Photo by Charles H. Tolman 



SONG SPARROW (SEE PAGE 68 1 ) 



The song sparrow's vast range in a dozen varying climates, its readiness to adapt itself 

 to the different conditions in each of the regions it inhabits, its numerical abundance and 

 steady increase while some of its family are dying out, its freedom from disease and vermin, 

 and its perennial good spirits evidenced by its never-failing music — all proclaim that it is, 

 indeed, one of Nature's successes. Its irrepressible vivacity and good spirits in spite of all 

 circumstances are aptly illustrated by the fact that its song may be heard in every month 

 of the year and in all weathers ; also "by night as well as by day, for nothing is more common 

 in the darkest nights than to hear its sweet chant in half-conscious answer to the hooting of 

 the owl or even the report of a gun. — Ernest Thompson. 



fossils themselves.* Two specimens .have 

 been discovered, one being now in the 

 British Museum, the other in the BerHn 

 Museum. They were both found in the 

 lithographic slates of Solenhofen, in Ba- 

 varia, a formation of the Jurassic period, 

 and, together, furnish the more impor- 

 tant details of the structure of this reptile- 

 like bird. 



This restoration, therefore, while doubt- 

 less inaccurate in minor points, is still 

 near enough to the truth to give a correct 

 idea of this extraordinary bird's appear- 

 ance. 



*For papers on the Archaeopteryx, see Nat- 

 ural Science (Macmillan Co.), vols, v-viii. 



A PREHISTORIC REPTILE BIRD 



The Arch?eopteryx was about the size 

 of a crow. Its long, feathered tail is 

 supposed to have acted as an aeroplane, 

 assisting in the support of the bird while 

 it was in the air, but its power of flight 

 was doubtless limited. It was arboreal 

 and probably never descended to the 

 earth, but climbed about the branches of 

 trees, using its large, hooked fingers in 

 passing from limb to limb. 



The wanderings of this almost quadru- 

 pedal creature must necessarily have been 

 limited, but its winged descendants of to- 

 day are more generally distributed than 



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