THE MESOZOIC AGES. 207 



Used the wing membrane, as does the bat, to encloses 

 the prey and bring it to the mouth. The large 

 Pterodactyles probably pursued a more substantial 

 prey than dragon-flies. Their teeth were well suited 

 for fish; but probably fowl and small mammal, and 

 j?ven fruits, made a variety in their food. As the 

 lord of the cliff, it may be supposed to have taken 

 toll of all animals that could be conquered with tooth 

 and nail. From its brain, it might be regarded as an 

 intelligent animal. The jaws present indications of 

 having been sheathed with a horny covering, and 

 some species show a rugose anterior termination of 

 the snout, suggestive of fleshy lips like those of the 

 bat, and which may have been similarly used to 

 stretch and clean the wing-membrane." 



Here, however, perched on the trees, we see true 

 birds. At least they have beaks, and are clothed 

 with feathers. But they have very strange wings, 

 the feathers all secondaries, without any large quills, 

 and several fingers with claws at the angle of the 

 wing, so that though less useful as wings, they 

 served the double purpose of wing and hand. More 

 strange still, the tail was long and flexible, like that 

 of a lizard, with the feathers arranged in rows along 

 its sides. If the lizards of this strange and uncertain 

 time had wings like bats, the birds had tails and 

 hands like lizards. This was in short the special 

 age of reptiles, when animals of that class usurped 

 the powers which rightfully belonged to creatures 

 yet in their nonage, the true birds and mammals of 



