. The bird; its form and function . radiating brancheswidely spreading and with thickly massed twigs, confu-sedly intermingled; so slight are the divergences betweenadjoining groups and so equally do almost all share be-tween them various rej)tilian characteristics. It is not necessary to concern ourselves now with theprocesses of evolution, especially as scientists are still indoubt as to the exact methods. Let us read our Darwin,and hope for another, philosophically as great, to com- * Thero are ono or two reasons for regarding Archcvaptcryx as merelythe tip of a parallel branch, but one spr
. The bird; its form and function . radiating brancheswidely spreading and with thickly massed twigs, confu-sedly intermingled; so slight are the divergences betweenadjoining groups and so equally do almost all share be-tween them various rej)tilian characteristics. It is not necessary to concern ourselves now with theprocesses of evolution, especially as scientists are still indoubt as to the exact methods. Let us read our Darwin,and hope for another, philosophically as great, to com- * Thero are ono or two reasons for regarding Archcvaptcryx as merelythe tip of a parallel branch, but one sprouting close to the base of the Fig. 5.—Archceopteryx preserved in the Berlin Museum. The skull, vertebrae,forelimbs and flight-feathers are remarkably distinct. 1/3 natural size. 12 The Bird plete the work, meanwhile adding our own mite of truth-ful observation to swell the whole, and help prepare theway for this other. For even Darwins theory of evolu-tion was but the consummation of theories of formeryears and centuries,—beginning with Thales and Anaxi-mander, in the days of early Grecian civilization: in-deed Aristotle, coming but two hundred years later, isthe only name in the history of zoology worthy of aI)lace with that of Darwin. Irom the fragmentary evidence afforded by Archceop-teryx we may conclude that this Bird of Old had a short,blunt, skinny bill of moderate size, furnished with teethwhich would enable the owner to feed upon Jurassic]:)erries and fruit, or more probably a carnivorous diet oflizards and insects. Its wings were weak, hinting thatit was a flutterer rather than a true flyer, perhaps
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1906
