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1EIR  LIFE  AND 

CONVERSATION 

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Crf. CORNISH 


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ANIMALS  OF  TO-DAY 


ANIMALS    OF    TO-DAY 

THEIR    LIFE    AND 

CONVERSATION 


BY 

C.   J.    CORNISH 

Author  of  'Life  at  the  Zoo,'  '  Wild  England' 
'Animals  at   Work  and  Play,'  etc. 


WITH  SIXTEEN  ILLUSTRATIONS 


LONDON 

SEELEY    AND    CO.    LIMITED 

38  GREAT  RUSSELL  STREET 

1898 


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PREFACE 

THE  following  chapters  were  originally  contributed  to 
the  Spectator,  to  the  editor  of  which  I  have  to  offer 
my  thanks  for  permission  to  publish  them  in  a  collected 
form. 

I  am  also  much  indebted  to  Mr.  Charles  Reid,  of 
Wishaw,  our  leading  photographic  artist  in  the  domain 
of  outdoor  natural  history,  for  the  choice  of  many  of 
the  illustrations  from  his  large  collection. 

C.  J.  CORNISH. 


7123 


I.  REINDEER    AND    SNOW-CAMELS 

II.  GOATS    IN    CITIES  .  »  . 

III.  THE    'NEW  '    PIG  '    .  . 

IV.  THE  STORY  OF  THE  JERSEY  HERD       . 
V.  THE  CAT  ABOUT  TOWN 

vi.  A  'WOULD-BE'  HELPER  :    THE  FRIENDLY  PUMA 

VII  ANIMAL    COLONISTS 

VIII.  IRISH    DONKEYS    FOR    SOUTH    AFRICA 

IX.  SHIRE    HORSES    AT    ISLINGTON          .  , 

X.  THE    BEAUTY    OF    CATTLE 

XI.  WAR-HORSES         .  .  - .. 

XII.  THE    SPEED    OF    THE    PIGEON-POST  , 

XIII.  THE    LONDON    HORSE    AT    HOME    .  , 

XIV.  MENAGERIE    ANIMALS         .  "'.  '\ 

XV.    ANIMALS    IN    FAMINE          .  .  -    ... 

XVI.    PLAGUE-STRUCK    ANIMALS  ./  *• 

XVII.    THE    ANIMAL    *  CHAPTER    OF    ACCIDENTS  '  . 
XVIII.    THIRSTY    ANIMALS 

XIX.    THE    EFFECT    OF    HEAT    ON    ANIMALS 
XX.    ANIMALS    IN    THE    DARK  . 

XXI.    NATURAL    DEATH    IN    THE    ANIMAL    WORLD 

Vii 


PAGE 

I 

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17 
25 
33 
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57 
64 
72 
80 
87 

94 
1 02 
109 
117 
124 

131 

138 

H5 
152 


viii  CONTENTS 


PAGE 


XXII.  AN'IMALS'    ILLUSIONS    .  .  .  .  .        l6o 

XXIII.  ANIMAL    ANTIPATHIES  .  A  .  .  .        l66 

XXIV.  ANIMAL    KINDERGARTEN               .                     .                     .  .174 
XXV.  THE    RANGE    OF    ANIMAL    DIET                     .                     .  .        l8l 

XXVI.  DAINTIES    OF    ANIMAL    DIET      .  .  .  1 88 

XXVII.  THE    SLEEPING    HOMES    OF    ANIMALS        .  .  •        J95 

XXVIII.  THE    CARRIAGE    OF    ANIMALS     .  .    /         -    ...  .       2C>3 

XXIX.  TRESPASSING    ANIMALS  .  .  ,.  .212 

XXX.  DO    ANIMALS    TALK  ?  .  ,     -  .  "    .   •  .        219 

XXXI.  ANIMALS    UNDERGROUND  .  .  .  .        22J 

XXXII.  MAMMALS    IN    THE    WATER        .  .      .  .  .        235 

XXXIII.  CROCODILES    .  .  .  .  .  .        243 

XXXIV.  MARSUPIALS    AND    THEIR    SKINS  .  .  •        25J 

xxxv.  WILD  BEASTS'  SKINS  IN  COMMERCE     ,.  .  .258 

XXXVI.  EAGLES    ON    AN    ENGLISH    LAKE  .  ,  .        266 

XXXVII.  THE    GREAT    FOREST    EAGLE        .  ,  .    -.  .       273 

XXXVIII.  THE    PAST    AND    FUTURE    OF    BRITISH    MAMMALS  .        280 

XXXIX.  THE    RETURN    OF    THE    GREAT    BUSTARD  .  .288 

XL.  BIG    GAME       ......        296 

XLI.  GAME    PRESERVATION    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES  .  .        304 

XLII.  ANIMAL    ACCLIMATIZATION    AT    WOBURN    ABBEY  .        312 


LIST    OF 


PAGE 

A  BRITISH  BEAVER      .....  Frontispiece 

GOATS  IN  A  TIMBER-YARD        .             .              .  .  .12 

THE  CAT  AS  WILD  ANIMAL      .             .             .  .  .36 

UNWELCOME  COLONISTS            .             .             .  .  .50 

ROB  ROY'S  CATTLE     .             .             .             .  1  .  .74 

HARD  TIMES   ON   EXMOOR          .                .               .  .  I  IO 

BEAVER  IN  THE  WATER           .             .          F  .  .  -  .      I  14 

COOL  QUARTERS  -  HIGHLAND  CATTLE    .             .  .  .142 

KITTEN'S  KINDERGARTEN           .              .              .  .  .174 

A  FIRST-CLASS  CARRIAGE,  BOSTOCK's  MENAGERIE  .  .     206 

A  TRESPASSING  PARTY              .             .              .  .  .     2l6 

LEAVING  THE   EARTH  .               .               .               .  .  .228 

AN  ANCIENT  BRITON   .               .               .               .  .  .232 

OTTER  SWIMMING  A  STREAM    .                .               ,  .  236 

OTTER  ON  A  LAKE  SIDE          .  284 

AN  ENGLISH-BRED  GAZELLE      .             .              .  .  .314 


*  * 


THIRTY  years  ago  it  seemed  possible  that  the  main 
range  of  animal  usefulness,  except  as  supplying  food, 
might  be  covered  by  mechanical  contrivance,  guided  by 
human  intelligence. 

So  much  had  been  achieved  by  inventors  that  the 
old-fashioned  animal  *  helpers  and  servers '  were  at  a 
discount,  and  there  was  a  general  disregard  of  animal 
life,  and  a  waste  of  it,  both  directly  and  indirectly. 

In  the  last  few  years  a  reaction  of  feeling  has  taken 
place,  both  in  this  country  and  its  colonies,  and  in 
the  United  States.  The  animal  factor  is  no  longer 
at  a  discount.  Some  of  the  most  practical  persons  in 
the  world  believe,  apart  from  any  promptings  of  senti- 
ment, that  it  pays  to  make  the  best  use  of  the  '  machines ' 
patented  by  Nature,  and  the  service  of  animals  is  taking 
a  higher  place  in  many  of  the  intelligent  combinations 
of  modern  life.  Not  only  are  highly  -  specialized 
animals,  like  the  reindeer,  the  snow-camel,  and  others, 


xii  INTRODUCTION 

in  request  for  modern  enterprise  :  the  more  delicate 
animal  c  machines '  guided  by  organs  of  sense  and  per- 
ception superior  to  ours  are  employed  on  a  great  and 
increasing  scale  for  naval  and  military  purposes — dogs, 
for  instance,  as  watchers  and  messengers  in  the  French, 
German,  and  Italian  armies,  and  the  pigeon-post  by  all 
the  Western  Powers.  Recent  experiments  even  indicate 
that  the  bloodhound  will  be  once  more  used  for  police 
purposes. 

How  some  of  the  wild  animals  have  managed  to 
maintain  themselves  during  the  bad  times  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  their  shifts  and  expedients,  and  per- 
sonal idiosyncrasies,  and  instances  of  their  survival 
under  difficulties,  are  set  out  in  many  of  the  following 
chapters.  Others  deal  with  the  wonderful  progress  of 
the  domesticated  kinds,  such  as  the  Jersey  cattle,  the 
shire  horse,  pig,  the  goat  in  cities,  and  other  breeds 
whose  adaptation  to  the  needs  or  conditions  of  this 
century  has  been  rapid  and  astonishing. 


I.— REINDEER  AND  SNOW-CAMELS 

THE  place  still  held  by  animals  in  the  practical  life  of 
to-day  is  well  shown  by  the  efforts  of  the  Governments 
of  Canada  and  the  United  States  to  supply  transport 
to  Klondike  during  the  spring  of  1898.  To  reach 
an  ice-beleaguered  goldfield  in  the  north-western  corner 
of  Arctic  America,  the  Governments  of  two  great 
nations,  Canada  and  the  United  States,  were  sending 
agents  to  fetch  half-wild  reindeer,  and  Lapps,  their 
half-wild  owners,  from  the  north-eastern  corner  of 
Arctic  Europe.  This  astonishing  adventure  was  under- 
taken, first,  because  the  reindeer  are  the  only  draught 
animals  which  can  find  food  on  the  journey  to 
Klondike,  and  secondly,  because  in  the  race  against  time 
there  was  not  an  hour  to  spare  in  organizing  un- 
trained herds.  Broken  reindeer,  with  their  own  Lapp 
owners  and  drivers,  had  to  be  procured,  or  the  ex- 
pedition would  have  been  too  late  to  start  from 
Dyea  in  March,  when  the  Arctic  days  are  lengthening. 
Meantime,  the  Canadian  Government,  at  its  wits'  end  to 

1  i 


2  REINDEER  AND  SNOW-CAMELS 

supply  its  own  police-force  on  the  way  to  Klondike, 
also  sent  an  agent  to  Norway,  who  forwarded  six  Lapps 
and  a  hundred  and  fourteen  deer,  and  was  instructed  to 
send  an  equal  number  as  soon  as  he  could  get  them. 

Everyone  knows  that  all  this  trouble,  expense  and 
hurry  to  obtain  some  two  thousand  five  hundred 
medium-sized  deer  from  the  uttermost  parts  of  the 
earth  is  due  solely  to  one  physical  fact  in  natural 
history — namely,  that  these  deer  can  find  food  where 
no  other  beast  of  burden  can.  But  the  exact  physical 
and  local  conditions  which  should  make  it  possible  for 
the  deer  to  cross  where  two  thousand  horses  were 
already  lying  dead  from  starvation  are  the  following. 
The  road  lies  mainly  beyond  the  northern  limit  ot 
grass  and  trees.  The  reindeer  will  eat  moss,  and 
prefers  it  to  other  food.  Moss,  as  we  understand  it, 
is  rather  an  uncommon  vegetable.  It  would  be  difficult, 
for  instance,  to  find  enough  moss  by  an  English  road- 
side to  feed  one  reindeer  per  diem,  not  to  speak  of 
hundreds.  But  once  beyond  a  certain  line  on  the 
Arctic  fringe,  moss  is  the  one  common  form  of 
vegetable  life.  Lichen  is  the  more  appropriate  name, 
for  it  is  a  thick,  whitish  growth,  springing  up  naturally, 
and  often  burnt  by  the  Lapps  over  large  tracts  to 
produce  a  thicker  crop  for  the  deer,  just  as  Scotch 
shepherds  burn  the  heather.  It  is  the  natural  vegetable 
covering  of  the  earth,  where  earth,  and  not  rock,  is  on 


REINDEER  AND  SNOW-CAMELS  3 

the  surface.  And  the  Klondike  climate  is  particularly 
favourable  to  this  moss,  which  lies  over  the  whole 
soil,  an  invisible  vegetable  lining,  between  the  earth 
and  the  covering  snow.  It  is  so  thick  that  even  in 
summer,  when  the  snow  melts,  this  non-conducting 
layer  of  moss  prevents  the  ground  from  thawing. 
Before  the  snow  melts,  the  deer  would  be  travelling 
over  one  vast  carpet  of  snow-covered  food  ;  and  as 
each  reindeer,  male  or  female,  has  a  projecting  pal- 
mated  antler,  or  '  snow-scraper/  with  a  few  sidelong 
sweeps  of  which  it  can  brush  away  the  snow,  the  herds 
have  no  trouble  in  reaching  their  food. 

When  communications  with  Klondike  were  once 
more  open,  it  was  found  that  the  miners  were  not  in 
such  straits  as  was  supposed.  But  the  story  is  evidence 
that  the  animal  factor  is  not  yet  struck  out  of  the  lists 
of  human  needs. 

When  the  purchase  of  these  reindeer  was  announced, 
I  received  from  Mr.  Carl  Hagenbeck,  of  Hamburg, 
a  suggestion  of  another  transport  animal  for  use  in  the 
snows  of  Klondike.  'The  best  animal  for  the  Klondike 
climate,'  he  wrote,  '  is  the  big  Siberian  camel.  These 
camels  transport  all  merchandise  from  China  to  Russia, 
and  can  stand  Siberian  cold  as  well  as  the  greatest  heat. 
They  never  need  shelter,  and  sleep  out  in  the  deep 
snow.  .  .  .  They  can  carry  from  five  hundredweight 
to  six  hundredweight,  and  also  go  in  harness  and  pull 

i — 2 


4  REINDEER  AND  SNOW-CAMELS 

as  much  as  a  big  horse.  They  can  cross  mountains  as 
well  as  level  country.  As  for  the  difficulty  of  pro- 
curing them,  there  is  none.  I  can  deliver  as  many  as 
may  be  wanted  for  forty  pounds  apiece  in  London  or 
Grimsby,  or  sixty  pounds,  duty  paid,  in  New  York.' 
The  two-humped  Bactrian  camel,  of  which  Mr.  Hagen- 
beck  speaks,  is  the  only  beast  of  burden,  not  excepting 
the  reindeer,  of  which  Englishmen  have  absolutely  no 
practical  experience.  The  Russians  are,  in  fact,  the  only 
Europeans  who  are  acquainted  with  this  universal  beast 
of  transport  of  Northern  Asia,  while  in  Europe  itself  it 
has  not  been  seen  since  the  revolt  of  the  Tartars  in  the 
reign  of  the  Empress  Catharine. 

In  that  memorable  and  blood-stained  exodus,  when 
the  Tartars  fled  from  the  banks  of  the  Volga  to  the 
Great  Wall  of  China,  their  herds  of  snow-camels  alone 
saved  the  remnant  of  the  people  ;  and  when,  after  five 
months,  the  flying  horde,  reduced  from  six  hundred 
thousand  to  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  souls, 
together  with  the  pursuing  Bashkirs,  plunged  into  the 
waters  of  the  Lake  of  Tengis,  '  like  a  host  of  lunatics 
pursued  by  a  host  of  fiends,'  they  were  still  riding  on 
the  camels  on  which  they  had  started  in  the  snows  of 
winter,  and  crossed  the  ice  of  the  Russian  rivers.  <  Ox, 
cow,  horse,  mule,  ass,  sheep,  or  goat,  not  one  survived,' 
writes  De  Quincey,  '  only  the  camels.  These  arid  and 
adust  creatures,  looking  like  the  mummies  of  some 


REINDEER  AND  SNOW-CAMELS  5 

antediluvian  animals,  without  the  affections  or  sensi- 
bilities of  flesh  and  blood — these  only  lifted  their 
speaking  eyes  to  the  Eastern  heavens,  and  had  to  all 
appearance  come  out  of  this  long  tempest  of  trial 
unscathed  and  hardly  diminished/  These  '  innumerable 
camels'  were  all  of  the  Bactrian  breed,  and  evidence 
of  the  extremes  of  cold  and  heat  endured  in  this 
enterprise  of  the  Kalmucks  may  be  found  in  the  fact 
that,  during  the  early  stages  of  the  flight,  circles  of 
men,  women  and  children  were  found  frozen  stiff 
round  the  camp-fires  in  the  morning,  while  in  the  last 
stage  the  horde  passed  for  ten  days  through  a  waterless 
desert  with  only  an  eight-days'  supply,  and  yet  arrived 
*  without  sensible  loss '  of  these  creatures  on  the  shore 
of  the  Chinese  lake. 

The  constant  references  to  the  Bactrian  camels  made 
by  De  Quincey,  and  his  careful  repetition  of  their 
distinctive  name,  show  his  appreciation  of  the  part  they 
played.  But  in  the  end  he  is  still  under  the  dominion 
of  the  accepted  opinion  about  camels  in  general.  They 
are  '  arid  and  adust ' — creatures  of  the  sand  and  the  hot 
desert,  rather  than  of  the  mountain  and  the  cold  desert 
or  steppe,  and  the  South  Siberian  snows.  It  is  this 
distinction  of  habit  and  habitat  which  gives  novelty  to 
Mr.  Hagenbeck's  suggestion.  The  physical  barrier  of 
the  Himalayas  and  the  Hindoo-Khoosh  not  only 
separates  the  two  species  with  a  completeness  not  seen 


6  REINDEER  AND  SNOW-CAMELS 

in  the  case  of  any  other  breed  of  domesticated  animal, 
but  has  relegated  one  solely  to  the  use  of  the  yellow 
men,  and  the  other  to  the  service  of  the  black  or  brown 
men.  The  camel  of  the  North,  which  can  endure  not 
only  thirst,  but  freezing  cold,  long  spells  of  hunger,  and 
a  bed  of  snow,  is  not  only  the  stronger,  but  the  better 
equipped  species.  Before  the  summer  heat  it  sheds  its 
coat ;  but  by  September  it  grows  a  garment  of  fur 
almost  as  thick  as  a  buffalo  robe,  and  equally  cold- 
resisting.  It  is  far  more  strongly  built  than  the 
Southern  camel.  It  does  not  '  split '  when  on  slippery 
ground,  though  it  falls  on  moist,  wet  clay,  which  yields 
to  the  foot.  On  ice  and  frozen  snow  it  stands  firmly, 
and  can  travel  far,  partly  because  it  has  developed  a 
harder  foot-pad  than  the  Southern  species,  partly  because 
it  has  a  kind  of  claw-toe  projecting  beyond  the  pad  of 
the  foot.  Major  Leonard  states  that  many  years  ago 
General  Harlan  marched  two  thousand  Bactrian  camels 
four  hundred  miles,  crossed  the  Indian  Caucasus  in  ice 
and  snow,  and  lost  only  one  animal,  and  that  by  an 
accident. 

The  strongest  proof  that  this  is  a  beast  made  to 
endure  not  heat  but  cold,  not  the  hot  sands  but  the 
frozen  snows,  is  the  method  of  management  adopted  by 
the  Mongol  owners  of  the  herds.  '  Nothing  will 
induce  an  experienced  Mongol  to  undertake  a  journey 
on  camels  in  the  hot  season,'  writes  Prejvalski.  But 


REINDEER  AND  SNOW-CAMELS  ^ 

from  the  end  of  September  throughout  the  winter  they 
cross  deep  snow,  climb  mountains,  and  perform  services 
unequalled  by  any  other  animal.  They  carry  tea- 
chests  weighing  from  four  to  five  hundredweight,  can 
scale  passes  twelve  thousand  feet  above  the  sea-level 
— Prejvalski's  camels  crossed  eight  of  these  in  a  journey 
of  six  hundred  and  sixty  miles — and  are  driven  in  carts 
and  ridden.  In  summer  they  are  watered  every  forty- 
eight  hours,  in  winter  they  can  do  without  water  for 
eight  days.  They  are  not  only  hardy,  but  long-lived. 
A  Mongol  camel  begins  to  earn  his  living  at  four  years 
old,  and  will  carry  the  same  burden  until  from  twenty- 
five  to  thirty.  Some  live  to  be  useful  for  some  years 
beyond  this  limit.  In  the  tea  caravans  from  Kalgan 
the  camels  make  two  journeys  each  winter,  and  earn 
seven  pounds  per  camel.  As  most  of  their  food  is 
picked  up  en  route,  this  leaves  a  good  profit  to  the 
Mongol  owners.  Though  these  camels  are  owned  in 
hundreds  of  thousands  by  the  tribes  of  Central  Asia, 
and  are  constantly  in  movement  by  the  caravan  routes, 
the  direction  of  them  is  almost  universally  from  East  to 
West,  or  West  to  East,  and  the  caravans  do  not  enter 
China  beyond  the  limits  of  the  steppe.  This  accounts 
for  their  being  out  of  touch  with  all  English  trade  and 
travel,  and  renders  it  difficult  to  understand  whence 
Mr.  Hagenbeck  can  get  as  many  as  he  pleases.  The 
answer  is — at  Tiflis.  This  is  the  terminus  of  the 


8  REINDEER  AND  SNOW-CAMELS 

caravan  route,  and  the  present  Western  limit  of  the 
wanderings  of  the  Bactrian  camel.  There  they  come 
in  thousands  every  year,  arriving  in  the  depth  of 
winter,  and  leaving  before  the  snows  melt  on  the 
southern  slope  of  the  Caucasus.  There,  after  the 
caravans  have  unloaded,  the  camels  can  be  bought 
cheap,  and  be  shipped  from  the  Black  Sea  coast,  to 
which  they  are  brought  either  by  rail  or  road. 


II.— GOATS  IN  CITIES 

THE  number  of  milch-goats  exhibited  at  the  last  Dairy 
Show  was  larger  by  one-half  than  has  been  entered  in 
former  years.  Many  of  the  animals  were  highly  bred 
and  very  handsome  creatures,  and  the  quantity  and 
richness  of  their  milk  was  greater,  relatively  to  their 
size,  even  than  that  of  the  best  Jersey  cows.  The 
larger  number  shown  were  of  the  English,  Nubian, 
and  Toggenberg  breeds.  The  finest  and  most  domesti- 
cated of  all,  the  goats  of  Syria,  were  not  represented  ; 
but  those  from  the  herds  of  Lady  Burdett-Coutts  and 
Sir  Humphrey  de  Trafford,  President  of  the  British 
Goat  Association — some  black  and  tan,  others  pale- 
fawn  colour,  though  with  very  '  goaty '  yellow  eyes, 
and  others  of  broken  colour,  but  with  fine  glossy  coats 
— were  all  well  adapted  for  modern  use  in  England.  It 
is  claimed  that  the  goat  is  now  qualified  to  be  a  '  dairy 
animal '  as  much  as  the  cow,  that  in  Germany  five  goats 
are  kept  to  every  hundred  of  the  human  population, 
and  that  for  poor  people,  who  in  rural  districts  have 

9 


io  GOATS  IN  CITIES 

the  greatest  difficulty  in  getting  a  supply  of  cow's  milk 
for  themselves  and  their  families,  or  for  persons  living 
in  towns  who  require  fresh  milk  for  children,  the  goat 
is  the  ideal  domestic  animal. 

It  seems  probable  that  in  the  course  of  some  four 
thousand  years  we  have  reached  a  point  in  civilization 
in  which  the  goat,  for  ages  discredited,  finds  its  place 
at  last.  There  is  nothing  in  the  primitive  history  of 
the  breed  to  contradict  this  view  ;  wild  goats  are  no 
wilder  than  wild  sheep.  But  what  the  old  naturalists 
quaintly  called  the  '  moral '  differences  between  sheep 
and  goats,  now  known  as  differences  of  temperament 
surviving  under  domestication,  are  inexplicable.  Both 
the  wild  goats  and  the  wild  sheep  frequent  by  choice 
exactly  the  same  regions.  That  uniformly  unattractive 
and  sterile  belt  of  mountain  ranges  where  trees  and 
continuous  herbage  cease  to  grow,  and  only  tufts  and 
morsels  of  vegetation  are  found,  wherever,  in  fact, 
there  is  the  maximum  of  rock  and  the  minimum  of 
food,  is  the  natural  haunt  of  wild  goats  and  wild  sheep 
alike.  There  are  exceptions,  such  as  the  markhoor  of 
the  Himalayas,  which  enters  the  forest  belt  ;  but  the 
above  holds  good  of  both  species  when  wild,  whether 
in  Corsica,  Algeria,  Persia,  the  Taurus  range,  Cyprus, 
or  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Yet  the  sheep,  while  pre- 
serving its  hardy  habits  when  desired,  as  in  the  case 
of  all  the  '  heather  sheep '  of  Exmoor,  Wales  and 


GO  A  TS  IN  CITIES  1 1 

Scotland,    adapts   itself  to   rich    pasture    and    artificial 
feeding,  and  acquires  the  temperament,  as  well  as  the 
digestion,    of  domestication.      The   goats,   as   a   rule, 
acquire    neither  ;     and    though    among   their    various 
breeds  there  are  exceptions,  the  English  goat  is  not 
among  them.     It  remains,  just  as  in  the  days  of  old 
Greece,  the  enemy  of  trees,  uncontained  by  fences  or 
walls,  inquisitive,  pugnacious,  restless  and  omnivorous. 
It  is  so  unsuited  for  the  settled  life  of  the  English  farm, 
that  rich  pasture  makes  it  ill,  and  a  good  clay  soil,  on 
which  cattle  grow  fat,  soon  kills  it.     But  the  goat  is 
far  from  being  disqualified  for  the  service  of  modern 
civilization    by   these    survivals    of    primitive    habits. 
Though   it    cannot    live    comfortably    in    the    smiling 
pastures  of  the  low  country,  it  is  perfectly  willing  to 
exchange  the  rocks  of  the  mountain  for  a  stable-yard 
in  town.     Its  love  for  stony  places  is  amply  satisfied  by 
the  granite  pavement   of  a   '  mews,'   and   it  has  been 
ascertained   that   goats   fed    in    stalls   and    allowed    to 
wander   in    paved  yards  and   courts,   live    longer  and 
enjoy  better  health  than  those  tethered  even  on  light 
pastures  with  frequent  changes  of  food.     In  parts  of 
New  York  the  city-kept  goats  are  said  to  flourish  on 
the  paste-daubed  paper  of  the  advertisements  which  they 
nibble  from  the  hoardings.     It  is  beyond  doubt  that 
these  hardy  creatures   are  exactly  suited  for  living  in 
large    towns.      Bricks    and    mortar  and   paving-stones 


12  GOATS  IN  CITIES 

exhilarate  them.  Their  spirits  rise  in  proportion  to 
what  we  should  consider  the  depressing  nature  of  their 
surroundings.  They  love  to  be  tethered  on  a  common, 
with  scanty  grass  and  a  stock  of  furze-bushes  to 
nibble.  A  deserted  brickfield,  with  plenty  of  broken 
drain-tiles,  rubbish-heaps  and  weeds,  pleases  them  still 
better  ;  but  the  run  of  a  London  stable  and  stable- 
yard  gives  them  as  much  satisfaction  as  the  *  liberty ' 
of  a  mountain-top.  They  give  quantities  of  excel- 
lent milk  when  kept  in  this  way,  are  never  sick  or 
'  sorry/  and  keep  the  horses  interested  and  free 
from  ennui  by  their  constant  visits  to  the  stalls  in 
search  of  food. 

Not  even  the  pig  has  so  varied  a  diet  as  the  goat.  It 
consumes  and  converts  into  milk  not  only  great  quan- 
tities of  garden  stuff  which  would  otherwise  be  wasted, 
but  also,  thanks  to  its  love  for  eating  twigs  and  shoots, 
it  enjoys  the  prunings  and  loppings  of  bushes  and  trees, 
which  would  not  be  offered  to  other  domestic  animals, 
but  which  the  goat  looks  upon  as  exquisite  dainties.  In 
old  Greece  it  destroyed  the  vines,  and  in  modern  Greece 
it  has  killed  off  every  young  tree  and  bush  on  the  hills 
till  it  has  disforested  the  greater  part  of  the  Peloponnesus. 
But  the  same  appetite  can  be  satisfied  from  an  English 
garden  by  giving  to  the  goats  all  the  hedge-trimmings, 
even  those  of  the  thorn  fences  of  which  cyclists  complain 
so  bitterly,  and  all  the  prunings  of  the  apple,  pear  and 


GOATS  IN  CITIES  13 

plum  trees.  Feeding  goats  in  their  stall  or  yard  is 
as  amusing  as  feeding  the  wild  ibexes  at  the  Zoo. 
They  will  stand  on  their  hind-legs  and  beg,  and  when 
they  do  obtain  the  coveted  morsel,  eat  it  in  a  very 
dainty  and  well-bred  manner.  The  list  of  their 
ordinary  food  when  stall-fed  includes  potatoes, 
mangolds,  turnips,  cabbage-stumps,  which  they  like 
particularly,  as  being  woody  and  tough,  artichokes, 
beans,  lettuces  run  to  seed,  and  even  dead  leaves  swept 
up  in  autumn,  horse-chestnuts  and  acorns,  especially 
after  they  have  sprouted.  Most  weeds  are  eaten  by 
goats,  while  ivy,  and  even  the  long-leaved  water- 
hemlock,  which  will  kill  a  cow,  do  not  hurt  them. 
When  kept  in  towns,  they  give  large  quantities  of 
milk  if  fed  on  oats,  hay  and  bean-meal  ;  and  in  the 
Mont  d'Or  district  in  France  they  are  supplied 
with  oatmeal  porridge.  With  this  varied  range  of 
diet  and  plenty  of  salt,  the  goat  is  scarcely  ever  ill, 
never  suffers  from  tuberculosis  (so  that  young  children 
are  far  safer  from  risk  of  contracting  consumption 
when  fed  on  goats'  milk  than  on  that  of  cows),  and 
will  often  give  of  this  milk  ten  times  its  own  weight 
in  a  year. 

In  our  temperate  climate,  and  on  the  growing  quantity 
of  small  '  parcels '  of  land  spoilt  by  building  and  town 
areas,  there  is  probably  room  for  as  many  goats  as  the 
patrons  of  the  British  Goat  Society  could  desire,  even 


i4  GOATS  IN  CITIES 

though  the  conditions  are  not  the  same  as  those  in 
Switzerland,  Italy  and  Greece,  where  they  form  an  im- 
portant part  of  the  livestock.  That  they  would  have 
been  used  here  in  very  early  times,  had  really  good 
breeds  been  obtainable,  as  a  c  second  string  '  to  the  dairy, 
seems  evident  from  the  old  custom  of  milking  ewes, 
practised  as  late  as  Camden's  time  on  Canvey  Island  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Thames. 

Mr.  Lockwood  Kipling  considers  that  the  goat  is  a 
thoroughly  Mahommedan  beast,  and  quotes  a  saying  of 
Mahomet  :  *  There  is  no  house  possessing  a  goat  but  a 
blessing  abideth  therein  ;  and  there  is  no  house  possess- 
ing three  goats  but  the  angels  pass  the  night  praying 
there.'  The  British  Goat  Society  are  right  in  desiring 
that  these  advantages  shall  not  be  limited  to  Moslems. 
But  far  the  best  breeds  belong  to  the  East,  and  it  is 
strange  that  the  Crusaders  never  brought  back  some  of 
the  really  first-class  goats  of  Palestine  and  Syria  to  this 
country.  The  difference  between  the  best  breeds  ot 
sheep  and  goats  of  Palestine  is  far  less  than  might  be 
supposed  from  the  wording  of  the  New  Testament. 
Both  have  pendulous  ears,  both  are  often  black  in 
colour,  and  both  follow  the  shepherd  in  place  of  being 
driven.  The  goats  of  Syria  are  the  best  of  all.  The 
hair  is  long,  with  good  close  under-wool  ;  they  are 
perfectly  domesticated,  and  are  excellent  milkers. 
Instead  of  sending  his  milk  round  to  customers  in  a 


GOATS  IN  CITIES  15 

can  or  cart,  the  Syrian  dairyman  leads  his  obedient  flock 
of  goats  down  the  street,  and  after  receiving  an  affirma- 
tive answer  to  the  Syriac  equivalent  for  the  call  of 
*  Milk-ho  ?'  selects  his  goat,  and  milks  it  in  the  street 
before  the  customer's  door.  If  the  purchaser  fancies 
milk  from  one  animal  more  than  another  he  has  only 
to  mention  his  preference. 

The  Cashmere  shawls  made  of  the  finest  goat's 
hair  are  not  manufactured  from  that  of  Cashmere 
goats  pastured,  as  is  often  believed,  near  the  rose- 
gardens  *  where  the  nightingales  sing  by  the  calm 
Bendemeer.'  The  precious  wool  is  the  under-fur 
of  a  breed  kept  in  Thibet,  and  by  the  Khirgiz  in 
Central  Asia,  from  the  slopes  of  the  Alatau  Mountains 
to  the  bend  of  the  Ural  north  of  the  Caspian.  Only  a 
small  quantity,  averaging  three  ounces,  of  the  precious 
wool  is  produced  yearly  by  each  goat,  and  the  material 
is  collected  by  middlemen,  taken  to  Cashmere  and  sold 
in  the  bazaars,  where  it  is  purchased  by  the  makers  of 
the  shawls.  M.  Jaubert  in  1819  imported  some  of 
these  animals  into  France,  and  after  crossing  them  with 
the  Angora  breed,  obtained  an  average  of  thirty  ounces 
instead  of  three  ounces  of  equally  fine  wool.  Recent 
experiments  in  acclimatizing  the  vicuna  in  France  have 
met  with  considerable  success,  and  both  the  Cashmere 
and  Angora  goats  were  found  to  do  well  on  the  Swiss 
Alps,  though  as  they  gave  no  milk  they  were  not 


16  GOATS  IN  CITIES 

popular  with  the  farmer.  Welcome  as  a  new  form  of 
butcher's  meat  would  be  in  England,  the  flesh  of  the 
goat,  or  even  of  kids,  has  never  been  highly  praised ; 
but  there  is  a  future  for  the  goat  as  a  minor  dairy 
animal  both  in  villages  and  towns. 


III.— THE  <  NEW  '  PIG 

RECENT  Agricultural  Returns,  encouraging  in  other 
respects,  disclose  a  very  sad  falling-off  in  the  pig  popula- 
tion of  the  United  Kingdom.  In  1897  there  was  a 
decrease  of  more  than  half  a  million,  and  though  it  is 
maintained  that  the  figures  do  not  include  those  kept  on 
'  occupations '  of  less  than  half  an  acre,  and  should  not 
be  taken  to  heart  too  seriously  by  the  great  number  of 
persons  interested  in  pigs,  either  as  objects  of  pleasure 
or  profit,  there  is  no  doubt  that  they  are  temporarily 
under  a  cloud.  In  the  phrase  of  the  market,  '  pigs  are 
quiet/  and  unless  the  price  of  grain  continues  to  drop 
they  are  likely  to  remain  so  for  some  time. 

Nothing  could  be  more  timely,  in  this  partial  eclipse 
of  an  animal  so  long  and  justly  prized,  than  the  appear- 
ance of  Mr.  Saunders  Spencer's  treatise  on  modern  pigs,* 
which  not  only  does  full  justice  to  their  many  admirable 
qualities,  but  also  gives  a  very  interesting  account  of 
their  recent  history  and  development,  and  treats  their 

*  t  Pigs  :  their  Breeds  and  Management.'  By  Saunders  Spencer. 
London  :  Vinton  and  Co. 

17  2 


i8  THE  'NEW  PIG 

idiosyncrasies,  whether  in  health  or  disease,  with  a  sober 
and  serious  sympathy  which  is  highly  practical  and, 
incidentally,  most  entertaining.  The  history  and  im- 
provement of  our  famous  breeds  of  cattle  is  a  grander 
theme  ;  it  deals  with  archaic  types,  ancestral  herds,  and 
the  efforts  and  expenditure  of  great  landed  proprietors. 
The  story  of  our  pigs  runs  on  a  humbler  level.  The 
peasant,  and  not  the  great  proprietor,  has  raised  the 
modern  pig  to  its  present  perfection.  Its  recent  de- 
velopment limits  its  interest  to  the  naturalist.  There 
is  a  lack  of  individuality  in  the  appearance  of  different 
breeds  of  British  pigs.  Any  stranger  who  visits  the 
Smithfield  Cattle  Show  is  struck  with  the  great  variety 
of  shape,  colour,  and  size  in  the  cattle  *  classes/  But 
to  appreciate  the  differences  in  pigs  one  must  be  *  in  the 
fancy,'  except  in  the  case  of  a  few  breeds  which  retain 
traces  of  colour  or  form  due  to  ancient  environment. 
Thus  Mr.  Spencer  mentions  with  disapproval  an  aquatic 
and  detrimental  pig  which  formerly  haunted  the  Fens 
and  the  valley  of  the  Ouse.  Some  of  these  may  still  be 
found  in  parts  of  the  Fens  '  far  removed  from  railways 
or  the  beneficial  influence  of  a  good  herd  of  pure-bred 
pigs.'  The  '  Tarn  worths '  are  the  offspring  of  what  are 
commonly  believed  to  be  the  original  forest  pigs  which 
Gurth  the  swineherd  fed  for  Cedric  the  Saxon.  They 
hailed  originally  from  the  *  Ivanhoe '  country  near 
Sherwood  Forest,  whither  they  were  sent  in  droves  in 


THE  <NEW>  PIG  19 

autumn  from  the  country  round,  just  as  they  were  in 
the  New  Forest.  These  pigs  were  rufous,  sandy,  or 
mahogany  coloured  animals,  just  matching  the  dead 
leaves  of  beech  and  oak  in  autumn  and  early  winter. 
In  the  beginning  of  the  century  the  Forest  was  rapidly 
enclosed,  and  the  farmers  found  that  the  independent 
pig,  who  expected  his  autumn  holiday  regularly,  and 
'  saw  that  he  got  it/  by  breaking  out  of  his  sty  and 
taking  to  the  woods,  was  rather  troublesome.  So  they 
crossed  him  most  appropriately  with  the  Neapolitan 
pig,  who  is  the  laziest  of  all  pigs,  and  produced  the 
Tamworth,  a  *  golden  '  pig,  resembling  the  forest  swine 
in  shape  and  colour,  but  having  the  love  for  the  dolce 
far  niente  inherited  from  his  Neapolitan  ancestors. 
Berkshire  pigs,  the  Marge  white  pigs/  originally  bred 
in  Yorkshire,  middle  whites,  and  small  whites,  complete 
the  pedigree  list,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that, 
though  few  in  number,  they  are  unequalled  in  quality. 
England  has  provided  Berkshire  pigs  for  the  model 
farms  of  the  Austrian  Government  in  Bosnia  and 
Herzegovina.  It  has  exported  Tamworths  and  *  large 
whites '  to  Argentina,  Illinois,  and  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
and  reclaimed  by  intermixture  many  relapsed  and  im- 
perfect breeds  of  pigs  in  Germany  and  Austria. 

In  England,  during  recent  years,  the  great  ham 
question  has  much  enhanced  the  difficulties  of  breeders. 
To  produce  an  animal  from  whose  body  good  bacon 

2 — 2 


20  THE  ' NEW  PIG 

can  be  made,  and  whose  legs  are  perfect  for  hams,  has 
been  found  almost  beyond  the  resources  of  art.  Even 
Mr.  Saunders  Spencer  admits  that  to  adumbrate  the 
proportions  of  the  '  perfect  pig '  is  beyond  the  scope  of 
his  imagination,  and  to  hope  to  produce  one  in  the 
concrete  is  to  strive  after  the  unattainable.  The 
omission  of  all  the  half-acre  plots  from  the  Agricultural 
Returns  casts  a  slur  on  a  very  highly  esteemed  and 
numerous  class,  the  '  backyard  '  pigs.  There  are,  it  is 
believed,  more  pigs  kept  in  cottage-gardens  and  back- 
yards in  the  North  than  in  farms.  But  after  making 
every  allowance  for  omissions,  the  United  Kingdom 
makes  a  poor  figure  compared  with  the  United  States. 
One  year  with  another,  we  rear  three  million  pigs.  In 
the  maize-growing  States  of  the  Union  the  present 
number  is  estimated  at  forty  millions,  and  this  is 
thirteen  millions  less  than  the  highest  figure  reached 
by  the  pig  population  of  the  States.  The  number 
of  pigs  kept  by  the  colliers  and  artisans  of  the  North 
fluctuates  with  the  price  of  coal  and  yarn.  In  good 
times  every  collier  keeps  a  live  animal  of  some  sort, 
and,  though  dogs,  guinea-pigs,  cage-birds,  and  homing- 
pigeons  are  attractive,  his  '  fancy  animal '  is  usually  a 
pig.  He  admires  this  on  Sunday  afternoons,  and 
groups  of  friends  go  round  to  smoke  their  pipes  and 
compare  pigs,  and  bet  on  their  ultimate  weight.  They 
have  private  pig-shows,  with  subscription  prizes.  Each 


THE  *NEW  PIG  21 

animal  is  judged  in  its  own  sty,  and  it  is  interesting  to 
know  that  the  evolution  of  an  almost  perfect  pig  was 
due  to  the  innate  sagacity  of  the  Yorkshire  pit-hand. 
The  sties  in  which  these  animals  live  are  very  rough 
affairs,  often  made  of  a  few  boards  nailed  over 
railway-sleepers  ;  but  it  is  interesting  to  learn  that 
the  young  pigs  are  '  as  blooming  and  healthy  as 
possible,'  and  that,  small  though  the  collier's  back- 
yard is,  he  always  contrives  that  his  pig-sty  shall  be 
thoroughly  ventilated  and  look  towards  the  south. 
Architects  of  costly  home-farms  often  house  the  un- 
happy pigs  under  north  walls,  and  condemn  them  to 
rheumatism,  cold,  and  sunlessness. 

Yorkshire  produces  not  only  the  best  pork,  but  has 
long  been  famous  for  the  best  cured  hams  in  the  world. 
But  elsewhere  it  is  curious  to  note  the  dislike  of  the 
farming  class  to  any  form  of  manufacture  other  than  that 
of  raw  material.  One-fourth  of  the  English  pigs  are 
kept  in  Norfolk,  Suffolk,  and  Essex.  Yet  Mr.  Saunders 
Spencer  doubts  whether  there  is  now  a  bacon-curing 
factory  in  Suffolk,  and  relates  the  failure  of  one  established 
in  Norfolk.  In  the  former  case,  the  people  would  not 
rear  the  precise  kind  of  animal  wanted  ;  in  the  latter,  the 
dealers  made  a  ring,  and  put  up  prices  beyond  the  margin 
of  profit.  Our  Illinois  is  Somersetshire  and  Wiltshire, 
and  our  little  Chicago  the  '  sausage  town  '  of  Calne.  As 
almost  everyone  who  has  a  country  house,  large  or  small, 


22  THE  'MEW  PIG 

is  'interested,'  to  use  the  city  phrase,  in  pigs,  whether 
he  be  squire,  parson,  farmer,  labourer,  gardener,  police- 
man, or  postman  (I  believe  the  village  schoolmasters 
are  the  only  class  who  scorn  to  keep  a  pig),  the  methods 
of  the  Calne  factories  ought  to  be  more  widely  known 
than  they  are.  The  animals,  in  lots  of  not  less  than 
ten,  can  be  sent  by  rail  directly  to  the  factory  without 
extra  charge,  if  the  paid  distance  be  less  than  100  miles. 
There  they  are  weighed  and  classified,  and  the  price 
calculated  directly,  with  a  bonus  of  two  shillings  and 
sixpence  on  each  pig  which  comes  up  to  a  certain 
standard  of  merit.  This  canon  of  perfection  was 
evolved  at  Calne,  the  result  of  a  wide  experience  of 
the  needs  of  the  curers,  and  the  shortcomings  of 
1  fashionable  '  pigs.  Since  then  it  has  become  a  standard 
— the  rule  of  Pigdom — to  which  all  its  members  must 
conform,  or  become  pork  instead  of  bacon,  and  end 
their  lives  as  failures. 

Mr.  Spencer  suggests  one  further  interesting  question 
in  connection  with  his  subject,  but  he  does  not  pursue 
it.  '  When  wages  are  lower,  the  price  of  pigs  is  higher/ 
he  remarks,  *  because  the  farm-labourers  and  artisans 
consume  a  greater  quantity  of  pork,  and  less  beef  and 
mutton/  What  would  Cobbett,  who  saw  the  maximum 
of  a  labourer's  well-being  in  a  plentiful  supply  of  pork, 
bread,  and  beer,  say  to  this  advance,  by  which  that 
sound,  and  then  all  too  scarce,  fare  now  takes  the 


THE  ^  NEW  PIG  23 

second  or  third  place  in  the  scale  of  the  workman's 
diet  ?  *  Salt  pork,'  which  was  for  centuries  the  staple 
food  of  the  mariners  of  England,  is  almost  erased  from 
the  bill  of  fare  on  passenger  ships,  and  is  only  served 
twice  a  week  to  the  bluejackets  in  the  navy.  Before 
long  mere  salted  pig  will  be  as  antiquated  as  stock  fish 
or  <  poor  John.'  It  only  holds  its  place  as  a  humble 
necessary  of  life  among  American  backwoodsmen. 
Even  they  have  recently  '  struck'  against  the  quality 
of  that  supplied  from  Chicago,  and  demanded  a  more 
1  matured '  article  for  winter  diet. 

But  the  English-reared  pig  is  no  longer  the  poor 
man's  food-animal.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  a  luxury. 
New  Zealand  mutton,  La  Plata  beef,  Columbian 
salmon,  and  Australian  rabbits,  are  the  cheap  form 
of  fresh  meat,  and  by  many  classes,  notably  respectable 
domestic  servants,  home-grown  pork  is  preferred  to  any 
of  these.  It  is  dearer  actually  and  relatively,  for  more 
is  eaten  at  a  meal.  Nearly  all  the  fresh  pig  sold  in  this 
country  may  be  considered  to  be  the  flesh  of  highly- 
bred  and  highly-fed  animals.  But  the  English  bacon 
and  English  hams  are  the  product  of  highly-skilled 
manufacture.  It  is  not  long  since  bacon  was  con- 
sidered only  fit  for  ploughmen  ;  it  never  appeared 
at  a  gentleman's  breakfast-table  ;  even  in  farmhouses 
it  was  only  eaten  as  a  domestic  duty.  This  was  no 
prejudice  ;  the  pigs  were  bad,  and  the  bacon  worse  : 


24  THE  'MEW  PIG 

it  was  salt,  strong,  and  often  rancid.  Now  it  is  more 
difficult  to  buy  bad  bacon  or  ill- cured  hams  than  it  was 
formerly  to  buy  them  of  good  quality.  The  best  is 
found  on  the  breakfast-tables  of  all  classes,  while  the 
Bradenham  and  Yorkshire  hams  figure  on  their  merits 
in  city  banquets. 


IV.— THE  STORY  OF  THE  JERSEY  HERD 

AMONG  the  highest  prices  made  for  Jersey  cattle  during 
the  last  two  years  were  those  at  the  sale  of  a  herd  at  New 
Park,  in  the  New  Forest.*  These  island  cattle  made  an 
average  of  £2  8  each,  though  some  of  those  sold  were  only 
calves  a  few  weeks  old,  and  one  heifer  was  purchased 
for  fifty-one  guineas.  Though  nothing  could  be  more 
thoroughly  English  than  the  scene  under  the  New  Forest 
oaks,  as  the  little  cattle  left  their  beds  of  fern  and  strolled 
one  by  one  into  the  '  ring/  it  was  remarked  that  of  all 
our  domestic  cattle,  these  are  the  only  creatures  in  this 
country  which  are  in  all  respects  comparable  in  temper 
and  beauty  with  the  best  domestic  breeds  of  India.  The 
resemblance  consists  not  in  form,  which  is  different  from 
the  '  humped  '  Oriental  breeds,  but  in  the  satin  fineness 
of  their  coats,  the  golden  bronze,  silver  gray,  and  other 
'  Quaker '  hues  common  also  to  the  smaller  Indian  cow, 
and  the  perfect  friendliness  with  man  which  these  petted 

*  A  Jersey  cow  sold  very  recently  at  a  sale  near  Brighton  for 
a  hundred  and  twenty  guineas. 

2S 


26  THE  STOR  Y  OF  THE  JERSE  Y  HERD 

creatures  have  inherited  from  generations  of  kind  treat- 
ment. As  each  strolled  into  the  sale-ring,  it  walked 
up  to  any  spectator  who  took  its  fancy,  and  pushed  its 
muzzle  out  to  be  patted,  or  put  its  head  up  to  be 
stroked,  with  a  confidence  which  scarcely  any  other 
breed  of  domesticated  animal  would  show  if  suddenly 
brought  into  the  company  of  a  crowd  of  unknown 
human  beings.  Their  eyes  were  black,  their  eyelashes 
long  and  silky,  all  their  noses  were  fringed  with  a 
narrow  silver  edging  of  satin  hair,  and  their  skin,  where 
it  showed  elsewhere,  was  covered  with  a  yellow  bloom, 
of  the  correct  *  butter-pat '  tint,  which  suffused  the  very 
hollows  of  their  high-bred  ears. 

The  story  of  the  Jersey  herd  should  have  belonged 
to  an  earlier  age.  They  are,  as  an  island  race,  the 
modern  equivalent  of  the  cattle  of  the  Sun,  the  earliest 
of  all  pedigree  herds,  which  fed  on  sea-washed 
Trinacria  ;  and  there  is  something  so  contrary  to 
probability  in  their  first  beginnings,  that  it  seems  to 
need  a  setting  in  legend.  Treated  as  a  fact  in  natural 
history,  it  will  be  allowed  that  conditions  less  likely  to 
develop  a  species  to  perfection  could  scarcely  be  found 
than  those  on  a  small  island,  eleven  and  a  half  miles 
long  and  five  miles  wide,  set  in  a  stormy,  narrow  sea. 

Limited  space,  exposure  to  sea  gales,  and  the 
tendency  to  interbreed,  together  with  the  absence  of 
any  surplus  of  natural  food,  and  the  difficulty  of 


THE  STOR  Y  OF  THE  JERSE  Y  HERD  27 

importing  it  when  steamers  were  unknown,  and  the 
usual  means  of  access  was  by  small  cutters  crossing  a 
dangerous  sea,  were  all  natural  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
such  a  result.  Had  the  nucleus  of  the  herd  been 
formed  by  some  accidental  deposit  of  cattle  of  marked 
excellence  on  these  Channel  islets,  their  isolation  would 
doubtless  have  helped  to  preserve  the  breed  pure.  But 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  Jersey  cattle  were,  in 
their  origin,  of  the  same  kind  as  those  on  the  neigh- 
bouring mainland  of  Brittany.  Mr.  John  Thornton, 
the  compiler  of  the  '  English  Herd-Book  of  Jersey 
Cattle/  has  some  very  interesting  speculations  on  the 
wider  question  of  the  descent  of  the  small  breed, 
originally  black  and  white,  or  black,  to  which  they 
have  most  affinity.  This  breed  is  noted  as  being  best 
known  and  most  numerous  in  those  parts  of  France 
and  the  British  Islands  where  the  population  is  of 
Celtic  origin  and  Druidical  remains  are  most  common. 
Such  a  race  is  found  in  Brittany,  near  Carnac,  in  Kerry, 
and  was  formerly  common  in  Cornwall.  With  these  may 
be  compared  the  ancient  British  cattle  kept  in  Badminton 
Park  ;  and  in  Anglesea,  '  that  ancient  and  peculiar  seat 
of  Druidical  superstition,'  Youatt  noted  that  the  old 
breed  of  cattle  was  '  small  and  black.'  On  this  Mr. 
Thornton  founds  the  very  ingenious  conclusion  that  '  if 
the  shorthorns  represent  the  improved  type  of  the  "  bos 
urus,"  or  wild  white  cattle  of  Chillingham,  so  the  Jersey 


28  THE  STOR  Y  OF  THE  JERSEY  HERD 

cattle  and  their  relations  are  the  most  improved  type  of 
the  "bos  longifrons,"  or  smaller  domesticated  race.'     It 
remains  to  be  shown  how  little  *  Druidical '  cows  bred 
on  an  islet  have  not  deteriorated  like  Shetland  ponies  or 
Iceland  cows,  but   have    developed  into  the  creatures 
now  eagerly  bought  not  only  by  English  gentlemen  and 
English  country  ladies,  for  the  Jerseys  are  pre-eminently 
*  ladies'  cows,'  but  in  North  America,  Germany,  South 
Africa,  Australia,  New  Zealand,  and  recently  in  Brazil, 
where  some,  lately  imported,  walked  two  hundred  miles 
through  the  forest,  and  arrived  in  good  condition  at 
their  destination.     The   history   of  the    breed    in   the 
Jersey   Herd-Book  gives  no   a  'priori  theory  for  this 
process,  but  we  incline  to  think  that  it  has  a  natural 
explanation.   The  people  were  industrious  and  intensely 
practical.      The    area  which  they  inhabited   was  very 
small,  and  though  the  population  was  large,  every  part 
of  the  little  island,  and  every  cow  on  it,  might  well  be 
familiar,    either    in    fact    or    by   reputation,    to    every 
possible  purchaser   of  cattle  on   the   spot.      Being  all 
neighbours,  and  knowing  the  merits  or  failings  of  each 
other's  cattle,  a  bad  cow  had  no   chance  of  finding  a 
purchaser,  and  its  calves  went  to  the  butcher.    '  Natural 
selection '  was  at  work  in  this  case  through  the  agency 
of  man.      Then  the  inhabitants  of  the  island  caught, 
quite  early  in  the  last  century,  a  violent  fit  of  the  '  cow- 
fancying  '  mania,  which  Hindoos  have  magnified  into  a 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  JERSEY  HERD  29 

form  of  worship,  though  its  broad  basis  is  their  passion 
for  the  animal  itself.  Early  in  this  century  this 
exclusive  devotion  moved  the  wrath  of  Thomas  Quayle. 
*  The  treatment  of  sheep  and  horses/  he  wrote,  '  is 
almost  a  disgrace  to  Jersey  agriculture.  The  treasure 
highest  in  a  Jersey  man's  estimation  is  his  cow.  She 
seems  to  be  the  constant  object  of  his  thoughts  and 
attention  ;  and  that  attention  she  certainly  deserves.  . . . 
In  summer  she  must  submit  to  be  staked  to  the  ground. 
But  five  or  six  times  a  day  her  station  is  shifted.  In 
winter  she  is  warmly  housed  by  night,  and  fed  with  the 
precious  parsnip.  When  she  calves  she  is  regaled  with 
toast  and  cider,  the  nectar  of  the  island,  to  which 
powdered  ginger  is  added.' 

The  Jerseymen,  who  had  only  twenty-nine  thousand 
acres  of  arable  land  in  their  whole  island,  had  been 
clever  enough  to  discover  the  root  which  of  all  others 
is  most  suitable  for  milch  cows;  and  their  parsnip- 
growing  made  possible  for  them  as  great  strides  in  the 
development  of  their  breed  as  that  of  the  turnip  did  for 
the  general  stock  of  English  cattle.  Next  to  improving 
their  own  cattle  they  were  most  eager  to  keep  out  all 
others.  Their  indignation  when  they  suspected  that 
inferior  Brittany  animals  were  about  to  be  imported,  or 
might  be  sold  as  the  produce  of  the  island,  finds  ex- 
pression in  various  old  statutes.  An  Act  passed  in 
1789  condemned  anyone  importing  cattle  from  France 


I 

30     THE  STOR  Y  OF  THE  JERSE  Y  HERD 

to  a  fine  of  ^£200  per  head  ;  the  ship  was  to  be  con- 
fiscated, the  cattle  killed,  and  the  meat  sold  for  the 
poor  of  the  parish  where  it  was  seized.  In  1826,  when 
the  great  and  valuable  export  trade  was  established,  the 
fine  was  raised  to  ^1,000  per  head  of  cattle  introduced, 
with  confiscation  of  the  vessel,  and  this  might  be  seized, 
and  the  fine  imposed,  if  it  were  within  two  leagues  of 
the  shore. 

The  motive  for  this  intense  vigilance  will  be  found  in 
the  great  profits  drawn  by  the  island  from  the  English 
'  discovery  '  of  Channel  Island  cattle.  The  first  im- 
ported came  from  Alder ney,  where  there  was  a  garrison. 
The  little  cows  came  over  as  '  camp  followers,'  and 
attracted  little  notice.  They  were  called  '  Alderneys,' 
and  later,  'Alderney  Jerseys.'  The  first  person  to 
note  them  as  qualified  for  the  highest  circles  of  bovine 
society  was  a  Yorkshireman,  Mr.  Fowler,  the  travelling 
partner  in  a  large  London  dairy.  In  1 8 1 1  he  saw  one 
coming  home  unsold  from  a  fair,  and  bought  it  for  his 
wife,  and  took  it  to  his  home  at  Little  Bushey.  The 
despised  little  cow  gave  such  enormous  quantities  of 
butter  and  cream  that  her  new  master  inquired  her 
origin,  and  soon  began  to  import  the  breed  wholesale 
from  the  islands.  His  son  managed  the  transit,  had 
the  herds  shod  with  thin  iron  plates  when  they  reached 
Southampton,  and  sold  them  mainly  in  the  home 
counties.  It  was  no  easy  matter  to  ship  them,  though 


t       • 

THE  STOR  Y  OF  THE  JERSEY  HERD          31 

the  cattle,  as  tame  as  dogs  from  their  daily  handling 
and  feeding  fastened  to  the  chain,  gave  no  trouble. 
They  were  brought  over  in  the  Channel  cutters,  the 
other  cargo  usually  consisting  of  cider.  One  boat  was 
thirteen  days  out,  and  the  captain,  running  short  of 
water,  tapped  the  cider  casks.  The  cows  enjoyed  it  so 
much  that  for  three  days  they  would  drink  nothing 
else.  The  steps  by  which  system  and  method  have 
been  introduced  into  the  cult  of  the  Jersey  herd  belong 
to  the  history  of  the  English  Jersey  Herd  Society 
and  the  Royal  Jersey  Agricultural  Society.  The  pedi- 
gree herds  have  multiplied  until  there  is  not  a  county 
in  England  where  they  may  not  be  found,  and  the 
produce  are  scattered  in  twos  and  threes  in  the  paddocks 
of  half  the  country  houses  in  England.  But  it  is  in 
Jersey  itself,  not  in  the  'adjacent  island*  of  Great 
Britain,  that  the  most  suggestive  results  of  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Jersey  herd  are  to  be  noted.  Note  the 
cultivated  area :  twenty-nine  thousand  acres,  or  eleven 
thousand  acres  less  than  is  owned  by  one  nobleman  in 
Norfolk.  Add  the  same  amount  of  uncultivated 
ground,  and  we  have  the  total  available  raw  material  for 
agriculture  in  the  island.  This  maintained  in  1880 
nearly  eleven  thousand  Jersey  cattle,  two  thousand  two 
hundred  and  sixty-one  horses,  three  hundred  and  forty- 
six  sheep,  five  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-four 
pigs.  The  total  population  was  sixty  thousand,  half  of 


32  THE  STOR  Y  OF  THE  JERSE  Y  HERD 

whom  live  in  St.  Heliers.  But  the  total  value  of  the 
cattle  and  potatoes  exported  in  the  one  year  of  1879 
was  somewhat  above  £350,000.  No  doubt  the  early 
spring  gives  the  Jersey  men  an  advantage  in  the 
vegetable  market.  But  the  value  of  the  cattle  is  not 
due  to  chance.  The  two  most  prosperous  agricultural 
areas  in  Great  Britain  are  both  islands — Jersey  and 
Anglesea.  Why  cannot  the  Isle  of  Wight  be  a  rival  ? 


V.— THE  CAT  ABOUT  TOWN 

THAT  the  cat  still  maintains  its  position  as  the  best 
mouse-catching  machine  procurable  is  shown  by  its 
increase  in  great  towns.  The  number  of  London  cats, 
according  to  a  writer  in  the  Daily  Mail,  is  400,000,  of 
which  half  are  *  unattached,'  and  live  largely  on  refuse, 
'  because  London  is  the  most  wasteful  city  in  the  world.' 
As  London  is  also  one  of  the  cleanest  cities  in  the 
world,  it  is  very  doubtful  if  the  waste  food  comes  much 
in  the  way  of  the  unattached  London  cat,  who,  like 
other  Metropolitan  paupers,  levies  handsome  contri- 
butions on  kind-hearted  people,  whose  doorsteps  and 
areas  it  besets,  and  also  catches  numbers  of  pigeons, 
sparrows,  rats,  and  mice,  the  three  last  of  which  do  live 
on  London  refuse,  which  the  cat  eats  in  the  more 
convenient  form  of  cold  sparrow  or  mouse.  Evidence 
quoted  by  the  writer  shows  that  this  is  so,  for  he  states 
that  in  most  parts  of  London  the  rats  have  been  driven 
underground  into  the  sewers  by  the  warfare  of  the  cats. 
He  also  holds  that  the  latter  are  somewhat  changing  in 

33  3 


34  THE  CAT  ABOUT  TOWN 

character,  are  losing  their  dislike  of  water  and  wet,  and 
prefer  to  be  out  in  the  rain.  We  rather  doubt  these 
conclusions,  and  believe  that  if  the  London  cat  differs 
at  all  from  his  country  cousin,  it  is  in  selecting  different 
hours  for  his  sport  and  amusements.  The  country  cat 
is  more  or  less  lively  all  day,  and  hunts  regularly  in  the 
evening.  The  London  cat  is  sleepy  and  quiet  all  day, 
because  circumstances  make  him  a  very  early  riser,  or, 
at  any  rate,  prevent  him  having  his  morning  sleep.  The 
explanation  of  the  languor  and  ennui  of  the  London  cat 
is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  long  before  he  appears  at 
the  breakfast-table,  with  a  jaded  appetite  and  a  general 
air  of  aloofness  from  the  world  and  its  pleasures,  he  has 
had  a  long  morning's  sport,  often  in  delightful  society, 
and  then  breakfasted  comfortably  in  the  kitchen.  The 
scenes  of  these  early-morning  hunts  are  various,  and 
the  hour  during  half  the  year  is  one  before  even  the 
earliest  of  early  risers  are  about.  In  winter  the  London 
cats  often  seek  their  sport  under  cover.  In  one  district 
near  a  very  large  and  famous  brewery  the  sporting  cats 
go  regularly  as  soon  as  the  brewery  gates  are  open  to 
hunt  rats  in  the  brewery  '  stores.'  This  is  capital  fun, 
as  there  are  hundreds  of  barrels,  either  stored  or  *  work- 
ing,' with  little  patches  of  yeasty  froth  oozing  from  the 
bungholes  and  plenty  of  dropped  corn  and  '  grains '  in 
the  neighbourhood  to  attract  all  the  rats  from  else- 
where. Under  and  among  these  barrels  they  may  be 


THE  CAT  ABOUT  TOWN  35 

hunted  with  success  for  an  hour  or  more.  Besides  the 
brewery  rats,  which  are  said  to  drink  beer  when  they 
can  get  it,  there  are  '  temperance  rats/  which  live  by 
the  river,  and,  so  far  as  we  know,  only  drink  water. 
These  form  the  grand  objects  of  summer  sport  to  all 
London  cats  in  range  of  the  Thames,  from  the  docks 
in  the  east  to  Chiswick  in  the  west,  and  all  along  the 
old  muddy  foreshore  on  the  Surrey  side,  where  no  em- 
bankment intervenes  to  spoil  sport.  We  have  never 
heard  of  an  instance  of  London  cats  catching  fish  by 
the  river,  probably  because  until  very  recently  there 
have  been  so  few  fish  to  catch.  But  the  keenness  of  the 
cats  for  this  riverside  hunting  by  the  tidal  Thames  is 
such  that  they  often  return  covered  and  clotted  with 
mud  from  the  foreshore,  where  they  have  either  fallen 
in  from  the  wharves,  or  have  pursued  a  rat  escaping 
across  the  leavings  of  the  river  ebb. 

In  summer  mornings,  from  4  a.m.  to  about  5  a.m., 
London  ceases  for  the  moment  to  belong  to  the  world 
of  men,  and  for  the  moment  is  given  up  to  the  sole 
enjoyment  of  the  London  birds  and  the  London  cats. 
At  this  really  bewitching  hour,  for  the  town  is  quite 
beautiful  then,  the  cats  may  be  seen,  as  at  no  other 
time,  monarchs  of  all  they  survey  —  rerum  domini, 
masters  of  the  town.  Then  it  may  be  seen  that  it  is 
not  for  nothing  that  the  race  have  for  generations 
maintained  their  independence,  and  asserted  their  right 

3—2 


36  THE  CAT  ABOUT  TOWN 

to  roam.  For  at  that  hour  all  the  dogs  are  shut  up; 
all  the  boys  and  grown-up  people,  too,  are  asleep. 
There  is  not  even  a  milkman  about,  or  an  amalga- 
mated engineer  going  to  his  before-breakfast  work. 
The  city  is  theirs.  Their  demeanour  at  this  time  is 
absolutely  changed.  They  stroll  about  the  streets  and 
gardens  with  an  air.  They  converse  in  the  centre  of 
highways.  They  walk  with  a  certain  feline  abandon 
and  momentary  magnificence  over  gardens  and  squares. 
For  the  time  they  are  not  cats,  but  lions  and  tigers  ; 
or,  to  change  the  simile,  they  are  no  longer  domestics, 
but  gentlemen  at  large.  Before  sunrise  one  midsummer 
morning  the  writer  was  watching  the  early  birds  by  the 
side  of  the  London  river,  and  wondering  at  the  abund- 
ance and  variety  of  life  in  the  silver-gray  light  of  the 
dawn.  A  pair  of  water-hens  were  running  on  the  mud 
left  by  the  ebb,  sedge-warblers  singing,  as  they  had 
done  all  night,  and  a  pair  of  turtle-doves  flew  down  to 
drink  before  sunrise.  When  the  first  beams  of  the  sun 
sent  long  shafts  of  light  down  the  river,  the  sedge- 
warblers  were  instantly  silent ;  and  almost  immediately 
the  blackbirds  and  sparrows  and  starlings  appeared  upon 
the  grass.  At  this  moment  another  ornithologist  ap- 
peared upon  the  scene  in  the  person  of  an  elegant 
young  female  cat.  She  made  great  efforts  to  stalk  the 
fat  blackbirds  and  cock-sparrows,  flattening  herself  till 
her  whole  body  seemed  almost  as  level  as  a  mat,  yet 


THE  CAT  ABOUT  TOWN  37 

capable  of  a  rush  forward  whenever  the  birds  looked  in 
another  direction.  But  the  birds  were  perfectly  equal 
to  the  game.  One  blackbird  in  particular  sidled  off 
each  time  the  cat  came  within  distance,  until  he  sat  at 
last  on  the  edge  of  the  wooden  cam-shedding,  where,  if 
the  cat  made  her  spring,  she  must  fall  into  the  river. 
He,  too,  flew  off,  and  at  this  moment  of  disappoint- 
ment another  and  an  older  cat  leapt  lightly  from 
the  privet  hedge  close  by  and  playfully  cuffed  the 
head  of  the  disappointed  one.  This  cat  had  probably 
been  waiting  on  the  chance  of  a  *  drive '  while  the  more 
impetuous  one  tried  a  stalk  in  the  open.  The  latter 
seemed  half  inclined  to  resent  the  humorous  turn  which 
the  older  cat  gave  to  her  hunting;  but  the  two  soon 
made  it  up,  and,  after  strolling  ostentatiously  across  the 
lawn  with  their  tails  up,  separated,  and  the  young  one 
adjourned  to  hunt  '  ground-game '  in  the  cam-shedding. 
The  quarry  were  either  mice  or  rats,  but  were  attacked 
by  storm,  and  not  by  waiting.  The  cat  dived  her  paws 
into  the  cracks  of  the  boards,  reaching  in  as  far  as  her 
shoulders,  and  soon  bolted  something,  which  she  reached 
after  head  downwards  so  far  that  nothing  but  her  tail 
and  one  hind-paw  were  visible.  After  hanging  almost 
head  downwards  for  some  time,  she  scrambled  back, 
just  as  the  first  cat  came  darting  past  like  a  wild  animal 
with  an  enormous  rat  in  its  mouth, 

It  is  doubtful  whether  the  London  cat  is  in  the  least 


38  THE  CAT  ABOUT  TO  WN 

degree  more  docile  or  biddable  than  his  country  cousin. 
He  is  more  dependent  on  man,  for  no  one  ever  hears  of 
a  London  cat  going  off  to  live  a  wild  life  willingly, 
though  country  cats  do  this  frequently.  It  has  been 
observed  of  the  whole  race,  at  least  in  this  country, 
that  though  they  will  often  obey  the  order  '  Come/  they 
absolutely  refuse  to  entertain  the  command  *  Go  ;'  and 
as  most  useful  service  involves  this  as  the  initial  idea, 
the  animal  which  refuses  obedience  to  it  is  practically 
useless  except  as  a  volunteer.  The  admirable  sporting 
qualities,  even  of  the  London  cat,  should  make  him  a 
most  useful  and  amusing  aid  in  sport,  if  he  could  be 
induced  to  co-operate  with  his  owner.  There  is  only 
one  piece  of  evidence  that  in  ancient  times  the  cat  was 
so  trained — an  Egyptian  painting  showing  a  cat  bringing 
wild-fowl  to  its  master  from  a  papyrus  bed — and  very 
few  instances  are  on  record  even  of  its  being  trained 
to  retrieve  in  our  day.  A  visitor  to  one  of  the 
monasteries  on  Mount  Carmel  states  that  when  several 
of  the  monks  went  out,  gun  on  shoulder,  to  shoot  game 
for  the  pot,  he  saw  their  cats  marching  out  after  them, 
to  aid  as  retrievers  ;  but  he  did  not  witness  the  sport. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  cats  can  be  trained  to  follow, 
like  dogs.  A  working-man  in  the  North  Midlands 
recently  owned  a  small  cat  which  followed  him  all  day, 
and  when  tired  was  carried  in  a  large  pocket  in  its 
master's  coat.  So  also  a  navvy  some  years  ago  owned 


THE  CA  T  ABO  UT  TO  WN  39 

a  cat  which  had  followed  or  accompanied  him  to  work 
in  most  parts  of  North  and  Western  England,  some- 
times following  him  on  foot  and  sometimes  carried  in 
the  white  washable  bag  in  which  navvies  keep  their 
Sunday  clothes.  But  as  a  rule  it  is  much  easier  to 
teach  them  not  to  do  things  than  to  do  them.  Recently 
in  a  large  London  engineering  works  there  was  some 
regret  that  the  *  best  foundry  cat '  was  dead.  The 
sand  used  for  making  casts  in  the  foundry  is  mixed 
with  flour.  Mice  come  to  eat  the  flour  and  spoil  the 
'  moulds.'  It  is  not  desirable  that  rats  and  mice  should 
be  about  in  this  loft,  so  cats  are  kept  there.  The  cats 
have  to  be  taught  not  to  walk  about  on  the  moulds  or 
scratch  them  up,  and  this  '  best  foundry  cat '  was 
absolutely  perfect  in  this  respect.  In  these  works  most 
departments  have  a  special  cat.  There  is  even  one  in 
the  galvanizing  shop  which  knows  quite  well  that  the 
hot  metal  spirts  when  plates  are  dipped  in,  and  has 
learnt  to  get  under  cover  at  that  juncture.  It  need 
scarcely  be  said  that  the  London  cat  is  a  worse  enemy  to 
caged  birds  even  than  the  country  pussy,  as  in  the  day- 
time it  lives  more  indoors.  Whether  it  ever  catches 
gold-fish  out  of  a  bowl  we  do  not  know,  but  there  are 
no  complaints  of  its  robbing  fishmongers'  shops  to 
gratify  its  taste  in  that  line.  On  the  whole,  we  imagine 
that  the  cat  is  happy  in  London,  far  happier,  for 
instance,  than  the  dog.  Even  if  lost,  he  has  much 


40  THE  CAT  ABOUT  TOWN 

more  savoir  faire  than  the  latter.  The  stray  dog 
attaches  himself  to  someone  in  the  street,  who  has  at 
once  the  uncomfortable  feeling  that  the  dog  is  trying  to 
make  out  that  he  has  stolen  him.  The  lost  cat  comes 
to  a  house  and  asks  relief  where  it  can  most  readily  be 
given. 


