London: Ernest Nisfej*. Hos^york : E.P Dutton &X ? *335* WJ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from University of Toronto https://archive.org/details/naturalhistoryfoOOwood 4 tKA'TUliylL H1ST0R1 fo% rou^cg tsotls. BY THE REV. THEODORE WOOD, F.E.S. WITH TWELVE COLOUR AND OVER THREE HUNDRED BLACK AND WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHAS. COLLINS, R.B.A., J. HALLIDAY, G. EDWARD COLLINS, R.B.A., AND A. T. ELWES. LONDON: ERNEST NISTER. NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. Swift CONTENTS. Introduction ......... Chap. I. The Apes and Gibbons .... ,, II. B ABOONS ....... ,, III. The American Monkeys and the Lemurs ,, IV. The Bats ....... ,, V. The Insect Eaters ..... ,, VI. The Larger Cats ..... ,, VII. The Smaller Cats ..... ,, VIII. The Civets, the Aard Wolf, and the Hyenas ,, IX. The Dog Tribe ,, X. The W easel Tribe . ,, XI. Th e Bear Tribe ,, XII. The Seal Tribe ,, XIII. The Whale Tribe ,, XIV. The Rodent Animals ,, XV. The Wild Oxen ,, XVI. The Giraffes, Deer, Camels and Zebras ,, XVII. The Elephants, Rhinoceroses, Hippopotami and Wild Swine ..... ,, XVIII. The Edentates, or Toothless Mammals ,, XIX. The Marsupials ..... 5 5 XX. XXI. „ XXII. „ XXIII. „ XXIV. ,, XXV. „ XXVI. Birds of Prey ...... Cuckoos, Nightjars, Humming Birds, Wood peckers, and Toucans .... Crows, Birds of Paradise, and Finches Wagtails, Shrikes, Thrushes, etc. Parrots, Pigeons, Pea-Fowl, Pheasants, etc Ostriches, Herons, Cranes, Ibises, etc. Swimming Birds ..... PAGE 7 8 M 23 35 44 57 71 79 89 103 IJ5 128 136 152 1 7 1 lS7 201 217 224 240 252 262 274 287 299 C0NTEN1 S. HAP. XXVII. ,, XXVIII. XXIX. „ XXXVII. ,, XXXVIII. Tortoises, Turtles and Lizards Snakes ..... Amphibians .... Fresh- Water Fishes . Salt-Water Fishes Insects .... Insects ( continued ) Spiders and Scorpions Crustaceans Sea-Urchins, Star Fishes, and Sea Cucumbers Molluscs .... Annelids and Ccelenterates PAGE 323 337 349 355 365 385 400 4:7 429 44 1 447 463 CORRECTIONS. On page 54, the third line from top of page, instead of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” read “Tempest.” Page 448, in line 8, for Chapter XIII. read Chapter XXXII. INTRODUCTION. T N this book I am going to talk to you about animals, and to show you, as well as I can, what interesting creatures they are, and what wonderful things they do. But first of all I think that I ought to tell you something about the way in which they have been arranged by Nature. We find, then, to begin with, that all living animals belong to one or other of two great groups — those which have bones, and those which have none. And we call those which possess bones “Vertebrates,” those which have none, “ Invertebrates.” Each of these great groups is di\rided into smaller ones, which we term Classes. In the Vertebrate animals there are four of these, known as MAMMALS, BIRDS, REPTILES and FISHES. And we may roughly describe Mammals as hot-blooded animals which are clothed either with fur or with scales , Birds as hot-blooded animals which are clothed with feathers , Reptiles as cold-blooded animals which breathe air, and Fishes as cold-blooded animals which breathe water. That is quite easy to recollect, isn’t it? But I ought to tell you that there are just one or two creatures which seem to come half-way, so to speak, between one group and another. There is a very curious animal known as the Lancelet, for example, and no one seems to feel quite sure whether it is really a fish or not. The Invertebrates are divided into classes in just the same way. There are the Molluscs, or Soft-bodied Animals, for instance; the Articulates, or Jointed Animals; and so on. About these I shall have to talk to you by and by. Then these Classes are divided into smaller groups still, which we may call Tribes. Among mammals we have the Monkey Tribe, the Cat Tribe, and the Dog Tribe; among birds, the Hawk Tribe, the Humming-bird Tribe, the Parrot Tribe, and many others. And even these Tribes are divided again into smaller groups still, which are known as Families. About these, however, we shall read as we go on. So we will pass at once to the animals themselves, and see what we can learn about their lives and their habits, and the work which they have to do in the world. CHAPTER I. THE APES AND GIBBONS. THIRST among the Mammals come the Monkeys. First among the Monkeys come the Apes. And first among the Apes come the Chimpanzees. These are almost the largest of all monkeys, for when it is fully grown a male chimpanzee stands nearly five feet high. And it would be even taller still if only it could stand upright. But that is a thing which no monkey can ever do, because instead of having feet as we have, which can be planted flat upon the ground, these animals only have hind hands. There is no real sole to them, no instep, and no heel; while the great toe is ever so much more like a huge thumb. The consequence is that when a monkey tries to stand upright he can only rest upon the outside edges of these hand-like feet, while his knees have to be bent awkwardly outwards. So he looks at least three inches shorter than he really is, while he can only hobble along in a very clumsy and ungraceful manner. But then, on the other hand, he is far better able to climb about in the trees than we are, because while we are only able to place our feet flat upon a branch, so as to stand upon it, he can grasp the branches with all four hands, and obtain a very much firmer hold. Chimpanzees are found in the great forests of Central and Western Africa, where they feed upon the wild fruits which grow there so abundantly. They spend almost the whole of their lives among the trees, and have a most curious way of making nests for their families to live in, by twisting the smaller branches of the trees together, so as to form a small platform. The mother and her little ones occupy this nest, while the father generally sleeps on a bough just underneath it. Sometimes quite a number of these nests may be seen close together, the chimpanzees having built a kind of village for themselves in the midst of the forest. If you visit the Zoological Gardens in London you may be quite sure of seeing two or three chimpanzees. They are nearly always brought there when they are quite young, and the keepers teach them to perform all kinds of clever tricks. One of them, who was called “Sally,” and who lived there for several years, actually learned to count! If she was asked for two, three, four, or five straws, she would pick up just the right number from the bottom of her cage and hand them to the keeper, without ever making a mistake. Generally, too, she would pick up six or seven straws if the keeper asked for them. But if eight, nine, or ten were asked for she often became confused, and could not be quite sure how many to give. She was a very A NATURAL HISTORY OR MAMMALS. 9 cunning animal, however, and when she became tired of counting she would sometimes pick up two straws only and double them over, so as to make them look like four! “ Sally ” could talk, too, after a fashion, and used to make three different sounds. One of these evidently meant “Yes,” another signi¬ fied “No,” and the third seemed to be intended for “Thank you,” as she always used it when the keeper gave her a nut or a banana. Two kinds of chimpanzees are known, namely the Common Chimpanzee, which is by far the more plentiful of the two, and the Bald Chimpanzee, which has scarcely any hair on the upper Chimpanzee. part of its head. One very intelligent bald chimpanzee was brought over to England in Barnum’s Menagerie, and was even more clever, in some ways, than the famous “Sally” herself. Larger even than the chimpanzee is the famous Gorilla, the biggest and strongest of all the apes, which sometimes grows to a height of nearly six feet. It is only found in Western Africa, close to the equator, and has hardly ever been seen by white travellers, since it lives in the densest and darkest parts of the great forests. But several gorillas — nearly all quite small ones — have been caught alive and brought to England. 