Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1877-12-29


mera that made his fortune.
BIRDS TWELVE FEET HIGH.
Freshly Found Tracks of Animals
that Perished Ages Ago.
Professor Hitchcock. of geological fame is
now engaged i'll securing some OF the celebra-
ted fossil bird tracks of the Connecticut valley
from spot which has never been worked for
that purpose, namely, the shore of The Wethers-
field Cove. about three miles below Hartford
The spot selected is at the southeastern part of
the Cove, in the shaly and crumblv frepStone
formation that underlieS the soil at the depth
of from six inches To several feet, according TO
The distance from the water. 1t is the same
KIND oil stone that is obtained from the Port
land quarrieS, II miles further down the river
and famous as the Portland and Connecticut
freeStone. out of which SO many fashi0nab bic
a,iWn ne fronts are made only this for
Cove. being 50 near the surface. and indeed
often actually exposed above The soil. is far
rom Irlable We condense from the Hart
ford Times these details of Prof. HitchcOck's
discoveries:
Wethersfed Cove. as many readers i'm other
states may not know. is a large and beautiful
sheet oil water formed by the Connecticut river
with which il is connected by a narrow inlet
and from which it is distant from ten to forty
rods: The stones at which the famous geolO
gist is at work are embedded i'm the bank of
the cove, between that water and the river
The bank rises gently 10 the southeast perhaps
10 ieet above the present stage of water in the
about two rods from the water which indeed
at the beginning of the work was AT the actual
POINT OF commencement, but has receded since
Here he has unearthed n great many tracks
mat were broken in the attempt 10 remove the
crumbly stone, and opened to view one stra-
tum OF this soft. red freestone which diScI0Ses
line OF four fossil bird-tracks of giant size.
and made, evidently. by one and the same in.
dividual. walking in a sOutherly direction
Other tracks, of birds and animals cross them
in various directions.
hirIt for ha
favor OF a fossil giant frog, or lizard. seems
not to be so well supported in this ease as the
theory that the tracks first mentioned are
those OF some enormous fossil bird. The joint,
number. spread and swelling of the toes are
Enthusiastically those of a bird probably of the
ostrich family. but far larger than any living
ostrich. Though not so large as some of the
fossil tracks of the Connecticut valley these
foot prints. Prof. Hitchcock says, must have
been made by "A bird that was twelve feet high /:
nearly twice as large as an ostrich; They mea-
sure about foot in length, from heel to toe
nail, and have corresponding spread and
emphasis. Some are still larger.
In the soft silt and Ooze OF what was then a
muddy shore Of the primeval sea, these great
BIRDS. walking on surface that became rap
idly sun baked between every returning tide
made deep, sharply defined and clear-cut
were filled up with silt and clayey mud by the
next tide. to varying depths. These depths
are now marked by the thin but distinct strata
OF the freeStOne into which this mud was i'm
due time converted. 1t is really astonishine
TO see what minute creatures, even little bugs
not bigger apparently than small house flies
have here left the enduring and undeniable
evidences OF their hasty running on the soft
and smooth surface of the ancient sea beach,
in lines OF little tracks that are as clearly
marked Though of course not so deep as the
tracks OF their giant feathered contemporaries.
1t was indeed a scene of teeming life on
these shores a life of wOndrOus variety in its
forms, as in the sizes of the creatures in which
1t was manifested Here are great bird tracks
crossed smaller 81 IA m laxU dprint
OF some Saurian creature, probably some ex-
tinct lizard. This fellow must have had not
only long, sharp claws but long heels. Other
forms indicate variety of creatures, some
large, some minute. One marking looked like
the close fitting joints of a snake. The big
bird tracks are separated by stride of abOu
three and half feet, indicating a leSurely
walk by the feathered biped which made them:
probably he was hunting for some of the
myriad small creatures which abOunded on the
Prof. Hitchcock, who has secured specimens
at Portland, at South Hadley. Mass; at Tur-
ners Falls Mass, and other places in the val
measuring IA by % inches-a wen-iuoted crea.
ture, probably of the lizard tribe, whose stride
was feet inches. At Batterson's granite
and marble works, on Main and Pleasant
streets. there are freestOne slabs from the
fined tracks which measure % inches or over:
PrOf. Hitchcock ascribeS them to a mammoth
fossil frog. or lizard. called the OtozOum. This
fellow was evidently one of a very numerous
brotherhood in this neighbOrhOOd. Compared
with his baSSO prOfundO note, the believing of
the bulls OF BaShan must have been mild and
mellow music. The worst crOakers of these
hard times " could have taken valuable les
SONS Of the OtOZOum.
Those were the days of hot and murky air,
the days when the cooling and hardening
shores of earth briStled with endless lines OF
roaring volcanoes: when the pterOdactyl was
yet living creature, winging his dusky way
through warm murky atmosphere, and the
meSatherlum, Tor q more cOmfOrta bic dinner
pulled down the Succulent trees on which he
dlned. Huge creatures, bigger than the largest
living elephant, and whose skeletons are still
cient marshes which at some later period be.
came peat beds, were i'm those times abundant
on these once tropical shores.
Ii was period Of tremendous rains, and one
OF the most curious relics among the fossil
markings on these red clay SandstOnes are
certain smooth tablets. unearthed here at the
Cave, on which are clearly impressed the un-
miStakable records of particular showers
which lin Prof HIS OpiniOnl must have made
their impress two nilliOn years ago! In one
instance the crowded drops betOken pouring
rain probably a mOmentary shower, which
was insufficient to wash out its own record. In
other specimens the scattered drops plainly
SHOW which way the wind was, in the particu-
lar shower which, in few passing moments OF
a year uncalendared, made their impress on
the glossy tidewaShed clay mud. there is
one, said Professor Hitchcock, (which shows
that the wind, when that rain fell. was from
the northwest"
TRADE IN TExAs.-I shall be glad when
n0 NrnA mi In.