VI.— A  «  WOULD-BE '  HELPER:    THE 
FRIENDLY  PUMA 

RECENT  inquiry  presents  the  puma,  the  ' lion  '  of  the 
New  World,  in  a  very  pleasing  light.  It  is  claimed  that 
the  puma  is  positively  friendly  to  man,  hostile  to  other 
large  carnivora,  and  that  alone  of  the  great  cats  it 
desires  of  its  free  will  to  be  a  *  helper  and  server '  of 
man.  This  belief,  very  strongly  asserted  by  Mr. 
Hudson  in  his  '  Naturalist  in  La  Plata/  which  rests 
both  on  the  local  belief  of  the  inhabitants  of  a  great 
part  of  South  America,  and  on  the  records  of  the 
naturalists  and  historians  of  the  old  Spanish  colonies, 
receives  some  support  from  an  incident  recently  com- 
municated to  the  writer  by  a  gentleman  on  a  visit  to 
this  country  in  connection  with  the  Venezuela  Boundary 
Commission,  after  a  long  residence  in  British  Guiana. 
He  was  going  up  one  of  the  rivers  in  a  steam- 
launch,  and  gave  a  passage  to  a  Cornish  miner  who 
was  going  up  to  the  gold-fields.  The  passenger,  who 
was  an  elderly  man,  usually  slung  his  hammock  on 

41 


42  THE  FRIENDLY  PUMA 

shore.  One  morning,  being  asked  how  he  had  slept,  he 
complained  that  the  frogs  had  wakened  him  by  croaking 
near  his  hammock.  Some  Indians,  who  had  been 
taking  down  the  hammock,  laughed,  and,  being  asked 
the  reason,  still  laughing,  said,  '  Oh,  "  tiger  "  sleep  with 
old  man  last  night/  They  had  satisfied  themselves  that 
a  puma  had  been  lying  just  under  the  hammock,  which 
was  slung  low  down,  and  it  was  probably  the  satisfied 
purring  of  the  puma,  which  had  enjoyed  the  pleasure 
of  sleeping  in  the  '  next  berth'  below  a  man,  that  had 
wakened  the  occupant  of  the  hammock. 

The  beliefs  to  the  credit  of  the  puma,  recorded  both  by 
ordinary  observers  and  by  naturalists — the  earliest  being 
Don  Felix  d'Azara,  and  the  latest  Mr.  Hudson — fall 
under  three  divisions.  It  is  believed  to  be  the  friend 
of  man :  the  Spanish  Indians  call  it  amigo  del  Christiano, 
a  nice  distinction  which  cannot  be  conceded,  because 
the  Indians  of  North  California  considered  the  puma  a 
friendly  god  before  the  missionaries  arrived,  and  would 
not  molest  it.  It  was  also  alleged  to  protect  men  from 
other  wild  animals,  particularly  from  the  jaguar,  to 
attack  this  stronger  and  more  ferocious  animal  and 
drive  it  away,  and  under  no  provocation  to  attack  man 
himself.  All  three  stories  so  much  resemble  the 
medieval  fictions  about  animals,  especially  the  '  feud ' 
between  the  puma  and  the  jaguar,  which  is  exactly 
analogous  to  the  myths  of  the  feud  between  the 


THE  FRIENDLY  PUMA  43 

elephant  and  the  dragon,  the  deer  and  the  serpent, 
with  many  others,  that  we  should  hardly  expect  to  see 
them  survive  the  period  of  early  Jesuit  conversion. 
But,  on  the  contrary,  these  beliefs,  which  the  Indians 
held  long  before  they  were  converted,  are  now  restated 
in  a  much  more  positive  form,  and  with  abundance  of 
corroborative  evidence.  Views  only  tentatively  held, 
or  set  down  as  current,  but  not  confirmed,  by  Azara, 
are  fully  confirmed  by  Mr.  Hudson.  Meantime,  it  is 
interesting  to  see  exactly  what  Azara  did  say,  as  he  is 
a  very  intelligent  and  honourable  Spanish  gentleman, 
and  *  spent  twenty  years  alone  with  the  birds  and  wild 
beasts.'  When  Don  Felix  d' Azara  was  making  his 
notes  on  the  natural  history  of  Paraguay,  between  1782 
and  1 80 1,  he  received  a  copy  of  Buffon's  *  Natural 
History/  then  a  new  book,  and  in  the  acme  of  its 
fame.  The  Spaniard,  not  dazzled  by  Buffon's  brilliant 
generalizations,  found  that  his  facts  as  to  South 
American  animals  were  much  amiss.  '  Vulgar,  false, 
and  mistaken,'  was  Azara's  outspoken  criticism.  He 
therefore  determined  to  show  what  a  Spaniard  could  do, 
working  in  the  field  of  facts,  to  do  justice  to  the  South 
American  species,  or,  as  he  naively  calls  them,  *  my 
animals — my  cats,  my  monkeys,  my  otters/  The 
puma,  *  my  second  species  of  cat,'  then  very  common 
in  many  districts  with  which  Azara  was  acquainted, 
though  it  was  almost  killed  off  in  Paraguay,  was  the 


44  THE  FRIENDLY  PUMA 

subject  of  a  very  careful  essay.  This  carefulness  is  the 
mark  of  all  his  work,  which,  as  we  have  said,  was 
intended  to  set  Buffon  right,  and  to  give  facts  only. 
He  knew  that  the  young  were  spotted  c  like  a  female 
jaguar,'  and  he  notes  that  he  had  '  never  heard  that 
they  have  assaulted  or  attempted  to  attack  man,  nor 
boys,  nor  dogs,  even  when  they  encounter  them  asleep  ; 
on  the  contrary,  they  run  away  or  conceal  themselves, 
showing  fear  ;  and  as  their  speed  is  inferior  to  that  of  a 
horse,  a  mounted  man  easily  overtakes  them/  He  is 
mistaken  as  to  the  dogs,  for  pumas  are  sometimes 
particularly  hostile  to  them.  A  tame  puma,  when 
following  its  master  obediently,  has  been  known  to  rush 
through  a  crowd  in  chase  of  a  dog.  The  instances  of  its 
tameness  in  captivity  cited  by  Azara  are  interesting.  A 
village  priest  had  one  raised  from  a  cub,  which  ran  loose 
like  a  dog.  It  was  given  to  Azara,  who  kept  it  on  a 
chain,  but  it '  was  as  tame  as  a  dog,  and  very  playful/  It 
played  with  everyone,  and  took  great  delight  in  licking 
the  skin  of  his  negroes.  '  On  presenting  it  with  an 
orange  or  any  other  thing,  it  handled  it  with  its  fore- 
paws,  playing  with  it  in  the  same  way  as  a  cat  does 
with  a  mouse.  It  caught  fowls  (its  one  form  of 
mischief)  with  the  same  stratagems  and  cunning  as  a 
cat,  not  omitting  the  movement  of  the  extremity  of  its 
tail.  ...  I  never  saw  it  irritated.  When  rubbed  or 
tickled  it  lay  down  and  purred  like  a  cat.  My  negroes 


THE  FRIEND L  Y  PUMA  A  5 

one  day  loosed  it,  and  it  followed  them  to  the  river, 
traversing  the  city  without  even  meddling  with  the 
dogs  in  the  street.'  To  these  notes  of  Azara's,  his 
translator,  Mr.  W.  Perceval  Hunter,  added  in  1837 
other  evidence  of  its  docility.  He  mentions  the  puma 
kept  by  Kean  the  tragedian,  the  skeleton  of  which  is 
now  in  the  Museum  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons. 
This  used  to  follow  Kean  loose  in  his  garden  and  in 
his  house,  and  was  *  introduced  to  company  in  his 
drawing-room.'  He  also  quotes  an  account  of  another 
tame  puma  kept  in  Edinburgh,  '  which  rejoices  greatly 
in  the  company  of  those  to  whom  it  is  accustomed,  lies 
down  upon  its  back  between  their  feet,  and  plays  with 
the  skirts  of  their  garments  entirely  after  the  manner  of 
a  kitten/  It  got  loose  in  London,  but  most  properly 
allowed  itself  to  be  captured  by  the  watchman — a  thing 
which  no  animal  of  spirit  ought  to  have  permitted. 

The  corroborative  evidence  as  to  the  feud  between 
the  puma  and  the  jaguar  is  most  interesting.  Azara 
himself,  though  he  mentions  the  story,  doubts  it.  He 
has  a  sound  critical  faculty,  and  pitched  at  once  on  a 
weak  point  in  the  belief.  The  Indians  alleged  that  the 
female  pumas  were  carried  off  by  jaguars.  Hence  the 
ill-feeling.  This,  he  says,  is  clearly  nonsense.  But 
this  'gloss'  can,  we  think,  be  accounted  for.  The 
puma  cubs  are  spotted,  some  more  distinctly  than 
others,  at  birth,  though  the  puma,  felis  concolor^  is 


46  THE  FRIEND L  Y  PUMA 

without  spots.  Hence  the  story  of  the  jaguar  cross. 
The  main  belief  appears  constantly.  A  Spanish  girl 
who  was  tied  to  a  tree  by  the  Spanish  Governor  of 
Buenos  Ayres  for  visiting  the  Indians  avowed  that  a 
puma  had  sat  by  her  all  night,  and  driven  the  other 
beasts  (jaguars)  away.  This  was  regarded  as  a  miracle  ; 
but  Mr.  Hudson  declares  that  it  would  not  now  excite 
surprise.  '  It  is  well  known  that  where  the  two  species 
inhabit  the  same  district  they  are  at  enmity,  the  puma 
being  the  persistent  persecutor  of  the  jaguar,  following 
and  harassing  it  as  the  "  tyrant  bird  "  does  the  eagle, 
and,  when  an  opportunity  occurs,  springing  upon  its 
back  and  inflicting  terrible  wounds  with  its  teeth  and 
claws.  Jaguars  with  scarred  backs  are  frequently  killed, 
and  others  not  long  escaped  from  their  tormentors  have 
been  found  greatly  lacerated.'  This  might  have  been 
done  by  fights  with  other  jaguars,  but  in  support  of 
the  general  belief  of  the  gauchos,  who  spend  their  lives 
on  the  pampas  where  these  species  are  common,  two 
pieces  of  evidence  are  quoted.  One,  that  a  similar 
dislike  for  other  carnivora  on  the  part  of  the  puma  is 
current  in  a  far-distant  region — North  California — 
where  it  is  said  to  attack  the  grizzly  bear.  The  second 
was  communicated  to  Mr.  Hudson,  after  a  hunt  in 
which  one  of  the  very  rare  instances  of  a  puma  trying 
to  defend  itself  from  a  man  occurred.  A  gaucho  had 
tried  to  kill  a  puma,  as  if  it  were  a  sheep,  with  his 


THE  FRIENDL  Y  PUMA  47 

knife,  and  the  animal,  after  dodging  the  first  blow,  had 
struck  him  in  the  face  with  his  paw.  In  a  previous 
hunt  (after  game  and  ostriches)  one  of  their  company 
had  fallen  from  his  horse  and  broken  his  leg.  He  lay 
on  the  pampa  all  night,  and  when  found  next  morning 
told  the  following  story.  An  hour  after  it  became 
dark  a  puma  came  and  sat  by  him.  After  frequently 
going  and  returning,  it  left  him  for  a  long  time.  About 
midnight  he  heard  the  roar  of  a  jaguar,  and  gave  him- 
self up  for  lost.  But  the  jaguar  was  watching  something 
else.  It  moved  out  of  sight,  and  he  then  heard  snarls 
and  growls,  and  the  sharp  cry  of  a  puma,  and  knew 
that  the  two  beasts  were  fighting.  The  jaguar  returned 
several  times,  and  the  puma  renewed  the  contest  every 
time  until  morning,  when  both  disappeared.  Mr. 
Hudson  had  '  already  met  with  many  anecdotes  of  a 
similar  kind  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  some  vastly 
more  interesting  than  this.  But  he  gave  this  account 
because  it  was  at  first  hand/  Many  instances  are  given 
by  Mr.  Hudson  of  the  puma's  confidence  in  man.  He 
also  gives  three  cases  of  its  refusal  to  defend  itself,  and 
another  in  which  four  pumas  played  round  a  sleeping 
man  for  several  hours  at  night  without  disturbing  him. 
The  Southern  puma  is  the  animal  credited  with  these 
friendly  instincts.  In  North  America  it  has  been  much 
persecuted  by  man,  and  bears  a  different  character.  But 
in  Argentina,  in  '  places  where  the  puma  is  the  only 


48  THE  FRIENDL  Y  PUMA 

large  beast  of  prey,  it  is  notorious  that  it  is  perfectly 
safe  for  even  a  small  child  to  go  out  and  sleep  on  the 
plain/  Yet  among  other  animals  the  puma  is  coura- 
geous and  destructive.  It  is  a  desperate  sheep-killer,  a 
destroyer  of  foals, '  a  peregrine  falcon  among  mammals.' 
Such  an  instinct  of  friendliness  in  a  big  cat,  unique, 
and  the  more  surprising  because  even  when  domesticated 
the  race  rarely  exhibits  more  than  an  equable  and 
distant  tolerance  of  man's  existence,  will  no  doubt 
attract  the  attention  of  those  who  have  the  opportunity 
of  collecting  information  at  first  hand  in  the  plains  of 
South  America.  No  one  but  reliable  '  field-naturalists,' 
ranch-owners,  and  sportsmen  can  do  so,  and  for  these  it 
should  form  an  interesting  object  of  inquiry. 


VII.— ANIMAL  COLONISTS 

AMONG  instances  of  successful  acclimatization  of  English 
animals  in  the  Antipodes  must  be  reckoned  the  importa- 
tion of  red  deer  into  New  Zealand.  They  were  first 
introduced  in  1862,  when  Prince  Albert,  to  oblige 
the  Government  Agent  of  New  Zealand  in  London, 
caused  four  stags  and  two  hinds  to  be  shipped  to 
Wellington.  Only  one  stag  and  two  hinds  arrived 
alive,  and  were  set  free  on  Taratahi  Plains.  They 
selected  for  their  haunt  a  range  of  limestone  hills, 
covered  with  good  English  grasses,  and  there  they 
have  flourished  and  multiplied  abundantly.  During 
the  last  four  years  the  effects  of  this  increase  have  been 
noted  in  the  appearance  of  the  deer  in  every  locality 
near  which  wood,  water,  and  grass  are  plentiful. 
Licenses  for  deer-shooting,  limited  to  three  stags  a 
season,  have  been  issued  for  the  last  ten  years.  The 
stags  grow  faster  than  in  England,  bearing  antlers  with 
ten  points  in  three  years,  and  some  of  the  numerous 
calves  are  being  captured  and  transferred  to  other 

49  4 


50  ANIMAL  COLONISTS 

districts  as  stock.  Other  red  deer  are  also  about  to 
be  imported,  not  from  England,  but  from  Australia, 
these  being  of  English  stock  '  once  removed.' 

This  is  only  a  minor  and  recent  instance  of  what  we 
may  term  the  colonizing  faculty  of  English  animals. 
They  seem  to  share  the  physical,  and  in  some  degree 
the  mental,  capacity  of  the  British  for  '  getting  on  '  in 
new  countries,  and  to  make  more  of  their  opportunities 
than  the  indigenous  creatures,  without  possessing  such 
marked  advantages  as  their  masters  often  have  over  the 
human  inhabitants.  If  a  census  could  be  taken  of  the 
creatures  of  British  descent  making  up  the  animal 
population  in  the  vast  new  territories  peopled  by  men 
of  English  blood,  the  world  would  contemplate  with 
astonishment  the  facts  of  this  double  migration  and 
dual  increase  of  man  and  beast  alike  from  two  small 
islands  in  the  West  Atlantic.  Nor  do  our  animal 
colonists  confine  themselves  to  the  new  Anglo-Saxon 
countries.  Whatever  unkindly  criticisms  are  levelled 
at  the  Englishman  abroad,  the  English  animals, 
domesticated  and  wild,  are  everywhere  welcome.  The 
sparrow  and  the  rabbit  are  the  two  exceptions  which 
prove  the  rule  ;  but  for  almost  every  other  British 
animal,  from  Derby  winners  and  pedigree  shorthorns 
to  Norfolk  pheasants  and  Loch  Leven  trout,  the  men 
of  the  New  World,  the  colonists  of  Great  Britain,  Spain, 
Portugal,  and  even  of  Holland — for  the  Boers  are  now 


ANIMAL  COLONISTS  51 

purchasing  British  cattle — compete  in  lavish  expenditure 
in  their  zeal  for  an  inheritance  in  the  beasts,  birds,  and 
fishes  of  our  good  country. 

This  colonization  by  animals  has  had  a  settled  order 
of  time,  corresponding  fairly  closely  with  the  social 
evolution  of  the  British  and  foreign  possessions  to 
which  they  have  been  involuntary  migrants.  The 
'  pioneer  animals/  like  the  first  colonists,  have  often 
been  rather  a  '  rough  lot.'  Times  were  bad  after  the 
great  war,  and  our  farmers  did  not  own  one-twentieth 
part  of  the  fine  pedigree  stock  now  so  plentiful  in  this 
country.  But  the  first  colonizing  animals  had  to  be  of 
the  useful  sort,  beasts  of  burden  or  for  food,  if  not  the 
best,  then  the  best  which  could  be  got.  So  the  settlers 
in  Australia,  the  backwoods  of  Canada,  and  Cape  Colony 
and  Natal,  had  for  their  first  animal  population  a  prolific 
and  hardy,  but  not  a  high-bred  class  of  English  stock. 
There  were  abundance  of  sheep,  of  cattle,  of  fowls,  and 
some  British  horses.  The  ancestors  of  the  animal 
colonists  of  New  Zealand,  now  represented  by  twenty 
millions  of  sheep  and  cattle  alone,  were  imported  later, 
and  from  more  carefully  selected  stock,  than  those  first 
taken  to  the  older  colonies.  Meantime,  the  latter  had 
reached  the  stage  of  prosperity  in  which  it  pays  not 
only  to  possess  many  flocks  and  herds,  but  also  to  have 
them  of  high  quality.  Sheep,  cattle,  and  horses  were 
improved  by  the  best  English  blood  that  money  could 

4—2 


52  ANIMAL  COLONISTS 

buy,  as  well  as  by  the  importation  of  the  merino  sheep 
from  Spain,  with  which  the  English  breeds  were  crossed ; 
and,  by  a  fortunate  coincidence,  the  time  at  which 
Australasia  desired  an  accession  of  quality  to  quantity 
in  her  British -descended  stock  corresponded  with  a 
period  of  extraordinary  activity  and  success  in  the 
breeding  and  development  of  pedigree  cattle,  sheep, 
horses,  and  swine  by  the  '  landed  interest,'  owners  and 
tenants  alike,  in  this  country.  We  need  not  follow 
this,  the  greatest  and  most  obvious  invasion  of  the 
New  World  by  the  host  of  British  animals,  beyond 
the  facts  conveyed  in  the  sum-total  of  the  numbers  of 
the  three  most  necessary,  and  therefore  most  numerous, 
classes — the  sheep,  cattle,  and  horses,  the  two  latter 
being  mainly,  if  not  entirely,  of  British  descent — owned 
by  the  colonies  of  Australia  and  New  Zealand.  The 
figures  are,  in  round  numbers,  one  hundred  and  eleven 
millions  of  sheep,  nine  millions  of  cattle,  and  one  million 
three  hundred  thousand  horses.  Except  the  merino 
sheep,  the  Angora  goat,  and  the  camel,  recently  intro- 
duced into  West  Australia,  we  believe  that  there  is  no 
domesticated  animal  in  Australia  which  is  not  of 
English  stock.  Numbers  must  be  considered  first, 
if  justice  is  to  be  done  to  the  magnitude  of  this  animal 
movement  from  West  to  East  ;  but,  apart  from  count- 
ing heads,  the  list  of  British  species  entirely  omitted 
from  the  totals  given  above,  but  now  firmly  established 


ANIMAL  COLONISTS  53 

in  the  New  World,  is  no  less  striking.  All  other 
domesticated  forms — pigs,  all  breeds  of  English  dogs, 
prize  poultry,  and  pigeons,  in  as  great  variety  and 
perfection  as  they  attain  in  this  country — are  equally 
established  in  Australasia,  and  with  them  the  red  deer, 
the  pheasant,  the  trout,  and,  unfortunately,  the  rabbit 
and  the  sparrow.  In  Australia,  and  still  more  notice- 
ably in  New  Zealand,  the  new-comers,  the  most  vigorous 
representatives  of  the  later  types  of  animal,  had  a  clear 
advantage  over  the  ancient  marsupial  forms  and  the 
wingless  birds.  The  pheasant,  which  can  both  run 
and  fly,  displaces  the  New  Zealand  apteryx,  and  the 
rabbit  gets  the  better  of  the  wallaby  and  smaller 
kangaroos. 

But  while  the  British  animals,  with  the  aid  of  their 
owners,  were  displacing  the  native  creatures  of  Austra- 
lasia, they  were  achieving  a  parallel  success  in  another 
continent,  and  among  a  population  who  cannot  be  sus- 
pected of  any  preferential  leanings  towards  the  animals 
of  these  islands.  The  Spanish  Republics  of  South 
America  were  rapidly  '  Anglicizing '  their  flocks  and 
herds,  originally  descended  and  inherited  from  pure 
Spanish  stock.  In  Argentina  the  demand  for  British- 
bred  animals  first  arose  among  the  flockmasters,  though 
cattle-raising  was  the  earlier  and  national  occupation. 
But  the  improvement  in  wool  effected  by  introducing 
the  best  English  breeds  was  rapid  and  obvious,  while 


54  ANIMAL  COLONISTS 

that  in  the  form  and  quality  of  the  cattle  was  a  slower 
process.  But  during  the  last  few  years  the  demand  for 
pedigree  English  cattle  for  Argentina  has  been  enormous. 
Shorthorns,  Herefords,  and  Devons  have  been  imported 
weekly,  and  a  cross-bred  English  stock  now  fills  the 
'  corrals  '  of  the  great  beef  and  bovril  companies  of  the 
River  Plate.  In  North  America  this  Anglicizing  process 
has  spread  to  all  the  States  of  the  Union.  Half-bred 
Herefords  and  shorthorns  are  taking  the  place  of  the 
common  cattle  of  the  States  on  nearly  all  the  ranches  of 
the  beef-producing  districts,  and  the  colonizing  capacity 
of  different  English  breeds  is  recommending  them  for 
special  districts.  Thus  the  Devon  bulls  are  purchased 
for  ranches  where  the  search  for  pasture  and  water 
needs  special  activity  and  endurance,  and  red  '  polled ' 
or  hornless  Suffolks  are  used  where  cattle  are  being 
bred  for  transit  by  rail  or  ship,  because  the  absence  of 
horns  is  then  convenient.  Even  tropical  Brazil  follows 
the  fashion,  and  English  Jersey  cows  are  seen  demurely 
walking  through  the  forest-paths  by  the  coffee-planta- 
tions, and  English  terriers  and  pug-dogs  sit  on  the  laps 
of  Brazilian  ladies.  Whether  the  Jersey  cattle  will 
multiply  on  the  planters'  estates  time  will  show  ;  but 
the  spread  of  our  colonizing  animals,  which  are  now 
invading  simultaneously  the  plains  of  Patagonia  and 
the  North  Canadian  territory,  does  not  limit  its  progress 
to  the  direction  of  the  Poles.  In  India  the  English 


ANIMAL  COLONISTS  55 

horse  becomes  a  colonist  by  second  intention,  in  the 
form  of  the  '  Waler.'  His  value,  as  compared  with  the 
native  breeds  of  Asia,  is  still  undetermined,  but  we  must 
accept  his  presence  and  survival  as  a  fact. 

Close  on  the  heels  of  the  purely  useful  British 
domesticated  animals  follow  those  carried  across  seas 
and  deserts  from  motives  of  sentiment  and  love  of  sport. 
Every  week  brings  news  of  fresh  and  successful  enter- 
prises of  this  kind.  In  Connecticut  the  beginnings  of 
a  most  anti-republican  system  of  game-preserving  are 
seen  in  the  success  with  which  pheasants  are  now  being 
reared.  The  Connecticut  woods  are  being  stocked  with 
these  birds,  and  the  State  Legislature  has  passed  an  Act 
protecting  them  for  three  years.  In  Texas,  according 
to  the  American  Field,  there  is  a  Texas  State  pheasantry, 
and,  in  addition,  private  pheasant-rearing  establishments 
are  being  opened,  '  with  a  view  to  the  firm  establish- 
ment of  the  pheasant  as  an  American  game-bird/ 

Fish  are  usually  the  last  British  creatures  to  be 
established  in  new  countries ;  the  means  of  transport  of 
the  ova  is  a  comparatively  modern  discovery.  But  a 
*  new  country '  must  be  already  in  process  of  becoming 
an  old  one  if  such  a  contemplative  pursuit  as  fishing 
is  desired.  The  most  recent  '  State-aided  migration  ' 
of  English  fish  has  been  to  Cape  Colony.  There 
Mr.  E.  Latour  has  been  engaged  since  1892  in  hatching 
out  salmo  fario.  Loch  Leven  trout,  and  brook-trout  for 


56  ANIMAL  COLONISTS 

stocking  the  Buffalo  River  and  other  South  African 
streams.  The  work  was  begun  at  a  large  brewery,  the 
cool  spring  which  suited  the  manufacture  of  British 
beer  being  also  adapted  for  the  British  fish.  Later  the 
work  was  carried  on  with  great  success  at  the  hatchery 
of  the  King  William's  Town  Acclimatization  Society, 
six  hundred  miles  from  Cape  Town.  The  eggs  mainly 
came  from  Guildford  and  Haslemere,  and  hatched  well, 
tens  of  thousands  of  fry  being  reared.  The  only  doubt 
is  whether  the  fish  which  can  live  as  fry  in  the  cool 
upper  waters  of  these  rivers  will  endure  the  higher 
temperature  of  the  lower  reaches. 


*', 


VIII.— IRISH  DONKEYS  FOR  SOUTH  AFRICA 

THE  St.  James's  Gazette  thinks  that  there  is  a  brilliant 
future  before  the  Irish  donkey.  He  is  the  future 
beast  of  burden  of  South  Africa,  where  he  defies  the 
tsetse-fly  in  some  districts,  and  is  everywhere  proof 
against  the  climate.  English  and  Dutch  dealers  have 
been  buying  thousands  of  them  for  shipment  to 
South  Africa,  and  £5,000  has  recently  been  spent 
in  this  way  in  Clare,  Limerick  and  Tipperary  alone. 

Ireland  is  at  present  the  main  home  of  the  donkey 
in  the  British  Islands.  Two  hundred  thousand  are 
annually  thence  exported  to  England.  They  are  small, 
stunted  animals,  with  plenty  of  endurance,  which  the 
donkey  never  loses,  but  showing  all  the  worst  results 
of  neglect  in  breeding.  As  this  is  the  only  domestic 
animal  which  we  have  neglected  to  improve,  the  results 
are  useful  as  a  scientific  example  of  what  happens  when 
domestic  animals  are  c  left  to  themselves/  Improved 
animals — sheep,  cattle,  or  horses,  down  to  cats — are  full 
of  '  excellent  differences.'  Our  neglected  donkeys, 

57 


58          IRISH  DONKEYS  FOR  SOUTH  AFRICA 

never  c  bred  for  points/  have  sunk  to  a  dead  and  dull 
uniformity  of  colour,  size,  shape  and  even  of  demeanour.* 
How  different  from  the  gay  thirteen-hand  '  station  ' 
donkey  whom  your  English  host  puts  at  your  disposal 
at  Ramleh.  He  meets  you  at  the  station,  starts  off  at 
full  gallop,  rushes  in  at  the  home-gate,  and  pulls  up 
unasked  at  the  mounting-block  by  the  house.  Next 
day  he  meets  you  there,  gallops  off  to  the  station,  and 
pulls  up  at  a  mounting-block  of  the  same  kind  under 
the  veranda.  Authority  states  the  reign  of  Elizabeth 
as  the  period  at  which  the  use  of  donkeys  first  became 
general  in  England.  The  fact  was  observed  then,  but 
their  introduction  was,  we  imagine,  due  to  the  connec- 
tion with  Spain,  established  in  the  reign  of  Queen 
Mary.  The  Spanish  ladies  and  Spanish  priests  who 
visited  the  Court  brought  with  them  their  fine  donkeys 
and  mules,  the  proper  animals  for  ladies  and  ecclesiastics 
to  ride  or  drive.  When  the  social  ascendancy  of 
Spanish  fashions  ended  with  the  accession  of  Elizabeth, 
the  rigid  social  lines  drawn  between  the  life  of  men, 
ladies  and  ecclesiastics  in  Spain,  and  temporarily  intro- 
duced here,  were  broken  down.  One  side-feature  of 
this  social  revolution,  and  the  elimination  of  what  was 

*  In  Norfolk,  where  some  attention  is  paid  to  breeding  donkeys, 
it  is  noticeable  that  their  colour  varies  considerably,  and  an  average 
Norfolk  donkey  stands  quite  a  hand  higher  than  most  of  those  seen 
in  London. 


IRISH  DONKEYS  FOR  SOUTH  AFRICA         59 

almost  a  sumptuary  law,  was  the  advance  of  the  horse  to 
the  first  place  for  the  use  of  all  three  '  estates/  lords, 
ladies,  and  bishops,  and  the   total  eclipse  of  the  ass. 
The   fine   animals  kept    for  the    purpose  of  breeding 
mules  were  only  mated  with  other  donkeys,  for  mule- 
breeding  ceased.     In  the  pictures  of  the  procession  of 
the  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold,  Cardinal  Wolsey  rides 
on  a  mule  beside  his  King.     Our  donkeys  have  never 
recovered  from  the  social  results  of  the  Reformation. 
From  that  time  till  the  end  of  the  last  century  the 
black-coated,  full-wigged  ecclesiastic  on  his  cob  figures 
in    all    pictures    of    equestrian    gatherings    and    State 
functions,    from    the    caricatures    of    Bunbury   to    the 
Court    processions    of    the    Georges.       Spenser,    with 
intentional  archaism,  represents  Una  riding  beside  the 
red-cross  knight  on  a  white  ass.     It  is  the  last  poetical 
tribute  to  the  donkey  paid  in  the  Tudor  period,  and  is 
more   than    counterbalanced   by   the  part    he  plays  in 
Midsummer  Night's  Dream.     No  one  who  reads   the 
metamorphosis  of  Bottom  can  deny  that  Shakespeare 
makes  a  *  true  generalization  of  character  '  in  this  study 
of  the  true  inwardness  of  donkeys,  and  that  the  poor 
man's  animal  of  that  time    must    have  been    already 
much  the  same  as  he  is  now.     There  must  have  been 
plenty  of  good  male  donkeys  in  the  country  for  mule- 
breeding,  but  the  stock  has  never  been  replenished  or 
improved.     They  have  steadily  dwindled  in  size  until 


60         IRISH  DONKEYS  FOR  SOUTH  AFRICA 

they  have  reached  the  limit  set  by  bad  food,  want  of 
shelter,  and  neglect  in  selection,  in  the  tiny,  half-wild 
donkeys  of  the  New  Forest.  The  sole  luxury  in  life 
which  the  New  Forest  donkey  enjoys  is  the  privilege  of 
rolling  in  the  dust  on  the  fenceless  roads  on  a  hot  day. 
Yet  he  is  not  ill-tempered,  and  will  draw  a  forest  cart 
with  a  couple  of  women  in  it  at  a  trot  for  four  or  five 
miles  very  comfortably.  In  Wales  the  small  tenants 
do  improve  their  donkeys  by  giving  them  better  food 
than  common,  and  often  make  a  high  price  for  them. 
Both  in  Somersetshire,  near  the  coal  measures,  and  in 
Norfolk,  by  the  coast,  the  animals  are  in  request,  and 
are  recognised  as  a  useful  help  to  the  poor  man  ;  but 
they  are  as  far  removed  from  the  prize  sixteen-hand 
animal  of  Kentucky  agricultural  shows  as  the  Shetland 
pony  is  from  the  Shire  horse.  Donkeys  are  just  the 
kind  of  animals  which  the  peasant-proprietor  finds 
useful.  A  proof  of  it  is  seen  in  the  number  already 
reared  in  Ireland  and  the  surplus  available  for  export. 
But  a  little  organization  and  intelligent  direction 
would  increase  the  size  and  double  the  value  of  the 
breed.  The  means  by  which  general  improvements  of 
this  kind  are  effected  are  quite  familiar  from  previous 
experience.  If  a  twentieth  part  of  the  pains  taken  to 
improve  the  stock  of  Irish  horses,  disclosed  in  the 
recent  Commission  on  Irish  Horse-breeding,  were  taken 
to  improve  the  race  of  Irish  donkeys,  the  peasant- 


IRISH  DONKE  YS  FOR  SOUTH  AFRICA         61 

farmer  would  have  a  '  second  string '  available,  most 
valuable  whenever  a  war  or  pestilence  caused  a  demand 
for  other  than  the  ordinary  transport  animals. 

The  needs  of  South  Africa  which  have  sent  buyers  to 
Ireland  are  exceptional,  and  unlikely  to  recur  on  such  a 
scale.  The  rinderpest  has  destroyed  the  ox  transports, 
and  scarcity  of  grain  has  starved  the  horses.  But  there 
are  two  factors  which  may  always  be  relied  on  to  make 
a  good  donkey  worth  a  good  price  in  Rhodesia.  These 
are  '  horse  sickness '  and  the  tsetse-fly.  The  astonishing 
constitution  of  the  donkey  makes  him  less  liable  to  the 
first,  and  usually  proof  against  the  last  of  these  pests  of 
the  new  country.  As  a  beast  for  army  transport  the 
donkey  is  not  a  mere  *  emergency  '  animal.  *  The  estab- 
lishment of  breeding-studs,  and  the  greater  employment 
of  the  donkey  as  a  transport  animal,  is  well  worthy  of 
the  attention  of  the  military  authorities,'  writes  Major 
Leonard,  after  sixteen  years'  experience  as  a  transport 
officer.  He  finds  that,  used  as  a  pack  animal,  the 
smallest  donkey  will  carry  an  average  weight  of  a 
hundred  and  thirty  pounds,  and  the  larger  ones  a  hundred 
and  fifty  pounds.  It  can  be  taken  through  deserts  for 
journeys  of  from  fifty  to  sixty  hours  without  water,  and 
pick  up  food  on  the  way.  It  has  no  nerves,  and  there- 
fore is  a  first-class  animal  to  take  ammunition-boxes  to 
the  fighting  line.  It  is  small,  and  less  likely  to  be  hit 
by  bullets  than  a  horse,  and  gets  over  more  difficult 


62          IRISFf  DONKEYS  FOR  SOUTH  AFRICA 

ground  with  less  leading.  One  man  can  drive  ten 
donkeys  on  the  march,  and  they  need  little  rations, 
grooming,  or  protection  from  cold. 

This  being  the  case  for  the  donkey  as  he  is,  it  is 
worth  while  considering  the  value  of  the  donkey  as  he 
might  be.  We  must  assume  that  under  no  circum- 
stances will  the  ass  ever  bring  money  '  for  show  '  or 
fashion,  and  that  none  of  the  increment  which  improvers 
of  nearly  all  breeds  of  high-class  animals  may  expect 
from  this  source  may  be  expected  in  this  case.  Solid 
merit  will  be  the  only  measure  of  value.  This  must 
be  obtained  by  first  forming  a  clear  idea  of  what  the 
different  breeds  of  donkey  are  capable  of  doing,  and 
how  far  they  will  suit  the  wants  of  particular  classes. 
In  Syria,  where  the  animal  is  at  its  best,  there  are  four 
breeds  of  donkey  used  for  work  as  distinct  as  that  of 
the  different  classes  of  English  horse.  There  are  a 
large  rough  donkey,  standing  thirteen  and  a  half  hands 
high,  for  drawing  carts  ;  a  heavier  kind,  used  on  the 
farms  ;  a  '  gentleman's '  riding  donkey,  standing  as 
high  as  fourteen  hands,  comfortable  to  ride  and  quick  ; 
and  a  lighter  class  used  for  ladies.  No  one  in  this 
country  would  ride  a  donkey,  except  children.  His 
place  is  in  minor  traffic  here,  and  for  transport  by 
means  of  packs  if  exported.  The  object  of  the  breeder 
should  be  to  level  up  the  animals  all  round,  just  as 
the  standard  of  Irish  cattle  has  been  raised  all  round. 


IRISH  DONKEYS  FOR  SOUTH  AFRICA         63 

If  anything  practical  is  done  in  this  matter,  it  will 
come  from  above,  not  from  the  peasants.  If  the 
Dublin  Agricultural  Society,  whose  splendid  Horse 
Show  and  fine  buildings  are  one  of  the  best  institutions 
of  the  kind  in  the  United  Kingdom,  could  be  induced 
to  interest  themselves,  the  movement  would  have  the 
best  chance  of  success.  It  might  be  considered  infra 
dig.  to  include  donkeys  in  the  show,  but  that  is  only  a 
question  of  custom,  and  of  the  quality  of  the  animals 
exhibited.  In  the  great  agricultural  shows  of  Kentucky 
one  day  is  always  reserved  for  judging  donkeys,  and 
the  price  of  a  thousand  pounds  has  been  paid  for  a 
donkey  sire. 


*       "*-  *  •***'!    -  ;•' ,  *  '*  -  ** 

IX.— SHIRE  HORSES  AT  ISLINGTON 

THE  Londoner's  comment  on  the  *  English  elephants ' 
shown  at  the  Agricultural  Hall  is  that  they  are  '  all 
alike.'  So  they  are  in  general  form  and  appearance  ; 
and  as,  unlike  the  distinct  and  varied  breeds  of  pedigree 
cattle,  they  are  all  intended  for  the  same  purpose,  the 
result  is  a  triumph  for  those  who,  since  the  Shire  Horse 
Society  was  formed,  have  spent  time  and  money  in 
producing  them. 

The  total  number  exhibited  has  risen  to  five  hundred 
and  fifty-three.  In  1 880,  when  the  show  was  first  held, 
it  was  one  hundred  and  sixty-five,  and  the  increase  of 
numbers  shown  is  a  measure  of  the  rise  and  growth  of  the 
latest  of  the  great  English  industries  of  breeding  pedigree 
stock,  for  which  this  century  has  been  so  remarkable. 
The  show,  though  the  entries  are  so  large,  is  not  impres- 
sive as  a  spectacle.  All  the  stallions  are  shut  up  in  high 
loose-boxes,  and  can  only  be  visited  separately.  The 
mares  are  in  stalls,  and  though  both  are  in  high  condi- 
tion, the  back  views  so  obtained  suggest  little  but  the  fact 

64 


SHIRE  HORSES  AT  ISLINGTON  65 


of  enormous  propulsive  powers,  and  the  use  of  a  pair  of 
steps  for  getting  on  their  backs.  When  alongside  them 
in  the  stalls  and  boxes,  the  impression  of  bulk  is  equally 
great,  and  the  meekness  with  which  they  '  get  over  ' 
when  smacked  is  almost  as  surprising  as  the  obedience 
of  an  elephant.  When  taken  out  some  new  discovery 
has  dictated  that  their  backs  and  loins  shall  be  thickly 
covered  with  sawdust  to  prevent  their  catching  cold. 
Consequently  a  group  of  a  dozen  in  the  ring  suggest 
recollections  of  magnums  of  tawny  port  in  a  wine- 
merchant's  window.  As  an  unconventional  index  of 
their  size,  the  following  figures,  taken  from  the  measure- 
ments of  a  prize  mare  and  prize  stallion,  are  somewhat 
interesting.  Feet  and  inches  give  a  clearer  idea  of 
dimensions  to  most  minds,  so  we  substitute  them  for 
hands.  Taking  the  lady  shire  horse  first,  we  find  that 
she  measures  5  feet  6  inches  at  the  shoulder,  8  inches 
across  the  hollow  of  her  front  foot,  8  feet  2  inches — 
98  inches — round  her  'waist.'  She  weighs  18^  cwt. 
and  is  not  fat.  Her  *  hair,'  which  is  5  feet  long, 
is  plaited,  so  that  its  beauties  do  not  show  ; 
but  her  complexion,  dappled  brown  and  glossy,  is 
perfection. 

At  the  other  end  of  the  hall  a '  prize  stallion,  ten 
years  old,  and  therefore  fully  mature,  was  measured 
with  the  following  results :  Height  at  the  shoulder, 
5  feet  8  inches,  with  a  *  waist  '  measurement  of 

5 


66  SHIRE  HORSES  AT  ISLINGTON 

8-J  feet  ;  his  weight,  i  ton  i^  cwt.  His  shoe 
measured  21  inches  round  from  heel  to  heel,  to  which 
the  space  between  the  calkins  must  be  added.  The 
stallion's  height  sometimes  runs  to  18  hands,  and 
a  mane  6  feet  long  is  not  uncommon.  The  average 
shire  horse  begins  work  in  the  country  at  four  years 
old,  and  at  five  and  a  half  years  old  goes  to  town, 
where  two  do  the  work  of  three  ordinary  draught- 
horses,  and  save  the  cost  of  stabling  for  one.  The 
pedigrees  of  16,480  stallions  and  22,768  mares  are 
recorded  in  the  '  Shire  Horse  Stud  Book/  This  is  not 
a  mere  catalogue,  but  has  a  practical  object.  Though 
'like  breeds  like/  it  is  found  by  experience  that  the 
animals  of  oldest  descent,  when  a  breed  is  once 
established,  produce  the  most  uniform  stock.  This 
rule  is  what  the  foreign  buyer  relies  on,  and  it  is  the 
world  outside  England  on  whom  our  breeders  mainly 
rely  to  make  the  demand  for  our  shire  horses  keep 
pace  with  the  supply.  Ten  years  ago  three  hundred 
foals  were  bought  for  Germany,  six  hundred  'certificates' 
of  exported  sires  were  issued  for  America,  and  it  was  in 
evidence  that  many  hundreds  of  farmers  in  the  worst 
times  of  the  agricultural  depression  paid  their  rents 
from  the  produce  of  pedigree  mares  working  on  their 
farms.  Since  then  the  demand  has  risen  by  leaps  and 
bounds,  and  the  value  of  the  animals  has  steadily 
increased.  In  no  long  time  the  prices  must  fall, 


SHIRE  HORSES  AT  ISLINGTON  67 

because  the  number  of  pedigree  animals  will  be  beyond 
measure  increased.  But  the  financial  result,  spread 
over  a  wider  field,  will  be  even  more  satisfactory  than 
at  present,  just  as  the  broad  improvement  of  shorthorn 
cattle  has  added  to  the  wealth  not  of  individuals,  but  of 
the  country — it  has  raised  the  value  of  Irish  exported 
cattle,  for  instance,  by  some  three  pounds  per  head.  At 
present  the  prices  for  shire  horses  are  steadily  rising,  both 
for  actual  work  and  for  breeding.  Mr.  Freeman  Mitford, 
President  of  the  Society,  obtained  seven  hundred  and 
twenty  guineas  for  a  six-year-old  stallion,  three  hundred 
and  twenty  guineas  for  a  three-year-old  mare,  and  two 
hundred  and  ten  guineas  for  a  yearling  filly. 

At  Lord  Wantage's  sale  no  less  than  eight  hundred 
guineas  was  paid  for  a  six-year-old  mare.  Messrs. 
Clark  and  Griffin,  farmers,  were  as  successful  in  a 
recent  sale  as  their  wealthier  competitors,  making  an 
average  of  £150  for  their  shire  horses.  The  'man  in 
the  street '  would  scarcely  believe  that  the  big,  slow 
horses  in  the  railway-van  are  often  more  valuable  than 
the  showy  animals  in  the  landau  which  passes  them  ; 
but  this  is  often  the  case,  and  the  former  justify  their 
price  by  work  done.  In  developing  the  size  of  these 
horses,  only  one  serious  drawback  has  been  encountered 
by  the  breeders.  Their  enormous  weight  causes  a 
tendency  to  an  ossification  of  the  side  cartilage  of  the 
foot,  which  is  called  *  side-bone.' 

5—2 


68  SHIRE  HORSES  AT  ISLINGTON 

One  of  the  main  objects  of  the  Shire  Horse  Society 
is  to  c  breed  away  from  side-bone,'  and  it  is  to  their 
success  in  this  that  the  popularity  of  the  breed  is  largely 
due.  Hence  the  importance  of  pedigree,  and  incident- 
ally the  delay  in  awarding  prizes  in  the  show  ;  for 
every  animal  has  to  pass  a  rigorous  '  medical  examina- 
tion '  before  its  merits  are  considered.  A  second,  and 
not  less  important,  form  of  soundness  in  these  animals 
is  temper.  {  Temperament '  is  perhaps  the  truer  word. 
In  combining  this  mental  characteristic  with  modifi- 
cations in  size  and  strength,  the  breeders  have  met 
with  little  resistance  from  Nature.  If  the  '  nerves  '  of 
the  ordinary  thoroughbred  or  hackney  were  possessed 
by  the  giant  shire  horse,  it  would  be  as  unsafe  to 
use  for  traffic  as  a  Highland  bull,  and  almost  as 
dangerous  as  a  stampeding  elephant.  If  its  nerves  did 
not  occasionally  cause  it  to  bolt  with  a  two-ton  van 
behind  it,  the  everyday  fidgeting,  stamping  and 
trotting  which  ordinary  equine  temperament  demands 
in  the  lighter  horses  would  strain  the  legs  and  ruin  the 
hoofs  which  have  to  bear  the  burden  of  its  bulk.  As 
things  are,  the  temper  of  the  great  horse  has  grown 
milder  and  easier  as  its  size  has  increased.  This  is 
largely  due  to  nature,  for  the  shire  horse  is  descended, 
without  Arab  or  thoroughbred  crosses,  from  the  heavy 
war-horse  of  the  days  of  armour.  But  the  avoidance  of 
repeating  any  cross  from  which  temper  has  resulted  must 


SHIRE  HORSES  AT  ISLINGTON  69 

also  be  credited  to  the  breeders'  experience.  The  nature 
of  the  shire  horse's  work  does  not  ordinarily  disturb 
this  innate  equanimity.  They  are  never  urged  to 
speed.  On  the  other  hand,  they  are  constantly  required 
to  make  sudden  exertions  in  pulling  and  hauling  great 
weights,  exertions  which  require  as  much  resolution  on 
the  part  of  the  horse,  and  urging  by  the  *  driver,'  as 
efforts  of  speed.  Yet  the  shire  horse  works  entirely  by 
the  voice.  He  is  never  struck  with  the  whip  ;  a  hand 
on  the  reins  by  his  mouth,  a  friendly  pull,  and  a  word 
or  two,  are  enough  to  make  him  exert  a  muscular 
power  greater  than  that  of  any  other  domesticated 
animal  but  the  elephant.  This  docility  has  been 
acquired  without  loss  of  courage  or  intelligence.  Men 
who  have  been  employed  for  twenty  years  in  super- 
intending the  shire  horse  at  work  say  that  he  never 
knows  when  he  is  beaten.  The  most  trying  work  he 
is  employed  in  is  that  of  carting  earth  from  excavations, 
or  loads  of  stone  and  material  to  line  cuttings  and 
reservoirs.  To  do  so  he  draws  his  loads,  not  over 
roads  of  macadam  or  stone,  but  over  yielding  earth  or 
clay.  The  load  has  usually  to  be  started  up  an  incline, 
yet  the  horse  obeys  orders,  and  will  renew  the  effort 
again  and  again  at  the  word  of  command.  The  camel, 
which  often  refuses  to  move  if  overloaded,  is  perhaps 
wiser  in  its  generation.  The  intelligence  of  the  shire 
horse  is  not  only  not  less,  but  greater,  than  that  of 


70  SHIRE  HORSES  AT  ISLINGTON 

most  breeds.  This  is  partly  due  to  its  constant  associa- 
tion with  its  carter  in  work  other  than  mere  monotonous 
driving.  The  cleverness  of  the  shire  horses  on  the 
railway  is  matter  of  common  observation.  But  the 
quiet  wits  of  the  contractors'  horses  are  less  well  known. 
An  instance,  noticed  while  a  new  reservoir  was  being 
dug  above  the  grounds  of  the  Ranelagh  Club,  gives 
some  idea  of  the  intelligence  which  '  informs  '  these 
colossal  horses.  Heavy  loads  of  earth  from  an  excava- 
tion were  being  raised  in  a  '  hopper '  and  dropped  into 
a  *  tipping-cart.'  This  was  run  violently  along  some 
rough  rails,  and  at  the  last  moment  a  pin  was  loosened, 
and  the  earth  shot  over  the  end  of  the  embankment. 
Instead  of  being  pushed  by  an  engine,  the  cart  was 
pulled,  at  the  highest  speed  that  could  be  raised,  by  a 
young  shire  horse.  To  *  work  the  machine,'  it  had 
first  to  start  the  cart  full  of  earth,  to  rush  it  along  at  a 
half-trot,  half-canter,  and  at  the  last  moment  to  jump 
on  one  side  off  the  line,  to  have  its  hauling-chain 
detached  by  an  automatic  slip  jerked  by  the  driver,  and 
to  let  the  one  and  a  quarter  tons  of  earth  and  the  truck 
rush  past  it  and  bang  against  the  chocks  at  the  end  of 
the  rail,  spilling  the  earth  from  the  hopper.  If  he 
failed  to  spring  aside  at  the  last  moment,  he  would  be 
jammed  between  the  trolly  and  the  blocks,  or  thrown 
over  the  slope  of  the  embankment.  The  side-spring 
had  to  be  made  when  going  fast  and  using  great 


SHIRE  HORSES  AT  ISLINGTON  71 

exertion.  The  horse  was  very  excited,  but  never  '  lost 
its  head/  or  showed  the  least  inclination  to  shirk  the 
work.  Its  driver,  or  rather  attendant,  had  taught  it  to 
do  this  in  four  days,  and  the  horse,  though  very  large, 
was  only  a  four-year-old.  But  Lord  Herbert  of 
Cherbury  wrote  the  character  of  the  '  great  horse '  of 
England  more  than  two  hundred  years  ago,  and  noted 
that  he  was  a  creature  '  made  above  all  others  for  the 
service  of  man/  Among  other  accomplishments,  he 
taught  him  to  run  at  a  figure  dressed  in  bright  armour, 
and  knock  it  over  '  in  the  midst  of  a  field.' 


X.— THE  BEAUTY  OF  CATTLE 

A  VISIT  to  the  Cattle  Show  at  the  Agricultural  Hall 
should  reconcile  the  English  mind  to  the  Indian  worship 
of  the  cow.  Considered  as  a  gathering  of  the  most 
beautiful  animals  of  their  kind  which  the  art  of  man 
can  aid  Nature  to  produce,  it  has  only  one  drawback — 
the  excess  of  flesh  which  a  *  fat-stock '  show  demands. 
But  the  richness  and  colour  of  the  cattle,  and  the  noble 
lines  of  heads,  dark-eyed  and  massive-browed,  with 
curling  locks  upon  their  foreheads  and  shining  crescent 
horns,  make  a  study  of  form  and  colour  which  the 
most  uninstructed  sight-seer  must  admire.  Our  im- 
pression of  the  show,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
animals'  comfort  or  suffering,  was,  on  the  whole,  favour- 
able. The  atmosphere  was  beautifully  sweet  and  clean, 
with  a  pleasant  smell  of  hay  and  clover  and  clean  straw 
— scents  that  must  suggest  to  the  cattle's  mind  visions 
of  a  glorified  rickyard.  It  is,  perhaps,  too  hot  for  the 
comfort  of  the  fatter  beasts,  some  of  whom  pant  and 

show  signs  of  malaise.     But  others  were  lying  down 

72 


THE  BE  A  UTY  OF  CATTLE  73 

and  chewing  the  cud  placidly,  or  licking  their  own 
coats  or  those  of  their  neighbours — attentions  to  toilet 
which  are  a  certain  sign  of  contentment  in  cattle.  The 
least  tranquil  was  the  splendid  steer  which  had  won  the 
highest  honours  of  the  show.  Size,  shape,  and  colour 
would  have  qualified  it  for  a  place  among  the  Oxen  of 
the  Sun.  Almost  as  tall  as  an  Indian  bison,  with  a 
back  as  straight  and  level  as  a  table,  it  had  the  char- 
acteristic colour  and  proportions  of  the  finest  domestic 
breed.  The  blue-roan  mottling  of  its  wavy  coat 
gradually  increased  in  closeness,  until  on  its  neck  and 
head  nothing  but  the  dark  tint,  like  '  blued '  steel,  pre- 
vailed. Its  eyes  were  large  and  black,  its  eyelashes 
long  and  curling,  its  muzzle  fine  and  sensitive.  But 
its  whole  aspect  was  melancholy,  as  it  waved  its  head 
wearily  from  side  to  side.  As  we  watched  it,  it  lay 
down,  for  the  first  time  since  entering  the  show,  and 
before  long  was  no  doubt  reconciled  to  its  surroundings. 
This  steer  weighed  i  ton  i  cwt,,  and  was  barely  three 
and  a  half  years  old.  But  the  weariness  of  the  champion 
was  by  no  means  shared  by  its  fellows.  A  lovely 
steer  from  Norwich,  next  door,  was  dipping  its  nose 
alternately  into  its  water-pail  and  supper-tray  ;  and  a 
beautiful  young  blue-gray  bullock,  from  Lord  Elles- 
mere's  park  near  Newmarket,  was  angrily  protesting  at 
being  kept  waiting  while  his  neighbours  were  fed.  His 
groom,  a  bright  Suffolk  lad  who  had  '  known  him  ever 


74  THE  BEAUTY  OF  CATTLE 

since  he  was  a  baby,'  treated  this  young  giant  as  if  he 
were  a  Newfoundland  dog.  *  Come,  kiss  me,  then,'  he 
said,  pulling  the  halter,  as  his  pet  was  busy  munching 
bran  and  turnips,  and  the  animal  actually  raised  its 
bran-covered  muzzle  from  the  tray  to  give  the  required 
salute.  The  c  cross-breds ' — cattle  produced  from  parents 
of  first-class  merit,  but  of  different  stocks — are  always 
the  most  interesting  class  in  the  show.  There  is  no 
saying  what  new  beauties  may  be  produced  from  the 
mating  of  the  finest  specimens  of  different  pure- bred 
cattle.  The  champion  of  the  show  was  the  son  of  a 
shorthorn  bull  and  a  Galloway  cow ;  in  others  of 
almost  equal  merit  the  strain  of  Suffolk,  or  Devon,  or 
Welsh  blood  was  to  be  traced.  Great  variety  of  colour 
results  from  this  mixture  of  strains  ;  black,  blue-roan, 
iron-gray,  and  deep  chestnut-red  being  the  favourite 
tints.  These  long-haired,  richly-tinted  hides  should 
make  admirable  rugs  for  halls.  The  Herefords  are, 
perhaps,  the  most  distinct  in  appearance  of  any  breed, 
except  the  Highlanders.  Their  coats  are  crisp  and 
curly,  their  bodies  a  rich,  deep  red,  and  the  face  pure 
white,  with  a  white  line  up  the  nape  of  the  neck.  Very 
different  to  these  easy-going  English  cattle  are  the  wild 
Highlanders  tethered  opposite.  Purity  of  blood  only 
brings  out  their  Celtic  constitution  in  the  greatest  per- 
fection. Their  shaggy  coats  hang  in  mops  and  eif- 
locks  over  their  eyes,  and  their  eyes  are  restless  and 


THE  BEAUTY  OF  CATTLE  75 

angry.  Some  have  enormous  horns,  bent  like  the  bow 
of  Ulysses  ;  in  others,  one  horn  curls  up  and  the  other 
down,  lending  a  disreputable  jauntiness  to  their  unkempt 
heads.  Some  are  orange-yellow  ;  others  the  colour  of 
old  dead  wood  or  smoky  glass.  Others  are  tawny  and 
shaggy  like  a  water-spaniel.  Even  the  railway  journey 
and  the  show  does  not  subdue  their  irascible  Celtic 
minds ;  and  one  rugged  Highlander,  after  being  hauled 
in  by  a  dozen  reluctant  drovers,  was,  in  order  to  secure 
peace,  blindfolded  with  a  sack,  beneath  which  he  sulked 
like  a  Skye-terrier  in  disgrace.  No  greater  contrast 
could  be  imagined  than  that  presented  by  these  lineal 
descendants  of  the  great  bos  urus  of  the  Caledonian 
forest,  and  the  placid,  silky -coated  shorthorns,  the 
latest  triumphs  of  domestication.  The  prize  shorthorn 
heifer  was,  perhaps,  the  ideal  of  a  nice,  good-tempered 
*  cushy '  cow.  The  white  coat  shone  like  ivory  satin  on 
her  back  ;  her  black  eyes  and  eyelashes  set  off  her 
shapely  head  ;  her  ears  just  brushed  her  pink  horns, 
and  her  forehead  was  starred  with  little  velvet  curls. 
The  neat,  white,  cotton-plaited  headstall  which  con- 
fined her  did  not  prevent  her  pushing  her  muzzle  into 
every  extended  hand  to  seek  for  food,  and  she  tossed 
her  head,  when  they  were  without  a  gift,  in  the  keenest 
disappointment  and  mortification.  Compared  with  her, 
the  tiny  black  Kerry  cows  looked  mere  pigmies.  Yet 
their  form  was  equally  perfect,  and  their  quick  vivacious 


76  THE  BEAUTY  OF  CATTLE 

movements  proclaimed  their  race  as  clearly  as  their 
robbery  of  their  neighbours'  hay  showed  their  hereditary 
capacity  for  taking  care  of  themselves  in  good  times  or 
in  bad.  These  small  Kerry  cows  are  perhaps  the  best 
cattle  which  can  be  kept  in  the  grounds  of  a  moderate 
country  house.  They  are  too  small  to  damage  fences, 
are  capital  milkers,  and  most  affectionate  and  intelli- 
gent pets.  They  are  naturally  friendly  creatures,  and, 
like  cows  in  general,  have,  perhaps,  longer  memories 
for  people  than  any  other  animal.  For  the  farm,  the 
choice  will  naturally  fall  among  the  larger  breeds.  The 
difficulty  must  be,  not  to  choose  well  where  all  are  so 
good,  but  to  make  a  choice  at  all.  In  addition  to  the 
specific  breeds  we  have  mentioned,  there  are  towering 
black  Welsh  cattle,  curly  and  horned  ;  and  the  deep-red 
steers  of  Sussex,  small  and  compact,  with  crescent  horns; 
black,  polled  Galloways,  with  coats  shining  like  astrachan 
wool  ;  and  lovely  Devons,  redder  than  their  native  marl, 
and  matched  in  colour  to  a  hair.  These  are  the  herds 
that  have  stocked  the  ranches  of  the  Argentine  and  the 
runs  of  New  South  Wales,  the  hills  of  New  Zealand, 
and  the  plains  of  Uruguay.  It  is  for  their  protection 
that  the  breeder  demands  a  check  on  the  importation 
of  cattle  diseases  from  abroad  ;  and  the  Cattle  Show  is 
the  most  convincing  argument  which  his  cause  has  yet 
produced. 

The   naturalist  who  is  not  too  proud   to  know  the 


THE  BEAUTY  OF  CATTLE  77 

history  of  the  domesticated  animals  which  are  now  as 
native  to  the  soil  as  any  of  the  ancient  wild  races 
could  name  any  district  in  which  he  found  himself  by  a 
glance  at  the  sheep  upon  the  hills.  Not  even  the 
cattle  exhibit  such  marked  differences  as  are  to  be  found 
in  the  flocks  which  a  century  of  careful  selection  has 
fitted  to  thrive  best  in  the  varied  soils  of  England. 
The  big  Leicester  sheep,  with  long  gray  wool  and  white 
faces,  are  as  different  from  the  '  Cotswolds '  as  a  New- 
foundland from  a  white  poodle.  In  the  '  Cotswolds  ' 
will  be  found  the  original  of  the  c  baa-lamb '  of  the 
nursery.  These  sheep  are  tall,  with  white  wool  in 
locks,  and  with  tufts  upon  the  head  and  forehead. 
The  Lincolnshire  sheep  are  more  like  those  of  Leicester, 
but  heavier  in  the  fleece,  coarser,  and  more  fitted  for 
life  in  the  marshes.  They  have,  perhaps,  the  most 
intelligent  faces  of  any  sheep  but  the  refined  South 
Downs.  We  noticed  a  Lincoln  ewe  endeavouring  to 
open  a  sack  of  cakes  by  putting  her  foot  into  the 
mouth,  and  drawing  out  the  contents,  as  it  lay  on  the 
ground  in  the  next  pen.  Romney  Marsh  has  its  own 
breed  of  sheep,  somewhat  like  the  Lincolns.  But  of  all 
the  flocks  of  England,  the  South  Downs  must  win  the 
palm.  Their  short-clipped  and  delicate  wool  is  felted 
together  like  moss.  The  hand  sinks  into  it  with 
difficulty.  The  form  is  beautiful  and  rounded,  and 
though  apparently  so  finely  built,  their  weight  is  great. 


78  THE  BEAUTY  OF  CATTLE 

The  close,  yellow-gray  fleece  fits  over  the  head  like  a 
cap,  disclosing  the  face  and  nose,  covered  with  short, 
gray  hair — not  wool.  The  features  are  extremely 
dainty,  and  the  movements  of  the  mouth,  as  the  sheep 
nibbles  its  fragrant  supper  of  trefoil  and  clover,  resemble 
those  of  some  delicate  foreign  rodent.  Their  heads  are 
far  prettier  than  those  of  many  deer — almost  as  refined 
as  that  of  the  gazelle.  These  sheep  undergo  an 
elaborate  toilet  every  morning.  Clipping  them  is  an 
art  in  which  few  excel.  Their  coats  are  trimmed, 
brushed,  and  damped,  and  pressed  flat  with  a  setting- 
board,  and  finally  tinted  for  the  day.  The  Hampshires, 
black-faced  and  Roman-nosed,  are  also  rouged. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  trace  the  development  of 
these  fine  creatures  from  their  primitive  ancestors ;  but 
even  in  the  earliest  instance  the  sheep  seems  not  to 
have  been  indigenous  in  England.  Geologically  speak- 
ing, it  is  a  very  modern  animal.  Oddly  enough,  the 
chief  difference  between  the  tame  and  the  wild  sheep 
seems  to  be  in  the  length  of  its  tail,  which  is  short 
in  all  the  wild  breeds,  and  will  grow  long  in  domesti- 
cated sheep,  though  severely  discouraged  in  this 
country.  The  wool  in  the  tame  sheep  has  also  gained 
that  power  of  '  felting '  on  which  its  value  mainly 
depends.  The  wild  cattle  of  Chillingham  are  this  year 
not  represented  at  the  Show.  The  animal  shown  last 
year,  which  was  the  result  of  a.  cross  with  a  pure-bred 


THE  BEAUTY  OF  CATTLE  79 

shorthorn,  retained  the  characteristic  colour  and  shape 
of  the  original  herd,  even  in  the  horns  and  tip  of  the 
ear,  a  proof  of  the  strength  of  the  wild  blood  which 
has  been  observed  in  several  previous  experiments.  It 
took  a  good  place  among  the  best  cross-breds  exhibited, 
and  made  excellent  beef  when  killed. 

Swine  have  probably  made  the  widest  departure  from 
the  wild  state.  A  bird's-eye  view  of  the  piggery,  taken 
from  the  top  of  a  corn-bin,  showed  nothing  but  round 
and  placid-breathing  masses  of  animated  pork,  shapeless 
and  unpleasing,  excellent,  no  doubt,  for  food;  but  how 
unlike  the  old  rusty-coloured,  vivacious,  sagacious 
English  woodland  pig  !  Professor  Flower  says  that  the 
young  of  all  wild  kinds  of  pig  present  a  uniform  color- 
ation, being  dark  brown  with  longitudinal  stripes  of  a 
paler  colour.  This  marking,  according  to  our  own 
observation,  is  very  rare  in  the  domesticated  pig,  which 
seems  to  have  lost  with  civilization  all  distinguishing 
marks  of  its  wild  parentage.  It  would  be  a  pity,  how- 
ever, if  the  poor  piggies  at  Islington  were  made  into 
'  burnt  pig/  after  the  manner  invented  by  Charles 
Lamb's  Chinaman.  That,  however,  may  well  be  the  case 
unless  the  rules  against  smoking  in  the  Cattle  Show  are 
more  strictly  enforced.  We  saw  one  visitor  knock  the 
ashes  off  his  cigar  into  a  pen.  A  fire  so  kindled  might 
run  the  length  of  the  hall  in  ten  minutes,  and  not  leave 
a  single  beast  surviving. 