2 10 A XATFRAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. One of those, named “Gena,'’ lived for about three weeks in the Crystal Palace. She was a most timid little creature, and if anybody went to look at her she would hide behind a chimpan¬ zee, which inhabited the same cage, and watched over her in the most motherly way. Another, who was called “Pongo,” lived for rather more than two months in the Zoological Gardens, and seemed even more nervous still, for he used to become quite terrified if even his keeper went into the cage. But when the animal has grown up it is said to be a most savage and formidable foe, and the natives of Central Africa are even more afraid of it than they are of the lion. Like most of the great apes, the gorilla has a most curious way of sheltering itself during a heavy shower of rain. If you were to look at its arms, you would notice that the hair upon them is very thick and very long indeed, and that while it grows downwards from the shoulder to the elbow, from the elbow to the wrist it grows upwards. So when it is caught in heavy rain, the animal covers its head and shoulders with its arms. Then the long hair upon them acts just like thatch and carries off the water, so that it hardly gets wet at all! When the gorilla is upon the ground it generally walks upon all fours, bending the fingers of the hands inwards, so that it rests upon the knuckles. But it is very much more active in the trees, and is said to be able to leap to the ground from a branch twenty or thirty feet high, without being hurt in the least by the fall. Another very famous ape is the Orang-Utan, which is found in Borneo and Sumatra. It is reddish-brown in colour, and is clothed with very much longer hair than either the gorilla or the chimpanzee, while its face is surprisingly large and broad, with a very high forehead indeed. But the most curious feature of this animal is the great length of its arms. When a man stands upright, and allows his arms to hang down by his sides, the tips of his fingers reach about half-way between his hips and his knees. When a chimpanzee stands as upright as possible, the tips of its fingers almost touch its knees. But when an orang-utan does the same its fingers very nearly touch the ground ! Of course, when the animal is walking, it finds that these long arms are very much in its way. So it generally uses them as crutches, resting the knuckles upon the ground, and swinging its body between them! But the orang very seldom comes down to the ground, for it is far more at its ease among the branches of the trees. And although it never seems to be in a hurry, it will swing itself along from bough to bough, and from tree to tree, quite as fast as a man can run below. Like the gorilla and the chimpanzee, it makes rough nests of twisted boughs, in which the female animal and the little ones sleep. And if it is mortally wounded, it nearly always makes a platform of branches in just the same way, and sits upon it waiting for death. HHP A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 1 1 Orangs have often been brought to England, and although they are so delicate that they do not thrive at all well in captivity, you may nearly always see them in the Apes’ House at the Zoo. One of these animals, which lived there for some little time, had learned a very clever trick. Leaning up against his cage was a placard, on which were the words “The animals in this cage must not be fed.” The orang very soon found out that when this notice was up nobody gave him any nuts or Orang-Utan. biscuits. So he would wait until the keeper’s back was turned, knock the placard down with the printed words underneath, and then hold out his paw for food! As a general rule, orangs seem far too lazy to be at all savage. Those which one sees at the Zoo nearly always lie about on the floor of their cage all day, wrapped in their blankets, with a kind of good-humoured grin upon their great broad faces. But when they are roused into passion they seem to be very formidable 2* A XA Z Y RA L HISTOR V OR JR 1 JJ JR 1 L S. I 2 creatures indeed, and Mr. A. R. Wallace tells us of an orang which turned upon a Dyak who was trying to spear it, tore his arm so terribly with its teeth that he never recovered the proper use of the limb, and would almost certainly have killed him if some of his companions had not come to his rescue. Next we come to the Gibbons, which are very wonderful creatures indeed. For they are such astonishing gymnasts. Most monkeys are very active in the trees, but the gibbons almost seem to be flying from bough to bough, dashing about with such marvellous speed that the eye can scarcely follow their movements. Gibbons. travellers, indeed, on seeing them for the first time, have -often mistaken them for big blackbirds. They hardly seem to swing themselves Irom one branch to another. They just dart and dash about, upwards, downwards, sideways, backwards, often taking leaps of twenty or thirty feet through the air. And yet, so far as one can see, they only just touch the boughs as they pass with the tips of their fingers. If there should happen to be agibbon in the Apes’ House at the Zoo when next you pay it a visit, be sure to ask the keeper to offer the animal a grape, or a piece of banana, and I A XATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. i 3 feel sure that you will be more than surprised at its marvel¬ lous activity. The arms of the gib¬ bons are very long indeed although not quite so long as those of the orang-utan — so that when these animals stand as upright as they can the tips of their fingers nearly touch the ground. But they do not use these limbs as crutches, as the orang does. Instead of that, they either clasp the hands behind the neck while they are walking, or else stretch out the arms on either side with the elbows bent downwards, to help them in keeping their balance. So that when a gibbon leaves the trees and takes a short stroll upon the ground below, it looks rather like a big letter W suspended on a forked pole ! Gibbons generally live together in large companies, which often consist of from fifty to a hundred animals, and they have a very odd habit ol sitting in the top-most branches of tall trees at sunrise, and again at sunset, and joining in a kind of concert. The leader always seems to be the animal with the strongest voice, and after he has uttered a peculiar barking cry perhaps half a dozen times, the others all begin to bark in chorus. For quite a couple of hours, very often, the outcry is kept up, and is so loud that it may be heard on a still day from a distance of two or three miles. Then by degrees it dies away, and the animals are almost silent until the time for their next performance comes round. Several different kinds of gibbons are known, the largest of which is the Siamang. This animal is found only in Sumatra, and is a little over three feet high when fully grown. If you ever see it at the Zoo you may know it at once by its glassy black colour, and its odd whitish beard. Then there is the Hoolock, which is common in many parts of India, and has a white band across its eyebrows, while the Lar Gibbox, of the Malay Peninsula, has a broad ring of white all round its face. Besides these there are one or two others, but they are all so much alike in their habits that there is no need for me to mention them separately. CHAPTER II. BABOONS. LT OW can we tell a Baboon from an Ape? That is quite easy. Just glance at his face. You will notice at once that he has a long, broad muzzle, like that of a dog, with the nostrils at the very tip. For this reason the baboons are sometimes known as “ Dog- faced Monkeys.” Then look at his limbs. You will see directly that his arms are no longer than his legs. That is because he does not live in the trees, as the apes do. He lives in rough, rocky places on the sides of mountains, where there are no trees at all, so that arms like those of the gibbons or the orang-utan would be of no use to him. He does not want to climb. He wants to be able to scamper over the rocks, and to run swiftly up steep cliffs where there is only just room enough to gain a footing. So his limbs are made in such a way that he can go on all fours like a dog, and gallop along so fast among the stones and boulders that it is hard indeed to overtake him. Perhaps the best known of the Baboons is the famous Chacma, which is found in South Africa. There is nearly always an example to be seen in the Zoo, and the animal is so big, and so strong, and so very, very savage, that if he is put into a large cage in company with other monkeys, he alway’S has to be secured in a corner by a stout chain. A chacma which lived for some years in the Crystal Palace was fastened up in this way, and the smaller monkeys, who knew exactly how far his chain would allow him to go, would sit just about a couple of inches out of his reach, and eat their nuts in front of him. This used to make the chacma perfectly furious, and after chattering and scolding away for some little time, and evidently telling his tormentors what dreadful things he would do to them if ever he got the chance, he would snatch up an armful of straw from the bottom of his cage, and fling it at them with both hands. And if i fed the smaller monkeys with nuts, instead of giving them to him, he would fling the straw at me. Chacmas live in large bands among the South African mountains, and are very difficult to watch, as they always post two or three of their number to act as sentinels. As soon as any sign of danger appears one of the vigilant watchers gives a short, sharp bark. All the rest of the band understand the signal, and scamper away as fast as they can. Sometimes, however, the animals will hold their ground. A NATURAL HISYORY OF MAMMALS. ]5 Ch \ci\i a one of its pursuers lias outstripped the rest, and will then suddenly turn and spring upon him, plunge its teeth into his neck, and, while its jaws are still clenched, thrust the body of its victim away. The result is that the throat of the poor dog is torn completely open, and a moment later its body is lying bleeding on the ground, while the chacma is galloping on as before. These baboons are very mischievous creatures, for they come down from their mountain retreats by night in order to plunder the orchards. And so cautiously is the theft carried out, A hunter was once riding over a mountain ridge when he came upon a band of chacmas, which were sitting upon a rock. Thinking that the}r would at once run away he rode at them. They did not move, however, and when he came a little closer they looked so threatening that he thought it wiser to turn back again. And an angry chacma is a very formidable foe indeed, for it is nearly as big as a mastiff dog, and ever so much stronger, while its great tusk-like teeth cut like razors. When one of these animals is hunted with dogs it will often gallop along until 1 