Re: MAMMALOGICAL NATURE

["Nicholas R. Longrich" <longrich@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>]

On Thu, 1 Feb 1996, D.W.Naish wrote:

> FISHING IN ARCHAEOPTERYX
> 
> Water ouzel, black thrushes (both _Turdus_) and Eurasian robins (_Erithacula_)
> are among the living birds totally unadapted for piscivory that can turn their
> beaks to it, if you will, when they so desire. _Archaeopteryx_ could well have
> been as opportunistic as these animals. I don't go for a cormorant-life
> lifestyle though.. neither, I think, did _Archaeopteryx_.

        Somebody mention Archie as a generalist- crows are pretty darned 
generalist in their preference of food. I've seen them go after 
everything from garbage to mountain-ash berries, from stuff in the 
tidepools to baby ducks. And I've also seen them flying over water pretty 
frequently, so it's entirely possible that a generalist with no aquatic 
tendencies can spend enough time around the ocean to get caught in the 
sediments every once in a while. 
        -Nick L