184 THE STORY OF BIRD-LIFE. 



at the precise spot where entombment took place, 

 and someone must be at hand capable of appreci- 

 ating the fossil and preserving it for study when 

 discovered." 



The most ancient bird known carries us as far 

 back in the world's history as the period and age 

 we call the Jurassic. Its contemporaries were the 

 huge marine fish-lizards — the ichthyosaurus and 

 the plesiosaurus. On land there roamed the 

 mammoth lizards, Brontosaurus and Atlanta- 

 saurns. The former was 50 feet long, and has 

 left footprints measuring a square yard in area. 

 The latter was some 100 feet long, and 30 feet 

 or more in height. 



The mammals were yet in their infancy. 

 Probably none exceeded a few inches in length. 



Amongst the rivals of this ancient bird in 

 creatures that fly, there were no mammals as 

 at the present day — the bats. But their place 

 was filled by swarms of flying reptiles — the 

 pterodactyles, or wing-fingered lizards. Lizards 

 indeed were the dominant form of life. At this 

 period they had reached the zenith of their glory, 

 and ruled where now the bat and the bird hold 

 sway, and not only in the air, but on terra Jirma 

 as well. 



This bird we know as the Archceopteryx, — the 

 ancient winged-bird. As we shall see in the 

 next chapter, it differs in many important 

 details from all other known birds. But, at 

 the same time, it is undoubtedly a bird. It 

 possesses, in a remarkable degree of perfection, 

 one of the birds' most striking characteristics — 

 feathers. The form of its leg and foot is scarcely 



