THE VIRGINIA DEER 



Muskrat 



Line drawing from the mounted specimen. This Virginia doc stands as the first example 

 in the Museum of the new methods of animal sculpture as opposed to the old taxidermy 



Another fur-bearing animal shown is the muskrat. In the group are 

 seen its summer home, usually a burrow in the hank of a 

 stream or pond, and its winter mound, eonstructed of swamp 



grass and roots mixed with mud. Muskrats are extensively trapped for 



their fur. 



The woodchuek or ground hog is a vegetable feeder hut does very little 

 harm to crops. It hihernates for a large part of the year 

 usually from September to April. The old legend says that 



the ground hog comes out of liis hole on the second of February and if it is 

 bright and he sees his shadow, he goes back into his hole for 

 six weeks longer and we may expect more cold weather. Other 

 groups represent the varying hare and the common species 



of squirrels. 



Woodchuek 



Hares and 

 Squirrels 



In the central section of the hall is a group of moose. It represents an 

 early autumn scene in a secondgrowth forest in New Brunswick, and illus- 

 trates one of the favorite feeding grounds of the moose. 

 Beyond the moose exhibit are species of mammals found 

 within fifty miles of New York ( ity, namely Virginia deer, 

 the otter and the wild cat or lynx. The buffalo group gives a typical bit 

 of the prairie traversed by buffalo trails, while the members of the herd 

 represent different stages of growth of the buffalo. This is 

 the animal which formerly roamed in countless numbers 

 over the western plains but which is now reduced to a few insignificant herds. 

 48 



Moose 

 Group 



Bison Group 



