ing above them. Large and small, not less
than a thousand of these filthy creatures lay in the hollow before us.

Our professors would gladly have stayed there all day, so entranced
were they by this opportunity of studying the life of a prehistoric
age. They pointed out the fish and dead birds lying about among the
rocks as proving the nature of the food of these creatures, and I heard
them congratulating each other on having cleared up the point why the
bones of this flying dragon are found in such great numbers in certain
well-defined areas, as in the Cambridge Green-sand, since it was now
seen that, like penguins, they lived in gregarious fashion.

Finally, however, Challenger, bent upon proving some point which
Summerlee had contested, thrust his head over the rock and nearly
brought destruction upon us all. In an instant the nearest male gave a
shrill, whistling cry, and flapped its twenty-foot span of leathery
wings as it soared up into the air. The females and young ones huddled
together beside the water, while the whole circle of sentinels rose one
after the other and sailed off into the sky. It was a wonderful sight
to see at least a hundred creatures of such enormous size and hideous
appearance all swooping like swallows with swift, shearing wing-strokes
above us; but soon we realized that it was not one on which we could
afford to linger. At first the great brutes flew round in a huge ring,
as if to make sure what the exact extent of the danger might be. Then,
the flight grew lower and the circle narrower, until they were whizzing
round and round us, the dry, rustling flap of their huge slate-colored
wings filling the air with a volume of sound that made me think of
Hendon aerodrome upon a race day.

"Make for the wood and keep together," cried Lord John, clubbing his
rifle. "The brutes mean mischief."

The moment we attempted to retreat the circle closed in upon us, until
the tips of the wings of those nearest to us nearly touched our faces.
We beat at them with the stocks of our guns, but there was nothing
solid or vulnerable to strike. Then suddenly out of the whizzing,
slate-colored circle a long neck shot out, and a fierce beak made a
thrust at us. Another and another followed. Summerlee gave a cry and
put his hand to his face, from which the blood was streaming. I felt a
prod at the back of my neck, and turned dizzy with the shock.
Challenger fell, and as I stooped to pick him up I was a