6 A XA RURAL HISTORY OR MAMMALS. that even the dogs on guard know nothing of what is going on, and the animals nearly always succeed in getting away. When it cannot obtain fruit, the chacma feeds chiefly upon the bulb of a kind of iris, which it digs out of the ground with its paw, and then carefully peels. But it is also fond of insects, and may often be seen turning over stones, and catching the beetles which were lying hidden beneath them. It will even eat scorpions, but is most careful to pull off their stings before doing so. Another very interesting baboon is the Mandrill, which one does not often see in captivity. It comes from Western Africa^ s p M \NDRILL. and while it is young there is little that is remarkable about it. But the fully-grown male is a most strange-looking animal, for on each of its cheeks there is a swelling as big as a large sausage, which runs upwards from just above the nostrils to just below the eyes. These swellings are light blue, and have a number of grooves running down them, which are coloured a rich purple, while the line between them, as well as the tip of the nose, is bright scarlet. Then the face is very large indeed in proportion to the size of the body, and the forehead is topped by a pointed crest of upright black hair, while underneath the chin is a beard A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. oi orange yellow. Even this is not all, for on the hind quarters are two large bare patches of the same brilliant scarlet as the nose, so that altogether a grown¬ up male mandrill is a very odd¬ looking creature indeed. The female mandrill has much smaller swellings on her face, which are dull blue in colour, without any lines of either purple or scarlet. Almost all monkeys are subject at times to terrible fits of passion, but the mandrill seems to be the worst-tempered of all. Fancy an animal dying simply from rage! It sounds impossible, doesn't it? Yet the mandrill has been known to do so. And the natives of the countries in which it lives are quite as much afraid of it as they are of a lion. Yet it has once or twice Proboscis Monkey. l,een tamed. If you visit the Natural History Museum at South Kensington, you may see the skin of a mandrill which lived for some years in London, during the earlier part of the nine¬ teenth century. His name was Jerry, and he was so quiet and contented that he was generally known as “Happy Jerry” in consequence. He learned to smoke a pipe. lie was very fond of a glass of beer. He even used to sit at table for his meals, and to eat from a plate by means of a knife and fork. And he became so famous that he was actually taken down to Windsor to appear before King George the Fourth! There is another baboon called the Drill, which is not unlike the mandrill in many respects. But the swellings on its face are not nearly so large and remain black all through its life. It is a much smaller animal, too, and looks, on the whole, very much like a mandrill while it is quite young. Almost as odd-looking as the mandrill, although in quite a different way, is the Gelada, which is found in Abyssinia. Perhaps we may compare it to a black poodle with a very long and thick mane upon its neck and shoulders. When the animal sits upright this mane entirely covers the upper part of its shoulders, so that a gelada looks very much as if it were wearing a coachman’s mantle of long fur. A XATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 1 8 In some parts of Abyssinia geladas are very plentiful, living among the mountains in bands of two or three hundred. Like the chacmas in South Africa, they are very mischievous in the orchards and plantations, always making their raids by night. And it is said that on one occasion they actually stopped no less a person than a Duke of Coburg-Gotha, and prevented him from proceeding on his journey for several hours. The story is that as the Duke was travelling through Abyssinia his road lay through a narrow pass, overhung with rocky cliffs; that one of his attendants, catching sight of a number of geladas upon the rocks above, fired at them; that the angry baboons at once began to roll down great stones upon the path below, and that before they could be driven off they succeeded in completely blocking the road, so that the Duke’s carriage could not be moved until the stones had been cleared away. Whether this story is altogether true or not, 1 cannot say. But there can be no doubt that geladas are very warlike animals. Not only will they attack human beings who interfere with them, they also attack other baboons. When they are raiding an orchard, for instance, they sometimes meet with a band of Arabian baboons, which have come there for the same purpose as themselves. A fierce battle then takes place. First of all the geladas try to roll down stones upon their rivals. Then they rush down and attack them with the utmost fury, and very soon the orchard is filled with maddened baboons, tumbling and rolling over one another, biting and tearing and scratching each other, and shrieking with furious rage. The Arabian Baboon itself is a very interesting creature, for it is one of the animals which were worshipped by the ancient Egyptians. They considered it as sacred to their god Thoth, and treated it with the greatest possible honour; and when it died they made its body into a mummy, and buried it in the tombs of the kings. Sometimes, too, they made use of the animal while it lived, lor they would train it to climb a fig tree, pluck the ripe figs, and hand them down to the slaves waiting below. These baboons sometimes travel along in great companies. The old males always go first, and are closely followed by the females, those which have little ones carrying them upon their backs. As they march along, perhaps, one of the younger animals finds a bush with fruit upon it, and stops to eat a little. As soon as they see what he is doing, a number of others rush to the spot, and begin fighting for a share. But generally one of the old males hears the noise, boxes all their ears and drives them away, and then sits down and eats the fruit himself. Next we come to a group of animals which are called “Dog-shaped Monkeys,” and the most curious of them all is the Proboscis Monkey. 1 his is the only monkey which really possesses a nose. A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 1 9 Some monkeys possess nostrils only, and some have muzzles, but the proboscis monkey has not merely a nose, but a very long nose indeed. So long is this member, in fact, that when one of these monkeys is leaping about in the trees it is said always to keep its nose care¬ fully covered with one hand, so that it may not be injured by a knock against a bough. Strange to say, it is only the male animal which possesses this very long nose, and even he does not get it until he is grown up. Indeed, you can tell pretty well how old a male proboscis monkey is just by glancing at his nose. When he is young it is quite small. As he gets older it grows bigger. And by the time that he reaches his full size it is three or four inches long. Naturally this long nose gives him a very strange appear¬ ance, and his great bushy whiskers, which meet underneath his chin, make him look even more curious still. We do not know very much about the habits of the proboscis monkey, for it has only once been brought alive to this country, and even then it only lived for a very few weeks. But in Borneo, its native country, it lives in the thick forests, and is said to be almost as active among the branches of the trees as the gibbons themselves. The Dyaks do not believe that it is a monkey at all, but say that it is really a very hairy man, who insists on living in the forests in order to escape paying taxes. The Hanuman, another of the dog-shaped monkeys, lives in India, where it is treated with almost as much reverence as the Arabian Baboon was in Egypt in days of old. The natives do not exactly worship these monkeys, but they think that they are sacred to the god Hanuman, from whom they take their name. Besides that, they believe that these animals are not really monkeys at all, but that their bodies are inhabited by the souls of great and holy men, who lived and died long ago, but have now come back to earth again in a different form. So no Hindoo will ever kill a hanuman monkey or injure it in any way, no matter how much mischief it may do. The conse- H AN UMAX. 20 A XA 7Y 7T I L HAS TO A ) ' OF M. 1 MM A L S. quence is that these animals are terrible thieves. They know perfectly well that no one will try to kill them, or even to trap them, so they come into the villages, visit the bazaars, and help themselves to anything to which they may take a fancy. Yet all that the fruit-sellers will do is to place thorn-bushes on the roofs of their shops to prevent the monkeys from sitting there. European sportsmen, however, often find the hanuman very useful indeed. For its greatest enemy is the tiger, and when one of these animals is being hunted a number of hanumans will follow it wherever it goes, and point it out to the beaters by their excited chattering. Next to the tiger, the hanuman dislikes snakes more than any living creature, and when it finds one of these reptiles asleep it will creep cautiously up to it, seize it by the neck, and then rub its head backwards and forwards upon a branch till its jaws have been completely ground away. The hanuman belongs to a group of monkeys which are called Langurs. They may be known by their