2 l6 
EXTINCT MONSTERS 
the features, or characters, of birds and reptiles in a most 1 
remarkable way. In size it was about as large as a rook. Are 
we to call it a Pterodactyl with feathers ? That would be to 
dub it a reptile ; and since the leading authorities agree in calling 
it a bird, we must abide by their decision. Names, however, are 
sometimes misleading; the main fact we have to remember is, 
that in former ages some classes of animals which are now sharply 
marked off from each other were by no means so separated. 
A good deal of discussion has arisen with regard to the true 
interpretation of the Berlin specimen, as far as the wing is 
concerned. The question is, how the feathers were attached; 
and there can be but little doubt, that in this respect the drawing 
from which Fig. 79 is taken is wrong. Look at the impressions 
of the long “ primary ” feathers, and you will see that at first they 
curve towards the three fingers, but then turn downwards and 
bend towards the two bones of the fore-arm. This is due to 
a mistake, and the first curve of the feathers, as seen in the 
left-hand corner, should have been continued. But in other 
respects Fig. 79 gives a fair idea of the Berlin specimen. 
One cannot help wondering whether this very ancient bird 
could sing ; but, although doubtless the gift of song was not in 
those Jurassic days so marvellously perfected as it is now, yet 
we would fain believe that Archaeopteryx at least tried to sing. 
If, as seems probable, it lived among trees, one would think that 
some means of communication with its fellows was almost a 
necessity; besides, even lizards and some amphibians make a 
kind of music of which the song of birds seems to be a develop- 
ment. 
The next evidences of former bird life are met with in the 
Cretaceous rocks, and here we find the Hesperornis. This bird 
was a gigantic diver, and its length from the point of the bill to 