XI.— WAR-HORSES 

WAR  and  the  chase  are  the  ultimate  objects  for  which 
the  Commission  on  Irish  Horse-breeding  has  lately 
been  hearing  the  evidence  of  experts  on  both  sides  of 
the  Channel.  The  Irish  owners  desire  to  raise  a  class 
of  horses  the  best  of  which  can  be  sold  at  a  high  price 
for  hunting,  while  the  rest  pay  their  way  as  cavalry 
remounts.  How  best  to  combine  these  objects  the  Com- 
mission will  have  to  decide.  Thoroughbred  sires,  it 
is  agreed,  produce  the  stock  most  likely  to  make  good 
hunters  ;  and  though  the  '  hackney  '  is  much  in  favour 
with  some  breeders  of  cavalry  horses,  we  have  very 
little  doubt  that  the  better  bred  these  are  the  more 
likely  they  are  to  stand  the  rough  work  of  war. 

The  modern  heavy  cavalry  horse  has  to  carry  a  total 
weight,  made  up  of  man,  harness,  and  equipment,  of 
20  st. — 280  Ib. — and  the  light  cavalry  horse  a  weight 
of  1 7  st.  He  is  expected,  if  required,  to  march  thirty 
miles  in  one  day,  and  to  be  able  to  do  his  work  on  the 

next.     Bought  in  Ireland  at  three  years  old,  he  is  two 

80 


WAR-HORSES  81 

years  in  training,  and  spends  four  years  in  the  ranks  as 
his  average  time  of  active  service.  It  is  very  possible 
that  if  the  type  of  cavalry  horse  were  bigger  it  would 
last  longer.  But  the  modern  animal  is  a  compromise 
between  the  needs  of  the  Service  and  the  price  which 
Government  can  afford.  There  is  no  such  contrast 
now  as  formerly  between  the  great  war-horse,  specially 
bred  to  carry  the  man  in  armour,  and  the  '  natural ' 
war-horse,  bred  for  speed,  endurance,  and  to  carry  a 
man  armed  only  with  sword,  spear,  and  shield.  The 
difference  has  never  been  presented  so  vividly  as  in  the 
battles  of  the  Crusaders,  especially  those  in  which  they 
were  opposed  to  the  Saracen  cavalry.  Sir  Walter 
Scott's  representation  of  the  single  combat  in  the  desert 
between  Sir  Kenneth  and  Saladin  is  a  very  probable 
account  of  what  would  happen  in  such  an  encounter. 
When  the  mail-clad  Knights  on  their  heavy  horses  were 
able  to  charge  knee  to  knee  they  must  have  swept  away 
any  force  of  Saracen  cavalry ;  but  there  is  evidence  in 
the  accounts  of  the  Templars  that  they  modified  their 
equipment  in  some  degree  to  suit  the  Eastern  modes 
of  warfare  and  the  climate.  It  is,  however,  less  well 
known  that  the  Saracens  did  the  same,  and  that  the 
changes  they  made  in  the  days  of  the  Crusades  endured 
a  hundred  years  ago,  and  in  some  parts  of  the  Soudan 
are  still  observable.  They  adopted  a  light  chain 
armour,  the  steel  cap,  and  the  two-handed  sword  of  the 

6 


82  WAR-HORSES 

Crusaders,  and  to  carry  the  increased  weight  must  have 
bred  their  horses  of  a  larger  size.  This  appears  in  an 
account  by  Bruce  in  his  '  Travels  to  Discover  the 
Source  of  the  Nile/  published  exactly  one  hundred  years 
ago.  He  visited,  near  Sennaar,  the  Sheik  Adelan, 
round  whose  house  were  stabled  four  hundred  horses, 
with  quarters  for  four  hundred  men,  all  alike  the 
'  property '  of  Sheik  Adelan.  '  It  was  one  of  the  finest 
sights  I  ever  saw  of  the  kind,'  he  wrote.  '  The  horses 
were  all  above  sixteen  hands  high,  of  the  breed  of  the 
old  Saracen  horses,  all  finely  made  and  as  strong  as  our 
coach-horses,  but  exceedingly  nimble  in  their  motion  ; 
rather  thick  and  short  in  the  fore-hand,  but  with  the 
most  beautiful  eyes,  ears,  and  heads  in  the  world. 
They  were  mostly  black,  some  of  them  black  and 
white,  some  of  them  milk-white  (foaled  so,  not  white 
by  age).'  The  size  and  character  of  these  horses  dis- 
tinguish them  from  the  ordinary  light  Arab.  Sir 
William  Broadwood  questions  Bruce's  accuracy,  saying 
that  he  is  evidently  mistaken  when  he  describes  Sheik 
Adelan's  troop-horses  as  all  above  sixteen  hands, 
because  Arab  horses  now  rarely  exceed  fifteen  hands. 
Bruce's  accuracy  has  survived  the  questioning  of  his 
contemporary  critics,  but  the  context  supplies  a  probable 
answer  to  Sir  W.  Broadwood's  doubts.  All  the  riders 
wore  armour,  and  the  horses  were  not  the  modern  Arab, 
but  bred  to  carry  the  extra  weight.  c  A  steel  shirt  of  mail 


WAR-HORSES  83 

hung  over  each  man's  quarters  opposite  his  horse,  and 
by  it  an  antelope's  skin,  made  as  soft  as  chamois,  with 
which  it  was  covered  from  the  dew  of  night.  A  head- 
piece of  copper,  without  crest  or  plume,  was  suspended 
by  a  lace  above  this  shirt  of  mail,  and  was  the  most 
picturesque  part  of  the  trophy.  To  these  was  added 
an  enormous  broadsword,  in  a  red  leather  scabbard,  and 
upon  the  pommel  hung  two  thick  gloves,  like  hedger's 
gloves,  their  fingers  in  one  poke/  To  carry  this 
panoply  the  Sheik's  horses  were  modified  from  the 
natural  Arab  type. 

The  size  of  the  English  war-horse  reached  its  maxi- 
mum in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  when  the  relations 
of  body-armour  to  '  hand-guns '  were  analogous  to  those 
of  the  early  ship-armour  and  cannon  before  the  '  high 
velocities  *  were  obtained  at  Elswick.  There  was  good 
reason  to  believe  that  by  adding  a  little  to  the  thickness 
of  the  coat  of  steel  the  soft  low- velocity  bullet  of  the 
day  could  be  kept  out.  So  it  was  for  a  time.  But  the 
additional  weight  required  a  still  larger  horse  to  carry 
it.  The  charger  had  to  be  armoured  as  well  as  his 
rider,  and  the  collection  in  the  Tower  of  London  shows 
the  actual  weight  which  it  carried.  The  panoply  of 
Charles  Brandon,  Duke  of  Suffolk,  the  brother-in-law 
of  Henry  VIII.,  still  exists.  That  of  the  horse  covers 
the  whole  of  the  hind-quarters,  the  back  of  the  neck, 
forehead,  muzzle,  ears,  shoulders,  and  chest.  It  is 

6—2 


84  WAR-HORSES 

exactly  like  a  piece  of  boiler-plating,  and  fastened  by 
rivets.  The  rider  sat  in  a  saddle  the  front  of  which 
was  a  steel  shield  ten  inches  high,  covering  the  stomach 
and  thighs  as  the  '  breast-work '  on  an  ironclad's  deck 
covers  the  base  of  the  turret.  The  total  weight  is 
80  Ib.  15  oz.  To  this  add  the  weight  of  the  rider's 
armour,  99  Ib.  9  oz.,  and  of  the  rider  himself,  say, 
1 6  st. — 224  Ib. — and  the  total  is  28  st.  12  Ib.  8  oz.,  or 
404  Ib.  8  oz.  This  bears  out  Holinshed's  statement 
that  in  the  days  of  Henry  VIII. ,  '  who  erected  a  noble 
studderie  for  breeding  horses,  especially  the  greatest 
sort,'  such  as  were  kept  for  burden,  would  bear  4  cwt. 
commonly.  As  the  gun  prevailed,  personal  armour, 
just  as  in  the  modern  ships,  was  concentrated  over  the 
vital  parts.  Breastplates  remained  bullet-proof,  thigh- 
pieces  were  only  sword-proof.  But  till  the  days  of 
James  II.  complete  armour  seems  to  have  been  commonly 
worn  by  commanding  officers  in  battle.  The  statue  of 
Admiral  Lord  Holmes  in  Yarmouth  Church  shows  him 
in  full  armour.  Charles  I.,  Cromwell,  Maurice  of 
Nassau,  and  William  III.  at  the  Boyne,  are  painted  in 
the  same  equipment,  except  that  leather  boots  have 
superseded  greaves.  The  horse  becomes  lighter,  but  is 
in  most  respects  the  same  animal.  His  points  are  well 
shown  in  the  fine  equestrian  statue  of  Charles  II.  at  the 
top  of  Whitehall  Place.  But  before  the  date  of  the 
battle  of  Blenheim  a  change  had  begun.  The  *  great 


WAR-HORSES  85 

horse '  of  war  was  being  bred  as  a  beast  of  draught,  to 
develop  into  the  modern  shire  horse,  and  his  place  as 
a  war-horse  was  in  process  of  being  taken  by  the 
4  dragooner,'  which  carried  a  soldier  with  only  as  much 
defensive  armour  as  our  modern  Lifeguards.  Crom- 
well's '  dragooners '  carried  rather  more  weight  ;  but 
from  a  letter  quoted  by  Sir  Walter  Gilbey  in  '  The 
Old  English  War-Horse/*  it  may  be  inferred  that  they 
were  not  of  the  old  heavy  breed.  <  Buy  those  horses,' 
he  writes  to  Auditor  Squire,  *  but  do  not  give  more 
than  eighteen  or  twenty  pieces  each  for  them.  That  is 
enough  for  dragooners.'  Then,  *  I  will  give  you  sixty 
pieces  for  that  black  you  won  (in  battle)  at  Horncastle, 
for  my  son  has  a  mind  to  him.'  The  '  black '  was 
one  of  the  old  war-horses,  the  colour  having  become 
synonymous  with  the  breed  ;  and  Oliver  was  so  keen 
on  getting  it,  that  as  Mr.  Auditor  Squire  would  not 
part  at  the  price  offered,  he  wrote  later  :  *  I  will  give 
you  all  you  ask  for  that  black  you  won  last  fight.'  By 
the  accession  of  the  Hanoverian  Kings  the  *  great  horse  ' 
had  disappeared,  even  for  the  use  of  officers  and  com- 
manders. Then  the  equipment  of  regular  cavalry 
became  uniform  throughout  the  whole  of  Europe,  and 
has  remained  so  until  the  present  day.  The  only 
difference  in  the  horses  is  that  between  an  animal  able 

*  <  The  Old  English  War-Horse.'    By  Walter  Gilbey.    London  : 
Vinton  and  Co. 


86  WAR-HORSES 

to  carry  a  1 2  st.  man  and  his  equipment,  and  that  which 
carries  a  10  st.  man,  and  except  in  some  French  regi- 
ments of  Chasseurs  which  use  Arab  horses,  the  breed  is 
almost  identical.  Even  the  Cossacks  are  now  regular 
troopers  and  mounted  on  big  horses,  instead  of  the 
twelve-hand  ponies  on  which  they  rode  from  the  Don 
to  the  Seine. 

In  the  Graeco-Turkish  War  the  Greek  army  encamped 
on  the  plain  where  Bucephalus  was  reared  ;  but  the 
famous  Thessalian  horses  have  now  dwindled  to  the 
size  of  ponies,  which  were  ridden  by  the  irregular  and 
local  levies  of  the  Greeks.  Bucephalus  was  the  most 
costly  war-horse  ever  bought.  The  animal  came  out  of 
a  noted  stud  owned  by  a  Thessalian  chief ;  and  even 
before  its  celebrated  taming  by  Alexander,  this  gentle- 
man asked  Philip ^2,51 8  155.  as  his  lowest  price.  Pliny 
says  that  Philip  gave  ^435  more  than  this.  It  now 
appears  that,  contrary  to  general  belief,  Bucephalus 
was  a  mare.  This  accounts  for  the  high  price  paid. 
Compared  with  the  prices  asked  for  Arab  mares  of 
great  descent  in  much  later  times,  the  sum  demanded  is 
not  excessive.  But  Bucephalus  was  a  good  bargain 
even  as  a  war-horse.  She  was  ridden  until  she  was 
thirty  years  old,  and  then  died  of  wounds  received  in  a 
battle  with  Porus,  and  left  her  bones  in  the  Punjab. 


XII.— THE  SPEED  OF  THE  PIGEON-POST 

IT  seems  probable  that  current  estimates  of  the  speed 
of  birds'  flight  must  be  modified.  In  a  recent  race 
a  number  of  carrier-pigeons  were  flown  from  the  Shet- 
land Islands  to  London.  This  is  a  great  distance  even 
for  trained  birds,  the  total  length  of  the  journey  being 
591-^  miles.  The  date  being  only  a  week  after  the 
longest  day  of  the  year,  the  birds  had  the  advantage  of 
daylight  during  their  whole  flight,  and  the  winner 
reached  the  house  of  its  owner,  Mr.  Clutterbuck,  of 
Stanmore,  in  eight  minutes  under  sixteen  hours.  They 
had  been  liberated  at  Lerwick  at  3.30  a.m.  The  official 
weather-chart  of  the  Meteorological  Office  gave,  not  for 
the  first  time,  information  of  the  utmost  value  for  esti- 
mating the  conditions  of  wind  under  which  the  flight 
was  made.  Every  <  arrow  '  from  Kirkwall  to  London 
pointed  due  south.  In  other  words,  the  birds  had  the 
wind  behind  them  throughout  their  journey.  The 
result  is  that,  in  what  is  very  nearly  an  approach  to  a 
migration  flight,  the  pigeons  travelled  at  a  speed  of 

87 


THE  SPEED  OF  THE  PIGEON-POST 

37  miles  an  hour.  An  interesting  correspondence  in 
the  Field)  following  the  announcement  of  this  fact, 
showed  how  widely  observers  differ  on  this  most  inter- 
esting question,  but  the  records  approach  more  nearly 
to  the  lower  estimate  in  each  case  in  which  accuracy  has 
been  possible  ;  and  in  any  case  the  surmises  of  the  late 
Dr.  Gatke  that  migrating  birds  travelled  occasionally  at 
speeds  reaching  180  miles  an  hour  cannot  now  be 
seriously  defended.  Yet  such  a  good  observer  as  Mr. 
Frohawk,  one  of  our  best  painters  of  birds  and  animals, 
is  convinced  that  a  godwit  can  fly  at  a  speed  or 
150  miles  per  hour;  and  Sir  Ralph  Payne  Gallwey 
reckons  the  flight  of  a  teal  as  sometimes  reaching 
140  miles  an  hour.  But  it  has  been  calculated  that  if 
the  godwit  were  flying  at  150  miles  an  hour,  it  would 
have  to  overcome  a  resistance  of  air  equal  to  a  pressure 
of  1 1 2  Ib.  per  square  foot,  or  considerably  more  than 
the  force  of  a  hundred-mile  hurricane.  Other  corre- 
spondents give  instances  which  leave  little  doubt  that 
shore  birds  do  travel  at  speeds  considerably  above 
50  miles  an  hour  ;  but  as  regards  the  flight  of  the 
pigeon,  some  experiments  carried  out  by  the  proprietors 
of  the  Field  many  years  ago  leave  little  doubt  that  the 
speed  shown  in  the  Shetland  flight  is  normal.  Twelve 
records  with  the  chronograph  gave  a  highest  speed  to 
the  '  blue  rock  '  pigeon  of  from  33  to  38  miles  an 
hour.  Pheasants  and  partridges  were  also  subjected  to 


r  ^ 

THE  SPEED  OF  THE  PIGEON-POST  89 

experiment.  The  former  made  a  record  of  38  miles 
an  hour,  and  the  partridges,  when  well  on  the  wing,  of 
32  miles. 

The  correspondents  of  the  Field  have  endeavoured 
to  settle  the  question  of  the  speed  of  birds  solely  by 
observation.  In  the  absence  of  any  mechanical  aids 
such  observations  are  most  difficult  to  make,  and  in  the 
nature  of  things  they  fall  short  of  the  certainty  which 
would  be  desirable.  The  chief  value  of  such  contri- 
butions to  the  discussion  is  that  up  to  the  present  date 
first-hand  observations  of  any  kind  are  scarce,  meagre, 
and  contradictory.  Everyone  has  been  struck  by  the 
phenomena  of  flight ;  almost  no  one  has  found  time  to 
take  the  necessary  thought  and  trouble  to  collect  data 
on  a  subject  so  uncertain  and  elusive.  When  M.  Marey 
published  his  monumental  work,  '  Le  Vol  des  Oiseaux,' 
in  1890,  such  records  as  he  was  able  to  collect,  though 
eminently  suggestive,  were  only  calculated  to  give 
uncertain  notions  ;  moreover,  the  conclusions  of  dif- 
ferent writers  did  not  agree.  M.  Van  Roosebeck,  a 
leading  Belgian  pigeon-flyer,  assigned  to  homing  pigeons 
a  maximum  speed  of  from  100  to  120  miles  an  hour. 
Wilbers  quoted  a  case  of  a  pigeon  which  had  flown 
nearly  20  miles  in  as  many  minutes.  Here  is  a 
difference  of  one  half  between  two  authorities.  One  of 
the  standard  references  was  an  observed  flight  of  pigeons 
from  Paris  to  Spa,  at  the  rate  of  50  miles  an  hour. 


90  THE  SPEED  OF  THE  PIGEON-POST 

The  distance  between  the  two  points  is  250  miles. 
Some  of  the  so-called  tables  of  birds'  speed  must  have 
been  drawn  up  on  pure  conjecture.  Thus,  according  to 
one  authority,  the  quail  flies  at  17  metres  per  second, 
the  pigeon  at  27  metres,  the  falcon  at  28  metres 
(what  falcon?),  the  swallow  at  67  metres,  and  the 
martin  at  88  metres,  or  about  95  yards  per  second. 
Such  comparisons  are  useless  without  stating  what  kind 
of  flight  is  meant.  The  only  flight  which  is  open  to 
comparison  in  the  sense  desired,  or  rather  which  can 
be  compared  with  the  means  at  our  disposal,  is  the 
sustained  flight  of  birds  from  point  to  point.  Not, 
for  example,  the  downward  rush  of  a  falcon  after  prey, 
or  the  dash  of  a  partridge  into  cover.  But  there  are 
cases  in  which  even  these  can  be  compared,  as  when  a 
bird  of  prey  pursues  another  bird.  In  this  connection 
this  table  of  speeds  is  ridiculously  inaccurate  ;  the 
writer  has  seen  a  small  falcon,  the  hobby,  pursue  and 
catch  a  swallow  on  the  wing,  though  the  speed  of  the 
latter  is  set  down  as  four  times  greater  than  that  of  the 
falcon.  Audubon's  notes  are  more  interesting,  and 
probably  nearer  the  truth.  He  found  in  the  crops  of 
pigeons  which  he  shot  some  rice,  which  they  could  not 
have  gathered  nearer  than  Carolina,  about  350  miles 
from  the  place  where  they  were  shot.  From  the  state 
of  digestion  in  which  he  found  the  rice,  he  concluded 
that  it  had  been  six  hours  in  the  birds'  crops,  and  that 


THE  SPEED  OF  THE  PIGEON-POST  91 

they  must  therefore  have  flown  the  distance  at  a  speed 
of  about  a  mile  a  minute.  He  also  estimated  that  the 
eider-duck  flies  at  the  speed  of  40  miles  an  hour,  and 
the  wild  duck  at  about  45  miles  an  hour  in  sustained 
flights.  One  obvious  chance  of  error  in  his  calculation 
of  the  speed  of  the  pigeons  is  the  possibility  that  diges- 
tion may  have  been  partly  arrested  while  the  birds  were 
flying  so  long  a  distance.  Another  statement  dealing 
with  the  frigate-bird  depends  on  the  assumption  that  it 
neither  flies  by  night  nor  sleeps  on  the  water.  If  this 
is  correct,  the  distances  travelled  by  these  ocean-birds 
in  a  single  day  must  amount  to  as  much  as  1,800 
miles,  for  they  have  been  seen  at  a  distance  of  more 
than  900  miles  from  any  coast  or  island.  But  no  one 
can  prove  that  they  do  not  fly  by  night,  and  the  effort- 
less soaring  of  these  ocean-birds  suggests  that  their 
power  to  remain  on  the  wing  is  certainly  not  limited  to 
a  period  of  twelve  hours. 

It  seems  contrary  to  all  reasonable  conjecture  that 
any  bird  should  make  a  daily  flight  of  hundreds  of 
miles  from  its  roosting-place.  But  there  are  means 
available  for  discovering  the  real  rate  of  flight  of  the 
frigate-bird  not  less  accurately  than  that  of  the  carrier- 
pigeon.  According  to  the  Rev.  S.  G.  Whitmee,  the 
frigate-birds  are  domesticated  by  the  natives  of  the 
Ellice  Islands.  In  1870  he  saw  numbers  of  them 
sitting  about  on  perches  erected  for  them  near  the 


92  THE  SPEED  OF  THE  PIGEON-POST 

beach.  The  natives  catch  the  young  birds,  tie  them 
by  the  leg,  and  feed  them  till  they  become  tame. 
Then  they  let  them  loose,  when  they  regularly  go  out 
to  sea  to  obtain  food,  and  come  back  to  roost.  Ad- 
vantage was  taken  of  this  by  some  of  the  missionaries 
to  establish  a  '  pigeon-post,'  conducted  by  frigate-birds, 
between  the  islands,  and  Mr.  Whitmee  himself  saw 
more  than  one  letter  arrive  in  a  quill  attached  to  the 
wing  of  a  frigate-bird.  Here  there  is  a  perfect  oppor- 
tunity, ready  made,  for  determining  the  speed  of  one 
of  the  finest  fliers  among  the  whole  nation  of  birds. 
It  is  not  likely  that  the  natives  of  these  islands,  or, 
rather,  islets,  north  of  Fiji  and  east  of  Samoa,  have 
ceased  to  tame  the  birds,  and  the  missionaries  now  on 
the  islands  might  renew  the  experiment  of  the  past, 
and  make  a  trustworthy  record.  A  very  ingenious 
means  of  observing  the  speed  of  flight  was  suggested  by 
MM.  Liais  and  Mouillard.  This  was  to  fly  a  bird 
across  some  open  area  of  sand,  and  measure  the  time  at 
which  the  shadow  crossed  lines  marked  upon  it.  But 
the  photographic  gun  of  M.  Marey  gives  excellent 
results.  If  the  bird  is  crossing  the  spectator,  it  will 
show  on  a  spinning  disc  images  at  the  rate  of  ten  in  a 
second.  When  the  space  between  the  images  is 
measured,  and  compared  with  the  length  of  the  bird's 
body  on  the  plate,  the  speed  at  which  it  is  travelling 
can  be  calculated  at  once.  Observations  made  from 


THE  SPEED  OF  THE  PIGEON-POST  93 

railway-carriage  windows  give  a  rough  means  of  com- 
paring bird-speed.  The  writer  has  often  done  this, 
and  has  found  that  a  train  running  at  thirty-five  miles 
an  hour  travels  faster  than  the  rook,  the  heron,  the 
pheasant,  and  all  small  birds  commonly  seen  inland 
except  swallows  and  martins.  A  covey  of  partridges 
flying  parallel  with  the  train  sometimes  exceeds  the 
speed  of  the  engine  at  between  thirty-five  and  forty 
miles  per  hour.  Accurate  observations  of  the  flight  of 
cormorants  might  be  made,  if  anyone  would  take  the 
necessary  trouble,  when  returning  to  roost  in  the  cliffs. 
They  fly  perfectly  straight  along  shore  in  certain  places 
just  before  dusk  every  evening,  and  a  few  marks  set  up 
and  a  measurement  on  the  ordnance  map  would  give 
accurate  results,  especially  if  two  persons  marked  the 
flight  at  different  angles.  The  writer  has  found  the 
speed  of  these  heavy  birds,  on  still  evenings,  to  approxi- 
mate to  a  mile  in  one  minute  and  ten  seconds.  '  A 
mile  a  minute '  is  less  rapid  when  the  flight  is  watched 
from  a  distance  than  might  be  imagined.  It  must  be 
something  less  than  half  the  speed  at  which  a  swift 
dashes  past  on  a  summer  evening,  though  allowances 
must  be  made  for  appearances  when  comparing  the 
flight  of  large  birds  with  that  of  small  ones.  A  bee 
seems  to  fly  by  like  a  flash,  yet  it  only  makes  thirty 
miles  an  hour,  or  half  the  speed  at  which  the  heavy 
cormorants  fly  home  to  bed. 


XIII.— THE  LONDON  HORSE  AT  HOME 

LONDON  horses  are  the  result  of  the  completest  form  of 
'  urban  immigration '  known.  Probably  not  thirty  of 
the  three  hundred  thousand  which  live  within  the 
Metropolitan  area  were  born  there.  Yet  such  is  the 
natural  intelligence  of  their  kind  that,  after  a  training 
lasting  not  more  than  eight  months,  even  at  the 
longest,  they  are  as  much  at  home  in  London  streets, 
and  as  healthy  in  London  stables,  as  if  they  had  never 
known  the  freedom  of  a  Suffolk  strawyard  or  an  Irish 
hillside.  Even  in  manners  and  appearance  the  London 
horse  differs  from  his  country  cousin.  Even  the  street - 
arab  detects  the  latter.  *  Hullo,  here's  a  country  'orse  ; 
let's  take  a  rise  out  of  him !'  was  the  amiable  comment 
of  a  street-urchin  on  seeing  a  rustic  Dobbin  which  had 
brought  a  load  of  hay  into  town  during  the  summer 
droughts  munching  from  its  nose-bag  outside  a  Chelsea 
'  public/ 

In  c  The  Horse  World  of  London,'  published  by  the 
Religious  Tract  Society,  Mr.  W.  J.  Gordon  has  given 

94 


THE  LONDON  HORSE  AT  HOME  95 

not  a  sketch,  but  an  exhaustive  and  brightly  written 
account  of  the  varied  lives  and  work  of  the  animals  them- 
selves, and  of  the  organized  system  of  collective  owner- 
ship which  mainly  governs  the  employment  and  purchase 
of  London  horses.  There  is  hardly  a  page  in  the  book 
which  is  not  full  of  facts,  mainly  new,  and  always 
interesting.  As  we  read,  the  mixed  and  bewildering 
equine  crowd  which  pours  along  the  streets  in  carriages 
and  four-wheeled  cabs,  tradesmen's  carts  and  parcel- 
vans,  brewers'  drays  and  road-carts,  dust-cars  and  coal- 
carts,  hansoms  and  hearses,  is  resolved  into  classes, 
nations  and  callings,  destined  for  separate  uses,  with 
reasonable  purpose.  The  immense  scale  on  which 
horses  are  now  'jobbed  '  from  large  proprietors,  and  the 
steady  decline  of  private  ownership,  is  perhaps  the  most 
interesting  fact,  from  an  economic  point  of  view,  on 
which  Mr.  Gordon  dwells.  Tilling,  of  Peckham, 
owns  a  stud  of  2,500  of  all  kinds,  and  these  are  hired 
for  work  in  every  part  of  the  kingdom,  from  the  heavy 
cart-horse  to  the  riding-cob.  They  are  to  be  found  in 
Sunderland,  in  Cornwall  and  at  Brighton.  They  are 
hired  by  every  class  of  customer,  from  the  Lord  Mayor 
and  Sheriffs  to  the  laundry  company.  Peak  and  Frean 
hire  a  hundred  for  their  biscuit  vans  ;  a  great  brewer 
( jobs '  as  many  more.  Even  some  of  the  tram-lines  are 
thus  horsed  ;  so  is  the  Fire  Brigade,  the  Salvage  Corps, 
and  now  the  mounted  police.  The  advantage  of  these 


96  THE  LONDON  HORSE  AT  HOME 

large  establishments  is  plain.  If  a  horse  turns  out 
unfit  for  the  use  for  which  it  is  bought,  it  can  be  trans- 
ferred to  another.  If  unsuited  for  a  smart  carriage,  it 
can  be  hired  out  to  the  doctor,  and  if  troublesome,  can 
be  put  to  hard  labour  for  a  season  in  an  omnibus,  and 
thence  transferred,  after  a  course  of  discipline,  to  the 
luxurious  life  of  private  service.  This  is  an  old  device  ; 
but  hitherto  the  transfer  could  not  be  made  without  the 
sale  and  repurchase  of  the  animal  at  a  loss,  until  the 
horseowner  increased  his  stock  to  a  size  which  made 
such  change  of  employment  possible.  One  small 
owner,  the  possessor  of  four  or  five  light  *  vanners,'  was 
wont  to  boast  that  he  had  bought  a  horse  for  five 
pounds  and  sold  it  for  fifty  pounds,  a  story  which  he 
never  varied  when  relating  it  to  the  present  writer. 
The  animal,  purchased  at  an  equine  '  rubbish '  sale,  was 
a  confirmed  bolter.  No  sooner  was  it  harnessed  than  it 
set  off  at  full  gallop,  a  career  which  generally  ended  in 
a  smash,  and  the  immediate  resale  of  the  culprit.  But 
the  new  purchaser,  far  from  trying  to  check  this 
propensity,  resolved,  as  he  said,  to  '  humour  him  a  bit/ 
and  generously  *  lent  him  to  a  fire-engine.'  The  horse 
soon  found  that  he  was  encouraged  not  only  to  bolt  at 
starting,  but  to  keep  up  the  pace,  and  in  six  months  was 
quite  ready  either  to  stand  in  harness  or  to  start  at  any 
speed  wished  by  his  driver.  Besides  the  great  'jobbers,' 
the  omnibus  companies,  the  railways,  the  London 


THE  LONDON  HORSE  AT  HOME  97 

vestries,  and  the  large  breweries  and  distilleries  own 
troops  and  regiments  of  horses,  and  the  combination  of 
capital  and  high  organization  with  proper  economic 
management  in  these  great  establishments  has  set  a 
standard  of  good  and  humane  treatment  by  which  the 
London  horse  has  greatly  benefited.  Better  and  larger 
stables,  good  food  and  litter,  and  steady  work,  with 
regular  days  of  rest,  have  lengthened  the  life  and 
improved  the  physique  of  the  London  horse.  A  good 
brewer's  horse,  standing  17*2,  was  weighed  by  Mr. 
Gordon,  and  tipped  the  beam  at  just  over  the  ton.  The 
driver  weighed  20  stone  12  Ib. !  the  van,  fully 
loaded,  6  tons  15  cwt.,  to  which  must  be  added  the 
harness,  making  a  total  with  the  driver  of  nearly 
8  tons.  Three  horses  drew  the  whole  ;  and  it  was 
stated  that,  on  the  average,  three  horses  now  do  the 
work  which  four  did  twenty  years  ago.  'The  vans 
have  improved,  the  roads  have  improved,  and  the 
horses  have  improved — especially  the  horses/  We 
agree  with  Mr.  Gordon  in  thinking  that  steady  attention 
to  the  breeding  of  draught-horses  all  over  the  country 
has  probably  increased  their  size  and  power,  just  as  it 
has  increased  the  average  size  of  the  thoroughbred. 
The  latter  gains  one  hand  in  a  century.  In  1700  he 
stood,  on  the  average,  at  1 3*2  ;  he  now  stands  1 5*3.  We 
might  suggest  a  rough  test  of  the  growth  of  the  draught- 
horse.  The  shafts  of  the  'tumbril,'  or  country  two- 

7     '  - 


98  THE  LONDON  HORSE  AT  HOME 

wheeled  farm-cart,  have  probably  been  set  on  at  their 
present  height  by  the  tradition  of  one  hundred  years  in 
wheelwrights'  shops.  If  compared  with  the  height  of 
the  shafts  in  the  '  tumbrils '  used  for  the  monster  horses 
of  the  London  vestries,  a  clue  might  be  gained  as  to  the 
proportionate  increase  in  the  height  of  the  best  draught- 
horses.  The  main  conditions  of  health  for  the  London 
horse,  when  once  acclimatized,  seem  to  be  the  Sunday's 
rest,  and  proper  care  of  his  feet.  Experience  only 
proves  the  truth  of  the  evidence  given  by  Bianconi, 
when  the  whole  mail  traffic  of  Ireland  was  run  on  his 
cars.  He  owned  more  horses  than  any  man  of  his  time, 
and  declared  that  he  got  far  more  work  out  of  them 
when  he  ran  them  only  six  days  a  week  than  when  he 
ran  them  seven.  Mr.  Gordon  cites  Lord  Erskine's 
speech  when  introducing  a  Bill  dealing  with  cruelty  to 
animals :  '  Man's  dominion  is  not  absolute,  but  is  limited 
by  the  obligations  of  justice  and  mercy  ;'  and,  except  in 
the  case  of  certain  unfortunate  hackneys,  which  can  be 
used  in  carts  on  week-days,  and  serve  in  a  cab  on 
Sundays,  most  owners  seem  now  to  recognise  both  the 
Justice  and  utility  of  allowing  their  horses  a  Sabbath  of 
rest.  Hard  work  is  terribly  aggravated  by  any  mischief 
in  the  horses'  feet,  most  of  the  cases  of  *  cruelty  '  being 
due  to  working  them  in  that  condition.  The  ponderous 
hoof  of  the  dray-horse  crushes  down  upon  iron  or 
sharp  stone,  and  at  once  drives  the  object  deep  into  the 


THE  LONDON  HORSE  AT  HOME  99 

foot.  Iron  nails  inflict  the  worst  injuries,  and  when 
*  demolitions '  are  going  on,  or  masses  of  broken 
material  are  being  carted  through  the  streets,  drags 
and  vans  are  often  sent  by  circuitous  routes  in  order 
to  avoid  the  nail-studded  roadway.  Proper  shoeing 
is  almost  as  important  as  daily  foot  examination 
for  these  bulky  horses.  *  There  is  no  animal  more 
carefully  shod  than  a  brewer's  horse,'  writes  Mr. 
Gordon.  '  At  Courage's,  for  instance,  no  such  things 
as  standard  sizes  are  known.  Many  have  a  different 
make  and  shape  of  shoe  on  each  hoof.  The  shoe  is 
always  made  specially  to  fit  the  foot,  and  these  are  never 
thrown  away,  but  are  mended — soled  and  heeled,  in  fact 
— by  having  pieces  of  iron  welded  into  them  again  and 
again.  Some  of  the  shoes  are  steel-faced  ;  some  are 
barred,  the  shoe  going  all  round  the  foot  ;  some  have 
heels,  some  toes  ;  some  one  clip,  some  two.  In  fact, 
there  are  almost  as  many  makes  of  shoes  as  in  a 
Northampton  shoe-factory.' 

Mr.  Gordon  has  a  separate  and  amusing  treatise  on 
nearly  every  branch  of  the  London  horse- world,  from 
the  Queen's  c  Creams '  to  the  funeral  steed  and  the 
typical  cab-horse.  His  story  of  the  request  that  King 
William  IV.  would  delay  hastening  to  the  House  to 
dissolve  Parliament  in  1831,  in  order  to  give  time  for 
the  cream-coloured  State  horses  to  have  their  manes 
plaited,  and  the  King's  reply,  <  Plait  the  manes !  Til 

7—2 


ioo  THE  LONDON  HORSE  AT  HOME 

go  in  a  hackney  coach,'  is  part  of  the  tradition  of  the 
Buckingham  Palace  stables.  But  the  sequel  of  the 
indignant  coachman  swearing  at  the  guard  of  honour, 
and  having  to  descend  from  the  box  and  apologize 
after  conveying  his  Majesty  to  the  House,  gives  greater 
finish  to  the  episode.  The  funeral  horses  are  State 
steeds  in  their  way  also,  and,  like  the  Queen's  cream- 
colours,  are  foreigners,  or  of  foreign  extraction.  But  the 
creams  are  of  Hanoverian  descent.  The  *  Black 
Brigade '  are  all  Flemish,  and  come  to  London  by  way 
of  Rotterdam  and  Harwich.  There  are  nearly  seven 
hundred  in  London,  and  these  are  mainly  the  pro- 
perty of  one  or  two  large  owners.  '  The  jobmaster 
is  at  the  back  of  the  burying  world/  One  of  these 
speaks  very  pleasantly  of  his  black  stud.  *  I  am  not  a 
horsey  man,'  says  the  undertaker,  '  but  I  have  known 
this  class  of  horse  all  my  life,  and  I  say  they  are  quite 
affectionate  and  good-natured,  and  seem  to  know  in- 
stinctively what  you  say  to  them  and  what  you  want. 
One  thing,  they  have  an  immense  amount  of  self- 
esteem,  and  that  you  have  to  humour.  Of  course,  I 
have  to  choose  the  horses,  and  I  do  not  choose  the 
vicious  ones.  I  can  tell  them  by  the  glance  they  give 
as  they  look  round  at  me.'  They  are  very  fanciful  as 
to  their  company,  and  if  a  coloured  horse  is  put  in  the 
stalls  among  them,  the  blacks  at  once  turn  fretful  and 
miserable.  Mr.  Gordon  has  a  fund  of  stories  and 


THE  LONDON  HORSE  AT  HOME  101 

experiences  of  the  sale-rooms,  the  donkey-mart  at 
Islington,  and  the  export  and  import  trade.  In  spite 
of  the  imports  from  Poland,  Finland,  Holland,  and  even 
America,  and  the  pony  trade  with  the  Baltic,  our  export 
of  horses  enormously  exceeds  the  import  in  value.  A 
three  years'  total  gives  £2,532,000  of  exports,  as  against 
£804,000  of  imports,  and  the  quality  and  price  of 
English  horses  rise  steadily.  The  imports  do  not  in- 
clude those  from  Ireland,  which  until  recently  supplied 
the  entire  Belgian  Army  with  remounts,  and  at  present 
largely  fill  the  ranks  of  London  cab-horses.  They 
fetch  on  the  average  about  £30  a-piece  ;  and  as  a  new 
hansom-cab  costs  £100,  the  hirer  enjoys  the  temporary 
use  of  a  capital  of  £130,  and  the  services  of  the  driver. 
But  the  number  of  cabs  steadily  decreases,  and,  from 
the  horses'  point  of  view,  this  decline  is  hardly  to  be 
deplored. 


XIV.— MENAGERIE  ANIMALS 

TRAVELLING  wild-beast  shows  are  still  among  the  most 
popular  entertainments  in  the  world,  and,  contrary  to 
general  opinion,  the  animals  are  usually  both  healthy 
and  happy  in  these  peripatetic  companies.  The  late 
Mr.  A.  D.  Bartlett  stated  that  in  his  experience  animals 
of  the  cat  tribe  in  travelling  wild-beast  shows  far  more 
often  had  litters  of  cubs  than  those  kept  in  the  com- 
parative comfort  of  the  Zoological  Gardens,  and  that 
they  were  also  more  healthy,  probably  on  account  of 
the  change  of  air  and  excitement.  But  though  animals 
on  tour  are  seldom  sick  or  '  sorry,'  experience  shows 
that  they  must  have  periods  of  rest.  This  is  especially 
the  case  with  the  elephants,  camels,  zebras,  and  other 
creatures  which  not  only  travel  on  foot  in  all  weathers 
during  the  greater  part  of  the  year,  but  also  take  part 
in  performances,  and  often  have  to  aid  in  drawing  heavy 
caravans.  When  they  arrive  at  the  town  where  the 
show  is  to  be  exhibited  in  the  evening,  they  are  stabled 
and  fed  ;  but  an  afternoon  performance,  and  at  least 

102 


MENAGERIE  ANIMALS  103 

three  hours  of  light,  noise,  and  excitement  every 
evening,  though  very  much  enjoyed  by  the  elephants, 
try  their  nerves  and  make  quiet  necessary.  Most  of 
the  big  wild-beast  shows  and  circuses  own  a  kind  of 
dockyard  and  hospital,  to  which  both  live  stock  and 
dead  stock  are  brought  to  '  refit/  This  establishment 
is  the  permanent  headquarters  of  the  show.  Here  the 
animals  which  need  training  are  educated  by  the  per- 
manent trainer,  who,  if  he  is  really  clever  at  his  work, 
can  often  pass  his  pupils  on  to  other  hands  for  actual 
exhibition  in  the  show.  One  of  these  '  repositories  '  in 
North  London  is  well  worth  a  visit.  Round  the 
central  hall  runs  a  wide  gallery,  full  of  scenery,  fittings, 
and  appliances  for  shows  past  and  future.  With  these 
are  various  deceased  animals  of  note,  stuffed,  embalmed, 
or  bottled  in  spirits  of  wine,  according  to  size.  This  seems 
customary  in  foreign  menageries.  At  the  wedding  of 
Pezon — the  famous  French  menagerie  owner  and  lion 
tamer  —  all  the  stuffed  animals  were  brought  in  to 
decorate  the  breakfast  salon.  In  Sanger's  repository  one 
or  two  skeletons  of  particular  favourites  are  mounted 
for  exhibition,  more  c  Jumbo's  '  bones.  Below  are  the 
reserve  of  triumphal  cars.  Others  are  '  in  dock,'  being 
repainted  and  regilded.  The  artists  who  paint  the  cars 
are  usually  educated  in  the  service  of  menageries,  and 
by  the  united  force  of  talent  and  the  traditions  of  the 
profession  have  long  been  famous  for  their  power  of 


104  MENAGERIE  ANIMALS 

painting  on  the  panels  the  most  dreadful  roaring,  bound- 
ing, all-devouring  lions  which  ever  caught  negroes 
under  a  palm-tree.  Below  on  the  ground-floor  are 
the  stalls  and  stables  for  the  animals  in  hospital,  on 
sick-leave,  or  simply  needing  rest  and  quiet.  These 
quarters  are  kept  in  half-darkness,  as  the  dim  light  suits 
animal  invalids.  The  elephants  are  picketed  by  the 
leg.  Other  animals — zebras,  llamas,  goats,  and  camels 
— are  kept  in  loose-boxes  or  pens  made  of  high  hurdles. 
Every  morning  all  the  animals  on  furlough  are  taken 
out  for  long  walks,  each  being  led  by  a  lad  or  a  keeper. 
It  was  when  out  for  one  of  these  constitutionals  from 
the  hospital  that  Sanger's  big  elephant  ran  away 
through  Islington  some  years  ago,  and  met  with  such 
remarkable  adventures.  The  old-fashioned  '  wild-beast 
shows '  like  Wombwell's,  Maunder's,  and  others  which 
delighted  the  country  towns  and  villages  thirty  years 
ago  by  simply  exhibiting  animals  in  caravans,  with  a 
few  elephants  and  camels  to  carry  visitors,  are  now 
usually  merged  in  circuses,  in  which  the  performances 
of  trained  animals  have  the  first  place.  This  demands 
a  great  number  of  horses  and  ponies.  These  have  very 
hard  work  in  the  arena,  especially  those  which  are 
trained  to  jump  over  flights  of  hurdles.  The  regularity 
with  which  menagerie  horses  will  '  come  to  the  scratch/ 
sometimes  twice  daily,  for  a  long  series  of  gallops,  broad 
jumps,  and  high  jumps  would  surprise  many  owners  of 


MENAGERIE  ANIMALS  105 

hunters  whose  mounts  often  knock  up  after  very  mild 
and  occasional  spells  of  work.  Jumping  four  to  six 
hurdles  in  and  out,  with  two  held  one  above  the  other 
to  finish  with,  was  a  feat  performed  by  one  circus  horse 
up  to  the  age  of  sixteen.  A  week  or  two  in  the 
repository  every  six  months  was  all  the  rest  he  required 
even  at  the  end  of  his  career.  The  number  of  animals 
travelling  in  a  single  troop  without  accident  or  sickness 
is  surprising. 

During  a  recent  summer  one  hundred  and  sixty-three 
horses,  with  six  elephants,  several  camels,  ostriches,  and 
emus,  in  Sanger's  menagerie,  travelled  almost  daily 
through  the  South  -  Midland  and  Southern  counties, 
often  spending  the  night,  and  giving  an  exhibition 
at  by  no  means  large  provincial  towns  with  considerable 
financial  success.  In  one  week  they  travelled  by  road 
— menageries  do  not  patronize  railways — from  Newbury, 
along  the  Kennett  Valley,  to  Reading  ;  thence  up  the 
Thames  Valley  to  Windsor,  Staines,  Kingston,  and 
Epsom.  At  each  place  they  gave  two  performances, 
in  the  morning  and  evening,  besides  making  the 
journey.  All  the  scenery,  vans,  and  material  of  a 
huge  tent,  large  enough  to  hold  ten  thousand  people, 
were  packed  and  transported,  the  draught-power  being 
furnished  by  the  animals  attached  to  the  show.  For 
six  weeks  this  show  was  certified  to  have  earned  an 
average  of  one  thousand  pounds  a  week,  during  which 


io6  MENAGERIE  ANIMALS 

time  it  visited  thirty-four  different  towns !  If  variety 
and  change  of  scene  are  good  for  the  animals'  constitu- 
tions, they  must  have  been  in  rude  health  at  the  end  of 
this  period.  Most  of  the  marching  is  done  in  the  early 
morning.  The  elephants,  camels,  and  other  beasts  of 
draught  are  taken,  if  possible,  to  a  stream  to  drink  ; 
and  nothing  could  well  be  more  strangely  in  contrast 
to  its  surroundings  than  the  group  of  camels  and 
elephants  drinking  from  a  wayside  stream,  the  former 
browsing  on  the  hawthorn  branches  full  of  May 
blossom.  With  the  rise  of  the  circus  element  in 
menageries  has  come  an  additional  demand  for  the 
'  taming '  and  training  of  wild  and  domestic  animals. 
The  trainer  is  not  always  the  performer.  There  is  no 
better  proof  of  his  success  than  when  someone  else  can 
enter  the  cage  and  take  his  place,  as  when  Madame 
Baptistine  Pezon,  when  her  husband  fell  ill,  put  on  the 
costume  he  used  in  performances,  and  put  the  lions 
through  their  tricks.  The  demeanour  of  the  animals 
themselves,  when  lions,  tigers,  or  leopards  perform, 
is  often  evidence  of  the  method,  whether  cruel  or  kind, 
employed  first  in  taming  and  later  in  teaching  them. 
A  correspondent  of  the  Globe,  recounting  the  history 
of  the  famous  dompteur,  states  that  lions  are  often 
tamed,  like  hawks,  by  deprivation  of  sleep,  accom- 
panied by  plentiful  feeding.  It  is  very  doubtful 
whether  English  trainers  are  cruel  to  animals.  Mr. 


MENAGERIE  ANIMALS  107 

Sanger  makes  the  following  ingenuous  defence  of 
his  profession.  <I  have  trained  everything  in  the 
business/  he  writes,  '  from  the  child  to  the  elephant, 
and  I  would  like  to  deny  the  slanderous  things  that 
have  been  written  by  inexperienced  people,  and  to 
correct  the  idea  of  the  ignorant,  that  everything  be- 
longing to  circus  life  must  be  carried  on  by  the  arm  of 
terror  and  cruelty.  There  may  be  isolated  cases  ;  but 
the  people  of  my  profession,  I  am  proud  to  say,  have 
the  feelings  of  fathers  and  mothers.  With  regard  to 
the  training  of  children,  the  care  and  interest  bestowed 
in  the  teaching  of  arduous  tricks  are  really  an  education 
and  the  perfection  of  humanity  ;  and  with  regard  to  the 
training  of  horses,  a  bit  of  sugar  or  a  carrot  is  far  more 
1  efficacious  and  more  often  used  than  the  whip.'  But 
horses  are  not  wild  beasts  ;  and  Pezon  admitted  that 
he  never  dared  to  take  his  eyes  off  those  of  his  lions 
until  he  contrived  to  have  some  highly-charged  electric 
wires  between  them  and  him.  White  bears  are  almost 
too  dangerous  to  train  at  all.  Some  appeared  in 
Hagenbeck's  last  sale  catalogue  ;  but  even  Pezon 
was  nearly  killed  by  one,  and  retired  from  training 
after  the  accident.  His  colleagues  in  the  business 
claimed  that  sangfroid  and  courage  were  the  main 
qualities  in  the  success  of  the  domfteur^  and  that  the 
animals  felt  first  surprise,  then  astonishment,  and  lastly 
fear  of  the  man  who  did  not  fear  them.  But  the 


io8  MENAGERIE  ANIMALS 

highest  class  of  *  lion-tamers '  have  qualities  other  than 
mere  courage,  part  being,  no  doubt,  an  almost  magnetic 
intuition  of  the  working  of  the  creature's  mind,  and  the 
power  of  conveying  impressions  to  the  animal  and 
engendering  confidence.  The  old  Irishman  known  as 
*  The  Whisperer '  was  the  classic  instance  of  this  kind 
of  real  tamer  of  savage  animals.  Pezon  himself 
possessed  it  in  a  high  degree,  for  he  began  his 
reputation  as  a  pacifier  of  vicious  horses  and  savage 
bulls  in  the  village  of  Lozere. 


XV.— ANIMALS  IN  FAMINE 

THE  rains  that  announce  the  close  of  an  Indian  famine 
bring  relief  to  animals  before  they  lighten  human 
sufferings.  The  green-stuff  springs  up  and  gives 
food  for  the  cattle  long  before  the  grain  can  ripen  and 
provide  a  meal  for  the  peasant.  But  the  animals  have 
time  to  recover  their  strength  and  be  ready  to  do  their 
work  in  preparing  the  ground  for  the  next  crop,  and 
the  actual  loss  of  life  among  the  beasts  of  the  field  is 
arrested.  This  is  said  to  have  been  less  in  the  last 
famine  than  in  many  which  have  affected  much  smaller 
areas.  The  total  failure  of  the  grain  crops  was  due  to 
absence  of  rain  at  a  definite  point  of  time  when  it  was 
necessary  to  its  germination.  But  there  was  not  such 
a  protracted  and  general  drought  as  to  bring  on  the 
whole  animal  population  a  famine  in  the  form  which 
causes  most  suffering  to  it. 

In  their  wild  state  most  animals  live  under  the 
incubus  of  two  sources  of  terror — death  by  violence 
from  their  natural  foe  or  foes,  and  death  by  famine. 

109 


1 1  o  ANIMALS  IN  FAMINE 

The  greater  number  are  never  far  removed  from  the 
latter  possibility  ;  it  is  the  inevitable  sequence  of  dis- 
ablement, weakness,  or  old  age,  and  if  not  cut  off  by 
pestilence,  violence  or  fatal  accident,  they  have  all  to 
face  this  grim  spectre  in  the  closing  scene.  Yet  in 
most  cases  dread  of  the  latter  is  not  present  to  their 
consciousness  in  the  form  of  apprehension — only  as 
shadowed  out  by  actual  reminder  caused  by  scarcity  of 
food  at  a  particular  time,  or  a  total  failure,  which  drives 
them  to  wander.  But  the  fear  of  the  *  natural  enemy  ' 
is  always  vivid  and  oppressive,  and  alters  the  whole 
course  of  their  everyday  life.  The  deer  on  certain  of 
the  Highland  mountains,  exposed  in  any  hard  winter 
to  almost  inevitable  famine,  do  not  profit  by  experience 
of  famine.  Experience  of  danger  from  man  makes 
them  the  most  wary  of  animals ;  they  sleep  with  waking 
senses,  feed  by  night,  are  constantly  under  the  influence 
of  this  besetting  terror,  and  take  every  measure  which 
experience  suggests  to  guard  against  the  enemy.  Ex- 
perience of  famine  leaves  them  no  wiser  than  before. 
They  do  not  abandon  the  spots  in  which  they  suffered 
in  previous  years  until  they  actually  feel  the  pinch  of 
hunger,  and  they  return  to  the  same  inhospitable  ground 
when  the  scarcity  has  passed.  Yet  when  confronted  by 
the  two  terrors,  hunger  and  man,  they  are  simply 
insensible  to  the  fear  of  the  latter,  usually  so  dominant. 
Starvation  looms  larger  than  any  terror  from  living 


ANIMALS  IN  FAMINE  1 1 1 

foes,  and  they  invade  the  rickyards,  and  almost  enter 
the  dwellings,  of  their  only  hereditary  enemy.  Recent 
accounts  of  the  behaviour  of  four  thousand  starving 
elk  in  the  northern  territory  of  the  United  States 
correspond  exactly  with  those  of  the  Highland  deer 
in  the  hard  winter  of  1893.  They  approached  the 
buildings  for  food,  and  could  hardly  be  driven  from  the 
stacks  of  hay.  Yet  only  one  herbivorous  animal  out  of 
all  the  multitude  of  species  has  ever  thought  of  making 
a  store  of  hay  against  a  time  of  famine,  and  this  is  one 
of  the  most  insignificant  of  all,  the  pika,  or  calling  hare 
of  the  Russian  steppes.  There  would  be  nothing  very 
extraordinary  in  the  fact  if  social  animals,  such  as  deer, 
cattle,  or  antelopes,  did  gather  quantities  of  long 
herbage,  like  the  tall  grasses  of  Central  Africa  or  of 
the  Indian  swamps,  and  accumulate  it  for  the  benefit  of 
the  herd,  and  combine  to  protect  it  from  other  herds, 
or  if  they  reserved  certain  portions  of  the  longer  herbage 
for  food  in  winter.  The  latter  would  perhaps  demand 
a  greater  range  of  concepts  than  the  former.  But  the 
brain-power  of  the  improvident  deer  must  be  equal  to 
that  of  the  squirrel  or  field-mouse,  which  seldom  forget 
to  lay  aside  a  c  famine  fund/  In  temperate  climates, 
prolonged  frost  or  snow  is  the  only  frequent  cause  of 
famine  among  either  beasts  or  birds.  This  cause  is 
not  constant,  season  by  season,  but  it  occurs  often 
enough  in  the  lifetime  of  most  individuals  of  the 

• 


1 1 2  ANIMALS  IN  FAMINE 

different  species  to  impress  their  memory  by  suffering. 
In  the  plains  of  India,  and  even  more  regularly  in  the 
plains  of  Africa,  the  summer  heats  cause  partial  famine 
to  all  herbivorous  animals,  and  this  condition  is  recurring 
and  constant.  Brehm  has  described  the  cumulative 
suffering  of  the  animal  world  of  the  '  African  steppe,' 
mainly  from  famine,  at  the  close  of  this  regular  period 
of  summer  drought.  We  cannot  suppose  that  in  this 
case  the  terror  of  starvation  is  wholly  forgotten  in  the 
brief  time  of  plenty.  The  neglect  to  form  any  store, 
or  to  reserve  pastures  in  climates  sufficiently  temperate 
to  spare  them  from  being  burnt  up  with  summer 
heat,  suggests  the  question  whether  these  '  hand-to- 
mouth'  herbivorous  animals  rely  on  any  natural  re- 
serves of  food  not  obvious  to  us.  This  is  a  natural 
device,  exemplified  by  the  Kaffir,  who,  when  his  mealies 
fail,  lives  on  roots  and  grubs,  or  by  the  insect  and 
vegetable-eating  rook,  which  becomes  carnivorous  in  a 
drought.  To  some  extent  both  deer  and  cattle  do  rely 
on  such  reserves.  When  the  grass  is  burnt  up,  trees 
are  still  luxuriant,  and  it  is  to  the  woods  that  the 
ruminant  animals  look  as  a  reserve  in  famine.  The 
fact  was  recognised  during  the  siege  of  Paris,  when  all 
the  trees  of  the  boulevards  and  the  parks  were  felled 
late  in  September  that  the  tens  of  thousands  of  cattle 
might  browse  on  the  young  shoots  and  leaves.  It  is 
this  habit  of  hungry  cattle  which  makes  the  space 


ANIMALS  IN  FAMINE  1 1 3 

under  all  trees  in  parks  of  the  same  height — that  to 
which  cattle  can  lift  their  heads  to  bite  the  branches. 
When  the  wood  or  forest  has  been  enclosed  previously, 
the  whole  of  this  stock  of  food,  reaching  down  to  the 
ground,  instead  of  to  the  '  cattle  line,'  is  at  their  service. 
Sir  Dietrich  Brandis,  lately  chief  of  the  Forest  Depart- 
ment of  the  Indian  Empire,  makes  special  mention  of 
the  part  played  by  this  '  reserve '  in  the  economy  of 
animal  famines  in  India.  During  the  years  of  drought 
and  famine  in  1867  and  1868,  the  cattle  (of  all  the  in- 
habitants) were  allowed  to  graze  in  the  Rajah's  preserves 
at  Rupnagar.  The  branches  of  the  trees  were  cut  for 
fodder.  The  same  was  done  in  Kishangarh,  and  a  large 
proportion  of  the  cattle  of  these  two  places  were  pre- 
served during  those  terrible  years. 

But  there  are  regions,  like  the  African  steppe,  where 
the  summer  famines  among  animals  are  more  frequent 
than  in  India,  and  where  there  is  little  forest  available 
as  a  reserve  store  of  food.  Certain  animals  *  trek  '  for 
great  distances  to  escape  from  the  famine  area.  Birds 
leave  it  entirely.  But  the  greater  number  of  the  quad- 
rupeds stay  and  take  their  chance,  the  stronger  of 
hunger,  the  weak  of  famine  and  death. 

If  we  examine  the  stores  made  by  most  of  the 
vegetable-eating  animals  which  do  lay  by  a  famine 
fund/  we  find  a  rather  curious  similarity  in  the  food 
commonly  used  by  them.  They  nearly  all  live  on 


1 14  ANIMALS  IN  FAMINE 

vegetable  substances  in  a  concentrated  form — natural 
food-lozenges,  which  are  very  easily  stored  away. 
There  is  a  great  difference,  for  example,  between  the 
bulk  of  nutriment  eaten  in  the  form  of  grass  by  a 
rabbit,  and  the  same  amount  of  sustenance  in  the 
'  special  preparation '  in  the  kernel  of  a  nut,  or  the 
stone  of  a  peach,  or  the  bulb  of  a  crocus,  off  which  a 
squirrel  makes  a  meal.  Nearly  all  the  storing  animals 
eat  '  concentrated  food/  whether  it  be  beans  and  grain, 
hoarded  by  the  hamster,  or  nuts  and  hard  fruits,  by  the 
squirrel,  nuthatch,  and  possibly  some  of  the  jays.  But 
there  is  one  vegetable-eating  animal  whose  food  is 
neither  concentrated  nor  easy  to  move.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  is  obtained  with  great  labour  in  the  first 
instance,  and  stored  with  no  less  toil  after  it  is  pro- 
cured. The  beaver  lives  during  the  winter  on  the  bark 
of  trees.  As  it  is  not  safe,  and  often  impossible,  for 
the  animal  to  leave  the  water  when  the  ice  has  formed, 
it  stores  these  branches  under  water,  cutting  them  into 
lengths,  dragging  them  below  the  surface,  and  fixing 
them  down  to  the  bottom  with  stones  and  mud.  This 
is  more  difficult  work  than  gathering  hay. 

Birds,  in  spite  of  their  powers  of  locomotion,  suffer 
greatly  from  famine.  Many  species  which  could  leave 
the  famine  area  seem  either  deficient  in  the  instinct  to 
move,  or  unwilling  to  do  so.  Rooks,  for  instance, 
which  are  now  known  to  migrate  across  the  Channel 


ANIMALS  IN  FAMINE  i ,  5 

and  the  North  Sea,  will  hang  about  the  same  parish  in 
bad  droughts  and  suffer  acutely,  though  they  might 
easily  move  to  places  where  water,  if  not  food,  is 
abundant.  The  frost  famines  mainly  affect  the  insect- 
eating  birds  ;  and  as  these  live  on  animal  food,  which 
would  not  keep,  they  could  not  be  expected  to  make  a 
store.  But  there  is  no  such  difference  of  possible  food 
between  birds  which  do  make  stores  and  birds  which  do 
not.  Why,  for  instance,  should  the  nuthatch  and  the 
Mexican  woodpecker  lay  by  for  hard  times  while  the 
rook  does  not? 

Domestic  animals  in  this  country  are  very  properly 
guaranteed  by  recent  legislation  against  being  left  to 
starve  by  their  owners.  It  is  not  often  that  the  owner 
of  any  domesticated  animal  is  so  careless  of  his  own 
interests  as  to  neglect  to  provide  food  when  the  creature 
is  capable  of  work,  or  so  inhuman  if  it  is  not.  But 
instances  do  occur  to  the  contrary.  The  law  does 
recognise  an  implied  right  on  the  part  of  the  animal  to 
this  exemption  from  the  great  curse  of  animal  exist- 
ence, if  man  has  exacted  from  it  a  previous  tribute  in 
the  form  of  work.  But  there  is  a  borderland  of  animal 
domestication  in  which  this  implicit  duty  of  man  to 
beast  is  seriously  neglected,  partly  because  the  work 
done  by  the  animal  is  less  obvious,  though  it  is  kept 
for  the  profit  of  man.  There  are  great  areas  of 
new  country  in  Argentina,  the  United  States,  and 

8—2 


1 1 6  ANIMALS  IN  FAMINE 

Australia  where  the  raising  of  stock,  whether  sheep, 
cattle,  or  horses,  is  carried  on  without  much  regard  to 
the  limits  set  by  famine  in  years  of  frost  or  drought. 
The  creatures  are  multiplied  without  regard  to  famine 
periods,  and  no  reserve  of  food  is  kept  to  meet  these. 
Natural  laws  are  left  to  work  in  bad  times,  and  this 
1  natural  law  '  is  death  by  famine.  Consequently,  at 
times  we  hear  of  multitudes  of  starving  horses  on  the 
ranches  of  Oregon  ;  and  in  Australia  during  a  drought, 
or  in  Argentina  after  protracted  drought  or  cold,  sheep 
and  cattle  die  by  tens  of  thousands  by  the  most  linger- 
ing of  deaths.  There  is  something  amiss  here  in  the 
relations  between  man  and  beast  which  cannot  be 
justified  even  on  *  business '  grounds. 


XVI.— PLAGUE-STRUCK  ANIMALS 

EVIDENCE  of  the  intensity  and  virulence  of  the  late 
plague  in  Bombay  is  given  by  the  curious  accounts 
telegraphed  to  this  country  of  the  deaths  of  animals 
from  the  pestilence.  At  one  period  it  was  reported 
that  the  pigeons  were  dying  of  plague.  Later  the  rats 
were  said  to  have  been  plague-stricken,  and  to  be  dying 
in  thousands  in  the  native  town,  and  there  was  strong 
evidence  that  they  not  only  suffered  from  plague,  but 
spread  the  infection. 

If  those  who  were  fighting  the  plague  had  time  to 
attend  to  anything  but  the  work  of  saving  human  life, 
we  may  expect  more  curious  information  on  this  point  ; 
for  there  is  evidence  that  when  the  plague  was  at  its 
very  worst  in  Florence,  causing  the  death  of  sixty 
thousand  persons,  the  pestilence  acquired  some  kind  of 
cumulative  energy  by  which  it  went  on  from  man  to 
animals,  and  at  last  involved  the  latter  in  common 
destruction  with  their  masters.  As  it  advanced,  *  not 
only  men  but  animals  fell  sick  and  shortly  expired,  if 

117 


1 18  PLA  G  UE-STR  UCK  ANIMALS 

they  had  touched  things  belonging  to  the  diseased  or 
dead.'     Boccaccio  himself  saw  two  hogs  on  the  rags  of 
a  person  who  had  died  of  plague,  after  staggering  about 
for  a  short  time,  fall  down  dead  as  if  they  had  taken 
poison.     In  the  '  Lives  of  the  Roman  Pontiffs '  it  is 
stated  that  in  other  places  multitudes  of  cats,  dogs, 
fowls  and  other  animals  fell  victims  to  the  contagion. 
There  is  little  doubt  that  this  concurrence  of  human 
and  animal  death  took   place  in  other  countries  than 
Italy,  though  the  chroniclers,  appalled   by  the  loss  of 
human  life,  only  allude  to  l  murrain '  among  the  cattle 
as  a  concomitant  of  the  plague.     'At  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Black  Death  there  was  in  England/  says 
Keeker,5*  'an  abundance  of  all  the  necessaries  of  life; 
but   the   plague,   which   seemed   then   to   be   the  sole 
disease,    was   soon    accompanied    by   a   fatal    murrain 
among  the   cattle.     Wandering   about  without  herds- 
men, they  fell  by  thousands.'     It  is  not  known  whether 
this  murrain  was  due  to  plague  itself  or  to  some  special 
animal  epidemic.     But  it  did  not  break  out  until  after 
the  plague  was  rife,  and  added  enormously  to  the  loss 
of  life,  because  it  was  impossible  to  remove  the  corn 
from  the  fields,  this  causing  everywhere  a  great  rise  in 
the   price   of    food,    although   the    harvest   had   been 
plentiful.     Whether  it  affected  wild  beasts  as  well  as 
domesticated  animals  does  not  appear ;    but    in   only 
*  '  Epidemics  of  the  Middle  Ages.' 


PL  A  G  UE-STR  UCK  ANIMALS  1 1 9 

one  instance  do  we  hear  of  an  increase  in  their  numbers, 
such  as  might  naturally  be  expected  to  follow  the 
destruction  of  human  life.  After  a  plague  epidemic  in 
France  in  1503,  the  house-dogs  became  wild,  and  later, 
communal  hunts  were  organized  to  rid  the  country  of 
these  new  beasts  of  prey,  and  of  the  wolves,  which 
appeared  in  great  packs. 

It  is  not  known  whether  the  animals  of  Florence, 
like  those  of  Bombay,  were  really  suffering  from  plague. 
But  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  their  deaths 
were  connected  by  something  more  than  coincidence  of 
time  with  the  plague  epidemic.  What  the  old  physicians 
called  '  general  morbific  conditions ' — that  change  of 
atmosphere  and  temperature  which  seems  to  summon 
pestilence  full-grown  from  the  very  ground  in  certain 
parts  of  the  East — apparently  prepared  animal  constitu- 
tions to  receive  the  human  disease.  A  month  before 
the  cholera  became  rife  in  Hamburg,  sixty  per  cent,  of 
Carl  Hagenbeck's  animals  suffered  from  choleraic 
symptoms  ;  and  he  diagnosed  the  disease,  checked  it 
by  boiling  the  water,  and  notified  the  authorities  of 
what  had  happened.  The  curious  exactness  with  which 
Homer  noted  that  in  the  plague  before  Troy,  mules 
and  dogs  were  attacked  before  the  soldiers,  has  often 
been  quoted  as  internal  evidence  of  the  truth  of  the 
'  Iliad/  Influenza,  which  was  very  fatal  among  animals, 
sometimes  attacked  them  before  it  was  felt  by  men,  as 


120  PLAGUE-STRUCK  ANIMALS 

in  New  York,  where  it  first  appeared  among  the 
horses.  In  London,  horses,  cats,  dogs,  pigeons,  parrots 
and  penguins  died  of  influenza.  In  the  year  1800, 
when  yellow  fever  reached  Cadiz  and  Seville,  dogs  took 
the  disease  more  freely  than  other  animals  ;  but  cats, 
horses,  poultry  and  cage-birds  also  died.  The  symptoms 
in  the  case  of  the  dogs  and  cats  resembled  those  in  man. 
The  animals  were  not  attacked  until  the  deaths  among 
men  numbered  two  hundred  a  day.  In  1830,  when 
the  cattle,  fowls  and  geese  of  South  Russia  died  of 
cholera,  the  appearance  of  the  disease  was  also  sub- 
sequent to  its  development  among  human  beings. 