long and almost lanky bodies, by the great length of their tails, and by the fact that they do not possess the cheek pouches which many other monkeys find so useful. And it is very curious that while the arms of the apes are longer than their legs, the legs of the langurs — which are almost as active in the trees — are longer than their arms. If you ever happen to see a hanuman— at the Zoo, perhaps - — you may know it at once by its black face and feet, and by its very odd eyebrows, which are very bushy indeed, and project quite a long way in front of its face. We now come to the G uenons, of which there are a great many kinds. Let us take two of these as examples of the rest. The first shall be the Green Monkey, which comes from the great forests of Western Africa. You must know it very well indeed by sight, because it is the commonest monkey in every menagerie. It is one of the monkeys, too, which organ- grinders so often carry about on their organs. But they do not care to have it except when it is quite young, for although it is very gentle and playful until it reaches its full size, it afterwards becomes fierce and sullen, and as apt at any moment to break out into furious passion. Like most of the guenons, green monkeys go about in droves, each under the leadership of an old male, who wins and keeps his position by fighting all his rivals. Strange to say, each of these droves seems to have its own district allotted to it; and ii by any chance it should cross its boundary, the band into whose territory it has trespassed will at once come and fight it, and do their utmost to drive it back. Wouldn't it be interesting to know how the animals mark out their own domains, and how they let one another know just how far they will be permitted to go? A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 21 Our second example of the guenons shall be the Diana Monkey, which you may at once recognise by its long, pointed, snow-white beard. It seems to be very proud indeed of this beard, and always holds it carefully back with one hand, while it is drinking, in order to prevent it from getting wet. Why is it called the “Diana” monkey? Because of the curious white mark upon its forehead, which is shaped like the Green Monkey. crescent which the ancients used to think was borne by the goddess Diana. It is a very handsome animal, for its back is rich chestnut brown in colour, and the lower part of its body is orange yellow, while between the two is a band of pure white. Its face and tail and hands and feet are black. It is a very gentle animal, and is very easily tamed. The Mangabeys are very odd-looking monkeys, for they 22 A NATURAL HISTORY OR MAMMALS. all have white eyelids, which are very conspicuous in their sooty- black faces. Indeed, they always give one a kind of idea that they must spend their whole lives in sweeping chimneys. These are among the most interesting of all monkeys to watch, for they are not only so active and full of life that they scarcely seem able to keep still, but they are always twisting their bodies about into all sorts of extraordinary attitudes. When they are kept in captivity they very soon find out that visitors are amused by their antics, and are always ready to go through their performances in order to obtain a nut or a piece of cake. Then they have an odd way, when they are walking about their cages, of lifting their upper lips and showing their teeth, so that they really look just as if they were grinning at you. And instead of carrying their tails behind them, as monkeys generally do, or holding them straight up in the air, they throw them forward over their back, so that the tip comes just above the head. Only four kinds of mangabey are known, and they are all found in Western Africa. There is just one more family of monkeys found in the Old World which I must mention, and that consists of the animals which are known as Macaques. They are natives of Asia, with one exception, and that is the famous Magot, the only monkey which lives wild in any part of Europe. It inhabits the Rock of Gibraltar, and though it is not nearly as common as it used to be, there is still a band of twenty or twenty-live of these animals with which nobody is allowed to interfere. They move about the Rock a good deal. When the weather is warm and sunny, they prefer the side which faces the Mediterranean, but as soon as a cold easterly wind springs up they all travel round to the western side, which is much more sheltered. They always keep to the steepest parts of the cliff, and it is not at all easy to get near enough to watch them. And generally the only way to see them at all is by means of a telescope. The Magot is sometimes known as the Barbary Ape, although of course it is not really an ape at all. But it is very common in Barbary, and two or three times, when the little band of monkeys on the Rock seemed in danger of dying out, a few specimens have been brought over from Africa just to make up the number. The only other member of this family that I can mention is the Crab-eating Macaque, which is found in Siam and Burmah. It owes its name to its fondness for crabs, spending most of its time on the banks of salt-water creeks in order to search for them. But perhaps the strangest thing about it is that it is a splendid swimmer, and an equally good diver, for it has been known to jump overboard and to swim more than fifty yards under water, in its attempts to avoid recapture. CHAPTER III. THE AMERICAN MONKEYS AND THE LEMURS. A GREAT many very curious monkeys live in America; and in several ways they are very different from those of Africa and Asia. Most of the Old World monkeys, for example, possess large cheek-pouches, in which, after eating a meal, they can carry away nearly enough food for another. No doubt you have often seen a monkey with its cheeks perfectly stuffed out with nuts. But in the American monkeys these pouches are never found. Then no American monkey has those bare patches on its hind quarters which are present in all the monkeys of the Old World, with the exception of the great apes, and which are often so brightly coloured. And, more curious still, no American monkey has a proper thumb. The fingers are generally very long and strong; but the thumb is either wanting altogether, or else it is so small that it cannot be of the slightest use. Perhaps the most curious of all the American monkeys are the Spider Monkeys, which really look very much indeed like big black spiders when one sees them gambolling among the branches of the trees. The reason is that their bodies are very slightly built, and their arms and legs are very long and slender, while the tail is often longer than the head and body together, and looks just like an extra limb. And indeed it is used as an extra limb, for it is “prehensile”; that is, it can be coiled round any small object so tightly as to obtain a very firm hold. A spider monkey never likes to take a single step without first twisting the tip of its tail round a branch, so that this member really serves as a sort of fifth hand. Sometimes, too, the animal will feed itself with its tail instead of with its paws. And it can even hang from a bough for some little time by means of its tail alone, in order to pluck fruit which would otherwise be out of its reach. Owing partly, no doubt, to constant use, the last few inches of this wonderful tail are quite bare underneath, without any hair at all. When a spider monkey finds itself upon level ground, where its tail, of course, is of no use to it, it always seems very uncom¬ fortable. But it manages to keep its balance as it walks along by holding the tail over its back, and just turning it first to one side, and then to the other side, just as the need of the moment may require. It uses it, in fact, very much as an acrobat uses his pole when walking upon the tight rope. A X AT URAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 2-] It is rather curious to find that while other monkeys are very fond of nibbling the tips of their own tails, often making them quite raw, spider monkeys never do so. They evidently know far too well how useful those members are to injure them by giving way to such a very silly and unpleasant habit — which is even worse than biting one's nails, isn’t it? When a spider monkey is shot as it sits in a tree, it always coils its tail round a branch at once. And even after it dies, the body will often hang for several days suspended by the tail alone. These monkeys spend almost the whole of their lives in the trees, feeding upon fruit and leaves, and only coming down to the ground when they want to drink. As a general rule they are dreadfully lazy creatures, and will sit on a bough for hours together without moving a limb. But when they are playful, or excited, they swing themselves to and fro and dart from branch to branch, almost as actively as the gibbons themselves. Very much like the spider monkeys are the Howlers, which are very common indeed in the great forests of Central America. They owe their name to the horrible cries which they utter as they move about in the trees by night. You remember, no doubt, how the gibbons hold a kind of concert in the tree-tops every morning and every evening, as though to salute the rising and the setting sun. Well, the howlers behave in just the same way, except that their concert begins soon after dark and goes on all through the night. They have very powerful voices indeed, and travellers who are not used to