Page:The fairy tales of science.djvu/30

 actions prove it to be a harmless and peaceably disposed animal.

Look at that strange bird overhead! Its body does not appear to be larger than that of a pigeon—but what enormous wings it is provided with! Now it descends. Is it a bird or a large bat? Its wings seem to be formed of leather, and its body has anything but a bird-like form. See! it alights, and runs upon the ground with considerable speed—now it jumps into the lake, and swims about the surface as if water were its natural element. Again it rises in the air, directing its course towards the spot where we are standing, and now it perches upon a fragment of rock close to us.

What an extraordinary creature; it is neither bird nor bat, but a winged reptile! Its head, which is small and bird-like and supported on a long slender neck, is provided with elongated jaws, in which are set some fifty or sixty sharp little teeth. Its wing consists of folds of skin, sustained by the outer finger enormously lengthened; the other fingers being short and armed with powerful claws. Its body is covered with scales instead of feathers, and in addition to this strange mixture of bird-like and reptilian features, the creature is provided with the long stiff tail of a mammal.

Of all the inhabitants of this country of marvels, the Flying reptile is by far the strangest; and as we