UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 125 PASSK\<;KK (Ectopistcs miliratorius). Vt Life-sire. THE STANDARD LIBRARY OK Natural History EMBRACING Living Animals of the World and Living Races of Mankind EDITORS AND SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS: Charles J. Cornish, F. C. Selous, Ernest Ingersoll, Sir Harry Johnston, K.C.B., Sir Herbert Maxwell, F.R.S., H. N. Hutchinson, F.R.G.S., J. W. Gregory, F.G.S., R. Lyclekker, F.R.S., F.Z.S., and manv other eminent naturalists Nearly Two Thousand Illustrations Q Vol. II MAMMALS— BIRDS 1909 THE UNIVERSITY SOCIETY INC NEW YORK COPYRIGHT, 1901-1902 By DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1906 By THE UNIVERSITY SOCIETY COPYRIGHT, 1907 By THE UNIVERSITY SOCIETY Inc. COPYRIGHT, 1908 By THE UNIVERSITY SOCIETY Inc. BIOLOGY LIBRARY S THE STANDARD LIBRARY OF NATURAL HISTORY VOLUMES I. -III.: LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD VOLUME II. 211303 THE ANTELOPES 257 ravages amongst all the tragelaphine antelopes that it is to be feared the inyala can now no longer be found anywhere in any considerable numbers. Where I met with these antelopes some years ago, in the country to the south of Delagoa Bay, I found them living either alone or in pairs like bushbucks. They frequented dense thickets in the immediate neighbourhood of a river or lagoon, and I never saw one in anything like open country or far away from water. Their tracks showed me that at night they were accustomed to feed in open spaces in the bush, but they always retired to the jungle again at daylight, as they had become very wary and cunning through constant persecution at the hands of the natives. Closely allied to the bush-antelopes of the present group are the swamp-haunting SITATUNGAS. Three species of these have been described, — one from East Africa, named after Captain Speke; another from tropical West Africa; and a third from Lake Ngami and the Chobi River, named after the present writer. There is very little difference between the adult males of these three species, except that in the West African form the coat is of a darker colour than in the other two. The main difference consists in the fact that, whereas the female of Selous' sitatunga is light brown in colour like the male, and the newly born young are very dark blackish brown (the colour of a mole), beautifully striped and spotted with pale yellow, the female and young of the other two forms are red in ground-colour, with white spots and stripes. However, personally I am of opinion that there is only one true species of sitatunga in all Africa, and that the differences between the various forms are superficial, and would be found to grade one into the other, if a sufficiently large series of skins of all ages and both sexes could be gathered together from all parts of the continent. In the Barotse Valley, on the Upper Zambesi, my ' * friend Major R. T. Coryndon informs A pAJR Qp YQUNG pRONGBUCKS me that both red and brown female .,/-.., From the fact that the horns of the males are annually shed, the frongbuck is sitatungas are met with. On the assig ned u a Jg roup afan fram ,he jnle,<,fa Lower Chobi and Lake Ngami region the females are never red, but always of the same brown colour as the males, whilst on the Congo all the females are red. The male sitatunga stands about 3 feet 6 inches at the shoulder, and varies in general colour in different localities from light to dark brown. The adult females are either red with a few faint stripes and spots, or light brown, only retaining very faint traces of any stripes or spots. The young are, both in tropical West and Central East Africa, red, striped, and spotted with white ; but in South-west Africa dark blackish brown, with spots and stripes of yellowish white. The hoofs are excessively long, and the skin which covers the back of the pastern is hairless, and of a very thick and horny consistency. The males alone carry horns, which are of the same character as in the inyala, but more spiral and longer, having been known to attain a length of 28 inches in a straight line and 35 inches over the curve. The sitatunga is an inhabitant of the extensive swamps which exist in many parts of the interior of Africa. It may be said to live in the water, as it passes its life in flooded beds of reeds and papyrus, into the muddy bottoms of which its long hoofs, when splayed out, prevent 33 fhtu /"*»/« tj thi Duthtti if Bidftrif] FEMALE GORAL The gural it a Himalayan antelope, -with somewhat the habits of a chamois 258 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD it from sinking. When forced out into dry ground by heavy floods, the formation of its feet so hinders it in running that it can be overtaken and speared by a native on foot. I was informed by the natives on the Chobi River that, when the floods enabled them to paddle their canoes through thereed-beds, they often killed con- siderable numbers of the sitatungas. These animals, they said, when theysaw a canoe approaching, would often not attempt to seek safety by flight, but would sink down in the Ayater> submerging their whole bodies, and leaving only their nostrils above the surface, and in .this position were easily speared. The sitatunga is not gregarious, but is met with singly or in pairs. The hair is long, but soft and silky ; and the skins are much sought after by the natives for blankets. In addition to the bushbucks and sitatungas, two more very notable spiral-horned African antelopes remain to be mentioned — namely, the GREATER KUDU and the LESSER KUDU. The GREATER KUDU is one of the most magnificent-looking of the whole family of antelopes, and is an animal of • large size, an adult male standing 4 feet pinches and upwards at the withers. The general colour of this species is light brown to dark grey, the old males looking much darker than females or younger animals, because the scanti- ness of their coats showsthe dark colour of the skin beneath. On each side of the body and hind- quarters there are several white stripes, which vary in number from four to eight or nine. As in all this group of antelopes, Fhtli tj IP. t. HARNESSED ANTELOPE A very beautiful iftciei, in -which she ground-colour of the coat is a rich chestnut, "while the ifots and urifa are pure -white Photo by the Duchess of Bedford, li'ohurn Albcy. FEMALE KUDU. The Kudu is one of the handsomest of the African A-.Helopes, the corkscrew like horns of the bucks forming some of the most striking of all sporting trophies. THE ANTELOPES 259 there are two or three cheek-spots, as well as an arrow-shaped white mark across the nose, below the eyes. In the male there is a slight mane on the back of the neck, and a fringe of long white and blackish-brown hair intermixed, extending from the throat to the chest. The ears are very large and rounded, and the male is adorned with magnificent spiral horns, which have been known to attain a length of 48 inches in a straight line from base to tip, and 64 inches over the curve. The greater kudu once had a very wide range, which extended from the central portions of the Cape Colony to Angola on the west, and on the east throughout East Africa up to Abyssinia ; but, with the single exception of the buffalo, no species of wild animal suffered more from the terrible scourge of rinderpest which recently swept over the continent than this lordly antelope, and it has almost ceased to exist in many districts of South and South Central Africa, where up to 1896 it was still very numerous. The greater kudu is a bush-loving antelope, and very partial to wooded hills, though it is also plentiful in the neighbourhood of rivers which flow through level tracts of country covered with forest and bush. In my own experience it is never found at any great distance from water. It eats leaves and wild fruits as well as grass, and lives in small herds or families, never, I believe, congregating in large numbers. In Southern Africa, at any rate, it was always exceptional to see more than twenty greater kudus together, and I have never seen more than thirty. At certain seasons of the year the males leave the females, and live alone or several together. I once saw nine magnificently horned kudus standing on the bank of the Chobi, and I have often seen four or five males of this species consorting together. As a rule the greater kudu is met with in hilly country or in bush so dense that a horse cannot gallop through it at full speed ; but if met with in open ground, a good horse can overtake an old male without much difficulty. The females are much lighter and faster and cannot be overtaken in any kind of ground. The greater kudu is one of the most timid and inoffensive of animals, and when attacked by dogs will not make the slightest attempt to defend itself either with its horns or by kicking. The LESSER KUDU in general colour nearly resembles its larger relative, but is much smaller, the males only standing about 40 inches at the withers, and it lacks the long fringe of hair under the throat. The white stripes on the body and hindquarters are, however, more numerous — from eleven to fourteen ; and the horns, which are only present in the males, are less divergent, and with the spiral curvature much closer than in the greater kudu. MALE KUDU The lesser kudu i A ^^ tu/l iiands ahoul ^ JM ar a liltle more at lhe withfr,t ^^ ,•„ li!a m/J itant of Somaliland and the maritime inferior « the eland. The horns form a corkscreiv-like sfiral 260 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD districts of British East Africa. It frequents thick scrubby jungle, and is said to be exceedingly watchful and wary. It lives either in pairs or in small families, but never congregates in large herds. Like all the tragelaphine antelopes, this species is a leaf-eater, and feeds principally during the night, lying up in thick bush during the heat of the day. There remains to be mentioned but one other group of antelopes, the ELANDS, large, heavily built animals, which belong to the present group, but differ from all species of kudu, sitatunga, and bushbuck, inasmuch as both sexes are horned. There are two forms of the COMMON ELAND — namely, the grey variety of South-western Africa, and the striped animal, which is found in the countries farther north and east. The two forms grade one into the other, and are absolutely identical in their habits and mode of life, the differences between them being merely superficial. To the south of the twenty-third parallel of south latitude all elands are of a uniform fawn colour, except the old animals, which look dark grey, from the fact that the scantiness of their coats allows the dark colour of the skin to show through the hair. Old males, when standing in the shade of a tree, appear to be of a deep blue-grey in colour, and are known to the colonists of South Africa as " blue bulls." In Rhodesia, South-east Africa, and the countries to the north of the Zambesi, all the elands are bright chestnut-red when young, with a black line down the centre of the back from the withers to the tail, broad black patches on the backs of the fore legs above the knees, and eight or nine white stripes on each side. When they grow old, the ruddiness of the ground-colour gradually fades, the black markings on the fore legs die out, and the white stripes become indistinguishable at a short distance, the old bulls looking deep blue-grey in general colour. Every intermediate stage of colouring between the unstriped and the highly coloured forms of eland is to be found in the district lying between the central portions of the Kalahari Desert and the Zambesi River. Old male elands south of the Zambesi develop a growth of long, bristly black hair on the forehead, which often hangs over their eyes and extends half-way down their noses. North of the Zambesi this growth of hair is not nearly so luxuriant. I have carefully measured the standing height at the withers of many old male elands in the interior of South Africa, and found that it varied from 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 10 inches. The horns of bulls in their prime measure from 26 inches to 33 inches in length, but old bulls wear their horns down very much. The cows carry longer, though thinner horns than the bulls. The range of the eland once extended from Cape Agulhas to the White Nile, but it has become extinct in many districts of Southern Africa, and in almost every other portion of its range has, like all other tragelaphine antelopes, suffered so cruelly from the recent visitation of rinderpest that it has now become a scarce animal all over Africa. During the rainy season elands are usually met with in small herds of from four or five fhittt, J. W. Mi Lilian] \_Highburf ELAND A feature of the eland is the large " dewlap." Unlike the kudu, both sexes are horned Fhtts />/ thi Duihui •fBtdftrd] ELAND COWS Female elands carry linger, although more slender horns than the bulls 26l 262 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD to ten individuals ; but towards the end of the dry season they collect into large herds, and at such times I have often seen from fifty to over two hundred of these animals in one troop. In my experience elands live for two-thirds of the year in forest or bush-covered country, or amongst rugged hills ; and in such localities they are difficult to overtake on horseback ; but in the middle of the dry season, as soon as they smell the smoke of the grass fires lighted by the natives on the open plateaux, they leave their retreats, and, collecting in herds, wander out on to the treeless plains in search of young grass. They then fall an easy prey to a mounted hunter, especially the heavy old bulls, which can be run to a standstill with ease by a very moderate horse. The flesh of the eland is excellent when the animal is in good condition, as at such a time these animals become very fat, especially the old bulls, whose hearts become encased in a mass of fat which will often weigh 20 Ibs. It is a mistake, however, to think that eland-meat is always good ; for towards the end of the dry season, when there is little grass to be got, they feed extensively on the leaves of certain bushes, and their meat at such times becomes very poor and tasteless. Besides the common eland of Southern, Central, and Eastern Africa, another distinct species is met with in Senegal and the Gambia Colony. This is the DERBIAN ELAND, about which animal our knowledge is still very slight, as I believe that it has never yet been shot nor its habits studied by a European traveler. A good many skulls and horns and a few skins have been obtained from natives, from which it appears that in general colour this species is of a rich reddish-fawn colour, becoming nearly white below, the middle of the belly being black. The neck is covered with long hair of a dark brown or black colour, blacker towards the shoulder than in front. A broad black stripe extends all down the centre of the back from the neck to the root of the tail, and there are large black patches on the backs and inner sides of the fore legs above the knees. On each side of the body and haunches there are thirteen or fourteen narrow white stripes. The horns are larger and more massive and divergent than in the common eland. The Derbian eland is said to be a forest- loving animal, never of its own accord coming out into the plains. It lives in small herds, is very shy and not at all abundant, and browses on the leaves and young shoots of various trees and bushes. f *«• tj U~. f. Dand,} BULL ELAND The Jiesh of the eland is of better flavour than that of most other large game. species "will thrive in English parki If sheltered in ivintcrt the Fh,t, ly tf, f, Dmd,} THE SOUTHERN GIRAFFE Tkt tallest mammal ever known to walk the earth 263 CHAPTER XVI THE GIRAFFE AND OK API THE GIRAFFE BY H. A. BRYDEN G IRAFFES, which are found only in the continent of Africa, are the tallest of all living creatures. They belong to the Ruminants, or Cud-chewers, and naturalists are inclined to place them somewhere between the Deer Family and the Hollow-horned Ruminants, in which latter are to be found oxen, buffaloes, and antelopes. Rutimeyer, the Swiss naturalist, once defined them as " a most fantastic form of deer," which is, perhaps, as good a definition of them as one is likely to hit upon. Fossil discoveries show that, in ages long remote, great giraffe-like creatures, some of them bearing horns or antlers, roamed widely in the south of Europe, Persia, India and even China. Of living giraffes, two species have thus far been identified, — the SOUTHERN or CAPE GIRAFFE, with a range extending from Bechua- naland and the Transvaal to British East Africa and the Soudan; and the NUBIAN or NORTHERN GIRAFFE, found chiefly in East Africa, Somaliland, and the country between Abyssinia and the Nile. The southern giraffe, which, from its recent appearance in the Gar- dens of the Zoological Society, is now the more familiar of the two animals, has a creamy or yellowish-white ground-colour, marked by irregular blotches, which vary in colour, in animals of different ages, from lemon-fawn to orange- tawny, and in older specimens to a very dark chestnut. Old bulls and occasionally old cows grow extremely dark with age, and at a distance appear almost black upon the back and shoulders. The northern giraffe is widely different, the coloration being usually a rich red-chestnut, darker with age, separated by a fine network of white lines, symmetrically arranged in polygonal patterns. At no great distance this giraffe, instead of having the blotchy or dappled appearance of the southern giraffe, looks almost entirely chestnut in colour. Again, the southern giraffe has only two horns, while the northern species usually develops a third, growing from the centre of the forehead. These horns, which