Abstract
THE power of flying through the air is one of the principal characteristics of the class of birds. Although some members of the other great divisions of the Vertebrates—the bats among Mammals, the extinct pterodactyle among Reptiles, the flying-fishes among Pisces—possess this power in a greater or less degree, these are all exceptional forms, whereas in birds the faculty of flight is the rule, its absence the exception. Among Invertebrates this power is possessed in a very complete degree by the greater number of insects.
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The Wings of Birds 1 . Nature 34, 204–205 (1886). https://doi.org/10.1038/034204a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/034204a0