE PAST 



my friend Dr. Stejneger tells me that, while 

 hundreds of dead sea-fowl are cast on the 

 shores of the Commander Islands, it is a rare 

 thing to find one after daylight, as the bodies 

 are devoured by the Arctic foxes that prowl 

 about the shores at night. But, again, as in 

 the Miocene of Southern France and in the 

 Pliocene of Oregon, remains of birds are fairly 

 numerous, showing that, under proper con- 

 ditions, their bones are preserved for future 

 reference, so that we may hope some day to 

 come upon specimens that will enable us to 

 round out the history of bird life in the past. 



REFERENCES 



Thejirst discovered specimen of Archceopteryx, Archce- 

 opteryx macrura, is in the British Museum, the second 

 more complete example is in the Royal Museum of Nat- 

 ural History, Berlin. The largest collection of toothed 

 birds, including the types of Hesperornis, Ichthyornis 

 and others, is in the Yale University Museum, at New 

 Haven. The United States National Museum at Wash- 

 ington has a fine mounted skeleton of Hesperornis, and 

 the State University of Kansas, at Lawrence, has the ex- 

 ample showing the impressions of feathers. 