Animal  epidemics  taking  place  simultaneously  with 
human  pestilence  are  immensely  aggravated  by  the 
impossibility  of  separating  infected  and  non-infected 
cattle.  The  herdsmen  die,  and  the  flocks  and  herds 
run  wild.  But  this  does  not  account  for  the  deadly 
character  of  animal  epidemics  in  general,  or  for  the 
little  resistance  offered  by  animal  constitutions  to  such 
diseases.  Human  beings  are  usually  prepared  by  long 
unwholesome  living.  Compare  the  account  of  the 
Bombay  native  house — dark,  with  the  floor  soaked 
with  dirt,  and  the  free  water  left  always  dripping  from 
the  tap  by  the  inmates — and  Erasmus's  description  of  the 
floor  of  an  English  cottage,  '  made  of  nothing  but  loam, 
and  strewed  with  rushes,  which  being  constantly  put  on 
fresh,  without  a  removal  of  the  old,  remain  lying  there, 


PL  A  G  UE-STR  UCK  ANIMALS  1 2 1 

in   some   cases   twenty   years,  with  fish-bones,  broken 
victuals,  and  other  filth/  and  impregnated  with  liquid 
nastiness.       But    though    chicken-cholera     and    other 
epidemics  of  poultry  are  mainly  due  to  unwholesome 
surroundings,  the  life  of  most  domestic  animals,  especi- 
ally cattle,  and  of  all  wild  animals,  such  as  antelopes 
and  the  wild  bovines,  is  exceptionally  healthy.     Except 
in  famine  years,  there  is  no  predisposing  cause  to  make 
them  succumb  to  pestilence  as  they  do.     Even  when  un- 
tended,  so  that  the  separation  of  infected  animals  is  im- 
possible, or  when  wild,  such  cattle  or  deer  separate  them- 
selves by  instinct  from  the  herd  and  remain  alone.     Isola- 
tion is  voluntary.     What  should  prove  another  great 
factor  in  protecting  animal  life  in  epidemics  is  the  absence 
of  those  nervous  terrors  which  always  predispose  human 
beings  to  infection,  and  often  cause  death  itself  by  the 
mere  horror  of  anticipation.     Fear,  contrition,  religious 
mania,  despondency,  grief,  despair,  drink  and  delirium, 
and  the  break-up  of  the  normal   social   order,  swelled 
the  list  of  human  deaths  in  the  epidemics  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  some  of  these  factors  aggravate  the  incidence 
of  every  great  plague  among  mankind.     It  is  not  so 
with    animals.       Their    naturally    healthy    frames    are 
impaired  by  no  nervous  terrors  or  morbid  mental  affec- 
tions in  the  presence  of  disease.     Though  some  of  the 
more  intelligent  are  distressed  at  the  deaths  of  their 
masters,   they  exhibit    great    indifference    to   wholesale 


1 2  2  PL  A  G  UE-STR  UCK  ANIMALS 

mortality  among  their  own  species.     Yet  with   every 
chance  in  their  favour  they  succumb  to  pestilence  in  a 
manner    quite   unaccountable.       The    statistics    of  the 
rinderpest  epidemic  in  South  Africa  will  probably  never 
be  forthcoming.     Its  general  results,  so  far  as  Matabele- 
land  is  concerned,  are  well  known.     They  indicate  the 
total    destruction,    so    far   as   transport    and    food    are 
concerned,  of  the  domestic  cattle  of  the  country.     With 
them,  over  large  areas,  the  antelopes  and  other  ruminants 
have  perished.     The  reason  of  this  great  mortality  has 
never  been  explained,  though  the  main  source  of  infec- 
tion— at  least,  in  countries  where  cattle  or  game  run 
wild,  is  obvious.     It  is  at  the  drinking-places  that  all 
animals,  infected  or  sound,  necessarily  meet,   however 
much  the  former  may  desire  to  wander  away  in  solitude. 
This  was  proved  in  part  during  the  cattle-plague  in  this 
country,  where  certain  farms  in  which  the  herds  were 
watered   from   protected  wells,   and    never    allowed  to 
drink  from  the  streams,  continued  free  from  the  disease. 
As  a  set-off  to  the  rapid   mortality  of  animals  in 
plagues,    the    rate    of    their    subsequent    recovery   in 
numbers  must  be   taken  into  account.      The    subject 
now  most  anxiously    debated   in  South  Africa  is  the 
time  which  must  elapse  before  the  herds  of  cattle  are 
replenished.     The  time  will  probably  be  less  than  the 
most  sanguine  could  anticipate.      Destructive  as  they 
are   at   the   time,  plagues   leave  no  such   far-reaching 


PLAGUE-STRUCK  ANIMALS  123 

results  among  animals  as  among  men.  It  is  in  the 
period  subsequent  to  pestilence  that  the  simplicity  of 
their  lives  gains  by  contrast.  They  have  no  social  life 
to  be  disorganized,  no  nexus  of  trade  to  be  broken,  no 
famine  to  fear  from  untilled  fields,  no  general  weaken- 
ing of  the  race  from  inherited  weakness  and  nervous 
disorders  transmitted  for  generations  from  parents  who 
never  fully  recovered  the  '  plague  terror/  The  mental 
shock  transmitted  by  the  Black  Death  produced 
nervous  disorders  for  two  centuries — the  dancing  mania 
from  Norway  to  Abyssinia,  convulsions,  hysteria,  de- 
lusions of  all  sorts,  aggravated  by  famine  and  poverty, 
the  direct  results  of  the  plague.  For  animals,  on  the 
contrary,  there  are  no  nervous  sequel*  to  an  epidemic. 
The  race  is  improved  rather  than  impaired,  for  the 
aged,  the  weak,  and  the  unfit  are  dead,  and  only  the 
strong  parents  survive.  The  increase  in  fecundity — an 
increase  noted  even  among  the  surviving  European 
population  after  the  Black  Death — is  very  great,  and  in 
place  of  being  checked  by  famine  due  to  untilled  fields, 
is  fostered  by  the  surplus  of  natural  food  for  a  reduced 
number  of  mouths. 


XVII.— THE  ANIMAL  '  CHAPTER  OF 
ACCIDENTS ' 

THE  midnight  passages  of  great  flocks  of  birds  over 
large  cities  which  from  time  to  time  have  attracted  the 
attention  of  naturalists  usually  leave  no  trace  of  the 
visits  of  the  fowl,  which  vanish  as  soon  as  the  dawn 
appears.  Though  the  calls  of  the  birds  and  the  sound 
of  their  wings  may  indicate  that  vast  numbers  and 
various  species,  such  as  herons,  gulls,  plovers,  crows, 
terns,  ducks,  geese,  and  small  birds,  have  hovered  for 
hours  over  cities,  as  has  been  noted  both  at  Norwich 
and  Leicester  on  a  '  migration  night/  with  the  dawn  of 
day  the  spell  is  broken,  and  the  flocks  resume  their 
journey  without  leaving  a  single  bird  behind.  The 
Manchester  papers  record  a  curious  mishap  which  befell 
some  large  bird  recently,  probably  while  making  one  of 
these  midnight  flights.  The  Manchester  Town  Hall  is 
surmounted  by  a  spiked  ball  ;  and  on  one  of  the  spikes 
of  this  finial,  at  a  height  of  nearly  three  hundred  feet, 

a  bird,  said  by  some  to  be  an  eagle,  and  identified  by 

124 


THE  ANIMAL  '  CHAPTER  OF  ACCIDENTS'    125 

others  as  a  heron,  was  seen  to  be  firmly  impaled.  An 
enterprising  owner  of  a  big  telescope  fixed  it  up  to 
oblige  those  of  his  customers  who  wished  to  discover 
what  species  of  fowl  met  with  this  curious  death,  one 
which  is,  we  believe,  unparalleled  in  the  animal  '  chapter 
of  accidents.' 

If  the  *  bills  of  mortality '  in  the  animal  world  could 
be  made  out  with  precision,  and  the  causes  ascertained, 
accidents  would,  we  think,  account  for  a  much  smaller 
number  of  deaths  than  might  be  expected,  or,  indeed, 
desired,  if  the  accidents  were  immediately  fatal  ;  for 
such  sudden  death  would  save  them  from  that  grim 
spectre  of  lingering  starvation  which  lurks  in  the 
background  of  the  life  of  most  of  the  higher  animals. 
But  accidental  death,  or  death  hastened  by  injuries  due 
to  accidents,  is  not  very  common  among  wild  animals, 
while  domesticated  species,  though  much  more  liable  to 
injure  themselves,  have  the  enormous  privilege  of  '  first 
aid  to  the  wounded '  accorded  them  by  man. 

Birds  are  naturally  the  least  liable  to  accidents  of  any 
living  creatures.*  This  immunity  they  owe  almost 
entirely  to  the  fact  that  the  air  in  which  most  of  their 
movements  take  place  is  absolutely  free  from  obstacles 
to  flight  at  a  height  of  four  hundred  feet  above  the 

*  But  after  the  recent  hurricane  in  the  West  Indies  it  was  found 
that  every  bird  and  almost  every  insect  was  dead.  The  islands 
were  absolutely  silent,  as  the  hum  of  insect  and  bird  life  had 
ceased  entirely. 


126    THE  ANIMAL  '  CHAPTER  OF  ACCIDENTS' 

ground.  The  only  objects  against  which  collision  is 
possible  are  other  birds  ;  and  this  possibility  is  reduced 
to  a  minimum  because  they  are  not  limited  to  any  one 
plane,  or  even  to  one  deep  '  layer/  of  the  air  for  flight. 
Compared  with  the  case  of  the  terrestrial  animals,  all 
moving  on  the  single  level  of  the  land  surface,  just  as 
ships  move  on  the  one  plane  of  the  sea  surface,  the 
birds  ought  not  to  be  liable  to  collision  at  all  ;  and  it  is 
their  theoretical  freedom  from  this  danger  which  makes 
the  high  rate  of  bird-speed  possible,  a  speed  denied  to 
other  animals,  if  for  no  other  reason,  because,  moving 
as  they  do  on  a  single  plane,  they  would  be  as  liable  to 
disabling  collision  as  autocars  running  at  express  speed 
on  Southsea  Common.  The  sole  risk  of  collision  is 
when  flocks  are  travelling  together.  As  the  direction 
is  then  usually  the  same,  and  the  birds  take  most  careful 
precautions  to  avoid  danger  by  maintaining  regular 
distance,  an  even  speed,  and  often  a  kind  of  military 
order,  such  mishaps  are  rare.  They  chiefly  occur  when 
birds  which  *  get  up  steam  '  at  once  are  rising  from  the 
ground.  Partridges  and  grouse  are  most  commonly 
liable  to  this  accident,  and  instances  are  recorded  every 
season  ;  but  even  small  birds  are  occasionally  *  in 
collision/  the  most  unusual  instance  recently  noted 
being  that  of  a  pair  of  greenfinches,  one  of  which  flew 
against  the  other  and  broke  a  wing.  The  windows  of 
lighthouses  and  telegraph-wires,  though  causing  very 


THE  ANIMAL  '  CHAPTER  OF  ACCIDENTS'   127 

numerous  accidents  to  birds,  should  properly  be  regarded 
as  unintended  traps.  They  are  as  much  '  fixed  engines ' 
for  bird-killing  as  nets  or  snares,  for  the  creatures  are 
dazzled  by  the  former,  and  at  night  are  quite  unable  to 
see  the  latter.  The  only  other  accident  common  to 
birds  is  confined  to  some  species  of  water-fowl,  espe- 
cially moorhens  and  dabchicks.  These  are  commonly 
killed  by  ice,  both  by  diving  under  it  when  newly 
formed  and  rising  to  the  surface  where  clear  ice  covers 
it,  or  by  being  frozen  in  by  their  feet.  This,  which 
sounds  improbable,  is  a  very  common  mishap,  especially 
to  moorhens,  whose  large  feet  are  with  difficulty  with- 
drawn when  pinched  by  the  ice. 

Among  wild  quadrupeds,  only  the  ruminants  with 
large  horns  and  long  limbs  seem  commonly  liable  to 
accidents.  Cases  of  stags  dying  with  interlocked  antlers 
are  recorded  from  time  to  time,  and  Buckland  gives 
an  account  of  a  curious  accident  which  befell  a  big 
stag  in  Windsor  Forest.  The  poor  beast  had  been 
standing  on  its  hind-legs  to  nibble  leaves  from  a  thorn- 
tree,  and  caught  its  hoof  in  a  fork  in  the  trunk.  This 
threw  it  on  its  back  and  broke  the  bone.  Though  red- 
deer  are  in  this  country  mainly  found  wild  on  moun- 
tainous ground,  we  much  doubt  if  they  are  really 
a  mountain  species,  or  specially  clever  on  rocky  ground. 
Mr.  J.  G.  Millais  mentions  one  pass  where  the  bones 
of  deer  that  have  missed  their  footing  and  fallen  down 


128  THE  ANIMAL  '  CHAPTER  OF  ACCIDENTS' 

the  crags  may  frequently  be  seen.  Broken  limbs  are 
very  common,  even  among  park  stags,  generally  due  to 
fights  in  the  rutting  time.  This  must  usually  lead  to 
the  death  of  deer  in  all  districts  where  large  carnivora 
are  found  ;  but  the  astonishing  way  in  which  broken 
bones,  or  even  worse  injuries  received  by  wild  animals, 
cure  themselves  if  the  creature  is  let  alone,  shows  that 
the  most  serious  accidents  need  not  lead  to  death,  even 
if  left  to  nature.  The  most  striking  of  recent  instances 
is  the  case  of  a  doe  antelope  at  Leonardslee,  which 
smashed  its  hind-leg  high  up,  and  so  badly  that  the 
bone  protruded.  It  would  have  been  shot,  but  it  was 
observed  to  be  feeding  as  if  not  in  pain.  It  survived 
the  winter,  and  was  seen  to  swing  the  injured  leg 
forward  to  scratch  its  ear  before  the  bone  set.  The 
fracture  reduced  itself,  and  the  cut  skin  grew  over  the 
place,  leaving  a  scar.  Later,  though  lame,  it  was 
perfectly  well,  and  reared  a  young  one.  A  tiger, 
recently  killed  in  the  hot  weather,  had  a  bullet-wound 
a  week  old  which  had  smashed  its  shoulder.  This 
wound,  though  a  very  bad  one,  was  perfectly  healthy, 
and  there  was  evidence  that  since  it  was  inflicted  the 
tiger  had  eaten  no  flesh,  but  only  drunk  water.  In  the 
Waterloo  Cup  coursing  in  1886,  Miss  Glendyne  and 
the  '  runner-up '  for  the  cup  were  slipped  at  a  hare 
which  went  wild  and  strong.  When  killed  after  a 
good  course  by  the  two  crack  greyhounds,  it  was  found 


THE  ANIMAL  '  CHAPTER  OF  ACCIDENTS'    129 

to  have  only  three  feet.  This  may  be  compared  with 
the  accounts  of  a  collie-dog,  recently  quoted  in  the 
papers,  which  had  one  fore-foot  and  one  hind-foot  cut 
off  by  a  reaping-machine,  but  which  still  manages  to 
help  with  the  flock.  Dogs,  which  ought  to  be  little 
liable  to  accidents,  are  very  frequent  sufferers,  largely 
from  their  association  with  man  and  intense  desire  to 
participate  in  all  his  doings.  One  of  their  commonest 
mishaps  arises  from  their  love  of  riding  in  carts.  They 
become  quite  clever  at  scrambling  or  jumping  in,  but 
are  not  '  built '  for  jumping  down  on  to  a  hard  road. 
If  the  cart  moves  as  they  make  their  spring  the  danger 
is  increased,  and  fore-legs  broken,  usually  just  below 
the  shoulder,  are  very  commonly  seen.  Dogs  also  have 
dangerous  falls  when  on  the  ground,  accidents  usually 
ascribed  only  to  bipeds  and  horses.  A  greyhound 
going  at  full  speed  will  trip,  fly  head  over  heels,  and 
break  a  leg,  or  even  its  neck.  Master  Magrath  in 
1870  went  through  the  rotten  ice  of  the  river  Alt,  from 
which  Altcar  takes  its  name,  while  following  the  hare, 
and  nearly  died  from  the  effects.  But  the  strangest 
mishap  which  the  writer  has  ever  seen  fall  to  the  lot  of 
a  dog  was  the  case  of  a  setter  which  '  tripped '  over  a 
sitting  hare.  The  dog,  a  large,  heavy  animal,  was 
ranging  at  high  speed  in  a  field  of  thinly-planted 
mangold.  As  it  passed  between  the  rows  its  hind-feet 
struck  something,  and  it  nearly  turned  a  somersault. 

9 


130  THE  ANIMAL  l  CHAPTER  OF  ACCIDENTS' 

The  object  was  a  squatting  hare,  which,  as  the  dog 
flew  over  in  one  direction,  quietly  scuttled  off  in  the 
other.  It  is  difficult  to  find  a  reason  for  the  liability 
even  of  '  heather  sheep,'  as  well  as  of  the  more  domestic 
varieties,  to  death  by  falls  over  clifls,  and  even  by  being 
thrown  and  unable  to  rise.  They  seem  to  have  lost 
more  of  their  inherited  capacity  for  mountaineering 
than  could  be  expected  from  the  slight  structural 
changes  caused  in  the  wild  sheep  by  domestication.  We 
do  not  recollect  a  single  recorded  instance  of  accident 
from  falls  in  the  case  of  the  wild  varieties  of  sheep, 
though  the  domestic  breeds  seem  to  have  been  liable 
to  these  and  other  accidents  from  the  days  of  the  '  ram 
caught  by  the  horns'  on  the  mountain  in  the  land  of 
Moriah. 


XV1IL— THIRSTY  ANIMALS 

AMONG  the  questions  asked  in  relation  to  the  diffi- 
culties of  the  latest  Indian  Frontier  War  was  the  reason 
why  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  water  blocked  our 
advance,  but  did  not  hamper  the  hillmen.  The  answer 
is  that  our  troops  had  in  one  camp  upwards  of  twenty- 
five  thousand  baggage  animals.  There  were  oxen, 
mules,  donkeys,  and  camels.  The  former  are  always 
thirsty  creatures,  and  even  the  camels  are  credited  with 
vastly  larger  powers  of  sustaining  thirst  than  they 
possess.  Major  A.  G.  Leonard,  after  seventeen  years' 
experience  as  a  transport  officer,  is  convinced  that 
camels  should,  if  possible,  be  watered  every  day,  that 
they  cannot  be  trained  to  do  without  water,  and  that, 
though  they  can  retain  one  and  a  half  gallons  of  water 
in  the  cells  of  the  stomach,  four  or  five  days'  abstinence 
is  as  much  as  they  can  stand,  in  heat  and  with  dry  food, 
without  permanent  injury. 

It    is    very   doubtful    whether   the   majority  of  the 
various  '  desert  animals '   willingly  go  without  water, 

'3i  9 — 2 


132  THIRSTY  ANIMALS 

or,  in   fact,  do  so  at  all  to  any  great  extent.     They 
drink  sparingly,  and  can  probably,  by  habit  and  practice, 
go   for    longer  periods  without  drinking  than  species 
living  in   well-watered   districts.     But    the    absence  of 
any  special  provision  for  the  internal  storing  of  water, 
except    in    the    camels   and    some    tortoises,    seems    to 
indicate   that   this   power  of  temporary   abstinence    is 
only  an  acquired  capacity.     Nor  is  it  often  possible  to 
be  certain  that  stores  of  water  do  not  exist  in  '  deserts ' — 
stores  perfectly  well  known  to  the  animals,  though  not 
to   travellers.     This   is   especially   the    case   in    rocky 
deserts  such  as  the  Bayuda  Desert,  and  that  between 
Suakin  and  Berber.     Some  of  the  correspondents  of  the 
London   daily  papers  who  recently  made  the  journey 
from  the  advanced  posts  on  the  Nile  to  Suakin  noted 
as  remarkable  that,  though  they  were  in  a  desert,  and 
making  forced  marches  from  want   of  water,   which, 
when  found,  was  as  black  as  ink  and  almost  undrink- 
able,  hares  and  gazelles  swarmed.     This  is  an  almost 
certain  sign  that  this  desert  is  not  waterless.     Count 
Gleichen,    when   recrossing    the   Bayuda   Desert    from 
Metemmeh,  found  real  cisterns  of  water  in  one  place 
away  from  the  ordinary  track.     A  typical  desert-bird, 
which,  like  the  gazelles,  jerboas,  and  sand-lizards,  has 
even  taken  its  colour  from  its  environment,  is  the  sand- 
grouse.     Yet   Mr.  Bryden  states  that  the  daily  flight 
of  the  sand-grouse,  a  species  of  exceedingly  swift  and 


THIRSTY  ANIMALS  133 

swallow-like  flight,  to  the  water  is  one  of  the  sights  of 
the  veldt  in  the  dry  season.  '  Their  machine-like 
punctuality,  and  the  wonderful  displays  afforded  by 
their  enormous  flights  at  the  desert-pools/  form  the 
subject  of  one  of  Mr.  Bryden's  chapters  in  his  recent 
work  on  South  Africa.  '  The  watering  process  is  gone 
through  with  perfect  order  and  without  over-crowding. 
From  eight  o'clock  to  close  on  ten  this  wonderful  flight 
continued  ;  as  birds  drank  and  departed,  others  were 
constantly  arriving  to  take  their  places.  I  should  judge 
that  the  average  time  spent  by  each  bird  at  and  around 
the  water  was  half  an  hour.7  A  curious  instance  or 
animal  knowledge  of  the  presence  of  water  in  un- 
suspected places  had  a  practical  result  in  Holland. 
The  question  of  a  supply  of  good  water  for  the  Hague 
was  under  discussion  at  the  time  when  the  North  Sea 
Canal  was  being  constructed.  One  of  those  present 
remarked  that  there  was  water  in  the  sand-hills  ;  that 
the  hares,  rabbits,  and  partridges  which  swarm  in  the 
sand-hills  did  not  come  to  the  wet  '  polders '  to  drink, 
but  knew  of  some  supply  in  the  '  dunes '  themselves, 
and  that  he  could  name  one  or  two  places  where  he 
had  seen  water.  This  idea  was  laughed  at  ;  but  one  of 
the  local  engineers  present  took  the  hint.  The  dunes 
were  carefully  explored,  and  the  result  was  the  cutting 
of  a  long  reservoir  in  the  centre  of  the  sand-hills,  which 
fills  with  water  naturally,  and  supplies  the  town. 


134  THIRSTY  ANIMALS 

It  is  believed  that  rabbits  can  exist  in  this  climate 
without  a  permanent  water-supply.  Where  they  are 
kept  in  enclosed  warrens  without  water  this  must  be 
accepted  as  a  fact.  The  writer  has  only  seen  one  such 
warren,  and  in  this  there  are  always  plenty  of  drinking- 
troughs  for  the  young  pheasants  in  summer,  though  in 
winter  the  rabbits  can  only  find  rain-water  and  dew. 
Those  in  this  warren  are  very  poor  and  small.  Tame 
rabbits  are  commonly  kept  without  water,  but  they 
may  be  seen  licking  the  bars  of  their  hutch  after  a 
shower,  and  drink  eagerly  when  they  have  the  chance. 
Most  other  rodents,  including  rats,  are  thirsty  creatures. 
The  only  animals  living  in  very  dry  places  which  seem 
able  to  do  entirely  without  drink  are  snakes  and  reptiles. 
In  the  cold  desert  of  shifting  sand  in  Kashgar  there 
are  no  reptiles,  and  not  even  a  fly.  But  the  Afghan 
Boundary  Commission  found  swarms  of  lizards  and  a 
new  and  venomous  species  of  adder  in  astonishing 
numbers  in  the  awful  desert  of  hot  shifting  sand  at 
the  corner  where  Persia,  Baluchistan,  and  Afghanistan 
meet.  We  must  note  one  exception,  the  giraffe,  which, 
Mr.  Bryden  believes,  exists  for  three-quarters  of  the 
year  in  the  North  Kalahari  without  water.  But  this 
cannot  be  proved  until  the  desert  has  been  explored, 
and  the  total  absence  of  water  confirmed.  There  is 
known  to  be  water  beneath  the  surface  ;  and  if  the 
giraffe  does  live  waterless,  he  must  imbibe  his  liquid 


THIRSTY  ANIMALS  1 35 

nutriment  at  second-hand  in  the  juices  of  the  leaves  of 
the  trees  which  have  their  roots  in  the  moisture.     Seals, 
apparently,  do  not  drink,  neither  do  cormorants  and 
penguins  ;    but   there   can   be   little  more  evaporation 
from  their  bodies  than  from  those  of  fish,  and  their 
food  is  wet  and  moist.     A  more  difficult  question  is 
that  of  the  water-supply  of  Arctic  animals  in  winter — 
possibly  they  eat  snow.     There  is  abundant  evidence 
that,  though  many  animals  can  exist  without  water  for 
long  periods,  this  abstinence  is  not  voluntary,  and  when 
unduly  protracted  causes  suffering  and  loss  of  health. 
The  whole  cat  tribe  are  proverbially  '  tough/  and  can 
not   only  recover    from    frightful    bodily  injuries,   but 
endure  hunger  and   thirst    longer  than  most  animals. 
Instances  of  cats  lost  or   stuck  fast  in  hollow  walls, 
where,  in   addition   to  deprivation  of  food,  they  have 
been  cut  off  from  water  for  periods  of  a  fortnight  or 
more,  are  not  uncommon,  yet  the  cats  have  soon  re- 
covered ;  but  it  would  be  absolutely  wrong  to  conclude 
that  the  animal  did  not  suffer  during  its  imprisonment, 
and   the  height  of  cruelty  to  compel  it   to  face  such 
deprivation.       The    normal    habits    of    animals   are    a 
certain  guide  to  their  physical  requirements,  and  the 
fondness  of  cats  for  water  otherwise  than  for  outside 
application  ought  to  be  matter  of  common  knowledge. 
From  the  tiger,   who  regularly  goes  off  for  a  '  long 
drink '    after    a    kill,    and    commonly   bathes    in    hot 


136  THIRSTY  ANIMALS 

weather,  to  the  household  pussy,  they  all  drink  water 
regularly,  the  latter  two  or  three  times  a  day.     The 
writer  has  often  watched  from  the  high-level  railways 
the    London    cats   belonging    to  the    small    tenements 
taking  their  mid-day  drink  of  water  in  hot  weather. 
They  spring  from  the  dividing  walls  on  to  the  small 
water-cisterns,  alighting    neatly  on  the  space  between 
the  cover  of  the  cistern  and  the  wall,  and,  leaning  over, 
lap  the  water.     Many  people  imagine  that  cats  prefer 
milk  to  quench  their  thirst,  and   never  provide  them 
with  water-pans.     This  is  a  mistake  ;    the   cats,  like 
the  tigers  and  jaguars,  prefer  water,  and  the  numerous 
cases  of  cats  upsetting  and    breaking  flower-vases  on 
tables  are  usually  due,  not  to  mischief,  but  to  the  cat's 
efforts  to  drink  the  water  in  which  the  flowers  are  set. 
It  is  noticed  that  Persian  cats  are  more  eager  for  water 
than  others.     Experience  shows  that  horses  must  not  be 
allowed  to  drink  freely  before  or  immediately  after  hard 
riding  or  driving  ;  but  this,  too,  is  in  keeping  with  their 
natural,  or  perhaps  we  should  say  their  acquired,  habits 
when  originally  wild.    If,  as  is  probably  the  case,  the  wild 
horses  lived  in  the  Central  Asian  steppes,  like  the  kiang, 
or  Central  Asian  wild  ass,  water  can  never  have  been 
plentiful ;  and,  like  the  African  antelopes  and  zebras,  the 
originals  of  the  species  probably  drank  only  once  in  the 
twenty-four  hours,  going  to  considerable  distances  to 
obtain  water.     Another  probable  survival  is  the  horse's 


THIRSTY  ANIMALS  1 37 

dislike  to  drinking  very  cold  water.  It  is  commonly 
said  that  horses  like  pond- water  and  '  dirty '  water.  What 
they  really  like  is  water  with  the  chill  off ;  cold  spring- 
water  disagrees  with  them.  Moreover,  they  are  mighty 
particular  as  to  the  taste  of  their  drinking-water. 
Some  years  ago  one  of  several  horses  refused  to  drink 
his  water,  and  was  at  once  pronounced  to  be  '  ill.' 
This  caused  inquiry,  and  it  transpired  that  one  of  the 
children  had  washed  a  guinea-fig  in  this  horse's  bucket. 
The  horse  would  not  drink  the  guinea-pig's  bath- water. 
In  the  same  way  cows,  though  less  select  in  their  choice 
of  drinking-water  than  is  desirable  for  those  who  con- 
sume their  milk,  dislike  touching  water  from  tubs  from 
which  a  dog  has  drunk,  and  will  refuse  it  altogether  if 
a  dog  has  bathed  in  it.  The  Turks  always  allow  their 
horses  to  drink  as  much  as  they  please,  and  when  they 
please,  and  the  Osmanli  were  always  accustomed  to 
make  long  journeys  on  horseback.  But  the  more 
intelligent  Arabs,  than  whom  no  race  except  the 
English  has  paid  more  attention  to  the  subject,  give 
their  horses  little  water- — a  practice  they  follow  them- 
selves. A  paste  of  flour,  dates,  a  little  water  and 
camel's  milk,  is  among  many  tribes  the  staple  food  for 
the  desert  horse.  But  we  may  say  of  him  and  his  master, 
'  The  wilderness  and  the  barren  land  are  his  dwelling  ; 
he  scorneth  the  multitude  of  the  city/  He  is  a  born 
'  abstainer,'  even  from  excess  in  water-drinking. 


XIX.— THE    EFFECT    OF    HEAT    ON 
ANIMALS 

THOUGH  *  iced  beds '  cooled  by  a  warming-pan  filled 
with  ice  are  now  recommended  as  a  means  to  secure 
sleep  by  night  in  hot  weather,  the  effect  of  a  rise  in 
temperature  on  the  comfort  of  the  animal  world  is 
not  yet  discussed  in  the  newspapers.  Yet  it  is  worthy 
of  remark  that  the  conditions  under  which  wild  and 
domesticated  animals  face  sudden  waves  of  heat  are 
very  different.  Most  beasts  of  burden  and  draught 
animals  have  to  do  as  much  work  when  the  temperature 
is  above  eighty  degrees  in  the  shade  as  in  ordinary 
weather,  and  in  some  cases  even  more,  for  heat  makes 
their  masters  less  willing  to  walk  themselves.  In  New 
York  sunstroke  is  very  common  among  the  omnibus 
and  tram  horses.  In  Bombay  an  ingenious  sun-helmet 
has  been  invented  to  protect  the  back  of  the  head  and 
first  vertebra  of  the  neck  in  horses  compelled  to  work 
when  the  sun  is  hot.  The  tram-horses,  generally  either 
*  Walers  '  or  from  Central  Asia,  suffer  both  from  head- 

138 


THE  EFFECT  OF  HEAT  ON  ANIMALS        139 

ache  and  sunstroke,  and  now  wear  a  hat,  through  which 
the  ears  project.  It  is  fastened  under  the  horse's  chin 
by  strings,  and  gives  him  a  curiously  civilized  and 
un-Oriental  air.  In  London  our  omnibus  companies 
'  stand  drinks '  to  their  animals  in  exceptionally  hot 
weather.  The  favourite  beverage  is  oatmeal  and  water. 
The  horses  know  the  stages  at  which  this  will  be  sup- 
plied, and  show  the  greatest  eagerness  to  get  it. 

English  harness,  though  excellent  for  cool  weather, 
is  very  trying  to  horses  in  the  great  heat.  The 
multiplicity  of  straps  and  the  hot  collar  form  a  net- 
work of  wet,  hot  lines  across  the  animal's  back  and 
flanks.  Soldiers  sweating  under  the  pressure  of  cross- 
belts  and  side-belts  on  a  summer  march  soon  realize  the 
feelings  of  the  over-harnessed  horses,  and  take  the  view 
that  the  light  American  harness,  worked  with  a  breast- 
plate in  place  of  a  collar,  is  probably  far  more  comfort- 
able for  the  animal.  The  violent  perspiration  of  some 
horses,  though  it  looks  uncomfortable,  is  in  all  likeli- 
hood a  relief  to  them.  There  is  nothing  worse  for  a 
horse  than  to  be  '  hide-bound,'  and  the  only  discomforts 
which  the  opposite  symptoms  entail  are  the  danger  of 
sores  being  caused  by  harness  rubbing  on  the  wet  skin, 
and  the  risk  of  chills,  to  which  horses  are  equally  subject 
with  human  beings  in  hot  weather.  One  driver  of  the 
writer's  acquaintance  always  maintained  that  one  of  his 
horses  could  sweat  at  pleasure,  and  did  so  whenever  he 


140        THE  EFFECT  OF  HEAT  ON  ANIMALS 

wanted  to  shirk  work.      '  He's  artful,  he's  artful,'  was 
the   invariable  reply,   if  the  condition  of  the  animal's 
coat   were  pointed  out  as  a  reason  for  moderating  the 
pace.     Nervous  exhaustion  from  heat  is  probably  more 
common  among  horses  than  is  supposed.     They  suffer 
not  oniy  from  the  depression   of  tone   caused  by  the 
temperature,  but   from   the  worry  and  excitement  in- 
duced by  flies  and  insects,  which  madden  the  working 
horse,  with  no  time  or  means  to  rid  himself  of  them 
effectually.     The    network  jackets    and    flaps  granted 
even  to  smart  carriage-horses  in  hot  weather  are  a  real 
benefit  to  them,  and  if  cows  could  be  provided  with 
similar  but  more  extensive  protection,  it  is  certain  that 
the  yield  of  milk   would  be   increased   by  the  respite 
from    constant    nervous    worry.     That   it  is    the    flies 
which    accompany    heat,    rather   than   the   heat    itself, 
from  which  animals  suffer  when  wild,  or  domesticated 
animals  when  at  rest,  seems  proved  by  their  habits  in 
the  New  Forest.     There  the  wild  ponies  and  cattle  all 
leave  the  woods  in  the  mid-day  heat  and  congregate  in 
what  are  known  as  '  shades.'     But  these  '  shades  '  are 
shadowless,    being    generally    some    quite    open    and 
elevated  spot  with  no  trees  near  and  in  the  full  glare 
of  the  sun.     There,  however,  the  tree-haunting   flies 
and  gnats  are   fewer,   and   if  there  is  a  breeze  it  can 
usually  be  felt.    They  prefer  to  face  the  heat  to  enduring 
the  heat-insects,  and  more  especially  the  crawling  New- 


THE  EFFECT  OF  HEAT  ON  ANIMALS        141 

Forest  fly.  In  ordinary  meadow -land  cattle  collect 
under  trees  towards  mid-day,  and  in  the  afternoon,  if  it 
be  possible,  gather  in  the  ponds,  where  they  stand  so 
deep  that  the  lower  and  most  sensitive  parts  of  their 
bodies  are  completely  covered  by  water.  They  thus 
gain  coolness  and  protection  from  insects  at  the  same 
time  ;  but  there  are  not  many  field-ponds  which  are  so 
large  or  accessible  from  the  bank  that  cattle  can  enjoy 
themselves  in  this  way,  which,  as  Gilbert  White 
remarked,  was  equally  good  both  for  the  beasts  and 
for  the  fish  which  gather  round  to  catch  the  flies. 
During  the  great  drought  two  summers  ago  horses 
became  almost  aquatic  animals  where  this  was  possible. 
They  waded  shoulder  -  deep  in  the  Thames,  eating 
water-plants  and  seeking  coolness,  and,  emboldened  by 
these  excursions,  even  swam  the  river  and  invaded  the 
fields  beyond.  In  the  same  year  a  small,  deep  pond  in 
a  meadow  beyond  Hanwell,  visible  from  the  Great 
Western  Railway  line,  was  used  as  a  bath  by  four 
horses  for  the  greater  part  of  each  day.  They  stood 
in  it  with  the  water  almost  level  with  their  backs,  and 
presented  the  appearance  of  huge  river  animals  of  the 
tapir  kind  floating  in  the  pool.  It  seems  clear  from 
this  that  they  derive  the  same  refreshment  from  the 
application  of  cold  water  to  the  skin  which  other 
perspiring  animals  do.  Humane  cab-drivers  recognise 
this  fact  by  driving  their  horses  as  nearly  as  possible 


142        THE  EFFECT  OF  HEAT  ON  ANIMALS 

into  the  shower  from  the  rear  of  a  watering-cart,  and 
there  is  little  doubt  that  an  occasional  sluicing  from  a 
hose-pipe  would  probably  do  much  for  the  health  of 
the  draught-horse  in  the  dog-days.     Deer  both  bathe 
and  seek  a  draught  in  such  weather.     On  one  very  hot 
day  lately  a  red-deer  hind  took  possession  of  an  islet  in 
Penn  Pond  in  Richmond  Park,  swimming  there  and 
back,  and  spending  the  greater  part  of  the  morning  in 
Robinson  Crusoe  fashion  on  the  damp  islet.     Sheep  do 
not  suffer  from  the  highest  temperature  of  the  English 
climate  if  shorn  and  left  quiet  with  plenty  of  water. 
But  any  driving  or  travelling  causes  them  the  utmost 
distress  at  such  times,  and  a  careful  shepherd  prefers  to 
make  the  common  and  daily  change  of  pasture  early  in 
the  morning  or  late  in  the  evening.     Dogs  do  not  often 
die  of  sunstroke,  but  if  made  to  work  in  great  heat  have 
violent  fits  and  foaming  at    the    mouth.     Spaniels,  if 
used  for  rabbiting  in  September,  are  very  liable  to  these 
fits,  and  are  cured  by  pouring  cold  water  on  the  head 
and  back  of  the   neck.     *  Mad  dog !'  is  the  silly  cry 
usually  raised  on  these  occasions,  though  there  is  not 
the  least  cause  for  alarm,  as  the  flow  of  saliva  is  quite 
harmless.     When  lying  about  the  house  at  their  ease 
individual  dogs  seem  to  take  different   views  of  the 
effects  of  hot  weather.     Most  seek  some  cool  material 
to  lie  on — tiles  or  grass  for  choice,  rather  than  rugs  or 
mats.      They  also  lie  on  their  sides  with   their  legs 


THE  EFFECT  OF  HEAT  ON  ANIMALS        143 

extended,  to  admit  the  air  to  as  much  of  the  skin  as 
possible,  instead  of  lying  curled  up  to  exclude  air,  as 
in  winter.     Some  seek  a  draughty  passage,  or  lie  at  an 
open  window,  and  nearly  all  revel  in  a  bathe.    Curiously 
enough,  however  much  a  dog  enjoys  a  swim  in  hot 
weather,   it  scarcely  ever  goes  off  of  its  own  accord 
away  from  the  house  to  take  one.     The  writer  once 
owned  a  setter  which  would  do  this.     But  as  a  rule, 
though  they  know  where  the  water  is,  and  will  in  dry 
localities  run  away  half  a  mile  when  out  for  a  walk  in 
order  to  take  a  dip,  they  do  not  leave  the  house  by 
themselves  to  have  a  bathe.     Cats  never  bathe,*  though 
tigers  do  so  regularly  in  the  Indian  heats,  and  will  sit 
for  a  long  time  up  to  their  necks  in  water.     But  the 
cat  seems  to  rejoice  in  any  degree  of  heat,  and  to  be 
willing'to  sit  in  a  cucumber-frame  or  a  greenhouse,  or 
on  a  lead  roof,  on  the  hottest  days  of  the  year.     On  the 
other  hand,  they  become  very  thirsty  in  such  weather, 
and  need  water.     Mr.  Hagenbeck,  the  owner  of  the 
Thier  Park   at    Hamburg,   has  found  that   his   Polar 
bears  actually  enjoy  the  hottest  sun  of  midsummer,  and 
lie  out  exposed  to  its  rays    when    other    animals  are 
distressed  by  the  heat.     On  the  hottest  day  which  he 
remembers  to  have  felt  in  Hamburg  he  went  round  the 
gardens  at  mid-day  to  see  if  the  animals  needed  any 

*  A  correspondent  writes  to  say  that  he  had  a  cat  which  did 
this  ;  but  I  leave  the  words  as  above. 


144        THE  EFFECT  OF  HEAT  ON  ANIMALS 

special  treatment.  Cases  of  human  sunstroke  had  been 
dropping  in  at  the  hospitals  all  the  morning,  and  he 
was  not  surprised  to  find  both  a  tiger  and  a  leopard  in 
a  fit,  and  almost  insensible.  But  the  polar  bear  had 
left  its  inner  cage,  and  stretched  itself  flat  on  the  hot 
stones,  where  it  could  enjoy  to  the  full  the  excessive 
heat  of  the  North  German  midsummer. 

All  birds  seem  to  enjoy  the  heat,  provided  that  they 
can  obtain  water,  which  in  this  country  is  never  wanting 
except  on  the  chalk  downs  when  the  ponds  dry  up. 
There  the  rooks  wait  till  dusk  round  the  troughs  from 
which  the  sheep  are  watered,  evidently  suffering  acutely 
from  thirst.  But  pigeons  will  seek  out  the  hottest 
slopes  and  angles  of  the  roofs  ;  and  common  roadside 
birds,  such  as  the  yellow-hammers  and  pipits,  sit  out 
in  the  sun  all  day.  Most  of  the  insect-eating  birds, 
except  the  fly-catchers,  retire  to  the  trees  and  bushes, 
and  both  chickens  and  partridges  purposely  seek  shade. 
The  former,  if  no  other  cover  is  available,  will  lie  in 
the  shadow  of  a  wall,  creeping  close  up  to  it  as  the 
line  of  shade  narrows  towards  mid-day.  Partridges 
either  lie  under  the  hedges  or  move  into  the  turnip- 
fields  when,  as  in  hot  September  weather,  the  leaves 
are  broad  enough  to  cover  them.  But  our  wild  birds 
never  suffer  from  heat  like  those  of  Australia,  where 
the  parrots  and  lories  have  been  seen  to  drop  down 
dead  when  forced  to  fly  across  the  open  ground  in  a 
summer  drought. 


n 

XX.— ANIMALS  IN  THE  DARK 

WHEN  a  thick  fog  descends  on  London,  it  often 
stops  like  a  blanket  just  above  the  summit  of  the 
ordinary  buildings,  though  the  tops  of  the  towers  and 
great  hotels  are  covered  with  darkness.  All  the  pigeons 
and  sea-gulls,  which  are  sitting  on  the  towers  and 
pediments,  or  soaring  over  the  river,  hasten  to  descend 
into  the  light ;  and  while  the  former  settle  on  the  lower 
ledges  and  cornices,  the  latter  skim  over  the  Thames 
below  the  fog-belt,  where  they  can  see  the  world  around 
them. 

Thick  fog  bewilders  all  animals  ;  and  in  real  darkness 
— that  is,  in  total  absence  of  light — they  are  no  more  able 
to  see  than  man.  In  the  '  Mammoth  Caves ;  they  lost 
their  eyes,  as  they  do  in  the  deep  seas  ;  and  even  in  the 
catacombs  below  Paris  there  are  signs  that  some  such 
change  would  in  time  take  place.  But  the  power  of 
sight  in  what  we  term  '  the  dark '  is  the  rule,  and  not 
the  exception,  among  the  great  majority  of  animals. 
The  list  of  those  which  are  either  unable  to  find  their 

'45  10 


146  ANIMALS  IN  THE  DARK 

way,  or  feed,  or  move  freely  by  night,  is  a  short  one  ; 
and  its  chief  interest  lies  in  the  difficulty  of  accounting 
for  their  dependence  upon  sunlight,  while  to  other  and 
nearly  allied  creatures  night  is  as  clear  as  day. 

Among  wild  birds,  other  than  those  which  feed  by 
night,  all  the  hawks,  pheasants,  finches  and  buntings 
are  almost  helpless  in  the  dark,  sleep  heavily,  and  are 
easily  caught.  Why,  then,  are  the  wood-pigeon,  the 
rook,  and  most  of  the  small  warblers  perfectly  alert 
when  once  awakened  at  night,  and  able  to  fly  through 
woods  and  cover  as  easily  as  by  day?  Pheasants  may 
almost  be  picked  off  a  tree  by  night,  and  are  so  helpless 
that  if  they  are  driven  down  they  often  cannot  see  to 
fly  up  again;  sparrows  and  finches  cannot  see  a  bat- 
fowling net,  and  trained  hawks  are  quite  helpless,  and 
have  even  been  killed  in  the  dark  by  rats,  which  the 
hawks  would  eat  themselves  by  day.  Tame  pigeons 
are  also  helpless  in  the  dark,  or  are  so  sleepy  that  they 
do  not  know  what  they  are  doing.  On  the  other  hand, 
wood-pigeons  disturbed  at  night  will  dart  off  through 
boughs  and  branches  without  hesitation  or  accident. 
Common  fowls  are  perfectly  helpless  at  night,  while 
guinea-fowls  are  as  quick-sighted  as  a  plover. 

Among  wild  quadrupeds  it  is  difficult  to  name  one 
which  cannot  see  in  the  dark.  From  the  elephant  to 
the  hare  they  seem  equally  alert  by  night;  and  even 
the  prairie-dogs,  in  spite  of  their  anxiety  to  be  in  bed 


ANIMALS  IN  THE  DARK  147 

by  dark,  are  most  alert  if  they  are  turned  out  of  bed 
into  a  dark  room. 

There  is  evidence  that,  in  spite  of  their  ability  to  find 
their  way  and  to  feed  by  night,  animals  are  not  exempt 
from  some  forms  of  nervousness  induced  by  darkness. 
How  far  this  affects  the  individual  animal  it  is  difficult 
to  tell ;  but  its  effect  is  seen  in  the  panics  which  seize 
on  animals  at  night,  panics  which  seldom,  if  ever,  occur 
during  the  daytime.  Whether  these  night-panics  occur 
among  the  wild  animals  that  live  in  companies  and 
herds  we  have  no  sufficient  means  of  ascertaining  ;  but 
among  domesticated  creatures  these  terrors  of  the  night 
are  not  uncommon,  and  in  some  cases  lead  to  serious 
mischief.  The  most  remarkable  instance  which  has 
occurred  in  late  years  in  this  country  was  some  sudden 
terror  which  affected  the  sheep  on  the  hills  reaching 
from  the  downs  west  of  Reading  to  the  Chiltern  Hills. 
Reports  came  in  from  a  very  large  number  of  parishes 
that  the  flocks  had  that  night  broken  loose  from  their 
folds  and  scattered  over  the  fields.  The  cause  for  so 
widespread  a  panic  was  never  ascertained,  but  it  is  well 
known  that  sheep  are  liable  to  these  frights  by  night. 
The  commonest  cause  is  the  appearance  near  the  fold  of 
strange  dogs,  or  even  of  an  unknown  man.  Horses 
are  also  very  liable  to  be  'stampeded'  in  the  dark. 
Such  mishaps  are  not  common  in  this  country,  as  when 
horses  are  in  any  numbers  together  they  are  usually 

10 2 


148  ANIMALS  IN  THE  DARK 

kept  in  stables  ;  but  near  Colchester  some  years  ago  the 
horses  of  several  troops  of  cavalry,  picketed  for  the  night, 
took  fright,  pulled  up  their  pickets,  and  suffered  most 
severely  in  their  gallop  with  the  picket  ropes  and  pins 
still  attached.  It  is  very  doubtful  whether  the  absence 
of  daylight  contributed  much  to  the  injuries  received 
by  the  horses.  The  celebrated  midnight  steeplechase 
of  the  officers  of  a  cavalry  regiment  stationed  at  Ipswich, 
in  1839,  shows  that  horses  can  see  by  night  when 
ridden  at  full  speed.  This  freak,  in  the  performance 
of  which,  though  there  was  moonlight  at  intervals, 
the  riders  wore  white  night-gowns  and  night-caps  that 
they  might  be  able  to  see  each  other,  led  to  no  serious 
disasters  either  to  horses  or  riders.  As  the  latter  could 
have  done  little  to  guide  their  mounts,  or  to  pull  them 
together  for  jumps  the  size  of  which  they  could  not 
judge,  we  must  assume  that  the  horses  could  see  as  well 
as  was  necessary  to  clear  a  hedge  and  ditch.  They  also 
jumped  a  turnpike-gate  on  the  main  road,  though  this 
was  perhaps  more  easily  distinguished  than  the  fences. 
On  the  pampas  at  night  wild  horses  often  try  to 
stampede  trained  animals  tethered  round  camps,  and  the 
Indians  of  the  plains  constantly  avail  themselves  of  the 
nervousness  of  horses  at  night  to  effect  the  same  object. 
They  either  drive  a  mob  of  their  own  horses  down  on 
the  camp,  or  creep  up  and  suddenly  scare  the  herd. 
Cattle  are  not  affected  in  the  same  way.  We  have 


ANIMALS  IN  THE  DARK  149 

never  heard  of  oxen  or  cows  being  liable  to  panic  in 
darkness,  unless  from  causes  which  would  affect  them 
equally  in  the  daytime,  such  as  the  sight  or  smell  of 
blood,  or  the  sudden  appearance  of  a  herd  of  strange 
cattle  near  their  feeding-ground. 

As  nearly  all  wild  animals  feed  after  sunset  with  an 
increased  sense  of  security,  and  are  then  bold  and  con- 
fident where  during  the  hours  of  daylight  they  are 
timid  and  suspicious,  these  terrors  of  the  night  among 
domesticated  animals  call  for  some  special  explanation. 
We  can  hardly  assume  that  they  have  developed 
'  nerves '  from  artificial  breeding  and  constant  contact 
with  man,  except  in  the  case  of  a  few  highly-bred  dogs 
and  horses ;  neither  is  there  reason  to  believe  that  one 
species  of  ruminant  animal  is  more  averse  to  darkness 
than  another.  A  probable  explanation  is  that  among 
all  wild  animals  man  is  the  chief  object  of  fear,  and  as 
man  cannot  see  in  the  dark,  they  gain  a  respite  by  night 
from  their  most  besetting  apprehension.  The  fear  of 
carnivorous  wild  beasts  is  only  secondary.  But  in  the 
case  of  the  domesticated  animals  the  fear  of  man  is 
exchanged  for  confidence,  and  wild  beasts  become  their 
sole  object  of  dread.  In  all  countries  where  these  are 
found,  especially  the  wolf,  the  leopard,  the  lion,  and 
the  puma,  the  night  becomes  to  domesticated  animals 
a  time  of  intense  apprehension,  having  a  definite  object 
in  some  particular  prowling  beast.  Darkness  in  itself 


150  ANIMALS  IN  THE  DARK 

is  not  the  object  of  fear,  but  merely  marks  the  time 
when  the  object  of  fear  is  abroad.  Among  our 
domesticated  animals  in  this  country  the  terror  is  not 
personified,  but  the  nervousness  survives  in  an  im- 
personal form.  It  is  not  often  in  evidence,  and  needs 
some  incident  to  arouse  it ;  but  there  is  no  doubt  that 
the  propensity  to  fear  increases  with  darkness  and 
vanishes  at  daybreak. 

The  effect  of  darkness  on  insects  shows  some  striking 
differences.  Butterflies  are  so  sensitive  to  want  of 
light  that  they  are  not  only  stupid  and  sleepy  at 
night,  but  are  affected  in  the  daytime  by  the  shadow 
of  every  passing  cloud.  It  is  a  common  practice  of 
butterfly-hunters  to  keep  their  eye  on  an  insect 
without  pursuing  it,  waiting  till  a  cloud  comes,  when 
it  is  nearly  certain  to  settle  down  and  become  more 
or  less  torpid.  Possibly  it  fears  rain ;  but  some  moths, 
whose  wings  are  no  less  fragile  than  those  of  butter- 
flies, often  fly  on  evenings  when  a  slight  rain  is 
falling.  Except  the  owls  and  the  night-jar,  most  of 
our  night-feeding  birds  are  thoroughly  keen-sighted  by 
day.  They  include  the  whole  class  of  birds — ducks, 
waders,  storks,  and  herons — which  feed  on  the  muds 
left  by  the  tide.  It  is  generally  held  that  these  birds 
can  see  equally  well  by  night  as  by  day.  Very  few 
people  have  spent  enough  time  out  on  the  muds  by 
night  to  speak  on  this  point  with  certainty  ;  but  a 


ANIMALS  IN  THE  DARK  151 

fowler  who  has  had  forty  years'  experience  of  night- 
shooting  on  the  marshes,  quoted  in  the  Badminton 
Magazine  some  time  ago,  gives  it  as  his  opinion  that 
all  wildfowl  see  distinctly  by  night,  but  that,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  do  not  recognise  objects  which  they 
do  not  expect  to  see.  They  see  and  avoid  a  man 
walking,  but  if  he  is  still  they  apparently  mistake  him 
for  a  piece  of  wreck  or  debris.  Thus,  when  sitting  in 
*  duck  holes,1  with  the  moon  nine  days  old,  he  has 
known  a  pair  of  stints  settle  on  the  bank  of  the  hole, 
and  once  caught  one  with  his  hand.  He  has  also 
known  an  owl  to  fly  into  the  hole  and  perch  on  the 
marram-grass  with  which  it  was  lined  ;  while  another 
gunner  declares  that  as  he  lay  on  his  back  on  the 
shingle  one  night  a  mallard  pitched  between  his  feet 
and  began  to  preen  its  feathers  !  The  more  familiar  an 
observer  grows  with  the  ways  of  animals  after  dark 
and  in  the  very  early  morning,  the  more  convinced  he 
is  likely  to  become  that  they  have  made  it  an  axiom 
that  man  is,  or  ought  to  be,  in  bed  from  dusk  till 
six  o'clock,  and  that  even  if  he  is  not,  the  world  during 
the  hours  of  darkness  and  dawn  belongs  to  them  alone. 


XXI.— NATURAL  DEATH  IN  THE  ANIMAL 

WORLD 

MR.  F.  G.  AFLALO,  in  the  St.  James's  Gazette, 
suggested  that  if  death  by  accident  is  comparatively 
rare  among  animals,  those  which  die  a  natural  death 
meet  it  in  the  form  of  starvation.  It  is  difficult  to 
avoid  the  conclusion  that  wild  animals,  enfeebled  by 
weakness  or  physical  decay,  do  so  perish,  because  of 
the  absence  of  aid  in  sickness.  If  the  bills  of  mortality 
from  causes  other  than  the  violence  of  predatory  species 
could  be  made  out  for  the  animal  world,  there  would 
probably  be  good  ground  for  the  conclusion  that  this 
lingering  death  is  in  store  for  the  majority. 

The  subject  is  complicated  by  a  kind  of  mystery 
which  has  been  long  recognised  in  common  experience, 
and  is  now  attracting  some  of  the  attention  it  deserves 
from  travellers  and  naturalists — the  disappearance, 
namely,  of  the  animal  dead,  other  than  those  killed  by 
accident  or  violence.  In  tropical  countries  rapid  decay 
dissolves  the  tissues  of  flesh,  and  bone-devouring  beasts 

152 


NATURAL  DEATH  IN  THE  ANIMAL   WORLD  153 

like  the  hyaena  may  destroy  the  largest  bones.  But 
there  is  one  region  in  which  we  should  expect  to  find 
the  bodies  of  such  animals  as  have  died  a  natural  death, 
along  the  whole  length  of  the  frozen  rim  of  the  Old 
World,  from  the  Petchora  to  Behring  Sea,  a  region 
where  even  the  fruits  forced  into  being  by  the  Arctic 
summer  are  preserved  fresh  beneath  the  snow  until  the 
ensuing  spring,  and  the  remains  of  prehistoric  beasts, 
the  mammoth  and  Siberian  rhinoceros,  have  only  under- 
gone partial  decay  in  the  frozen  soil.  Here  we  should 
also  expect  to  discover  the  bodies  of  animals  which  had 
died  at  the  end  of  the  summer  c  cold-stored '  till  the 
snow  broke  up  in  the  Arctic  spring. 

For  this  life  during  the  Arctic  summer  is  numbered 
by  millions ;  there  is  probably  no  such  gathering  of 
birds  on  any  part  of  the  globe  as  on  the  Arctic  tundra 
in  July  and  August,  while  large  and  small  mammals, 
seals,  walrus,  reindeer,  foxes,  and  lemmings  also  abound. 
Do  they  never  die,  or  what  becomes  of  their  bodies  ? 
For  the  latter  are  almost  never  seen.  Nordenskiold,  in 
his  '  Voyage  of  the  Vega*  more  than  once  recurs  to  this 
strange  absence  of  the  animal  dead.  In  an  ice-beset 
channel  among  some  Arctic  islands  off  the  mouth  of 
the  Yenesei  he  saw  a  great  number  of  dead  fish — Gadus 
polar  is — and  next  day  saw  the  sea-bottom,  where  the 
water  was  very  clear,  bestrewn  with  { innumerable  fish  ' 
of  the  same  species,  which  had  probably  met  their  death 


154  NATURAL  DEATH  IN  THE  ANIMAL   WORLD 

by  the  shoal  being  enclosed  by  ice  in  a  small  hole,  where 
the  water  could  not  receive  a  fresh  supply  of  oxygen. 
This  is  a  common  form  of  natural  death  among  fish 
in  cold  countries  ;  but  the  explorer  remarks  it  for 
the  following  reasons.  *  I  mention  this,'  he  observes, 
'  because  such  examples  of  "  self-dead  "  vertebrate 
animals  are  found  exceedingly  seldom.  They  therefore 
deserve  to  be  noted.  .  .  .  During  my  nine  expedi- 
tions in  the  Arctic  regions,  where  Arctic  life  during 
the  summer  is  so  exceedingly  abundant,  the  case  just 
mentioned  has  been  one  of  the  few  in  which  I  have 
found  remains  of  modern  vertebrate  animals  which 
could  be  proved  to  have  died  a  natural  death.  Near 
the  hunting  grounds  there  are  often  to  be  seen  the 
remains  of  reindeer,  seals,  foxes,  or  birds  that  have 
died  from  gunshot  wounds,  but  no  ll  self-dead  "  Polar 
bear,  seal,  walrus,  white  whale,  fox,  lemming,  or  other 
vertebrate.  The  Polar  bear  and  the  reindeer  are  found 
there  in  hundreds  ;  the  seal,  walrus,  and  white  whale  in 
thousands,  and  birds  in  millions.  These  birds  must  die 
a  "  natural  death  "  in  untold  numbers.  What  becomes 
of  their  bodies?'  Of  this  we  have  at  present  no  idea  ; 
and  yet  we  have  here  a  problem  of  immense  importance 
for  the  answering  of  a  large  number  of  questions  con- 
cerning the  formation  of  fossil-bearing  strata.  It  is 
strange  in  any  case  that  on  Spitzbergen  it  is  easier  to 
find  the  vertebrae  of  a  gigantic  lizard  of  the  Trias  than 


NATURAL  DEATH  IN  THE  ANIMAL   WORLD  155 

the  bones  of  a  seal,  walrus,  or  bird  which  has  met  a 
natural  death. 

This  disappearance  of  the  dead,  so  remarkable  in 
itself,  must,  we  think,  be  left  out  of  account  in  the 
endeavour  to  ascertain  the  causes  of  decease.  These 
must  be  sought,  not  by  coroner's  inquest,  when  too 
often  there  is  no  body  which  the  jury  can  view,  but  by 
argument  from  the  known  causes  of  death  among 
domestic  animals,  and  the  numerous,  if  scattered, 
records  of  mortality  among  wild  ones,  notes  of  which 
have  often  been  carefully  preserved,  and  may  be  found 
at  intervals  through  the  history  of  the  last  ten  centuries. 
Most  of  these  are  the  records  of  epidemics,  but  these 
and  similar  diseases  must  be  held  to  be  at  work  from 
year's  end  to  year's  end,  even  when  not  so  violent  as  to 
cause  remark  ;  while  concurrently  there  are  among 
animals  a  large  class  of  ailments  causing  natural  death 
exactly  analogous  to  those  leading  to  human  mortality. 

Among  these  normal,  non-epidemic  causes  of  death 
many  must  be  common  both  to  wild  and  to  domesticated 
species.  c  Distemper '  among  dogs  and  cats  probably 
extends  also  to  foxes,  wolves,  and  the  wild  felidas.  Its 
course  is  often  exactly  like  that  of  a  wasting  low-fever, 
and  animals  die  from  it  in  precisely  the  same  way  as  a 
human  patient  suffering  from  malaria  or  bilious  fever, 
for  the  symptoms  are  not  always  the  same.  '  Chill ' 
kills  dogs,  often  by  jaundice,  and  horses  and  cows 


156  NATURAL  DEATH  IN  THE  ANIMAL   WORLD 

mainly  by  causing  internal  inflammation.  Death  is 
then  rapid  and  painful,  and  takes  place  before  emacia- 
tion of  any  kind  is  visible  in  the  animal.  Most 
domesticated  animals,  even  cage-birds,  are  liable  to  this 
cause  of  death  ;  but  we  may  assume  that  among  wild 
animals  whose  normal  course  of  life  does  not  expose 
them  to  over-exertion  or  '  draughts '  it  is  less  common. 
Among  aged  domesticated  animals,  or  those  which  are 
obliged  to  make  violent  exertions,  heart-disease  often 
causes  sudden  death.  Master  Magrath  died  from 
this,  so  do  the  racing  dogs  of  the  Northumberland 
miners.  Aged  horses  sometimes  drop  down  dead  from 
the  same  cause  when  being  gently  ridden.  Most  very 
old  horses  which  have  been  turned  out  to  grass  to  end 
their  days  in  peace  suffer  in  the  end  from  forms  of 
indigestion,  which  cause  them  to  become  so  thin  that 
their  owners  order  them  to  be  shot.  A  recent  veterinary 
work  ascribes  this  and  many  other  equine  maladies  to 
decay  or  defects  in  the  teeth  due  to  age  or  accidents. 
In  the  same  way  some  old  dogs  become  emaciated,  even 
when  carefully  fed.  But,  like  human  beings,  all  the 
canine  race,  and  most  of  the  felidas  and  bears,  seem  liable 
to  forms  of  tumour,  and  unless  relieved  by  surgery  or 
released  by  euthanasia,  may  meet  their  death  after  great 
misery  and  suffering.  Nor  should  it  be  forgotten  that 
virulent  sore  throat  is  often  prevalent  and  fatal  amongst 
animals,  especially  cats. 


NATURAL  DEATH  IN  THE  ANIMAL   WORLD  157 

Consumption  and  other  forms  of  tuberculosis  account 
for  a  large  percentage  of  the  natural  deaths  of  domesti- 
cated animals.  We  doubt  if  any  but  the  goat  have 
complete  immunity  from  it.  Cattle,  cats,  chickens, 
pigeons,  and  in  a  less  degree  horses,  dogs,  rats,  and 
mice,  are  all  victims  of  the  tubercle-bacillus.  Between 
these  normal  and  non-contagious  causes  of  death  and 
the  violent  and  devastating  animal  plagues  comes  the 
long  list  or  contagious  animal  diseases  mainly  confined 
to  domesticated  animals.  Anthrax,  the  most  rapid  and 
deadly,  is  perhaps  the  least  common.  Then  follows 
the  permanent  list — influenza,  now  always  present  and 
often  epidemic,  and  affecting  all  domestic  animals,  and 
probably  wild  ones  also  ;  swine  fever,  aphthous  fever 
(not  commonly  fatal),  glanders,  and  in  some  seasons  the 
fatal  { liver  rot,'  mainly  affecting  sheep  and  rabbits,  due 
to  a  parasite  harboured  in  tainted  ground  and  water. 
Add  to  these  the  choleraic  diseases  from  bad  water 
and  dirty  soil,  and  we  have  forms  of  natural  death  suf- 
ficient to  account  for  the  total  disappearance  of  whole 
species,  did  not  the  generally  healthy  conditions  under 
which  they  live  act  as  a  safeguard.  Unfortunately, 
among  these  conditions  is  one  which  does  not  make  for 
the  preservation  of  health,  namely,  the  tendency  of 
nearly  all  non-carnivorous  animals  to  herd  together, 
and,  even  when  non-related,  to  seek  each  other's  society. 
Hence  the  astonishing  violence  and  fatal  results  of 


158  NATURAL  DEATH  IN  THE  ANIMAL   WORLD 

animal  epidemics.  During  their  prevalence  the  absence 
of  the  animal  dead  is  no  longer  marked.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  bodies  are  in  evidence.  Among  the  multi- 
tude of  examples  collected  by  Mr.  George  Fleming  in 
his  work  on  c  Animal  Plagues '  are  eighty-six  epidemics 
affecting  wild  quadrupeds  and  birds,  and  twenty- seven 
affecting  fish.  Among  the  former  nearly  every  wild 
species  in  Europe  is  mentioned,  and  some  in  the  New 
World,  including  red-deer,  reindeer,  wolves,  foxes, 
pelicans,  bears,  chamois,  hares,  wild  hogs,  rabbits,  rats, 
wild  -  ducks,  rooks,  gaurs,  and  monkeys.  Disorders 
usually  somewhat  rare  and  sporadic  are  capable  of 
developing  into  epidemics  and  claiming  victims  whole- 
sale. Perhaps  one  of  the  most  curious  instances  is 
that  of  rabies  among  foxes.  This  prevailed  on  the 
Continent  during  the  years  1830  to  1838.  In  the 
Canton  of  the  Vaud  in  Switzerland  the  bodies  of 
the  dead  foxes  were  often  picked  up  and  examined,  and 
it  was  thought  that  they  were  suffering  from  malignant 
quinsy  ;  but  as  they  entered  villages  and  bit  men,  dogs, 
and  swine,  which  afterwards  died  from  rabies,  there  was 
no  doubt  as  to  the  nature  of  the  malady.  In  Wurtemburg 
and  Baden  the  fox-rabies  became  so  serious  that  regular 
hunts  were  organized  until  the  animals  were  killed  off, 
like  the  dogs  of  Lima  under  similar  conditions.  The 
effect  of  epidemics  among  animals  is  now  so  well  known 
that  we  have  dwelt  in  these  remarks  mainly  on  the  less 


NATURAL  DEATH  IN  THE  ANIMAL   WORLD    159 

striking  but  still  constant  causes  of  natural  death.  But 
to  those  which  perish  in  this  normal  course  of  mortality 
there  must  be  added  a  vast  number  of  wild  animals 
which  escape  constitutional  or  contagious  disorders,  and 
die  of  lingering  starvation,  hastened  by  exposure.  This 
fact  in  a  great  degree  justifies  the  domestication  and 
appropriation  of  animals  to  the  service  of  civilized  man, 
who  in  his  dealings  with  their  last  years  shows  an  ever- 
increasing  tendency  to  rectify  this  aberrant  conclusion 
set  by  Nature  to  animal  life. 


XXII.— ANIMALS'  ILLUSIONS 

A  CURIOUS  instance  of  animal  illusion  was  seen  on  the 
Thames  last  summer  by  those  on  their  way  to  Henley 
by  river.  A  cock  swan  was  fighting  his  own  reflection 
seen  in  the  window  of  a  partly-sunken  house-boat, 
which  acted  as  a  looking-glass.  He  had  been  doing 
battle  for  some  time  in  defence,  as  he  supposed,  of  his  wife 
and  family,  who  were  grouped  together  close  by,  and  had 
apparently  begun  to  have  some  misgivings  as  to  whether 
the  enemy  were  real  or  not,  for  at  intervals  he  desisted 
from  the  attack,  and  tapped  the  frame  of  the  window 
all  round  with  his  bill. 

