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 Moas, ~ 
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 5} 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 isso 
—_ 5 aint 
t < - 
memes 
- en i he ee 
