350 



ANIJIALS OF THE I'AST 



strange combination of bird and reptile. Tlie bones were 

 liollow, but there were no featliers on tiie body. Their 

 wings were leathery hke those of a l)at; and sometimes they 

 had a long tail ending in a flap. Figure 231 gives an idea 

 of their appearance. 



Figure 232 shows a remarkable reptilelike bird just as its 

 outlines were found impressed on the rocks. It had wings, 



Fig. 2.32. — Reptilelike bird of mesozoie times. 



and the whole botly was covered with feathers: but the 

 mouth, hke that of a reptile, had teeth, and hke a reptile 

 it had a long, jointed tail with feathers along the sitles in 

 pairs. This seems to indicate that the reptiles and birds 

 have sprung from the same ancestors. 



Birds. — Birds appeared during the mesozoic era. Some 

 of them had teeth and some of them had none. They 

 varied in size from small birds to those having a height of 