Birds  are  perhaps  more  commonly  the  victims  of 
illusions  than  other  animals,  their  stupidity  about  their 
eggs  being  quite  remarkable.  Recently,  for  instance,  a 
hen  got  into  the  pavilion  of  a  ladies'  golf-club,  and 
began  to  sit  in  a  corner  on  a  golf-ball,  for  which  it 
made  a  nest  with  a  couple  of  pocket-handkerchiefs. 
But  many  quadrupeds  are  not  only  deceived  for  the 
moment  by  reflections,  shadows  and  such  unrealities,  but 

160 


ANIMALS'  ILLUSIONS  161 

often  seem  victims  to  illusions  largely  developed  by  the 
imagination.  The  horse,  for  instance,  is  one  of  the 
bravest  of  animals  when  face  to  face  with  dangers  which 
it  can  understand,  such  as  the  charge  of  an  elephant,  or 
a  wild  boar  at  bay.  Yet  the  courageous  and  devoted 
horse,  so  steadfast  against  the  dangers  he  knows,  is  a 
prey  to  a  hundred  terrors  of  the  imagination  due  to 
illusions — mainly  those  of  sight,  for  shying,  the  minor 
effect  of  these  illusions,  and  '  bolting,'  in  which  panic 
gains  complete  possession  of  his  soul,  are  caused  as  a 
rule  by  mistakes  as  to  what  the  horse  sees,  and  not  by 
misinterpretation  of  what  he  hears.  It  is  noticed,  for 
instance,  that  many  horses  which  shy  usually  start  away 
from  objects  on  one  side  more  frequently  than  from 
objects  on  the  other.  This  is  probably  due  to  defects 
in  the  vision  of  one  or  other  eye.  In  nearly  all  cases  of 
shying  the  horse  takes  fright  at  some  unfamiliar  object, 
though  this  is  commonly  quite  harmless,  such  as  a 
wheelbarrow  upside  down,  a  freshly  felled  log,  or  a 
piece  of  paper  rolling  before  the  wind.  This  instantly 
becomes  an  *  illusion/  is  interpreted  as  something  else, 
and  it  is  a  curious  question  in  equine  neuropathy  to 
know  what  it  is  that  the  horse  figures  these  harmless 
objects  to  be.  One  conclusion  is  certain :  all  horses 
share  the  feeling,  omne  ignotum  pro  mirabili^  with  a 
strong  tendency  to  convert  mirabili  into  terribili,  and 
night  or  twilight  predisposes  them  to  this  nervous 

ii 


162  ANIMALS'  ILLUSIONS 

condition.  A  coachman,  who  for  many  years  had  been 
in  charge  of  a  large  stable  of  valuable  carriage-horses, 
gave  the  writer  some  curious  instances  of  the  nervous 
illusions  of  horses.  Once  only  did  he  find  a  whole  stable 
in  anything  like  permanent  fear.  He  had  taken  ten 
carriage-horses  to  a  large  house  in  Norfolk,  where  they 
stood  in  a  line  in  a  ten-stalled  stable.  There  was  a 
tame  monkey  in  the  stable,  very  quiet,  which  slept 
unchained,  sitting  on  one  of  the  divisions  of  the  stalls. 
On  the  first  night,  about  eleven  o'clock,  he  heard  a 
disturbance  in  the  stable,  the  horses  stamping  and  kick- 
ing, and  very  uneasy.  He  got  a  light,  entered  the 
stable,  and  found  them  all  '  in  a  muck  sweat.'  Nothing 
which  could  disturb  them  was  there  except  the  monkey, 
apparently  asleep  on  its  perch.  He  quieted  the  horses, 
locked  the  door,  and  went  away.  Soon  the  disturbance 
began  again,  and  this  time,  slipping  quietly  up,  he  drew 
a  pair  of  steps  to  one  of  the  windows,  and,  as  the  moon 
was  shining  bright,  had  a  view  of  the  interior.  The 
monkey  was  the  source  of  terror.  It  was  amusing  itself 
by  a  steeplechase  along  the  whole  length  of  the  stable, 
leaping  alternately  from  the  division  of  the  stall  to  a 
horse's  back  or  head,  then  off  on  to  the  next  rail,  and  so 
on.  The  horses  were  trembling  with  fright,  though 
many  of  them  had  not  the  least  objection  to  a  cat  or  a 
pigeon  sitting  on  their  backs.  Yet  the  monkey  had  not 
hurt  any  of  them,  and  their  panic  was  clearly  the  result 


ANIMALS'  ILLUSIONS  163 

of  illusion.  Old-fashioned  people  used  to  identify  any 
strange  living  object  which  frightened  them  with  l  the 
devil/  Perhaps  for  horses  'the  devil'  is  anything 
which  they  cannot  understand. 

*  Understanding/  or  investigation  to  that  end,  does 
often  remove  these  equine  illusions.  Young  horses  can 
be  led  up  to  a  sack  lying  on  the  ground  and  induced  to 
pass  it  by  letting  them  smell  it,  and  find  out  that  it 
really  is  a  sack,  and  not  the  Protean  thing,  whatever  it 
may  be,  which  illusion  conjures  up  for  them.  Once  the 
writer  saw  a  very  quick  and  pretty  instance  of  experi- 
ment by  touch  made  by  a  frightened  pony.  It  was 
being  driven  as  leader  in  a  pony  tandem,  and  stopped 
short  in  front  of  where  the  rails  of  a  steam-tramway 
crossed  the  road.  It  first  smelt  the  near  rail,  and  then 
quickly  gave  it  two  taps  with  its  hoof.  After  this  it 
was  satisfied,  and  crossed  the  line.  On  the  other  hand, 
a  donkey  always  tried  to  jump  the  shadows  of  tree- 
trunks  on  the  road,  though  a  similar  experiment  of 
touch  would  have^shown  that  these  were  as  unreal  as  the 
tram-rail  was  substantial.  Lastly,  no  horse  which  has 
once  knocked  its  head  against  the  top  of  a  stable  door- 
way seems  quite  able  to  get  rid  of  the  illusion  that  there 
sits  up  in  the  top  of  all  doorways  an  invisible  something 
which  will  hit  him  again  next  time  he  goes  through. 
Hence  the  troublesome,  and  sometimes  incurable,  habit 
of  horses '  jibbing '  at  any  doorway  they  may  be  required 

II — 2 


1 64  ANIMALS'  ILLUSIONS 

to  go  through.  This  is  an  obvious  instance  of  the 
disadvantage  at  which  most  animals  stand  in  regard 
to  means  of  physical  experiments.  The  horse,  for 
instance,  need  only  feel  the  lintel  to  find  out  that  it  is 
fixed  and  does  not  move,  and  is  not  alive  and  waiting  to 
hit  him.  But,  except  his  lips,  which  are  sensitive,  he 
has  no  member  with  which  he  can  make  this  experiment. 
Except  the  elephant  and  the  monkey,  most  of  the 
'  higher '  animals  suffer  from  this  lack  of  the  means  of 
experiment.  The  wonder  is  not  that  they  suffer  from 
illusions,  but  that  they  make  so  few  mistakes. 

The  routine  of  chemical  experiment  gives  some  idea 
of  the  common  means  by  which  we  guard  against  mis- 
taking one  thing  for  another.  The  inquirer  notes  the 
taste,  scent  and  colour,  and  judges  of  the  weight, 
solubility,  and,  in  the  case  of  crystals,  of  the  shape  of 
the  object  he  wishes  to  identify  ;  he  tries  if  it  is  brittle  or 
tough,  he  heats  it  or  cools  it.  In  common  everyday 
experience  the  number  of  c  tests '  unconsciously  applied 
by  men  to  prevent  illusion  and  identify  objects 
approaches  much  more  nearly  to  the  number  prescribed 
for  scientific  inquiry  than  to  the  simple  experiments 
used  by  animals.  There  is  even  a  test  for  a  ghost, 
which,  since  quoting  Latin  to  it  fell  into  disuse,  usually 
takes  the  form  of  seeing  if  it  is  '  sensitive  to  percussion.1 
Now,  even  this  simple  experiment  is  denied  to  a  horse 
when  uncertain  as  to  the  reality  of  a  figure  seen  by 


ANIMALS'  ILLUSIONS  165 

twilight.  In  the  absence  of  a  hand,  the  sense  of  touch 
is  deficient  in  most  animals.  This  deficiency,  except  in 
the  case  of  birds,  is  not  compensated  by  special  acuteness 
of  sight,  though  nearly  all  animals  apply  a  sensible  test 
to  ascertain  whether  an  object  is  living  or  inanimate. 
They  wait  to  see  if  it  moves ;  and  to  do  this  they 
know  that  the  first  condition  is  to  keep  absolutely  still 
themselves.  Most  of  the  larger  birds,  notably  wood- 
pigeons,  remain  perfectly  motionless  for  many  seconds 
after  alighting  in  a  new  place,  in  order  to  identify  any 
moving  object.  On  the  other  hand,  the  power  of  scent 
is  a  great  corrective  to  animal  misconceptions  about 
objects.  It  is  their  chief  means  of  distinguishing  the 
animate  from  the  inanimate,  and  is  always  employed  by 
them  in  the  diagnosis  of  death.  It  would  be  interesting 
to  know  whether  camels  and  horses  share  the  illusions 
produced  on  men  by  mirage  in  the  desert,  or  whether 
they  are  all  the  time  aware  that  the  seeming  lakes  of 
water  are  unreal.  It  is  certain  that  they  are  frequently 
mistaken  in  sounds,  for  there  are  many  authenticated 
instances  in  which  animals  have  mistaken  the  mimicry 
of  parrots  for  the  call  of  their  masters,  and  a  nervous 
dog,  which  had  a  special  dread  of  thunder,  has  been 
known  to  go  into  a  fit  when  it  heard  a  sack  of  coals 
being  emptied  into  the  cellar. 


XXIIL— ANIMAL  ANTIPATHIES 

A  CORRESPONDENT  describes  a  curious  scene  witnessed 
at  the  Zoological  Gardens.  He  had  for  companion  a 
gentleman,  now  dead,  who  was  a  dwarf,  and  walked 
with  crutches.  '  As  soon  as  the  tiger  saw  him  he 
lashed  his  tail,  and  finally  stood  up  on  his  hind-legs 
against  the  bars,  and  remained  in  a  state  of  great 
excitement.  We  who  saw  it  at  the  time  were  much 
struck  by  the  sight,  though  whether  its  behaviour  were 
due  to  alarm  or  intense  curiosity  we  could  not  tell.' 
Probably  the  tiger's  excitement  was  due  to  neither,  but 
to  the  latent  antipathy  which  many  animals  feel  for 
anything  abnormal,  either  in  their  own  species,  or  even 
among  others  with  which  they  are  well  acquainted.  It 
is  the  feeling  which  prompts  storks  or  rooks  to  destroy 
at  once  the  young  of  other  birds  which  are  hatched 
from  eggs  placed  in  their  nests,  and  dogs  to  bark  at 
cripples  or  ragged  beggars,  or,  as  in  this  case,  roused 
the  dislike  of  an  observant  Zoo  tiger,  which  saw  men  of 

1 66 


ANIMAL  ANTIPATHIES  167 

normal   size   and    proportions   pass   every   day  before 
its  cage. 

The  belief  in  permanent  antipathies  among  animals 
is  very  ancient.    It  appears  in  all  the  monkish  bestiaries. 
There  the  otter  is  always  the  enemy  of  the  crocodile, 
and  the  unicorn  of  the  elephant;*  while  the  dragon 
is  hated  by  the  hart,  and  in  turn  dislikes  all  beasts, 
including   the    panther,    whose   exquisite   perfume,    so 
agreeable  to  all  other  animals,  disgusts  the  dragon,  who 
runs  away  the  moment  he  smells  it.     Turning  from 
legend  to  facts,  we  find  that  animal  antipathies  have  a 
range  as  wide  or  wider  than  the  instinctive  dislikes  of 
men.     They  are  in  part  exactly  the  same  in  kind  as  the 
latter,  one  animal  exciting  in  another  exactly  the  same 
disgust  that   a  baboon   or   a   blackbeetle  does  in    the 
minds  of  many  human  beings  ;  but  the  list  of  hereditary 
enemies — of  one    species  which   is   the    sworn  foe   of 
another,  and  has  left  in  the  weaker  species  an  inbred 
and  ancient  sense  of  horror  and  fear — is  far  longer  than 
the  list  of  hereditary  enemies  of  the  dominant  species, 
man.       Instances    of    purely   instinctive,    inexplicable 
antipathy  are  naturally  the  least    common,  but  there 
are  very  marked  and  definite  examples.      It  is  quite 
impossible,  for   instance,    to    account    for   the   intense 
disgust  which  the  camel  excites  in  horses.     They  have 

*  Possibly  this  tradition  is  founded  on  the  enmity  which  does 
really  exist  between  the  rhinosceros  and  the  elephant. 


*  *  *   ;l*  * 


1  68  ANIMAL  ANTIPATHIES 

been  associated  in  many  countries  for  centuries  in  the 
common  service  of  man,  and  early  training  makes  the 
horse  acquiesce  in  the  proximity  of  the  creature  which 
disgusts  him.     Otherwise  it    is  far   more    difficult   to 
accustom    horses    to    work    with    camels    than    with 
elephants,  precisely  because  the  repugnance  is  a  natural 
antipathy,  and  not  a  reasoned  fear.     They  get  used  to 
the  sight  of  an    elephant,  but   the    smell  of  a   camel 
disgusts    and   frightens   them.     English    horses    which 
have  never   seen  a  camel  refuse  to  approach   ground 
where  they  have  stood.    Recently  a  travelling  menagerie 
was  refused    leave  to    encamp    on    a  village  green  in 
Suffolk,  not  because  it  was  not  welcome,  for  a  wild- 
beast  show  is  always  vastly  popular,  but  because  the 
green  was  also  the  site  of  a  market,  and  the  farmers' 
gig-horses  invariably  refused  to  be  driven  across  it  after 
camels  had  stood  there.     Two  bears  were  being  exhibited 
in  Harley  Street  recently,  and  no  horse  showed  any  fear 
of  them.     One  horse  almost  touched  the  larger  bear, 
but  neither  it  nor  the  team  of  a  four-in-hand  which 
passed  showed  any  nervousness. 

Near  relationship  is  no  guarantee  that  instinctive 
antipathy  shall  not  exist  between  two  species.  Hounds 
always  hunt  a  fox,  or  in  Brittany  the  wolf,  with  their 
hair  standing  up,  though  the  same  species  of  hound 
hunts  deer  or  hares  indifferently  with  the  coat  smooth. 
The  innate  dislike  of  bees  for  some  persons  is  probably 


*F 


ANIMAL  ANTIPATHIES  169 

rightly  attributed  to  some  difference  of  scent,  but  why 
they  dislike  the  scent  of  some  people  and  like  that  of 
others,  when  both  are  equally  well-disposed  to  the  bees, 
is  not  known.  It  seems  due  to  unreasoning  caprice,  to 
antipathy,  and  nothing  else.  The  dislikes  of  dogs  and 
cats  for  certain  people  are  probably  more  reasonable. 
They  divine,  like  children,  who  are  really  in  sympathy 
with  them  and  who  are  not  ;  neither  is  this  a  very 
difficult  task,  for  most  people  are  far  more  demonstra- 
tive with  animals  than  they  are  when  desirous  of 
conciliating  their  own  species. 

From  these  antipathies  of  sentiment  the  antipathies 
of  inheritance  must  be  carefully  distinguished.  Many 
of  these  can  be  explained,  though  the  motive  is  less 
obvious  in  some  cases  than  in  others.  The  hatred  of 
all  cattle  for  dogs  is  very  marked.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  this  is  a  lasting  inheritance  from  the  days  in  which 
their  calves  were  constantly  killed  by  wolves  or  wild 
dogs.  In  India  instances  of  sportsmen  seeing  the  new- 
born calf,  with  its  mother  defending  it  from  wolves, 
occur  in  most  books  on  jungle  sport,  and  the  hatred 
of  the  canidte  associated  with  the  strongest  animal 
instinct,  the  love  of  their  young,  has  never  been  effaced 
among  cattle  even  in  England,  where  the  last  wolf  was 
killed  in  the  days  of  Henry  VII.  Why  the  horse  not 
only  does  not  share  this  antipathy,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
loves  a  dog,  it  is  difficult  to  explain.  Wolves  are  very 


170  ANIMAL  ANTIPATHIES 

destructive  to  foals  in  Russia,  especially  in  the  Baltic 
provinces,  where  horse-breeding  is  an  extensive  industry. 
Possibly  our  English  horses  are  mainly  descended  from 
the  stable-bred  animals  imported  after  the  disappearance 
of  the  wolf,  and  the  ancestral  fear  of  the  canidte  has  been 
eliminated. 

Donkeys  dislike  dogs  even  more  than  cattle  do,  and, 
if  loose,  seldom  lose  a  chance  of  kicking  or  biting  them. 
The  writer  has  seen  a  donkey  chase  a  half-grown  puppy 
into  a  stream,  follow  it  in,  and  strike  at  it  with  its  fore- 
feet. It  is  now  believed  that  the  '  cat  and  dog ' 
antipathy,  which  has  passed  into  proverb,  has  also  its 
origin  in  the  destruction  of  the  whelps  of  some  of  the 
large  felidte  by  wild  dogs.  There  is  much  probability 
in  this  conjecture,  for  it  is  the  dog,  and  not  the  wolf, 
which  the  tiger  so  intensely  dislikes  ;  and  it  is  only  the 
packs  of  wild  dogs,  and  not  wolves,  which  would  venture 
to  kill  a  cub.  Leopards,  which  naturally  live  in  the 
branches  of  trees,  simply  look  on  dogs  as  a  favourite 
article  of  food,  and  the  puma  of  the  pampas,  which 
inhabits  a  country  where  the  wild  dog  is  unknown, 
is  also  a  great  dog-killer.  The  dogs  on  their  part 
seem  quite  aware  of  this  difference  of  view  on  the 
part  of  the  various  cats  ;  they  will  mob  a  tiger  and 
hunt  all  tiger-cats ;  but  they  all  seem  to  fear  the 
leopard,  and  by  nature  to  fear  the  puma,  though  in 
North  America  they  can  be  trained  to  hunt  it.  It  was 


ANIMAL  ANTIPATHIES  171 

recently  noticed  that  a  large  dog,  which  found  its  way 
to  a  point  opposite  the  outdoor  cages  of  the  lion-house 
at  the  Zoo,  crept  underneath  a  seat  as  soon  as  the  puma 
caught  sight  of  it,  and  exhibited  signs  of  the  utmost 
nervousness  and  fear.  Most  of  the  keepers  at  the  Zoo 
are  agreed  that  those  animals  which  exhibit  marked 
likes  or  dislikes  for  visitors  have  the  strongest  possible 
antipathy  to  black  men.  Children  they  also  dislike, 
but  for  the  obvious  reason  that  the  children  tease  them. 
It  has  long  been  noticed  that  all  the  monkeys  hate  a 
negro  ;  but  the  experiment  was  recently  tried  on  a 
large  scale,  and  the  scope  of  animal  antipathy  for  the 
dark-skinned  races  was  found  to  extend  far  beyond  the 
monkey-house.  When  Mr.  Hagenbeck's  Somalis  were 
at  the  Crystal  Palace,  they  were  invited  one  Sunday 
to  see  the  Zoo,  whither  they  went,  accompanied  by 
Mr.  Menzies,  the  African  explorer  and  hunter,  who 
had  brought  them  from  Somaliland.  There  was 
nothing  to  which  the  most  sensitive  European  could 
object  in  the  appearance  of  these  free,  half-Arab  tribes- 
men, and  much  that  was  most  attractive.  They  were 
straight  and  tall  ;  they  had  high  noses,  fine  eyes,  white 
teeth,  and  a  skin  the  colour  of  a  not  quite  ripe  black 
grape.  They  were  strict  Moslems,  exquisitely  cleanly, 
washing  constantly,  not  only  their  limbs  and  bodies,  but 
their  teeth  and  hair.  They  dressed  in  the  whitest  of 
linen,  and  carried  weapons  of  the  brightest  steel, 


172  ANIMAL  ANTIPATHIES 

spending  their  spare  moments  in  polishing  either  these 
or  their  teeth.  They  did  not  smoke,  they  did  not 
drink,  and  the  large  room  in  which  some  thirty  of 
them  slept  was  as  sweet  as  a  hayloft.  When  all  this 
gallant  company  of  dark  men  entered  the  lion-house, 
there  was  an  uproar.  The  animals  were  furious  ;  they 
roared  with  rage.  The  apes  and  monkeys  were 
frightened  and  angry,  the  antelopes  were  alarmed,  and 
even  the  phlegmatic  wild  cattle  were  excited.  They 
recognised  their  natural  enemies,  the  dark-skinned  men 
who  have  hunted  them  for  a  thousand  centuries  in  the 
jungles  and  the  bush,  and  with  whom  their  own  parents 
did  battle  when  they  were  captured  and  carried  off 
captive  in  the  Nubian  deserts,  and,  like  the  Grecian 
ghosts  at  the  sight  of  ^Eneas  in  the  shades,  they  raised 
a  war-cry,  though  the  sound  did  not  die  in  their  throats. 
Animal  antipathy  is  thus  closely  correlated  with  like 
emotions  in  man.  It  may  be  traced  in  all  its  variations 
from  purely  instinctive  and  physical  distaste,  the  dislike 
for  the  camel  felt  by  the  horse  being  much  on  a  par 
with  that  felt  by  a  Southern  white  for  a  South  American 
negro,  to  its  rational  climax  in  antipathy  based  on 
danger  known  to  animals  and  men  alike,  and  exhibited 
in  the  common  and  intense  horror  of  the  poisonous 
snake.  A  tame  monkey  has  been  known  to  drop 
down  in  a  dead  faint  when  suddenly  confronted  with 
a  snake.  This  sounds  almost  too  human  ;  but  fainting 


ANIMAL  ANTIPATHIES  173 

in  sudden  terror,  though  rare  among  animals,  in  which 
this  form  of  panic  more  often  causes  paralysis  of  the 
limbs,  is  not  confined  to  monkeys.  Gray  parrots, 
which  are  highly  nervous  birds,  will  drop  from  the 
perch,  and  lose  consciousness  under  any  strong  impulse 
of  fright. 


XXIV.— ANIMAL  KINDERGARTEN 

A  WRITER  in  the  Reading  Mercury,  describing  the 
games  played  by  lambs,  says :  *  From  one  point  of  view 
animal  life  is  very  serious,  and  if  they  are  to  survive 
in  the  struggle  they  can  ill  afford  to  waste  time  in 
frivolities.  Young  creatures  are  all  educated  on  the 
Kindergarten  system,  and  their  games,  in  which  the 
parents  often  join,  are  mainly  mimic  warfare  or  pursuit. 
The  antics  of  lambs  when  playing  the  game  "  I  am  the 
King  of  the  Castle,"  are  just  those  which  would  be  per- 
formed, though  with  more  dignity,  by  a  ram  confront- 
ing his  antagonist,  and  confident  of  his  power  to  hurl 
him  into  the  abyss/  This  extension  of  the  Duke  of 
Wellington's  observation  on  public-school  games  to  the 
sports  of  animals  is  not  without  probability;  for  the 
instinct  with  which  most  young  animals  are  equipped 
is,  as  a  rule,  insufficient  to  ensure  their  safety,  until 
education  both  by  their  parents  and  playfellows  comes 
to  the  aid  of  inherited  impulse. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Hudson,  when  living  on  the  Pampas  of 

174 


ANIMAL  KINDERGARTEN  175 

La  Plata,  recorded  some  very  interesting  observations 
on  the  education  of  the  young  of  animals  common  on 
the  plains.  The  half-wild  lambs  of  the  pampas  remain 
almost  '  imbecile '  for  three  days.  They  are  not  sense- 
less and  helpless  like  blind  puppies,  but  are  equipped 
with  certain  instincts  which  do  not  answer  the  pur- 
pose for  which  they  were  apparently  intended.  The 
instances  which  Mr.  Hudson  gives  of  the  unsatisfactory 
working  of  instinct — which  in  these  lambs  is  properly 
so  called,  for  it  is  prior  to  education  and  experience — 
show  how  their  existence,  intended  to  benefit  the  young 
creature,  may  actually  retard  education  in  the  animal 
Kindergarten.  The  pampas  lamb  has  three  instincts 
when  born.  One  is  to  suck,  the  second  to  run  after 
anything  moving  away  from  it,  and  the  third  to  run 
away  from  anything  advancing  towards  it.  It  is  in  the 
second  and  third  of  these  impulses  that  instinct  is  of 
disservice  to  the  lamb.  '  If  the  mother  turns  round 
and  approaches  it,  even  from  a  very  short  distance,  it 
will  turn  round  and  run  from  her  in  fear,  and  will  not 
understand  her  voice  when  she  bleats  to  it  ;  at  the 
same  time  it  will  confidently  follow  a  dog,  horse,  or 
man  moving  from  it.  It  is  a  very  common  experience 
to  see  a  lamb  start  up  from  sleep  and  follow  the  rider, 
running  close  to  the  heels  of  the  horse.  This  is  dis- 
tressing to  a  merciful  man  who  cannot  shake  the  little 
simpleton  off" ;  and  if  he  rides  on,  no  matter  how  fast, 


1 76  ANIMAL  KINDERGARTEN 

it  will  keep  up  with  him  or  keep  him  in  sight  for  half 
a  mile  or  more,  and  never  recover  its  dam.  ...  I  have 
seen  a  lamb,  about  two  days  old,  start  up  from  sleep, 
and  at  once  make  off  in  pursuit  of  a  puff-ball  about  as 
big  as  a  man's  head,  carried  past  it  over  the  smooth 
turf  by  the  wind.' 

The  uneducated  instinct  in  the  case  of  these  lambs  is 
of  disservice  in  place  of  service.  The  *  following ' 
impulse,  obeyed  without  discrimination,  makes  them 
lose  their  mothers,  and  the  same  want  of  knowledge 
makes  them  shun  the  very  creature  whose  advance  they 
should  most  desire.  The  old  sheep  is  therefore  obliged 
to  devote  herself  during  the  first  week  of  her  lamb's 
existence  to  *  unteaching '  instinct  and  substituting 
sense,  which  she  does  mainly  by  convincing  the  lamb 
that  she,  and  no  other  creature,  is  to  be  followed. 
This  first  lesson  once  learnt,  the  rest  follows  easily. 
The  fawn  of  the  common  pampas  deer  is  born  equipped 
with  instinct  for  concealment  similar  to  that  which  the 
young  plover  has  on  leaving  the  egg.  But  it  is  at  once 
educated  by  the  doe  to  use  this  to  the  best  advantage. 
She  teaches  it  to  improve  upon  the  original  instinct. 
*  When  the  doe  with  a  fawn  is  approached  by  a  horse- 
man with  dogs  she  stands  perfectly  motionless,  gazing 
fixedly  at  the  enemy,  the  fawn  motionless  at  her  side. 
Suddenly,  as  if  by  some  signal,  the  fawn  rushes  away 
from  her  at  utmost  speed  ;  and  going  to  a  distance  of 


ANIMAL  KINDERGARTEN  177 

from  six  hundred  to  one  thousand  yards,  conceals  itself 
in  a  bottom,  or  among  the  long  grass,  lying  down  very 
close,  with  the  neck  stretched  out  horizontally.'  The 
doe  remains  still  until  the  dogs  approach  near,  when 
she  runs  off  in  the  opposite  direction  to  that  taken  by 
the  fawn.  These  pampas  deer,  which  are  clever  enough 
to  teach  their  young  thus  early,  exhibit  another  artifice 
which  marks  them  as  of  a  higher  intelligence  than  other 
species  of  deer.  They  have  improved  upon  the  common 
device  of  enticing  the  dogs  in  another  direction  than 
that  taken  by  their  young,  just  as  they  have  improved 
upon  the  instinct  common  to  all  young  fawns  of  lying 
still  for  concealment.  The  pampas  deer  feign  lameness 
in  order  to  draw  the  dogs  away,  a  trick  common  among 
birds,  but  not  used,  so  far  as  the  writer  is  aware,  by 
any  other  quadruped. 

Young  birds'  education,  in  this  particular  direction, 
begins  literally  ab  ovo.  The  same  observer  noted  that 
in  three  widely  differing  species  the  young,  when 
chipping  the  shell,  instantly  ceased  their  strokes,  and 
the  cry  with  which  this  effort  is  accompanied,  when  the 
old  bird  uttered  its  warning  note.  This  he  considers 
to  be  '  a  proof  that  the  nestling  has  no  instinctive 
knowledge  of  its  enemies,  but  is  taught  to  fear  them  by 
its  parents.'  But  it  may  be  urged  that  in  this  case  the 
knowledge  of  the  meaning  of  the  parent's  note  is  also 
instinctive  ;  for  the  nestling  cannot  know  or  realize  the 

12 


178  ANIMAL  KINDERGARTEN 

identity  of  the  parent.  The  instance  which  Mr. 
Hudson  quotes  of  the  distinction  which  nestling  birds 
do  make  between  their  '  own  language  '  and  an  unknown 
tongue,  is  still  more  confusing  to  the  theorist,  though 
most  interesting  as  a  fact.  The  young  of  the  parasitical 
starling  of  North  America,  known  as  the  '  cow-bird,' 
never  learn  the  warning  notes  of  their  foster-parents. 
c  They  will  readily  devour  worms  from  the  hand  of 
man,  even  when  the  old  (foster)  birds  are  hovering 
above  them  and  screaming  their  danger-notes,  while 
their  own  young,  if  the  parasite  has  allowed  any  to 
survive,  are  crouching  down  in  the  greatest  fear.'  But 
when  grown  up  and  associating  with  their  own  kind 
they  become  suspicious  and  shy  like  other  wild  birds. 
All  the  '  catching-and-killing  '  games  practised  by  cats 
and  kittens,  puppies,  weasels,  fox-cubs,  and  other  young 
carnivora  are  educational,  as  are  the  wild  gallops  in- 
dulged in  by  mares  with  well-grown  foals  ;  but  no  one 
has  ever  seen  a  cow  try  to  educate  her  calf,  and  little 
pigs,  like  Mr.  Sam  Weller,  are  expected  to  educate 
themselves.  But  they  also  educate  one  another. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  all  creatures  which  have  large 
families,  whether  beasts  or  birds,  have  less  trouble  in 
rearing  them  than  those  which  have  only  one  or  two 
young.  Little  pigs  are  weeks  ahead  of  calves  in 
intelligence,  and  the  young  partridge,  with  its  dozen 
brothers  and  sisters,  is  far  more  teachable  than  the 


ANIMAL  KINDERGARTEN  179 

young  eagle.  There  seems  no  doubt  that  the  latter  is 
taught  to  fly  by  its  parents.  A  correspondent  informs 
the  writer  that  he  has  watched  the  old  birds  so  engaged, 
and  the  young  eagles  reluctantly  following  them  to  a 
height.  Specialized  education  in  animals  begins  late. 
The  beaver  kitten's  training  does  not  begin  until  the 
autumn  of  the  year  in  which  it  is  born.  The  old 
beavers,  which  have  moved  up  tributary  streams  into 
the  woods,  or  roamed  to  the  larger  lakes  during  summer, 
then  return  to  inspect  their  dam,  and  repair  it  for  the 
winter.  They  then  cut  down  a  few  trees,  and  dividing 
them  into  logs,  roll  them  or  tow  them  to  the  dam. 
The  kittens  meantime  are  put  on  to  what  in  a  work- 
shop would  be  called  a  '  soft  job/  They  cut  all  the 
small  branches  and  twigs  into  lengths,  and  do  their 
share  of  light  transport  service.  In  the  mud-patting 
and  repairing  of  the  dam  the  beaver  kittens  take  their 
share,  but  there  is  little  doubt  that  they  do  so  because 
their  elders  are  so  engaged.  It  is  a  Kindergarten  of  the 
best  kind,  because  mud-patting  and  stick-cutting  are  a 
great  joy  and  solace  to  old  beavers  as  well  as  young 
ones,  and  so  instruction,  pleasure,  and  business  are  all 
combined.  Young  otters,  and  probably  also  young 
water-rats,  have  to  be  taught  to  go  into  the  water. 
According  to  the  observations  of  Mr.  Hart,  the  late 
head-keeper  at  the  Zoo,  the  young  otters  born  there 
did  not  enter  the  water  for  weeks,  and  even  then  their 

12 —  2 


i8o  ANIMAL  KINDERGARTEN 

mother  had  to  '  mind '  them  and  fetch  them  out  when 
she  thought  they  had  had  enough  of  it.  They  swim 
naturally  when  once  in  the  water,  and  this  seems  true  or 
all  animals,  though  quite  recently  a  young  retriever, 
bred  on  a  dry  and  waterless  district  in  the  Downs,  was 
found  to  be  unable  to  swim.  A  stick  was  thrown  into 
the  Thames  for  it  to  fetch.  It  plunged  in,  but  soon 
sunk,  and  though  rescued  was  almost  insensible. 

But  such  instances  of  instinct  in  abeyance  are  rare. 
More  commonly  the  instincts  for  self-help  and  self- 
protection  are  early  developed,  but  need  direction  and 
discipline.  Generally  speaking,  birds  are  the  quickest 
to  learn  when  young,  as  well  as  the  best  equipped  with 
original  instinct. 


XXV.— THE  RANGE  OF  ANIMAL  DIET 

LIEUTENANT  PEARY,  discussing  the  hardships  of  Arctic 
travel,  refuses  to  admit  that  living  on  Esquimaux  diet 
is  any  hardship  at  all.  On  the  contrary,  he  holds  that 
conformity  to  the  food  and  habits  of  indigenous  peoples 
is  the  safest  course  for  an  explorer,  and  that  *  fat  and 
lean '  whale  or  seal,  eaten  raw  in  alternate  bites,  makes 
rather  an  appetizing  meal  in  high  latitudes.  Most 
people  would  prefer  to  do  their  exploring  within  reach 
of  the  comforts  of  the  Pram's  store -cupboard,  so  feel- 
ingly described  by  Dr.  Nansen.  But  the  experience  of 
Lieutenant  Peary  and  his  wife,  like  that  of  many  Arctic 
travellers  before  them,  is  evidence  that  the  human 
digestion  can  cope  with  a  potent  change  of  diet  when 
the  change  of  climate  and  temperature  corresponds. 

It  is  self-evident  that  in  the  case  of  different  human 
races  the  greater  the  range  of  diet  the  better  chance  of 
survival  accrues.  The  districts  of  India  where  the 
population  will  only  eat  rice  are  at  a  disadvantage  in 

times  of  scarcity  compared  with  others  which  affect  no 

181 


i82  THE  RANGE  OF  ANIMAL  DIET 

single  food  grain.  Famine  is  much  less  common  among 
4  omnivorous  '  races  than  among  those  which  are  almost 
parasitic  on  a  single  plant  like  the  banana  or  the  potato. 
In  spite  of  prejudices,  which  even  in  this  country  would 
make  the  lower  classes  more  willing  to  forego  a  portion 
of  their  weekly  meat-supply  than  to  eat  rye-bread  in 
place  of  the  wheaten  loaf,  the  tendency  everywhere  is  to 
increase  the  range  and  variety  of  food. 

Among  animals  the  same  tendency  can  be  traced.  It 
appears  most  noticeably  in  domesticated  species,  but  it 
can  be  traced  amongst  those  which  are  wild,  and  in 
regions  where  evidence  of  its  force  as  a  working  law  is 
given  by  the  very  small  number  of  creatures  now  found 
which  live  on  a  single  item  of  food.  In  the  case  of 
domesticated  animals  the  range  of  diet  is  often  extended 
by  compulsory  detainments  in  regions  in  which  they  are 
forced  to  endure  the  winter  which  otherwise  they  would 
have  avoided  by  migration. 

The  northern  range  of  the  horse  and  ox  now  far 
exceeds  the  natural  food-limit.  The  Shetland  pony 
could  always  pick  up  a  bare  living,  but  the  Iceland 
pony  has  during  the  winter  absolutely  no  natural  food- 
supply.  A  few  are  taken  into  the  houses,  but  the 
greater  number  are  turned  loose  by  their  owners,  and 
have  for  sole  support  sea- weed  and  the  heads  of  dried 
cod.  The  Norwegian  cow,  spending  the  winter  inside 
the  Arctic  circle,  was  formerly  fed  largely  on  soup  made 


THE  RANGE  OF  ANIMAL  DIET  183 

out  of  boiled  fishes'  heads,  and  the  diet  seems  to  have 
agreed  with  it.  If  anyone  doubts  the  capacity  of  ex- 
tending their  food-range  possessed  by  grass-eating 
creatures  like  cattle  and  sheep,  and  the  scarcely  less 
graminivorous  horse — which  has,  however,  a  strong 
tendency,  inherited  from  some  remote  ancestor,  to  eat 
bark  and  shoots  like  a  rhinoceros — he  need  only  run 
over  the  list  of  modern  cattle-foods.  Since  the  days 
when  the  Irishman  had  not  learnt  to  make  hay,  and  all 
his  cattle  were  consequently  killed  off  by  Elizabeth's 
soldiers  in  the  low  valleys  to  which  they  were  driven 
for  food  in  winter,  the  cow  has  added  to  her  menu 
hay,  ensilage,  sweet  and  sour,  turnips,  beet,  Indian  corn, 
cocoa  cake,  cotton -seed  cake,  rape-seed  cake,  locust 
beans,  sugar,  and  '  grains/  Besides  these,  she  has  learnt 
to  eat  and  prefer  cooked  food  served  warm  to  raw  food 
eaten  cold,  and  before  long  will  probably  be  taught  to 
supplement  her  cabbage  and  grass  with  '  cow-biscuits/ 
specially  prepared  to  increase  her  yield  of  butter. 

Horses,  though  training  best  on  hay  and  oats,  now 
eat  cooked  food,  a  mixture  of  hay,  bran,  vegetables,  and 
corn  being  steamed  and  served  up  in  most  of  the  great 
London  stables  ;  and  the  only  domestic  creature  whose 
tendency  to  enlarge  its  food-range  is  discouraged  is  the 
pig,  not  because  it  is  bad  for  the  animal,  but  because  we 
desire  by  limiting  its  choice  of  food  to  extend  our  own. 
For  our  own  purposes  we  have  induced  the  dog  to 


184  THE  RANGE  OF  ANIMAL  DIET 

become  largely  a  vegetable  feeder,  greatly  to  the  advan- 
tage of  his  health  in  confinement,  and,  by  the  substi- 
tution of  the  uniform  *  dog-biscuit '  for  table-scraps  or 
meat,  have  given  him  a  mixture  of  meal  and  dates 
which  is  as  agreeable  to  crack  as  a  bone.  Among  the 
more  highly  organized  creatures  '  single-food '  animals 
are  scarce  and  growing  scarcer.  There  is  evidence  that 
the  mute  swan  once  fed  almost  entirely  on  sub-aquatic 
grasses.  At  Abbotsbury,  when  the  ice  destroyed  the 
grass  growing  at  the  bottom  of  the  lagoon,  the  half- 
wild  swans  refused  to  touch  any  other  food,  and  starved 
in  hundreds.  Now  they  have  learnt  to  eat  grain,  just 
as  the  Thames  swans  have  learnt  to  eat  bread  and  the 
grain  which  falls  from  barges.  Probably  the  Abbots- 
bury  swans  were  the  last  of  their  species  in  England 
which  were  '  single-food  '  animals,  and  with  their  conver- 
sion the  extension  of  the  range  of  diet  is  completed. 

Reindeer  feed  almost  entirely  on  mosses  and  lichen. 
It  is  still  matter  for  doubt  whether  they  can  be 
acclimatized  in  this  country,  though  experiments  are 
being  made  to  that  end.  If  they  cannot,  an  extension 
of  the  species,  even  though  in  domestication,  will  be 
prevented  by  their  limited  food-range.  The  moose 
feeds  entirely  on  the  bark  and  twigs  of  trees.  But  this 
is  partly  due  to  the  height  of  its  forelegs  and  the  short- 
ness of  its  neck,  which  make  it  almost  impossible  for  it 
to  graze.  When  fed  from  a  manger  the  moose  takes 


THE  RANGE  OF  ANIMAL  DIET  185 

readily  to  ordinary  cattle-food.  Seals  were  long  con- 
sidered to  live  wholly  on  fish.  The  supply  is  so  varied 
as  well  as  abundant,  and  the  seals  so  active,  that  it 
might  be  thought  that  there  was  little  to  induce  them 
to  seek  a  change.  Yet  Mr.  Trevor-Battye  when  on 
Kolguev  watched  a  seal  catching  ducks  with  such  per- 
sistence and  success  that  there  can  be  little  doubt  that 
the  seal  has  extended  its  dietary  from  fish  to  fowl. 
Instances  of  the  converse  are  the  great  fishing  owls, 
which,  being  provided  with  an  equipment  equally  suited 
for  killing  birds  and  small  animals,  are  by  preference 
catchers  of  fish.  Instances  of  carnivora  developing  a 
concurrent  taste  for  vegetable  food  are  uncommon. 
The  most  curious  instance  the  writer  has  known  was 
that  of  a  Scotch  deerhound,  which  was  so  fond  of 
peaches  that  it  would  stand  on  its  hind-legs  to  pluck 
those  it  could  not  reach  when  standing  on  all  fours. 
The  Australian  Colonies  present  the  three  most  striking 
instances  of  the  tendency  to  extend  the  food-range  in 
the  direction  of  flesh  diet.  The  often-quoted  case  ot 
the  large  New  Zealand  parrot  which  took  to  sheep- 
killing  is  the  most  striking.  But  the  feral  pigs  of  the 
Colony  are  said  to  be  very  destructive  to  young  lambs, 
and  in  1833  in  Australia  throughout  a  large  district  the 
sheep  became  not  only  carnivorous  but  cannibal.  The 
sheep  of  the  Murrumbidgee  country  became  addicted  to 
eating  a  salt-impregnated  earth  found  on  the  runs,  and 


186  THE  RANGE  OF  ANIMAL  DIET 

after  some  time  became  thin  and  emaciated.  They  then 
attacked  the  new-born  lambs,  and  devoured  such  numbers 
that  in  one  flock  only  four  hundred  were  left  out  of 
twelve  hundred.  Some  of  the  squatters  applied  for 
leave  from  the  Government  to  move  to  other  runs  not 
yet  taken  up.  Even  the  shepherds  were  attacked  by 
the  sheep  when  rescuing  the  lambs,  and  their  clothes 
bitten.  This  morbid  derangement  of  the  instincts  of 
the  sheep,  which  was  noted  on  many  runs  in  the  district, 
was  never  satisfactorily  accounted  for,  but  was  generally 
attributed  to  the  eating  of  the  salt-impregnated  earth. 
Of  English  birds,  one,  generally  regarded  as  feeding 
entirely  on  vegetables  and  grain,  occasionally  varies  its 
diet  by  animal  food.  This  is  the  tame  pigeon,  which 
has  been  noticed  after  rain  to  eat  earth-worms  on  lawns 
as  eagerly  as  a  thrush.  This  addition  to  its  usual  food 
is  probably  due  to  the  absence  in  the  diet  generally 
given  to  the  birds  of  some  element  which  pigeons  find 
in  the  mixed  seeds  and  leaves  which  they  eat  when  wild. 
The  flesh-eating  habits  of  modern  rooks  in  the  North 
of  England  and  Scotland  have  recently  been  the  subject 
of  a  chorus  of  complaints  from  game-preservers  and 
farmers.  The  rooks  are,  however,  largely  the  victims 
of  circumstance.  The  decrease  of  arable  land,  during 
the  cultivation  of  which  they  found  abundance  of  animal 
food,  has  forced  the  rooks  to  find  a  substitute,  and  this 
comes  to  hand  in  the  form  of  young  rabbits,  pheasants, 


THE  RANGE  OF  ANIMAL  DIET  187 

and  chickens.  In  the  corn  countries  of  the  United 
States  the  sparrow  grows  yearly  more  dependent  on 
grain,  and  less  insectivorous  than  his  European  reputa- 
tion justifies,  and  in  this  country  two  consecutive  severe 
winters  made  the  tits  take  to  bird-killing  with  an  apti- 
tude that  shocked  their  patrons  in  English  gardens. 
Highly  specialized  forms,  such  as  the  ant-eaters,  the 
moles,  and  the  leaf-eating  sloths,  must  also  of  necessity 
confine  themselves  to  the  food  which  they  are  '  by 
intention  '  adapted  to  consume.  But  even  the  wood- 
pecker and  the  wryneck,  with  claws  specially  adapted 
for  scaling  tree-trunks,  and  a  beak  formed  to  quarry 
rotten  wood,  are  constantly  seen  feeding  on  the  ground, 
mainly  engaged  in  ravaging  anthills  ;  and  kingfishers, 
scarcely  modified  from  the  shape  of  those  which  hover 
over  English  streams,  dart  with  equal  precision  on  the 
butterflies  and  beetles  of  tropical  woods.  Judging  by 
the  scarcity  of  the  l  single-food '  creatures,  and  the  low 
place  in  the  scale  which  they  occupy,  extension  of  the 
range  of  diet  is  almost  a  necessary  law  of  their  survival. 
Ant-eaters,  sloths,  and  caterpillars  may  confine  them- 
selves to  one  article  of  food  ;  but  the  more  intelligent 
animals,  like  the  higher  races  of  man,  have  learnt  better. 
One  almost  wonders  whether  the  excuse  of  the  Congo 
tribe  who  brought  no  palm-wine  to  the  Belgian  officers 
was  true.  They  alleged  that  the  elephants  had  drunk 
it  all. 


XXVI.— DAINTIES  OF  ANIMAL  DIET 

THE  well-informed  persons  who  wrote  to  the  papers  on 
the  nature  and  uses  of  the  persimmon,  after  the  Prince 
of  Wales's  horse  of  that  name  won  the  Derby,  omitted 
to  notice  that  the  fruit  is  in  immense  request  as  one  of 
the  dainties  of  animal  diet.  { Brer  Rabbit '  achieved 
not  the  least  notable  of  his  diplomatic  triumphs  by 
inducing  the  other  animals  to  get  him  persimmons 
when  they  wanted  them  themselves  ;  and  in  fact  there 
is  no  other  fruit,  except  perhaps  the  water-melon,  which 
is  in  more  general  request  both  among  birds  and 
beasts. 

The  taste  for  dainties  among  animals  takes  rather 
unexpected  forms.  Many  flesh-eating  creatures,  for 
example,  select  as  delicacies  some  form  of  fruit,  and 
take  considerable  trouble  to  gratify  what  is  a  taste  for 
luxury  rather  than  a  necessity  of  diet.  The  Syrian 
foxes,  '  the  little  foxes  which  spoil  the  grapes,'  are  not 
the  only  creatures  of  their  tribe  which  go  for  food  to 
the  vineyards.  Jackals  do  the  same,  and  eat  the  fruit 

188 


DAINTIES  OF  ANIMAL  DIET  189 

not  only  as  a  luxury,  but  as  a  medicine.  The  '  grape 
cure '  makes  a  marked  difference  in  their  condition,  and 
animals  which  enter  the  vineyards  suffering  from  mange 
are  said  to  be  restored  to  health  very  soon  after  their 
diet  of  grapes  has  begun.  One  British  carnivorous 
animal,  the  marten,  also  seeks  fruit  as  a  dainty.  In 
Sutherlandshire  Mr.  St.  John  discovered  that  some 
animal  was  stealing  his  raspberries,  and,  setting  a  trap, 
caught  in  it  a  marten  cub.  Dogs  will  also  eat  fruit, 
though  rarely.  When  they  do  they  usually  take  a 
fancy  to  gooseberries  ;  the  present  writer  has  met  with 
two  spaniels  which  had  this  taste,  and  would  take  the 
gooseberries  from  the  trees,  and  put  out  the  skins  after 
eating  the  pulp. 

In  the  annual  report  on  the  management  of  the 
menagerie  of  the  Zoological  Society,  the  item  *  onions ' 
always  figures  largely  in  the  bill  for  provender.  Onions, 
as  is  well  known  to  housekeepers,  are  an  indispensable 
ingredient  in  very  many  dishes  in  which  their  presence 
is  hardly  recognised  by  those  who  would  at  once  detect 
the  presence  of  the  smallest  morsel  of  the  vegetable  if 
uncooked ;  and  by  most  out-of-door  populations,  espe- 
cially Spaniards  and  Portuguese,  they  are  eaten  raw 
with  bread  as  part  of  their  staple  food.  But  no  English 
animal  seems  particularly  fond  of  them,  and  it  is  not 
easy  to  guess  for  whose  benefit  they  are  in  such 
request  at  the  Zoo.  They  are  bought  mainly  for  the 


i9o  DAINTIES  OF  ANIMAL  DIET 

African  antelopes  and  giraffes.  All  of  the  former,  from 
the  big  roan  antelopes  to  the  miniature  gazelles,  '  dote ' 
on  onions,  and  regard  them  as  the  greatest  delicacy 
which  can  be  offered  for  their  acceptance.  It  is  said  by 
trainers  that  if  a  horse  once  becomes  fond  of  sugar  he 
can  be  taught  any  trick  for  the  circus.  Antelopes  could 
probably  be  trained  in  the  same  way  by  rewards  of 
onions.  There  is  one  drawback  to  their  indulgence  in 
this  dainty,  which  leads  to  some  restriction  of  its  use  at 
the  Zoo.  After  an  onion-breakfast  the  scent  in  the 
antelope-house,  usually  redolent  of  odorous  hay  and 
clover,  is  overpowering,  and  visitors  who  do  not  notice 
the  fragments  of  onion-tops  upon  the  floor  are  inclined 
to  leave  in  haste,  and  class  the  antelopes  among  the 
other  evil-smelling  beasts  of  the  menagerie.  For  the 
giraffes  they  were  not  only  a  bonne  bouche,  but  also 
a  very  wholesome  change  in  their  ordinary  food,  and 
though  the  liking  for  the  bulb  is  an  acquired  taste — for 
onions  are  not  native  to  the  South  African  veldt — the 
new  giraffe  is  as  fond  of  them  as  its  predecessors.  Deer 
show  no  particular  preference  for  onions  ;  on  the  other 
hand,  they  prefer  apples  to  any  other  dainty.  In  the 
Highlands  the  wild  deer  have  no  chance  of  invading  an 
orchard ;  but  on  Exmoor  and  on  the  Quantock  Hills, 
where  they  have  now  greatly  increased  in  numbers,  they 
leave  the  hillsides  and  thick  plantations  and  rob  orchards 
by  moonlight.  The  stags  thrust  their  horns  among  the 


DAINTIES  OF  ANIMAL  DIET  191 

apple-boughs  and  shake  off  the  fruit,  and  even  leap  up 
to  strike  the  branches  which  are  beyond  their  reach 
when  standing.  In  enclosed  parks  red-deer  find  a  sub- 
stitute for  apples  in  the  small  unripe  horse-chestnuts 
which  fall  in  dry  weather.  At  the  Sheen  Lodge  of 
Richmond  Park,  near  which  several  chestnut-trees  stand, 
the  stags  have  been  known  to  slip  out  through  the  gate 
to  pick  up  the  fallen  fruit  lying  on  the  road.  Fallow- 
deer  seem  less  fond  of  fruit  than  the  red-deer.  Bread 
is  the  delicacy  by  which  they  are  most  easily  tempted, 
though,  except  in  such  small  enclosed  parks  as  that  of 
Magdalen  College  at  Oxford,  they  are  rarely  tame 
enough  to  take  it  from  the  hand.  At  Bushey  Park, 
where  the  herbage  is  unusually  rich,  and  the  fallow-deer 
fatten  more  quickly  than  in  any  of  the  royal  parks, 
there  is  one  old  buck  who  has  acquired  such  a  taste  for 
bread  that  he  has  left  the  main  herd,  and  established 
himself  as  a  regular  beggar  near  the  Hampton  Court 
Gate.  The  benches  between  this  gate  and  the  circular 
pond  and  fountain  near  the  head  of  the  great  avenue 
are  naturally  favourite  seats  for  Londoners  who  come 
down  and  bring  their  luncheon  with  them.  The 
moment  the  buck  sees  a  couple  comfortably  seated  and 
a  paper  parcel  produced  and  opened,  he  sidles  up,  and 
gazes  with  all  the  expression  of  which  his  fine  eyes  are 
capable  at  the  buns  and  bread-and-butter.  If  a  piece 
be  held  out  to  him,  he  walks  up,  and  stretching  forward 


i92  DAINTIES  OF  ANIMAL  DIET 

as  far  as  he  can  without  overbalancing,  takes  it  from 
the  hand.  At  this  moment  his  dignity  and  grace  some- 
what decline,  for  his  excitement  is  such  that  he  curls 
his  tail  over  his  back,  and  looks  like  a  terrier. 

Hares,  like  most  rodents,  do  not  show  strong  pre- 
ferences in  their  choice  of  food,  the  chief  '  preference ' 
being  that  there  shall  be  plenty  of  it,  and  that  it  shall 
be  green  and  tender.  But  they  will  come  great  dis- 
tances to  feed  on  carrots.  Some  Devonshire  magistrates 
recently  refused  to  convict  a  person  charged  with  poach- 
ing a  hare,  on  the  ground  that  they,  as  sportsmen,  did 
not  believe  that  there  was  a  hare  in  the  parish  in  which 
the  offence  was  alleged  to  have  been  committed.  The 
facts  rather  favoured  this  view,  but  the  planting  of  a 
field  of  carrots  in  this  hareless  area  soon  attracted  the 
animals.  Rabbits,  which  are  by  common  consent  able 
to  get  a  living  where  no  other  quadruped  can,  become 
very  select  in  their  tastes  where  food  is  abundant,  and 
soon  seek  variety.  In  the  gardens  of  a  large  house  in 
Suffolk,  adjoining  a  park  in  which  rabbits  swarmed 
before  the  passing  of  the  Ground  Game  Act,  it  was 
found  that  some  rabbits  managed  to  effect  an  entrance 
every  night,  with  a  view  to  eating  certain  flowers. 
These  were  clove -pinks  and  verbenas.  No  other 
flowers  were  touched,  but  the  pinks  were  nipped  off 
when  they  flowered,  and  the  verbena  plants  devoured  as 
soon  as  they  were  bedded  out.  Farmers  have  lately 


DAINTIES  OF  ANIMAL  DIET  I93 

been  advised   to  try  feeding  their  stock  upon   sugar, 
which  is  both  cheap  and  fattening.     This   would   be 
good   hearing    for   many    horses,   which    like    nothing 
so  well  as  lump-sugar  ;  but  neither  cows  nor  pigs  seem 
to    be   particularly   fond    of  sweetstuff  in    this   form, 
though  the  latter  are  very  partial  to  raw,  crushed  sugar- 
cane.    But   the   pig,  though  greedy  and   omnivorous 
when  kept  in  a  sty,  and  a  very  foul  feeder  on  the  New 
Zealand  runs,  is  most  particular  in  its  choice  of  food 
when  running   wild   in   English   woods.       Its   special 
dainties  are  underground  roots  and  tubers,  and  it  is 
the  only  animal,  except   man,  which   appreciates  and 
seeks    for    the    truffle.      For    all   these   underground 
delicacies  its  scent  is  exquisitely  keen.     If  by  any  mis- 
hap a  pig  enters  a  garden  at  the  time  when  bulbs  are 
planted,  it  will  plough  up  a  row  of  snowdrops  or  crocus- 
roots,    following    the   line    as    readily   as   if  they   lay 
exposed  to  the  surface.     On  the  other  hand,  pigs  seem 
to  have  discovered  that  raw  potatoes  are  unwholesome. 
Cooked  potatoes  are  devoured  greedily  ;  but  the  raw 
tuber  is  as  a  rule  rejected,  unless  the  animal  is  very 
hungry,  and  though  pigs  will  sometimes  root  among 
the  potato-mounds,  it  is  in  search  of  other  food  than 
potatoes.     Stud-grooms  have  decided  that  carrots  are 
the  favourite  dainty  of  the  horse,  and  accordingly  it  has 
become  part,   in    many  stables,   of  the  under-groom's 
duty  to  slice  carrots  and  arrange  them  on  a  plate  ready 

13 


i94  DAINTIES  OF  ANIMAL  DIET 

for  the  master  or  mistress  to  take  to  the  horses  when 
visiting  them.  They  like  apples  equally  well,  but 
these  do  not  always  agree  with  them.  There  is,  or  was 
recently,  at  Guildford  Station  a  horse  which  would 
push  a  truck  with  its  chest,  when  told  to  do  so,  instead 
of  pulling  it.  This  was  very  useful  when  it  was  desired 
to  bring  the  truck  up  to  the  end  of  a  siding,  where 
there  was  no  room  for  the  horse  to  go  in  front  and  pull. 
It  had  been  taught  by  a  shunter,  who  sat  in  an  empty 
truck  and  offered  the  horse  a  carrot.  The  horse  would 
stretch  its  neck  out,  and  push  its  chest  against  the 
waggon  to  take  the  carrot,  and  so  start  the  waggon 
along  the  metals.  It  was  then  given  the  carrot,  and 
soon  learnt  that  it  was  wanted  to  push  and  would  be 
rewarded  for  doing  so. 

Donkeys  are  said  to  like  thistles.  They  will  eat 
them,  and  will  even  take  them  from  the  hand  and  eat 
them  when  other  food  is  at  hand.  But  they  do  not 
exhibit  much  enthusiasm  for  this  dainty,  and  would 
probably  agree  with  Bottom  that  'good  hay,  sweet 
hay,  hath  no  fellow.'  Camels,  however,  really  enjoy 
them,  and  menagerie  camels  when  on  tour  will  eat 
every  thistle  they  can  pick  by  the  roadside.  This  is  a 
curious  taste  in  daintiness,  but,  like  some  human  fancies 
of  the  kind,  it  has  a  sentimental  background.  The 
camel,  it  is  said,  eats  the  thistles  because  they  are  the 
nearest  approach  to  the  '  vegetation  '  of  its  native  desert. 


XXVII.— THE  SLEEPING  HOMES  OF 
ANIMALS 

As  animals'  beds  are  almost  the  only  pieces  of  furniture 
which  they  construct,  so  their  sleeping-places  or  bed- 
rooms represent  most  nearly  their  notion  of  '  home.' 
The  place  selected  to  pass  the  hours  of  sleep,  whether 
by  night  or  day,  is  more  often  than  not  devoid  of  any 
efforts  at  construction.  It  is  chosen  for  some  qualities 
which  strike  the  owner  as  suitable  for  rest  and  quiet, 
and  from  that  moment  it  arouses  in  the  animal  mind 
some  part  of  the  human  sentiment  which  we  know  as 
4  the  love  of  home.'  This  association  of  ideas  with 
their  sleeping-places  is  entirely  distinct  from  the  so- 
called  *  homing  instinct,'  or  sense  of  direction.  It  is  a 
sentiment,  not  a  mental  process,  and  is  exhibited  by 
creatures  which  are  not  commonly  credited  with  memory 
or  the  power  of  thought.  Some  butterflies,  for  example, 
return  regularly  to  the  same  place  to  sleep,  and  their 
proverbial  flightiness  does  not  prevent  them  from 
entertaining  the  sentiment  of  home.  The  first  vindi- 

'95  1 3 — 2 


196        THE  SLEEPING  HOMES  OF  ANIMALS 

cation  of  butterfly  memory  was  occasioned  by  the 
regularity  with  which  a  small  butterfly  named  Precis 
Iphita  returned  to  sleep  in  a  veranda  of  a  musical  club 
at  Manghasar,  in  the  Dutch  East  India  Islands.  Mr.  C. 
Piepers,  a  member  of  the  Dutch  Entomological  Society, 
noticed  that  this  butterfly  returned  to  the  same  place  on 
the  ceiling  during  the  evening.  In  the  day  it  was 
absent,  but  at  nightfall,  in  spite  of  the  brilliant  illumina- 
tion of  the  veranda,  it  was  again  sleeping  in  the  same 
spot.  *  It  was  not  to  be  found  in  the  daytime,  being 
probably  absent  on  business,'  writes  Mr.  Piepers  ;  '  but 
as  civilization  has  not  advanced  so  far  in  Manghasar 
that  it  is  there  considered  necessary  to  drive  away  every 
harmless  creature  which  ventures  into  a  human  dwelling, 
I  had  the  pleasure  of  admiring  the  memory  of  this 
butterfly  for  six  consecutive  nights.  Then  some 
accident  probably  befell  it,  for  I  never  saw  any  trace 
of  it  again.' 

It  is  difficult  to  imagine  a  spot  with  less  domestic 
features  to  adorn  the  home  than  a  piece  of  the  bare 
ceiling  of  a  tropical  veranda  ;  but  the  attachment  of 
animals  to  their  chosen  sleeping-place  must  rest  on 
some  preference  quite  clear  to  their  own  consciousness, 
though  not  evident  to  us.  In  some  instances  the 
ground  of  choice  is  intelligible.  Many  of  the  small 
blue  British  butterflies  have  grayish  spotted  backs  to 
their  wings.  At  night  they  fly  regularly  to  sheltered 


THE  SLEEPING  HOMES  OF  ANIMALS       197 

corners  on  the  chalk  downs  where  they  live,  alight  head 
downwards  on  the  tops  of  the  grasses  which  there 
flourish,  and,  closing  and  lowering  their  wings  as  far 
as  possible,  look  exactly  like  a  seed-head  on  the  grasses. 
If  the  night  is  cold,  they  creep  down  the  stem  and  sleep 
in  shelter  among  the  thick  lower  growth  of  grass.  The 
habits  of  birds  in  regard  to  sleep  are  very  unlike,  some 
being  extremely  solicitous  to  be  in  bed  in  good  time, 
while  others  are  awake  and  about  all  night.  But 
among  the  former  the  sleeping-place  is  the  true  home, 
the  domus  et  'penetralia.  It  has  nothing  necessarily  in 
common  with  the  nest,  and  birds,  like  some  other 
animals  and  many  human  beings,  often  prefer  complete 
isolation  at  this  time.  They  want  a  bedroom  to  them- 
selves. Sparrows,  which  appear  to  go  to  roost  in 
companies,  and  sometimes  do  so,  after  a  vast  amount 
of  talk  and  fuss,  do  not  rest  cuddled  up  against  one 
another,  like  starlings  or  chickens,  but  have  private 
holes  and  corners  to  sleep  in.  They  are  fond  of 
sleeping  in  the  sides  of  straw-ricks,  but  each  sparrow 
has  its  own  little  hollow  among  the  straws,  just  as  each 
of  a  flock  of  sleeping  larks  makes  its  own  '  cubicle '  on 
the  ground.  A  London  sparrow  for  two  years  occupied 
a  sleeping-home  almost  as  bare  of  furniture  as  the  ceiling 
which  the  East  Indian  butterfly  frequented.  It  came 
every  night  in  winter  to  sleep  on  a  narrow  ledge  under 
the  portico  of  a  house  in  Onslow  Square.  Above  was 


198        THE  SLEEPING  HOMES  OF  ANIMALS 

the  bare  whitewashed  top  of  the  portico,  there  were  no 
cosy  corners,  and  at  eighteen  inches  from  the  sparrow 
was  the  gas-lit  portico-lamp.  There  every  evening  it 
slept,  and  guests  leaving  the  house  seldom  failed  to 
look  up  and  see  the  little  bird  fast  asleep  in  its 
enormous  white  bedroom.  Its  regular  return  during 
two  winters  is  evidence  that  it  regarded  this  as  its 
home  ;  but  why  did  it  choose  this  particular  portico  in 
place  of  a  hundred  others  in  the  same  square  ? 

It  is  a  '  far  cry '  from  South  Kensington  to  the 
Southern  cliffs  ;  but  the  same  sense  of  home  which 
brought  the  sparrow  back  nightly  to  his  London 
portico  brings  the  cormorants  and  the  falcons  to  the 
same  spot  in  the  same  precipice,  year  after  year,  in  the 
Culver  Cliffs.  There  is  a  certain  vaulted  niche,  in 
which  the  peregrine  falcons  sleep,  winter  and  summer, 
in  the  white  wall  of  the  precipice,  and  every  night  at 
dusk  the  cormorants  fly  in  to  sleep  on  their  special 
shelves  and  pedestals  on  another  portion  of  the  cliff. 
They  come  to  these  few  square  yards  of  perpendicular 
chalk,  three  hundred  feet  above  the  surge,  as  constantly 
as  the  fishermen  return  to  their  cottages  at  the  Foreland. 
They  regard  this  sleeping-place  as  their  fixed  and  certain 
home,  where,  safe  from  gun,  cragsman,  or  cliff-fox,  they 
can  sleep  till  sunrise  sends  them  hungry  to  their  business 
of  fishing.  But  of  all  animal  sleeping-places,  caves  and 
caverns  are  most  remarkable  for  ancient  and  distinguished 


THE  SLEEPING  HOMES  OF  ANIMALS       199 

habitation.  Like  prehistoric  man,  the  animals  alike  of 
past  ages  and  of  the  present  hour  have  made  caves  their 
bedrooms,  and  that  they  regard  these  in  the  light  of 
home  is  almost  certain,  for  they  return  to  die  there. 
Whether  the  last  English  rhinoceros  slept  in  the 
Derbyshire  cave  where  his  bones  were  found  can  only 
be  matter  of  conjecture.  But  caves  are  the  natural 
sleeping-places  of  nearly  all  nocturnal  creatures,  which 
need  by  day  protection  from  enemies  and  from  the 
disturbing  light.  Hollow  trees  serve  the  smaller 
creatures ;  but  the  great  caves,  especially  those  of 
the  tropical  forest,  whether  on  the  Orinoco,  or  in 
Central  America,  or  the  Indian  Archipelago,  or  in 
prehistoric  Kentucky,  have  been  the  sleeping-places  of 
millions  of  creatures  from  the  remotest  ages  of  the 
earth.  There  sleep  the  legions  of  the  bats  ;  there 
the  *  dragons  '  and  monsters  of  old  dreamed  evil  dreams 
after  undigested  surfeits  of  marsupial  prey  or  of  pre- 
historic fish  from  vanished  seas  ;  and  there  the  wolf, 
the  bear,  the  panther,  and  the  giant  snake  still  sleep 
away  the  hours  of  day. 

Other  animals,  in  place  of  seeking  and  maintaining  a 
private  bedroom,  prefer  to  sleep  together  in  companies. 
Aristotle's  remark  that  '  carefulness  is  least  in  that 
which  is  common  to  most'  holds  good  of  these 
communal  sleeping-places.  Even  clever  creatures  like 
pigs  and  domestic  ducks  have  no  *  home '  and  no 


* 

200        THE  SLEEPING  HOMES  OF  ANIMALS 

permanent    sleeping  -  quarters.      Like    the    Australian 
black,  who,  when  presented  with  a  house,  pointed  out 
the  peculiar   advantages    offered  by  square    buildings, 
because    they  always   offered    a  wall   to  sleep  against, 
outside ',  whichever  way  the  wind  blew,  they  have  to  shift 
their  quarters  according  to  the  weather.     With  these 
limitations,  pigs  are  extremely  clever  in  choosing  sleep- 
ing quarters.      The  wave  of  heat  during  the  second 
week  of  August  was  preceded  by  two  days  of  very  low 
temperature  and  rain.       In  a  row  of  model   pigsties, 
during  these  cold  days,  nothing  was  visible  but  a  large 
flat  heap  of  straw  in  each.     This  straw  was  '  stuffed ' 
with  little  pigs,  all  lying  like  sardines  in  a  box,  keeping 
each  other  warm,  and  perfectly  invisible,  with  the  straw 
for  a  blanket.     Then  came  the  heat,  and  some  hundred 
swine  were  let  loose  in  a  paddock.     By  noon  the  whole 
herd  were  lying  in  the  shadow  of  a  large  oak,  every  pig 
being  fast  asleep,  close  together  in  the  shade  circle.     In 
another  meadow  two  flocks  of  Ailesbury  ducks  were 
also  fast  asleep  in  the  grass,  in  the  shadow  of  the  oaks. 
But  social  animals,  which  live  in  herds  and  often  move 
considerable  distances  in  search  of  their  daily  food,  are 
known  to  resort  to  fixed  sleeping-places  on  occasion. 
Among  the  wildest  and  least  accessible  creatures  of  the 
Old  World  are  the  wild  sheep.     Hunters  in  the  Atlas 
Mountains  commonly  find  chambers  in  the  rocks  which 
the  aoudads,   or  Barbary  wild   sheep,  use  to  sleep  in. 


