Fig. 149.—Jaw of a Cretaceous Toothed Bird (Ichthyornis dispar).—After Marsh. Natural size.
The approximation of the winged reptiles to the birds is further increased by the facts that in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods there were birds having reptilian tails and probably toothed jaws (Archæopteryx macroura, [Fig. 148]). The species just named, while in its limbs, trunk, and feathers a veritable perching bird, resembles a reptile in its head and tail. In the Cretaceous of Western America, Marsh has recently discovered two distinct types of toothed birds, one having the teeth in regular sockets, the other having them implanted in a groove in the jaw. One of these birds (Ichthyornis dispar, [Fig. 149]) was larger than a pigeon, with powerful wings constructed like those of ordinary birds. It had also the curious and old-fashioned peculiarity of biconcave vertebræ, like those of fishes and some reptiles. Another (Hesperornis regalis) stood five or six feet high, and had rudimentary wings like those of the Penguins. These toothed birds extend into the Eocene Tertiary, where the Odontopteryx of Owen has been known for some time. In the Eocene, however, this toothed bird is associated with others of ordinary types, allied closely to the Ostriches, the Pelicans, the Ibis, the Woodpeckers, the Hawks, the Owls, the Vultures, and the ordinary perching birds. In the Later Mesozoic, indeed, some reptiles became so bird-like that they nearly approached the earliest birds; but this was a final and futile effort of the reptile to obtain in the air that supremacy which it had long enjoyed in earth and water; and its failure was immediately succeeded in the Eocene by the appearance of a cloud of true birds, representing all the existing orders of the class.
Fig. 150.—Jaw of Bathygnathus borealis (Leidy). A Triassic Dinosaur from Prince Edward Island.
a, Cross section of second tooth, natural size. b, Fifth tooth, natural size.
We may close our notice of the winged reptiles of the Mesozoic by quoting from Phillips his summary of the characters of Rhamphorhyncus ([Fig. 147])[67]: “Gifted with ample means of flight, able at least to perch on rocks and scuffle along the shore, perhaps competent to dive, though not so well as a palmiped bird, many fishes must have yielded to the cruel beak and sharp teeth of the Rhamphorhyncus. If we ask to which of the many families of birds the analogy of structure and probable way of life would lead us to assimilate Rhamphorhyncus, the answer must point to the swimming races, with long wings, clawed feet, hooked beak, and habits of violence and voracity; and for preference, the shortness of the legs and other circumstances may be held to claim for the Stonesfield fossil a more than fanciful similitude to the groups of Cormorants and other marine divers which constitute an effective part of the picturesque army of robbers of the sea.”
