Paper Challenges Ideas About 'Early Bird' Dinosaur.

The ''early bird'' archaeopteryx may not be a bird, after all. The first fossil of the raven-size species was an immediate sensation when it was excavated in 1860, in southern Germany. It had feathers and a wishbone, like birds, but teeth and a long, bony tail, like reptiles. Coming the year after publication of ''The Origin of Species,'' the discovery swayed many scientists into accepting Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]