THE  SLEEPING  HOMES  OF  ANIMALS       201 

Some  are  occupied  by  a  single  ram,  others  are  used  by 
small  herds  of  five  or  six,  or  an  old  sheep  with  her 
lamb.  The  ovine  scent  so  strong  near  domestic  sheep- 
folds  always  clings  to  these  rock  chambers  of  the  wild 
sheep.  The  '  big  horn  '  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  is 
also  found  in  holes  in  the  hills,  but  these  are  believed  to 
be  made  by  the  sheep  eating  salt-impregnated  clay,  until 
they  burrow  into  the  hill.  They  may  be  '  bolted  '  from 
these  holes  like  rabbits.  Even  park  deer  sometimes 
occupy  bedrooms.  In  one  old  deer  park  in  Suffolk 
some  of  the  giant  trees  show  hollow,  half-decayed  roots 
above  ground,  like  miniature  caves.  Into  these  the 
young  deer  used  to  creep  in  hot  weather,  when  the  flies 
were  troublesome,  and  lie  hidden  and  cool. 

Fish,  which  not  only  need  sleep  like  other  creatures, 
but  yawn  when  drowsy,  and  exhibit  quite  recognisable 
signs  of  somnolence,  sometimes  seek  a  quiet  chamber  to 
slumber  in.  This  is  obvious  to  any  who  will  watch  the 
behaviour  of  certain  rock-haunting  species  at  any  good 
aquarium.  The  '  lump-suckers,'  conger-eels,  and  rock- 
fish  will  retire  into  a  cave  in  the  grotto  provided 
for  them,  and  there  go  fast  asleep  ;  though  as  their 
eyes  are  open  their  *  exposition  of  sleep '  is  only  proved 
by  the  absence  of  movement,  and  neglect  of  any  food 
which  comes  in  their  reach.  Their  comparative  safety 
from  attack  when  asleep  in  open  water  may  be  due  to 
the  sensitiveness  of  their  bodies  to  any  movement  in  the 


202        THE  SLEEPING  HOMES  OF  ANIMALS 

water.  But  pike  are  easily  snared  when  asleep,  probably 
because,  being  the  tyrants  of  the  waters  themselves,  they 
have  less  of  the  '  sleeping  senses '  possessed  by  most 
animals  which  go  in  fear  of  their  lives  from  hereditary 
enemies. 


XXVIII.— THE  CARRIAGE  OF  ANIMALS 

MOST  animals  are  so  admirably  equipped  for  transport- 
ing themselves  on  long  journeys,  whether  by  land,  air, 
or  water,  that  they  have  the  greatest  possible  dislike  to 
any  artificial  mode  of  conveyance,  however  carefully 
designed  to  meet  their  convenience.  Collectors  of  rare 
animals  in  distant  and  savage  countries  find  this 
question  of  transport  a  much  more  serious  difficulty 
than  either  the  capture  or  the  feeding  of  the  beasts 
when  caught.  If  possible,  they  are  so  far  tamed  before 
the  return  expedition  as  to  make  it  possible  for  them 
to  accompany  their  captors,  making  use  of  their  own 
legs  as  far  as  the  rail  or  ship. 

In  South  Africa,  where  the  Boer  hunters  expect  to 
make  some  profit  from  live  animals  as  well  as  from 
meat  and  hides,  zebras  are  always  tamed  before  being 
despatched  from  the  interior,  and  a  number  of  these, 
with  young  antelopes  of  various  species,  may  often  be 
seen,  half-domesticated,  round  the  hunter's  temporary 
camp.  But  there  is  a  regular  trade  in  certain  classes  of 

203 


204  THE  CARRIAGE  OF  ANIMALS 

wild  animals  which  could  never  be  permitted  any  degree 
of  liberty,  owing  to  their  temper  or  unmanageable 
dimensions.  These  are  transported  from  immense 
distances  before  any  '  civilized  '  means  of  transport  is 
available.  Mr.  Hagenbeck  informed  the  writer  that 
he  once  brought,  amongst  other  creatures,  fifty  lions 
and  leopards,  besides  rhinoceroses,  from  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  Atbara,  or  Black  Nile,  to  the  Red 
Sea  coast,  without  losing  one  animal.  The  regions 
traversed  were  partly  fertile  and  populated,  but  partly 
broken  by  strips  of  desert.  The  difficulty  of  transport 
was  more  apparent  than  real.  Nearly  all  the  animals 
were  quite  young,  the  lions  being  not  more  than  a 
quarter  grown.  These,  with  the  leopards  and  hyaenas, 
were  carried  in  cages  made  of  hard  native  wood,  with 
bars  on  one  side  only,  exactly  like  cages  in  which  bird- 
catchers  carry  linnets.  These  were  slung  on  the  backs 
of  camels,  with  a  thick  pad  between  the  back  of  the 
cage  and  the  camel's  flank.  The  only  serious  difficulty 
encountered  was  in  the  transport  of  the  rhinoceroses. 
Though  young,  they  were  very  bulky,  heavy,  and  abso- 
lutely unmanageable.  They  were  also  very  valuable, 
and  it  was  decided  to  spare  no  pains  to  bring  them 
safely  to  the  coast.  After  some  experiments,  it  was 
found  possible  to  put  each  of  the  rhinoceroses  in  a 
kind  of  litter,  slung  on  poles.  These  were  laid  across 
the  backs  of  a  pair  of  the  strongest  camels  procurable, 


THE  CARRIAGE  OF  ANIMALS  205 

'  dray-horses  of  the  desert/  of  which  several  were 
taken  with  the  Khalifa,  and  served  by  relays  in  the 
capacity  of  '  rickshaw  '  bearers  to  the  black  rhinoceros 
calves. 

Before  the  days  of  railways,  English  animals,  from 
geese  to  cattle,  nearly  always  travelled  on  their  own 
feet.  Until  they  reached  the  towns  this  method  was 
very  agreeable  to  them,  and  they  lost  very  little  in 
condition.  Before  the  Great  Western  Railway  was 
made,  there  was  a  large  trade  in  driving  cattle  from  the 
Western  counties  to  London.  They  were  assembled  at 
Bath,  and  as  soon  as  possible  were  driven  up  on  to  the 
Downs,  where  they  travelled  along  the  <  green  roads ' 
until  close  to  London.  Horses  are  the  only  creatures 
for  which  decent  accommodation  is  provided  on  our 
railways.  In  fifty  years  the  railways  have  never  yet 
risen  to  the  occasion  of  providing  even  reasonably 
convenient  transport  for  any  other  animals  ;  of  in- 
telligent design,  or  appreciation  of  the  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  accommodating  creatures  whose  whole 
experience  is  foreign  to  the  necessities  of  close  packing 
or  maintaining  their  balance  when  the  surface  on  which 
they  stand  is  in  motion,  there  is  no  trace.  That  they 
may  want  food  or  water  on  a  long  journey,  or  even 
protection  from  the  cold,  did  not  apparently  enter  the 
minds  of  the  early  designers  of  '  cattle-trucks/  The 
abominable  discomfort  of  the  old  third-class  carriage 


206  THE  CARRIAGE  OF  ANIMALS 

designed  for  the  use  of  human  passengers  is  an  indica- 
tion of  the  ignorance  and  indifference  of  the  early 
designers  of  c  rolling  stock.'  But  the  improvement  in 
this  department  has  been  constant,  though  slow.  A 
class  of  '  improved  '  cattle-vans  has  been  introduced  on 
some  lines,  but  the  supply  is  at  present  very  scanty. 
As  a  rule,  valuable  animals  are  sent  in  a  horse-van,  at 
about  the  cost  of  a  first-class  passenger  fare,  with  the 
risk  of  being  '  jammed  '  by  trying  to  turn  in  a  compart- 
ment designed  for  an  animal  of  different  shape.  A 
practical  writer  on  cattle  recommends  that  they  shall  be 
put  in  <  tail  first/  to  obviate  this  difficulty.  But  the 
bulk  of  British  cattle  travel  by  rail  in  open  trucks, 
exposed  to  the  violent  draughts  made  by  the  train's 
movement,  and  to  the  inflammations  of  the  eyes  and 
nostrils  set  up  by  the  constant  rush  of  dust  and  particles 
of  grit  from  the  line.  Sometimes  a  tarpaulin  shelters 
them  from  sun  and  rain  ;  but  in  all  cases  they  go  by 
'  goods  train.'  No  owner  of  prize  cattle  would  think 
of  sending  them  by  this,  the  general  means  of  carriage. 
Telegrams  from  India  during  the  late  frontier  rising 
spoke  of  camels  loaded  up  on  rail  for  service  at  the 
front  being  kept  waiting  in  sidings  for  four  days,  and 
dying  in  the  trucks.  It  would  appear  from  this  that 
there  are  no  proper  camel-vans  yet  provided  on  Indian 
railways.  For  the  Government  elephants  admirable 
railway  carriages  are  provided.  They  are  built  of  steel, 


THE  CARRIAGE  OF  ANIMALS  207 

with  a  steel  hood  in  front  to  protect  the  elephant  from 
draught  and  dust.  The  rear  of  the  truck  is  arched  over 
with  steel  girders,  and  a  double  steel  rail  supports  the 
elephant  on  either  side.  In  some  admirable  illustrations 
of  elephant  life  recently  published,  the  process  of  *  en- 
training elephants  by  means  of  railway  elephants  trained 
to  the  business,  who  coax  and  push  them  on  board,'  is 
very  clearly  shown. 

Dog-boxes !  These  survive,  like  the  l  clink '  and 
the  stocks  in  old  villages,  in  the  designs  of  guard's 
vans  ;  but  for  years  no  humane  guard  has  ever  used 
these  carefully  barred,  dark  little  dungeons.  At  present 
there  is  no  suitable  accommodation  whatever  for  dogs 
travelling  by  rail,  except  on  the  Scotch  expresses. 
They  are  simply  tied  up  among  the  parcels  in  the 
guard's  van,  an  inconvenient  and  objectionable  practice. 
Sheep  suffer  less  than  cattle  on  railway  journeys.  Being 
lower  in  the  legs  and  addicted  to  huddling  together, 
they  are  sheltered  by  the  sides  of  the  truck  from  the 
draught  and  dust,  and  keep  each  other  warm.  Prize 
rams  and  sheep  travel  in  the  guard's  van,  and  often 
become  quite  experts  at  railway  journeying.  They 
jump  in,  lie  down,  and  jump  out  with  very  little 
persuasion.  One  celebrated  old  ram  who  lives  on  the 
Great  Western  line,  knows  his  own  station  and  the 
porter  who  usually  detrains  him  as  well  as  a  dog 
would,  and  when  hailed  by  his  railway  friend,  jumps 


208  THE  CARRIAGE  OF  ANIMALS 

up,  gives  himself  a  shake,  and  bounds  out  of  the 
carriage  on  to  the  platform  when  released  by  the 
guard. 

Pigs  frequently  die  of  chill  after  railway  journeys  in 
the  open  trucks.  In  place  of  these  there  should  be 
special  covered-in  pig-vans.  As  pigs  huddle  close 
together,  and  take  little  room,  the  slight  increase  in  cost 
of  carriage  would  be  more  than  compensated.  Of  all 
animals  pigs  are  the  most  tiresome  to  '  carry  '  by  any 
form  of  conveyance.  Lifting  a  pig  into  a  dealer's  cart 
is  one  of  the  tragedies  of  village  life.  He  is  heavy, 
dirty,  and  active.  He  '  makes  a  stiff  back '  like  a  baby, 
his  hoofs  are  sharp,  he  seems  as  muscular  as  a  salmon, 
and  his  yells  and  screams  are  distracting.  Custom 
insists  that  he  shall  be  held  and  partly  lifted  by  his  tail. 
This  adds  to  his  resentment.  When  once  up  in  the 
cart  a  net  is  fastened  over  him,  and  he  usually  settles 
down  in  such  a  position  as  to  spoil  the  balance  of  the 
trap  as  far  as  possible.  From  the  horse's  point  of  view  a 
pig  is  always  the  worst  possible  passenger.  A  celebrated 
Suffolk  dealer,  after  lifting  pigs  for  some  twenty  years 
into  his  cart,  actually  hit  on  the  grand  idea  of  having  a 
low  cart  built,  hanging  within  a  couple  of  feet  of  the 
ground.  Into  this  quite  a  small  herd  could  be  driven, 
not  lifted,  and  he  could  stand  up  and  drive  it  with  the 
pigs  wedged  tight  all  round  his  legs.  When  a  herd  of 
lean  pigs  are  destined  for  a  journey  by  rail,  the  question 


THE  CARRIAGE  OF  ANIMALS  209 

of  transfer  from  carts  to  truck  is  a  serious  one.  They 
are  often  placed  in  a  pig-yard  in  districts  where  there  is 
much  demand  for  their  transport,  and  {  driven  on  board.' 
Recently  the  writer  found  the  staff  of  a  station  on  a 
Western  line  of  railway  dispersed  in  various  directions 
up  and  down  the  line,  equipped  with  lanterns,  and  in 
pursuit  of  seven  pigs  which  had  escaped  from  a  truck. 
It  is  to  the  credit  of  the  porters  that  all  of  the  truants 
were  caught  except  one,  who  met  his  death  by  collision 
with  an  'up  express.' 

This  incident  may  be  compared  with  the  adventures 
of  a  pedigree  bull  despatched  early  this  summer  to  the 
Isle  of  Wight.  The  animal  was  shipped  at  Ports- 
mouth in  one  of  the  small  sailing  boats  which  still 
play  the  part  of  carriers'  vans  between  the  mainland 
and  the  island.  The  bull  was  in  charge  of  a  man, 
who  held  it  by  a  chain  fastened  to  a  ring  in  its  nose. 
When  half  way  across  the  Solent  the  chain  broke, 
and  the  bull  was  loose  in  this  open  lugger,  with  four 
or  five  passengers,  trusses  of  hay,  luggage,  potato- 
casks,  and  the  rest  of  the  assorted  cargo.  Fortunately, 
it  was  an  imaginative  bull  ;  the  man  in  charge  fastened 
a  piece  of  string  to  the  ring,  jerked  it,  and  the  bull, 
which  was  showing  a  disposition  to  walk  about  the 
boat,  became  submissive,  under  the  impression  that  he 
was  still  chained. 

Calves,  lambs,  turkeys  and  swans  are  usually  carried  by 

14 


210  THE  CARRIAGE  OF  ANIMALS 

rail  or  boat  in  crates.  This  is  perhaps  the  most  humane 
way  of  moving  them,  for  they  have  not  to  be  driven  or 
handled.  An  axis-deer  recently  brought  from  France 
was  enclosed  in  a  large  wooden  case,  with  flat  boarded 
bars.  It  smashed  this,  though  its  horns  were  sawn  off, 
and  got  loose  in  the  guard's  van.  Then  it  attacked  the 
guard,  who  had  to  escape  on  the  footboard  and  stop  the 
train  till  the  creature  was  secured.  An  Indian  buffalo 
presented  to  the  Zoological  Society  by  a  Rajah  on  a 
visit  to  this  country  was  taken  there  in  a  parcel-post  van 
with  its  head  stretching  out  at  the  back.  Birds  are  by 
no  means  so  easy  to  carry  securely  as  might  be  imagined. 
Pigeons  often  fight  when  confined  in  baskets,  and  birds 
for  showing  are  sent  in  low  hampers  with  V-shaped 
partitions,  in  each  of  which  a  pigeon  is  stowed  away. 
Prize  fowls  are  placed  in  tall  open-work  baskets,  in 
which  they  can  stand  upright.  Parrots  are  bad  travellers. 
They  generally  seize  the  side  of  any  box  or  basket  in 
which  they  are  placed  with  their  beaks.  This  is  in 
order  to  hold  on  when  carried.  Soon  they  rather  like 
the  sensation,  and  steadily  eat  a  hole  in  their  box.  To 
avoid  this  a  wooden  perch  should  be  fastened  to  the 
bottom  of  whatever  receptacle  they  are  placed  in. 
Canaries  and  small  birds  are  often  carried  in  the  large 
cages  in  which  they  live.  This  is  a  mistake.  They  are 
more  comfortable  and  more  easily  carried  in  the  small 
close  cages  which  bird-catchers  use  when  travelling. 


THE  CARRIAGE  OF  ANIMALS  211 

Cats  and  all  small  animals  should  always  travel  in  a 
hamper,  with  hay  or  flannel  at  the  bottom  and  a  lining 
of  thick  brown  paper  on  the  sides,  though  not  covering 
the  top.  This  prevents  their  seeing  through  the  hamper 
and  keeps  them  quiet,  while  it  protects  them  from 
draughts  when  waiting  on  the  station  platforms. 


14—2 


XXIX.— TRESPASSING  ANIMALS 

AT  a  Parish  Council  recently  held  to  consider  the 
Jubilee  bonfires,  it  was  suggested  that  there  should  also 
be  a  Jubilee  restoration  of  the  parish  pound.  It  was 
successfully  urged  against  this  that,  since  the  Inclosure 
Act,  animals  have  ceased  to  trespass,  and  that  the 
proposal  was  as  retrograde  as  one  to  renew  the  parish 
stocks.  This  view  is  incorrect  both  in  fact  and  theory ; 
for  enclosure  really  tempts  to  trespass,  and  the  desire 
to  do  so  is  as  deeply  rooted  in  animal  as  in  human 
nature.  When  people  trespass  in  order  to  kill  someone 
else's  game,  or  to  take  apples,  or  birds'  eggs,  or  flowers 
which  do  not  belong  to  them,  the  act  is  naturally 
regarded  with  severity.  But  most  human  trespassing 
is  done  in  order  to  enjoy  nice  places  which  are  the 
property  of  other  people,  to  luxuriate  in  open  spaces 
instead  of  keeping  to  the  road,  and  to  gratify  a  lawless 
desire  for  aesthetic  and  physical  expansion.  Children 
trespass  in  order  to  run  about  and  pick  flowers ;  older 
people  usually  allege  that  *  they  only  wanted  to  look ' 


212 


TRESPASSING  ANIMALS  213 

— which  is  partly  true,  and  is  in  some  degree  an 
apology  for  intrusion.  It  is  this  which  tempts  people 
to  invade  the  nice  shady  lawns  of  riverside  houses  ;  to 
stray  off  footpaths  into  the  mowing  grass  ;  and  to  walk 
into  cool  college  quads,  where  they  imagine  (wrongly) 
that  they  are  trespassing.  It  even  led  to  Mr.  Pickwick 
being  wheeled  to  the  pound.  There  are  those  who  say 
that  the  knowledge  that  the  invader  has  no  right  to 
be  there  adds  to  the  pleasure  of  trespass.  We  doubt 
it  greatly.  But  we  have  no  doubt  at  all  that  many 
animals  are  perfectly  aware  of  the  illegal  side  of 
trespass ;  that  they  know  that  it  is  naughty  and  dis- 
allowed, and  that  in  doing  so  they  are  contravening 
the  rights  of  property.  This,  of  course,  involves  the 
supposition  that  animals  understand  property  not  only 
in  things  but  land.  There  are  many  '  leading  cases ' 
to  prove  this,  the  commonest  being  the  vigour  with 
which  dogs  drive  any  strange  animal  out  of  their 
master's  garden.  Dogs  are  so  well  aware  of  the  whole 
moral  and  legal  aspects  of  trespass,  that  when  once  they 
have  made  up  their  minds  to  it  they  actually  trade  on 
the  knowledge  that  their  owner  has  a  conscience,  though 
they  have  not.  We  have  noticed  this  in  great  perfec- 
tion in  the  case  of  canine  trespass  on  the  grass  circles 
in  the  front  of  a  semi-public  building  in  London. 
This  delectable  piece  of  grass  is  divided  from  the  road 
by  a  high  railing,  but  the  gate  usually  stands  open. 


2i4  TRESPASSING  ANIMALS 

Dogs,  passing  with  maids  on  their  way  to  do  shopping, 
or  with  children  out  for  a  walk,  after  some  recon- 
noitring, dash  in  and  have  delightful  games  on  these 
grass-plots,  with  rolling  over,  racing  round,  and  general 
high  jinks.  The  maids  and  children,  being  shy,  and 
not  liking  to  trespass,  stand  at  the  gate,  call,  whistle, 
and  implore.  But  the  dogs  go  on  just  the  same.  This 
is  a  common  form  of  dog  trespass.  Its  meaner  side 
was  painfully  shown  in  the  following  case.  Most  well- 
brought-up  small  boys,  who  are  naturally  much  tempted 
to  trespass,  are  so  lectured  and  frightened  with  stories 
of  policemen  that  they  are  quite  nervous  on  the  subject. 
One  such  small  boy,  attended  by  a  collie  dog,  was 
passing,  when  the  dog  ran  in  at  the  gate,  and,  being 
instantly  joined  by  a  friend,  proceeded  to  race  and  play 
on  the  grass.  The  good  little  boy  stood  at  the  gate 
and  whistled  till  the  tears  ran  down  his  cheeks  with 
anxiety.  But  his  dog  took  not  the  slightest  notice. 
He  only  played  harder  with  his  friend.  At  last  the 
boy  walked  gingerly  in  on  the  path,  and  came  up  to 
the  edge  of  the  turf  on  which  the  dog  was  playing. 
To  trespass  further  than  that  was  more  than  the  boy's 
conscience  would  permit ;  so  he  stood  by  the  edge  of 
this  grass  as  if  it  were  a  pond  of  water  too  deep  to 
venture  into.  The  dog  saw  and  took  instant  advantage 
of  his  scruples.  He  played  on  in  his  grass  circle  just 
as  boldly  as  before,  while  the  poor  boy  drifted  round 


TRESPASSING  ANIMALS  215 

the  edge,  holding  out  his  hand,  calling,  whistling,  and 
imploring,  but  in  vain.  Then  the  door  of  a  lodge 
opened,  and  a  pitying  porter  came  to  the  rescue.  He 
had  hardly  stepped  out  of  his  lodge  when  the  two  dogs 
grasped  the  situation  and  bolted,  leaving  the  boy  to  any 
fate  which  their  wickedness  had  laid  up  for  him. 

Such  shocking  examples  of  animal  law-breaking  must 
not  be  confounded  with  the  wish  to  obtain  liberty 
which  prompts  donkeys  to  undo  knots  on  gates  with 
their  teeth,  or  horses  to  open  the  latch  of  their  stables 
with  their  lips  and  noses.  Cats  also  invade  all  gardens 
and  roofs  at  will ;  but  that  is  because  they  feel  they 
have  a  right  to  go  where  they  please.  Pigs,  on  the 
other  hand,  are  inveterate  trespassers  from  their  earliest 
infancy.  They  inherit  this  from  the  wild  pigs,  which 
will  travel  many  miles  every  night  to  explore  new 
feeding-grounds,  and  return  by  dawn  to  their  day- 
haunt.  Little  pigs  trespass  mainly  from  a  spirit  of 
adventure  and  inquiry,  That  is  what  makes  it  almost 
impossible  to  keep  a  litter  of  pigs  anywhere  near  a 
country  house.  They  organize  trespassing  parties, 
which  grow  bolder  daily.  One  day  they  come  round 
and  look  at  the  back-door.  The  next  day  one  runs 
into  the  passage,  and  pokes  his  nose  into  the  kitchen. 
In  time  they  find  some  open  door,  and  turn  up  un- 
expectedly on  the  tennis-lawn,  or  raid  the  bulbs  in  the 
crocus-beds.  In  the  course  of  their  travels  they  eat 


216  TRESPASSING  ANIMALS 


all  they  find  which  is  edible,  though  this  is  an  incident, 
not  a  motive,  of  their  trespass.  Here  we  must  tell  a 
story  which  should  be  added  to  the  many  moral  tales 
for  children  of  which  good  and  bad  pigs  are  the  heroes. 
A  litter  of  small  pigs  escaped  from  their  yard  by 
squeezing  through  the  gap  left  by  a  broken  paling. 
In  the  course  of  a  delightful  ramble  they  found  much 
food,  of  which  they  ate  immoderately.  Being  dis- 
covered, they  fled  for  refuge  to  their  sty  ;  but  their 
greediness  had,  for  the  time,  so  increased  the  girth  of 
their  bodies,  that  only  the  smallest  could  squeeze  back 
again  into  the  sty,  and  the  rest,  after  making  most 
painful  efforts  to  do  so,  were  obliged  to  remain  outside. 
Older  pigs  trespass  to  obtain  food,  and  are  expert  at 
breaking  through  fences ;  but  their  omnivorous  taste 
in  food  makes  them,  as  a  rule,  contented  to  roam 
round  the  farmyard  and  buildings.  Cattle  feeding 
entirely  on  grass  are  much  given  to  raiding  neighbour- 
ing fields  in  which  the  herbage  is  better  than  in  their 
own,  and,  in  addition,  often  trespass  from  some  innate 
liking  for  the  act.  Their  ingenuity  and  perseverance 
in  effecting  an  entry  to  the  ground  they  propose  to 
trespass  on  is  remarkable.  They  will  wait  for  hours 
and  watch  a  gate  until  someone  passes  through  it,  when 
they  at  once  walk  up  and  try  it  to  see  if  the  latch  has 
been  left  unfastened.  As  might  be  expected,  Irish  cows 
have  this  'land  hunger'  and  trespassing  instinct  de- 


A  TRESPASSING  PARTY.     From  a  drawing  by  Lancelot  Speed. 


TRESPASSING  ANIMALS  217 

veloped  in  a  high  degree.  We  have  seen  little  black 
Kerry  cows  go  down  on  their  knees — that  being  the 
first  movement  when  a  cow  lies  down,  and  therefore 
quite  familiar  to  them  as  a  means  of  '  stooping ' — and 
literally  creep  under  the  chains  suspended  between  a 
row  of  posts  which  divided  them  from  a  lawn  on  which 
they  desired  to  walk.  Bulls  are  even  greater  trespassers, 
though  rougher  in  their  methods.  Some  bulls  always 
smash  the  gate  of  any  field  they  are  kept  in.  Others 
use  gentler  methods,  and  turn  up  in  most  unlikely 
places.  A  young  bull  and  heifer  in  the  Isle  of  Wight 
got  out  of  a  field,  and  were  found  together  next 
morning  in  a  ground-floor  room  of  an  empty  house. 
This  bull  had  a  taste  for  midnight  trespassing,  and 
on  one  occasion  found  its  way  into  a  field,  where  it 
bellowed  loudly.  Its  owner,  thinking  that  a  cow  was 
ill,  went  with  a  lamp  to  see  what  was  the  matter.  The 
lamp  was  extinguished  with  some  haste  when  he  dis- 
covered who  the  visitor  was. 

Trespass  by  birds  sounds  like  a  paradox,  for  it 
suggests  an  exclusive  claim  to  the  use  of  the  air  above 
the  owner's  property.  As  a  fact,  certain  birds  are 
inveterate  and  wilful  trespassers,  but  they  nearly  always 
trespass  on  foot.  The  greatest  offenders  are  ducks, 
geese,  and  guinea-fowls  and  chickens,  all  of  which  are 
quite  aware,  or  very  soon  learn,  when  they  are  on 
forbidden  ground,  but  are  only  too  eager  to  go  there 


2i8  TRESPASSING  ANIMALS 

when  there  is  anything  to  be  got  by  it.  A  country 
rector,  on  seeing  his  neighbour's  ducks  and  a  couple 
of  geese  walking  for  the  tenth  day  in  succession 
through  his  meadow-grass  on  their  way  to  his  straw- 
berry-beds, remarked  with  resignation  that  he  supposed 
he  must  have  a  wooden  fence  put  up.  '  No,  sir,  no,' 
replied  his  gardener  bitterly  ;  '  you  aren't  obliged  to 
keep  no  fence  against  them  things  as  flies!  The  force 
of  this  remark  on  the  futility  of  building  a  wall  to 
keep  out  birds  was  unanswerable,  and  sounded  like  the 
basis  of  natural  law  as  to  bird  trespass.  Instances  in 
which  animals  recognise  or  maintain  rights  to  certain 
ground  against  other  animals  are  not  common.  A  dog 
will  turn  trespassing  cattle  out  of  his  master's  corn 
without  orders,  but  he  seldom  asserts  a  personal  right 
to  more  than  his  own  bed  or  kennel.  This  he  defends 
vigorously.  The  keenness  with  which  the  Constan- 
tinople street-dogs  reserve  their  own  particular  quarter, 
sometimes  limited  by  an  arbitrary  boundary,  such  as 
the  centre  of  a  street,  one  side  of  which  belongs  to  one 
set  of  dogs,  and  another  to  another,  is  an  instance  to 
the  contrary.  But,  except  in  the  case  of  the  large 
carnivora,  both  beasts  and  birds,  there  is  little  dis- 
position to  assert  a  right  to  definite  areas,  and  c  careful- 
ness being  least  in  that  which  is  common  to  most,' 
there  can  be  no  resentment  of  trespass  where  there  is 
no  feeling  for  property. 


XXX.— DO  ANIMALS  TALK? 

IF  animals  talk,  as  we  are  convinced  that  they  do,  to  the 
limited  extent  of  conveying  wishes  or  facts  by  sounds, 
their  speech  ought  to  conform  to  the  divisions  of  human 
speech.  There  must,  in  fact,  be  an  c  animal  grammar,' 
in  the  terms  of  which  they  express  themselves.  It  is 
no  bad  test  of  the  assertion  that  animal  speech  exists  to 
apply  the  old  formal  divisions  of  the  grammarians  to 
the  instances  in  which  they  appear  to  c  voice '  their 
thoughts,  and  ascertain  by  trial  whether  the  forms  into 
which  the  human  speech  has  been  divided  fit  the  latter. 
The  time-honoured  divisions  of  speech  are  (i)  statement 
of  fact;  (2)  request,  including  commands;  (3)  question. 
It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  very  limited  range  and 
simple  character  of  animal  wants  and  ideas  would 
necessarily  bring  into  play  the  whole  of  this  category  of 
articulate  speech.  But,  as  a  fact,  they  do  need  to  use 
all  three  forms  of  expression,  but  omit  the  last.  Unlike 
children,  animals  do  not  ask  questions.  They  only 
'  look '  them,  and  though  they  constantly  and  anxiously 

219 


220  DO  ANIMALS  TALK? 

inquire  what  is  to  be  done,  how  it  is  to  be  done,  and 
the  exact  wishes  of  their  masters,  and  occasionally  even 
of  other  animals,  the  inquiry  is  made  by  the  eye  and 
attitude.  A  terrier,  for  instance,  can  almost  transform 
his  whole  body  into  an  animated  note  of  interrogation. 

Of  the  two  remaining  forms  of  speech — statement 
and  request — the  animals  make  very  large  use,  but 
employ  the  latter  in  a  far  greater  degree  than  the 
former.  They  use  sounds  for  request,  not  only  in  par- 
ticular cases  in  which  they  desire  something  to  be  done 
for  them,  but  also  in  a  great  number  of  cases  in  which 
the  request  is  a  form  of  warning :  '  Come !'  '  Be 
careful!1  '  Look  out!'  'Go  ahead!'  'Help!'  The 
speech  which  indicates  danger  is  sufficiently  differenti- 
ated. Birds,  for  instance,  have  separate  notes  of  warn- 
ing to  indicate  whether  the  danger  is  in  the  form  of  a 
hawk  or  cat,  or  of  a  man.  If  a  hawk,  cat,  or  owl  is  on 
the  move,  the  birds,  especially  blackbirds,  always  utter  a 
clattering  note,  constantly  repeated,  and  chickens  have 
a  special  sound  to  indicate  the  presence  of  a  hawk. 
But  when  disturbed  by  man  the  blackbirds  have  quite  a 
different  sound  of  alarm  and  the  chickens  also.  Animals 
on  the  march  are  usually  silent;  but  the  hamadryad 
baboons  use  several  words  of  command  ;  and  the  cries 
of  cranes  and  geese  when  flying  in  ordered  flocks  are 
very  possibly  signals  or  orders. 

Specific  requests  are   commonly  made   by  a  sound, 


DO  ANIMALS  TALK?  221 

which  the  animal   intends  to  be   taken  as    expressing 
a  want,  while   it  indicates  what  it  wants  by  showing 
the  object.     The  greatest  difficulty  is  when  the  object 
wanted,  or  required  to  be  dealt  with,  is  not  present. 
The  animal  has  then  to  induce  you  to  follow  and  see 
the  thing,  and  this  often  leads  to  great  ingenuity  both 
in  the  use  of  voice  and  action.     This  form  of  request  is 
practised  more  or  less  successfully  by  a  considerable 
number  of  the  animals  kept  as  pets  or  servants  of  man. 
Various  monkeys,  geese,  a  goat,  a  ewe  with  a  lamb, 
elephants,  cats  very  commonly,  and  dogs  innumerable, 
are  credited  with  c  accosting  '  persons,  and  bringing  to 
their  notice  by  vocal  means  the  objects  they  desire  or 
the  actions  they  wish  done.     A  most  ingeniously  con- 
structed request  of  this  kind  was  made  a  few  years  ago 
by  a  retriever  dog  late  one  night  in  London.     The 
streets  were  empty;    and  the  dog  came  up  and,  after 
wagging  his  tail,  began  to  bark,  using  not  the  rowdy 
bark  which  dogs  employ  when  jumping  at  a  horse's 
head   or  when    excited,  but    the    persuasive  and    con- 
fidential kind  of  bark  which  is  used  in  requests  and 
reproaches.     He  was  very  insistent,  especially  when  a 
small,  dark  passage  was  reached,  up  which  he  ran,  still 
barking.     As  this  did  not  answer,  the  dog  ran  back, 
took  the  writer's  hand,  in  which  he  was  carrying  his 
glove,  in  his  mouth,  and  gave  a  gentle  pull  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  passage.     As  this  did  not  meet  with  the 


222  DO  ANIMALS  TALK? 

attention  desired,  the  dog  pulled  the  glove  out  of  the 
hand  and  carried  it  off  up  the  passage,  keeping  a  few 
yards  in  front  and  waving  its  tail  in  a  friendly  way ; 
this  naturally  led  to  pursuit,  when  the  dog,  still  keeping 
ahead,  dropped  the  glove  in  front  of  a  gate  leading  into 
a  butcher's  yard,  and  began  to  bark  again.  As  it 
obviously  wanted  the  gate  to  be  opened,  this  was  done, 
and  it  trotted  in  without  further  remark.  Everyone 
who  has  kept  dogs  knows  the  tone  of  the  bark  of 
request — a  low  *  wouf,'  very  unlike  the  staccato  bark  of 
anger,  or  vexation,  or  remonstrance.  A  bulldog  at  the 
Earl's  Court  Dog  Show  made  his  particular  part  of  the 
bench  almost  unendurable  by  this  form  of  bark,  kept 
up  (as  we  heard)  for  nearly  three  hours  without  a  stop, 
because  he  was  jealous  of  the  attentions  paid  to  the  dog 
next  him.  This  had  won  the  first  prize,  and  conse- 
quently received  all  the  admiration  ;  so  the  other  dog 
barked  short,  sharp,  incessant  yelps  at  him  all  day  long, 
only  stopping  when  some  one  patted  him.  We  believe 
that  leopards  are  absolutely  silent  creatures ;  but  many 
of  the  felidae  have  a  particular  sound  of  request.  In  the 
cat  a  very  short c  mew '  is  commonly  used  when  the  object 
is  near,  and  will  almost  certainly  be  granted,  such  as 
the  opening  of  the  door,  or  the  giving  of  water  or  milk. 
Unusual  food  which  it  fancies  it  will  not  get  is  asked 
for  in  another  note  ;  and  any  request  not  attended  to  is 
repeated  in  the  different  key.  The  tiger  uses  the  low 


DO  ANIMALS  TALK?  223 

'  mew '  in  some  form  of  conversation  with  the  tigress  ; 
and  the  puma  when  domesticated  has  a  considerable 
range  of  notes  to  ask  for  food,  water,  and  society,  or 
to  return  thanks  ;  the  latter  being,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
cat  and  tiger,  a  kind  of  purr. 

'Statement'  in  animal  speech  is  mainly  confined  to 
indications  that  the  creature  has  made  a  discovery,  good 
or  bad.  For  the  former  the  cock  has,  perhaps,  the 
most  distinct  set  of  sounds;  they  are  quite  unlike  any 
other  note  he  uses,  and  are  confined  to  the  assertion 
that  he  has  found  something  good  to  eat.  Cock 
pigeons  do  the  same,  and  we  imagine  that  geese  have 
an  equivalent  sound.  Dogs  have  two  forms  of  sound 
to  state  a  discovery,  elephants  only  one.  The  dog 
barks  loud  and  sharply  over  something  new,  or  merely 
surprising.  We  have  seen  a  dog  barking  in  this  way 
when  a  couple  of  geographical  globes  were  placed  in  a 
window — -objects  he  had  never  seen  and  wished  to  call 
attention  to.  But  a  painful  discovery,  such  as  that  of  a 
dead  body,  or  a  dangerously  wounded  man,  is  some- 
times communicated  by  the  dog  howling,  which  marks 
a  different  form  of  speech.  A  practical  acquaintance 
with  shore  shooting  and  the  men  who  have  learnt  to 
imitate  the  notes  of  shore  birds  discloses  some  curious 
facts  as  to  the  minute  differences  between  the  '  talk  '  of 
different  species.  The  greater  number  have  a  particular 
note  which  signifies  *  Come ';  and  this  note  seems 


224  DO  ANIMALS  TALK? 

always  to  be  understood  and  generally  obeyed,  almost 
instantly,  by  the  birds  of  the  same  species,  though  no 
bird  of  another  species  pays  the  slightest  attention  to  it. 
But  the  few  shore  birds  which  are  really  '  talkative ' — 
namely,  the  wild  geese,  the  redshank,  and  the  green 
plover — pay  very  little  attention  to  the  calls  either  of 
their  own  species  or  of  anyone  who  can  imitate  them. 
We  never  heard  of  anyone  who  has  ever  tried  to  '  call ' 
wild  geese.  Green  plover  can  be  called,  but  very 
seldom ;  and  though  redshanks  can  sometimes  be 
whistled  within  shot,  this  is  rarely  done. 

The  difference  between  the  notes  of  invitation  made 
by  various  shore  fowl — stints,  gray  plover,  golden 
plover,  ringed  plover,  knots,  and  sandpipers — is  so 
slight  that  no  one  but  a  fowler  would  notice  it. 
Yet  to  these  men  the  difference  is  as  great  as  that 
between  the  sound  of  French  and  English.  A  really 
first-class  gunner  will  sit  in  a  creek  in  August  and  call 
the  birds  up,  if  within  hearing  and  inclined  to  move,  in 
any  order  you  like  to  name.  Even  such  closely  allied 
birds  as  the  curlew  and  the  whimbrel  have  different 
notes,  though,  as  they  are  so  often  associated  on  the 
marshes,  one  species  will  often  answer  to  the  call  made 
by  the  other,  probably  in  the  expectation  of  finding 
some  of  its  own  tribe  in  the  same  place.  It  is  not  a 
little  surprising  that  these  different  birds,  most  of 
which  feed  in  company,  should  not  have  learnt  a 


DO  ANIMALS  TALK?  225 


common  '  all-fowls'  tongue/  but  they  have  not.5*  We 
once  saw  a  large  mixed  flock  of  gray  plover,  knots, 
and  stints  flying  past  on  the  muds,  at  a  distance  of  some 
ninety  yards.  A  gunner  noticed  that  there  were  two 
or  three  golden  plover  amongst  them.  These  are  easy 
to  call ;  and  all  fowl  are  more  likely  to  answer  to  the 
call  when  only  two  or  three  of  the  same  species  are 
together.  The  gunner,  therefore,  whistled  the  golden 
plovers'  note,  and  out  from  the  big  flock  of  some  sixty 
birds  the  pair  of  golden  plovers  instantly  flew,  wheeled 
round,  and  passed  within  fifty  yards,  answering  the  call 
in  their  own  language.  Perhaps  the  best  instance  of 
the  dexterity  of  the  gunners  in  learning  bird-language 
was  recently  recorded  in  the  Westminster  Gazette.  It 
is  credited  to  a  fowler  who  shot  the  only  specimen  of 
the  broad-billed  sandpiper  ever  killed  in  Norfolk. 
When  down  on  the  muds  listening  to  the  notes  of  the 
shore  birds  he  distinguished  one  which  he  did  not 
know.  He  imitated  it,  the  bird  answered,  flew  up  to 
him,  and  was  shot.  It  does  not  follow  that  talkative, 
garrulous  species  really  have  more  to  say  to  one  another 
than  others.  Like  other  chatterboxes,  they  like  to  hear 
themselves,  and  do  not  listen  to  other  people.  Starlings, 
for  instance,  which  seem  almost  to  talk,  and  certainly 

*  In  Mr.  Tegetmeier's  work  on  pheasants,  it  is  noted  that 
young  golden  pheasants  bred  under  hens  go  gaping  about  for  a 
day  or  two,  as  if  stupid,  before  learning  hens*  language. 

15 


226  DO  ANIMALS  TALK? 


can  imitate  other  birds  when  engaged  in  their  curious 
4  song/  which  seems  so  like  a  conversational  variety 
entertainment,  are  all  the  time  enjoying  a  monologue. 
No  other  starling  listens.  On  the  other  hand,  starlings, 
when  they  have  anything  to  say,  as  when  nesting,  or 
quarrelling  for  places  when  going  to  roost,  use  quite 
different  notes.  Of  all  bird-voices  the  song  of  the 
swallow  is  most  like  human  speech  —  not  our  speech, 
but  like  the  songs  which  the  Lapps  or  such  outlandish 
races  sing.  A  Lapp  woman  sings  a  song  just  like  that 
of  a  swallow  at  dawn.  Yet  the  swallows  seem  really  to 
say  little  or  nothing  to  one  another,  and  never  come  to 
each  other's  call.  But  the  varieties  of  bird-speech,  and 
the  possibilities  of  interchange  of  ideas,  are  very  great. 
If,  for  instance,  there  is  any  real  foundation  for  the 
stories  of  the  rook-trials  and  stork-trials,  speech  must 
play  a  considerable  part  in  the  proceedings. 


XXXI.— ANIMALS  UNDERGROUND 

AN  interesting  find  of  buried  treasure  has  recently  been 
credited  to  a  mole.  Coins  were  seen  shining  in  the 
earth  of  a  freshly  cast-up  mole-hill  at  Penicuick,  near 
Edinburgh,  and  a  search  showed  that  the  mole  had 
driven  his  gallery  through  a  hoard  of  ancient  coins  of 
the  date  of  Edward  I. 

Men  of  all  countries  seem  agreed  in  regarding  the 
work  of  animals  underground  as  something  quite  normal 
and  commonplace.  Perhaps  the  best  instance  of  this 
was  the  view  long  held  by  the  Ostiaks  of  North  Siberia 
that  the  mammoths  whose  bodies  and  bones  they  found 
embedded  in  the  frozen  soil  were  *  only '  gigantic  moles 
which  worked  deep  down  below  ground,  but  were 
unlucky  enough  to  come  too  near  the  top,  and  so  were 
frozen !  The  facts  are,  however,  in  very  strong  con- 
tradiction to  this  view  of  the  subterranean  life  of 
animals.  Life  underground  and  in  the  dark  is  abso- 
lutely contrary  to  the  normal  habits,  tastes,  and  struc- 
ture of  almost  all  animals  except  the  very  few,  like  the 

227  15—2 


228  ANIMALS  UNDERGROUND 

common  moles,  tuco-tuco,  and  the  marsupial  sand-moles, 
which  obtain  their  food  below  the  earth-surface  as 
diving  birds  catch  fish  below  the  sea-surface.  It  is 
almost  an  inversion  of  their  normal  way  of  life,  and  is 
probably  due  to  some  such  compulsion  as  has  also 
forced  many  animals '  to  become  nocturnal.  Nor  is  it 
doubtful  that  if  once  this  necessity  were  removed,  their 
tendency  would  be  to  abandon  this  unnatural  life,  and 
return  to  the  regions  of  light.  How  strong  the  pressure 
must  have  been  which  forced  them  underground  may  be 
gathered  from  the  list  of  English  terrestrial  mammals. 
Twelve  of  these  are  bats  ;  but  of  the  remaining  twenty- 
nine  no  less  than  sixteen,  or  more  than  half,  live  either 
wholly  or  partly  underground.  The  list  includes  the 
fox,  three  shrews,  the  mole,  the  badger,  the  otter,  three 
species  of  mice,  two  rats,  three  voles,  and  the  rabbit. 
Besides  there  are  several  species  of  birds,  as  widely 
different  in  habit  as  the  stormy  petrel,  sand-martin, 
puffin,  sheldrake  duck,  and  kingfisher,  which  for  a 
time  live  in  holes  excavated  in  the  earth.  To  abandon 
the  sun,  to  bask  in  whose  rays  is  to  most  animals  one 
of  the  most  agreeable  of  physical  enjoyments,  is  an 
almost  greater  sacrifice  than  the  relinquishment  of  fresh 
air.  Yet  the  sacrifice  is  made,  and  the  creatures,  though 
not  without  occasional  suffering  and  loss  of  health 
directly  attributable  to  this  cause,  have  succeeded  in 
adapting  themselves  with  great  success  to  the  new  con- 


ANIMALS  UNDERGROUND  229 

ditions.  It  might  well  be  that  the  measure  of  this 
success  decreased  in  proportion  to  the  completeness 
with  which  the  different  species  have  adopted  the 
underground  habit  and  abandoned  light  and  air.  But 
in  normal  conditions  this  is  not  the  case.  The  fox, 
whom  we  take  to  be  the  last  of  English  mammals  to 
become  a  burrower  and  dweller  in  holes — largely  owing 
to  the  increase  of  fox-hunting  and  multiplication  of 
packs  of  hounds — is  an  animal  which  spends  as  little 
time  there  as  it  can  help,  and  has  never  ceased  to  suffer 
in  health  from  the  change.  The  earths  become  tainted, 
the  foxes  contract  mange,  and  the  spread  of  this  fatal 
disease  has  increased  yearly  as  the  animals  have  become 
more  subterranean,  and,  by  taking  their  food  into  the 
earths,  have  converted  them  into  larders  as  well  as 
sleeping-places.  How  most  of  the  burrowing  animals 
find  life  endurable  at  all  is  difficult  to  discover.  No 
one  who  has  seen  the  colliers  coming  for  their  lamps 
and  about  to  descend  into  the  pit  can  have  failed  to 
note  the  marks  of  physical  strain  exhibited  by  all,  from 
old  men  to  boys.  As  each  man  or  lad  comes  up  and 
shouts  the  number  of  his  lamp,  the  harsh,  loud  voices, 
the  over- wrought  lines  of  the  face,  and  the  general  air 
of  tension  show  that,  however  well  satisfied  the  pitman 
is  with  his  calling,  he  at  least  is  not  yet  adapted  to  the 
underground  life.  But  burrowing  animals  are  among 
the  merriest  of  the  merry  ;  there  are  few  creatures 


230  ANIMALS  UNDERGROUND 

more  full  of  gaiety  and  buoyant  spirits  than  a  prairie- 
dog,  or  even  a  sandhill-rabbit ;  and  we  have  only  once 
seen  an  animal  grimy  from  attempted  burrowing,  and 
that  was  an  opossum  which  mistook  a  chimney  for  a 
hole  in  a  hollow  tree.  Some  have  coats  so  close  and 
fine  that  sand  runs  off  them  as  water  does  from 
feathers ;  others  have  '  shivering  muscles,'  by  which 
they  can  shake  their  jackets  without  taking  them  off. 
Rats,  however,  do  object  to  some  forms  of  dust,  and 
will  not  burrow  in  it.  An  old  Suffolk  rat-catcher 
always  laid  ashes  in  the  runs  made  by  them  beneath 
brick  floors.  His  theory  on  the  subject  was  that  the 
ashes  *  fared  to  make  them  snuffle/  But  even  if  earth, 
dust,  and  clay  do  not  adhere  to  the  animals'  coats  when 
burrowing,  the  danger,  or  at  least  the  discomfort,  to  the 
delicate  surface  of  the  eye  would  seem  to  afford  an 
almost  constant  source  of  uneasiness  to  creatures 
burrowing  in  loose  soil.  And  the  eyes  of  most  burrow- 
ing creatures  are  by  no  means  protected  against  such 
damage.  If  the  rat  and  the  rabbit  had  a  horn  plate 
over  their  eyes,  as  a  snake  has,  or  overhanging  eye- 
brows and  deeply-sunk  orbits,  the  modifications  would 
be  at  once  explained  by  evolution  ;  but  they  exhibit 
no  such  modification  whatever.  On  the  contrary,  both 
of  them  have  prominent,  rather  staring  eyes,  without 
protection,  and  no  eyelashes  to  speak  of.  We  believe 
that,  just  as  divers  learn  to  keep  their  eyes  open  under 


ANIMALS  UNDERGROUND  231 

water  without  feeling  pain,  so  many  of  the  mining 
animals  can  endure  the  presence  of  dust  and  grit  on 
the  eye  without  discomfort.  Tame  rats  will  allow  dust 
or  fine  sand  to  rest  on  the  eyeball  without  trying  to 
remove  it ;  and  it  may  be  inferred  that  rabbits,  mice, 
voles  and  shrews  can  do  the  same.  The  mole's  eyes 
have  become  so  atrophied,  that  when  a  mole  is  skinned 
the  eyes  come  off  with  the  skin  ;  but  this  is  probably  not 
because  the  mining  hurts  the  eye,  but  because  the  mole, 
having  learnt  to  work  by  scent  and  touch,  had  little 
further  use  for  sight. 

Ventilation,  or  rather  the  want  of  it,  must  be  another 
difficulty  in  the  underground  life  of  almost  all  mammals. 
The  rabbit  and  the  rat  secure  a  current  of  air  by  form- 
ing a  bolt-hole  in  connection  with  their  system  of 
passages  ;  but  the  fox,  the  badger,  and  many  of  the 
field  voles  and  mice  seem  indifferent  to  any  such  pre- 
caution. There  is  no  doubt  that  whatever  gave  the 
first  impulse  to  burrow,  many  animals  look  upon  this, 
to  us,  most  unpleasant  exertion  as  a  form  of  actual 
amusement.  It  also  confers  a  right  of  property. 
Prairie-dogs  constantly  set  to  work  to  dig  holes  merely 
for  the  love  of  the  thing.  If  they  cannot  have  a  suit- 
able place  to  exercise  their  talent  in,  they  will  gnaw 
into  boxes  or  chests  of  drawers,  and  there  burrow,  to  the 
great  detriment  of  the  clothes  therein  contained.  In  an 
enclosed  prairie-dog  c  town '  they  have  been  known  to 


*** 


232  ANIMALS  UNDERGROUND 

mine  until  the  superincumbent  earth  collapsed  and 
buried  the  greater  number.  A  young  prairie-dog  let 
loose  in  a  small  gravel-floored  house  instantly  dug  a 
hole  large  enough  to  sit  in,  turned  round  in  it,  and  bit 
the  first  person  who  attempted  to  touch  him.  Property 
gave  him  courage,  for  before  he  had  been  as  meek  as  a 
mouse. 

It  is  noticeable  that  the  two  weakest  and  least 
numerous  of  our  mice,  the  dormouse  and  the  harvest- 
mouse,  do  not  burrow,  but  make  nests  ;  and  that  these 
do  not  multiply  or  maintain  their  numbers  like  the 
burrowing  mice  and  voles.  But  the  fact  that  there  are 
members  of  very  closely  allied  species,  some  of  which 
do  burrow,  while  others  do  not,  seems  to  indicate  that 
the  habit  is  an  acquired  one.  In  this  connection  it  is 
worth  noting  that  many  animals  which  do  not  burrow 
at  other  times  form  burrows  in  which  to  conceal  and 
protect  their  young,  or,  if  they  do  burrow,  make  a 
different  kind,  of  a  more  elaborate  character.  Among 
these  nursery  burrows  are  those  of  the  dog,  the  fox,  the 
sand-martin,  the  kingfisher,  and  the  sheldrake.  Fox- 
hound litters  never  do  so  well  as  when  the  mother  is 
allowed  to  make  a  burrow  on  the  sunny  side  of  a  straw- 
stack.  In  time  she  will  work  this  five  feet  or  six  feet 
into  the  stack,  and  keep  the  puppies  at  the  far  end, 
while  she  lies  in  the  entrance.  Vixens  either  dig  or 
appropriate  a  clean  burrow  for  their  cubs,  which  is  a 


ANIMALS  UNDERGROUND  233 

natural  habit,  or,  at  any  rate,  one  acquired  previously 
to  the  use  of  earths  by  adult  foxes. 

The  sand-martins  are,  however,  the  most  complete 
examples  of  creatures  which  have  taken  to  underground 
life  entirely  to  protect  their  young,  and  abandon  it  with 
joy  the  instant  these  have  flown.  How  far  the  king- 
fisher and  the  sheldrake  contribute  to  the  making  of 
the  burrows  in  which  they  lay  their  eggs  is  doubtful, 
but  it  is  a  very  notable  change  of  habit  in  birds  of  such 
strong  flight  and  open-air,  active  habits.  It  may  be 
paralleled  by  the  case  of  the  stormy  petrels  and  fork- 
tailed  petrels,  true  ocean  birds,  which,  nevertheless, 
abandon  the  sea  and  air  to  dig  deep  holes  in  the  soil  of 
the  Hebridean  islets,  and  rear  their  young  in  these 
dark  and  tortuous  passages.  Rabbits,  rats,  and  some 
other  rodents  make  nursery  burrows  of  a  very  rudi- 
mentary kind,  having  only  one  opening,  which  the 
mothers  close  up  when  leaving  the  nest.  This  probably 
gives  the  clue  to  the  process  by  which  the  true  4  under- 
ground animals '  have  been  evolved.  First  they  scratched 
holes  in  which  to  shelter  their  young.  Then  they  made 
use  of  the  same  device  to  protect  themselves,  and 
acquired  much  greater  skill  in  working,  and  some 
modifications  of  coats  and  claws  to  do  this  with  comfort 
and  effect.  In  time  the  habit  became  so  easy  that  its 
exercise  afforded  them  pleasure ;  and  thus  we  have 
the  spectacle  of  the  prairie-dog  who  digs  holes  for 


234  ANIMALS  UNDERGROUND 

amusement.  Another  primitive  instinct  may  also  have 
contributed  to  develop  the  burrowing  habit,  namely, 
that  of  burying  food.  Dogs  will  scratch  rudimentary 
burrows  to  do  this,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  rats, 
hamsters,  field- voles,  and  other  rodents  felt  the  burrow- 
ing impulse  in  this  connection.  Some  tame  rats  kept  in 
a  cage  where  they  could  not  burrow  were  recently  seen 
to  cover  their  food  up  with  small  pebbles,  which  they 
fetched  from  the  floor  ;  but  had  it  been  possible  to 
make  a  hole  and  so  secrete  it,  they  would  no  doubt 
have  done  so. 


XXXIL— MAMMALS  IN  THE  WATER 

THE  Zoo  otters  have  conformed  to  the  universal 
tendency  to  extend  the  range  of  diet  by  eating 
ship-biscuit  as  well  as  fish.  They  make  believe  that 
it  is  fish  all  the  time,  biting  the  biscuit  into  fragments, 
then  pushing  these  into  the  water  with  their  noses, 
chasing  them  and  catching  them,  and,  after  the  biscuit 
is  well  saturated,  eating  it  on  the  bank.  Incidentally, 
this  shows  how  very  prettily  an  otter  eats  its  meals.  It 
lies  flat  down,  and  holds  the  *  fish '  neatly  between  its 
hands,  '  thumbs  upwards/  the  hands  being  quite  flat, 
like  the  two  ends  of  a  book-slide.  The  quickness  and 
handiness  of  the  otter  in  the  water  is  most  surprising, 
considering  the  very  slight  difference  in  general  form 
between  it  and  allied  non-amphibious  mammals  ;  there 
is  practically  nothing  which  a  salmon  or  trout  can  do 
which  the  otter  cannot  beat,  except  the  salmon's  leap  up 
a  weir.  It  can  even  imitate  that  astonishing  *  shoot '  by 
which  a  trout  goes  off"  from  its  feeding-place  like  an 
arrow  to  the  bank  or  weeds.  It  can  also  climb  a 

235 


236  MAMMALS  IN  THE   WATER 

pollard-tree,  dig  holes,  dive  in  salt  water,  travel  fast  on 
land,  and  run  at  the  bottom  of  the  water. 

Compared  with  the  aquatic  powers  of  civilized  man 
— the  only  mammal,  except  a  monkey,  which  does  not 
swim  naturally — these  feats  are  very  surprising  ;    but 
the  list  of  land  animals  which  are  expert  swimmers  is 
very  much   larger  than  might    be  supposed.     It  also 
embraces  many  classes  of  animals,  and  the  number  of 
the  aquatic  or  semi-aquatic  members  of  very  different 
families  suggests  that  the  aquatic  habit  was  at  first  only 
accidental,  and  that  very  many  creatures  which  do  not 
by  habit  swim  and   dive  might,  under  other  circum- 
stances, have  become  aquatic.     Judging  from  our  own 
experience,    one    of    the    most    difficult    *  adaptations ' 
of  habit  encountered  in    the   amphibious  life   is   that 
of  keeping  the  eyes  open  under  water,  with  no  special 
protection.     It  is  disagreeable  in  fresh  and  painful  in 
salt    water.     Conceding    that    the    really    amphibious 
creatures   have   learnt    to    do    this   gradually  —  otters, 
water-voles,    water-shrews,    polar    bears,    and    seals — 
how  are  we  to  account  for  the  aquatic  dexterity  ot 
a  creature  like  the  land-rat  ?     A  common  brown  rat 
can   see  under  water  as  well  as  a  water-rat  can  ;    it 
swims  and  dives  equally  well,  and  can  burrow  into  a 
bank  below  the  water.     This  is  less  creditable  engineer- 
ing than   the  sub-aquatic   work  of  the   beaver,  which 
buries  logs  and  fixes  the  foundations  of  the  dam  under 


MAMMALS  IN  THE   WATER  237 

water,  but  it  shows  that  the  rat  is  quite  at  home  in  that 
element.  The  rat  has  no  structural  adaptation  of  any 
kind  to  help  him,  and  the  water-vole  is  to  all  appearance 
the  same  in  structure  as  the  land-vole.  That  there 
should  be  so  little  modification  is  quite  contrary  to 
the  ancient  and  established  view  that  if  an  animal  can 
swim  and  dive  it  must  be  like  a  duck  or  a  fish.  When 
Fuller  was  writing  of  the  '  natural  commodities '  of 
Cardiganshire,  he  remarked :  *  What  plenty  there  was 
of  beavers  in  this  country  in  the  days  of  Giraldus  ;  the 
breed  of  them  is  now  quite  destroyed,  and  neither  the 
fore- foot  of  a  beaver  (which  is  like  a  dog's)  nor  the 
hind-foot  (which  is  like  a  goose's)  can  be  seen  therein.' 
But  the  performances  of  the  creatures,  which  are  little 
or  not  at  all  changed  in  structure,  are  perhaps  more 
interesting  from  the  personal  point  of  view  of  their 
human  critics  than  those  of  animals  like  the  seals, 
walruses,  and  whales,  whose  legs  have  turned  into  fins. 
Their  experiences  and  difficulties  in  the  water  ought  to 
be  somewhat  like  our  own.  The  surprising  point  is 
that  most  forms  of  movement  in  the  water  seem  to 
present  to  them  no  difficulty  at  all.  Very  young  otters 
are  '  taught '  to  go  into  the  water,  and  so,  presumably, 
are  the  young  duckbills,  which  lie  in  a  subterranean  nest 
for  several  weeks  before  entering  the  water.  But  the 
young  otters  at  the  Zoo  were  hauled  out  by  their 
mothers  when  they  stayed  in  too  long.  They  swam 


238  MAMMALS  IN  THE   WATER 

like  young  ducks,  and  the  teaching  was  by  example, 
not  instruction.  When  master  of  the  art,  the  otter 
swims,  not  with  all  four  feet,  but  with  the  hind-feet, 
folding  the  front  paws  alongside  its  body.  Mr.  Trevor- 
Battye  has  noticed  that  the  water-voles  do  the  same. 
This  agrees  with  the  progress  of  human  swimmers, 
who  usually  begin  by  making  too  much  use  of  the 
arms  and  too  little  of  the  legs,  but  discover  later  on 
that  the  latter  are  the  main  aids  in  swimming  either  on 
or  below  the  surface.  The  otters  are  so  far  modified 
from  the  polecat  tribe  that  they  have  webbed  toes  ;  the 
water-voles  have  not  even  this  advantage  over  their 
land  relations.  It  ought  to  follow  from  this  that  the 
latter  could,  with  a  little  trouble,  become  aquatic. 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  evidence  to  show  that  there  is 
no  hard-and-fast  line  between  land  mammals  and  water 
mammals,  so  far  as  this  distinction  rests  on  the  ability 
to  use  both  elements.  Stoats,  for  instance,  are  excellent 
swimmers,  and,  if  put  to  it  for  food,  would  probably 
learn  to  catch  fish  just  as  the  polecat  is  known  to  catch 
eels.  Cats,  which  have  an  intense  dislike  of  wet,  swim 
well,  carrying  the  head  high.  Their  distaste  for  aquatics 
does  not  extend  to  the  larger  cats.  Tigers  are  fond 
of  bathing,  swim  fast,  and  the  c  river  tigers '  of  the 
Sunderbunds,  and  the  tigers  near  the  coast  of  the 
Straits  of  Malacca,  are  constantly  noticed  in  the  water. 
"Whether  the  trained  Egyptian  cats  which  were  used  to 


TV 

'*     * 

MAMMALS  IN  THE   WATER  239 

take  waterfowl  in  the  reed-beds  by  the  Nile  ever  swam 
when  stalking  them  does  not  appear  from  the  ancient 
pictures  ;  but  the  extent  to  which  the  dog  voluntarily 
becomes  aquatic  entitles  some  breeds  to  be  considered 
amphibious.  A  dog  belonging  to  a  waterman  living 
near  one  of  the  Thames  ferries  has  been  known  to 
continue  swimming  out  in  the  stream  for  an  hour 
without  coming  to  land.  It  did  this  for  amusement  on 
a  fine  Sunday  morning.  Another  riverside  dog  was 
taught  to  dive,  and  fetch  up  stones  thrown  in  which 
sank  to  the  bottom.  This  dog  would  pick  out  stones 
from  the  bottom  of  a  bucket  of  water,  selecting  one 
which  it  had  been  shown  before  from  a  number  of 
others.  It  had  so  far  become  amphibious  that  it  could 
use  its  eyes  under  water.  In  France  otter-hound 
puppies  are  introduced  to  their  aquatic  life  by  setting 
their  kettle  of  soup  in  a  pond  or  stream,  so  that  they 
must  go  in  deep  to  feed.  Soon  they  become  as  fast 
swimmers  on  the  surface  as  the  otter  itself,  though  the 
physical  advantages  of  submarine  motion  give  the  otter 
the  advantage  when  it  is  below  the  surface. 

As  the  land-rats  and  water-voles  can  swim  and  run 
below  water,  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
various  tribes  of  mice  cannot  do  the  same.  The  house- 
mouse  swims  on  the  surface  as  well  as  the  rat,  but  it 
has,  apparently,  not  yet  learnt  to  dive.  All  the  pachy- 
derms can  swim,  and  very  many  are  as  much  at  home 


240  MAMMALS  IN  THE   WATER 

in  the  water  as  on  land.  The  story  that  pigs  cut  their 
own  throats  when  swimming  is  a  myth.  To  prove  it,  a 
whole  family  of  pink  pigs  were  chased  into  a  fine  muddy 
pond,  and  made  to  swim  across.  They  swam  well,  and 
the  *  contour  line '  of  mud  along  their  sides  showed  that 
their  backs  were  above  water  as  well  as  their  heads. 
Elephants  are  almost  as  clever  in  the  water  as  the 
polar  bears.  They  can  swim  and  walk  under  water 
without  coming  to  the  surface,  keeping  the  trunk  out 
of  the  water  like  a  diver's  tube.  There  is  plenty  of 
flexibility  in  an  elephant's  legs,  enough,  at  all  events,  to 
use  in  swimming  ;  but  the  properly  aquatic  hippo- 
potamus can  scarcely  be  said  to  swim — it  rises  and 
sinks  at  will,  but  it  habitually  walks  or  runs  on  the 
ground  at  the  bottom  of  the  river.  Two  South 
American  river  creatures  seem  unaccountably  aquatic 
— the  coypu,  which  might  just  as  well  be  a  land-rat, 
but  is  a  water-rat  in  the  process  of  becoming  a 
beaver,  and  the  capybara,  which  is  a  gigantic  water 
guinea-pig.  Each  is  quite  at  home  in  the  rivers,  and, 
as  the  capybara  is  aquatic,  there  seems  no  reason  why 
the  guinea-pigs  or  the  Patagonian  cavies  should  not 
learn  to  swim  and  dive,  if  circumstances  made  it  useful. 
Even  man  himself  becomes  almost  amphibious  in  certain 
regions.  Temperature  permitting,  he  swims  as  well 
and  dives  better  than  many  of  the  animals  mentioned 
above — better,  for  instance,  than  any  dogs.  The  Greek 


MAMMALS  IN  THE   WATER  241 

sponge-fishers  and  the  Arab  divers  must  have  sight 
almost  as  keen  below  water  as  that  of  the  sea-otter. 
They  have  even  learnt  by  practice  to  control  the  con- 
sumption of  the  air-supply  in  their  lungs.  The  usual 
time  for  a  hippopotamus  to  remain  below  water  is  five 
minutes.  The  pearl-fisher  can  remain  below  for  two 
and  a  half  minutes.  In  a  tank  a  diver  has  remained 
under  water  four  minutes.  But  temperature  marks  the 
limits  of  man's  amphibious  habits.  Its  effects  seem  less 
potent  on  other  mammals  in  the  water.  The  hairless 
amphibious  beasts  of  the  tropics  —  hippos,  tapirs, 
elephants,  and  manatees — need  warm  waters  to  swim  in ; 
but  in  temperate  Europe,  or  even  in  the  Arctic  seas, 
certain  animals  seem  indifferent  to  constant  wet,  and  the 
intense  discomfort  of  *  wet  clothes '  when  out  of  the 
water.  A  polar  bear  is  wet,  literally,  to  the  skin.  The 
otters,  though  they  have  an  inner  coat,  look  thoroughly 
drabbled  when  out  of  the  water.  The  land -rat's 
coat  also  becomes  wet  through.  The  latter  avoids 
water  in  cold  weather  ;  but  the  otters  sit  cheerfully 
on  the  bank  in  winter  frosts  or  even  in  wind.  So 
do  the  Zoo  beavers,  but  their  lower  fur  is  probably 
impervious  to  wet.  A  piece  of  beaver  fur,  with  the 
long  coat  taken  off,  was  dry  at  the  roots  after  soaking 
for  two  and  a  half  hours  in  a  basin.  If  the  temperature 
of  aquatic  animals  were  naturally  low,  like  that  of  a  fish, 
their  indifference  might  be  explained.  A  hibernating 

16 


242  MAMMALS  IN  THE   WATER 

dormouse  is  as  cold  as  death  ;  a  tame  rat,  tested  by  a 
clinical  thermometer,  showed  a  temperature  of  one 
hundred  degrees,  and  a  live  otter  can  scarcely  be  of 
lower  temperature  than  a  live  cat  or  a  Cape  ratel.  The 
Zoo  caution,  '  These  animals  bite/  precludes  any  effort 
at  taking  their  normal  heat  ;  but  that  of  a  rat,  which 
takes  to  the  water  freely  when  the  March  winds  are 
blowing,  is  normal,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose 
that  that  of  the  otter  is  different. 

As  chill  to  the  surface  tissues  is  always  dangerous  to 
warm-blooded  creatures,  in  the  absence  of  an  inner 
layer  of  fat  which  the  whale,  and,  in  some  degree,  the 
polar  bear,  possesses,  the  fur  must  be  the  non-conductor 
which  protects  them.  Water,  unless  in  movement,  is 
not  a  quick  conductor  of  heat.  The  fur,  aided  by  the 
outer  and  longer  hairs  which  keep  it  in  place,  holds  the 
water-jacket  motionless,  even  if  it  reaches  to  the  skin, 
and  this  '  water  compress '  saves  the  animal  from  a  chill. 
If  the  cold  winds  extract  the  warmth  from  it  when 
standing  wet  through  on  land,  it  takes  to  the  water  as 
the  relatively  warmer  element. 


