THE STORY OF THE BIRDS 



CHAPTER I 



THEIR ORIGIN AND SALIENT CHARACTERISTICS 



Diagnosis of a bird Descent of birds Archaeopteryx 

 Cretaceous Ornitholites Upper Eocene Ornitholites 

 Miocene Ornitholites Pliocene Ornitholites Tertiary 

 gigantic birds New Zealand Moas Madagascar ^Epy- 

 ornithes Miocene tropical genera in Europe The 

 feathers of birds Contour feathers Down-plumes 

 Powder-downs Filoplumes Colour of feathers Ab- 

 normal colouration Arrangement and pattern of 

 colour * Differences in colour due to age, sex, and 

 season Colour and environment Moulting The 

 avine skeleton The anterior and posterior limbs 

 The head or skull Internal organs Muscular, ner- 

 vous, and digestive systems Respiratory organs 

 The young of birds. 



" WHAT is a man ? " asks Galatea of Pygmalion 

 in Mr. Gilbert's famous play. " What is a 

 bird ? " the curious reader may ask, and possibly 

 ask ninety-nine people out of every hundred 

 without obtaining any satisfactory definition of 

 such a well-known and familiar creature. Birds 

 are familiar to all of us. To almost every kind 



