XXXIII. Extinct Birds

T he lecturer observed that comparative anatomy showed that birds were more nearly allied to reptiles than to mammals, however striking the external differences between them might be. Hence the late Professor Huxley had included birds and reptiles in one common group—the Sauropsida. Evolutionists believed that birds had originated from reptiles, though it was not known from what order of reptiles they were descended. The resemblances between birds and the Pterodactyles, or winged reptiles of the Jurassic epoch, were merely adaptive, but some of the likewise extinct order of Dinosauria had certainly bird-like osteological peculiarities. It was, however, interesting to know that the oldest known fossil bird—the Archæopteryx of the Upper Jurassic—was more reptile-like than any later bird, inasmuch as it had teeth in its jaws, a less specialised anterior extremity, and the caudal part of the vertebral column was elongated and tapering. The Archæopteryx formed one of the three great divisions into which birds were classed by Huxley—namely, the Saururae, or lizard-tailed; the other two being the Ratitæ, or ostrich-like birds, and the Carinatae, which included the overwhelming majority of living species. The Ratitæ comprised the Ostrich, the Emu, &c, running birds with degenerate wings, and consequently incapable of flight. Remains referred to Ratitæ have been found in Tertiary strata, but the most complete were those from the more recent accumulations, such as the Æpiornis, or Giant Bird, of Madagascar, eggs of which have been found measuring 14 inches in length; and the huge Moas of New Zealand, some of