THE ARCH^OPTERYX 



across it fan-wise, the Archseopteryx had a long 

 bony tail made up of many vertebrae, and the 

 feathers were set in a series one behind the 

 other on each side of it, so that the tail resembled 

 the leaf of a date palm in shape. Strange as 

 this little creature appears, it was a genuine 

 bird, for it had true feathers well developed, 

 which are clearly shown in the two fossil speci- 

 mens. Besides the two rows of feathers on the 

 long tail, there are the full set of feathers 

 spreading from the fore-arms and hands to 

 form the wings, and the thighs also were 

 covered with feathers. 



It cannot be said that this ancient extinct 

 bird goes far towards connecting birds with 

 reptiles : but in the possession of separate claw- 

 bearing fingers, a long bony tail and teeth, in 

 the apparent want of a beak, it does come 

 nearer to lizard-like reptiles than does any other 

 known bird. 



In the Tertiary Strata remains of various 

 birds have been found. One of great interest 

 on account of its enormous size is the Phoro- 

 rachus of South America. We have in Fig. 175 

 a photograph of the skull of this bird placed 

 beside the stuffed skin of a living South American 



239 



