THE BROOKLYN MUSEUM 



The next window group on the right shows adults and 

 young, nests and eggs of the South American bird known as 

 the hoatzin. These birds live in trees near the water, and 

 the young, never the adults, seek the water when pursued 

 and can dive and swim skilfully. In the young birds, the 

 wings are furnished with a pair of claws and are used as 

 legs, so that the hoatzin seems to some extent to fill the gap 

 between existing birds and the reptile-like fossil bird Ar- 

 chceopteryx, which also had clawed wings. 



The group of musk-oxen from Ellesmere Land, consisting 

 of an old male, female and a yearling male, in the next 

 large case, shows the animals pawing away the snow to dig 

 for dwarf willows which form their chief winter food. These 

 animals are becoming scarce, owing to their use by arctic 

 explorers as food for dog teams. Facing this group a fine 

 old male polar bear is seen in his natural habitat. 



The Atlantic walrus group shows an old female and 

 young lying on the ice, while the head of a male appears 

 above the water. These creatures, largest of the seal fam- 

 ily, once lived in immense numbers on the northern coasts, 

 but have been greatly reduced by relentless hunting for 

 their oil and ivory, and in many places exterminated. The 

 flesh, blubber, skin, tusks and other parts of the animal 

 provided the Eskimo with most of the necessities of life. 



A large window group, to the right from this point, shows 

 an arid desert, the habitat of the Gila monster of Arizona 

 and New Mexico, with several of these curious lizards bask- 

 ing in the sun. 



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