A FAR ADVENTURE 303 



alligator, you understand, but that in tlie long ago, 

 before there was any kind of mammal on the earth, 

 the first birds began. ' * 



''What were they like, sir?" 



''Like lizards, as much as you can say they were 

 like anything else," was the reply. "The most 

 primitive bird that we know was called the 

 Archaeopteryx, and his fossil remains have been 

 found in a slate deposit in Bavaria. He was a 

 true bird, having feathers, for imprint of the 

 feathers is still to be seen on the stone, and you 

 know that feathers are the distinguishing signs of 

 birds. There are no birds without feathers, and 

 there are no feathers to be found in Nature except 

 on birds. 



"Yet, though the Archaeopteryx had feathers, in 

 other respects it was unlike any bird now existing. 

 It had no beak, but, instead, possessed strong jaws, 

 armed with sharp teeth set in sockets closely re- 

 sembling those of an alligator. Furthermore, it 

 possessed three distinct and separate fingers on 

 each wing, which it was able to use for climbing 

 purposes, whereas, in all birds now li\ing the parts 

 of the fingers which remain are bound together. ' ' 



"Then it was not a bit like any bird of to-day I" 



"It was very different," the Feather Man an- 



