Show B BIRD I 1 R W WITH I 1 T H I 1 HANDS I 1 the hoatzin a native of british guiana Is described as a bird with hands and the peculiarity of its structure which leads to this description is the possession of two tree free claws on the wings of 0 the young the nest of the hoatzin is placed in a tree overhanging the water and the oung unlike most birds hatched in such a position are active from the first and the claws at the ends ol 01 the wings are used to assist it in climbing the trees which it does with great dexterity in its early days the growth of the outermost quill feathers ol 01 the wing which might hamper the free use of the claws Is retarded till the rest of the wing Is de sufficiently to render climbing less feces sary then they grow and the claws are ob sobbed and disappear the adult bird does not require them should a young hoatzin fall into the water it makes for the shore and seizes a branch up which it quickly climbs it has been pointed out that the yo ing of game birds show evidence of having formerly possessed similar structures on the wings it Is therefore inferred that they had a similar habit and that in former times they built and reared their young in trees in this group including the barn door fowl the quill feathers of the wing are still developed in the same order as in the hoatzin that Is the outer ones are delayed until the others have reached a certain stage traces of the free claws moreover can still be found in the embryo and it la Is interesting in this connection to remember that even now the pheasant occasionally builds and hatches its young in a tree the most interesting point perhaps in connection with the free claws of the hoatzin la is that they recall the remarkable structure of the earl lest birds yet known to geology literally the ancient wing was a bird about the size of 0 a rook although the earliest known bird ax was probably not the earliest wearer of feath ws ers to appear on earth future discovery may reveal yet earlier members of the feathered tribe this most ancient bird resembled hoatzin in hav ing free claws to its wings and perhaps like it used them in climbing but while the hoatlin dis ills carded its claws in adult life seems to have retained them london globe |