NOTES FROM THE SCOTTISH ZOOLOGICAL PARK 
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THE SCOTTISH ZOOLOGICAL PARK®=.2722% 
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE CoLLEcTIoN.—A very large number 
of animals have been added to the collection in the Zoological Park 
during the last three months ; in fact, not since 1914 have there been 
so many arrivals within the same limit of time. They include a pair 
of ostriches, a dozen cranes of two species—the common crane 
and the demoiselle crane, bitterns, night herons, Indian vultures, 
great skua and Richardson’s skua, a number of foreign doves and 
finches, a male Barbary sheep, two dozen prairie marmots, civets 
of two species, an entellus monkey, and last, and perhaps most 
interesting of all, a young female chimpanzee. The common 
cranes, Richardson’s skua, bitterns, night herons, and entellus 
monkey are new to the collection. 
The Ostriches, while not actually new to the collection, are 
practically so, since this is the first time that the species has been 
on exhibition. The pair which has just arrived were bred on and 
acquired from an ostrich farm in Tunis, and are exceptionally fine 
specimens—when erect they reach a height of about 8 feet. The 
Ostrich is of special interest as the largest of living birds, and it also 
shows some extremely interesting adaptations to the manner of life 
it leads. The power of flight, if it existed in the ancestors of the 
Ostrich, has long been lost, and the wings have become dwarfed 
to mere. appendages, of some value as ornaments but of no other 
usefulness, while the legs have become enormously developed for 
the attainment of speed in running. The evolution of the leg is 
shown not only in length and strength but also in the modification 
of the toes; there are only two external toes on each foot, and of 
these one is so much larger than the other as to suggest an 
evolutionary progress towards a single-toed foot, such as has been 
acquired by the horse-group among the mammals. The claw of this 
toe, also, instead of being tapered and pointed as in the case of the 
other running birds related to the Ostrich (which have three toes), 
is short and down-turned, and more akin to a nail or hoof. 
The group of six Common Cranes and six Demoiselle Cranes 
provide a very attractive exhibit. A new paddock has been made 
for them by running sheep-netting 7 feet high round a piece of 
ground containing a number of old trees. The trees are sufficiently 
