Includes bibliographical references (p. 411-436) and index.
Contents
A history -- The science of bird origins -- Skulls -- Skeletons -- Feathers and other fluff -- The beginnings of flight : from the ground up or from the trees down -- The early evolution of flight -- The loss of flight -- The lifestyle of the urvogel -- Looking for the true bird ancestor -- Were some dinosaurs also neoflightless birds -- A look at the phylogenetics of predatory dinosaurs -- The mesozoic -- The great extinction -- The cenozoic : the age of neornithines.