are covered with hair in both species, and tufted black at the tips, are, in the youthful days of the animal, actually separable from the bones of the head. As the animal arrives at maturity, they become firmly 264 t *«» tf Mil, E. J. But SOUTHERN GIRAFFE LYING DOWN Th'u giraffe ivas a present to Queen Victoria; it only lived fourteen days after its arrival THE GIRAFFE AND OKAPI 265 united to the skull. A third race or sub-species of giraffe has been identified in Western Africa mainly from the skull and cannon-bones of a specimen shot in 1897 at the junction of the Binue and Niger Rivers; but very little is known abont this form. Other varieties or sub-species may yet be discovered in other parts of the Dark Continent. It is lacking in the giraffe's long neck. The towering height of the giraffe is entirely attributable to the great length of the neck and limbs. A full-grown bull giraffe will certainly measure occasionally as much as 19 feet in height. I measured very carefully a specimen shot by my hunting friend, Mr. W. Dove, in the forests of the North Kalahari, South Africa, which taped 1 8 feet II £ inches. A fine cow, shot by myself in the same country, measured 16 feet 10 inches, and there is no reason to suppose that cow giraffes do not easily reach fully 1 7 feet in height. These animals feed almost entirely upon the leaves of acacia-trees, the foliage of the kameel-doorn, or giraffe-acacia, affording their most favourite food-supply. It is a most beautiful spectacle to see, as I have seen, a large troop of these dappled giants — creatures which, somehow, viewed in the wild state, always seem to me to belong to another epoch — quietly browsing, with upstretched necks and delicate heads, among the branches of the spreading mokala, as the Bechuanas call this tree. The giraffe's upper lip is long and prehensile, and covered, no doubt as a protection against thorns, with a thick velvety coating of short hair. The tongue is long — some 18 inches in length — and is employed for plucking down the tender leafage on which the giraffe feeds. The eyes of the giraffe are most beautiful — dark brown, shaded by long lashes, and peculiarly tender and melting in expression. Singularly enough, the animal is absolutely mute, and never, even in its death-agonies, utters a sound. The hoofs are large, elongate, nearly 12 inches in length in the case of old bulls, and look like those of gigantic cattle. There are no false hoofs, and the fetlock is round and smooth. The skin of a full-grown giraffe is extraordinarily tough and solid, attaining in the case of old males as much as an inch in thickness. From these animals most of the sjamboks, or colonial whips, in use all over South Africa, are now made ; and it is a miserable fact to record that giraffes are now slaughtered by native and Boer hunters almost solely for the value of the hide, which is worth from £3 to .£5 in the case of full-grown beasts. So perishes the giraffe from South Africa. Giraffes live mainly in forest country, or country partially open and partially clothed with thin, park-like stretches of low acacia-trees. When pursued, they betake themselves to the densest part of the bush and timber, and, their thick hides being absolutely impervious to the frightful thorns with which all African jungle and forest seem to be provided, burst through every bushy obstacle with the greatest ease. They steer also in the most wonderful manner through the timber, ducking branches and evading tree-boles with marvellous facility. I shall never forget seeing my hunting comrade after his first chase in thick bush. We had ridden, as we always rode hunting, in our flannel shirts, coatlcss Attracted by his firing, I came up with my friend, who was sitting on the body of a huge old bull giraffe, which had fallen dead in a grassy clearing. He was looking ruefully at the remains of his shirt, which hung about him, literally in rags and ribbons. Blood was streaming from innumerable wounds upon 34 rtutt *r W. P. Dand*] [Ktf""' ' f*'l MALE SOUTHERN GIRAFFE The coloration of these animal* harmonise! exactly "with the dark and light tplashci of their mrroundingt 266 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD tr A. S. Rudland V Sam A GIRAFFE GRAZING Graying is evidently not the natural made of feeding of these animals, which are essentially browsers his chest, neck, and arms. Ahvaysafterthatwe donned cord coats, when running giraffes in bush and forest country. In regions where they have been little disturbed, giraffes no doubt wander across open plains, and are to be seen well away from the denser forests, feedingamong scattered islets of acacias, easily exposed to the human eye. But in South Africa they are now seldom to be met with out of the forest region. Once, and once only, have I seen giraffes in the open. This was on the outskirts of the forest, and the great creatures had been tempted to a little knoll of mokala trees, rising like an islet from the sea of grass. One's first impression of these creatures in the wild state is very deceptive. I well remember first setting eyes upon a troop of five or six. As they swung away from the leafage on which they were feeding, my friend and I cantered easily, thinking that we should soon come up with them. We were completely deceived. With those immense legs of theirs, the great creatures, going with their easy, shuffling, but marvellously swift walk, were simply striding away from us. Discovering our mistake, we rode hard, and the giraffes then broke into their strange, rocking gallop, and a headlong, desperate chase began, to be terminated by the death of a fine cow. Like the camel, the giraffe progresses by moving the two legs upon either side of the body simultaneously. At this strange, rocking gallop these animals move at a great pace, and a good Cape horse is needed to run into them. By far the best plan, if you are bent on shooting these animals, is to press your pony, so soon as you sight giraffes, to the top of its speed, and force the game beyond its natural paces in one desperate gallop of a couple of miles or so. If well mounted, your nag will take you right up to the heels of the tall beasts, and, firing from the saddle, you can, without great difficulty, bring down the game. The giraffe, unlike the antelopes of Africa, is not very tenacious of life, and a bullet planted near the root of the tail will, penetrating the short body, pierce a vital spot, and bring down the tall beast crashing to earth. Having tasted the delights of fox-hunting and many other forms of sport, I can testify that the run up to a good troop of giraffes is one of the most thrilling and exciting of all human experiences. There is nothing else quite like it in the wide range of sporting emotions. Having enjoyed this thrilling pleasure a few times, however, the humane hunter will stay his hand, and shoot only when meat, or perhaps an exceptionally fine specimen, is absolutely needed. Giraffes are, of course, utterly defenceless, and, save for their shy, wary habits and remote, waterless habitat, have nothing to shield them from the mounted hunter. Giraffe-hunting on foot is a very different matter. In that case the giraffe has the better of it, and the stalker is placed at great disadvantage. These animals are in many places found in extremely waterless country, where even the mounted hunter has much trouble to reach them. Like elands and gemsbok and other desert-loving antelopes, they can exist for long periods — months together — without drinking. In the northern portions of the Kalahari Desert, where I have carefully observed their habits, as well as hunted them, it is an undoubted THE GIRAFFE AND OKAPI 267 fact that giraffes never touch water during the whole of the dry winter season — for several months on end. Gemsbok and elands in the same waterless tract of country are complete abstainers for the same period. The flesh of a giraffe cow, if fairly young, is excellent, tender, and well tasted, with a flavour of game-like veal. The marrow-bones also, roasted over a gentle wood fire, and sawn in half, afford delicious eating, quite one of the supreme delicacies of the African wilderness. THE OKAPJ BY SIR HARRY JOHNSTON, K.C.B., F.Z.S. READERS of " The Living Animals of the World " are in all probability readers of newspapers, and it would therefore be affectation on the part of the writer of these lines to assume that they have not heard more or less of the discovery which he was privileged to make of an entirely new ruminant of large size, dwelling in the forests bordering the Semliki River, in Central Africa, on the border- land between the Uganda Protectorate and the Congo Free State. The history of this discovery, stated briefly, is as follows: — In 1882^83 I was the guest of Mr. (now Sir Henry) Stanley on the River Congo at Stanley Pool. I was visiting the Congo at that time as an explorer in a very small way and a naturalist. Mr. Stanley, conversing with me on the possibility of African discoveries, told me then that he believed that all that was most wonderful in tropical Africa would be found to be concentrated in the region of the Blue Mountains, south of the Albert Nyanza. This feeling on Stanley's part doubtless was one of the reasons which urged him to go to the relief of Emin Pasha. His journey through the great Congo Forest towards the Blue Mountains of the Albert Nyanza resulted in his discovery of the greatest snow mountain-range of Africa, Ruwenzori, and the river Semliki, which is the Upper Albertine Nile; of Lake Albert Edward, from which it flows round the flanks of Ruwenzori ; and, amongst other things, in more detailed information regarding the dwarf races of the Northern Congo forests than we had yet received. Stanley also was the first to draw the attention of the world to the dense and awful character of these mighty woods, and to hint at the mysteries and wonders in natural history which they possibly contained. The stress and trouble of his expedition prevented him and his companions from bestowing much attention on natural history ; moreover, in these forests it is extremely difficult for persons who are passing hurriedly through the tangle to come into actual contact with the beasts that inhabit them. Sir Henry Stanley, discussing this subject with me since my return from Uganda, tells me that he believes that the okapi is only one amongst several strange new beasts which will be eventually discovered in these remarkable forests. He describes having seen a creature like a gigantic pig 6 feet in length, and certain antelopes unlike any known type. In regard to the okapi, the only hint of its existence which he obtained was the announcement that the dwarfs knew of the existence of a creature in their forests which greatly resembled an ass in appearance, and which they caught in pits. This tiny sentence in an appendix to his book " In Darkest Africa " attracted my attention some time before I went to Uganda. It seemed to me so extraordinary that any creature like a horse should inhabit a dense Phitt tj Charln A GIRAFFE BROWSING Here the failure is teen to be thoroughly natural 268 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD forest, that I determined, if ever fate should lead me in that direction, I would make enquiries. Soon after reac'.iing the Uganda Protectorate at the end of 1899, I came in contact with a large party of dwarfs who had been kidnapped by a too enterprising German impresario, who had decided to show them at the Paris Exhibition. As the Belgians objected to this procedure, I released the dwarfs from their kidnapper, and retained them with me for some months in Uganda, until I was able personally to escort them back to their homes in the Congo Forest. I had other reasons connected with my Government business for visiting the north-western part of the Congo Free State. As soon as I could make the dwarfs understand me by means of an interpreter, I questioned them regarding the existence of this horse-like creature in their forests. They at once understood what I meant ; and pointing to a zebra-skin and a live mule, they informed me that the creature in question, which was called OKAPI, was like a mule with zebra stripes on it. When I reached Fort Mbeni, in the Congo Free State, on the west bank of the river Semliki, I put questions to the Belgian officers stationed there. They all knew the okapi, at any rate, when dead. As a living animal they had none of them seen it, but their native soldiers were in the habit of hunting the animal in the forest and killing it with spears, and then bringing in the skin and the flesh for use in the fort. One of the officers declared there was even then a freshly obtained skin lying about in the precincts of the fort. On searching for this, however, it was discovered that the greater part of it had been thrown away, only the gaudier portions having been cut into strips by the soldiers to be made into bandoliers. These strips, together with similar ones obtained from natives in the forest, I sent to England, to Dr. P. L. Sclater, for his consideration. Furnished by the Belgian officers with guides, and taking with me all the dwarfs whom I had brought from Uganda, I entered the forest, and remained there for some days searching for the okapi. All this time I was convinced that I was on the track of a species of horse ; and therefore when the natives showed the tracks of a cloven-footed animal like the eland, and told us these were the foot-prints of the okapi, I disbelieved them, and imagined that we were merely following a forest eland. We never saw the okapi ; and as the life in the forest made the whole expedition extremely ill, and my time was required for official work elsewhere, I was obliged to give up this search. Meantime, I had elicited from the natives, whom I questioned closely, that the okapi was a creature without horns or any means of offence, the size of a large antelope or mule, which inhabited only the densest parts of the forest, and generally went about in pairs, male and female. It lived chiefly on leaves. The Belgian officers, seeing that I was disappointed at not obtaining a complete skin, offered to use their best efforts to obtain one for me, and send it on to Uganda after my departure. This promise was eventually redeemed by Mr. Karl Eriksson, a Swedish officer in the Belgian service. Mr. Eriksson sent me a complete skin and two skulls. The skin and the ~ m Bj ftrmli titn •/ thi Ntw Ttrk Zoological Socim FEMALE AMERICAN ELK, OR MOOSE Tke eH of the t-wo htmhphcrci are so alike that they cannot be regarded as anything more than races of a single species THE DEER TRIBE Ptilt tj C, , N.B. upon the legs. Under the throat ot the male hangs a singular appendage, a sort of tassel of hair and skin, known to American hunters as the "bell." The build of the elk is clumsy, and the mighty beast entirely lacks the grace characteristic of so many others of the deer kind. It has in truth a strangely primeval, old-world aspect, and seems rather to belong to prehistoric ages than to modern times. In Scandinavia elk are hunted usually in two ways — by driving, or with a trained dog held in leash. In the royal forests of Sweden great bags are made at these drives; and in the year 1885, when a great hunt was got up for the present King of England, forty-nine elk were slain. Except during the rutting-season these titanic deer are extremely shy and suspicious creatures, and the greatest precautions have to be taken in hunting them. In Canada moose are often shot during the rutting-season by " calling," a rude horn of birch- bark being used, with which the hunter simulates the weird, hoarse roar of the animals, as they call to one another, or challenge in the primeval woodlands and morasses of the wild North. Still-hunting or tracking — spooring, as it would be called in South Africa — is another and extremely fatiguing method ; while yet another mode of hunting is that practised by Indian and half-breed hunters in winter, when, the sportsman being mounted on snow-shoes, the moose is followed, run into and shot in deep snow. In this sport the hunter has much the better of it. The moose, with its vast weight and sharp hoofs, plunges through the frozen snow-crust, over which the snow-shoes carry the biped easily enough, and, becoming presently exhausted, is shot without much difficulty. Elk usually run at a steady, slinging trot, and traverse extraordinary distances, apparently with little fatigue. RED DEER We come now to a group of what are called typical deer, the RED DEER, found in various parts of the world. The red deer, which once roamed over much of Britain, is now in the wild state confined chiefly to the Highlands of Scotland, Exmoor, part of County Kerry in Ireland, and various islands on the west coast of Scotland. A good male specimen will stand about 4 feet or a little less at the shoulder, carry antlers bearing twelve or fourteen points, and weigh from 16 to 2O stone clean — that is, with the heart, liver, and lungs taken out. The woodland stags of Perthshire, however, not infrequently reach 25 stone, while Mr. J. G. Millais mentions a stag, killed by Colonel the Hon. Alastair Fraser at Beaufort, Inverness-shire, which scaled 30 stone 2 Ibs. clean. This seems to be the heaviest British wild stag of modern times. The summer coat is short, shining, and reddish brown in hue; in winter the pelage is PARK RED DEER The typical rcfrescntati-vc of the entire Deer Tribe 276 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD thicker and rougher and greyish brown in colour. Stalking the red deer stag in its native fastnesses is beyond all doubt the finest wild sport now left to inhabitants of the British Isles. Mr. J. G. Millais, author of " British Deer and their Horns " and other works, himself a first-rate sportsman in many parts