their noise say that it is quite impossible to sleep in the forest if there is a troop of howlers anywhere within a couple of miles. And it is very hard to believe that the outcry comes from the throats of monkeys at all. “You would suppose,” says a famous traveller, “that half the wild beasts of the forest were collecting for the work of carnage. Now it is the tremendous roar of the jaguar, as he springs upon his prey; now it changes to his terrible and deep-toned growlings, as he is pressed on all sides by superior force; and now you hear his last dying groan beneath a mortal wound. One of them alone is capable of producing all these sounds; and if you advance cauti¬ ously, and get under the high and tufted trees where he is sitting, you may have a capital opportunity of witnessing his wonderful powers of producing these dreadful and discordant sounds.” If one monkey alone is capable of roaring as loudly as a jaguar, think what the noise must be when fifty or sixty howlers —perhaps even more — are all howling at the same time. No wonder travellers find it difficult to sleep in the forest. Perhaps the best known of these monkeys is the Red Howler, which has several times been brought to the Zoo. Its colour is reddish brown, with a broad band of golden yellow running along the spine, while its face is surrounded by bushy whiskers and beard. Spider Monkeys . I NATrRAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS . Another very curious American monkey is the Red-faced Ouakari. If you were to see it from a little distance you would most likely think that it was suffering from a bad attack of scarlet fever; for the face and the upper part of the neck are bright red in colour, as though they had been smeared with vermilion paint. And as its whiskers and beard are sandy yellow, it is really a very odd-looking animal indeed. If an ouakari is unwell, strange to say, the bright colour Red Howler. of its face begins to fade at once, and very soon after death it disappears altogether. Ouakaris are generally caught in a very singular way. They are only found in a very small district on the southern bank of the River Amazon, and spend their whole lives in the topmost branches of the tallest trees, where it is quite impossible to follow them. And if they were shot with a gun, of course, they would almost certainly be killed. So they are shot with a blow-pipe instead. A slender arrow is dipped into a kind of poison called “wourali,” which has been diluted to about half its usual strength, and is then discharged at the animal from below. Only a very slight wound is caused, but the poison is still so strong that the ouakari soon faints, and falls from its perch in the branches. But the hunter, who is carefully watching, catches it in his arms as it falls, and puts a little salt into its mouth. This overcomes the effect of the poison, and very soon the little animal is as well as ever. Ouakaris which are caught in this way, however, are generally very bad-tempered, and the gentle and playful little animals which are sometimes brought over to this country have •2* 3 . I XA7 7 7L / A ///.S' 7YW ) ' OF M. I MM. 1 /, .V. 28 generally been born in captivity, or else have been taken when they were very young indeed. They are very delicate creatures, and nearly always die after a very few weeks of confinement. If you were to see a Cuxio, or Black Saki, as it is often called, the first thing that you would say would most likely be, “What an extraordinary beard!” And your next remark would be, “Why, it looks as if it were wearing a wig!” For its projecting black beard is as big as that of the most heavily- bearded man you ever saw, while on its head is a great mass of long black hair, neatly parted in the middle, and hanging down on either side, so that it looks just like a wig which has been rather clumsily made. The cuxio is extremely proud of its beard, and takes very great pains to prevent it from getting either dirty or wet. Do you remember how the Diana monkey holds its beard with one hand -while drinking, so as to keep it from touching the water? Well, the cuxio is more careful still, for it will not put its lips to the water at all, but carries it to its mouth, a very little at a time, in the palm of its hand. But the odd thing is that it seems rather ashamed of thinking so much about its personal appearance, and, if it knows that anybody is looking at it, will drink just like any other monkey, and pretend not to care about wetting its beard at all. Like most of the sakis, the cuxio is not at all a good- tempered animal, and is apt to give way to sudden fits of furious passion. So savagely will it bite when enraged that it has actually been known to drive its teeth deeply into a deal board. The cuxio is found only in Brazil. Very odd little animals, too, are the Douroucoulis. Some¬ times they are called “Night Monkeys,” because all day long they are fast asleep in a hollow tree. Soon after sunset they wake up. Then all night long they are prowling about the branches of the trees, searching for roosting birds, and for the other small creatures upon which they feed. They are very active, and will often strike at a moth or a beetle as it flies by, and catch it in their deft little paws. And their eyes are made very much like those of cats, so that they can see just as well on a dark night as other monkeys can during the day. The eyes, too, are very large. If you were to look at the skull of a douroucouli, you would notice that the eye-sockets almost meet in the middle, only a very narrow strip of bone dividing them. And the hair which surrounds them is set in a circle, just like the feathers which surround the eyes of an owl. But perhaps the most curious fact about these animals is that sometimes they roar like jaguars, and sometimes they bark like dogs, and sometimes they mew like cats. 1 here are several different kinds of these little monkeys, the most plentiful, perhaps, being the Three-banded Douroucouli, A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 2 9 •3 which has three upright black stripes upon its forehead. They are all natives of Brazil, and other parts of tropical America. One of the prettiest — perhaps the very prettiest — of all monkeys is the Marmoset, which is found in the same part of the world. It is quite a small animal, being no bigger in body than an English squirrel, with a tail about a foot long. This tail, which is very thick and bushy, is white in colour, encircled Red - Fac e i > O u a k a r i . with a number of black rings, while the body is blackish with grey markings, and the face is black with a white nose. But what one notices more than anything else is the long tufts of snowy white hair upon the ears, which make the little animal look something like a white-haired negro. Marmosets are very easily tamed, and they are so gentle in their ways, and so engaging in their habits, that if only they were a little more hardy we should most likely see them in this A NATURAL I LI STURT OR MAMMALS. country as often as we see pet cats. But they are deli¬ cate little creatures, and cannot bear cold, so that they seldom live for more than a very few months when they are brought over to England. This is a great pity, because what they like to eat most of all is the so-called “black beetle” of our kitchens. If only we could keep pet mar¬ mosets, they would very soon clear our houses of cock¬ roaches, as these troublesome creatures ought to be called. They will spend hours in hunting for the insects, and whenever they catch one the)' pull off its legs and wings, and then proceed to devour its body. When a marmoset is suddenly alarmed, it utters an odd little whistling cry. Owing Douroucoulis. to this habit it is sometimes known as the Ouistiti. Last among the monkeys come those very strange animals which are called Lemurs. The reason why that name has been given to them is this. “Lemurs,” by the ancients, were supposed to be ghosts which wandered about by night. Now most of the lemurs are never seen abroad by day. Their eyes cannot bear the bright sunlight; so all day long they sleep in hollow trees. But when it is quite dark they come out, prowling about the branches so silently and so stealthily that they really seem more like spectres than living animals. When you see them close, they do not look very much like monkeys. Their faces are much more like those of foxes, and they have enormous staring eyes without any expression in them at all. The true lemurs are only found in Madagascar, where they are so plentiful that two or three at least may be found in every little copse throughout the island. More than thirty different kinds are known, of which, however, we cannot mention more than two. The first of these is the Ring-tailed Lemur, which may be recognized at once by the fact that its tail is marked just like that of the marmoset. The head and body are shaped like those A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. of a very small fox, and the colour of the fur is ashy grey, rather darker on the back, and rather lighter underneath. It lives in troops in Central Madagascar, and every morning and every night each troop joins in a little concert, just like the gibbons and the howlers. But, oddly enough, this lemur is very seldom seen in the trees. It lives on the ground, in rough and rocky places, and its hands and feet are made in such a way as to enable it to cling firmly to the wet and slippery boulders. In fact, they are not Marmosets. at all