ANATOMY OF BIRDS
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS
CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS
LIZARD-TAILED BIRD
AMERICAN TOOTHED-BIRDS
THE OSTRICHES
THE RHEAS
EMEUS AND CASSOWARIES
THE TINAMOUS
THE KIWIS
THE PENGUINS
LOONS AND GREBES
ALBATROSSES & PETRELS
STORK-LIKE BIRDS
GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS
FALCON-LIKE BIRDS
FOWL-LIKE BIRDS
CRANE-LIKE BIRDS
PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE Archaeopteryx, OR LIZARD-TAILED BIRD
Probable Habits of the Lizard Tailed Birds
With the above facts before us we are perhaps in position to indulge in some fairly reasonable speculation as to the habits of this ancient bird. From the presence of a distinctly perching foot it may be inferred that a considerable portion of its life was spent in trees, which are known to have been abundantly present at that time, and further, that the curious hooked fingers were of assistance in climbing about among the branches, as are those of a young Hoactzin of to-day. On account of the relative slenderness of both legs and feet, and to their position far back on the body, Mr. Beddard, a distinguished English anatomist, doubts if the Archceopteryx could have stood erect. On the ground he thinks it must have assumed a quadrupedal position. In support of the opposite view it may be stated that the tips of the wing-quills are not worn or injured, as they almost certainly would have been had they habitually come in contact with the ground. But this is a point that obviously cannot be definitely settled.
The fact that no openings have been observed for the admission of air into the bones has been taken by several writers to militate against flight. This is certainly a very unsafe generalization, for, as already pointed out, certain birds, as for example the Swallows, that are past masters in the art of flying, have prac- ' tically non-pneumatic bones, while others, as the Ostriches, have the bones highly pneumatic, yet cannot fly at all. Although the wings were rather short and rounded, the well-developed wing feathers, which appear adequate for the support of a bird of this size, seem to indicate beyond reasonable doubt that Archceopteryx could fly, though perhaps it was incapable of long-sustained flight.
The Tinamous furnish an example in point. They have short, rounded wings and can fly well for short distances, but soon become exhausted. If we possessed a more satisfactory knowledge of the breast-bone, we should be the better able to decide regarding the probable power of flight, for if this was actually absent or very much reduced in size, it would appear to militate against the enjoyment of any great power of aerial locomotion. It may be added, as was pointed out by Professor Lydekker, that the slight development of the delto-pectoral crest of the humerus apparently indicates at least weak power of flight.
As to the food of the Archceopteryx we of course know nothing, but from the presence of the numerous distinct and rather sharp teeth it may be inferred that these were still of assistance in procuring food, which likely consisted of animals of some kind. But this is largely speculation.
All things considered, Archceopteryx was a most remarkable animal. While it possessed numerous points of structure unmistakably similar to those of reptiles, it was, on the whole, much nearer to the birds than to the reptiles. It is clearly a connecting link between the two classes, and yet we are undoubtedly still very far from the original point where the branch was made from the reptilian stem. Indeed, the reptiles as we know them may be very unlike what they were when the division occurred which ended in Archceopteryx on the one hand and modern reptiles on the other. In any event it must have taken a very long period of time for the development of such distinctly bird-like feet and featners. Archceopteryx is well entitled to be placed in a Subclass, opposed to all other known birds.
In 1881 Professor O. C. Marsh described, under the name of Laopteryx prisons, a crushed and broken skull and a single detached tooth that may or may not have belonged to it, from the Jurassic beds of Wyoming. This has been supposed to be the skull of a bird, and, for no other reason than that it is found in beds of similar geological age, has sometimes been placed in the Subclass with Archceopteryx. It now seems more than likely that it will be proved to belong to the reptiles, and in any case too little is known of its structure to definitely associate it with Archceopteryx.
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