CREATION BY EVOLUTION
the feathers, bones, and muscles of the wings of running birds are very slight compared with those of the flying birds. In the New Zealand kiwi, the so-called apteryx, the wing is a diminutive member that is completely hidden under the feathers of the body, and hence the bird appears to be wingless. The wing of the kiwi is absolutely useless and is an excellent example of a vestigial organ.
Turning to the mammals we find many good examples of vestigial parts. Whales are mammals whose organization adapts them to a life in the sea. They are warm-blooded
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and are protected against changes of temperature by a covering of blubber instead of hair. They come to the surface of the water to breathe, and their blood system is so arranged as to allow them to store a large supply of purified blood, to be drawn upon during their submergence. Locomotion is accomplished chiefly by the enormous tail flukes, which spread out horizontally instead of vertically as do the tails of fishes. The flippers of the whale, which correspond to the forelegs of other animals, are used chiefly to guide these creatures through the water. Of hind limbs there is no external trace whatsoever, but when the interior of a whalebone whale is examined in the region where hind legs would be expected a group of isolated bones is found which correspond in part to the pelvis and in part to the legs of other
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