216 EXTINCT MONSTERS 



the features, or characters, of birds and reptiles in a most 

 remarkable way. In size it was about as large as a rook. Are 

 we to call it a Pterodactyl with feathers ? That would be to 

 dub it a reptile ; and since the leading authorities agree in calling 

 it a bird, we must abide by their decision. Names, however, are 

 sometimes misleading; the main fact we have to remember is, 

 that in former ages some classes of animals which are now sharply 

 marked off from each other were by no means so separated. 



A good deal of discussion has arisen with regard to the true 

 interpretation of the Berlin specimen, as far as the wing is 

 concerned. The question is, how the feathers were attached; 

 and there can be but little doubt, that in this respect the drawing 

 from which Fig. 79 is taken is wrong. Look at the impressions 

 of the long " primary " feathers, and you will see that at first they 

 curve towards the three fingers, but then turn downwards and 

 bend towards the two bones of the fore-arm. This is due to 

 a mistake, and the first curve of the feathers, as seen in the 

 left-hand corner, should have been continued. But in other 

 respects Fig. 79 gives a fair idea of the Berlin specimen. 



One cannot help wondering whether this very ancient bird 

 could sing ; but, although doubtless the gift of song was not in 

 those Jurassic days so marvellously perfected as it is now, yet 

 we would fain believe that Archseopteryx at least tried to sing. 

 If, as seems probable, it lived among trees, one would think that 

 some means of communication with its fellows was almost a 

 necessity; besides, even lizards and some amphibians make a 

 kind of music of which the song of birds seems to be a develop- 

 ment. 



The next evidences of former bird life are met with in the 

 Cretaceous rocks, and here we find the Hesperornis. This bird 

 was a gigantic diver, and its length from the point of the bill to 



