BIRDS OF OLD 



" With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, 

 And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies." 



When we come to discuss the topic of the ear- 

 liest bird not the one in the proverb our 

 choice of subjects is indeed limited, being re- 

 stricted to the famous and oft-described Archse- 

 opteryx from the quarries of Solenhofen, which 

 at present forms the starting-point in the his- 

 tory of the feathered race. Bird-like, or at 

 least feathered, creatures, must have existed 

 before this, as it is improbable that feathers 

 and flight were acquired at one bound, and 

 this lends probability to the view that at least 

 some of the tracks in the Connecticut Valley 

 are really the footprints of birds. Not birds as 

 we now know them, but still creatures wearing 

 feathers, these being the distinctive badge and 

 livery of the order. For we may well speak 



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