82 ANIMALS OF THE PAST 



There are to-day no animals living that are closely 

 related to them; none have lived for a long period of 

 time, for the Dinosaurs came to an end in the Cretace- 

 ous, and it can only be said that the crocodiles, on the 

 one hand, and the ostriches, on the other, are the nearest 

 existing relatives of these great reptiles. 



For, though so different in outward appearance, birds 

 and reptiles are structurally quite closely allied, and 

 the creeping snake and the bird on which it preys are 

 relatives, although any intimate relationship between 

 them is of the serpent's making, and is strongly objected 

 to by the bird. 



But if we compare the skeleton of a Dinosaur with 

 that of an ostrich a young one is preferable and with 

 those of the earlier birds, we shall find that many of the 

 barriers now existing between reptiles and birds are 

 broken down, and that they have many points in com- 

 mon. In fact, save in the matter of clothes, wherein 

 birds differ from all other animals, the two great groups 

 are not so very far apart. 



The Dinosaurs were by no means confined to North 

 America, although the western United States seem to 

 have been their headquarters, but ranged pretty much 

 over the world, for their remains have been found in 

 every continent, even in far-off New Zealand. 



In point of time they ranged from the Trias to the 

 Upper Cretaceous, their golden age, marking the cul- 

 minating point of reptilian life, being in the Jurassic, 

 when huge forms stalked by the sea-shore, browsed 

 amid the swamps, or disported themselves along the 

 reedy margins of lakes and rivers. 



They had their day, a day of many thousand years, 

 and then passed away, giving place to the superior race 



