THE STORY OF BIRD -LIFE. 



CHAPTER I. 



WHAT IS A BIRD? 



What is a bird 1 The text-books tell us that it 

 is a warm-blooded, egg-laying, feathered biped, 

 whose fore limbs take the form of wings, and 

 whose jaws are encased in a horny sheath to 

 form a beak. 



Such a definition will suffice for most of us, 

 but not for all. A few there be who would 

 know more ; who are curious concerning origins, 

 and will not be satisfied by any such cut and 

 dried definition ; for a definition is not an ex- 

 planation. To meet this curiosity in full is, 

 however, beyond the scope of this little work. 



As scraps by the wayside guide the pursuers 

 in a paper chase, often through unknown country, 

 so the fragments of rock, and bits of bone, left 

 by time in the course of ages, serve to give us 

 a clue as to the probable direction which our 

 search must take. But here we have no clear 

 view, only fragments of evidence which must be 



