HUNTING BIG GAME OF OTHER DAYS 



427 



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V J 



After U. S. National Museum, from a drawing by Charles R. Knight 

 THIS EXTRAORDINARY DINOSAUR (TRICERATOPS, UPPER CRETACEOUS, NORTH 

 AMERICA) WAS A STRICTLY LAND FORM AND GREW TO A LARGE 

 SIZE 25 FEET IN LENGTH 



The head, with its accompanying neck frill, was enormous — 8 feet in length in the large 

 specimens. The creature was herbivorous, the jaws containing many tine teeth, evidently 

 used in crushing vegetable food. The enormous horns grew upon a bony cover, as do the 

 horns of a cow, and the upper jaws ended in a horny, turtle-like beak. The two erect dino- 

 saurs in the background are Trachodons, a contemporaneous species (see page 408). 



species of fresh-water herring delicious 

 when properly baked. 



After a long day's search along the face 

 of the hillsides or work in the quarry, 

 the collector returns to camp hungry and 

 exhausted, but soon to be revived by a 

 good camp supper. Then the hour be- 

 fore sundown is spent with rod or motor- 

 boat. The winds have ceased, and as the 

 sun disappears over the rim, long purple 

 shadows conjure fantastic forms on the 

 rugged canyon walls ; then a cheerful 

 camp-fire, pipes, and stories of other days 

 and scenes. 



All, of course, are not roseate scenes. 

 The particular fly in our ointment has 

 been the mosquitoes, which last year 

 flocked to anything that moved, in num- 

 bers that I hesitate to estimate. But to 

 the lover of camp life the days of dis- 

 comfort and privation are those soonest 

 forgotten. 



As a result of the past four years' work 

 in Canada, the American Museum Ex- 

 peditions have collected 300 large cases, 

 or three and one-half carloads of fossils, 

 two-thirds of which are exhibition speci- 

 mens, including twenty skulls and four- 

 teen skeletons of large dinosaurs, besides 

 many partial skeletons. This material 

 represents many genera and species new 

 to science, and defines the anatomy and 

 distribution of several heretofore but par- 

 tially known creatures. 



But the field has by no means been ex- 

 hausted. Under miles of prairie land the 

 same strata are undoubtedly filled with 

 similar fossils ; erosion is rapid, and as the 

 river continues to wear its banks away 

 new fossils are exposed. In a few years 

 the same territory can be explored with 

 similar results, and for all time to come 

 the Red Deer River will be a classic lo- 

 cality for collecting prehistoric treasures. 