of the world, compares the style of shooting red deer in vogue forty or fifty years ago with that obtaining in the Highlands at the present day. " A stalker in Black Mount, Argyllshire," he says, " told me of a typical day's sport in which he took part some forty years ago. Fox Maule and Sir Edwin Landseer were the two rifles (they frequently stalked in pairs at that time), and, on the side of Clashven, Peter Robertson, the head forester, brought them within eighty yards of two exceptionally fine stags Maule fired and missed, as did also Sir Edwin as the stags moved away; then, on a signal from Robertson, Peter McColl, the gillie, slipped the hounds — the two best ever owned by the late Marquis of Breadalbane, and whose portraits are still pre- served in the famous picture of ' The Deer Drive ' -- and away they went in hot pursuit of the deer. An end-on chase now ensued, the line taken being due east down the great glen towards Loch Dochart, and at last the stalkers were brought to a standstill, being fairly exhausted both in wind and limb. At this moment, however, four dark spots, like small rocks, standing out at the point of a little promontory in the lake, attracted their attention, and, on drawing nearer, they saw, to their surprise, each of the big stags being held at bay by a gallant hound. A couple of shots then settled the business, and so ended what was then considered a grand day's sport. No doubt it was most exciting to see the struggle of bone and sinew between two such noble quadrupeds, but it was not rifle-shooting. To-day the gallant but disturbing deer-hound has given place to the cunning and obedient collie, and the success of the stalker depends, for the most part, on the accuracy of his rifle and his skill in using it." Here are a couple of sketches of modern stalking taken from Mr. Millais' own diary: - " Wednesday, October Ajh. — Started for the big corrie with McColl, and saw nothing • till we got to the Eagle Hill. On this were three stags and about twenty hinds, the property of a magnificent fellow carrying one of the best heads I have ever seen on Black Mount. For some time McColl thought he was just a bit too good to shoot, for the very best in this forest are generally left for stock purposes. Finding, however, that he was not Royal [a twelve-pointer], my companion agreed to a shot- that is, if he got within shooting distance, which was not too likely, the Eagle Hill being one of those queer places where back eddies are carried down from almost every ' airt ' from which the wind is blowing. Luck is apparently entirely my way this week, so far at any rate. The big stag was very ' kittle,' frequently roaring and keeping his hinds moving before him along the hillside, in the direction of another corrie running at right angles, the entrance to which, if reached, would checkmate us. A quick, stiff climb, and a dashing piece of stalking on the part of McColl, brought us in front of the herd only just in time, for I had hardly got W«c ty If. P. Danda\ AN ASIATIC WAPITI Ml the races of the ivapiti are easily recognisable by the large fourth tine of the antlers and the short tail f hill kj 1>>I Uphill i/ I>,^/ AMERICAN WAPITI The giant deer of the Rocky Mountains, formerly very plentiful, tu/iv scarce 277 278 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD Ph,t, t, Mr. If. *„„] AMERICAN WAPITI The dark head, fore-quarters, and undcr-parts, so distinctive of the wapiti t are here -well displayed into position when the first few hinds moved past a hundred yards below us. They were very uneasy and highly suspicious, but fortu- nately did not stop ; and in another moment, to my joy, the big stag came slowly behind them, and offered a fair broadside in the very spot where I should have wished him to stand. The bullet took him through the ribs, certainly a trifle too far back, but he gave in at once, and rolled 150 yards down the hill, fortunately without hurt- ing his horns. A really fine Highland stag in his prime ; weight, 1 6 stone 2 Ibs., with a good wild head of ten points, and good cups on the top." " Tliursday, October yh. — We negotiated the stiff climb, and McLcish, leaving me behind a rock on the summit, returned some distance to signal directions to the pony-man. He came back just as the stag returned roaring down the pass he had ascended ; and as the mist was blotting out the land- scape,! feared hewouldcome right on to us without being seen, but, as luck would have it, he stopped and recom- menced bellowing within seventy yards. I never heard a stag make such a row, but nothing of him could we see. It was most exciting, lying flat on a slab of rock, hoping devoutly that the mist would rise, if only for a few seconds. The tension had grown extreme, when there was a momentary lift in the gloom, and I made out the dim forms of the deer just as a big hind, which I had not noticed, ' bruached ' loudly within twenty yards of us. The outline of the stag was barely visible when, after carefully aiming, I pressed the trigger, knowing that a moment later there would be no second chance. At the shot the deer at once disappeared, but I felt sure I had hit him, and, on following the tracks for some fifty yards, there he lay as dead as a door-nail. Weight, 13 stone 6 Ibs.; a wild head of ten points; thin, and evidently that of a deer on the decline." In England the wild red deer are hunted with stag-hounds on Exmoor, and first-rate sport is obtained on the great moorlands of Somerset and Devon. During the last fifty years the deer have much increased in numbers, and no less than three packs — the Devon and Somerset, Sir John Heathcoat-Amory's, and Mr. Peter Ormrod's — are now engaged in hunting THE DEER TRIBE 279 them. In the five years ending in 1892, 276 deer were killed by the Devon and Somerset hounds. The young of the red deer are in Europe usually dropped in June. The fawn is dexterously concealed by the hind amid the heather, and is left in concealment during the day. Scrope, a great authority on these animals, states that the hind induces her fawn to lie down by pressure of the nose : " It will never stir or lift up its head the whole of the day, unless you come right upon it, as I have often done ; it lies like a dog, with its nose to its tail. The hind, however, although she often separates herself from the young fawn, does not lose sight of its welfare, but remains at a distance to windward, and goes to its succour in case of an attack of the wild cat or fox, or any other powerful vermin." On the Continent far finer examples of red deer are to be found than in the British Isles, and the antlers and records of weights preserved at the Castle of Moritzburg in Saxony, and elsewhere, show that two hundred years ago the stags of Germany were far superior even to those of the present day, which are much heavier and afford finer trophies than do the Highland red deer. Even in Germany, however, marked deterioration has taken place during the last two centuries. A stag, for example, killed by the Elector of Saxony in 1646 weighed not less than 61 stone II Ibs. ; while from the Elector's records between 1611 and 1656 it appears that 59 stags exceeded 56 stone, 651 exceeded 48 stone, 2,679 exceeded 40 stone, and 4,139 exceeded 32 stone. These figures are given by Mr. W. A. Baillie-Grohman, a distinguished sportsman, in a very interesting chapter contributed to the " Big Game Shooting" volumes of the Badminton Library. This deterioration among the red deer of the forests of Central and Northern Europe is, however, not traceable among the red deer of the wild mountainous regions of Austria-Hungary } ftrmiition of tht New York Zoo.'ogin AMERICAN WAPITI In the United States thi* species is universally miscalled the Elk 280 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD that by If. P. D ALTAI WAPITI Th'n is one of levcra! Asiatic forms of the wafiti and South-eastern Europe. Here, at the present day, stags of enormous size and weight are still to be found. In the Car- pathian Alps, for example, red deer stags are still to be shot scaling more than 40 stone (clean) in weight. Climate and feeding have, of course, much to do with the weight of stags and the size and beauty of their antlers. The Carpathian stags have enormous range.rich food, and, as Mr.Baillie- Grohman points out, are suffered during the summer to " make undisturbed raids upon the rich agricultural valleys . . . the feudal sway exercised by the great terri- torial magnates permitting the deer to trespass upon the crops with impunity, and thus grow to be the lustiest of their race." In addition to the British Islands, the red deer of Europe is found on the Island of Hitteren, on the western coast of Norway, in the south of Sweden, and in Germany, Russia, France, Spain, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Greece. In Corsica and Sardinia a local and smaller race is found, probably closely allied to the stag of North Africa. The BARBARY STAG is somewhat smaller than its first cousin of Europe, and carries antlers which usually lack the second, or bez, tine. The colour of this stag is " a dark sepia-brown, a little lighter and greyer on the back. Faint yellowish spots can occasionally be distinguished on the fur in the adults," says Sir Harry Johnston. The hinds are of the same colour as the stags, but lack the grey tint on the back. These fine deer are found in Algeria and Tunis, their habitat being chiefly in pine and cork forests. They are found also in parts of Morocco, near the frontiers of Algeria and Tunis, where their range extends from near the Mediterranean to the verge of the Sahara Desert Formerly the Barbary stag was hunted by the Arabs on horseback by the aid of greyhounds. In Tunis, where it is protected by the French, it is now fairly abundant. THE MARAL AND KASHMIR STAG The CASPIAN RED DEER, or MARAL, is a magnificent sub-species, incomparably the finest representative of the red deer species. Standing about 4 feet 6 inches at the shoulder, a good stag will weigh as much as 40 stone clean, in exceptional specimens probably a good deal more. The range of this noble beast includes the Caspian provinces of North Persia, Transcaucasia, the Caucasus, and the Crimea. There can be little doubt that the great stags shot in the Galician Carpathians are Caspian red deer, and not the ordinary red deer of Western Europe. The red deer of Turkey is, too, no doubt referable to this sub-species. Continuing our survey of typical deer, we come to the KASHMIR STAG, which is a magnificent beast, standing as much as 4 feet 4 inches at the shoulder, and carrying antlers approaching the red deer type, which measure in fine specimens from 45 to 48 inches. The Kashmir stag, often miscalled Barasingh by Indian sportsmen, makes its home in the forest regions of the north side of the Kashmir Valley, ranging chiefly on altitudes of from 5,000 to 12,000 feet. THE DEER TRIBE 281 The summer coat is rufous ; in winter the pelage is of a darkish brown. The Yarkand stag is an apparently allied species, found in the forests bordering on the Yarkand or Tarim River. Two more stags close the list of those Asiatic deer which approximate more or less closely to the red deer type. These are the SHOU, or SIKHIM STAG, and THOROI.D'S DEER, concerning neither of which animals is much known at present. The shou, of which only the head has yet been brought to England, appears to be a very large stag, in size approximating to the gigantic wapiti. The antlers are very large, extending to as much as 55 inches over the outer curve. So far as is at present known, this great deer is found in the country " north of Bhutan and the valley eastward of Chumbi, which drains northward into the Sangpo." No European hunter, it is believed, has ever yet 1. veiled a rifle or even set eyes on this noble deer. In England Thorold's deer is known from two specimens shot by Dr. W. G. Thorold, during a journey across Tibet, at an elevation of about 13,500 feet. The high Tibetan plateau and other adjacent parts of Central Asia form the habitat of this species. In size Thorold's deer is about on a level with the Kashmir stag : the coat is dark brown ; the antlers are distinctive in their backward curve, in the lack of the bez tine, and their flattened appearance. The muzzle and chin are pure white, as is the inner surface of the ears. WAPITI WAPITI are the giants of the red deer group, carrying enormous antlers, and attaining as much as 1,000 Ibs. in weight. The true wapiti of North America, known in that country chiefly by the local name of Elk, carry by far the finest and the heaviest heads of any of the typical deer kind. Mr. Rowland Ward, in his book " Records of Big Game," gives the length of antlers of a twelve-pointer shot in the Olympic Mountains, Washington State, as 70 inches over the outer curve ; while another specimen, also a twelve-pointer, taken from a wapiti shot in Wyoming, measures 66 inches. Occasional heads bear as many as 17, 19, and even 2O tines, or points, but from 12 to 14 points are more usual in fine average heads. A good stag will stand from 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 8 inches at the shoulder. Mag- nificently shaped, splendid in form and bear- ing, as in the size of its antlers, a more lordly creature than the stag wapiti does not pace the earth. " The wapiti," says Colonel Theodore Roosevelt in " The Encyclopaedia of Sport," " is highly polygamous, and during the rut the master bulls gather great harems about them and do fierce battle with one another, while the weaker bulls are driven off by themselves. At this time the bulls are comparativelyeasy to approach, because they are very noisy, incessantly challenging one another by night and day. Settlers and hunters usually speak of their challenge as ' whistling,' but this is a very inadequate description. The challenge consists of several notes, first rising and then falling. Heard near by, especially among unattractive sur- roundings, it is not particularly impressive, varying in tone from a squeal to a roar, and ending with grunts; but at a little 36 Ph>u MANCHURIAN WAPITI CALLING The great iisu of the fourth tine, characterise of tht iftciei, is very noticeable 282 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD distance it is one of the most musical sounds in nature, sounding like some beautiful wind instrument. Nothing makes the heart of a hunter leap and thrill like the challenge of a wapiti bull, as it comes pealing down under the great archways of the mountain pines, through the still, frosty, fall weather; all the more if it be at night, under the full moon, and if there is light snow on the ground." Wapiti in North America have suffered much from persecution, and it is now difficult indeed to secure fine heads like those that fell to hunters twenty or thirty years since. Twelve or fifteen years ago, during winter-time, bands of wapiti in Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana were to be seen gathered together to the number of thousands ; now a score or two is the rule, where these animals are to be found at all. However, by those who know where to go for their game, and can hold a rifle straight, wapiti are still to be obtained. Mr. Selous, in his " Sport and Travel, East and West," thus describes -a recent experience: " After a few seconds of agonising suspense a noble-looking monarch of the mountains walked slowly from the shelter of the pine-trees and followed the ladies of his household, who had now halted about fifty yards down the slope, passing in quite open ground not more than sixty or seventy yards below me ; and as the stag followed them, I waited until he came past, though he had been well within shot ever since he came out from among the trees. As he did not know where I was, and probably had not the least idea why the hinds had trotted off, he came along very leisurely, looking magnificent; for although his antlers were but moderate in size, there were no others of larger proportions near to dwarf them, and even a very ordinary wapiti stag, seen at short range in its native wilds, is a glorious sight to look upon. I let him get a little past me, and then put one of Holland's peg-bullets just behind his shoulder, low down. I saw by the convulsive rush forwards that he made that he was struck through the heart, but I did not expect so large an animal to collapse so quickly. He had not gone twenty paces after being hit, when he fell suddenly right on to the prostrate stem of a large tree, which did not, however, stop him, as the impetus of his fall carried him over it, and he then went sliding at a terrific pace down the steep snow-slope below, and disappeared from sight almost immediately." The dead wapiti was ultimately found 500 feet below, with the antlers, strangely enough, scarcely injured, but the body and quarters much bruised by the fall. He was " a very pretty fourteen-pointer of moderate size." A fight between two wapiti stags is a terrific encounter. " With heads lowered between their fore feet," says Mr. Perry, " the two adversaries walk around, waiting for an opening; and when one is thrown off his guard, the other makes a savage rush ; but his opponent instantly recovers, counters the charge, and as they rush together the antlers strike each other with such terrific force that the report can be heard for a long distance. Slowly retreating, bellowing, grumbling, and grinding their AN AXIS HIND teeth in a paroxysm of rage, A ipaies spotted at all seasons they again circle round. . . . fluu tj C. Riid] [Wlihaw, N.B. Bj> ftrminitn of tht New Tork Zoological Society A STAG AXIS, OR INDIAN SPOTTED DEER One of tht most common animals in an Indian jungle scene 283 284 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD The challenging wapiti usually does most of the offensive fighting until he finds (if such be the case) that he is the weaker ; then he suddenly retires, bellowing as he goes." In the old days the Indians of North America were in the habit of organising great wapiti drives. Entire herds were surrounded by a ring of mounted men, and forced over precipices. In recent years it has been discovered that wapiti are also denizens of certain parts of Asia. At least two sub-species — the ALTAI WAPITI and the MANCHURIAN WAPITI — have thus far been identified. The former, some- times known as the Thian-shan Stag, is found in the forests of the Altai and Thian-shan Mountains, west of the Mon- golian Desert. Compared with its Amer- ican congener, it is inferior in stature, has shorter legs, a longer body, and pro- portionately larger antlers, though none have yet approached those of the longest American specimens. These splendid stags, of which living specimenshave been maintained by the Duke of Bedford at Woburn, are captured alive by the Altai natives, and kept in domestication for the sake of their antlers, which are sold in China for purposes of medicine at as much as the value of $50 apiece. The MANCHURIAN WAPITI, or LUEH- DORF'S STAG, is a well-marked local race of the wapiti, which turns reddish in Bjf firmistien •/ Profuier Bumpus] [Ntw Tort A SPOTTED ORIENTAL DEER One of the numerous Philip fine sfecics summer. It has received several names, and is well characterised by the form of its antlers. It has been kept alive in the Duke of Bedford's park at Woburn Abbey. It seems probable that the Siberian stags will eventually be referred to the wapiti group. BOKHARA DEER A fine deer from Russian Turkestan is at present known as the BOKHARA DEER. It is said to resemble the shou of Northern Bhutan more than any other species, and, standing about 4 feet at the shoulder, is of an ashen-grey colour, tinged with yellow. A living specimen has bjen exhibited at Moscow, and it is believed that specimens in the collection of the Duke of Bedford belong to this form. SlKAS The SIKAS, as typified by the JAPANESE DEER, are a group of deer of moderate size, distinguished from the preceding assemblage by antlers of simpler type, each antler having usually four points, and lacking the second, or bez, tine. The coat is spotted with white, and white markings appear about the tail. The tail is much longer than in the red deer group. The Japanese deer, found in Japan and North China, is a beautiful creature, somewhat smaller than the fallow deer of Europe, having a coat of brilliant chestnut, thickly spotted with white in curious longitudinal markings. This is the summer pelage; in winter the colour changes to dark brown, and the spots mostly disappear. When in the velvet, the antlers are of a bright chestnut-red, with black tips, and at this season the bucks look their handsomest. A good head measures from 25 to 31 inches, and carries usually eight points. The MANCHURIAN SIKA may be looked upon as a larger variety of the Japanese deer, with a somewhat darker coat. •''* Photo by the Duchess of Bedford, Woburn sibbey. FALLOW DEER. There are two breeds of these beautiful deer in the British Isles; in the one the summer coat is fawn dappled with white , in the other the colour is dark brown at all seasons. THE DEER TRIBE 285 Another closely allied form is the FoRMOSAN SlKA, which bears a rather paler summer coat, and carries spots in its winter pelage. This deer is found on the mountains of the island from which it takes its name. The few antlers which have reached this country seem to indicate that in this respect this deer is inferior to the other sikas. The longest pair yet recorded measure not more than igf inches. The PEKIX SlKA, sometimes known as Dybowski's deer, is considerably larger in size than the rest of the group, standing well over 3 feet at the shoulder. The horns are large and rugged, and measure as much as 27 inches in length. The coat is thick and shaggy, and well adapted for life in a harsh climate. The habitat of this species is North-eastern Manchuria and the borders of Korea. FALLOW DEER FALLOW DEER are, perhaps, to English people, the most familiar of all the cervine race, forming as they do, in the semi-domesticated state, the adornments of many English parks. The flesh of this handsome deer furnishes the well-known venison of this country, and is perhaps the best-tasted of all deer-meat. A good fallow buck stands about 3 feet at the shoulder, and weighs (clean) about 150 Ibs., though specimens have been shot weighing as much as 204 Ibs., Pfcafo bj C. RiiS] [Mikaw, N. B. A YOUNG FALLOW BUCK OF THE BROWN BREED The favourite park-deer of England but this is exceptional. The horns are strongly palmated. Originally this deer was not indigenous to Britain, but is often said to have been introduced by the Romans from Eastern Europe. The COMMON FALLOW DEER is found in the wild state in Spain, Portugal, Greece, Austria, Rhodes, Sardinia, Asia Minor, and North Palestine. It is doubtful whether, as has been stated, this deer ever existed in modern times in the wild state in North Africa. This is a highly gregarious species, delighting to move in considerable herds. In some parts of Scotland fallow deer have reverted completely to the wild state, and afford excellent sport. And even park- 286 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD deer, once they are shot at, exhibit extraordinary wariness and cunning, so much so that curious tricks and disguises have often to be resorted to when a fat buck has to be shot for venison. The beautiful MESOPO- TAMIAN FALLOW DEER, found in the mountains of Luristan, in Mesopotamian Persia, is somewhat larger than the common species, while its coat is much more brightly coloured. The antlers bear little resemblance to those seen in the park-deer of this country, being far less palmated and spreading, and more vertical. The enormous horns of the extinct deer once known, as IRISH ELK are now con- sidered by naturalists to be those of a gigantic species of fallow deer. By the kind- ness of Mr. J. G. Millais, I am enabled to give the dimensions of a pair of antlers of one of these wonderful beasts from his museum. These antlers measure in spread, from tip to tip, 9 feet 4 inches; length round inside of right horn, 6 feet ; round left horn, 5 feet 8 inches,— a marvellous trophy, truly. This specimen was dug up in County Waterford. These colossal fallow deer, which roamed the wastes of Ireland in prehistoric times, must have afforded fairly exciting sport to the feebly armed human beings who then existed. THE SAMBAR, OR RUSINE DEER SAMBAR may be shortly described as large deer, having rough, shaggy coats, and big, rugged antlers of simple type, usually displaying but three tines. They belong to the group known as Typical Deer, although they are but distantly connected with the red deer. The colour of the coat is usually dark umber-brown, marked with chestnut about the rump and under-parts. The well-known sambar of India stands as much as 5 feet 4 inches at the withers, and weighs, before being cleaned, some 600 Ibs. The longest pair of antlers yet recorded (Rowland Ward's " Records of Big Game") measure 48 inches in length over the outer curve. Usually to be found among jungly, wooded hills and mountains in many parts of India and Ceylon, this fine stag affords first-rate sport, and is much sought after by shikaris. It is to be met with in small fhili b) Mill E. y. But A SAMBAR STAG The only Indian deer of ivkich the faivns are unspotted THE DEER TRIBE 287 troops of from four to a dozen, or singly, while during the rutting-season the animals rove in more considerable herds. In jungle and thickly forested regions it is a hard matter to come up with the sambar on foot, and it is there usually shot from elephant- back, by the aid of beaters. In more open hill country it affords good stalking. In Ceylon it is hunted with hounds, and yields in this way also capital sport. These animals seem to revel in heat, and love to shelter themselves in hot, stifling valleys ; they drink only once in two or three days. It is a noticeable feature in connection with the antlers of the sambar that they are not invariably shed annually, as with most of the deer kind. In Ceylon, accord- ing to Sir Samuel Baker, they are shed " with great irregularity every third or fourth year." Lieutenant-Colonel Reginald Heber Percy thus writes concerning the sambar, or sambur : " Compared with the Kashmir stag, red deer, or wapiti, he looks like an ugly, Phtli kj tbi Duchttl of Bidftrd] JAVAN RUSA STAG Till deer is a mar relative t,f the sambar, but hai a somewhat different type oj antlsf Ph,li br Mill E. 7. ««d FORMOSAN SIKA STAG Lite in Japanese kindred, this deer is spotted only in su, coarse, underbred brute. . . . As the sambur is almost entirely noct rnal in its habits, it is most commonly shot in drives, and in many places it is almost impossible to obtain sambur otherwise; but where it can be managed, stalking is, of course, far better fun. The sportsman should be on his ground just before daylight, and work slowly through the forest at the edge of the feeding-grounds, taking the bottom of the hill if there are crops on the plain below, or, failing these, the edges of the open glades in the forest. Presently, if there are any sambur about, he will hear their trumpet-like call, and, creep- ing on, see two or three dark forms moving among the trees. In the grey of the morn- ing it is often very hard to distinguish a stag from a hind, and the writer has on several occasions had to wait, after viewing the herd, till there was light enough to pick his stag. Even in broad daylight it is difficult to judge the size of a stag's horns as he stands motionless in the deep gloom of the forest, and what little can be seen 288 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD that bj tht Duihus if BidftrS] HOG-DEER The smallest Indian representative of the sambar group '* [W,turn Abb,, of them makes them look three times their real size — the beam is so massive and the tines so long. The stag, too, is such a big beast, standing nearly a hand taller than a barasingh, that if seen in the open he looks as big as the Irish elk. . . . All driving should be done during the heat of the day, when the animals are lying down ; trying to drive when beasts are naturally on the move generally results in the game leaving the beat before the men are in their places. It may sound ridiculous for a man to get up a tree in a sambur drive, but he is far more likely to get an easy shot in this position, as the deer will neither see nor wind him ; he commands more ground, and he runs no risk of heading back the wary old hind which often leads the herd, the chances being that if he is rightly posted the herd will come right under his tree. Another advantage is that, his fire being plunging, he can shoot all round without danger to the beaters. In some parts of the Himalaya native shikaris declare that they often shoot sambur by selecting a likely path and improvising a salt-lick, after the fashion of Laplanders when they want to catch their tame reindeer." The flesh of this deer is coarse and- only moderately good eating. The MALAYAN SAMBAR, found from Assam, through Burma, to the Malay Peninsula, and in Siam, Hainan, Borneo, and perhaps Sumatra, is slightly less in size than its Indian prototype; the antlers vary somewhat, and are shorter and stouter. The longest antlers yet recorded measure 304 inches over the outer curve ; these come from Borneo. The FORMOSAN SAMBAR, sometimes called Swinhoe's Deer, is, again, closely connected with the Malayan sambar, and may be looked upon as purely a local race. The antlers appear to run smaller, the best recorded examples only extending to 19! inches. The LUZON SAMBAR (Philippines), a small sub-species, and the SZECHUAN SAMBAR (North- west China), are also local races of the same species. This last seems thus far to occupy the most northerly habitat of this group. The BASILAN SAMBAR (Philippines) is, like its congener of Luzon, a small sub-species, standing no more than from 24 to 26 inches at the shoulder, of slender build, and with the hindquarters higher than the withers. The best antlers yet recorded measure no more than 15 £ inches. It is interesting to note that as the island of Basilan is the smallest of the Philippines, so is this sambar by far the smallest of its group. Its restricted habitat has no doubt conduced, during long ages, to bring about this result. The JAVAN SAMBAR, or RUSA, is a distinct species, found, as its name implies, in the island of Java. The antlers are somewhat slender, but are, next to those of the sambar of India, the longest of the group The best recorded pair measure 35 £ inches, while another pair from Mauritius, where this animal has been introduced, measure half an inch longer. This sambar is smaller than the great sambar of India, and is about on a par with a good red deer. The MOLUCCAN RUSA, a sub-species somewhat smaller than the Javan deer, is found in THE DEER TRIBE 289 Celebes and certain islands — Boru, Batchian, and Amboina — in the Moluccan group ; while the TIMOR RuSA, a closely allied congener, is found on the islands of Timor, Semao, and Kambing. It is possible — nay, even probable — that the Malays may, in times gone by, have introduced certain of these rusine deer from one habitat to another. Such, at least, seems to be the presumption among naturalists. Dr. Guillemard, in that charming book " The Cruise of the Marchesa " (p. 357), gives some interesting information concerning Moluccan sambar in the little-known island of Batchian. The inhabitants, " living for the most part in the hills, kill and smoke the deer, and bring the meat into the villages for sale. We were fortunate enough to assist at one of their hunts, in which no other weapon than the spear is used. The side of a large ravine, which had been partially cleared, and presented a confused jumble of fallen trees and low brushwood, was assigned to us as our post, and, from the extensive view it commanded, we were able later in the day to watch one run almost from start to finish, although at first the sport appeared to be successful in every direction but our own. At length a stag broke covert about five hundred yards above us, and descended the slopes of the ravine, but shortly afterwards turned and made for the forest again. He was met by some of the hunters and driven back ; but the dogs were now in full cry, and pressed him hard, the hunters meanwhile racing at their utmost speed above, in order to prevent his regaining the jungle. He now altered his direction, and turned down once more towards us ; but the fallen trees were so thick that the dogs gained rapidly on him. He made one more effort for his life by doubling, but it was too late, and in another minute the dogs and hunters had fairly run him down." Deer were probably the earliest animals of the chase. Their bones are found in the cave- dwellings of prehistoric man, and some of the earliest efforts at drawing represent these animals. r- YOUNG MALE SWAMP-DEER This specie! it the Baratingh of the native* of India, It it by no means addicted to swampy localities 37 290 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD INDIAN MUNTJAC Sometimes called the Barking-deer. The Indian sfeciet stands only 2 feet high OTHER TYPICAL DEER So numerous are the typical deer that they are not concluded even by the long list of animals already enumerated. We proceed now to glance briefly at the remainder of this important group. The PHILIPPINE SPOTTED DEER, or PRINCE ALFRED'S DEER, is a small but extremely handsome species, found in the islands of Samar and Leyte. The height is under 30 inches ; the colour very dark brown, spotted with white, the tinder-parts, chin, and upper portion of the legs also white. Another small cervine from the Philippine group is the CALAMIANES DEER, a darkish brown beast, found in the island of that name. The little BAVIAN DEER, another island-deer, from the Bavian group, between Borneo and Java, should also be mentioned. Very little is known of the habits of these three deer, and few specimens even of their skins and horns have reached Europe. The HOG-DEER, allied to the last-named species, is an animal much better known, found as it is in many parts of India and Burma. This handsome little deer stands from 24 to 28 inches at the shoulder, and carries antlers which average from 10 to 15 inches, and reach occasionally as much as 21 or 22 inches — one specimen is recorded measuring 23} inches. It has a yellowish or reddish-brown coat, minutely speckled with white. The summer coat is paler and marked with white or palish-brown spots. This sturdy little deer is found usually in long grass, and affords excellent snap-shooting; it is also run into with dogs and speared by mounted sportsmen. Major Fitz- Herbert thus describes a chase of this kind : " He [the little stag] stood at bay, with head down and bristles raised like a miniature red deer of Landseer's, but broke away when I came up. Once he charged the bitch and knocked her over. He stood at bay two or three times, but I could never get a spear into him for fear of hurting the dogs. At last one time, as he was break- ing bay, I came up, and he charged me with such force as to break one of his horns clean off against the spear. However, I struck him in the spine, and rolled him over." These little deer have quite extraordinary pluck, and have been known even to charge and wound a horse. The CHITAL, or INDIAN SPOTTED DEER, often called the Axis Deer, a very beautiful species, is the common jungle stag of India. Standing about 3 feet or a little over, its lovely coat of bright reddish fawn is thickly spotted with white at all seasons of the year. The horns are somewhat of the sambar type, and measure as much as 36 or 38 inches in length in fine specimens. These YOUNG MALE CHINESE exquisite deer are often found in considerable herds, and WATER-DEER are a forest-loving Species. One of the few deer •which have no antiers THE DEER TRIBE 291 MALE SIBERIAN ROE A •very large species of roebuck, with more rugged antlers than the European roe The S\v AMP-DEER, the true Barasingh of India, as distinguished from the Kashmir stag, which is often loosely called Barasingh, is a plain-loving species, found in various parts of India, and characterised by hand- some antlers, bearing as many as from 10 to 16 points. This is a big, heavy deer, stand- ing nearly 4 feet at the withers, and weigh- ing as much as 560 Ibs. The summer coat is light rufous, more or less spotted with white. The winter coat is yellowish brown. A near relative to this deer is SCHOMBURGK's DEER, found in Northern Siam. The antlers of this stag are most curiously forked and bifurcated. The THAMIX, or ELD'S DEER, sometimes called the Brow-antlered Deer, is another plains-deer, found chiefly from Manipur, through Burma, to the Malay Peninsula. It is a good-sized species, standing about 3 feet 9 inches at the shoulder, and weighing as much as 240 Ibs. The large antlers are simple in type, the brow-tines curving down curiously over the forehead ; the tail is sharp, and the neck provided with a mane, the young being spotted. A Siamese race of Eld's deer, found in Siam and Hainan, differs somewhat from the Burmese type. THE MUNTJACS The MUNTJACS, or BARKING-DEER, are a group of small deer found in India, Burma, and the Malay region. The INDIAN MUNTJAC stands about 2 feet in height, and weighs some 28 Ibs. The antlers, which average 5 or 6 inches in length, bear two points — brow-tine and beam ; the lower portions, or pedicles, are curiously covered with hair, and the front of the face is ribbed or ridged in V fashion. The general colour is a golden bay, the face and limbs brown, and the lower parts white. The buck has sharp tusks in the upper jaw, and, at a pinch, knows how to make use of them. A shy, stealthy little creature, the muntjac loves dense cover, and the sportsman usually obtains but a quick snapshot at this active and wary little deer as it flashes across him much as does a bolting rabbit scuttling across a narrow drive. Local _jfr Indian names for the barking-deer are Jungle- sheep, Red Hog-deer, and Rib-faced Deer. FEMALE SIBERIAN ROE The absence of a tail, characteristic of all roest is ive!! shoivn Other muntjacs, varying somewhat from the Indian form, are the HAIRY-FRONTED, the TENASSERIM, the TIBETAN, and the CHINESE MUNTJACS. 