84 MIGHTY ANIMALS 



their families. Perhaps they built nests in which 

 to hatch their eggs, or they may have buried the 

 eggs in the sand where they were hatched by the 

 sun. Some day we shall probably learn more about 

 the family life of these strange creatures, for their 

 bones are continually being found and studied. 



It was in Bavaria, in the year 1784, that the first 

 bones were discovered. But no one could make out 

 whether they were part of an animal which had lived 

 on the land, in the water, or in the air. Then, twenty- 

 five years later, these bones were examined by Cuvier, 

 the celebrated French naturalist, and he was able to 

 prove that they belonged to some extraordinary flying 

 creature. Since then it has been learned that these 

 winged reptiles made their homes in nearly every 

 part of the world, but they lived in Europe many 

 centuries before they found their way to America. 

 Just how they got here no one can tell, but once they 

 had arrived, they increased greatly in size and num- 

 bers. They lived around the inland sea that was 

 then part of the western United States, and in Kansas 

 their bones have been found in abundance. 



Nor were the Pterodactyls the only creatures flying 



