18 THE OSPREY. 



All this is presented in so interesting a manner that we are fain to let the 

 readers of the Ospeet share with us the pleasure which we have derived from 

 its perusal. As some may not know, we premise with the statement that the 

 Il6Sj>erornis regalis or "Great Toothed Diver" was a bird that flourished 

 millions of years ago, during the cretaceous age of geology, and its remains — 

 chiefly bones — have been found in the chalk beds of Kansas in sufiicient num- 

 bers to enable paleontologists to reconstruct the entire skeleton. Furthermore, 

 enough has been found to give us some idea of its feathery coat. 



Now let Mr. Lucas tell about this bird. 



"The bird was probably covered with smooth, soft feathers, something like 

 those of an Apteryx; this we know because Professor Williston found a speci- 

 men showing the impression of the skin of the lower part of the leg as well 

 as of the feathers that covered the "thigh" and head. While such a covering 

 seems rather inadequate for a bird of such exclusively aquatic habits as Hes- 

 perornis must have been, there seems no getting away from the facts in the 

 case in the shape of Professor Williston's specimen, and we have in the Snake 

 bird, one of the most aquatic of recent birds, an instance of similarly poor 

 covering. As all know who have seen this bird at home, its feathers shed the 

 water very imperfectly, and after long-continued submersion become satu- 

 rated, a fact which partly accounts for the habit the bird has of hanging itself 

 out to dry. 



"The restoration which Mr. Gleeson has drawn differs radically from any 

 yet made, and is the result of a careful studj^ of the specimen belonging to the 

 United States National Museum. No one can appreciate the peculiarities of 

 Hesperornis and its remarkable departures from other swimming birds^who 

 has not seen the skeleton mounted in a swimming attitude. The great length 

 of the legs, their position at the middle of the body, the narrowness of the 

 body back of the hip joint, and the disproportionate length of the outer toe 

 are all brought out in a manner which the picture of the bird squatting upon 

 its haunches fails utterly to show. As for the tail, it is evident from the size 

 and breadth of the bones that something of the kind was present; it is also 

 evident that it was not like that of an ordinary bird, and so it has been drawn 

 with just a suggestion of Archseopteryx about it. 



"The most extraordinary thing about Hesperornis, however, is the position 

 of the legs relative to the body, and this is something that was not even sus- 

 pected until the skeleton was mounted in a swimming attitude. As anyone 

 knows who has watched a duck swim, the usual place for the feet and legs is 

 beneath and in a line with the body. But in our great extinct diver the arti- 

 culations of the leg bones are such that this is impossible, and the feet; and 

 lower joint of the legs (called the tarsus) must have stood out nearly at right 

 angles to the body, like a pair of oars. This is so peculiar and anomalous an 



