Identifier: birditsformfunct07beeb (find matches)
Title: The bird, its form and function
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: Beebe, William, 1877-1962
Subjects: Birds Birds
Publisher: New York : Henry Holt
Contributing Library: Internet Archive
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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places as to-day. For perhaps a million years in the past, birds havechanged scarcely at all,—the bones of this period belong-ing to the species or at least genera of living birds. Butin the period known as the Cretaceous, when the giganticDinosaurs flourished and those flying reptile-dragons—the Pterodactyls—flapped through the air, a few remainsof birds have been found. Some of these are so com-plete that almost perfect skeletons have been set up,enabling us vividly to imagine how the bird looked whenswimming through the waters of our globe, or flyingthrough the air, perhaps four millions of years ago. The most remarkable peculiarity of these birds wasthe possession of teeth. Two of the most well-knownexamples are called Ichthyornis and Hesperornis. The Ancestors 3 bones of these birds were discovered by Professor Marshimbedded in the rocks of western Kansas, and they arenow preserved in the museum of Yale University. Pro-fessor Marsh tells us that Hesperornis, the Bird of the
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Fig. 1.—Restored skeleton of Ichthyornis (after Marsh). 1/2 natural size. West, was a typical aquatic bird, and in habit wasdoubtless very similar to the loon, although, flight beingimpossible, its life was probably passed entirely uponthe water, except when visiting the shore for the purposeof breeding. The nearest land at that time was the sue- 4 The Bird cession of low islands which marked the position of thepresent Rocky Mountains. In the shallow tropical sea,extending from this land five hundred miles or more tothe eastward, and to unknown limits north and south,there was the greatest abundance and variety of fishes,and these doubtless constituted the main food of thepresent species. Hesperornis, as we have seen, was anadmirable diver; while the long neck, with its capabilitiesof rapid flexure, and the long slender jaws armed withsharp recurved teeth, formed together a perfect instru-ment for the capture and retention of the most agile fish.The lower jaws were united in front o

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