292 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD Br ftrmmion of H, TUFTED DEER Near relatives of the odd little muntjacs are the TUFTED DEER, of which two species, the TIBETAN and MICHIE'S, are known to naturalists. The former, found in Eastern Tibet, is about the size of the Indian muntjac, and has a coat of dark chocolate-brown, curiously speckled on the face, neck, and fore parts; the frontal tuft is nearly black. The antlers of the bucks of both this and Michie's deer are extremely small, scarcely observable at a first glance. Both species have long curving tusks projecting from the upper jaw. Michie's tufted deer is of a greyish-black or iron-grey colour, the face and neck dark grey. This animal is found in the reed-beds bordering the Ningpo and other rivers in Eastern China. WATER-DEER The CHINESE WATER-DEER is another diminutive deer, standing no more than 20 inches at the shoulder. The body-colouring is pale rufous yellow, the head and the back of the ears being darker in hue than the rest of the body. The males carry no antlers. This tiny deer is found in North-east China, and is well known on the islands of the Yangtse-kiang River. It loves thick cover, especially reeds and long grass. So apt is it at concealment, that in one park, where specimens are kept in a paddock of long tussocky grass, hours may be spent without catching a glimpse of it. When disturbed, it scurries off with short, quick leaps, very much after the manner of the hare. The males of the Chinese deer, like the muntjacs, carry long curved tusks in the upper jaw. ROE DEER The EUROPEAN ROE, one of the handsomest of all the smaller deer, is still happily found in many parts of Scotland. In England, where it had at one time become well-nigh extinct, it has been here and there reintroduced with some success. In Ireland it seems never to have been found. On the Continent its range is wide, extending from the south of Sweden, through France and Germany, to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Austria-Hungary, and Spain. Found in Southern Russia and the Caucasus, it makes its way eastward as far as North Palestine and Persia. The roe stands, in good adult specimens, 26 inches at the shoulder, and weighs about 60 Ibs. The handsome and very characteristic horns measure in good specimens from 10 to 13 inches over the outer curve. The summer coat of this beautiful little deer is a bright rufous brown ; in winter a darker and duller brown, with a notable white patch about the tail. The roe is always more or less a wood-loving creature. In winter, especially, it seldom cares to quit the shelter of the forest; in summer, however, the deer wander into more open localities. The fawns are born generally towards the end of May, and two young are usually produced. In the rutting-season the males fight savagely with one another. Mr. J. G. Millais gives an instance of a buck killed in one of these desperate battles, in which one antler of the victor, having penetrated the brain of the vanquished buck, had been SIBERIAN ROEBUCK SAovus a magnificent pair of antlers Phtto bj Otttmar Amthiitx.] FEMALE EUROPEAN ROE DEER Though common in the Scotch -woods, thin deer are rarely seen, kcefing close in cover all day 293 [£ in the wild state, being apparently only known in China in the Imperial Park at Pekin. This deer approaches in size the red deer of Europe. The general colour- ing is greyish brown, white about the eyes, ears, rump, and under-parts ; the horns, which lack the brow-tine,are very singular in shape, and measure as much as 32 inches in length ; the tail is long, reaching to the hocks ; the gait is " lolloping " and mule-like. This is a marsh-loving species, and at a certain park, where specimens are kept, " they may be seen wading far into the lakes and even swimming in the deeper water." THE AMERICAN DEER Excepting always the elk, wapiti, and reindeer, which have been already described, the deer of North and South America stand quite apart from those of the Old World, and are placed in a genus of their own. Usually the tail is long, and the brow-tine is always wanting. The most familiar species is the common AMERICAN DEER.of which the VIRGINIAN or WHITE-TAILED DEER is the type. This deer is found in varying forms in both continents, and was regularly hunted by the ancient Mexicans with trained pumas. The well-known VIRGINIAN DEER, found in Eastern North America, and believed to range as far south "as Louisiana, stands a trifle over 3 feet in height, and weighs, clean, about 175 Ibs. The coloration is chestnut in summer, bluish grey -in winter. The antlers are of good size, and measure as much as 2/i inches in length. As a sporting animal the white-tailed deer is not popular. Mr. Clive Phillipps-Wolley describes him as " an exasperating little beast," possessing every quality which a deer ought not to, from the sportsman's point of view. " His haunts are river-bottoms, in choking, blinding bush, and his habits are beastly. No one could ever expect to stalk a white-tail ; if you want to get one, you must crawl." Mr. Selous, in 1897, bagged one of these deer somewhat curiously. " He was coming," he writes, "through the scrubby, rather open bush straight towards me in a series of great leaps, rising, I think, quite four feet from the ground at every bound. I stood absolutely still, thinking to fire at him just as he jumped the stream and passed me. However, he came so straight to me that, had he held his course, he must have jumped on to or over me. But when little more than the width of the stream separated us — when he was certainly not more than ten yards from me — he either saw or winded me, and, without a moment's halt, made a prodigious leap sideways. I fired at him when he was in the air, and I believe quite six feet above the ground." The deer, an old buck with a good head, was afterwards picked up dead. In different parts of America, as far south as Peru and Bolivia, various local races of this deer are to be found. TRUE's DEER is a small species, not unlike the Virginian deer, found from South Mexico to Costa Rica. The antlers are " in the form of simple spikes directed backwards," and the body-colouring is in summer light chestnut, in winter brownish grey. Little is at present known of this species. The MULE-DEER, found in most parts of North America west of the Missouri, as far south 'trmisiion of Proftsjor Bumfui\ [JV Guiana, Brazil, and Paraguay, which stands 27 inches at the shoulder. The body-colouring is brownish red. Like most of the group, this brocket is extremely shy ; although fond of dense covert, it is found also on open campos. The PYGMY BROCKET, a tiny dark brown deerlet, less than 19 inches in height, found in Central Brazil, is the smallest of these very small deer. Two other diminutive deer, known as PUDUS, closely allied to the brockets, are found in South America. These are the CHILIAN and ECUADOR PUDUS, of which the former is no more than 13.} inches in height, the latter about 14 or 15 inches. Little is known of the history and life habits of these charming little creatures, one of which, the Chilian species, has occasionally been seen in Zoological Gardens. THE MUSK-DEER This brief account of the deer of the world closes with the MUSK-DEER, which differ from almost all others of their kind — the Chinese water-deer being the sole exception — in the absence of antlers. In place of these defensive and offensive weapons, nature has provided the musk-deer with long canine tusks, projecting downwards from the upper jaw. The musk, from which these curious deer take their name, is secreted during the rutting-season — in the male only — in a pouch or gland contained in the skin of the stomach. The well-known HIMALAYAN MUSK-DEER is a stout, heavily made deer for its size, measuring 20 inches at the shoulder, about 2 inches higher at the rump, and having a coat of coarse, brittle hair of a dark brown colour. This musk-deer, which is nowadays by no means common, is found in the forests of the Himalaya, Tibet, Siberia, and Western China, often at altitudes of about 8,000 feet. These animals are extraordinary mountaineers, active, daring, and apparently quite unconscious of or indifferent to danger. Another species, the KANSU MUSK-DEER, found in the province of Kansu, China, has only been discovered within the last ten years. Concerning this deer very little is at present known. In general characteristics it resembles its more familiar congener of the Himalaya. // ftrmftiton of tht Nno York Zaologital Sotitty MULE-DEER STAG Shoius the large blackish~broivn fate ft on the forehead, so dhtlncti've of the spcciei THE DEER TRIBE 299 YOUNG MARSH-DEER A very elegant South American species. The main colour it a bright chestnut, . ». » -..^ - t< . l -.1. «.'-,* .. ,. ,. vvw'-i1 »»*-*> •.'-•• A WHITE CAMEL A light sandy it tke common colour, though -white, grey, brown, and black occur ; but black camels are held by the Arabs to be •worthless CHAPTER XVIII THE CAMEL TRIBE AND THE CHEVROTAINS BY W. P. PYCRAFT, A.L.S., F.Z.S. \HE Camels and Llamas, constituting the present group, form a very dis- tinct section of the great assem- blage of animals known as the Ruminants, or Cud-chewers. The Camel Tribe are peculiar amongst the Ruminants in that they never possess horns, and in that the stomach is only divided into three instead of four com- partments— this division into compartments being intimately connected with the ruminat- ing habit. Furthermore, the upper jaw bears cutting-teeth, or "front teeth," as they are popularly called: though the full set (three pairs) is only complete in the young, in the adult but one pair remains, the others being shed. The canine or " eye " teeth are also peculiar in their position, those of the lower jaw being separated from the cutting-teeth by a very considerable gap In the structure of the feet the Camel Tribe are no less peculiar; indeed, it is on this character that the scientific name of the group is founded. Only two toes are present' these are of equal size, and, instead of being protected by hoofs, are provided with a hardened skin covering a cushion-like pad, which expands when the weight of the body is thrown upon the ot as in walkmg. This is an admirable adaptation for walking on soft and yielding sands Hoofs are represented only by a pair of broad nails. The three-chambered stomach is remark- able because the chamber known as the " paunch " lodges in its walls a large collec- tion of " water-cells," in which can be stored as much as a gallon and a half of water. This faculty of storing water is invaluable f^p* to an animal which has often to subsist for days on absolutely waterless deserts. Note the slit-like nostrils in the illus- tration of the Bactrian Camel on page 306. These can be closed at the will of the animal, a useful precaution against the entrance of sand during the violent sand-storms which often arise in the desert. The True Camels are distinguished by the possession of a hump or humps: there are never more than two. It is in these humps that the camel was popularly supposed 302 Pktto by Charlit Knight ARABIAN CAMEL This individual belongs to the heavy breed employed for carrying merchandise and baggagt THE CAMEL TRIBE AND THE CHEVROTAINS 303 to store water ; in reality they are huge masses of fat, serving as a reserve store of food. The accumulation of fat for this purpose is a common feature amongst the Mammalia. Most animals which hibernate, or lap up and sleep during the winter, store up fat; but, except in the camel, it is distributed more or less evenly over the body. With hard work or bad feeding the camel's hump dwindles almost to nothing. When on the eve of a long journey, the Arab looks anxiously to the state of this hump, for on the size of this depends the animal's condition and ability to undertake the march. The Arabian camel as a wild animal has long since been extinct. Of the hordes of so-called wild camels which abound in the desert regions of Central Asia (Gobi Steppe), some are probably descendants of domesticated animals which have escaped from captivity, but others may be aboriginally wild. From the evidence of fossil camels, there seems little doubt that this animal originated in North America —one branch of the family (the Llamas) migrating into South America, and the other (the Camels) crossing Bering Sea into the Old World. We»e tj & San A CAMEL A half-breed benueen the Arabian and Bactrian sfecies THE TRUE CAMEL Before proceeding further, it may be well to refer to the confusion which exists in the use of the names Camel and Dromedary. The latter name seems popularly to be applied to the two-humped species, the name Camel being reserved for the one with a single hump. This is a mistake. The DROMEDARY is a swift breed of riding-camel of the one- humped species, and is so called to distinguish it from its slower brother, the Pack-camel, or A STRING OF CAMELS NEAR PORT SAID These are the typical deurt camels of the Bast 304 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD Baggage-camel. The pack-camel, it is interesting to note, has been introduced into Australia, where it has proved invaluable in crossing the vast waterless deserts, on account of its power to exist for long periods without drinking. The TRUE or ARABIAN CAMEL is found in a domesticated state in Africa and Asia, and, as we have just indicated, belongs to the one-humped species. It is a long-limbed, short-haired animal, standing as much as 7 feet high. As a wild animal it is extinct. Much mystery, indeed, surrounds the question of its origin. It has been suggested that the Arabian camel, or its immediate parent, may have sprung from an Indian ancestor, and thence made its way through Arabia and Syria into Northern Africa. Not only is the camel indispensable as a beast of burden, but it is esteemed also for its hair, its flesh, bones, and milk. The hair is woven into cloth. In some parts of India the bones are used instead of ivory for inlaid work. The milk is unusually thick and rich, so much so that it cannot be used for tea or coffee, as it curdles when mixed with either. The camel is popularly supposed to be a very docile animal ; but those who speak from experience declare it to be stupid, surly, and vicious to the last degree. It is, however, not entirely void of understanding, and apparently cherishes feelings of revenge, as the following story shows : " A camel, working in an oil-mill, was severely beaten by its driver. Perceiving that the camel had treasured up the injury, and was only waiting a favourable opportunity for revenge, he kept a strict watch upon the animal. Time passed away ; the camel, perceiving it was watched, was quiet and obedient, and the driver began to think the beating was forgotten, when one night, after the lapse of several months, the man was sleeping on a raised platform in the mill, whilst -the camel, as is customary, was stabled in a corner. Happening to awake, the driver observed by the bright moonlight that, when all was quiet, the animal looked cautiously round, rose softly, and, stealing towards a spot where a bundle of clothes and a bernous, thrown carelessly on the ground, resembled a sleeping figure, cast itself with violence upon them, rolling with all its