“Probably it had been buried in a swamp,” the professor replied, “and, it may be, when the hurricane uprooted a tree, the outbursting roots tore up some of the soil and exposed an egg which had been buried in the swamp muck. The egg floated to the surface and so made its way down to the sea.”
“You said the Aepyornis egg was six times as big as the ostrich’s egg, but the bird wasn’t six times as big, was it?”
“Hardly,” said the scientist, smiling; “that would be like the Roc, that Sindbad the Sailor spoke about. But I think that the huge eggs of the Aepyornis were the things that started the story about the Roc. You know, it was supposed to have its home in Madagascar. There are several of those eggs known, and one very fine one is in America. As a matter of fact, the bird was not very much bigger than an ostrich. When you come to feathered giants, Perry, Patagonia must take the lead, and when I was down there this last winter, I found some splendid specimens.”
Courtesy of American Museum of Natural History.
Opening (rear tent) to Moropus Quarry.
Courtesy of American Museum of Natural History.
Inside the Moropus Quarry, Agate, Neb.
Museum expert uncovering bones of a Chalicothere, a strange creature with the teeth of a rhinoceros and clawed feet, twisted like those of an ant-eater.