THE OLDEST BIRD 217

carefully and deliberately, ‘coaxing it out, as it
were, as Sir W. L. Buller says, ‘by degrees instead
of pulling roughly or breaking it, and on getting it
fairly out of the ground, throwing up his head with a
jerk and swallowing the worm ata gulp. A quaint

 

 

THE KIWI

old-time creature is the kiwi, with no wings, no tail,
and its feathers mere bristles.

SAURUR4.—The birds of this group, the last
of the avian orders, the one distinguished from all
the rest by the long reptilian tails, are all extinct.
No toothless representatives have yet been discovered.
The oldest known is the Bavarian Archeopteryx of