230 BIRD LIFE 



points of view geologists, astronomers, and biologists 

 seem to be catching glimpses, is 



' Broader than the measure of man's mind.' 



We cannot take it in, nor picture an endless creation, 

 begun when, before time itself a created thing was, 

 forces were set in motion, which, working in obedi- 

 ence to 



' Laws which never can be broken,' 



should spin from floating atoms a beautiful world, and 

 people it with ever- changing forms of life. 



Of the many dissolving views which the light of 

 science is now throwing on the screen, none is more 

 wonderful or more perplexing than the evolution of 

 birds from reptiles. And yet, up to a certain point at 

 least, the pedigree seems fairly conclusively proved. 

 Birds and reptiles alike are produced from eggs. The 

 framework of both is, with modifications, the same ; 

 and, in an immature stage, the likeness is often marked. 

 A newly-hatched Cormorant is much more like an 

 exceptionally ugly reptile than a bird. 



The missing link has been found in the Archaeop- 

 terix, of which fossil remains have been discovered in 

 the lithographic stone of Bavaria. It was a bird about 

 the size of a Rook, with three free fingers tipped with 

 claws. It had teeth, a lizard-like head, and a long tail 

 like a rat's, from each joint of which, at an angle of 

 forty-five, sprang pairs of feathers. 



Three-toed footprints, left ages ago in mud which 

 has since hardened to limestone rock, were until lately 