unlike the feet ot a house-fly. The body is clothed with very long fur, and when a mother lemur carries her little one about on her back it burrows down so deeply into her thick coat that one can scarcely see it at all. The Ruffed Lemur is the largest of these curious animals, being about as big as a good-sized cat. The oddest thing about it is that it varies so very much in colour. Sometimes it is white all over, sometimes it is partly white and partly black, and some¬ times it is reddish brown. Generally, however, the shoulders and A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. front legs, the middle of the back, and the tail are black, or very dark brown, while the rest of the body is white. And there is a great thick “ruff” of white hairs all round the face. The eyes of this lemur are very singular. You know, of course, how the pupil of a cat's-eye becomes narrower and narrower in a strong light, until at last it looks merely like an upright slit in the eyeball. Well, that of the lemur is made in very much the same way, except that the pupil closes up from above and below instead of from the sides, so that the slit runs across the eyeball, and not up and down. The Slender Loris may be described as a lemur without a tail, and is found in the forests of Southern India and Ceylon. It is quite small, the head and body being only'- about eight inches long, and in general appearance it gives one rather the idea of a bat without any wings. In colour it is dark grey, with a narrow white stripe between the eyes. This animal has a very queer way of going to sleep. It sits on a bough and rolls itself up into a ball with its head tucked away between its thighs, while its hands are tightly folded round a branch springing up from the one on which it is seated. In this attitude it spends the whole of the day. At night it hunts for sleeping birds, moving so slowly and silently among the branches as never to give the alarm, and always plucking off all their feathers before it proceeds to eat them. Strange to say, while many monkeys have no thumbs, the slender loris has no forefingers, while the great toes on its feet are very long indeed, and are directed backwards instead of for¬ wards. Then there are two lemur¬ like animals which are so extra¬ ordinary that each of them has been put into a family all by itself. The first of these is the Tarsi er, which is found in several of the larger islands in the Malay Archipelago. Imagine an animal about as big as a small rat, with a long tail covered thickly with hair at the root and the tip, the middle part being smooth and bare. The eyes are perfectly round, and are so big that they seem to occupy7 almost the whole Slender Loris. A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 33 of the face — great goggle star¬ ing eyes, with very small pupils. The ears are very long and pointed, and stand almost straight up from the head. Then the hind legs are so very long that they remind one of those of a kangaroo, while all the fingers and all the toes have large round pads under¬ neath the tips, which seem to be used as suckers, and to have a wonderful power of grasp. Altogether, the tarsier scarcely looks like an animal at all. It looks like a goblin. This singular creature seldom seems to walk. It hops along the branches instead, just as a kangaroo hops upon the ground. And when it wants to feed it sits upright on its hind quarters, and uses its fore¬ paws just as a squirrel does. Even more curious still is the Aye-aye, of Madagas¬ car, which has puzzled natural¬ ists very much indeed. For its incisor teeth — the sharp cutting teeth, that is, in the middle of each jaw — are formed just like those of the rat and the rabbit. They are made, that is, not for cutting but for gnawing; and as fast as they are worn away from above they grow from beneath. For this reason it has sometimes been thought that the aye-aye is not really a monkey at all. But the way in which its hands and feet are formed shows that, odd as it is, it undoubtedly belongs to the group of the lemurs. The hands, especially, are most curious. All the fingers are long and slender; but the middle one is longer than all the rest, and is so very thin that it looks like nothing but skin and bone. Most likely this finger, which has a sharp little claw at the tip, is used in hooking out insects from their burrows in the bark of trees. But the aye-aye does not feed only upon insects, for it often does some little damage in the sugar plantations, ripping up the canes with its sharp front teeth in order to get at the sweet juices. And it is also said at times to catch small birds, either for the purpose of eating them or else to drink their blood. And it seems to eat fruit as well, while, when it is kept in captivity, it thrives very well indeed on boiled rice. 34 , / MA Tl 74. / L MIS TOR I ' OF MAMMALS. In size, the aye-aye is about as big as a rather small cat, and its great bushy tail is longer than its head and body put together. It is not a common animal, even in Madagascar, and its name of “aye-aye” is said to have been given it owing to the exclamations of surprise which were uttered by the natives when it was shown to them for the first time by an European traveller. But it is more likely that the name comes from the cry of the animal, which is a sort of sharp little bark twice repeated. Strange to say, the natives of Madagascar are very much afraid of the aye-aye. Of course it cannot do very much mischief with its teeth or claws; but they seem to think that it possesses some magic power by means of which it can injure those who try to catch it, or even cause them to die. So that they cannot be bribed to capture it even by the offer of a large reward. Sometimes, however, they catch it by mistake, finding an aye-aye in a trap which has been set for lemurs. In that case they smear it all over with fat, which they think will please it very much indeed, and then allow it to go free. fust now and then, however, one of these animals is brought to this country; and more than once an aye-aye has lived for some little time in the Zoo. But hardly anyone ever saw it, for all day long it was fast asleep in the middle of its straw, only coming out after sunset, when all the visitors had left the Gardens. CHAPTER IV. THE BATS. EXT in order to the monkeys come the Bats, the only mammals which are able to fly. It is quite true that there are animals known as “flying squirrels,” which are sometimes thought to have the power of flight. But all that these can do, as we shall see by and by, is to take very long leaps through the air, aided by the curious manner in which the loose skin of the body is fastened to the inner surface of the legs. Bats, however, really can fly, and the way in which their wings are made is very curious indeed. If you were to look at a bat's skeleton, you would notice, first of all, that the front limbs were very much larger than the hinder ones. The upper arm-bone is very long indeed, the lower arm-bone is longer still, and the bones of the fingers are longest of all. The middle finger of a bat, indeed, is often longer than the whole of its body! Now these bones form the framework of the wing. You know how the silk or satin of a lady’s fan is stretched upon the ribs. Well, a very thin and delicate skin is stretched upon the bones of a bat’s arm and hand in just the same way. And when the little animal wants to fly, it stretches its fingers apart, and so spreads the wing. When it wants to rest it closes them, and so folds it against its body. Then you would notice that a high bony ridge runs down the bat’s breast-bone. Now such a ridge as this always signifies great strength. Because muscles must be fastened at each end to bones; and when the muscles are very large and powerful, the bones must be very strong in order to carry them. So, when an animal wants very strong breast muscles, so that it may be able to fly well, we always find a high bony ridge running down its breast¬ bone; and to this ridge the great muscles which work the wings are fastened. Something more is necessary, however, if the animal is to fly properly. It must be able to steer itself in the air just as a boat has to be steered in the water. Otherwise it would never be able to fly in the right direction. So Nature has given it a kind of air-rudder; for the skin which is stretched upon the wings is carried on round the end of the body, and is supported there, partly by the hind legs, and partly by the bones of the tail. And by turning this curious rudder to one side or the other, or tilting A NA Tl 'R. I L HIS TOR ) ' OF MA SIMA I S. 36 it just a little bit up or a little bit down, the bat is able to alter its course at will. But you would notice something else on looking at a bat’s skeleton. You would notice that the bones of the thumb are not long and slender, like those of the fingers, but that they are quite short and stout, with a sharp hooked claw at the tip. The bat uses this claw when it finds itself upon the ground. It cannot walk, of course, as it has no front feet; so it hitches itself along by means of its thumbs, hooking first one claw into the ground Long-Eared-Bat. and then the other, and so managing to drag itself slowly and awkwardly over the ground. It is not at all fond ol shuffling along in this way, however, and always takes to flight as soon as it possibly can. But as it cannot rise from the ground it always has to climb to a little height and let itself drop, so that as it