weight, and tearing them most viciously with its teeth. Satisfied that revenge was complete, the camel was returning to its corner, when the driver sat up and spoke. At the sound of his voice, perceiving the mistake it had made, the animal was so mortified at the failure and discovery of its scheme, that it dashed its head against the wall and died on the spot." It is said that when camels pass a mounted man in a narrow path they will turn their heads suddenly round and endeavour to inflict a bite on the rider's arm or shoulder. This is naturally much dreaded, as a camel's bite is particularly severe. Much care has been spent in the breeding of the camel. " In the Sahara Desert," says Canon Tristram, "the Tourareg is as careful in the selection of his breeding mahari (a fine race of the dromedary) as the Arab is in that of his horse. The pedigrees are handed down, and many a dromedary can boast a genealogy far longer than the descendants of the Darley Arabian " (page 202). HEAD OF BACTRIAN CAMEL The hair of this sfecies is used to felt into material for tents. ft is longest on the top of the head, neck, humps, and farts of the fore limbs THE BACTRIAX CAMEL This species is often called the Dromedary ; but, as we have already remarked, this is an error. The dromedary is a swift breed of the Arabian camel. The BACTRIAN CAMEL may be AN OLD MALE BACTRIAN CAMEL This animal is a magnificent representative of the t-wo-humfed species, so -widely distributed in Central jtsit 39 305 306 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD Pkai ty CharUi Knight] [Aldinha BACTRIAN CAMEL The most useful transport animal of Central Asia THE LLAMAS THE LLAMAS are humpless 'camels, and confined to the western and southernmost parts of South America. Two wild and two domesticated species are known. The name Llama, itshould be mentioned, properlybelongs to the domesticated animal of that name. THE VICUNA This is the smaller of the two wild species. Vicunas live in herds in the mountain-ranges of Peru, dwelling during the wet season high up amid rocks and precipices, near the region of perpetual snow. In the dry season they descend to the higher valleys. Their capture is a matter of great difficulty; for, apart from the inaccessible nature of their haunts, they are exceedingly shy and vigilant. They are clothed in a woolly coat of extremely delicate texture, much in demand for weaving purposes. The baby vicuna, it is interesting to note, is able to run swiftly directly after its birth, and possesses great powers of distinguished from its Arabian relative by the fact that it has two humps, is shorter in the leg and heavier, and has longer hair and stouter and harder feet. The shorter legs are distinctly advantageous, enabling the animal to get about with ease and safety over rocky and hilly ground. The hordes of wild camels found in Turkestan, in the neighbourhood of Kashgar, are believed by Major C. S. Cumberland to be descended from camels which escaped when the district known as Takla Makan was buried in a great sand-storm 200 years ago. From the fury of that storm it is said no human being escaped alive. Some camels apparently did, perhaps owing their survival to the power they possess of closing the nostrils, and thereby keeping out the sand. The Bactrian camel lives upon the salt and bitter plants of the steppes, which are rejected by almost all other animals. It is further able to drink brackish water from the salt lakes by which it is surrounded. When pressed by hunger, it will even eat felt blankets, bones and skins of other animals, and fish ! YOUNG BACTRIAN CAMEL The fwo humfi are just beginning to groin THE CAMEL TRIBE AND THE CHEVROTAINS 307 endurance. This is the more noteworthy since the young of the camel are exceedingly helpless. Vicunas are hunted by the Indians and captured by driving them into an enclosure of perhaps half a mile in diameter. This is hung round with bits of coloured rag, which, fluttering in the wind, appear to deter the captives from breaking through. THE GUANACO This is larger than the vicuna, and is described as an elegant animal, being possessed of a long, slender, gracefully curved neck and fine legs. It ranges from the highlands of the Andes to the plains of Patagonia and the islands of Tierra del Fuego. As Mr. Darwin points out, the behaviour of guanaco when alarmed is very contradictory. At one time they will sound the danger-signal, and put themselves out of harm's way long before the enemy has perceived them ; at another they exhibit the most extraordinary curiosity, and pay the death- penalty in consequence. "That they are curious is certain; for if a person lies on the ground and plays strange antics, such as throwing up his feet in the air, they will almost always approach by degrees to reconnoitre him. It was an artifice that was repeatedly practised by our sportsmen K^^^^ with success, and it had, moreover, the advantage of allowing several shots to be fired, which were all taken as part of the performance. On the mountains of Tierra del Fuego, I have more than once seen a guanaco, on being approached, not only neigh and squeal, but prance and leap about in the most ridi- culous manner, apparently in defiance, as a challenge. Phut ky J, If. Mi Lilian These animals are very easily GUANACO domesticated, and I have seen T>ie mijj „„£,•„„/ Of,he llama and alpaca some thus kept in Northern Patagonia near a house, though not under any restraint. They are in this state very bold, and readily attack a man by striking him from behind with both knees. The wild guanacos, however, have no idea of defence ; even a single dog will secure one of these large animals till the huntsmen can come up. In many of their habits they are like sheep in a flock. Thus, when they see men approaching in several directions on horseback, they soon become bewildered, and know not which way to run. This greatly facilitates the Indian method of hunting, for they are thus easily driven to a central point, and are encompassed." Guanacos readily take to the water, and have been frequently seen swimming from one island to another. Here again the llamas differ from the camels, for these can swim but little, if at all. Like the Bactrian camel, the guanaco can drink salt water with impunity. One of the most remarkable traits of the guanaco is that which induces it, when it feels its end to be near, to seek out the dying-place of the tribe, and there breathe out its last. " The guanacos," says Mr. Darwin, " appear to have favourite spots for lying down to die. On the banks of the St. Cruz, in certain circumscribed places, which were generally bushy and all near the river, the ground was actually white with bones. On one such spot I counted 308 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD between ten and twenty heads. . . . The animals in most cases must have crawled, before dying, beneath and amongst the bushes." THE LLAMA This is the first of the two domesticated offshoots of the guanaco, the other being the Alpaca. The LLAMA is a larger beast than the guanaco, and variable in colour. The ancient Peruvians bred it as a beast of burden or for riding, and before the Spanish conquest kept it in enormous numbers. Soon after the Spanish conquest " it was not uncommon to meet droves of from 300 to 500, or even 1,000 llamas, each laden with silver ingots, and the whole in charge of a single native. . . . Only the male llamas were used as beasts of burden, while the smaller females were kept for their milk and flesh. In traveling along the roads, the droves marched in single file, under the guidance of a leader; and such a line would traverse the highest passes of the Cordillera, and skirt the most stupendous precipices with perfect safety. . . . The Spanish conquerors of Peru spoke of llama-flesh as being fully equal to the best mutton, and they established shops in the towns for its regular sale. At the time of the conquest it is estimated that upwards of 300,000 llamas were employed in the transport of the product of the mines of Potosi alone." THE ALPACA This animal is bred solely for the sake of its wool, which is of great length and fineness. From it is made the well-known fabric which bears, in consequence, the name " alpaca." The alpaca is kept in herds on the high grounds of Bolivia and South Peru, whence it is annually driven down to be sheared. The Incas dyed the wool — which is of two qualities, a fine and a coarse — with bright colours, and made it up into cloth or blankets, as the occasion served. The earliest account of this animal is by Augustin de Zarate, the Treasurer-General of Peru in 1544. He speaks of the beast as a sheep; but since he describes it as camel-like in shape, though devoid of a hump, there can be no doubt that it is the llama he is describing. LLAMAS Largely used as beasts of bur Jen in Peru, where these and the alpaca tuere formerly the only domesticated ruminantt THE CAMEL TRIBE AND THE CHEVROTAINS 309 He says : " In places where there is no snow the natives want water, and to supply this they fill the skins of sheep with water, and make other living sheep carry them ; for, it must be remarked, these sheep of Peru are large enough to serve as beasts of burden. They can carry about 100 Ibs. or more, and the Spaniards used to ride them, and they would go four or five leagues a day. When they are weary, they lie down on the ground; and as there are no means of making them get up, either by beating or assisting them, the load must of necessity be taken off. When there is a man on one of them, if the beast be tired and urged to go on, he turns his head round and discharges his saliva, which has an unpleasant odour, into the rider's face. These animals are of great use and profit to their masters, for their wool is very good and fine . . . and the expense of their food is trifling, as a handful of maize suffices them, and they can go four or five days without water. Their flesh is as good as that of the fat sheep of Castile. There are now public shambles for the sale of their flesh in all parts of Peru, which was not the case when the Spaniards came first." The particularly offensive habit of spitting in the face of people who may be obnoxious to it is well known to those who are in the habit of seeing much of this animal. Mill E. J. Bid LLAMA The larger of the tivo domesticated forms descended from the guanaco ALPACA A domesticated form, bred solely for its ivoolt 'which it of a dark brown or black colour THE CHEVROTAINS MENTION must be made, before passing to the Pig Tribe, of the smallest of hoofed mammals, the Royal Antelope excepted — theCllEVROTMNS. These little animals are horn- less, and intermediate in character between the Deer, Camels, and Pigs. The males have large canine teeth, like those of the Musk-deer, with which the Chevrotains have long been confounded. The range of these animals, of which there are five species known, extends from India and Ceylon, through the Malayan countries, as far east as the island of Palawan, in the Philippine group. One species, the largest of the group, occurs on the west coast of Africa. CHAPTER XIX THE PIG AND HIPPOPOTAMUS THE PIG TRIBE BY H. A. BRYDEN MANY species and varieties of swine are found in different parts of the world, most of them exhibiting strong traces of a general family resemblance, although widely sundered as to habitats and often markedly differing in outward appearance. All are omnivorous ; all have the stomach simpler in type than in the Ruminants ; and all have front or incisor teeth in the upper jaw. The two great families of swine proper are the Pigs and Peccaries. There has been much discussion among scientists as to the early origin of the various breeds of domestic swine found in different parts of the world. There can be little doubt that, although selective breeding has produced extraordinary differences in outward appearance, even among the domestic pigs of our own islands, the origin of the numerous tame races is to be sought in the ancestry of the wild breeds of the countries in which they are found. Darwin has some very apposite remarks on the differences to be observed in domesticated swine. " The peculiar form of the skull and body in the most highly cultivated races is," he observes, " not characteristic of any one race, but is common to all when improved up to Fhui tji If. Reid A DOMESTICATED SOW AND HER PROGENY Tlit absence of ttrifti and if on on the young is a feature in which they differ from those of nearly all wild nvine 310 THE PIG AND HIPPOPOTAMUS 3T •.•=3?.*-; **;-''. s ^ a&s£* Photo ttr Ottomar Anichutx\ [Btrlln WILD BOAR /n m /0W£, bristly hair and powerful lower tusks, the 'wild boar is a "very different animal from its domesticated descendants the same standard. Thus the large-bodied, long-eared English breed, with a convex back, and the small-bodied, short-eared Chinese breeds, with a concave back, when bred to the same state of perfection, nearly resemble each other in the form of the head and body. This result, it appears, is partly due to similar causes of change acting on the several races, and partly to man breeding the pig for one sole purpose — namely, for the greatest amount of flesh and fat; so that selection has always tended towards one and the same end. With most domestic animals the result of selection has been divergence of character ; here it has been convergence." THE TRUE PIGS True pigs are found only in the Old World, and even there in very widely different forms. Typical of these quadrupeds is the well-known WILD BOAR, found abundantly in many parts of Europe, North Africa, Asia Minor, and Central Asia. In the British Islands the wild boar must once have been extraordinarily plentiful, especially in Ireland, where its tame descendants still so greatly flourish. In the days of the Plantagenets wild swine fed and sheltered in the woodlands close to London. James I. hunted them near Windsor in 1617, and even down to the year 1683 these animals still had their haunts in the more secluded parts of England. Although now extinct in these Islands, the wild boar is to be found plentifully at the present day in France, Germany, Austria, Russia, and Spain, Greece, Albania, and other countries of the Mediterranean. In most parts of Europe the wild boar is shot during forest drives, but in the Caucasus and round the Black Sea the hardy peasants lie in wait for these animals by the fruit-trees on autumn nights or waylay them going to the water and shoot them single-handed. Many an old Cossack, writes Mr. Clive Phillipps-Wolley, bears the scars of some desperate encounter with these formidable foes. In Spain, where in the old days the boar was pursued by cavaliers with spear and pike, it is still, in the forests of Estremadura, followed with horse and hound, usually, says Mr. Abel Chapman, " during the stillness of a moonlight night, when the acorns are falling from the oaks in the magnificent Estremenian woods." 312 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD Ph«t« fa J. Turntr»Turntrt Etq. Half-wi DIVING-PIGS \, found in Florida, "where they live on refuse fish. (See next page) In India the wild boar of Europe and North Africa is replaced by a closely allied species (distinguished by a crest of long black bristles upon the neck and back), which furnishes some of the finest and most exciting sport in the world to mounted hunters armed with a sharp spear. There is not a pluckier or more fearless beast living than the boar; and as he carries long and extremely sharp tusks, and never scruples to use them, he is an exceedingly dangerous opponent when wounded and enraged. Severe and even fatal accidents have happened in the pursuit of this determined beast of chase. When at bay, the boar is absolutely reckless of life ; and although pierced and mortally wounded by the spear, will yet force himself up the shaft, and with his dying effort inflict gaping wounds on the horse bearing his attacker. Indian shikaris, to illustrate the courage of the wild boar, say that he has the hardihood to drink at a river between two tigers; and Colonel R. Heber Percy mentions, in the Badminton volumes on " Big Game Shooting," that " several cases are on record in which an old boar has beaten off a tiger, and some in which the latter has been killed by a boar. The boar's extraordinary activity and sharp tusks make him no mean adversary, and his short neck makes it difficult for a tiger to seize it and give it that fatal wrench with which he likes to polish off his victims." A wild boar will stand as much as 3 feet at the shoulder — some sportsmen affirm considerably more — and weigh more than 300 Ibs. The finest boar's tusk known is one mentioned in Rowland Ward's "Records of Big Game." This measures nj inches over the curve. It came from the Caucasus, and is in the possession of Colonel Veernhof. It is worthy of note that, while the full-grown individuals of the various species of wild swine are uniformly coloured, their young are longitudinally striped and spotted. In India, besides the common boar, a tiny wild swine, known as the PYGMY HOG, is found in the Bhutan Terai and the forests of Nepal and Sikhim. This pig, which is little bigger than a fox-terrier, runs in considerable troops, or sounders, and is said to attack intruders into its domain much in the same fearless way in which the peccary of America defends its sanctuaries. The height of this diminutive species is given as from 8 to IO inches — the weight at 10 Ibs. THE PIG AND HIPPOPOTAMUS JAVAN WILD PIG One of several nearly allied tfecies inhabiting ike Malay Islands Wild swine are nocturnal in their habits, frequenting moist and marshy country, loving the shade of forests, and making their lairs in tall grass, reed-beds, and similar covert. They go far afield for their food-supplies, and do a great deal of damage to crops in