Origin of flight

[Nick Page <nick0page@hotmail.com>]

A few months ago I was sitting in my garden when I noticed what I took to be 
a rather dimwitted bird catching insects off the lower leaves of a shrub.

I am not a bird expert but it was some sort of small/medium sized black 
bird.

It was catching the insects by jumping off the ground and gaining height 
into the foliage (no more than 30 cms) with a few flaps of its wings, 
catching insects with its beak, and then falling rather clumsily to the 
ground and disturbing the leaves as it fell.

It kept this procedure up for about 3 or 4 minutes and seemed to catch a lot 
of insects by this method.

I then thought that a reptile with proto winglike forelimbs could do the 
same job.

The more efficient jumpers and flappers would be at an evolutionary 
advantage and get the most insects.

Nick Page

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