falls it may spread its wings and fly away. And it always climbs in a very curious manner, with its tail upwards and its head towards the ground, using first the claws of one little foot and then those of the other, just as we might climb a ladder hand over hand. When a bat goes to sleep, too, it always hangs itself up by the claws of its hinder feet. In an old church tower, or a stable loft, you may often find bats suspended in this singular way. And there is a reason for it. The bat wants to be able, at the very A NA 77 07 A L HfSTOR ) ' OF 71/ A MM. 1 /, S. 37 first sign of danger, to 11 y away at once. Now if it lay ilat upon the ground to sleep, as most animals do, it would not be able to do so; for it would have to clamber up a wall or a post to some little height before it could spread its wings. And this would take time. But if it should be alarmed while it is hanging by its hind feet, all that it has to do is to drop into the air and fly off immediately. There is something else, too, which I must tell you about bats. They have the most wonderful power of flying about on the darkest night, without ever knocking up against the branches of trees, or any other obstacles which they may meet on their way. It used to be thought that this was because they had very keen eyes. But it has been found that even a blind bat has this power, which seems really to be due to very sensitive nerves in the wings. You and I can feel a branch by touching it. But a bat is able to feel a branch without touching it, while it is eight or ten inches away, and so has time to swerve to one side without striking against it. Isn’t that strange ? Several different kinds of bats are found in Great Britain, one of the commonest of which is the Long-eared Bat. You may find it by day hanging up in a hollow tree, or perhaps behind a loose sheet of dead bark; and you can hardly go out on a warm evening between March and October without seeing it flying in some numbers. But what becomes of it between October and March ? One scarcely ever sees it during the winter, except, perhaps, on a day which is very much warmer than usual, when one sometimes notices it hawking for flies. And then it will disappear again for weeks, or even for months. The fact is that bats, like hedgehogs and squirrels, pass through the winter in a kind of deep sleep, which we call “hiber- Noctule . / ,YA l 'UR A L HIS 1 V R ) O R J I A JIU UAL S. nation.” It is more than ordinary sleep, for they do not require any food for months together, while they scarcely breathe once in twenty- four hours, and their hearts almost cease to beat. And if the winter is cold throughout, they do not wake at all until the spring. But two or three hours’ warm sunshine arouses them from their slumber. They wake up, feel hungry, go out to look for a little food, and then return to their retreats and pass into the same strange sleep again. I once kept a long-eared bat as a pet, and a most interesting little creature he was. One of his wings had been injured by the person who caught him, so that he could not fly, and was obliged to live on the floor of his cage. Yet, although he could take no exercise, he used to eat no less than seventy large blue-bottle flies every day, or rather every evening. As long as the daylight lasted, he would take no notice of the flies at all. They might crawl about all over him, but still he would never move. But soon after sunset, when the flies began to get sleepy, the bat would wake up. Fixing his eyes on the nearest fly, he would begin to creep towards it so slowly, so cautiously, that it was almost impossible to see that he was moving. By degrees he would get within a couple of inches. Then, quite suddenly, he would leap upon it, and cover it with his wings, pressing them down on either side of his body so as to form a kind of tent. Next he would tuck down his head, catch the fly in his mouth, and crunch it up. And finally he would creep on towards another victim, always leaving the legs and the wings behind him, which in some strange way he had managed to strip off, just as we strip the legs from shrimps. I often watched him, too, when he was drinking. As he was so crippled, I used to pour a few drops of water on the floor of his cage, and when he felt thirsty he would scoop up a little in his lower jaw, and then throw his head back in order to let it run down his throat. But in a state of freedom bats drink by just dipping the lower jaw into the water as they skim along close to the surface of a pond or a stream, and you may often see them doing so on a warm summer’s evening. I wonder wfliether you can hear the cry of the long-eared bat ? Some people can, but a great many people are quite unable to do so, for it is so very shrill that it produces no effect upon their ears. It is just a very high and very thin scream — something like that of the swift, only higher and thinner still, — and very often, to those who can hear them, the air seems full of these screams, as the bats are flying to and fro, wild with excitement as they chase their insect victims. All the British bats utter these shrill cries, but that of the long-eared bat is different from all the rest, and anyone who has noticed it once can always recognize it, even if he hears it with¬ out seeing the bat. A X. I 7 Y TR . I L HIS TOR 1 r OF .11 1 MM A L S. 39 You can always tell this bat at sight by the great size ot its ears. Sometimes they stand straight from the head, and give the animal a very alert and intelligent appearance. But as a rule they are in constant motion, the bat throwing them into graceful folds at every movement of its body. And when it goes to sleep it tucks them away underneath its wings. Another bat which is frequently to be seen in Great Britain is the Noctule, or Great Bat. It is the largest of the British bats, measuring about fourteen inches from tip to tip of the wings when they are fully spread, while the head and the body together are about three inches in length. It generally llies very high in the air, where you can see it hawking for insects on warm summer’s evenings; but about the first or second week in Great Horse-Shoe Bat. Jul)q when the summer chafers come out, it descends lower, and devours them in great numbers. No doubt ) on know these chafers by sight. They are like small cockchafers with very hairy bodies, and they fiy round and round the tops of small trees in great numbers for about twenty minutes soon after sunset, looking almost like a swarm of bees. The noctule is very fond of these beetles, and although they are rather stoutly-built insects, with very large bodies, is said to be able to eat a dozen, one after the other! The winter sleep of this bat is a very long one, tor it generally goes into retreat by the middle of September at the very latest, and is seldom seen again till the end of the following April. The most plentiful of all the British bats is the Pipistrelle. It is only about half as big as the noctule, for the head and body A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 4° together only measure a little more than an inch and a half in length, while the spread of the wings is less than nine inches. And you can generally recognize it in the air by the swiftness of its flight, and by the fact that it does not turn and twist and double in its course nearly so much as all the other bats. The pipistrelle is said to feed chiefly upon gnats, of which it must devour a very large number, and as it much prefers to live near human habitations, there can be no doubt that it helps to keep our houses free from these disagreeable insects. In captivity it will feed freely upon raw meat chopped very small. It appears earlier in the spring than the other bats, and remains about until later in the autumn. Indeed, there are very few evenings from the beginning of March until the end of November on which it may not be seen busily hawking to and fro in search of its insect victims. The H orse-shoe Bats have a most curious leafdike membrane upon the face, which gives them a very odd appearance indeed. In the Great Horse-shoe Bat, which is found in Great Britain, though not very commonly, this membrane is double, like one leaf placed above another. The lower one springs from just below the nostrils, and spreads outwards and upwards on either side, so that it is shaped very much like a horse-shoe, while the upper one is pointed and stands upright, so as partly to cover, the forehead. The ears, too, are very large, and are ribbed cross-wise from the base to the tips; so that altogether this bat is a strange- looking creature. Perhaps none of the British bats is so seldom seen as this, for it cannot bear the light at all, and never comes out from its retreat until darkness has quite set in. And one very seldom finds it asleep during the day, for it almost always hides in dark and gloomy caverns, which are hardly ever entered by any human being. In France, however, there are certain caves in which great numbers of these bats congregate together for their long winter sleep. As many as a hundred and eighty of them have been counted in a single colony. And it is a very strange fact that all the male bats seem to assemble in one colony, and all the female bats in another. In Central and South America, and also in the West Indian Islands, a number of bats are found which are known as Vampires. Some of these eat insects, just like the bats of our own country, and one of them — known as the Long-tongued Vampire— has a most