cultivated districts. The European wild sow produces from six to ten young, and at least two litters are usually brought forth in the year. It is remarkable how quickly pigs, as well as other domesticated animals, revert to a semi-feral state of existence, and develop habits suited to a fresh environ- ment. Mr. J. Turner-Turner sends us the following interesting note in connection with this trait : " DIVING- PIGS. — These pigs live in an almost wild condition on certain of the islands off Florida, and subsist chiefly upon the refuse fish cast away by the netsmen. To obtain this, the pigs dive under water, walking on the land at a depth of 5 feet below the surface." Among other Asiatic wild swine are to be mentioned the COLLARED PIG, found in Java, Sumatra, and Borneo; the WHITE-WHISKERED JAPANESE PIG ; the PAPUAN and FORMOSAN PIGS; the WARTY PlG of Java and Borneo; the CERAM PlG ; the CELEBES PlG; and the BEARDED PIG of Borneo, a species distinguished by a quantity of long hair carried upon the cheeks. In the Andaman Islands a small, shaggy wild pig, standing about 2O inches at the shoulder, is found in the forests. Although distinguished from the well-known wild boar of India by certain peculiarities, there is a strong family resemblance to that well-known species in most of these various Asiatic species and races. Among the many kinds of domesticated swine found in Asia, perhaps the strangest and most curious is the JAPANESE MASKED PlG. This animal is described by Darwin as having " an extraordinary appearance, from its short head, broad forehead and nose, great fleshy ears, and deeply furrowed skin. Not only is the face furrowed, but thick folds of skin, which are harder than the other parts, almost like the plates on the Indian rhinoceros, hang about the shoulders and rump. It is coloured black, with white feet, and breeds true. That it has long been domesticated there can be little doubt; and this might have been inferred even from the circumstance that its young are not longitudinally striped." In Africa, besides the Euro- pean wild boar, which there extends its range to Algeria and Morocco, a little- known wild pig is the SENAAR BOAR, found in Senaar, Kordofan, and the Soudan region. In the late Dr. Gray's MALE AND FEMALE BABIRUSA "Catalogue of Carnivora " this The chief characteristic of this fig is the peculiar and enormous de-vehfment of the tush W''^ P'S 's described 3S having in the male, the uffer fair of which grow through the lif s and curve backwards the fur dense and bristly and 40 314 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD WART-HOG Showt the great size of the head in proportion to the body being in colour dull olive-black, varied with yellow. Possibly this little-known swine may prove to be merely a sub-species of the common wild boar of Europe and North Africa. Now that the Soudan regions have once more been opened up to Europeans, we may expect shortly to hear more of this wild swine, as well as of other rare and interesting animals. Still dealing with the true pigs, we come now to the BUSH-PIGS of Africa and Madagascar. These differ somewhat from the typical wild boars of Europe and India in the structure of the teeth, the long pencilled ear-tufts, the elongated snout, and other characteristics. The tusks are considerably smaller, and seldom exceed 6 or 7 inches in length. The RED RIVER-HOG, or WEST AFRICAN BUSH-PIG, is decidedly the most striking of this group. Smaller than the bush-pig of South Africa, and seldom exceeding 2 feet in height at the shoulder, the colour of this animal is a brilliant reddish brown, with tints of yellow. Noticeable streaks of white are found round the eyes and on the cheeks. The ear-tufts, forehead, and limbs are blackish ; more white markings are seen at the tips of the ear-tufts, along the thick mane, and round the margins of the ears. The under-parts are whitish grey in colour. This very handsome pig runs in considerable herds, and is found chiefly in forest and jungle near the banks of the various rivers in West Africa. Its range extends from Angola to Senegambia, and eastwards into the continent as far as Monbuttu. The well-known BUSH-PIG OF SOUTH AFRICA, the BOSCH-VARK of the Boers, is a fine species, having a wide range over much of the southern and south-eastern parts of the continent, extending as far north as Central Africa. In the Eastern Transvaal and Swaziland these animals attain their greatest size, an adult boar standing from 2 feet 4 inches to 2 feet 7 inches in height, and weighing as much as from 150 to 170 Ibs. The usual colour is brownish red, the face and mane greyish ; but in different specimens and at different ages great variations are to be noticed. Pale greyish brown or mottled brown are colours often to be found. These bush-pigs are formidable-look- ing creatures, with thick bristling manes, small deep-set eyes, and sharp if somewhat short tusks, which they know well how to use. Among the old fashioned Boers cured hams from these animals were, when they were more plentiful in Cape Colony, often to be found in up-country farmhouses. The bosch-vark is a beast of shy, nocturnal habit, and, loving as it does the shade and protection of dense covert and bush, is, unless care- fully sought for, not often seen by sportsmen. The herds range usually from half a dozen to as many as twenty in number. When once encountered and set up at bay, this wild swine Photo hi Scholastic Photo. Co. . ELIAN'S WART-HOG Displays the broad muzzle and huge tush, -which are nearly ai large in the soivi as in the boars THE PIG AND HIPPOPOTAMUS 315 will be found a most tough and courageous adversary, capable and willing to defend itself stoutly against all foes. "They are," says Mr. F. Vaughan Kirby, who has had much experience in hunting these animals, " expert swimmers and swift of foot, and can get over the roughest ground at a great pace. There is no pluckier beast in Africa than a bush-pig, and even a leopard will hesitate before attacking a full-grown boar. Like all wild creatures, they have an instinctive dread of man, and will always make their escape from him if possible ; but if surrounded or wounded and brought to bay, they appear to accept the situation with stolid imperturbability, and die fighting with rare pluck, against all odds, grim and silent to the last. . . . Face to face in the middle of a ' fast' bush, and only a Swazi ' stabbing-assegai ' with which to kill him, ... I have seen an old boar, after receiving nine thrusts from those terrible weapons, two of which were still fast in him, make a charge that scattered us like chaff, and in three consecutive lunges lame one of our number for life, and disembowel two of the finest ' pig-dogs ' I ever hunted with. In such encounters a boar inflicts terrible wounds with his teeth, as well as with his tusks." Few men care to face a wart-hog on foot. Another bush-pig is found in Madagascar, and is known as EDWARDS' BUSH- PIG. Its habits are very similar to those of its brethren in the neighbouring continent of Africa. THE BABIRUSA Quitting the true pigs, we come now to perhaps the very strangest and most singular of all the great tribe of swine. This is the BABIRUSA, that curious and grotesque creature found in the island of Celebes, in the Malay Archipelago. The name Babirusa signifies " pig- deer." It is of course a misnomer, and the animal has no kinship whatever with the cervine race. The babi- rusa is a wild swine, having a dark slate-grey skin, very sparsely covered with hair along the ridge of the spine. This skin is very extraordinarily wrinkled. The ears are much smaller than kj rtri &> San] FEMALE HIPPOPOTAMUSES Exhibits a very characteristic attitude of the animal strengthened, and platforms some- times built to command naturally weak places, and from these points of vantage the poor animals were speared when in their desperation they tried to leave the pool. Gradually the whole herd would be speared or starved to death. Once, in August, 1880, I came upon a native tribe engaged in starving to death a herd of hippo- potamuses in a pool of the Umniati River, in Northern Mashonaland. When I came on the scene, there were ten hippopotamuses still alive in the pool. Eight of these appeared to be standing on a sandbank in the middle of the river, as more than half their bodies were above the water. They were all huddled up together, their heads resting on each other's bodies. Two others were swimming about, each with a heavily shafted assegai sticking in its back. Besides these ten still living hippo- potamuses two dead ones were being cut up on the side of the pool, and many more must already have been [Natine Hill a herd of these animals and starving them to death. As there is a very rapid fall in the country through which all the rivers run to the Zambesi from the northern slope of Mashonaland, these streams consist of a series of deep, still pools (called " sea-cow holes " by the old hunters), from a hundred yards to more than a mile in length, connected with one another by shallow, swift-flowing water, often running in several small streams over the bed of the river. A herd of hippopotamuses having been found resting for the day in one of the smaller pools, all the natives in the district, men, women, and children, would collect and build strong fences across the shallows at each end. At night large fires would be kept blazing all round the pool and tom-toms beaten incessantly, in order to prevent the imprisoned animals from escaping. Day after day the fences would be A HIPPOPOTAMUS FAMILY — FATHER, MOTHER, AND YOUNG uses are very sociable animals^ and are often to be met •with in largt herds A HIPPOPOTAMUS GAPING. The position of the animal displays the enormous capacity, and likewise the powerful lower tusks; shortness of the limbs is also well exhibited. the THE PIG AND HIPPOPOTAMUS 325 Phut bj (i. W. Wilim &• Co., Ltd. HIPPOPOTAMUS The ikin of the hippopotamus is often as much as an inch and a half in thickness on the upper parts of the body killed, as all round the pool festoons of meat were hanging on poles to dry, and a large number of natives had been living for some time on nothing but hippopotamus-meat. Altogether I imagine that a herd of at least twenty animals must have been destroyed. Much as one must regret such a wholesale slaughter, it must be remembered that this great killing was the work of hungry savages, who at any rate utilised every scrap of the meat thus obtained, and much of the skin as well, for food ; and such an incident is far less reprehensible — indeed, stands on quite a different plane as regards moral guilt — to the wanton destruction of a large number of hippopotamuses in the Umzingvvani River, near Bulawayo, within a few months of the conquest of Matabililand by the Chartered Company's forces in 1893 These animals had been protected for many years by Lo Bengula and his father Umziligazi before him ; but no sooner were the Matabili conquered and their country thrown open to white men than certain unscrupulous persons destroyed all but a very few of these half-tame animals, for the sake of the few paltry pieces of money their hides were worth ! Gradually, as the world grows older, more civilised, and, to my thinking, less and less interesting, the range of the hippopotamus, like that of all other large animals, must become more and more circumscribed ; but now that all Africa has been parcelled out amongst the white races of Western Europe, if the indiscriminate killing of hippopotamuses by either white men or natives can be controlled, and the constant and cruel custom of firing at the heads of these animals from the decks of river-steamers all over Africa be put a stop to, I believe that this most interesting mammal, owing to the nature of its habitat, and the vast extent of the rivers, swamps, and lakes in which it still exists in considerable numbers, will long outlive all other pachydermatous animals. Hideous, uncouth, and unnecessary as the hippopotamus 326 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD /•*.<» */ f Hill may seem when viewed from behind the bars of its den in a zoological garden, it is nevertheless true that, when these animals have been banished from an African river by the progress of civilisation, that river has lost one of its highest charms and greatest ornaments. The PYGMY or LIBERIAX HIP- POPOTAMUS is confined to Upper Guinea, and, compared with its only existing relative, is a very small ani- mal, not standing more than 2 feet 6 inches in height, and measuring less than 6 feet in length. In weight a full-grown specimen will scale about 400 Ibs. But little is known of the habits of this rare animal, speci- mens of which, I believe, have never been obtained, except by the German naturalists Herrn Biattikofer and Jentink. When alive, the colour of the skin of the pygmy hippopotamus is said to be of a greenish black, changing on the under-parts to yellowish green. The surface of the skin is very shiny. This species, unlike its giant relative, does not congregate in herds, nor pass its days in rivers or lakes, but lives in pairs in marshes or shady forests. It sleeps during the day, and at night wanders over a great extent of country, eating grass, wild fruits, and the young shoots of trees. Its flesh is said to be very succulent and much esteemed by the natives. A hippopotamus, apparently of the same species as that now found in Africa, formerly inhabited the Thames Valley. Great quantities of fossil remains of another species are also found in the island of Sicily. The bones found in England are mainly in the river gravel and brick earth of the south and midland districts of England. This seems to show that at the time when the animal existed our rivers must have been open all the year, and not ice-bound, for it is certain that no hippopotamus could live in a river which froze in winter. Yet among the remains of these animals are also found those of quite arctic species like the Musk-ox and the Reindeer, together with those of the Saiga Antelope, an inhabitant of the cold plateau of Tibet. The problem is: How could these creatures, one a dweller in warm rivers and the others inhabitants of cold arctic or sub-arctic regions, have existed together, apparently on the same area of ground? The answer, which does not seem to have occurred to naturalists who have discussed the question, seems to be plain enough. Any one who knows the conditions of the great rift valleys of Central Africa has the key to the solution of the puzzle. There was probably a very great difference in the vertical plane. Deep in the rift was probably a warm river, while above it may have been mountains from 10,000 to 20,000 feet high, with snow on the summits and glaciers in their valleys. On these cold and arctic heights the reindeer and the musk-ox would find congenial homes. Thousands of feet below, in the hot and narrow valley, the hippopotamus would revel in a warm and steamy climate. This is what actually occurs in the rift valleys of Central Africa, where the hippopotamus swims in rivers that are at no great distance from snow-covered and ice- capped mountains. MALE AND FEMALE HIPPOPOTAMUSES A iiffofotamui ii almtiil iittef arable from the -water ; it never goci farther away than foutblefrom a river or lake CHAPTER XX THE DUGOXG, M.1X.1TEES, If'H.JLES, PORPOISES, JND DOLPHINS BY F. G. AFLALO, F. Z. S. THE DVGOXG AND MANATEES THESE curious creatures, which seem to have been the basis of much of the old mermaid legend, have puzzled many eminent naturalists. Before they were placed in an order by themselves, Linnaeus had classed them with the Walrus, Cuvier with the Whales, and another French zoologist with the Elephants. They are popularly regarded as the cows of the sea-pastures. Their habits justify this. I have often watched dugongs on the Queensland coast browsing on the long grasses, of which they tear up tussocks with sidelong twists of the head, coming to the surface to breathe at short intervals. Omitting the extinct Rhytina, otherwise known as Steller's Sea-cow, which was exterminated in the Bering Strait not very long after civilised man had first learnt of its existence, we have to consider two distinct groups, or genera, of these sirenians. The DUGONG is the representative of the first, and the two MANATEES belong to the other. The dugong is found on the coasts of Northern Australia, in many parts of the Indian Ocean (particularly off Ceylon), and in the Red Sea. It is easily distinguished, by even superficial observation, from the manatees. Its tail is slightly forked, somewhat like that of the whales : the tail of manatees, on the other hand, is rounded. The dugong's nippers, to which we also find a superficial resemblance in those of the whale, show no traces of external nails : in those of the manatees, which show projecting nails, there is a considerable power of free movement (the hands being, in fact, used in manipulating the food), which is not the DUGONG d vegtttt&.'t-jttJimf it* mtmmnfjitm tkt Indian Quests jmj .V-r:4 ^MSfrdJtJ 3-7 328 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD TnHt If A. S. Rutland &• Sent AMERICAN MANATEE Found in the Amazons River. The Manatees differ remarkably from the Dugong in the number and structure of their teeth case in the limbs of the whale. The body of the dugong is almost smooth, though there are bristles in the region of the mouth: that of the manatees is studded with short hairs. The male dugong has two large tusks : in neither sex of the manatees are such tusks developed. Finally, a more detailed examination of the skeletons would reveal the fact that, whereas the dugong has the usual seven bones, in the neck, that of the manatees has only six. When we come to the Whales, we shall encounter that very characteristic covering known as " blubber " ; and, though