Dragons of Sea and Air 



home fish to feed the little ones, for this is 

 something it doubtless did do, since the young 

 could hardly be expected to care for them- 

 selves at the outset. 



Professor Seeley, our best authority on 

 pterodactyls, thinks that resemblances between 

 them and birds are more than superficial. He 

 considers that they were both derived from a 

 common ancestor, and diverged to form two 

 quite distinct groups of animals. This, how- 

 ever, is an extreme view of the case, and the 

 generally accepted theory is that those char- 

 acters wherein the pterodactyls most nearly 

 approach birds are the result of modifications 

 connected with the power of flight. But why 

 did the flying reptile prove inferior to the bird ? 

 what is the weak point in his structure that 

 caused him to fail ? Bird and pterodactyl 

 started together in the Jurassic, and up to the 

 Cretaceous the latter seems to have had a de- 

 cided lead, for bones of pterodactyls are far 

 more numerous than are those of birds. But 

 at the close of the Cretaceous flying reptiles 

 suddenly disappeared, and it has been sug- 



215 



