. Key to North American birds. Containing a concise account of every species of living and fossil bird at present known from the continent north of the Mexican and United States boundary, inclusive of Greenland and lower California, with which are incorporated General ornithology, an outline of the structure and classification of birds, and Field ornithology, a manual of collecting, preparing, and preserving birds . back in geologictime to Cretaceous and Jurassic epochsof the Mesozoic or Mid-Life period of the worlds history. The earliest ornithichnites — thefossils so called because supposed
. Key to North American birds. Containing a concise account of every species of living and fossil bird at present known from the continent north of the Mexican and United States boundary, inclusive of Greenland and lower California, with which are incorporated General ornithology, an outline of the structure and classification of birds, and Field ornithology, a manual of collecting, preparing, and preserving birds . back in geologictime to Cretaceous and Jurassic epochsof the Mesozoic or Mid-Life period of the worlds history. The earliest ornithichnites — thefossils so called because supposed to indicate the presence of Birds by their foot-prints — werediscovered about the year 1835 in the Triassic formation in Connecticut. But the creatures DEFINITION OF BIRDS. 63 which made these tracks are now believed to have been Dinosaurian Reptiles. The oldestornitholite, or fossil certainly known to be that of a true Bird, is the famous ArchfEopteryx,found by Andreas Wagner in 1861 in the Oolitic slate of Soleuhofen in Bavaria. This hasa long lizard-like tail of 20 vertebra?, from each of which springs a well-developed featheron each side; feathers of the wings are also well preserved; bones of the hand are not fusedtogether, as they are in recent Birds; and the jaws bear true teeth. This Bird has served asthe basis of one of the primary divisions of the class Aves ; though it has many reptilian char-. FiG. 15.—Restoration oi JhspirorHia n-fjalis. After Marsh. acters, it is a true Bird. A Bird {Laopteryx prisons) believed to be also of Jurassic age wasdiscovered in 1881 in North America. The great gap between these ancient Avians and latter-day birds has been to some extent bridged by the discovery in 1870-72 of Birds from Creta-ceous formations of North America; such genera as Ichthyornis and Hesperornis forming typesof two remarkable groups, Odontotormce and Odontolcce, or Birds with teeth in sockets, andBirds with teeth in grooves. In both the tail is short, as in o
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirdsnorthamerica
