THE STORY OF THE BIRDS 



CHAPTER I 



THEIR ORIGIN AND SALIENT CHARACTERISTICS 



Diagnosis of a bird — Descent of birds — Archseopteryx — 

 Cretaceous Ornitholites — Upper Eocene Ornitholites — 

 Miocene Ornitholites — Pliocene Ornitholites — Tertiary 

 gigantic birds — New Zealand Moas — Madagascar -^py- 

 ornithes — Miocene tropical genera in Europe — The 

 feathers of birds — Contour feathers — Down-plumes — 

 Powder-downs — Filoplumes — Colour of feathers — Ab- 

 normal colouration — Arrangement and pattern of 

 colour ■ — Differences in colour due to age, sex, and 

 season — Colour and environment — Moulting — The 

 avine skeleton — The anterior and posterior limbs — 

 The head or skull — Internal organs — Muscular, ner- 

 vous, and digestive systems — Respiratory organs — 

 The young of birds. 



" What is a man ? " asks Galatea of Pygmalion 



in Mr. Gilbert's famous play. *' What is a 



bird ? " the curious reader may ask, and possibly 



ask ninety-nine people out of every hundred 



without obtaining any satisfactory definition of 



such a well-known and familiar creature. Birds 



are familiar to all of us. To almost every kind 



A 