it is present in smaller quantity, these sirenians have blubber as well. Complex stomachs they also have, like the whales, only in their case both the nature of the food and the structure of the teeth point clearly to a ruminating habit, which, for reasons that will be given in the right place, seems inadmissible in the whales. In both dugong and manatees the mouth is furnished with singular horny plates, the precise use of which does not appear to have been satisfactorily determined ; and the upper lip of the manatee is cleft in two hairy pads that work laterally. This enables the animal to draw the grass into its mouth without using the lower lip at all. In their mode of life the dugong and manatees differ as widely almost as in their appearance; for the former is a creature of open coasts, whereas the manatees hug river- estuaries and even travel many miles up the rivers. Of both it has been said that they leave the water at night, and the manatees have even been accused of plundering crops near the banks. The few, however, which have been under observation in captivity have always been manifestly uncomfortable whenever, by accident or otherwise, the water of their tank was run off, so that there is not sufficient reason for believing this assertion. This group of animals cannot be regarded as possessing any high commercial value, though both natives and white men eat their flesh, and the afore-mentioned rhytina was, in fact, exterminated solely for the sake of its meat. There Is also a limited use for the bones as ivory, and the leather is employed on a small scale, — a German writer has, in fact, been at great pains to prove that the Tabernacle, which was 300 cubits long, was roofed with dugong- skin, and the Red Sea is certainly well within the animal's range. DUGONGS, MANATEES, WHALES, PORPOISES, DOLPHINS 329 THE WHALES, PORPOISES, AND DOLPHINS Although anatomists have good reason for suspecting that all the members of the Whale Tribe are directly descended from river-dwelling forms, if not indeed, more remotely, from some land animal, there is something appropriate in the fact of the vast ocean, which covers something like three-quarters of the earth's surface, producing the mightiest creatures which have ever lived. There should also be some little satisfaction for ourselves in the thought that, their fish-like form notwithstanding, these enormous beings really belong to the highest, or mammalian, class of animal life. One striking feature all these many-sized cetaceans have in common, and that is their similarity of form. Though they may vary in length from 70 to 7 feet, their outline shows a remarkable uniformity. Important internal and even external differences there may be. A whale may be toothed or toothless ; a dolphin may be beaked or round-headed ; either may be with or without a slight ridge on the back or a distinct dorsal fin ; but no cetacean could well be mistaken for an animal of any other order. It is as well to appreciate as clearly as possible this close general resemblance between the largest whale and the smallest dolphin, as the similarity is one of some interest ; and we may estimate it at its proper worth if we bear in mind that two species of cetaceans, outwardly alike, may not, perhaps, be more closely allied than such divergent ruminant types as the elephant, the giraffe, and the gazelle. Reference has already been made to the fact that the whales are true mammals, and we must now clearly set before us the justification for separating them from the Fishes — to which anyone with a superficial knowledge of their habits and appearance would unhesitatingly assign them — and raising them to the company of other mammals. Let us first separate them from the Fishes. The vast majority of fishes, with some familiar exceptions like the conger-eel, are covered with scales : whales have no scales. The tail of fishes, often forked like that of whales, is set vertically : in whales the tail is set laterally, and for this a good reason will presently be shown. Fishes have anal fins : whales not only have no anal fins, but their so-called pectoral fins differ radically from the fins of fishes. Fishes breathe with the aid of gills : whales have Photo kj A. S. Rudland &> Sent NARWHAL An Arctic luhale, with one or rarely two long sfean of bone frojtcring from the head 42 330 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD no gills. Fishes, in the vast majority of cases, reproduce their young by spawning, the eggs being left to hatch out either in gravel-beds or among the water-plants, lying on the bottom (as in the case of the herring), or floating near the surface (as in that of the plaice): whales do not lay eggs, but bear the young alive. This brings us to the simple points of resemblance between them and other mammals. When the young whale is born, it is nourished on its mother's milk. This alone would constitute its claim to a place among the highest class. Whales breathe atmospheric air by means of lungs. Hair is peculiarly the covering of mammals, just as scales are characteristic of fishes and feathers of birds. Many whales, it is true, have no Fktlt tj A. S, Rutland &• Stnl GRAMPUS, OR KILLER A carnivorous cetacean -with large teeth, often found in the North Sea hair; but others, if only in the embryonic stage, have traces of this characteristic mammalian covering. It must, moreover, be remembered that in some other orders of mammals the amount of hair varies considerably — as, for instance, between the camel and rhinoceros. Having, then, shown that whales are mammals, we must now determine the chief features of the more typical members of the order. The extremities of whales are characteristic: a large head, occupying in some species as much as one-third of the total length ; and the afore-mentioned forked, or lobed, tail set laterally. The flippers, which bear only a slight resemblance to the pectoral fins in fishes, are in reality hands encased in swimming- gloves. In some whales these hands are five-fingered, in others the fingers number only four, DUGONGS, MANATEES, WHALES, PORPOISES. DOLPHINS 331 but many of the fingers contain more bones than the fingers of man. In some whales we find a dorsal fin, and this, as also the flippers, acts as a balancer. In no whale of porpoise is there any external trace of hind limbs, but the skeleton of some kinds shows in varying stages of degradation a rudimentary bone answering to this description. Perhaps, however, the most distinctive feature of whales is the blow-hole, situated, like the nostrils of the hippopotamus, on the upper surface of the head, and similarly enabling the animal to breathe the air without exposing much of its head above the surface of the water. The blow-hole (or blow-holes, for whalebone-whales have two) may be said to take the place of nostrils as regards the breathing, though perhaps no sense of smell is included in its functions. In the Sperm-whale, or Cachalot, there is a single (/)-shaped blow-hole near the end of the snout. The well-known spouting of whales is merely the breathing out of warm vapour, which, on coming in contact with the colder air — and it should be remembered that most whaling is carried on in the neighbourhood of icebergs — condenses in a cloud above the animal's head. I have seen many a sperm-whale spout, and the cloud of spray, often mixed with a varying volume of water if the whale commences to blow before its blow-hole is clear of the surface, drifts forward over the forehead. This is due to the forward position of the blow-hole. I never to my knowledge saw a whalebone-whale spouting, but its double jet is said to ascend vertically over its back, and this would in like manner be accounted for by the more posterior position of the blow-holes. Having filled its lungs, which are long and of simple structure, with fresh air, in enormous draughts that fill the great cavities of its chest, the whale sinks to the depths. There, in ordinary circumstances, it will lie for a quarter of an hour or more, but the pain of the harpoon and the knowledge that there is danger at the surface may keep it below for as much as an hour. When it has to breathe again, a few powerful strokes from the laterally set tail suffice to bring it quickly to the surface. This is not the place for a detailed anatomy of the whale, but no one can fail to notice with admiration such parts of its equipment for the battle of life as the structure of its windpipe, which enables it to breathe with comfort with its mouth full of water, the complicated network of blood-vessels that ensures the slow and thorough utilising of all the oxygen in its lungs while it remains at the bottom, and the elastic cushion of blubber that makes this gigantic animal indifferent to extremes of pressure and temperature. Thanks mainly to its coat of blubber, the whale exists with equal comfort at the surface or hundreds of fathoms below it ; in the arctic or in tropical seas. It is not perhaps in keeping with the plan of this work that we should consider in detail the soft parts of the whale's inside. One or two parts of its feeding and digestive mechanism may, however, offer some points of passing interest. The complex stomach, which is divided into chambers, like that of the ruminants already described, has suggested that the latter function Pbtlt if A. S. Rutland Sf Sim SHORT-BEAKED RIVER-DOLPHIN In this type the head is produced into a beakt supported in the upper jjiu hy a mass of ivory-like bon 332 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD may in a modified process be performed by whales. It is, however, evident that the teeth of toothed whales are in no way adapted to the act of mastication, which is inseparable from any conception of ruminating, while the toothless whales have as complicated a stomach as the rest Mr. Beddard, writing on the subject in his interesting " Book of Whales," takes the more reasonable view that the first chamber of the stomach of whales should be regarded rather as a storehouse in which the food is crushed and softened. The teeth of whales, the survival of which in the adult animal offers the simplest basis of its classification under one or other of the two existing groups, or sub-orders, are essentially different from the teeth of many other kinds of mammals. It cannot, perhaps, be insisted that the distinctive terms employed for these two categories of whales are wholly satisfactory. For instance, the so-called " toothless " whales have distinct teeth before birth, thus claiming descent from toothed kinds. On the other hand, the so-called " toothed " whales are by no means uniformly equipped in this respect, some of the porpoises having as many as twenty-six teeth, distributed over both jaws, while the bottlenoses have no more than two, or at most four, and these in the lower jaw only. Only the lower jaw, in fact, of the great sperm-whale bears teeth that are of any use, though there are smaller and functionless teeth in the gums of the upper. The teeth of whales, by the way, are not differentiated like our canines and molars, but are all of one character. Although, in " toothless " whales, the fcetal teeth disappear with the coming of the baleen, I or whalebone, the latter rruist not, in either struc- ture or uses, be thought to take their place. The plates of whalebone act rather as a hairy strainer. Unless we seek a possible analogy at the other end of the mammalian scale, in the Australian duck- bill, the feeding of the whalebone-whales is unique. They gulp in the water, full of plank- ton, swimming open- mouthed through the streaks of that substance. Then the huge jaws are closed, and the massive tongue is moved slowly, so as to drive the water from the angles of the mouth through the straining-plates of baleen, the food remaining stranded on these and on the tongue. The size and number of the baleen-plates appear to vary in a degree not yet definitely established ; but there may, in a large whale, be as many as between 300 and 400 on either side of the cavernous mouth, and they may measure as much as 10 or 12 feet in length and 7 or 8 feet in width. An enumeration of such whales and porpoises and dolphins as have at one time or other been stranded on the shores of the British Isles may serve as an epitome of the whole order. Only one interesting group, in fact — the River-dolphins of the Ganges and Amazons — is unrepresented in the list. Whales, cither exhausted or dead, are periodically thrown up on our coasts, even on the less-exposed portions — one of the most recent examples in the writer's memory being that of a large specimen, over 60 feet long, stranded on the sands near Boscombe, in Hampshire, and the skeleton of which at present adorns Boscombe Pier. It was one of the rorquals, or finbacks, probably of the species called after Rudolph! ; but the skeleton is imperfect, though its owner, Dr. Spencer Simpson, appears to have preserved some details of its earlier appearance. It should be remembered that many of the following can only be regarded as " British " with considerable latitude, the records of their visits being in . Photo br A. S. Rudland df oo SOWERBY'S BEAKED WHALE One of the rarest of ivhales. It probably inhabits the of en seas DUGONGS, MANATEES, WHALES, PORPOISES, DOLPHINS 333 some cases as rare as those of the rustic bunting and red-necked nightjar among birds, or of the derkio and spotted dragonet among fishes. British zoologists, however, usually include the following: — WHALEBONE-WHALES : Southern Right-whale ; Humpback ; Finbacks, or Rorquals. TOOTHED WHALES : Sperm-whale, or Cachalot ; Narwhal ; Beluga, or White Whale ; Grampuses ; Beaked Whale ; Broad-fronted Whale ; Cuvier's Whale; Sowerby's Whale ; Pilot-whale; Porpoise; Dolphin; White-sided Dolphin ; White-beaked Dolphin ; Bottlenose. A selection may therefore be made of five of the most representative of these species — the SOUTHERN WHALE, the CACHALOT, the NARWHAL, the PORPOISE, and the DOLPHIX. The SOUTHERN* WHALE, which, in common with the closely allied polar species, whaling- crews call " right," seeing that all other kinds are, from their point of view, " wrong," is probably the only right-whale which has ever found its way to our shores. Some writers include the Greenland Right-whale, but their authority for this is doubtful. It is said to grow to a length of at any rate 70 feet, though 55 feet would perhaps be more common for even large specimens. In colour it is said to be dark above, with a varying amount of white or grey on the flippers and under-surface. The head and mouth are very large, occupying in some cases one-third of the total length, and the baleen-plates measure as much as 8 or 10 feet in length and 5 or 6 feet in width. The species has no back-fin, but there is a protuberance on the snout, known technically as the " bonnet." This whale appears to give birth to its single calf some time in the spring months, and the mother shows great affection for her offspring. The HUMPBACK is distinguished from the right-whales externally by its longer flippers and the prominence on its back, and internally by the fluted skin of the throat. The FlXXERS, or RORQUALS, have a distinct back-fin. They feed on fishes and cuttles, and I have more than once known a rorqual, which looked fully 50 feet long (comparing it roughly with my 24-foot boat), to swim slowly round and round my lugger, down on the Cornish coast, puffing and hissing like a torpedo-boat on its trial trip, rounding up the pilchards in a mass, and every now and then dashing through them open mouthed with a terrific roar, after several of which helpings it would sink out of sight and not again put in an appearance. The SPERM-WHALE, or CACHALOT, may serve as our type of the toothed whales. It attains to the same great dimensions as the largest of the whalebone group. A more active r Pbtst bj A. *. HudUnd E Stni COMMON PORPOISE From 4 to J feet long. It /ivet in "scAooft," or companies, and pursues the herrings and mackerel 334 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD animal for its size could scarcely be conceived ; and I have seen one, in the Indian Ocean, fling itself three or four times in succession out of water like a salmon, striking the surface each time as it fell back with a report like that of a gun. No one appears to have explained whether performances of this sort are due to mere playfulness, or, as seems more probable, to the attacks of parasites or such larger enemies as sharks or " killers." I have also seen four thresher-sharks leaping out of water, and falling with a loud blow on the whale's back ; but the victim lay quite still in this case, and may in fact have been worn out before we came upon the scene. I wish to add that I took the word of the skipper, himself an old whal- ing-captain, for their identity as threshers. The dazzling sun shone full on them, and on the sea between, and it was impossible, even with the ship's telescope, to recognise them with any accuracy. The cachalot has a very different profile from what any one who had seen only its skull in a museum would be led to expect, for the sperm- cavity in the forehead is not indicated in the bones. The structure of the head enables the animal to drop the lower jaw almost at right angles to the tipper; and Mr. Frank Bullen quotes, in his fascinating " Cruise of the Cachalot," the current belief that it does so to attract its prey by the whiteness of its teeth and palate. Although both fishes and cephalo- pods are very curious, even to their own destruc- tion, it is doubtful whether the whale could not catch its food more rapidly by swimming open-mouthed through the acres of floating squid encountered all over the warmer waters of the ocean. Phut t, A. S. Rutland & Sit* ELLIOTT'S DOLPHIN One cj t'le commoner Indian species Fhatt b; A. S. Rutland