2 3 o EXTINCT MONSTERS 



the above Museum, with the skeleton of a modern ostrich, among 

 the fossil birds. The Fayum of Egypt (see p. 262) has also yielded 

 a portion of a limb-bone of some large struthious bird. 



It will thus be seen that big struthious birds have a long 

 history, going far back into the Tertiary era, and that they once 

 had a much wider geographical range than they have now. 

 Doubtless, future discoveries will tend to fill up the gaps between 

 all these various types, both living and extinct, and to connect 

 them together in one chain of evolution. Possibly the bird 

 evolved from an arboreal reptile. 