XXXIIL— CROCODILES 

MR.  E.  STEWART,  in  a  paper  in  the  Contemporary 
Review  on  crocodile-shooting,  contributes  much  in- 
teresting information  as  to  the  numbers  and  habits 
of  these  creatures  in  India.  The  largest  and  most 
dangerous  to  human  life  of  the  Indian  species  is  the 
salt-water  crocodile  of  the  estuaries  (C.  porosus).  This 
sometimes  reaches  thirty  feet  in  length,  and  cruises  for  its 
prey  like  a  shark,  occasionally  swimming  some  distance 
out  to  sea.  But  the  creature  with  which  Mr.  Stewart 
is  mainly  concerned  is  the  marsh  crocodile,  the  '  mugger ' 
of  the  inland  rivers.  Its  numbers  are  very  great,  and 
do  not  diminish.  On  one  small  river,  the  Tiljooga  in 
Tirhoot,  a  stream  not  more  than  ten  or  twelve  yards 
broad,  but  very  deep,  crocodiles  might  be  seen  every 
sixty  yards,  singly  or  in  groups,  which  took  toll  of 
men,  dogs,  and  cattle,  as  well  as  fish.  What  a  curse 
they  are  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  riverine  districts  may 
be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  the  village  watering- 
places  have  to  be  palisaded  to  keep  these  creatures  out, 

243  1 6 2 

*  A 


244  CROCODILES 

and  that  in  spite  of  this  a  big  '  bull  crocodile '  will 
attach  himself  permanently  to  some  such  spot,  just  as  a 
pike  frequents  a  particular  pool,  and  live  on  the  toll  he 
takes  from  the  village.  He  is  then  known  as  a  '  burka 
luggaree  gohj  or  '  crocodile  moored  like  a  boat.' 

Such  a  beast  is  the  subject  of  Mr.  Rudyard  Kipling's 
story,  '  The  Undertaker,'  in  which  the  '  mugger  of 
Mugger  Ghaut '  tells  his  own  tale.  His  feasts  of 
drowned  carrion,  his  constancy  to  the  ford  and  the 
bathing  '  ghaut,'  where  he  carries  off  men,  women, 
and  children,  and  his  adventures  when  he  changes  his 
quarters  to  distant  haunts  by  using  small  tributaries, 
creeks,  and  irrigation  cuts,  are  all  strictly  in  keeping 
with  the  observations  of  Mr.  Stewart  and  other  Indian 
naturalists.  The  former  adds  some  ghastly  corrobora- 
tion  to  the  details  of  this  autobiography  of  a  '  mugger,' 
though,  incidentally,  he  mentions  that  this  name  is 
English,  not  Indian.  When  out  tiger  -  shooting  he 
came  across  a  huge  crocodile  sleeping  on  the  bank  of  a 
small  stream — for  crocodiles  will  travel  up  the  smallest 
waterways  at  certain  seasons,  and  populate  any  pools 
formerly  free  from  them.  The  crocodile  was  shot,  and 
his  men  at  once  cut  it  open  to  extract  the  gall-bladder, 
which  is  looked  upon  as  a  valuable  charm.  Inside  this 
creature's  stomach  were  two  skulls  and  the  putrid 
remains  of  as  many  bodies.  He  also  witnessed  a 
crocodile's  attack  on  children  at  a  bathing-ghaut.  The 


CROCODILES 


245 


creature  was  swimming  on  the  surface,  holding  a  little 
native  girl  in  its  mouth,  while  the  father  was  paddling 
in  pursuit  in  a  canoe,  and  striking  the  creature  with  a 
bamboo.  It  dropped  its  victim,  but  she  was  so  fright- 
fully injured  that  she  died.  Mr.  Kipling  notes  that 
the  <  parish '  mugger,  which  had  taken  toll  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  village  since  it  was  founded,  was  in 
time  raised  to  the  dignity  of  a  '  godling,'  or  local  fetich. 
This  seems  to  show  the  process  by  which  the  crocodile- 
worship  became  gradually  stereotyped  in  parts  of  ancient 
Egypt,  the  creature  being  propitiated  because  it  was  a 
pest.  Herodotus  is  careful  to  mention  that  it  was  only 
in  some  villages  that  the  creature  was  worshipped.  His 
words  are  :  *  Among  some  of  the  Egyptians  the  croco- 
dile is  sacred,  while  others  pursue  him  as  an  enemy. 
The  inhabitants  of  Thebais  and  of  the  shores  of  Lake 
Moeris  regard  him  with  veneration.  Each  person  has  a 
tame  crocodile.  He  puts  pendants  of  glass  and  gold 
in  its  ear-flaps,  and  gives  it  a  regular  allowance  of  food 
daily.  When  it  dies  it  is  embalmed.  .  .  .  But  the 
inhabitants  of  Elephantine  eat  the  crocodile,  and  do  not 
think  it  sacred  at  all.'  Possibly  these  were  the  villages 
which  suffered  most  from  '  parish  crocodiles/  while  others 
which  were  not  so  cursed,  or  had  a  more  enterprising 
population,  cheerfully  angled  for  them,  and  probably,  as 
they  do  now,  cooked  and  ate  them.  At  Dongola  they 
were  formerly  rather  proud  of  their  crocodile  stews,  and 


246  CROCODILES 

the  flavour  of  the  animal  was  considered  to  be  superior 
there  to  that  of  '  down-river  crocodiles,'  just  as  some 
people  praise  an  Arundel  sole  or  an  Amberley  trout. 

Herodotus,  to  whose  method  of  setting  down  what 
he  saw  or  heard,  however  incredible  it  might  appear, 
time  is  always  doing  justice,  has  two  excellent  testi- 
monials as  to  his  crocodile  stories.  One  is  Strabo,  and 
the  other  Mr.  Brehm.  Strabo  was  taken  by  a  priest 
to  see  a  sacred  crocodile  kept  in  a  pond  at  Arsinoe. 
'  Our  host/  he  writes, '  who  was  a  person  of  importance, 
and  our  guide  to  all  sacred  sights,  went  with  us  to  the 
tank,  taking  with  him  from  a  table  a  small  cake,  some 
roast  meat,  and  a  small  cup  of  mulled  wine.  We  found 
the  crocodile  lying  on  the  bank.  The  priests  imme- 
diately went  up  to  him,  and  while  some  of  them  opened 
his  mouth,  another  put  in  the  cake  and  crammed  down 
the  meat,  and  finished  by  pouring  in  the  wine.'  We 
are  not  surprised  to  hear  that  after  the  last  dose  the 
crocodile  'jumped  into  the  water  and  swam  away.' 
Brehm  saw  what  Herodotus  did  not  see,  the  manners 
and  customs  of  the  crocodiles  on  the  White  Nile  at  the 
time  when  the  river-bed  becomes  the  resort  of  the 
greater  part  of  the  bird  population  of  that  portion  of 
the  Soudan.  This  occurs  at  low  Nile,  when  the  water- 
supply  elsewhere  disappears,  and  the  sandbanks  are 
the  nightly  resting-place  of  millions  of  cranes,  storks, 
ibises,  pelicans  and  geese.  In  the  evening  these  sand- 


CROCODILES  247 

banks  are  white,  gray,  or  crimson,  from  the  solid  masses 
of  birds,  the  most  brilliant  of  which  are  the  tantalus 
ibises.  By  night  these  feathered  crowds  are  constantly 
'rushed'  by  the  crocodiles,  which  during  this  season 
live  more  on  fowls  than  on  fish.  The  incredible  number 
of  the  birds  is  maintained  from  two  sources  :  part  are 
recruited  by  the  migrants  from  Europe  and  Asia  ;  part 
are  native  birds  which  have  reared  their  young  earlier, 
and  bring  them  to  the  river  when  the  African  Steppe  is 
too  parched  to  yield  food.  Among  these  native  birds  is 
the  '  zic-zac,'  which  Herodotus  called  the  trochilus. 
Now,  as  then,  it  is  the  constant  attendant  of  the 
crocodile,  and  spends  its  whole  life  on  the  sandbanks, 
which  these  monsters  also  haunt.  Brehm  not  only 
watched  it  feeding  round  the  crocodiles,  and  even 
prying  into  their  open  jaws — as  these  creatures  commonly 
sleep  with  their  mouth  open  and  the  lower  jaw  dropped 
— but  also  noted  their  extreme  cunning  in  other  respects. 
At  the  season  of  low  Nile  the  crocodile  bird  is  more 
constant  to  the  sandbanks  even  than  the  crocodiles 
themselves.  The  latter  only  use  them  to  bask  on  by 
day  ;  the  birds  sleep  there  and  lay  their  eggs  on  the 
sand.  Brehm,  though  certain  that  they  were  nesting, 
could  not  succeed  in  finding  their  eggs.  One  day  he 
saw  a  bird  give  two  or  three  scratches  with  its  feet  before 
it  flew  off  the  bank.  He  swept  away  the  sand  and  found 
that  underneath  it  were  the  eggs.  The  crocodile  bird, 


248  CROCODILES 

like  the  crocodile,  buries  its  eggs,  though  it  takes  the 
trouble  to  hatch  them  itself. 

Crocodiles  are  now  credited  with  one  virtue — the 
only  one  ever  ascribed  to  them.  Some  species  make  a 
nest,  and  others  are  very  jealous  and  bold  in  defending 
their  eggs.  The  nest-making  crocodile  is  the  estuary 
species  (C.  porosus\  '  the  man-eating  crocodile  par 
excellence  of  the  East,'  according  to  Mr.  H.  P.  Carter. 
It  makes  a  mound  of  river  vegetation,  and  leaves  this  to 
hatch  the  eggs  when  the  mass  ferments,  on  the  plan 
adopted  by  the  mound-making  birds  of  Australia. 
Near  this  nest  it  keeps  watch,  much  after  the  manner  of 
a  cock  swan.  It  is  on  record  that  this  is  one  of  the 
very  few  nests  which  the  native  boy  respects,  without 
any  deterrent  local  opinion.  But  the  *  mugger  '  is  also 
a  careful  parent  while  its  eggs  are  hatching.  Mr. 
Stewart  notes  that  the  female  *  mugger  '  always  watches 
by  its  eggs,  and  drives  off  not  only  human  beings,  but 
dogs  and  crows  that  approach  the  place  where  they  are 
hidden  in  the  sand.  The  discovery  that  *  crocodile 
skin  '  makes  the  most  beautiful  natural  leather  in  the 
world  was  due  to  accident.  Sportsmen  who  had  killed 
specimens  and  wished  to  bring  home  the  horn-plated 
hides  as  trophies,  had  the  whole  skin  tanned.  This 
included  not  only  the  plated  portion,  but  the  sides,  neck 
and  belly  of  the  creature.  The  handsome  markings 
and  '  grain '  of  the  skin,  and  the  fine  tone  taken  by  the 


CROCODILES 


249 


leather,  were  remarked.  Before  long  bags  of  crocodile- 
hide  were  made  in  New  York  for  visitors  who  had 
brought  the  leather  from  Florida.  It  then  became 
fashionable  for  the  most  luxurious  form  of  bag,  dressing- 
case,  and  leather  trinkets  ;  and  though  it  is  less  durable 
than  pigskin,  being  liable  to  split  where  the  deeper 
markings  cross,  it  remains  the  most  popular  material  for 
this  kind  of  article  de  luxe.  Most  of  this  leather  is 
alligator  skin,  not  crocodile,  and  the  main  supply  comes 
from  the  swamps  and  rivers  of  Florida.  In  this 
exquisite  climate,  and  among  the  quays,  streams,  coral 
reefs  and  lakes  of  the  peninsula,  the  life  of  birds  and 
fish  seems  almost  at  its  maximum  intensity.  But 
wonderful  as  are  the  swarms  of  sea-birds — pelicans, 
cormorants  and  herons — the  fish  population  is  even 
more  extraordinary,  because  not  only  the  numbers,  but 
the  size  of  the  species  is  incredibly  augmented  by  the 
vast  supply  of  food.  There  the  herring  is  represented 
by  the  gigantic  tarpon,  five  feet  long  ;  and  sharks, 
monstrous  barracoutas,  giant  turtles  and  other  maritime 
monsters  swarm  in  the  warm  rivers  and  salt  lagoons. 
There  the  alligators,  fed  on  this  bountiful  fare,  swarm 
also ;  and  great  as  is  the  demand  for  their  skins, 
alligator-shooting  by  night  still  yields  a  plentiful  supply, 
and  affords  a  novel,  if  rather  tame,  sport.  Each  shooter 
fastens  a  dark  lantern  to  his  cap,  and  thus  equipped  sits 
in  the  bows  of  a  canoe,  and  like  some  luciferous  monster 


250  CROCODILES 

of  the  deep  seas,  shoots  the  beams  ahead  across  the 
swamps.  Soon  he  sees  round  the  fringe  of  the  lake 
numbers  of  pairs  of  twinkling  lights — alligators'  eyes 
reflecting  the  beams  of  his  lantern.  Mr.  A.  C.  Harms- 
worth,  who  describes  this  sport  in  '  The  Encyclopaedia 
of  Sport,'  dwells  with  much  enthusiasm  on  these  scenes 
by  night  on  the  Florida  lakes.  The  largest  alligators 
are  known  by  the  width  between  the  shining  orbs,  which 
are  all  that  is  visible  of  their  bodies.  When  shot,  they 
are  at  once  gaffed,  and  the  skins  are  kept  by  the  shooters 
and  sent  to  be  tanned  for  further  use.  They  are  then 
a  far  more  durable  and  more  useful  trophy  than  most  skins 
and  hides  of  big  game,  for  there  are  few  rooms  in  which 
chairs  and  other  furniture  covered  with  soft-tanned 
crocodile  skin  are  not  ornamental.  On  the  Nile  croco- 
diles are  not  found  below  the  second  cataract ;  but  Sir 
Samuel  Baker  constantly  lost  men,  when  in  command  of 
the  Khedival  troops  on  their  way  to  Gondokoro,  from 
the  attacks  of  these  creatures.  They  not  only  dragged 
their  victims  from  the  sterns  of  the  boats,  but  came  up 
into  the  shallows  in  the  evening,  like  pike,  and  caught 
his  soldiers  when  bathing  and  fetching  water,  even  in 
the  docks  where  his  steamers  lay.  Neither  on  the  Nile 
nor  in  India  has  the  trade  in  c  crocodile  skin '  become 
a  popular  industry.  When  the  supply  fails  in  Florida, 
we  may  hope  that  these  pests  of  tropical  rivers  will  be 
thinned  off.  They  have  survived  too  long  already. 


XXXIV.— MARSUPIALS  AND  THEIR  SKINS 

PRESENT  prices  will  certainly  not  alter  the  English 
feeling  that  the  wearing  of  fur  is  a  luxury,  and  a  most 
expensive  one.  A  series  of  very  severe  winters  might 
force  us  to  change  this  view,  because  it  would  become 
evident  that  to  preserve  health  fur  must  be  worn  by 
men  as  well  as  by  women,  and  we  should  discover,  as 
everyone  in  Northern  Europe  discovered  long  ago,  that 
the  greater  number  of  furs  are  not  dear,  but  cheap, 
and  that  these  cheap  furs  come  into  the  market  by 
millions  at  a  time.  This  applies  to  the  skins  of  the 
musquash,  gray  squirrel,  and  hamster,  besides  which 
the  sheepskins  and  lambskins  which  our  nation  never 
has  worn,  and  probably  never  will  consent  to  wear, 
except  in  the  far  less  warm  manufactured  form,  number 
as  many  millions  more.  But  far  the  greatest  number 
of  fur-bearing  animals  killed,  though  their  skins  are 
not  all  brought  to  market,  are  the  marsupials — the 
opossums,  wombats,  kangaroos,  and  wallabies  (smaller 
kangaroos)  of  the  Australian  continent.  This  ought 

251 


252  MARSUPIALS  AND  THEIR  SKINS 

to  be  the  great  reserve  of  good  and  cheap  fur.  Yet 
it  is  among  these  creatures  that  the  greatest  waste  of 
fur-bearing  animals  occurs. 

Opossum -skin  rugs  are  familiar  objects  in  this 
country,  but  the  skins  of  the  larger  marsupials  are 
rarely  seen  or  used.  Yet  in  many  parts  of  Australia 
they  are  now  exterminated,  partly  that  their  hides  may 
be  used  for  leather,  partly  to  preserve  the  grass  they 
eat  as  food  for  sheep.  It  is  said  that  ninepence  per 
scalp  was  paid  by  Government  for  each  one  shot.  The 
large  kangaroos  and  many  kinds  of  wallaby  have  a 
coat  so  close  and  soft  that  it  will  lie  in  any  direction, 
like  plush.  It  consists  almost  entirely  of  *  under-fur,' 
and  the  natural  tints  are  very  beautiful — some  French 
gray,  others  warm  red,  with  tints  of  orange  and  rose 
colour,  others  like  rough  beaver  or  nutria  skin.  The 
common  '  opossum '  of  Australia  has  a  far  less  compact, 
though  deeper  fur,  which  often  comes  off  when  much 
worn  ;  and  though  the  dark  Tasmanian  variety  has  a 
splendid  tint,  its  looseness  and  depth  cause  it  to  harbour 
dust,  and  make  it  difficult  to  clean.  Nevertheless,  the 
yearly  *  catch '  of  opossums  beats  that  of  any  other 
fur  animal.  It  is  conducted  without  sense  or  modera- 
tion ;  for  the  creatures  are  constantly  killed  in  the 
summer,  and  the  skins,  then  almost  worthless,  are 
shipped  to  England.  The  wombats,  or  '  native  bears/ 
are  also  killed  off  for  the  sake  of  their  fur,  which  is 


MARSUPIALS  AND  THEIR  SKINS  253 

used    in   considerable   quantities    in   this   country   for 
making  hearthrugs. 

But  the  whole  race  and  nation  of  kangaroos, 
wallaroos,  and  wallabies  are  being  destroyed  without 
any  use  being  made  of  their  fur  at  all.  In  Australia 
a  wallaby  rug,  almost  as  fine  as  beaver  skin,  can  be 
bought  for  two  pounds.  In  England  we  make  them 
into  shoe-leather.  The  demand  for  this  alone  threatens 
to  exterminate  most  of  the  species,  just  as  in  time  the 
new  material,  'electric  sealskin'— made  from  rabbit-fur 
— may  kill  off  the  plague  of  Australian  rabbits.  But 
in  that  case  we  shall  have  the  fur  in  the  form  of 
*  electric  seal '  as  a  memorial.  The  growing  scarcity 
of  the  4  great  original '  of  all  kangaroos  was  shown  in 
a  practical  manner  three  years  ago,  when  the  '  boxing 
kangaroo '  was  in  the  height  of  his  fame.  This 
animal  was  said  to  have  earned  twenty  thousand  pounds 
in  twelve  months  ;  and  whether  this  sum  was  correctly 
stated  or  not,  it  was  admitted  at  the  Royal  Aquarium 
that  he  had  made  more  money  than  any  other  animal 
— more,  even,  than  the  most  celebrated  racehorses  had 
earned,  whether  in  training  or  after.  Now,  though 
this  particular  '  old  man '  kangaroo  boxed  every  day 
with  a  regularity  and  apparent  zeal  which  would  not 
have  discredited  a  human  professional,  the  secret  of  this 
performance  lay  not  in  any  special  teaching  of  the 
animal,  but  in  the  cleverness  by  which  his  owner  had 


254  MARSUPIALS  AND  THEIR  SKINS 

noted  that  a  tame  kangaroo,  when  not  afraid  of  his 
owner,  always  '  boxes '  if  he  is  sparred  with,  putting 
up  his  short  fore-arms  and  paws  directly  the  man's 
hands  approach  his  nose,  and  retaliating  by  blows  like 
those  which  a  rabbit  gives  with  its  fore-feet.  One  of 
the  wallabies  at  the  Zoo  does  exactly  the  same,  and 
even  punches  its  keeper  in  the  back  if  after  a  round 
or  two  he  turns  to  leave  the  cage.  A  small  fortune 
was  waiting  for  anyone  who  could  get  a  good  large 
'  boomer '  kangaroo,  reasonably  tame,  in  time  to  set 
him  boxing  before  the  novelty  wore  out.  But  though 
the  great  gray  kangaroo  was  quite  cheap  and  common 
in  menageries  twenty  years  ago,  it  was  discovered  that 
the  visible  supply  in  Europe  had  dwindled  almost 
to  nothing.  The  dealers  could  count  the  available 
specimens  on  the  fingers  of  one  hand,  and  as  these 
were  in  the  gardens  of  learned  societies,  they  were  not 
for  sale.  The  price  rose  from  the  nominal  one  of 
twelve  pounds  to  sixty  pounds.  The  Dublin  Zoo  were 
offered  eighty  pounds  for  one  which  they  had  bought 
for  forty  pounds,  and  refused  the  double  price.  The 
few  specimens  in  the  Continental  zoological  gardens 
were  bought  early  by  speculative  showmen,  and  resold 
at  huge  profits  ;  and  a  syndicate  which  was  formed 
later  to  exhibit  a  boxing  kangaroo  in  Paris  at  an 
engagement  of  three  hundred  pounds  a  week  had  to  be 
broken  up  because  not  one  could  be  obtained.  Every 


MARSUPIALS  AND  THEIR  SKINS  255 

kangaroo  in  Europe  outside  the  Zoological  Gardens 
was  boxing  nightly.  By  the  time  some  fresh  specimens 
had  been  obtained  in  Australia  and  shipped  to  England 
the  excitement  had  subsided.  But  the  female  *  boomer ' 
still  costs  from  forty  to  fifty  pounds — rather  a  high 
price  for  a  creature  which  was  recently  being  killed  off 
as  a  troublesome  species  of  vermin. 

Our  climate  suits  both  the  great  gray  kangaroo  and 
the  much  scarcer  great  red  kangaroo,  and  these,  with 
many  of  the  smaller  species,  are  bred  in  the  Zoological 
Gardens,  and  are  readily  acclimatized.  The  kangaroos, 
large  and  small,  have  something  of  the  adaptability  of 
rabbits,  and  are  at  home  in  most  conditions  of  soil  and 
weather.  They  are  found  from  the  burning  plains  to 
the  tops  of  the  rocky  ranges  of  the  interior,  and  from 
the  snowy  tops  of  Mount  Wellington,  in  Tasmania, 
to  the  forests  in  the  lowest  valleys.  Damp  does  not 
seem  to  hurt  them,  yet  they  will  bask  for  hours  in  the 
hottest  sun,  lying  exposed  upon  the  rocks.  As  early 
as  1863  John  Gould  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  they 
would  'doubtless  readily  become  acclimatized  in  this 
country/  Recently  many  large  proprietors  have  taken 
a  fancy  to  them,  and  stocked  their  parks.  Sir  E.  G. 
Loder  has  introduced  the  great  kangaroo  and  two  species 
of  wallaby  into  his  park  at  Horsham  ;  Mr.  Naylor 
Leyland  has  a  number  at  Haggerston  Castle,  in  North- 
umberland ;  and  those  kept  by  Lord  Rothschild  at 


256  MARSUPIALS  AND  THEIR  SKINS 


Tring  have  become  common  objects  of  the  district. 
At  large,  when  feeding  or  lying  on  their  sides  in  all 
kinds  of  graceful  poses,  with  their  '  hands '  drooping 
languidly,  and  their  large  watchful  eyes  turned  in  the 
direction  of  their  visitor,  they  are  almost  as  pretty  as 
deer,  and  the  beauty  of  their  fur  is  far  greater  than 
that  of  most  of  the  cervid^e.  This  may  be  seen  even 
at  the  Zoo,  where  they  are  kept  in  very  small  runs, 
which  give  them  no  adequate  room  for  exercise,  and 
hinder  the  proper  development  of  their  fur.  In  the 
great  red  kangaroo,  the  fur  of  the  male  (born  in  the 
Gardens)  is  deep,  soft,  and  woolly,  a  mixture  of  brick- 
red  and  gray.  On  the  throat  the  colour  heightens 
to  a  warm  rose  colour.  The  fur  of  the  female  is  a 
beautiful  French  gray,  and  both  tints  and  texture  are 
admirable  in  both.  Of  the  many  species  of  kangaroo 
and  wallaby  living  outside  the  tropical  belt  of  Australia, 
there  are  few  which,  if  killed  at  the  proper  season, 
would  not  supply  a  handsome,  warm,  and  durable 
lining-fur  for  coats  at  a  low  price.  Here,  however, 
kangaroo  skins  are  used  solely  for  leather,  japanned 
boots  being  largely  made  from  them,  and  the  fur  is 
scraped  off  and  mixed  with  other  *  oddments '  which 
form  material  for  felt.  Six  thousand  five  hundred  bales 
of  kangaroo  skins  were  recently  bought  for  this  purpose 
at  a  single  sale,  and  with  them  those  of  eighty-five 
thousand  wallabies  and  fifty-five  thousand  wombats,  or 


4* 

»  * 

MARSUPIALS  AND  THEIR  SKINS  257 

'  native  bears.'  At  another  sale  over  one  hundred 
thousand  wallaby  skins  and  seventy-three  thousand 
wombat  skins  were  offered,  the  former  being  only  half 
the  number  accumulated  for  the  corresponding  half  of 
the  year  before. 

To  point  out  that  the  marsupials  ought  to  have  a 
value  as  fur-bearing  animals  may  not  lead  to  any  less 
wholesale  destruction  than  goes  on  at  present.  There 
is  no  surer  way  to  diminish  the  quantity  of  any  natural 
product  than  to  create  a  demand  for  it  in  Europe.*  In 
the  early  days  they  were  killed  by  the  squatters  and 
not  even  skinned.  The  carcases  were  left  to  rot. 
Later,  they  have  been  slaughtered  partly  as  vermin, 
partly  for  the  sake  of  the  leather.  In  the  future,  it 
may  be  hoped  that  if  it  be  necessary  to  kill  them,  they 
will  be  hunted  when  the  fur  is  in  condition,  and  that 
the  stock  of  handsome,  warm,  and  inexpensive  fur  of 
the  larger  marsupials  will  find  a  place  among  the 
regular  winter  clothing  of  English  wearers. 

*  Two  thousand  kangaroo  tails  were  received  in  condition  to 
make  soup  of  by  a  London  firm  in  the  summer  of  1898,  and  sold 
so  well  that  a  fresh  consignment  was  ordered. 


XXXV.— WILD  BEASTS'  SKINS  IN 
COMMERCE 

THE  last  few  years  have  seen  a  marked  disappearance 
from  the  leather  industry  of  a  form  of  supply  which 
should  never  have  reached  the  dimensions  it  attained — 
the  hides  of  countless  wild  beasts.  No  one  grudges  to 
the  purposes  of  trade  the  hides  of  the  alligator  or  the 
shark,  still  less  those  of  domesticated  animals  or  of  big 
game  killed  for  food.  But  for  more  than  twenty  years 
there  have  come  to  the  markets  of  America  and  Europe 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  hides,  destined  for  the 
commonest  commercial  uses,  stripped  from  wild 
animals  which  have  been  killed  for  the  value  of  the 
hide  alone.  Whole  species  have  been  butchered  to  the 
last  individual  to  make  shoe-leather.  To  say  which 
country  has  been  the  greatest  offender  would  be 
difficult.  There  is  not  much  room  for  distinction 
between  the  *  skin-hunters '  of  North  America,  South 
Africa,  or  Australia.  But  in  the  former  country  at 

least,   the    State    Governments   are   adopting   vigorous 

258 


WILD  BEASTS'  SKINS  IN  COMMERCE       259 

measures  to  stop  this  repulsive  industry,  and  by 
limiting  the  number  of  deer  which  may  be  killed  by 
individuals,  prevent  such  destructive  waste  of  animal 
life.  We  wish  that  these  laws  could  be  extended  to  all 
British  Colonies  and  dependencies.  Wherever  big 
game  has  entirely  disappeared  from  districts  where  it 
formerly  abounded,  and  wherever  whole  species  have 
been  exterminated,  the  mischief  has  in  nearly  every  case 
been  done  not  to  procure  food,  but  solely  to  obtain  the 
creatures'  skins.  It  is  not  the  big-game  hunter,  or  the 
savage,  or  even  the  agriculturist,  who  destroys  the 
creatures,  but  the  '  skin-hunter.'  In  every  *  new 
country  '  this  wasteful  and  relentless  enemy  of  animal 
life  has  always  appeared  with  the  regularity  of  some 
recurring  plague,  and  made  it  his  business  to  destroy 
every  creature  larger  than  a  hare. 

The  advent  of  the  skin-hunter  takes  places  at  a 
particular  period  of  development  in  recent  settlements. 
He  is  never  among  the  early  pioneers,  but  is  a  kind  of 
parasite  in  half-occupied  territories,  often  intensely  dis- 
liked by  the  resident  squatters,  as  he  destroys  the 
game  on  which  they  partly  depend,  though  he  some- 
times succeeds  in  converting  these  to  his  own  evil  ways. 
In  South  Africa,  for  instance,  the  early  Boer  settlers, 
like  the  early  pioneers  of  North  America,  killed  the 
antelopes  for  meat,  and  used  their  skins  for  clothing. 
They  ate  the  venison,  and  from  the  hides  they  made 

17—2 


260        WILD  BEASTS'  SKINS  IN  COMMERCE 

suits  of  leather — '  shamoyed,'  not  tanned — supple,  soft, 
and  comfortable  garments,  well   suited  for  the   life  on 
the  veldt.     The  number  of  animals  killed  was  limited 
by  their  own  personal  needs  and  those  of  their  families. 
About    1850   the    Boers   learnt    that   the    myriads    of 
antelope,  quagga  and  zebra  which  wandered  over  the 
plains  had  a  marketable  value  other  than  as  food  or 
supplying    leather    hunting-shirts.       The    skin-hunters 
taught  them  that   though  the  bodies  of  the  creatures 
might  be  left  to  rot  on  the  veldt,  the  hides,  not  tanned 
or  dressed,  but   merely  stripped  from  the   body,  were 
marketable,    to    supply    the     European    demand    for 
leather.      The   country   was    just    sufficiently    opened 
up  to  have  arrived  at  the  stage  at  which  the  business 
of  the   skin-hunter  pays.      Freight   is  high,   but  not 
too  high,  and  though   hides   of  countless    cattle   and 
sheep  may  be   had  for    little   enough   in   the   settled 
districts,  the  skins  of  the  wild  animals  cost  nothing 
at  all,  except  the  value  of  powder  and  shot.     Even 
this  was  economized  in   South  Africa.      '  The  Boers 
of  the  pastoral  Republic  became  perfect  adepts  at  skin- 
hunting,'    writes    Mr.    Bryden.      *  They   put   in  just 
sufficient  powder  to  drive  the  missile  home,  and  care- 
fully cut  out  their  bullets  for  use  on  future  occasions. 
So   lately  as    1876,    when    I    first    wandered   in    Cape 
Colony,  I  well  remember  the  waggons  coming  down 
from  the  Free  State   and  Transvaal,  loaded  up  with 


WILD  BEASTS'  SKINS  IN  COMMERCE       261 

nothing  but  the  skins  of  blesbok,  wildebeest,  and 
springbok.  This  miserable  system  of  skin-hunting  has 
been,  and  still  is  where  any  game  remains,  pursued  in 
all  native  States  of  South  Africa.  Between  1850  and 
1875  it  is  certain  that  some  millions  of  these  animals 
must  have  been  destroyed  in  the  Transvaal  and  Orange 
Free  State/  The  slaughter  was  so  prodigious,  and  the 
variety  of  wild  animals  so  great,  in  these  wild  regions 
of  South  Africa,  that  the  result  made  a  sensible 
difference  in  the  leather  industry  of  Europe.  The 
markets  were  filled  with  skins  which,  when  tanned, 
gave  leather  of  a  quality  and  excellence  never  known 
before,  but  the  origin  of  which,  as  the  material  was 
still  sold  under  old  names,  purchasers  never  suspected. 
Hides  of  the  zebra  and  quagga  arrived  in  tens  of 
thousands  ;  and  good  as  horse-hide  is  for  the  uppers  of 
first-class  boots,  these  were  even  better.  Smart 
Englishmen  for  years  wore  boots  the  uppers  of  which 
were  made  of  zebra  and  quagga  skin,  or  from  the  hides 
of  elands,  oryx,  and  gemsbok  disguised  under  the 
names  of '  calf'  or  patent  leathers. 

These  South  African  game  skins  became  a  com- 
mercial article,  relied  upon  for  many  years  as  part  of 
the  regular  supply.  It  is  amusing  to  note  that 
quagga-skins  are  still  quoted  as  part  of  this,  the  fact 
being  that  the  last  of  the  quaggas  was  killed  years  ago 
to  fill  the  skin-hunter's  pocket.  In  Mashonaland  and 


262        WILD  BEASTS'  SKINS  IN  COMMERCE 

Central  Africa  the  trade  still  flourishes,  though  only 
the  poorest  of  the  Boers  follow  it,  and  they  have  to 
trek  north  of  the  Limpopo.  The  hides  of  the  larger 
bucks,  such  as  the  sable  antelope,  the  roan  antelope,  the 
hartebeest,  or  of  any  of  the  zebras,  are  worth  eight 
shillings  or  nine  shillings  each,  and  there  is  now  some- 
thing to  be  made  by  selling  heads  and  horns  as 
curiosities.  Leather  made  from  the  skins  of  these  big 
antelopes  is  still  in  common  use  in  high-class  boot- 
making.  No  one  knows  exactly  what  animal  may  not 
have  supplied  the  uppers  or  soles  of  his  foot-gear,  and 
the  possibilities  range  from  the  porpoise  and  the  Arctic 
hair-seal,  to  the  blesbok  or  the  koodoo.  Three  other 
African  animals'  skins  are  in  commercial  demand  for 
curiously  different  purposes.  The  giraffes,  as  everyone 
knows,  are  killed  so  that  their  skins  may  be  made  into 
sandals  for  natives  and  sjambok  whips  for  colonists. 
In  the  Soudan  they  are  also  killed  for  the  sake  of  their 
hides,  which  are  made  into  shields.  Many  of  the 
Dervish  shields  captured  during  their  attempt  to  invade 
Egypt  under  the  Emir  Njumi  were  made  of  this 
material.  The  elephant  and  rhinoceros  skins  go  to 
Sheffield.  There  they  are  used  to  face  the  wheels  used 
in  polishing  steel  cutlery.  No  other  material  is  equally 
satisfactory,  and  it  would  be  most  difficult  to  find 
a  substitute.  The  rhinoceros-skin  used  was  formerly 
that  of  the  white  rhinoceros.  Now  that  this  species  is 


WILD  BEASTS'  SKINS  IN  COMMERCE       263 

extinct,  the  black  rhinoceros  of  Central  Africa  is  killed 
for  the  purpose.  Much  of  this  immensely  thick  skin, 
which  is  not  tanned,  but  used  in  the  raw  state,  never 
leaves  Africa.  It  is  in  great  demand  for  making  the 
round  shields  used  by  the  Arabs  and  Abyssinians.  A 
black  rhinoceros's  hide  yields  eight  large  squares,  each 
of  which  will  make  a  round  shield  two  feet  in  diameter, 
and  each  of  these  squares,  even  in  the  Soudan,  is  worth 
two  dollars.  The  skin  when  scraped  and  polished  is 
semi-transparent,  like  hard  gelatine,  and  takes  a  high 
polish.  Giraffe-skin  is  even  more  valued  as  material 
for  shields,  as  it  is  equally  hard  and  lighter.  Thus, 
while  the  South  African  giraffes  are  killed  off  to  supply 
whips,  those  of  North  Central  Africa  are  hunted  to 
provide  the  Mahdi's  Arabs  with  shields. 

In  North  America  skin-hunting  is  a  business  entirely 
apart  from  that  of  the  trapper,  who  only  seeks  furs. 
It  destroyed  the  bison,  and  would  now  exterminate  the 
deer,  were  it  not  that  the  Government  has  checked  the 
trade  by  stringent  laws  enforcing  a  close  time.  It  was 
for  their  hides  or  '  robes '  that  the  buffalo  herds  were 
destroyed — not  for  their  meat.  This  was  perhaps  the 
most  notable  achievement  in  all  the  history  of  this 
wasteful  and  selfish  trade.  In  1869  the  Union  Pacific 
Railway  was  completed,  and  divided  the  bison  into  two 
great  hordes.  Between  1872  and  1874  the  southern 
horde  was  practically  exterminated  by  the  skin-hunters. 


264        WILD  BEASTS'  SKINS  IN  COMMERCE 

In  summer  the  hides  were  stripped  for  leather,  while 
those  taken  in  winter  were  sold  to  be  dressed  for 
buffalo  robes.  The  leather  was  no  better  than  that  of 
ordinary  cattle.  The  *  robes  '  had  a  considerable  value 
as  winter  wraps.  The  deer  were  less  easily  killed  off, 
but  for  years  an  enormous  trade  was  done  in  American 
deer-skins.  These  were  mainly  those  of  the  black- 
tailed  deer.  The  skin-hunter  on  his  trained  pony  went 
out  into  the  spruce-forests  of  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
killed  his  five  or  six  deer  every  day,  skinned  them,  and 
leaving  the  carcases  to  rot,  took  the  hides  back  to  his 
camp.  When  one  district  was  *  shot  out '  he  moved  on 
to  another,  and  having  secured  as  many  skins  as  his 
pack-horses  could  carry,  took  them  to  the  nearest  point 
on  the  railway,  and  sent  them  to  New  York.  Side  by 
side  with  the  illicit  skin-hunting,  and  its  resultant  trade 
in  skins  for  tanning,  there  is  a  genuine  demand  in 
Canada  for  deer-skins  for  garments.  Its  main  use  is 
for  leggings  and  moccasins  to  be  worn  with  snow-shoes, 
or  without  snow-shoes,  in  winter.  These  moccasins  are 
sold  in  great  numbers,  and  nothing  quite  so  comfort- 
able has  yet  been  devised  as  foot-gear  in  the  dry 
Canadian  snows.  Their  softness  prevents  the  straps  of 
the  snow-shoes  from  galling  the  feet,  and  the  leather 
is  both  porous  and  warm.  It  is  not  tanned  but 
'  shamoyed,'  the  process  which  all  races,  civilized  or 
savage,  use  when  preparing  wild  beasts'  skins  for  use  as 


WILD  BEASTS'  SKINS  IN  COMMERCE       265 

clothes  other  than  boots.  But  the  finest  of  all  these 
soft  leathers  are  the  deer-skins  used  for  gloves. 
Nothing  is  quite  equal  to  this  material  for  the  purpose, 
and  when  genuine,  it  is  the  most  expensive  of  any. 
Reindeer  skin,  fallow  deer  skin,  and  that  of  the  fawns 
of  many  of  the  American  species  are  used.  *  Elk ' 
gloves  are  not  deer-skin  at  all,  but  an  imitation. 
Much  of  the  deer-skin  is  made  into  '  white  leather/  in 
the  same  way  that  parchment,  sheep-skin,  and  vellum 
are  prepared  for  special  purposes.  The  white  buck- 
skin is  used  for  leather  breeches  and  military  gloves,  all 
military  tailoring  being  of  the  most  expensive  material. 
Camel-skin,  which  used  to  be  the  favourite  material  for 
covering  the  trunks  used  in  Indian  travel  sixty  years 
ago,  is  now  never  employed  for  this  purpose.  Block- 
tin  boxes  are  found  more  durable  for  all  climates,  but 
the  old  trunks  may  still  be  seen  in  Anglo-Indian 
houses,  and  the  skin  is  often  sound,  though  the  wooden 
frame  has  decayed.  The  skins  of  large  snakes  are  im- 
ported for  making  trinkets,  while  those  of  sharks  are 
valuable  to  cover  the  *  grips  '  of  sword-hilts.  Even  the 
cobra's  skin  is  an  article  of  commerce,  being  used  by 
the  Chinese  to  cover  their  one-stringed  fiddles. 


XXXVL— EAGLES  ON  AN  ENGLISH  LAKE 

NOT  the  least  interesting  result  of  the  last  century  of 
man's  relations  with  wild  animals  in  England  is  the 
survival  of  the  large  raptorial  birds,  and  of  a  great  pro- 
portion of  our  English  mammals. 

The  attraction  which  preserved  areas  of  water  have 
not  only  for  wild  fowl,  but  for  much  rarer  and  larger 
birds,  is  scarcely  realized  by  most  proprietors.  Yet 
there  are  some  lake  sanctuaries,  even  in  England  south 
of  the  Trent,  which  tempt  not  only  the  passing  osprey, 
but  such  birds  as  the  sea  eagle  and  the  peregrine  falcon, 
to  linger,  the  former  for  many  months,  and  the  latter 
often  throughout  the  year,  by  their  well-stocked  waters. 
It  is  precisely  those  lakes  which  are  kept  most  quiet 
and  are  least  often  seen  by  the  public  which  are  thus 
honoured  by  these  interesting  and  exclusive  visitors. 
Nor  is  it  necessary  to  state  here  the  exact  site  of  these 
sanctuaries.  But  the  following  facts  may  be  of  interest 
to  those  who  desire  to  see  the  stock  of  indigenous  birds 

increased  by  others  of  marked  beauty  and  interest. 

266 


EAGLES  ON  AN  ENGLISH  LAKE  267 

One  famous  lake  near  our  East  Coast  has  been 
haunted  by  sea  eagles  since  the  year  1860.  During  the 
last  twenty-five  years  it  is  believed  that  the  eagles  have 
paid  more  than  fourteen  visits  to  these  waters,  and 
remained  not  for  a  day  or  two,  but  for  weeks  and 
months.  Their  appearance  is  so  well  known  in  that 
neighbourhood  that  it  has  become  part  of  the  folk-lore 
of  the  district.  Contrary  to  ancient  belief,  the  eagles' 
visits  are  held  to  be  unlucky,  and  facts  are  quoted  to 
prove  it.  Omens  from  birds  are  proverbially  ambiguous 
and  uncertain,  but  the  existence  of  this  belief  is  itself 
evidence  of  the  frequency  and  permanence  of  these 
eagle  visits.  On  one  occasion  two  eagles  remained  from 
the  autumn  to  the  early  months  of  the  following  spring. 
They  were  frequently  seen  soaring  high  over  the 
mansion,  and  it  was  noticed  that  one  was  smaller  than 
the  other.  Generally  the  eagles  come  singly.  The 
time  of  their  arrival  is  usually  in  October,  and  their 
stay  is  commonly  protracted  until  after  Christmas. 
The  birds  are  always  of  the  white-tailed  species,  not 
golden  eagles.  But  as  the  former  are  quite  as  large  as 
the  latter,  the  source  from  which  such  a  voracious  and 
formidable  creature  finds  a  living  easily  enough  to  keep 
it  for  months  near  an  English  country  house  is  not  at 
first  obvious.  The  character  of  the  lake  explains  this 
in  part.  It  is  situated  in  a  very  large  park  of  more 
than  three  thousand  acres,  some  of  which  is  cultivated, 


268  EAGLES  ON  AN  ENGLISH  LAKE 

enclosed  by  a  wall  nine  miles  round.  The  lake  is  at 
the  edge  of  this  park,  about  a  mile  from  the  sea  ;  but 
the  intervening  marshes  are  strictly  preserved,  and  the 
owner  never  allows  the  eagles  to  be  shot,  in  spite  of 
their  raids  on  his  game  and  wild- fowl.  The  park  and 
the  lake  itself  supply  the  sea  eagles  with  game  in  such 
abundance  that  they  are  not  tempted  to  roam. 

The  main  food-supply  of  the  birds  is  derived  from 
the  hares  which  swarm  in  this  enclosed  park.  The 
area  is  large  enough  for  a  good  estate  in  itself,  and  is 
heavily  stocked  with  all  kinds  of  game.  It  is  said  to 
be  quite  dangerous  to  ride  a  bicycle  by  night  through 
the  park,  as  the  hares  will  hop  up  when  they  see  the 
light,  and  sit  on  the  roads,  and  have  caused  more  than 
one  bad  spill  by  being  run  over.  At  daybreak  the 
eagle  leaves  the  tree  in  which  he  roosts  near  the  lake, 
and  rushes  down  on  some  unlucky  hare.  One  was 
disturbed  just  after  he  had  caught  his  hare.  It  was 
already  dead,  with  its  eyes  picked  out.  The  eagles 
usually  eat  the  head  first,  then  the  body,  bones  and  all, 
and  leave  nothing  but  the  skin.  They  do  attack  other 
game,  as  one  was  seen  in  full  chase  after  a  partridge. 
But  the  hares  form  the  mainstay  of  their  food-supply. 
This  is  supplemented  by  two  contributions  from  the 
lake  itself.  For  many  years  this  piece  of  water  has 
been  kept  as  a  sanctuary,  though  shooting  on  a  large 
scale  goes  on  in  the  adjacent  covers  in  the  park.  From 


EAGLES  ON  AN  ENGLISH  LAKE  269 

October  until  March  it  swarms  with  wild  ducks.    Some- 
times not  less  than  two  thousand  ducks  and  widgeon, 
with  other  species,  are  on  the  water.     There  is  also  a 
heronry,  and  a  large  flock  of  half-wild  Canada  geese. 
Gulls  also  come  here  in  numbers,  while  coots  and  water- 
hens  abound.     This  writer   has    not    met    among  the 
many  persons  who  have   watched  the  eagles  one  who 
has  seen  an  eagle  kill  a  wild  duck,  though  they  often 
*  harry '  the  flocks,  and  create  the  most  dismal  terror 
amongst  them.     But  the   remains  of  duck   are  often 
found  which  are  believed  to  have  been  killed  by  the 
eagles,  and  with  these  the  bodies  of  gulls.     It  is,  how- 
ever, very  possible  that  these  birds  are  killed  by  the 
peregrine    falcons,  of  which    we    say  something  later. 
Neither  do  they  attack  the  Canada  geese,  though  these 
large    and    conspicuous  birds   are    constantly  in  flight 
between  the  lake  and  some  adjacent  marshes,  and  must 
offer  a  good  mark  for  the  eagle's  swoop.     But  the  lake, 
besides  wild  fowl,  holds  a  great  quantity  of  fish,  among 
them  numbers  of  big  bream,  running  to  6  Ib.  or  7  Ib. 
in  weight.     These  big  bream  are  liable  to  sickness  in 
the  spring,  when  the  waters  '  break/  and  are  full  of 
weed,  and  float  up  to  the  top  of  the  water  lying  on 
their  sides.     They  then  form  a  favourite  dish  for  the 
sea  eagles,  which  flap  over  the  waters,  and,  dropping 
their  feet,  pick  up  the  fish  and  devour  them  on  the 
bank.     The  flight  of  the  eagles  is  peculiar.     As  they 


270  EAGLES  ON  AN  ENGLISH  LAKE 

hang  round  the  lake  all  day,  and  do  not  travel  any 
distance  from  the  waters,  they  spend  most  of  their  time 
sitting  in  some  big  tree  near  the  margin.  When  they 
take  a  flight,  they  look  like  enormous  owls  flapping 
across  the  park  on  some  misty  December  day.  If  one 
flies  down  the  centre  of  the  lake,  the  ducks  either  rise 
in  a  body  and  fly  out  to  sea,  or  take  a  short  flight,  and 
then,  as  the  eagle  overhauls  them,  drop  like  stones  on 
to  the  surface.  One  of  the  most  instantaneous  panics 
among  the  ducks  caused  by  an  eagle  was  one  bright 
winter  day,  when  the  surface  was  all  frozen,  except 
some  two  acres  at  the  lower  end,  where  about  a  thou- 
sand ducks  were  collected.  Suddenly  the  whole  mass 
of  ducks  rose  and  flew,  with  a  noise  like  an  explosion. 
The  disturber  was  an  eagle,  which  flew  suddenly  round 
a  wood  and  over  the  lake. 

Peregrine  falcons  seem  never  absent  from  this  lake, 
and  they  kill  and  eat  the  wild  ducks,  teal,  and  widgeon, 
which  are  possibly  too  quick  for  the  eagles.  Recently, 
in  April,  the  writer  was  watching  a  bunch  of  widgeon, 
with  a  few  teal,  flying  up  the  lake,  when  a  peregrine 
dashed  after  them,  overtook  them  in  a  second,  caught 
a  teal,  and  carried  it  for  some  twelve  yards,  and  then 
dropped  it.  The  teal  twisted  round,  flew  back  in  the 
opposite  direction,  and  then  dropped  on  the  water, 
evidently  unhurt.  This  was  only  the  falcon's  '  fun,' 
for  they  never  kill  a  bird  over  the  water,  though  when 


EA GLES  ON  AN  ENGLISH  LAKE  271 

a  duck  is  flying  over  the  park  it  is  cut  over  and  de- 
voured. The  sight  was  most  curious,  for  the  teal's 
head  was  bent  down,  while  that  of  the  falcon  was  thrown 
back  ;  the  falcon's  tail  was  also  bent  downwards  so  as 
to  be  nearly  vertical  ;  it  carried  the  teal  in  front  of  its 
body,  not  underneath  it.  *  Bustling  the  ducks  '  is  a 
regular  game  with  the  peregrines,  which  feed  early  in 
the  morning,  and  amuse  themselves  with  tormenting 
the  ducks  in  the  afternoon.  One  will  chase  a  flock  of 
mallards  up  the  lake,  then  another  dashes  out  to  meet 
them,  and  enjoys  the  sport  of  seeing  the  whole  flock 
drop  from  air  to  water.  This  is  a  very  exceptional 
sanctuary,  but  there  are  very  many  lakes  where  the 
same  degree  of  protection  might  be  rewarded  by  a 
similar  confidence  on  the  part  of  the  birds  ;  and  though 
the  eagles  and  falcons  frighten  the  ducks,  they  do  not 
drive  them  permanently  from  the  waters.  In  Norfolk 
the  white-tailed  eagles  were  formerly  common  visitors 
to  the  Broad  district,  where  they  were  known  as  *  fen 
eagles ' ;  probably  they  were  young  birds  passing  south  ; 
but  if  these  birds  were  less  persecuted  by  the  Scotch 
shepherds,  their  fidelity  to  this  English  lake  shows  that 
they  might  reappear  on  other  waters  of  the  East  and 
South.  Unfortunately,  while  the  golden  eagles  are  in- 
creasing in  the  deer  forests,  the  sea  eagles,  which  keep 
to  the  coast,  and  nest  mainly  near  the  sheep-farms,  are 
persecuted  and  killed  off  as  much  as  possible  by  the 


272  EA  GLES  ON  AN  ENGLISH  LAKE 

shepherds.  Even  poison  is  used  against  them,  as  they 
cause  some  loss  among  the  young  lambs.  Doubtless 
the  loss  is  not  exaggerated.  But  while  wealthy  and 
public-spirited  landowners  extend  a  welcome  to  the 
birds  in  England,  Highland  lairds  might  do  something 
to  preserve  them  in  their  breeding-places. 


XXXVII.— THE  GREAT  FOREST  EAGLE 

WITH  the  survival  of  the  white-tailed  eagle  in  our  own 
over-populated  islands,  we  may  contrast  the  discovery 
two  years  ago  of  the  largest  eagle  in  the  world  in  an 
island  which  has  almost  no  inhabitants  at  all.  Mr. 
John  Whitehead,  a  naturalist  who  has  devoted  much 
time  to  the  exploration  of  the  different  islands  of  the 
Philippine  group,  formed,  among  other  collections  of 
birds  made  in  this  region,  a  series  of  those  inhabiting  the 
island  of  Samar.  This  collection  was  lost  at  sea  near 
Singapore,  and  in  order  to  replace  it  and  restore  the 
lost  link  in  his  chain  of  examples  of  *  island  life '  in  this 
little-known  region,  he  once  more  set  out  from  Manilla 
in  1896  and  established  himself  again  in  the  woods  of 
Samar.  In  doing  so  he  had  no  other  choice  than  to 
become  one  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  tropical  forest. 
Samar  is  all  forest,  and  there  was  no  more  escape  from 
it  than  there  is  from  the  desert  or  the  steppe  for  those 
who  elect  to  travel  in  Arabia  or  Central  Asia.  The 
great  tropical  forest  which  belts  the  world  is  very  much 

273  1 8 


274  THE  GREAT  FOREST  EAGLE 

the  same,  whether  in  Central  America,  or  the  Amazons, 
or  the  islands  of  the  Malay  Archipelago.  Its  peculi- 
arity from  the  human  point  of  view  is  that  life  goes  on 
on  two  levels.  There  is  an  upper  story  and  a  basement. 
The  basement  is  the  ground,  on  which  by  the  strict  law 
of  the  forest  no  creature  is  supposed  to  live  at  all, 
except  perhaps  the  few  species  of  forest  swine  which, 
with  various  differences  of  form,  haunt  the  great  forests 
in  America  and  the  Malay  Archipelago.  But  of  all 
ground-dwelling  creatures  which  venture  into  this 
'  crypt '  of  the  tropical  forest,  man  is  at  the  greatest 
disadvantage.  He  walks  beneath  a  roof  of  foliage  so 
lofty  that  he  can  scarcely  distinguish  the  forms  of  the 
branches  which  support  its  leaves,  supposing  that  there 
were  light  sufficient  to  use  his  sight  to  good  purpose. 
But  the  tops  of  the  giant  trees  are  so  dense  that  light 
scarcely  penetrates,  and  the  would-be  explorer  of  the 
forest,  and  discoverer  of  new  species  of  birds  and 
beasts,  finds  that  he  has  to  tread  the  mazes  of  a  temple 
of  twilight,  in  which  all  the  life,  light,  and  beauty  exist, 
not  below  and  within,  but  upon  the  roof.  On  the  side 
remote  from  earth  life  goes  on  gaily,  and  with  such 
completeness,  that  not  only  do  the  birds,  insects,  and 
monkeys  enjoy  a  world  of  their  own,  but  in  the  cups 
and  reservoirs  of  the  gigantic  flowers  and  creepers 
water-insects  and  molluscs  live  and  reproduce  them- 
selves without  ever  coming  in  contact  with  the  ground. 


THE  GREA  T  FOREST  EA  GLE  2  7  5 

In  the  island  of  Samar  this  impracticable  forest  is 
found  in  its  most  impracticable  form.  Life  there  is 
more  *  aloof  from  the  ground-level  than  in  any  other 
forest  region.  Mr.  Ogilvie  Grant  dwells  with  due 
emphasis  on  this  often  forgotten  '  aspect  of  Nature '  in 
these  regions.  He  points  out  that  the  greater  part  of 
the  island  is  covered  with  dense  and  lofty  forests,  many 
of  the  trees  being  over  two  hundred  and  forty  feet  high, 
while  there  are  no  hills  or  rocks  from  which  the  forest 
can  be  surveyed.  The  forest  animals,  monkeys,  lorises, 
and  the  like,  live  at  a  height  of  two  hundred  feet  from 
the  ground,  that  being  the  *  sunlight  level,'  below  which 
direct  light  and  heat  do  not  penetrate.  Invisible,  on 
the  top  of  this  region,  live  the  birds  of  the  tropical 
forest  ;  and  on  a  still  higher  aerial  plane,  also  invisible, 
float  the  raptorial  birds  which  prey  upon  them.  This 
'  tree-top '  plane  of  the  great  forest,  being  still  terra 
incognita ,  has  always  been  regarded  as  a  possible  region 
in  which  some  great  bird  or  ape  may  be  discovered  ; 
and  in  spite  of  accumulated  difficulties,  Mr.  Whitehead 
did  make  such  a  discovery.  He  has  found,  and  brought 
home  from  the  island,  the  largest  raptorial  bird  yet  dis- 
covered, the  great  forest  eagle  of  Samar. 

The  discovery  of  this  mighty  bird  of  prey  is  the 
more  creditable  to  the  explorer  because  only  one  pair 
of  the  giant  eagles  was  seen.  Their  haunt  was  watched 
daily,  and  at  last  the  male  bird  was  shot,  and  though  it 

18— 2 


276  THE  GREAT  FOREST  EAGLE 

remained  in  the  top  of  one  of  the  lofty  trees,  clinging 
firmly  with  its  huge  claws  to  the  branches,  a  native 
climbed  to  the  summit  and  brought  it  down.  Its 
weight  was  judged  by  Mr.  Whitehead  at  between 
sixteen  and  twenty  pounds,  and  being  then  weakened 
by  fever  he  could  scarcely  hold  it  out  at  arm's  length. 
Taking  the  mean  of  the  two  weights  mentioned  as 
probably  correct,  the  great  forest  eagle  weighs  exactly 
half  as  much  again  as  the  golden  eagle,  the  female  of 
which  weighs  twelve  pounds. 

The  skin  of  this  bird  is  now  preserved  at  the  Museum 
of  Natural  History  at  South  Kensington.  As  it  is  the 
only  adult  specimen  in  the  world  available  for  inspection 
by  naturalists,  it  is  not  exhibited  in  the  public  part  of 
the  collection,  and  though  the  coloured  plate  by  Keule- 
mans  which  illustrates  Mr.  Ogilvie  Grant's  paper  is  a 
model  of  accurate  drawing,  it  does  not  leave  the  im- 
pression of  size  given  by  the  skin  when  actually  seen 
and  handled.  The  length  of  the  eagle  and  the  huge 
size  of  its  beak  and  claws  are  the  features  most  striking 
in  the  specimen  at  South  Kensington.  Like  most  rap- 
torial birds  which  seek  their  prey  in  woods  or  forests, 
from  the  sparrow-hawk  upwards,  it  has  rather  short 
wings  in  proportion  to  its  great  bulk.  The  tail,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  very  long.  In  its  equipment  for  flight 
and  steering  it  is  much  like  an  enormous  goshawk. 
There  are  two  or  three  such  hawks,  as  large  as  many  of 


THE  GREAT  FOREST  EAGLE  277 

the  eagles,  half  goshawk,  half  buzzard,  which  have  been 
found  in  parts  of  the  tropical  forest,  though  for  the 
reasons  mentioned  above  they  are  very  rarely  seen,  and 
still  more  rarely  captured  for  collections.  But  in  its 
combined  armament  of  beak  and  claws  the  forest  eagle 
exceeds  not  only  all  these  great  hawks,  but  each  and 
every  one  of  the  other  eagles.  The  beak  is  not  larger 
than  that  of  Pallas's  sea  eagle,  and  the  power  of  the 
wrist  and  claws  is  not  so  great  as  that  of  the  harpy 
eagle.  But  the  combination  of  the  two  weapons  of 
offence  possessed  by  the  Samar  eagle  is  greater  than 
that  of  either  of  the  formidable  species  named.  The 
beak  is  so  hooked  that  the  outline  in  profile  is  the 
perfect  segment  of  a  circle,  the  exact  centre  of  which 
is  the  point  at  which  the  skin,  called  the  cere,  joins  the 
cutting  edge  of  the  upper  mandible.  Mr.  Grant  notes 
that  the  depth  of  the  bill  is  greater  than  that  of  any 
known  bird  of  prey,  except  Pallas's  sea  eagle,  and  it  is 
so  compressed  that  the  edges  must  cut  like  a  double- 
bladed  knife.  The  skull  is  very  large,  much  larger 
than  that  of  the  harpy  eagle,  and  the  claws  and  feet  are 
specially  adapted  for  holding  large  animals  with  close, 
thick  fur,  the  length  of  wrist  and  close  covering  of 
scales  giving  full  play  to  the  talons.  The  nature  of  the 
prey  against  which  this  exceptional  armament  is  directed 
is  still  matter  of  conjecture.  The  natives  say  that  the 
eagle  lives  mainly  by  killing  monkeys.  This  is  a  very 


278  THE  GREAT  FOREST  EAGLE 

probable  statement ;  there  is  some  evidence  from  the 
state  of  the  eagle's  skin  brought  to  Europe  that  it  takes 
its  prey  on  the  trees.  The  quills  of  several  of  the  wing 
and  tail  feathers  were  broken,  *  bearing  testimony  to 
many  a  savage  struggle  among  the  branches.'  The 
green  macaque  is  the  monkey  believed  by  the  people  of 
Samar  to  be  the  chief  prey  of  their  great  eagle.  But 
among  the  monkeys  of  these  islands  are  several  species 
of  singular  size  and  strength.  Even  if  the  great  apes  of 
Borneo  are  not  found  in  Samar,  there  are  probably  other 
species  of  the  monkey  tribe,  like  those  found  in  Java 
and  in  the  neighbouring  islands,  which  would  be  most 
dangerous  animals  for  any  bird  to  attack.  No  creatures 
are,  for  their  size,  so  full  of  unexpected  resources  when 
attacked  as  the  medium -sized  and  large  monkeys. 
Their  arms  and  hands  are  surprisingly  strong.  They 
can  leap  instantaneously  for  a  considerable  distance 
without  gathering  their  bodies  together  for  a  spring, 
and  their  power  of  biting  is  that  of  a  bulldog.  Against 
birds  they  have  the  power,  which  they  well  know  how 
to  use,  of  grasping  and  breaking  a  limb,  or  tearing  out 
the  wing  or  tail  feathers.  Their  habit  of  combining  to 
rescue  one  of  their  fellows  makes  them  still  more  for- 
midable to  animals  of  prey  ;  and,  with  the  exception  of 
the  leopard  and  the  python,  most  of  these  agree  to  let 
the  '  bandur-log  '  alone.  A  battle  between  the  great 
forest  eagles  and  the  great  forest  apes  must  be  one  of 


THE  GREAT  FOREST  EAGLE  279 

the  heroic  episodes  of  *  high  life  above  stairs '  in  the 
jungle,  and  it  may  be  hoped  that  when  the  pacification 
of  the  Philippines  renders  it  possible  for  Mr.  Whitehead 
to  revisit  the  islands,  he  may  bring  back  some  '  field- 
notes  '  on  the  daily  life  of  the  new  eagle.  It  is  charac- 
teristic of  the  difficulty  of  making  such  observations, 
that  though  he  never  saw  the  bird  on  the  neighbouring 
island  of  Leite,  he  often  heard  its  cry  above  the  tree- 
tops,  and  identified  it  by  his  experience  in  Samar.  It  is 
also  said  to  be  found  on  the  island  of  Luzon. 

Mr.  Ogilvie  Grant  conjectures  that  the  crowned  harpy 
eagle  of  tropical  America  is  the  nearest  known  ally  of 
the  great  forest  eagle  of  the  Philippines.  In  this  con- 
nection it  is  interesting  to  note  how  very  little  is  still 
known  of  this  other  forest  eagle.  Mr.  Salvin,  during 
several  years  spent  in  the  forests  of  Central  America, 
only  once  saw  a  harpy  eagle.  Oswald  in  his  *  Birds  of 
America '  gives  perhaps  the  fullest  account  of  its  habits. 
The  list  of  its  prey  shows  how  formidable  a  creature  it 
is,  and  enables  us  to  form  some  idea  of  the  prowess  of 
the  great  raptor  of  Samar.  In  Mexico  the  harpy  eagle 
*  kills  fawns,  sloths,  full-grown  foxes  and  badgers, 
middle-sized  pigs,  and  the  black  Sapa-jou  monkey, 
whose  weight  exceeds  its  own  by  more  than  three 
times/  This  last  feat  may  be  compared  with  the 
natives'  statement  that  the  Samar  eagle  also  lives  on 
monkeys. 


XXXVIII.— THE    PAST    AND    FUTURE    OF 
BRITISH  MAMMALS 

A  RECENT  number  of  the  Edinburgh  Review  contained 
an  interesting  essay  on  our  lost  and  vanishing  land 
mammals.  Omitting  the  seals,  whales  and  porpoises 
from  his  list,  the  writer  gave  a  careful  history  of  the 
4  last  days  '  of  the  bear,  the  wolf,  the  boar  and  the 
beaver  in  these  islands,  and  an  estimate  of  the  future  of 
the  wild  cat,  polecat,  marten,  otter  and  badger  if  the 
forces  which  have  made  for  their  extermination  are 
unchecked.  Of  the  lost  animals,  the  bears  were  the 
first  to  disappear.  They  were  so  numerous  that  in 
Roman  times  Scotch  bears  were  regularly  shipped  to 
Rome  for  use  in  the  arena.  One  wonders  who  were 
employed  to  catch  them,  but  the  urgent  requests  made 
to  Cicero  when  Governor  of  Cilicia  to  supply  his 
friends  in  Rome  with  '  panthers '  shows  that  this  was 
a  recognised  means  of  obliging  political  friends  at  a 
much  earlier  date.  The  writer  notes  that  the  town 
of  Norwich,  in  the  time  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  used 

280 


PAST  AND  FUTURE  OF  BRITISH  MAMMALS  281 

to  furnish  annually  one  bear  to  the  King  and  six  dogs 
to  bait  it  with,  and  Mr.  Lydekker  considers  that  these 
were  possibly  native-bred  animals.  The  story  of  the 
wolf  is  admirably  told.  Among  other  records  quoted 
is  one  that  all  the  deer  were  killed  by  wolves  in  Farley 
Park,  in  Worcestershire,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  II.; 
and  that  a  certain  Mr.  Jonathan  Grubb,  who  was  born 
in  1808,  informed  Mr.  Harting  in  a  letter  that  his 
grandmother  was  born  in  1731,  and  that  she  remem- 
bered her  uncle  telling  her  how,  in  County  Kildare,  his 
brother  came  home  on  horseback  pursued  by  a  pack  of 
wolves,  which  overtook  him  and  kept  leaping  on  to  the 
hindquarters  of  his  horse  until  he  reached  the  door. 
The  wild  boar  outlived  the  wolf  in  England.  There 
is  a  reference  to  wild  boars  in  Suffolk  in  the  house 
hold  accounts  kept  at  Hengrave  Hall,  in  Suffolk,  in 
the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  and  under  Elizabeth  they 
remained,  together  with  the  half- wild  cattle,  at  Earl 
Ferrers's  castle  at  Chartley  in  Staffordshire,  in  Needwood 
Forest.  We  may  add  that  in  Fleming's  translation  of 
Caius's  book  on  English  dogs,  written  for  Gesner,  it  is 
mentioned  that  the  ban-dog  is  '  serviceable  to  drive 
wilde  and  tame  swyne  out  of  medows,  pastures,  glebe- 
landes,  and  places  planted  with  fruit/  So  wild  boars 
were  plentiful  enough  to  do  mischief  in  the  middle  of 
the  sixteenth  century. 

Which    will    be    the    next    to   disappear?     If   any 


282  PAST  AND  FUTURE  OF  BRITISH  MAMMALS 

more    creatures   must   follow  the   bear  and   the  wolf, 
they  are  the  wild    cat,  with   the    marten  and   polecat 
following.     But  it  is  within  the  range  of  probabilities 
that  even  the  first  may  be  preserved  from  total  extinc- 
tion for  a  period  not  inconsiderable  in  the  history  of  our 
islands,  though  perhaps  not  appreciable  in  the  duration 
of  a  species.     That  martens  had  begun  to  die  out  in 
Ireland  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  is  evident  from  a  letter 
of  Lord  Strafford's  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
which  is  not  quoted  in  the  Edinburgh.     He  promises  to 
send  some  skins,  but  adds  :  '  The  truth  is,  that  as  the 
woods  decay,  so  do   the  hawkes  and  martens  of  this 
kingdom.     But  in  some  woods  I  have,  my  purpose  is, 
by  all  means  I  can,  to  set  up  a  breed  of  martens  ;  a 
good  one  of  these  is  as  much  worth  as  a  good  wether, 
yet  neither  eats  so  much  nor  costs  so  much  in  attend- 
ance.    But  then  the  pheasants  must  look  to  themselves.' 
Is  not  this  characteristic  of  Strafford's  modernness  and 
business  energy?     He  adds  that,  'standing  to  get  a 
shoot  at  a  buck,  I  was  so  damnably  bitten  by  midges,  as 
my   face    is    all    mezled   over   ever   since.7      As   the 
Edinburgh   Reviewer   has  exhibited   great  research  in 
tracing  the  physical  causes  which  have  contributed  in 
the  past  to  kill  off  our  larger  quadrupeds,  it  may  not  be 
out  of  place  to  recall  some  of  the  sentimental  reasons 
which  in  the  present  tend  to  prolong  the  existence  of 
the  survivors. 


