Next comes the great family of Birds.  The Birds ascended from the Reptiles.  This is the Eastern Teaching, and this is the teaching of Western Science It was formerly taught in the text-books that the line of ascent was along the family of winged reptiles which existed in the Age of Reptiles, in the early days of the Earth.  But the later writers on the subject, in the Western world, have contradicted this.  It is now taught that these ancient winged-reptiles were featherless, and more closely resembled the Bat family than birds. (You will remember that a Bat is neither a reptile nor a bird—­it is a mammal, bringing forth its young alive, and suckling them at its breast.  The Bat is more like a mouse, and its wings are simply membrane stretched between its fingers, its feet, and its tail.)

The line of ascent from Reptile to Bird was along the forms of the Reptiles that walked on land.  There are close anatomical and physiological relations and correspondences between the two families (Reptiles and Birds) which we need not refer to here.  And, of course, many modifications have occurred since the “branching-out.”  The scales of the reptiles, and the feathers of the birds, are known to be but modifications of the original outer skin, as are also the hair, claws, hoofs, nails, etc., of all animals.  Even teeth arose in this way, strange as it may now seem—­they are all secreted from the skin.  What a wonderful field for thought—­this gradual evolution from the filmy outer covering of the lowest living forms to the beautiful feathers, beaks, and claws of the bird!

The evolving of wings meant much to the ascending forms of life.  The Reptiles were compelled to live in a narrow circle of territory, while the Birds were able to travel over the earth in wide flights.  And travel always develops the faculties of observation, memory, etc., and cultivates the senses of seeing, hearing, etc.  And the creature is compelled to exercise its evolving “thinking” faculties to a greater extent.  And so the Birds were compelled by necessity of their travels to develop a greater degree of thinking organism.  The result is that among birds we find many instances of intelligent thought, which cannot be dismissed as “mere instinct.”  Naturalists place the Crow at the head of the family of Birds, in point of intelligence, and those who have watched these creatures and studied the mental processes, will agree that this is a just decision.  It has been proven that Crows are capable of counting up to several figures, and in other ways they display a wonderful degree of almost human sagacity.