Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 36.djvu/399

Rh During the Cretaceous period the Rocky Mountains were not yet the high elevation which they are now, but were existing probably only as a succession of low islands. The land of several States of the Union was deposited at that time at the bottom of the ocean, east of this line of islands. One of these States is Kansas, in which, therefore, the cold water was then still more supreme than it is now. In the Cretaceous deposits of Kansas the remains of the bird Hesperornis have been found. It was a



large animal, about five feet long, with well-developed, strong legs, but perfectly obsolete wings. The anatomical construction indicates the way of living. It was entirely without the power of flight, living in the way of penguins, mostly on the water, diving for fish, which it was admirably adapted to catch, and with which the Cretaceous ocean here was teeming. The shores were visited probably only for the purpose of breeding. There is nothing very peculiar in it's anatomy, with the exception of one fact, which, however, distinguishes it at once thoroughly from all birds living now: its long bill was provided with teeth, teeth which resemble those of reptiles. Few discoveries have at their time caused so much interest among geologists as when through