92 SAURIAN BIPEDS 



of life, survivals of a fauna of Mesozoic type. The 

 lacertilian race, as we know them, have greatly de- 

 clined from their pristine exuberance. It is possible 

 that in this unique habit of Chlamydosaurus we have a 

 hereditary trait of a remote ancestry ; though, on the 

 other hand, it may have been a faculty independently 

 developed in a single species. 



Talking of the erect attitude, has anybody ever seen 

 a grebe or a diver (Colymbus) in the conventional 

 attitude assigned to these birds by artists and taxi- 

 dermists ? They are usually represented sitting or 

 standing erect on dry land like an auk or guillemot ; 

 but Mr. Abel Chapman declares that it would be 

 impossible for this attitude to be assumed in life, 

 owing to the peculiar formation of the tarsus and 

 metatarsal joints. In his recent admirable book on 

 Wild Norway 1 he describes how he tried in vain to 

 cause the feet of a newly-killed black-throated diver to 

 bend forward sufficiently for standing on ; and elsewhere 

 he mentions that Mr. Cullingford, the bird-stuffer of 

 Durham, always has to break the bones of the feet of 

 grebes and divers, in order to set them up as people 

 like them. Mr. Chapman believes that neither divers 

 nor grebes ever go ashore, except to get to their nests, 

 which are always very near the water, and that then 

 they scramble along on their breasts, with legs and 

 wings propelling them, after the manner of a seal. 

 Unless proof can be shown that they can and do sit 

 erect, most of the representations of birds of these two 



1 London : Edward Arnold. 1897. 