PAST  AND  FUTURE  OF  BRITISH  MAMMALS  283 

First  among  these  is  public  feeling,  which  has  recently 
changed  in  regard  to  the  preservation  of  wild  animals,  as 
it  did  a  few  years  earlier  in  regard  to  the  preservation 
of  our  ancient  forests.     This  in  turn  aids   the  great 
proprietors  who,  both  in  England  and  Scotland,  protect 
rare  birds  and  beasts,  and  even  introduce  lost  species 
like  the  beaver.     Several  Highland  owners  now  protect 
their  wild  cats,  or  give  orders  that  they  shall  not  be 
destroyed  if  any  wander  to  their  demesnes.     The  same 
has  been  done  by  Irish  proprietors  in  the  case  of  the 
marten.     Neither  are  the  surviving  animals  behindhand 
in  taking  advantage  of  the  chances  given  them.     Most  of 
them  have  become  astonishingly  wary  and  vigilant  after 
centuries  of  persecution.     They  owe  their  survival  to 
this,  and,  when  matters  are  made  easier  for  them,  do  not 
relax  their  precautions.     The  writer  of  the  Edinburgh 
article  notes  that  '  even  now  very  little  is  known  of  the 
habits  of  our  mammals  in  a  wild  state.'     This  is  because 
they  have  nearly  all  become  intensely  nocturnal,  and 
their  senses  are  so  acute  that  no  one  can  watch  them 
closely.     The  badger's  power  of  hearing  is  astonishing. 
Tame  specimens  have  been  known  to  run  off  and  hide 
five  minutes   before   the    arrival    of  a  stranger  whose 
footfall  they  heard.      Foxes  which  are  artificially  pre- 
served during  part  of  the  year  become  fairly  tame  ;  but 
even  the  otters,  which  are  bold  and  playful  animals  at 
night,  are  quite  invisible  by  day.     Some  figures  from  the 


284  PAST  AND  FUTURE  OF  BRITISH  MAMMALS 

Sutherland  estates  show  how  numerous  some  of  our 
carnivora  were  sixty  years  ago.  In  three  years  from 
1831,  nine  hundred  and  one  wild  cats,  polecats  and 
martens  were  killed  on  the  Sutherland  estates.  Should 
the  present  Duke  of  Sutherland  decide  to  preserve  the 
two  first,  there  is  very  little  doubt  that  their  numbers 
would  recover  ;  and  in  the  deer  forests,  where  grouse 
and  hares  are  looked  upon  as  a  nuisance,  there  is  no 
reason  why  this  should  not  be  done.  Another  and 
more  hopeful  fact  in  the  present  state  of  our  wild 
animal  population  is  that  two  of  the  largest  are  far 
more  common  than  is  believed.  Otters  are  numerous, 
and  badgers  by  no  means  scarce.  Many  proprietors 
protect  the  badger  ;  others  have  reintroduced  it,  Sir 
Herbert  Maxwell,  in  Wigtownshire,  among  the  number. 
As  badgers  never  *  show/  this  is  a  public-spirited  action  ; 
but  there  is  no  adequate  reason  why  the  badger  should 
not  enjoy  the  benefit  of  a  few  years'  absolute  protection 
under  a  special  Act  of  Parliament.  It  deserves  this, 
because  the  badgers  are  now  purposely  killed  to  make 
pouches  for  the  Highlanders.  *  The  year  1842  was  a 
bad  one  for  the  poor  badgers,  owing  to  the  revival 
of  Highland  dress  after  the  Queen's  visit/  Those 
delightful  beasts,  the  otters,  are,  we  are  glad  to  say, 
increasingly  common  in  England  itself,  and  in  no 
danger  of  extermination.  On  little  streams,  where  they 
kill  trout,  they  are  killed  themselves.  But  by  most  of 


PAST  AND  FUTURE  OF  BRITISH  MAMMALS  285 

our  deep  rivers,  notably  the  Thames,  and  nearly  all  its 
tributaries,  the  Norfolk  Broads  and  rivers,  and  almost  all 
the  largest  streams  of  Southern  England,  they  are  quite 
common  and  increase.  Evidence  of  this  is  shown  by 
the  way  in  which  otters  have  recently  turned  up  in  all 
sorts  of  unexpected  places,  even  on  the  smallest  feeders 
of  Thames  tributary  streams,  and  on  ornamental  lakes 
remote  from  rivers.  Some  very  small  brooks  which 
rise  in  the  chalk  downs  and  run  into  the  little  river  Ock, 
which  in  turn  joins  the  Thames  at  Abingdon,  have 
lately  been  artificially  stocked  with  trout,  at  their  head- 
waters in  the  sides  of  the  hills.  On  two  adjacent 
streams  of  this  kind  otters  appeared,  and  made  havoc 
among  the  fish.  Fourteen  traps  were  set  along  a  chain 
of  pools  to  catch  one  of  the  invaders,  but  he  escaped 
them  all.  On  a  lake  in  a  very  waterless  district  of 
Essex,  far  from  any  considerable  stream,  otters  also 
appeared,  and  have  taken  up  their  abode.  They  kill 
numbers  of  large  carp,  and  by  the  skeletons  of  the  carp 
a  number  of  shells  of  fresh-water  mussels,  with  the 
ends  bitten  out,  are  generally  found.  The  otters  like 
mussel  -  sauce  with  their  fish,  but  will  also  eat  the 
mussels  alone.  On  the  whole  length  of  the  Thames 
itself,  from  Gloucestershire  to  Hampton  Court,  otters 
live  and  flourish,  hunting  only  at  night,  and  then 
entirely  concealed  by  the  deep  water.  The  skeletons  of 
the  fish  they  eat  are  the  index  of  their  presence. 


286  PAST  AND  FUTURE  OF  BRITISH  MAMMALS 

Failing  the  rivers,  there  is  another  favourite  haunt  of 
otters,  which  time  can  hardly  destroy.  This  is  among 
the  cliffs  on  the  sea  coast.  They  are  quite  at  home  in 
salt  water,  and  in  Devonshire  there  are  probably  quite 
as  many  sea  otters  as  river  otters. 

The  most  to  be  regretted  of  our  lost  animals  is  the 
beaver.  The  records  of  its  extinction  are  very  meagre, 
and  there  does  not  seem  any  reason  why  a  few  might 
not  have  survived  in  forest  areas,  such  as  the  Forest  of 
Dean,  or  those  of  Northern  Scotland,  to  a  later  date 
than  that  of  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  when  Giraldus 
Cambrensis  recorded  their  existence  on  the  river  Teifi. 
Beavers  lived  on  the  river  Kennet,  near  Newbury,  for  a 
beaver's  jaw  was  found  there  in  the  peat ;  and  on  the 
Severn  there  is  a  beaver  island.  But  as  the  price  of  a 
Welsh  beaver's  skin  was  fifteen  times  more  than  that  of 
otter's  skin  in  940  A.D.,  they  must  have  been  scarce 
even  at  that  date.  It  is  interesting  to  know,  from  Sir 
Edmund  Loder's  continued  success  with  his  beavers  at 
Leonardslee,  that  we  can,  if  we  like,  re-establish  them. 
The  Leonardslee  beavers  increase,  and  have  continued 
to  do  so  for  nine  years.  As  they  destroy  much  small 
timber,  no  one  who  regards  cost  would  encourage 
them  on  a  small  estate  or  among  valuable  trees.  But 
the  beavers  have  two  ways  of  life,  differing  according  to 
the  rivers  on  which  they  live,  as  may  be  seen  in  Northern 
Norway.  Shallow  streams  they  dam ;  and  to  make 


PAST  AND  FUTURE  OF  BRITISH  MAMMALS  287 

this  dam  they  cut  down  trees  and  do  mischief.  But  on 
deep,  slow  streams,  such  as  the  Thames,  they  make 
burrows  in  the  bank  and  c  lodges,'  but  do  not  attempt 
to  build  dams,  because  the  water  is  deep  enough  for 
their  wants.  All  they  need  is  enough  willow-bark  to 
feed  on.  If  anyone  would  turn  out  a  few  beavers  on 
the  Thames,  and  let  them  have  the  run  of  an  osier-bed, 
they  would  probably  increase  and  multiply. 


» 


XXXIX.— THE    RETURN    OF    THE    GREAT 
BUSTARD 

A  SMALL  flock  of  great  bustards,  temporarily  kept 
at  the  Zoo,  was  recently  imported  from  Spain,  and 
one  or  more  pairs  of  these  birds  were,  it  was  said,  to 
be  turned  out  on  an  old  haunt  of  the  species  on  the 
Yorkshire  Wolds.  It  is  not  so  much  matter  for 
surprise  that  the  restoration  of  this,  the  largest  of 
our  native  birds,  is  about  to  be  attempted  now,  but 
that  it  has  not  been  tried  earlier,  and  on  a  larger  scale. 
It  would  be  unsafe  to  assume  that  because  the  caper- 
cailzie now  flourishes  in  the  Scotch  woods,  the  permanent 
restoration  of  the  bustard  to  its  ancient  haunts  on  the 
Wiltshire  Downs,  the  Wolds,  and  the  Norfolk  heaths 
and  '  brecks '  is  equally  possible.  But  though  some 
species  refuse  utterly  to  acquiesce  in  change  either  of 
habit  or  environment,  and,  like  the  black  tern,  the 
avocet,  and  the  bartailed  godwit,  migrate  to  seek  else- 
where what  they  no  longer  find  in  this  country,  there  is 

288 


THE  RETURN  OF  THE  GREAT  BUSTARD    289 

good  reason  to  believe  that  there  is  no  such  obstacle  to 
the  return  of  the  bustard. 

Anyone  willing  to  spend  money  and  trouble  on  such 
an  experiment  would  wish  to  know  whether  the  bird  is 
found  flourishing  elsewhere  in  conditions  like  those  in 
which  it  would  find  itself  in  the  England  of  to-day ; 
and  secondly,  whether  the  causes  which  led  to  its  final 
disappearance  here  were  permanent  or  accidental.  For- 
tunately, there  is  a  very  interesting  and  reliable  body  of 
evidence  on  both  these  points  in  the  bustard's  history. 
Both  the  late  Lord  Lilford  and  Mr.  Abel  Chapman 
attentively  studied  the  haunts  and  habits  of  the  bustard 
in  Spain  ;  and  the  late  Mr.  Stevenson  delayed  for  a 
long  time  the  publication  of  his  second  volume  of  *  The 
Birds  of  Norfolk'  to  write  a  complete,  and  incidentally 
most  charming,  account  of  the  facts  connected  with  the 
*  decline  and  fall '  of  the  same  birds  in  their  last  home 
in  Norfolk.  There  was  no  authority,  from  Mr.  Alfred 
Newton  to  the  '  shepherd's  pages '  of  Icklingham  Heath, 
from  whom  Mr.  Stevenson  did  not  gather  facts  first 
hand  as  to  the  disappearance  of  our  largest  bird.  And 
the  inference  from  his  account  is,  with  one  exception, 
not  unfavourable  to  its  restoration. 

At  present  it  is  an  exceedingly  common  bird  in 
Southern  Spain.  Its  numbers  are  probably  reinforced 
by  migrants  from  the  higher  and  colder  central  districts 
of  La  Mancha  and  Old  Castile  ;  but  it  also  remains 

19 


2Qo    THE  RETURN  OF  THE  GREAT  BUSTARD 

there  throughout  the  year,  in  the  midst  of  high  cultiva  - 
tion,  and  maintains  itself,  by  its  own  wary  habits, 
without  legal  protection,  amongst  a  population  who 
are  very  ready  to  kill  it  by  any  means,  however  un- 
sportsmanlike. Some  of  these  devices  are  almost 
identical  with  those  used  in  Norfolk,  water  in  hot 
weather  taking  the  place  of  corn  or  turnips  as  a  bait 
for  the  birds,  which  are  shot  from  ambush.  To  the 
fair  sportsman  it  offers  the  opportunity  of  stalking  it 
with  a  rifle,  or  '  driving  ';  for  though  slow  to  rise  it  has 
a  powerful  flight,  and  the  stories  of  its  former  capture 
in  this  country  by  means  of  grayhounds  are  generally 
discredited.  Lord  Lilford  has  seen  them  within  sight 
of  the  Giralda  of  Seville  from  the  beginning  of  February 
till  the  end  of  September.  '  In  February  flocks,  varying 
in  number  from  eight  or  ten  to  sixty  or  more,  are  to  be 
seen  on  all  the  pasture  and  corn  lands  of  the  district, 
especially  on  the  right  of  the  Guadalquivir,  a  few  miles 
above  Seville,  a  country  of  rolling  down-land,  for  the 
most  part  under  cultivation.'  This  ground  very  closely 
corresponds  with  the  conditions  of  most  of  the  Berk- 
shire and  Wiltshire  Downs,  and  is  more  highly 
cultivated  than  that  part  of  Salisbury  Plain  which  is 
passing  into  the  hands  of  the  War  Office.  The  birds 
are  so  far  from  disliking  cultivated  land  that  they  nest 
in  the  young  wheat  in  the  great  alluvial  plains  of  the 
lower  Guadalquivir,  just  as  they  did  by  preference  in 


THE  RETURN  OF  THE  GREAT  BUSTARD   291 

the  young  rye  in  Norfolk.  They  usually  do  not  lay 
more  than  two  or  sometimes  three  eggs,  and  nest  early, 
at  the  end  of  April.  The  eggs  are  thus  liable  to  be 
destroyed  when  the  corn  is  rolled,  or  taken  by  the 
labourers  employed  in  hoeing,  risks  more  common, 
probably,  in  this  country  than  in  Spain.  While  the  hen 
birds  are  sitting  in  the  corn,  the  male  bustards  stalk 
about  in  the  cattle  pastures.  *  Many  of  these  fields 
barely  afford  sufficient  covert  to  conceal  a  lark  ;  here 
these  splendid  birds  may  be  observed  in  all  their  glory 
of  perfect  nuptial  plumage,  and  conscious  strength  and 
beauty,  stalking  about  with  a  stealthy  and  deliberate 
gait,  and  showing  off,  apparently  from  pure  pride  ot 
life,  in  turkey-cock  fashion.' 

A  cleverly-stuffed  cock  bustard  at  the  Natural 
History  Museum  at  South  Kensington  shows  this 
curious  nuptial  display  of  the  bird.  It  is  a  very 
large  male,  which  weighed  37  lb.,  and  was  presented 
by  Mr.  Abel  Chapman.  The  head  is  buried  in  the 
neck,  which  is  greatly  inflated  ;  the  '  beard '  is  brought 
up  on  either  side  of  the  head  ;  and  the  tail  and  wings 
seem  to  have  been  turned  inside  out  and  arranged  over 
its  back.  Beneath  the  outer  brown  and  black  feathers 
are  beautifully-curved  pure  white  ones,  both  in  wings 
and  tail,  which  cover  the  whole  of  the  back,  as  if 
arranged  by  a  feat  her -dresser.  Lord  Lilford's  experi- 
ences may  be  supplemented  from  some  interesting 

19—2 


292    THE  RETURN  OF  THE  GREAT  BUSTARD 

chapters  in  Messrs.  Abel  Chapman  and  W.  J.  Buck's 
'  Wild  Spain/  It  is  evident  that  the  birds  are  just  as 
much  at  home,  and  as  well  able  to  take  care  of  them- 
selves, as  are  partridges  in  this  country,  on  the  '  vast 
stretches  of  silent  corn-land'  which  are  the  Spanish 
bustard's  home.  i  Among  the  objects  of  sport  there  are 
few  more  attractive  scenes  than  a  band  of  bustards  at 
rest.  Bring  your  field-glasses  to  bear  on  that  gather- 
ing which  you  see  yonder,  basking  in  the  sunshine,  in 
the  full  enjoyment  of  their  siesta.  There  are  four  or 
five  and  twenty  of  them  ;  and  how  immense  they  look 
against  the  background  of  sprouting  corn  which  covers 
the  landscape ;  a  stranger  might  well  mistake  them  for 
deer  or  goats.  Most  of  the  birds  are  sitting  turkey- 
fashion,  their  heads  sunk  among  their  feathers  ;  others 
stand  in  drowsy  yet  half-suspicious  attitudes,  their  broad 
backs  resplendent  with  those  mottled  hues  of  true 
game-colour,  and  their  lavender  necks  and  well-poised 
heads  contrasting  with  the  snowy  whiteness  of  their 
lower  plumage.'  This  is  a  sketch  largely  from  the 
sportsman's  point  of  view  ;  but  as  sportsmen  are  likely 
to  take  a  prominent  share  in  the  coming  restoration  of 
the  bird,  those  who  are  not  familiar  with  this  description 
may  derive  some  encouragement  from  such  an  agreeable 
picture.  '  Driving  bustards '  is  evidently  an  exciting 
and  artistic  form  of  sport,  and  the  birds,  except  the  old 
cocks,  are  excellent  for  the  table.  It  is  evident  that  in 


THE  RETURN  OF  THE  GREAT  BUSTARD    293 

Spain  they  are  not  averse  to  modern  cultivation  ;  in 
fact,  they  prefer  the  corn-lands.  The  story  o.  their 
disappearance  in  Norfolk  shows  that,  far  from  disliking 
corn-land,  they  were  only  too  fond  of  it.  They  would 
lay  their  eggs  in  the  winter-sown  wheat,  which  is  high 
and  green  early  in  spring.  When  wheat  began  to  be 
drilled  and  hoed,  instead  of  being  sown  broadcast,  every 
bustard's  nest  was  found.  Though  forbidden  by  the 
Act  of  25  Henry  VIII.,  these  eggs  were  taken  by  the 
farm  boys  and  labourers,  and  kept  as  curiosities  or 
eaten.  As  there  were  only  two  '  droves '  left  early  in 
the  present  century — one  in  the  open  country  round 
Swaffham,  the  other  near  Thetford,  of  which  the  former 
only  numbered  twenty-seven  in  or  about  the  year  1820, 
while  after  the  year  1812  the  Thetford  'drove 'was 
only  reckoned  at  twenty-four — it  is  not  strange  that 
with  constant  *  egging '  and  occasional  shooting  they 
disappeared.  The  last  nest  in  Norfolk  was  probably 
that  made  on  a  farm  at  Great  Massingham  in  1835  or 
1836,  from  which  some  eggs  were  taken,  one  of  which 
is  preserved.  The  destruction  of  the  eggs  and  killing 
of  the  birds  is  clearly  within  the  limits  of  prevention ; 
and  no  County  Council  would  refuse  a  resolution  to 
enforce  the  law,  which  still  exists,  against  the  taking  of 
bustards'  eggs.  The  bird,  its  eggs,  and  young,  are 
already  protected  by  Section  24  of  the  Game  Act  or 
1831,  which  also  gives  it  a  close  season  from  March  i 


* 

*• 


294    THE  RETURN  OF  THE  GREAT  BUSTARD 

to  September  i,  and  makes  a  license  necessary  to  kill  it, 
and  trespass  in  its  pursuit  an  offence  under  the  Act. 
There  remains  the  question  whether  any  change  in  the 
surface  of  the  country  has  taken  place  which  might 
render  their  old  haunts  less  acceptable  to  the  birds. 
The  answer  is  in  the  negative,  except  in  the  case  of 
those  very  parts  of  Norfolk  in  which  it  lingered  latest. 
This  region,  known  as  the  '  breck  '  district,  was  subject 
to  constant  sandstorms,  and  the  blowing  sand  cut  and 
injured  the  young  wheat.  To  stop  this  belts  of  trees 
were  planted,  and  its  open  character  changed.  This, 
Mr.  Stevenson  considered,  'rendered  it  entirely  un- 
suitable to  the  wary  habits  of  the  bustard.'  But  the 
whole  of  the  Berkshire  and  Wiltshire  Downs,  the  Wolds 
of  Yorkshire  and  Lincolnshire,  and  much  of  the  Fen 
district,  is  still  ideal  ground  for  the  bird.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  the  bustard,  though  resident  formerly 
all  the  year  in  England,  is  potentially  migratory.  Stray 
birds  do  occasionally  appear  still  from  overseas,  one  of 
the  last  being  seen  in  the  Fens.  Lord  Lilford  obtained 
a  mate  for  this  bird,  but  it  died  one  cold  night  after  it 
was  liberated,  and  the  cock  bird  then  disappeared. 

It  was  never  suggested  as  a  cause  of  its  disappearance 
that  the  bustard  was  destroyed  as  destructive  to  crops 
or  a  nuisance  to  the  farmer.  In  Spain  its  diet  varies  at 
different  seasons.  For  animal  food  it  likes  frogs,  mice, 
lizards,  earth-worms,  snails,  beetles,  locusts,  and  grass- 


THE  RETURN  OF  THE  GREAT  BUSTARD   295 

hoppers;  the  latter  it  devours  with  particular  relish. 
Its  taste  in  vegetables  is  less  to  the  farmer's  liking.  It 
eats  green  corn,  especially  barley,  clover,  the  leaves  of 
mallow,  chick-peas,  and  vetches.  In  Norfolk  its  food 
was  much  the  same,  with  the  substitution  of  turnip-tops 
for  chick-peas  ;  it  also  ate  seeds  of  weeds  and  the  leaves 
of  colewort  and  dandelion.  Everyone  will  hope  that 
the  return  of  the  bustard  will  not  long  be  delayed,  and 
that  those  who  undertake  its  restoration  may  meet  with 
ready  and  willing  help  from  their  neighbours,  rich  and 
poor.  It  is  probable  that  it  never  was,  and  never  will 
be,  very  numerous  as  a  species.  But  public  interest  is 
alive  to  subjects  of  this  kind  at  present,  and  the  moment 
is  favourable  for  the  attempt. 


XL.— BIG  GAME 

A  CIRCULAR  was  lately  issued  to  sportsmen,  inviting 
them  to  join  in  a  big-game  shooting  expedition  to 
British  East  Africa.  The  particular  district  selected 
as  a  hunting-ground  was  that  round  Mount  Kenia,  the 
route  being  via  Mombasa  and  the  Uganda  railway. 
The  advertised  cost  for  twelve  months  was  three 
hundred  pounds,  which  leaves  rather  a  narrow  margin 
for  contingencies  ;  and  of  the  big  game  which  figured 
among  the  probable  bag,  one,  the  quagga,  is  extinct, 
and  another,  the  spring-buck,  is  not  found  north  of 
the  Zambesi.  But  there  is  no  doubt  whatever  that 
in  spite  of  the  decrease  of  most  big  game  in  its  old 
haunts,  there  is  in  Cape  Colony,  the  Transvaal,  Natal, 
the  Northern  States  of  America,  and  some  parts  ot 
Arctic  Europe,  notably  in  Spitzbergen,  abundance  of 
sport  left,  and  sport  of  an  unusual  kind,  accessible  at 
a  moderate  cost,  and  with  no  great  loss  of  time  on  the 
journey.  Of  the  hunting-grounds  of  the  future  we 

say  something  later.     But  at  the  present  moment  the 

296 


BIG  GAME  297 

noblest  trophies  of  the  rifle  may  be  secured  both  in 
South  Africa  and  East  Africa,  in  India,  and  in  North 
America,  further  afield,  it  is  true,  than  in  the  past, 
but  not  further  in  point  of  time.  Africa,  for  instance, 
affords  three  main  areas  open  to  big-game  shooters — 
Mashonaland,  East  Central  Africa,  and  Somaliland. 
Of  these,  Mashonaland  is  accessible  by  rail,  either  via 
Mafeking  or  by  Beira,  and  the  Uganda  railway  will 
soon  open  up  the  northern  district. 

Portuguese  South -East  Africa  also  swarms  with 
game.  The  list  of  large  animals  exceeds  thirty  species, 
including  lions,  leopards,  cheetah,  hippopotamus,  ostrich, 
sable-antelope,  water-buck,  koodoo,  pallah,  hartbeest, 
bison,  tsesseby,  and  many  other  of  the  finest  game 
animals  in  Africa.  Somaliland  is  another,  and  perhaps 
the  favourite,  haunt  of  the  modern  big-game  shooter 
in  Africa.  There  he  finds  a  hotter  climate,  and  even 
better,  though  more  expensive,  sport ;  for  camels  must 
be  hired,  and  a  large  retinue  maintained.  Elephant, 
black  rhinoceros,  and  numbers  of  zebra  of  two  species, 
as  well  as  a  vast  list  of  antelope,  are  to  be  found  and 
killed  by  any  well-managed  expedition.  India  seems 
almost  to  be  forgotten  by  big-game  shooters  leaving 
England,  and  left  to  residents.  Yet  Indian  sport  has 
on  the  whole  rather  expanded  in  kind  and  quality  than 
diminished.  To  the  '  old-fashioned '  sport  of  our  grand- 
fathers, the  splendid  jungle- shooting  recorded  in  such 


298  BIG  GAME 

books  as  that  best  of  Indian  sporting  novels,  '  The 
Old  Forest  Ranger,'  or  the  diaries  of  General  Douglas 
Hamilton  and  his  brother  '  Hawkeye,'  is  now  added 
the  mountain -shooting  of  thur,  ibex,  and  all  the 
varieties  of  wild  goats  and  wild  sheep.  But  the  '  old- 
fashioned  '  animals  still  abound.  A  writer  in  Country 
Life,  describing  big-game  shooting  in  Berar,  states  that 
in  one  district  there  were  such  numbers  of  cheetul 
deer,  wild  hog,  and  other  game,  that  the  tigers,  which 
also  abounded,  would  scarcely  condescend  to  kill  a 
bullock  when  tied  up  for  their  especial  benefit.  Bears 
are  also  numerous  wherever  there  are  hills  ;  so  are  the 
great  bison  in  half  a  dozen  of  the  great  forest  districts, 
and  sambur,  swamp-deer,  leopards,  buffalo,  ibex,  and 
nilgai  in  suitable  country. 

The  ambition  of  the  modern  big-game  hunter  is  to 
return  with  a  mixed  set  of  trophies,  not  a  series  of  the 
same  kind.  Consequently  he  is  not  content  with  a 
whole  season's  *  still  hunting '  in  the  Canadian  forest, 
when  the  first  light  snow  has  fallen,  and  moose  and 
cariboo  can  be  followed  with  surroundings  and  equip- 
ment unchanged  since  the  days  of  Montcalm,  because 
he  can  only  get  moose  and  cariboo,  or  black -tailed  deer 
or  mule-deer.  The  climate  and  surroundings  are  almost 
perfect ;  and  he  can  have  this  sport  mixed  with  canoe- 
ing, rough  fishing,  and  plenty  of  small-game  shooting 
when  he  likes.  But  what  he  desires  is,  if  in  North 


BIG  GAME  299 

America,  a  varied  and  striking  collection  of  hides  and 
horns,  skins  of  the  grizzly  bear  and  black  bear,  horns 
of  the  wapiti,  moose,  cariboo,  black-tailed  deer,  Rocky 
Mountain  goat,  and  big-horn  sheep,  and  for  this  he 
must  go  further  afield,  to  the  magnificent  mountain 
forests  and  lakes  of  North  British  Columbia.  It  does 
not  matter  whether  he  seeks  his  sport  there  or  in  South 
Africa,  in  Khama's  country,  in  Mashonaland,  in  the 
Upper  Zambesi,  or  in  India.  In  any  of  these  fields 
he  can  amass  those  magnificent  sets  of  trophies  which 
are  now  seen  in  so  many  sportsmen's  homes,  and  form, 
merely  in  transit  between  the  packing-case  and  the 
country  house,  a  permanent  collection  always  changing, 
but  never  growing  less,  in  the  establishments  of  one  or 
two  first-class  taxidermists  and  mounters  of  skins  and 
horns.  The  size  and  splendour  of  some  of  these  trophies 
surpass  anything  seen  in  museums,  except  in  that  Oi 
Mr.  Walter  Rothschild  at  Tring.  The  mere  bulk  or 
some  of  the  animals  passes  belief,  and  the  magnificence 
of  the  furs  and  horns  makes  the  average  Englishman 
wildly  covetous  to  obtain  something  himself  which 
shall  match  them. 

As  mere  instances  of  the  size  of  the  trophies,  we  may 
take,  for  example,  the  gigantic  elephant's  head  at  Tring, 
with  tusks  nine  feet  long.  There  is,  of  course,  another 
side  to  this  quest  for  trophies.  The  writer  has  seen 
at  one  of  the  great  taxidermist's  the  newly-tanned  and 


300  BIG  GAME 

bullet-pierced  skin  of  a  lion  spread  out  for  inspection 
before  the  brother  of  the  man  whom  it  had  killed  the 
instant  after  it  received  its  death-wound.  But  fatal 
accidents  are  increasingly  rare  in  modern  big-game 
shooting.  The  rifles  are  accurate,  not  too  heavy,  and 
frightfully  destructive  ;  and  very  many  of  the  noted 
big-game  hunters  are  marvellous  shots.  Those  who 
doubt  it  should  watch  the  shooting  of  such  great 
hunters  as  Mr.  Littledale  or  Sir  E.  G.  Loder  when 
firing  double  shots  at  the  '  running  deer '  at  Bisley, 
and  putting,  not  once,  but  twice,  thrice,  or  four  times, 
two  bullets,  right  and  left,  into  a  moving  target  no 
larger  than  a  breakfast  plate.  Fortunately  for  the  big- 
game  hunter,  there  are  new  regions  opening  out  for  him 
even  now.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  one  or 
these  will  offer  almost  the  finest  sport,  and  of  the  most 
satisfactory  kind  yet  found,  except,  perhaps,  in  the 
days  of  the  early  lion-hunters  in  South  Africa.  The 
scene  is  the  valley  of  the  Upper  Amoor,  and  its  great 
tributary  the  Ussuri.  On  the  former,  bear,  boar,  and 
the  magnificent  maral  stag  abound,  in  some  of  the  most 
beautiful  scenery,  and  one  of  the  best  climates,  in  the 
world.  The  Lower  Amoor  is  l  feverish/  except  in 
winter  ;  but  the  valley  of  the  Ussuri  river,  which  joins 
the  Amoor  at  the  point  where  the  latter  turns  due 
north,  and  forms  the  boundary  between  Chinese 
Manchuria  and  the  Russian  coast  province,  holds 


BIG  GAME  301 

the  finest  beast  of  prey  in  the  world,  the  Northern 
or  Siberian  tiger.  No  one  quite  knows  to  what 
dimensions  the  Siberian  tiger  will  not  grow.  One 
owned  by  Mr.  Hagenbeck  was  a  far  larger  animal  than 
he  or  any  other  had  ever  seen  either  alive  or  repre- 
sented by  its  skin.  The  coat  is  immensely  long  in 
winter,  of  a  rich  dark  orange,  with  an  undergrowth 
of  fur,  and  makes  an  incomparable  trophy.  Both  these 
Northern  tigers  and  bears  were  recently  so  plentiful 
on  the  Ussuri,  that  the  Russian  Government  offered 
a  large  reward  for  their  destruction,  and  gave  every 
encouragement  to  the  officers  of  the  East  Siberian  army 
to  go  and  hunt  there.  But  Russian  officers  have  not 
that  passion  for  sport  which  seems  inbred  in  English- 
men abroad,  and  recent  accounts  state  that  the  ravages 
made  among  the  cattle  of  the  new  Russian  settlers  are 
still  a  most  serious  drawback  to  colonization.  The 
wild  boars  of  the  Ussuri  are  also  very  fine  animals. 
There  are  two  of  these  at  the  Tring  museum,  but  they 
do  not  equal  the  dimensions  of  the  huge  European 
boar  from  the  Carpathians  recently  exhibited  at  the 
International  Fur  Store.  This  European  boar,  shot 
within  a  few  days  by  rail  from  London,  weighed  six 
hundred  and  twenty  pounds,  beating  the  record  of  the 
chestnut-fed  boars  of  the  Caucasus.  Its  bristles  were 
so  wiry,  long,  and  thick,  that  they  looked  like  a  piece 
of  rough  heather  thatching. 


302  BIG  GAME 

Before  the  East  Siberian  hunting-field  is  developed, 
another  will  probably  be  once  more  open  to  the  British 
big-game  hunter.  This  is  the  Kassala  district  and  the 
valley  of  the  Atbara  river,  which  before  its  occupation 
by  the  Dervishes  was  absolutely  the  finest  sporting- 
ground  left  in  Africa.  It  was  the  land  of  the  *  hunting 
Arabs/  very  healthy,  abounding  in  water  and  cover, 
and  the  home  par  excellence  of  the  black  rhinoceros, 
the  lion,  and  smaller  African  carnivora  of  many  species, 
large  antelope,  and,  in  places,  of  the  elephant  and 
giraffe.  It  is  believed  that  an  immense  increase  of  wild 
animals  has  recently  taken  place  there,  partly  because 
the  population  has  been  too  harassed  by  the  triangular 
war  between  Dervishes,  Abyssinians,  and  Italians  to  kill 
off  the  game,  and  partly  because  the  famous  tribe  of 
sword-hunters,  the  Hamran  Arabs,  were  nearly  exter- 
minated twelve  years  ago  by  an  epidemic.  The 
Klondike  discoveries  will  give,  indirectly,  better  facilities 
for  reaching  North  British  Columbia  and  Southern 
Alaska  than  have  hitherto  been  available,  and  though 
not  '  new '  hunting-grounds,  they  will  come  within 
range  of  a  much  larger  number  of  sportsmen.  The 
forest  region  of  the  Black  Sea  coast  of  the  Caucasus 
will  probably  remain,  as  it  is  at  present,  the  home  of 
great  quantities  of  big  game,  but  an  impossible  hunting- 
ground.  The  valleys  are  full  of  fever ;  diphtheria 
seems  native  to  the  soil ;  and  though  bear,  boar,  and 


BIG  GAME  303 

deer  abound,  leopards  are  not  uncommon,  and  one  or 
the  remaining  herds  of  European  bison  still  remains 
there.  The  forest  is  so  thick,  so  wet,  and  so  unhealthy, 
that  it  cannot  become  a  regular  hunting-ground. 
There  remains  one  more  possible  new  hunting-ground, 
the  oldest  in  the  world,  for  it  was  possibly  the  scene 
of  Nimrod's  own  exploits.  This  is  the  Baghtiara 
highlands  of  Persia,  where  the  lion  is  still  numerous 
by  the  thick  covers  near  the  rivers.  The  late  Sir 
Henry  Laird,  when  a  guest  of  these  mountain  tribes, 
was  informed  that  all  the  black-maned  lions  were  not 
only  good  Mussulmans,  but  '  Shiahs '  to  a  lion,  and 
only  required  the  name  of  Hassan  and  Hosein  to  be 
mentioned  if  they  were  required  to  move  on.  The 
yellow-maned  lions  were  *  Kaffirs/  and  were  shot  at 
sight. 


XLL— GAME  PRESERVATION  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES 

AT  the  present  moment  one  of  the  burning  questions 
of  domestic  interest  in  the  United  States  is  the  enact- 
ment of  Game  Laws.  The  origin  of  the  movement 
is  curiously  unlike  that  from  which  similar  legislation 
sprang  in  this  country,  though  its  object  is  identical. 
In  the  various  States  of  the  Union  the  public  are 
clamouring  for  game  preservation  and  stricter  super- 
vision, while  private  owners  are,  if  anything,  rather  in 
opposition  to  the  general  wish.  Sport  is  the  main 
object  of  the  new  desire  for  game  preservation,  but 
aesthetic  feelings  are  not  without  influence,  and  the 
legislators  who  desire  penalties  for  wearing  wild  birds' 
feathers  act  in  harmony  with  those  who  wish  to  enact 
more  stringent  Game  Laws.  The  activities  of  these 
reformers  are  so  numerous,  and  spread  over  a  country 
of  such  vast  area,  that  it  is  difficult  to  present  them  in 
any  continuous  scheme  ;  but  we  give  some  of  the 
questions  of  the  hour  to  illustrate  the  energy  of  this 

304 


GAME  PRESERVATION  305 

spontaneous  and  democratic  movement  in  favour  of 
State  protection  of  game.  Its  intensely  popular  and 
local  character  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  every  separate 
State  is  now  enforcing  existing  Game  Laws  or  adding  to 
their  number.  Dakota,  Illinois,  Tennessee,  New  York, 
Maine,  Vermont,  and  many  others,  are  engaged  in 
revising  or  adding  to  these  laws,  which  are  enforced 
not  by  private  persons,  but  by  State  gamekeepers.  In 
Maine,  for  instance,  though  so  near  to  the  great  cities 
of  the  East,  sportsmen  are  expected  to  use  the  services 
of  licensed  guides,  who  are  really  State  '  gillies.'  Strict 
close  time  is  enforced,  and  these  men  have  the  protection 
of  game  and  fish  mainly  in  their  control  throughout  the 
territory.  But  the  State  '  game  warden '  is  also  a 
recognised  institution.  His  exploits  in  catching 
poachers  are  chronicled  with  enthusiasm  in  the  Press, 
in  a  very  different  tone  to  that  often  adopted  when 
poachers  are  summoned  before  British  magistrates. 
Under  the  heading  of  'Arrests  in  Montana,'  we  find 
that  '  a  partial  check  has  been  given  to  the  elk  butchers ' 
by  summary  arrests  ;  that  wholesale  skin-hunters'  camps 
have  been  raided  by  the  constables,  and  the  offenders 
put  in  gaol ;  and  that  '  warrants  are  out  for  two 
prominent  citizens,'  no  less  personages  than  a  State 
senator  and  a  schoolmaster.  Endless  complaints,  in- 
formations, and  prosecutions  for  killing  deer  in  close 
time,  occupy  the  columns  of  the  local  papers.  If  half 

20 


3o6  GAME  PRESERVATION 

the  grumbling  on  this  subject  appeared  in  the  columns 
of  the  Field  and  Country  Life  which  is  inserted  weekly 
in  the  New  York  Forest  and  Stream,  there  would  be 
a  popular  outcry  against  over-preservation.  Curious 
complications  arise  from  these  laws.  As  each  State 
preserves  its  own  game,  and  pays  its  own  wardens, 
it  naturally  objects  to  citizens  of  other  States  shooting 
in  its  forests  without  contribution  or  domicile.  Con- 
sequently, certain  States  imposed  shooting  licenses  on 
non-residents  from  other  States.  The  latter  then  com- 
plained that  this  was  a  breach  of  the  American  Con- 
stitution, which  secures  equal  rights  to  all  citizens  in 
all  States  alike.  An  action  was  brought  against  the 
State  of  Connecticut  by  a  citizen,  but  the  State  won. 
So  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  California  it  was  laid  down 
that  *  the  wild  game  within  a  State  belongs  to  the  people 
in  their  collective  capacity.  It  is  not  the  subject  of 
private  ownership,  except  in  so  far  as  the  people  may 
elect  to  make  it  so,  and  they  may,  if  they  see  fit, 
absolutely  prohibit  the  taking  of  it  or  traffic  or 
commerce  in  it,  if  it  is  deemed  necessary  for  pro- 
tection or  preservation.'  This  judgment  thus  does 
not  forbid  private  ownership,  but  asserts  State  owner- 
ship in  general.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  private  ownership 
of  game  does  exist  in  many  States,  and  makes  such 
places  as  the  Corbin  Park  possible.  Shooting  licenses 
will  probably  be  made  compulsory  on  'outsiders'  by 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  307 

the  States  whose  sporting  rights  they  desire  to  enjoy. 
A  recent  meeting  at  Chicago  with  the  object  of  enforcing 
game  protection  in  the  State  of  Illinois  elicits  the 
following  comments  in  a  leading  paper,  which  gives 
the  modern  American  views  on  game  preserving  in 
a  form  not  more  exalted  than  is  commonly  seen  in 
the  discussion  of  such  topics  :  '  Altogether  aside  from 
the  consideration  of  game  as  a  food  resource  is  the 
influence  it  has  upon  the  health  and  stamina  of  the 
race.  This  is  not  in  any  degree  a  fanciful  view  of  the 
supply  of  wild  game  as  a  public  benefit,  and  game 
protection  as  a  public  charge.  It  has  had  recognition 
from  early  days,  and  has  furnished  reason  for  the 
enactment  and  enforcement  of  Game  Laws.  The 
whole  country  reaps  advantage  when  its  public  men 
seek  the  woods  for  their  recreations  ;  the  community 
shares  the  good  which  its  citizens  find  in  camp  and 
field.  Game  is  a  public  property  ;  those  appointed 
to  protect  it  are  the  trustees  of  the  public ;  game 
protection  is  a  public  trust/  This  public  trust  is 
occasionally  exercised  to  private  detriment.  Thus  in 
Long  Island,  at  thirty  miles  from  New  York,  deer 
are  so  numerous,  in  consequence  of  the  prohibition 
of  hunting  with  hounds  as  well  as  shooting,  that 
the  market-gardeners'  bitter  cry  is  now  being  heard. 
One  of  these  writes  a  furious  letter  of  complaint,  of 
which  the  following  extracts  are  somewhat  amusing. 

2O — 2 


3o8  GAME  PRESERVATION 

Perhaps  even  stronger  language  would  be  used  were 
the  market-gardens  in  Gunnersbury  or  Fulham.  '  The 
depredations  on  all  kinds  of  truck  are  fearful,  and  drive 
the  small  farmers,  who  especially  suffer,  to  madness  and 
despondency.  Ask,  for  example,  the  people  of  Bohemian- 
ville  how  they  have  to  suffer,  despite  all  precautions,  by 
putting  up  scarecrows,  hanging  out  lanterns,  etc.,  to 
keep  off  the  deer.  In  making  such  an  onerous  Game 
Law,  the  State  expropriates  the  farmer  without  giving 
him  compensation  ;  the  State  takes  the  food  out  of  the 
toiler's  mouth  and  gives  it  to  the  deer.'  After  remark- 
ing that,  instead  of  encouraging  the  growing  of  vege- 
tables to  supply  the  poor  with  cheap  food,  '  the  State 
goes  to  breeding  wild  animals,'  the  writer  adds  that, 
when  trying  to  get  compensation  from  the  Board  ot 
Supervisors,  the  Board  answered  humorously  that  the 
farmers  *  should  start  a  revolution.'  '  Is  that  equal 
rights?'  asks  this  citizen  of  Long  Island.  In  Maine 
a  difficulty  of  an  unforeseen  kind  is  urged  against 
modern  State  preservation.  By  the  old  laws  of  the 
colony  of  Massachusetts,  the  founders  of  this  refuge  for 
tender  consciences  enacted  that  no  game  preservation 
should  be  permitted,  and  further  declared  that  the 
right  of  free  fishing  and  fowling  should  pertain  to  all 
on  any  great  pond  containing  more  than  ten  acres  of 
water,  and  that  the  right  to  pass  and  repass  to  any 
such  water  should  remain  for  ever  unabridged,  pro- 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  309 

viding  that  the  persons  using  it  did  not  trespass  upon 
any  man's  corn  or  meadow.'  This  statute  was  upheld 
in  a  recent  judgment,  and  a  newly-made  private  game- 
park  was  thrown  open  to  the  public.  An  odd  phase  of 
the  present  keenness  of  the  public  for  public  sport  is  the 
attack  recently  made  on  cold  storage  solely  because  it 
makes  the  detection  of  breakers  of  the  close  season 
more  difficult  by  preserving  game  all  the  year  round  in 
condition  for  market.  It  was  seriously  alleged  that 
cold  storing  of  game  made  it  poisonous,  or,  at  least, 
unfit  for  human  food.  The  subject  was  discussed  at 
immense  length,  and  the  adversaries  of  cold  storage 
were  the  popular  party  in  the  dispute,  the  thinness  or 
the  arguments  being  backed  up  by  the  goodness  of  the 
cause,  which  was  not  solicitude  for  wholesome  food,  but 
for  the  protection  of  game  in  close  time. 

The  men  who  kill  winged  game  in  the  close  season 
make  immense  bags  in  many  districts,  and  by  supplying 
unscrupulous  owners  of  cold  stores  with  grouse,  wild 
geese,  quail,  and  wild-fowl,  earn  large  sums,  and  do 
much  mischief.  The  following  specimen  of  a  Yankee 
poacher's  letter,  offering  to  make  himself  useful  in  this 
way,  was  recently  forwarded  by  the  recipient  to  the 
Forest  and  Stream.  The  spelling  is  given  literatim  : 

'jenuarry  the  28.     Mr i  hav  Bin  sicK  for  fower 

weeks  SinCe  i  saw  your  agent,  i  am  gittin  game  rite 
now  i  have  some  gees  i  will  sent  them  in  now  mr  i  will 


310  GAME  PRESERVATION 

do  business  with  you  i  will  sent  you  som  eggs,  how 
long  can  you  Handel  Birds  privetly  mr  send  priCes 
onCe  a  weak  is  anuf.'  The  game  chiefly  preserved  in 
the  old  States  are  black-tailed  deer,  Virginian  deer, 
wild  duck,  and  other  fowl,  Californian  quail,  sage  hens, 
and  ruffed  grouse.  Bears  and  foxes  benefit  by  the 
close  season  extended  to  game.  Westwards  the  big  game 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  wapiti  (or  4  elk '),  wild-sheep, 
wild-goats,  and  winged  game  are  also  protected  in  a 
close  season  settled  by  the  different  States.  Both  Vir- 
ginian deer  and,  in  the  State  of  Maine,  the  woodland 
cariboo  and  other  deer  have  much  increased  of  recent 
years.  The  latest  development  of  this  democratic  game 
preserving  is  the  introduction  of  the  English  pheasant. 
Private  persons  began  and  succeeded  in  the  experiments ; 
but  now  certain  States  have  taken  to  pheasant  pre- 
serving ;  the  first  sets  of  eggs  and  subsequent  broods 
have  been  reared  in  State  pheasantries  and  protected  by 
rigorous  laws  for  a  period  of  five  years. 

The  whole  movement  is  a  curious  illustration  of  the 
intense  Anglo-Saxon  love  of  sport,  and  of  the  sense  of 
fair  play  due  to  game  which  marks  the  distinction 
between  sport  and  the  commercial  killing  of  game.  It 
would  not  be  possible  in  a  country  which  did  not,  as 
the  United  States,  abound  in  wild  '  unimproved  '  land, 
forests,  and  swampy  rivers.  In  time,  as  the  population 
grows,  the  game  must  diminish  in  spite  of  State  pro- 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  311 

tection.  But  for  the  present  the  Americans  are  deter- 
mined that  no  such  waste  of  animal  life  by  unrestricted 
shooting  shall  recur  as  that  which  destroyed  the  bison, 
and  has  reduced  to  a  few  individuals  the  largest  flocks 
of  any  species  of  bird  ever  seen  in  one  place,  the  once 
innumerable  colonies  of  passenger-pigeons. 


XL1L— ANIMAL  ACCLIMATIZATION  AT 
WOBURN  ABBEY 

THIS  volume,  which  began  with  an  instance  of  the 
necessity  for  animals  to-day,  shown  in  the  demand  for 
the  reindeer  and  snow-camel  for  Klondike,  may  close 
appropriately  with  a  significant  example  of  the  value 
set  on  animals  as  among  the  pleasures  of  life. 

During  recent  years  the  Duke  of  Bedford  has  carried 
out  a  scheme  of  animal  acclimatization  in  the  park  at 
Woburn  Abbey  on  a  scale  never  before  attempted  in 
this  country.  Birds  as  well  as  quadrupeds  are  the 
subjects  of  this  experiment,  and  the  magnificent  pheasants 
of  India  and  China  haunt  the  woods  in  large  numbers. 
But  the  greater  number  of  the  animals  are  various  kinds 
of  deer,  of  which  no  fewer  than  thirty-four  species  are 
in  the  open  park  or  paddocks — bison,  zebras,  antelopes, 
wild  sheep  and  goats,  and  yaks.  The  novelty  and 
freshness  of  this  experiment  consists  not  only  in  the 

accumulation  of  such  a  number  of  species,  interesting 

312 


ANIMAL  ACCLIMATIZATION  313 

as  this  is  to  the  naturalist,  but  in  their  way  of  life,  free 
and  unconfined  in  an  English  park.  That  is  the  lot  of 
the  greater  number  of  the  animals  at  Woburn,  some 
being  entirely  free  and  wandering  at  large,  like  the 
native  red-deer  and  fallow-deer,  while  the  others,  though 
for  the  present  in  separate  enclosures,  are  kept  in 
reserves  so  spacious,  and  so  lightly  though  effectively 
separated,  that  they  have  the  appearance  of  enjoying 
the  same  degree  of  liberty.  Almost  the  first  question 
which  suggests  itself  is,  What  is  the  general  effect  of 
this  gathering  of  over-sea  animals,  from  the  African 
veldt  and  Indian  hills,  the  Manchurian  mountains  and 
North  American  prairies,  and  from  wild- animal  land 
quod  ubique  est,  on  the  green  pastures  and  under  the 
elms  and  oaks  round  the  home  of  a  great  English 
family  ?  Briefly,  we  may  say  that  the  effect  is  mag- 
nificent. On  leaving  Woburn,  the  valleys  and  meadows 
stocked  with  our  ordinary  domestic  animals  seem 
solitary  and  deserted  after  the  eye  has  rested  for  hours 
on  the  varied  and  impressive  forms  that  crowd  the 
slopes,  groves,  and  glades  of  this  fine  park.  This  effect 
is  due  in  part  to  the  largeness  of  the  scale  on  which  the 
stocking  of  Woburn  with  wild  animals  has  been  carried 
out.  In  the  phrase  of  the  farmer,  the  park  '  carries  a 
larger  head'  of  animals  than  is  commonly  seen  on  a 
similar  area,  even  in  the  richest  pastures.  The  scene 
recalls  the  descriptions  of  the  early  travellers  in  Southern 


3i4  ANIMAL  ACCLIMATIZATION 

Africa,  when  the  large  fauna  roamed  there  in  unbroken 
numbers,  and  with  little  fear  of  man.  The  coup  cTseil 
in  parts  of  the  park  where  the  animals  gather  thickest 
is  so  striking  that  the  mind  descends  reluctantly  to  the 
identification  of  the  species,  or  to  details  of  dates,  origin, 
and  management.  From  one  position,  looking  up  a 
long  green  slope  towards  the  Abbey,  there  could  be 
seen  at  the  time  of  the  writer's  last  visit  between  two 
and  three  hundred  animals,  both  birds  and  beasts, 
feeding  or  sleeping  within  sight  of  the  immediate  front 
of  the  spectator.  These  varied  in  species  from  cranes, 
storks,  and  almost  every  known  species  of  swan,  to 
wapiti  stags,  antelopes,  and  zebras,  walking,  sitting, 
galloping,  feeding,  or  sleeping.  For  quite  half  a  mile 
up  the  slope  the  white  swans  and  other  wild  fowl  were 
dotted  among  the  deer  and  other  ruminants,  presenting 
a  strange  and  most  attractive  example  of  the  real 
*  paradise '  which  animals  will  make  for  themselves 
when  only  the  '  good  beasts '  are  selected  to  live 
together.  The  creatures  in  this  animal  Arcadia  were 
grouped  nearly  as  follows.  In  the  foreground  was  a 
large  pool,  circular,  with  clayey  banks,  one  of  a  chain 
of  ponds  of  all  sizes,  from  that  of  a  fishpond  to  a  large 
lake  which  lies  lower  in  the  park.  On  and  around 
this  pool  were  many  species  of  swans,  and  eight  of 
foreign  geese  ;  but  the  greater  number  of  these  were 
scattered,  as  we  have  said,  over  some  hundred  acres  of 


ANIMAL  ACCLIMATIZATION  315 

park.  In  the  centre  of  the  pond  sat  a  cormorant,  and 
on  the  grass  by  the  margin  some  gigantic  cranes  with 
crimson  heads  and  gray  wings  were  running  and 
'  dancing  '  in  honour  of  the  sun.  On  the  hill  to  the 
left,  where  the  Abbey  lies,  were  five  distinct  herds  or 
deer.  Three  of  these  were  fallow  bucks  and  does. 
One  herd  was  of  red-deer,  and  hybrids  between  the 
red-deer  and  the  wapiti.  On  the  sky-line  were  a  herd 
of  pure-bred  wapiti,  with  three  huge  stags,  their  horns 
just  cleaned  from  the  velvet.  In  the  centre  slope,  in 
diminishing  perspective  till  they  appeared  mere  dots 
among  the  trees,  were  mixed  groups  of  Japanese  deer, 
the  same  breed  which  have  thriven  so  remarkably  in  the 
parks  of  Sir  Edmund  Loder  and  Lord  Powerscourt, 
fallow  bucks  and  does,  red-deer,  both  *  red '  and  pure 
white,  of  which  variety  the  park  holds  a  considerable 
number,  a  few  other  and  smaller  foreign  deer,  and  a 
group  of  five  nylghau  antelopes  from  India.  Three  of 
these  were  reddish-gray  in  colour,  while  two  were  real 
*  blue  bulls/  very  fine  upstanding  beasts,  well  suited  to 
woodland  scenery.  On  the  right,  within  a  hundred 
yards,  lying  down  or  feeding  under  an  ancient  elm,  was 
a  small  herd  of  zebras,  as  quiet  and  at  their  ease  as  so 
many  New  Forest  ponies  with  their  foals.  Picture 
this  animal  population  among  the  groves  and  ancient 
timber  of  an  English  park  in  May.  And  this  is  but 
one  among  many  such  sights  visible  in  this  unique 


316  ANIMAL  ACCLIMATIZATION 

paradise.  The  park  is  high  and  undulating,  with  a 
number  of  rounded  hillocks  and  elevations.  In  conse- 
quence of  the  persistent  downfall  of  rain,  and  the  wet- 
ness of  the  pasture,  the  animals  had  betaken  themselves 
to  the  high  ground  ;  and  there  on  the  sky-line  were 
seen  outlined  forms  so  familiar,  yet  so  strange  in  their 
setting,  that  the  visitor  might  almost  incline  to  doubt 
whether  he  were  in  possession  of  his  waking  senses  or 
dreaming  of  pictures  in  Catlin's  '  North  American 
Indians.'  On  one  hill,  for  instance,  lay  sleeping  four 
American  bison  and  a  herd  of  wapiti-deer.  The  round, 
humped  outlines  of  the  former  were  seen  across  a  great 
space  of  grass,  for  here  the  park  was  treeless,  and  the 
animals,  though  confined  in  large  enclosures  of  some 
twenty  acres  each,  looked  exactly  as  they  must  have 
appeared  before  the  days  of  their  destruction  on  the 
rolling  prairies  of  the  North- West. 

The  mixture  of  species,  far  from  being  incongruous, 
is  most  effective.  Close  by  a  long  avenue  of  chestnut- 
trees  in  blossom  was  a  chance  gathering  of  animals 
from  the  Highlands  of  Scotland  and  from  far  Thibet. 
Four  or  five  small  herds  of  red  deer  were  feeding, 
mingled  with  some  thirty  or  forty  splendid  Highland 
cattle  of  all  colours,  with  rough  shaggy  coats  and  long 
horns.  Some  were  black,  some  red,  some  smoke- 
coloured,  some  of  the  pinkish-gray  seen  in  soap-stone 
and  in  the  shaggy  coats  of  these  light-coloured  moor- 


ANIMAL  ACCLIMATIZATION  317 

land  cattle.  In  the  centre  of  these  creatures,  which 
were  scattered  feeding  over  many  acres  of  ground,  was 
a  herd  of  fourteen  yaks.  One  white-and-gray  bull, 
whose  coat  touched  the  ground,  led  the  herd.  The 
rest  were  black-and-white,  cows  and  calves  mingled, 
feeding  or  sleeping  under  the  chestnut-trees. 

The  creatures  which  roam  absolutely  free  in  this 
great  park  represent  those  in  the  final  or  perfect  state 
in  this  animal  paradise.  But,  like  the  souls  in  Virgil's 
land  of  the  just,  these  happy  creatures  pass  through 
various  stages  of  probation.  Some  never  reach  the 
stage  of  complete  liberty,  or  are  physically  unsuited 
for  complete  surrender  to  outdoor  life  in  England. 
Many  spend  part  of  their  time  in  wide  enclosed 
paddocks  contained  in  the  park  itself,  and  are  pro- 
moted later  to  wander  free  and  unrestrained. 

'  Exinde  per  amplum 
Mittimur  Elysium  et  pauci  laeta  arva  tenemus/ 

might  be  the  motto  of  these  c  dwellers  on  the  threshold/ 
Life  in  these  paddocks  is,  in  its  turn,  intermediate 
between  freedom  in  the  open  park  and  the  confinement 
of  smaller  enclosures,  which  reproduce  on  a  very  ample 
scale  the  features  of  an  ideal  'Zoo.'  One  of  these 
enclosures  is  a  warm  walled  meadow,  with  a  few  old 
apple-trees  in  it,  such  as  often  lies  adjacent  to  a  farm. 
It  was  a  kind  of  annexe  to  the  home  farm  buildings. 
In  it  are  pools  for  wild  fowl,  while  rows  of  farm 


3i8  ANIMAL  ACCLIMATIZATION 

buildings,  now  occupied  by  various  birds  and  beasts 
which  need  rest  after  long  journeys  by  sea  and  rail, 
abut  on  the  paddock.  In  the  latter  a  colony  of 
Patagonian  cavies  burrow  under  the  apple  trees,  and 
pretty  little  kangaroos,  or  rather  *  wallabies,'  with  their 
young  in  their  pouches,  hop  about  in  the  grass,  or  lie 
basking  like  cats  by  the  side  of  the  water.  One 
wallaby  sat  upright  on  the  bank,  leaning  its  back  against 
a  tree.  Its  young  one,  looking  out  of  its  pouch,  was 
seriously  gazing  at  its  own  diminutive  features  reflected 
in  the  water.  Brilliant  purple  gallinules,  Patagonian 
rails,  Indian  ducks,  and  pelicans  were  on  the  water,  and 
a  newly-arrived  brood  of  Japanese  teal  were  resting 
after  their  journey  in  one  of  the  sheds.  An  interest- 
ing feature  in  this  paddock,  one  which  is  constantly 
observable  at  Woburn,  is  the  friendliness  of  the  various 
creatures  with  each  other.  Some  very  fine  sing-sing 
antelopes,  a  dwarf  Indian  bull,  and  some  Chinese 
water -deer  were  associated  with  the  kangaroos  and 
cavies  in  perfect  amity.  But  this  seems  characteristic 
of  the  place.  We  noticed  a  pair  of  tame  deer  lying 
under  the  single  cedar-tree  which  stands  in  the  great 
quadrangle  made  by  stables  and  coachhouses  at  the 
back  of  the  main  block  of  Woburn  Abbey.  A  stable- 
cat,  being  in  want  of  society,  strolled  out  and  sat 
down  exactly  between  these  two  deer.  As  they  did 


ANIMAL  ACCLIMATIZATION  319 

not  object,  the  cat  got  up  and  rubbed  itself  against  the 
back  of  one  of  the  reclining  hinds.  This  is  a  real 
4  paradise '  at  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  of 
its  kind  is  among  the  things  best  worth  seeing  in  rural 
England. 


THE    END 


BILLING  AND   SONS,    PRINTERS)   GUILDFORD 


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and  international  movements.' — Daily  Mail. 

HEROES  OF  CHIVALRY  AND  ROMANCE: 
BEOWULF,  ARTHUR,  AND  SIEGFRIED.  By  the  Rev. 
A.  J.  CHURCH.  With  Eight  Illustrations  in  Colour  by 
G.  MORROW.  55. 

THE   KING'S   REEVE,   AND    HOW  HE   SUPPED 

WITH  HIS  MASTER.  An  Old- World  Comedy.  By  the  Rev. 
E.  GILLIAT,  Author  of '  In  Lincoln  Green.3  With  Illustrations  by 
SYDNEY  HALL.  53. 

1  A  quaint  and  interesting  picture  of  life  in  the  reign  of  Edward  I.1 — Scotsman. 

THE  ISLAND  OF  THE  ENGLISH.  A  Story  of 
Napoleon's  Days.  By  FRANK  COWPER,  Author  of  '  Caedwalla,' 
'  The  Captain  of  the  Wight,'  etc.  With  Illustrations  by  GEORGE 
MORROW.  55. 

'A  rattling  story  of  old  seafaring  and  naval  days.1 — Academy. 

UNDER  THE  DOME  OF  ST.  PAUL'S,  IN  THE 
DAYS  OF  SIR  CHRISTOPHER  WREN.  A  Story.  By 
Mrs.  MARSHALL.  With  Illustrations  by  T.  HAMILTON  CRAW- 
FORD. 55. 

LONDON  :   SEELEY  AND  CO.,  LTD.,  38  GREAT  RUSSELL  ST. 


EVENTS  OF  OUR  OWN  TIME. 

A  Series  of  Volumes  on  the  most  Important  Events  of  the  last  Half- 
Century,  each  containing  300  pages  or  more,  in  large  crown  8vo., 
with  Plans,  Portraits,  or  other  Illustrations,  to  be  issued  at  intervals, 
price  $s.,  cloth. 


THE  LIBERATION  OF  ITALY.  By  the  Countess 
MARTINENGO  CESARESCO.  With  Portraits  on  Copper. 

THE  WAR  IN  THE  CRIMEA.  By  General  Sir 
EDWARD  HAMLEY,  K.C.B.  With  Five  Maps  and  Plans,  and 
Four  Portraits  on  Copper.  Seventh  Edition. 

THE  INDIAN  MUTINY  OF  1857.  By  Colonel 
MALLESON,  C.S.I.  With  Three  Plans,  and  Four  Portraits  on 
Copper.  Sixth  Edition. 

THE  AFGHAN  WARS  OF  1839-1842  AND  1878-1880. 
By  ARCHIBALD  FORBES.  With  Five  Maps  and  Plans,  and  Four 
Portraits  on  Copper.  Third  Edition. 

THE  REFOUNDING  OF  THE  GERMAN  EMPIRE. 
By  Colonel  MALLESON,  C.S.I.  With  Five  Maps  and  Plans,  and 
Four  Portraits  on  Copper. 

ACHIEVEMENTS  IN  ENGINEERING  DURING 
THE  LAST  HALF -CENTURY.  By  Professor  VERNON 
HARCOURT.  With  many  Illustrations. 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  NAVIES  DURING 
THE  LAST  HALF -CENTURY.  By  Captain  EARDLEY 
WlLMOT,  R.N.  With  Illustrations  and  Plans,  j 

UNIFORM  WITH  THE  ABOVE. 

THE  WAR  IN  THE  PENINSULA.     By  ALEXANDER 

INNES  SHAND.    With  Four  Portraits  on-  Copper,  and  Six  Plans. 
Cloth,  53. 

AFRICA  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.     By 

EDGAR   SANDERSON.     With   Four  Portraits  on  Copper,  and  a 
Map.     Cloth,  55. 


LONDON:   SEELEY  AND   CO.,  LTD.,  38  GREAT  RUSSELL  ST. 


- 
» 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 


ANIMALS  AT  WORK  AND  PLAY. 

Ubeir  Hctivtties  ant)  Emotions. 

BY  C.  J.  CORNISH. 

With  Twelve  Illustrations.     Second  Edition.    Price  6s. 

'Always  entertaining  and  generally  informing,  he  has  indeed  written  a  delight- 
ful book.'—  World. 

'How  thoroughly  Mr.  Cornish  is  a  master  of  his  subject  we  need  not  say;  he 
writes  of  that  which  he  knows,  and  he  writes  very  brightly.' — Globe. 

'  Mr.   Cornish  has  a  way  of  working  curiously  suggestive,  and  of  setting  forth 
such  subjects   as  "The  Animal  in  Captivity"  from   the  animal's  point  of  view 
solely.     As  a  result,  his  book  contains  a  very  fascinating  series  of  chapters.' 
Graphic. 

'  Such  a  book  as  Mr.  Cornish's  shows  how  much  there  is  to  repay  the  intelligent 
observer  of  Nature. ' —  Times. 

'A  collection  of  short,  chatty,  delightful  papers.  '—Bookseller. 
'  Good  as  the  former  books  were,  we  are  disposed  to  think  that  this  is  even  better 
still.'— Spectator. 


NIGHTS  WITH  AN  OLD  GUNNER 

Hnfc  otber  StuMes  of  Wflfc  Xife, 

BY  C.  J.  CORNISH. 

With  Sixteen  Illustrations  by  LANCELOT  SPEED,  CHARGES  WHYMPER, 
and  from  Photographs.     Price  6s. 

'A  most  delightful  volume  of  essays  on  country  life  and  sport  and  charming 
studies  of  wild  life.' — Spectator. 

'  The  Old  Gunner  is  a  very  entertaining  personage,  and  his  wit  and  wisdom 
come  freshly  to  jaded  ears.  This  is  the  best  thing  Mr.  Cornish  has  done. 
Mr.  Speed's  drawings  merit  special  praise.  His  "Mist  of  Ducks"  crossing  the 
moon  is  magnificent.1— Black  and  White. 

'  Mr.  Cornish  has  eyes  to  see  and  he  uses  them :  he  has  the  skill  to  describe  that 
which  he  has  seen  easily,  gracefully,  and  accurately.' — Country  Life. 

1  Both  instructive  and  entertaining,  as  ever  must  be  the  record  of  a  careful  and 
painstaking  observer  of  wild  life  who  wields  a  pen  always  bright  and  often 
brilliant. ' — Illustrated  London  News. 


LONDON:   SEELEY  AND  CO.,  LTD.,  38  GREAT  RUSSELL  ST. 


I 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 


LIFE  AT  THE  ZOO. 

IRotes  ant)  TCraMttons  of  tbe  IRegent's  iparfe  Gardens. 

BY  C.  J.  CORNISH. 

Illustrated  by  Photographs  by  GAMBIER  BOI/TON.    Fifth  Edition. 
Crown  8vo.    Price  6s. 

'A  more  companionable  book  we  cannot  imagine.' — Spectator. 

'An  account  of  the  habits  and  nature  of  the  inmates  of  the  lordly  prison-house  in 
the  Regent's  Park,  and  of  some  of  their  past  or  future  companions.  The  book  is 
of  absorbing  interest  throughout.' — Daily  News. 

'  A  charming  series  of  sketches  that  form  a  pleasant  medley  for  the  lover  of 
animals.  The  illustrations  form  a  welcome  addition.' — Saturday  Review. 

'  Every  lover  of  animals  will  find  abundance  of  attraction  and  entertainment  in 
Mr.  Cornish's  delightful  volume.' — Times. 


WILD  ENGLAND  OF  TO-DAY 

Bn&  tbe  MfR>  Xtte  in  it 

BY  C.  J.  CORNISH. 

Illustrated  by  Drawings  and  Photographs.     Second  Edition. 
Demy  8vo.    Price  i2s.  6d. 

'  Mr.  Cornish  has  undoubtedly  found  his  true  vocation  in  describing  his 
experiences  of  country  scenery  and  animal  life.  We  have  seldom  derived  more 
enjoyment  from  the  perusal  of  a  book  of  its  kind.' — Athenceum. 

1  Every  chapter  has  the  charm  of  wild  life  and  of  the  fresh  unsullied  country.' — 
Scotsman. 

'This  work  is  even  more  fascinating  than  its  predecessor.  Everybody  will  find 
something  to  his  taste  in  this  choice  volume  of  nature-lore.' — World. 

1  Those  of  us  who  are  left  in  town  in  the  dull  days  will  seem,  in  reading  these 
pages,  to  sniff  the  fresh  sea  breezes,  to  hear  the  cries  of  the  sea-bird  and  the  songs 
of  the  wood-bird,  to  be  conscious  of  the  murmuring  stream  and  waving  forests  and 
all  the  wild  life  that  is  therein." — St.  James's  Gazette. 


LONDON:   SEELEY  AND  CO.,  LTD.,  38  GREAT  RUSSELL  ST. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

Biology  LSTbrary 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


OCT     91964 


LD  21-50m-4,'63 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES