CHAPTER VIII. 



THE RESTORATION OF HESPERORNIS. (Plate XX.) 



The foregoing description of the individual bones of Hesperornis, 

 together with the full illustrations given in the accompanying plates, will 

 make clear to anatomists all the important points in the osseous structure 

 of this ancient bird, in many respects the most interesting member of the 

 class yet discovered. "With the exception of one or two terminal 

 toe-bones, and the extreme point of the tail, every part of the skeleton is 

 preserved in one or more specimens, and this ample material has been 

 used in the restoration represented in Plate XX. Not a few of the bones 

 were nearly in their natural position, when discovered, and the remainder 

 have been assigned to their appropriate places in the skeleton, after much 

 careful comparison of the fossils with the nearest allied living forms. It is 

 therefore confidently believed that the field of conjecture has been reduced 

 to a minimum in the skeleton as restored. 



The restoration of Hesperornis regalis in Plate XX represents the 

 skeleton one-half natural size, and in a position which the bud doubtless 

 sometimes assumed when on land, although it is probably more erect than 

 was habitual. On the water, the body was of course more nearly 

 horizontal, the neck more bent, and the legs usually much farther behind. 



in 



