196 Bird - Lore * 



nearly 7 feet tall. The massive neck was surmounted by a great head 1 7 inches 

 long with a powerful deep compressed beak and strong lower mandibles. The 

 legs were of moderate length and stockily built, but the wings were reduced to a 

 point where they could have been of but little use to the bird, even in running. 

 Among living birds the Cassowary furnishes the closest parallel in wing reduction. 



Diatryma has no near living relatives. The peculiar South American 

 Seriema shows some general resemblances, especially in the skull and pelvis, 

 but the Seriema is a smaller bird and has the power of flight. Of the living 

 flightless birds, the Ostriches, Rheas, and Cassowaries, there is a similarity 

 in the reduced wings but there the resemblance stops. Among the extinct birds 

 the Patagonian Phororhachos with its small wings and large powerful skull 

 resembles Diatryma both in size and proportions, but a careful comparison of 

 the two shows that this resemblance is merely a superficial one and that there 

 is no true relationship. Gastornis found near Rheims in northern France in 

 deposits of nearly the same age as those in which Diatryma was found, may be 

 distantly related, but as Gastornis is known only from scattered and frag- 

 mentary bones, it is not possible to make satisfactory comparisons. Diatryma 

 then stands pretty much by itself in the bird world, and we know nothing of 

 its ancestry or its descendants. It is probable that it became extinct during the 

 Eocene period, along with several contemporary groups of mammals. Of its 

 range it can only be said that it lived in New Mexico and Wyoming and pos- 

 sibly extended its range westward as far as the Pacific coast. The climate of the 

 Rocky Mountain region during early Eocene times was warmer and more 

 humid than now, and the mountains had not reached their present elevation. 

 Of the bird-life of that time and in that region we know but little. The few bits 

 of fossil birds found have been identified as Turkey, Grouse, and Eagle, and 

 the like, but how closely they really resembled these modern birds to which 

 they have been referred it is not possible to say until more complete skeletons 

 are found. 



The food habits of Diatryma are a matter of conjecture. The skull suggests 

 that it was a flesh-eating bird but a glance at the feet shows small, weak claws 

 hardly adapted to seizing or even holding prey of a size which the bird would be 

 likely to feed upon. Also, it will be noted that the beak is not hooked at the 

 tip as in most modern birds of prey. The beak may been have used in feeding 

 upon large fruits or seeds after the manner of the Parrots. There is, in fact, a 

 good deal of similarity in the structure of the skull between Diatryma and the 

 Parrots, a resemblance which may have been brought about by similar food 

 habits. Another suggestion which has been made is that Diatryma waded about 

 in the shallow streams and fed upon the fresh-water clams which were abundant 

 there, using the great beak to crack open the shells. Whatever his food habits, 

 Diatryma, with his great size and powerful neck and head and strong beak, was 

 undoubtedly the bird monarch of his time and, indeed, there were but few 

 mammals of his day which would have cared to take issue with him. 



