New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-11-04
ANCIENT BIRD FOSSIL
Museum Gets Fragments of a
creature 5000 900 Years Old.
FOUND IN THE FAR WEST
walter Granger, Discoverer,
Saws It Was Biggest of Feath-
cred Tribe on Continent.

,,.,on,ents of a gigantic bird that eX-
- three million years ago in North
'.nrics have been brought 20 the Ameri-
s,n Museum of Natural History by Wal
,sr Granger, a member of the museum
'..s who has been making fossil inves-
s'~atons IN Wyoming and New Mexico.
Tben seen at the museum yesterday
~. Granger, who has just returned, said
go. in all probability the bird was the
,.-osst feathered creature that ever eX-
,s,ss In North America. Mr. Granger
''vnorthed i'm the West two years ago the
s.n,ous iour-toed horse.
The museum expedition has been maxi
10 investigations In the Big Horn Basin.
- wyoming, which is east of Yellowstone
n.rk and in the extreme northern part
ef New Mexico.
rhs evidences Of the existence of the
.-sst North American bird are the feet
bones.
..rbsss homes" said Mr.. Granger, lead
ga % believe that it was the largest bird
Az, aver existed in North America. II
srobably was something like the New
z.o,and mos, bird as large IS an os-
,,,,h which lived until comparatively
..o.nt times. There is an example Of the
20 in the museum. and compared the
i,.., homes of the gigantic North Ameri-
- hrd with those of the moa, and
toupd them almost the same size
Bird Probably Couldn't Fly.
, n, Granger said that the bird was
,,obsbly a hIghtiess creature. but he
ia MT be positive on that point.
thirty years ago, the museum repre-
,.r,a,iye declared, Professor e. d. Cope
found fragments Of such bird in New
Mexico. For eight years Mr.. Granger
has been collecting fossils in the west
last year particularly rich strata were
vnssrthed. and during recent months the
work Of the expedition he has headed has
b.sn 10 collect material from these strata
The age Of the rnastodon and the NAM
r,o,h were nothing as compared to the
-. ~ the gigantic bird and of the NAM
Val fragments discovered in the new
strata
The mastodon and the mammoth were
IN great numbers in this country 6O'ooV
"a 1000 900 years ago, but that is as yes
,,,dsy the museum investigator said,
vh.n COMPARED 10 the age OF mammals
disclosed in the work in Wyoming ana
Arizona
There were countless herds Of horses
q, those good old days. In the last Few
Years about 1000 individuals" have been
found, and are now in the museum, and
Mr. Granger said he had brought BACK
Eve hundred more horse fragments
They were about the size Of foxes then
spd were, as at the present time, not car
nivorous.
Afinities 100000 Years Ago.
IEnitIes were even In evidence on this
Continent three million years ago.
1. the technical term ME Granger gave
n, small creature that existed in large
i m,rsh.rssat that recent date, which bore
resemblance to the present squirrel tila'
cracks nuts in Central Park
'sThey were in great profusion three
million years ago." said Mr.. Granger
and the evidences Of long tail and the
general resemblance TO the skeleton OF the
present squirrel makes IT possible tha'
they were affinities Of the present squirrel
though they may not have been OF the
nme family"
The ancestor of the present crocodile
nat basks IN the sun in tropical zones
was in evidence In wyoming at the time
the bird OF prodigious proportions strut
led about those regions. The museum
representative found remains OF croco-
dilss that indicated length Of from ten
10 twelve feet.
There were big lizards in abundance
too" he declared.
Evidences Of snakes are hard 70 ma
Mr. Granger said. the present expeoitioh
bsing unsuccessful in that direction. o.