FOSSIL BIRDS 



279 



these tAvo specimens supplement one another in the parts that are 

 exposed, we can form a fair notion of what the animal was like- 



Portion of the same Slab, biiEuiNG iiif I xirvt.-Mii\ c t ihl Bird-, Tail Natural size. 



A])out the size of a Rook, its most obvious peculiarity is a long ^ 



Lizard-like tail of _20 vertebra?, from each of which springs a pair oi ''f- ^ ^' 



well-developed rectrices. The 



bill was short and blunt ; the 



upper jaw being furnished with / 



1 3, and the lower with 3 teeth i , 



on each side, all implanted in '• 



distinct sockets. The vertebra? 



of the neck and back were 



biconcave, the sternum seems 



to have been keeled, and the 



manUS had 3 free digits. The Hkad of ARcn.^oPTERVX,fromtl.e specimen in the 



o Museum of Berlm. Natural size. (After Dames.) 



tibia and fibula do not coal- 

 esce, and the former was furnished with a series of feathers 

 very similar to those of the tail.^ Though presenting many 

 ^ J. Evans, On Portions . . . 0/ the Archseopteryx. London: 1881. 