singular tongue, which is very long and very slender, with a brush-like tip, so that it can be used for licking out insects from the flowers in which they are hiding. Then there are other vampires which eat fruit, like the Flying Foxes, about which I shall have something to tell you very shortly. But the best known of these bats, and certainly the strangest, are those which feed upon the blood of living animals. A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 41 If you were to tether a horse in those parts of the forest where these vampires live, and to pay it a visit just as the evening twilight was fading into darkness, you would be very likely to see a shadowy form hovering over its shoulders, or perhaps even clinging to its body. This would be a vampire bat ; and when you came to examine the horse, you would find that, just where you had seen the bat, its skin would be stained with blood. For this bat has the singular power of making a wound in the skin of an animal, and sucking its blood, without either alarming it or appearing to cause it any pain. And if a traveller in the forest Long-Tongued Vampire. happens to lie asleep in his hammock with his feet uncovered, he is very likely to find in the morning that his great toe has been bitten by one of these bats, and that he has lost a consider¬ able quantity of blood. Yet the bat never wakes him as it scrapes away the skin with its sharply-edged front teeth ! Strangely enough, however, there are many persons whom vampires will never bite. They may sleep night after night in the open, and leave their feet entirely uncovered, and yet the bats will always pass them by. Mr. Charles Waterton, for example, the famous traveller, was most anxious to be bitten by a vampire, so that he might learn by his own experience whether the infliction of the wound caused any pain or not. But though he slept for eleven months in an open loft, through which the bats were con¬ stantly passing, they never attempted to touch him, while an Indian lad who slept in the same loft was bitten again and again. But as these bats cannot always obtain blood, it is most likely that they do not really live upon it, but only drink it when they have the chance, and that as a rule their food consists of insects. Now we come to the Flying Foxes which I mentioned just now. Of course they are not really foxes. They are just big 4 A XA Ti '/A 1 L III S TOR 1 ' OF M. 1 MM. 4 L S. 42 bats which feed upon fruit, instead of upon insects or upon blood. But their long, narrow faces are so curiously fox-like that we cannot feel surprised that such a name should have been given to them. You can always see a number of these creatures in the Monkey House at the Zoo. Flying foxes are found in many parts of Asia, as well as in Madagascar and in Australia, and in some places they are very common indeed. In India, for example, long strings of these bats may be seen regularly every evening, as they fly off from their sleeping-places to the orchards in search of fruit. In some parts K \ i.oxo. of Ind ia, indeed, early in the morning and again in the evening, the sky is often black with them as far as the eye can reach, and they continue to pass overhead in an unbroken stream for nearly three-quarters of an hour. And as they roost in great numbers on the branches of tall trees, every bat being suspended by its hinder feet, with its wings wrapped round his body, they look from a little distance just like bunches of fruit themselves. It is rather curious to find that when they are returning to A XATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 43 the trees in which they roost, early in the morning, these bats quarrel and fight for the best places, just as birds do. In districts where they are at all plentiful, flying foxes do a great deal of mischief, for it is almost impossible to protect the orchards from their attacks. Even if the trees are covered all over with netting they will creep underneath it, and pick out all the best and ripest of the fruit; while, as they only pay their visits of destruction under cover of darkness, it is impossible to lie in wait for them and shoot them as they come. The flight of the fruit bats is not at all like that of the bats which we see in England, for as they do not feed upon insects there is no need for them to be constantly changing their course, and darting first to one side and then to the other in search of victims. So they fly slowly and steadily on, following one another just as rooks do, and never turning from their course until they reach their feeding ground. The largest of these fruit bats is the Kalong, which is found in the islands of the Malay Archipelago, and actually measures over five feet from tip to tip of the extended wings ! The Malays often use it for food, and its flesh is said to be verv delicate and well-flavoured. CHAPTER V. THE INSECT EATERS. EXT to the Bats comes the important tribe of the Insect Eaters, containing a number of animals which are so called because most of them feed chiefly upon insects. One of the strangest of these is the Colugo, or Cobego, which lives in Siam, Java, and the islands of the Malay Archipelago. It is remarkable for its wonderful power of leaping, for it will climb a tall tree, spring through the air, and alight on the trunk of another tree seventy or eighty yards away. For this reason it has sometimes been called the “Flying Colugo"; but it does not really fly. It merely skims from tree to tree. And if you could examine its body you would be able to see at once how it does so. First of all, you would notice that the skin of the lower surface is very loose indeed. You know how loose the skin of a dog’s neck is, and how you can pull it up ever so far from the flesh. Well, the skin ot the colugo is quite as loose as that on the sides and lower parts of its body. Then you would notice that this loose skin was fastened along the inner side of each leg, so that the limbs are connected by membrane just like the toes of a duck’s foot. And y7ou would also see that when the legs are stretched out at right angles to the body, this membrane must be stretched out with them. Now when a colugo wishes to take a long leap, it springs from the tree on which it is resting, spreads out its limbs, and skims through the air just as an oyster-shell does if you throw it sideways from the hand. The air buoys it up, you see, and enables it to travel ten times as far as it could without this loose skin. But of course this is not flight. The animal does not beat the air with the membrane between the legs, as bats and birds do with their wings. It cannot alter its course in the air; and it is always obliged to alight at a lower level than that from which it sprang. The colugo is about as big as a good-sized cat, and its fur is olive or brown in colour, mottled with whitish blotches and spots. "The consequence is that when it clings closely to the trunk of a tree, and remains perfectly motionless, it may very easily be overlooked, for it looks just like a patch of bark covered with lichens and mosses. It is said to sleep suspended from a branch with its head downwards, like the bats; and whether this is the case or not, its tail is certainly prehensile, like that of a A XATURAL HISTORY OR MAMMALS. 45 spider monkey. And strangest of all, perhaps, is the fact that, although it belongs to the group of the Insect Eaters, it feeds upon leaves. The common Hedgehog also belongs to the tribe of the Insect Eaters. Everybody, ol course, knows this curious animal by sight. One can scarcely walk through the meadows on a summer’s evening without seeing it, as it moves clumsily about in search of prey. And everybody is familiar with its spiky coat, which affords such an excellent protection against almost all its enemies. But it is not everybody who knows how the animal raises Hedgehog. and lowers its spines. It has them perfectly under control; we all know that. If you pick a hedgehog up it raises its spines at once, even if it does not roll itself up into a ball and so cause them to project straight out from its body in all directions. But if you keep the creature as a pet, and treat it kindly, it will very soon allow you to handle it freely without raising its spines at all. The fact is this. The spines are shaped just like slightly bent pins, each having a sort of rounded head at the base. And they are pinned, as it were, through the skin, the heads lying underneath it. Besides this, the whole body is wrapped up in a kind of muscular cloak, and in this the heads of the spines are buried. So if the muscle is pulled in one direction, the spines A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 46 must stand up, because the heads are carried along with it. If it is pulled in the other direction they must lie down, for the same reason. And it is just by pulling this muscle in one direction or the other that the animal raises and lowers its spines. We do not often see the hedgehog wandering about by day, because it is then fast asleep, snugly rolled up in a ball under the spreading roots of a tree, or among the dead leaves at the bottom of a hedge. But very soon after sunset it comes out from its retreat, and begins to hunt about for food. Its diet is very varied. Sometimes it will eat birds’ eggs, being very fond of those of the partridge; for which reason it is not at all a favourite with the gamekeeper. It will devour small birds, too, if it can obtain them, together with lizards, snails, slugs and insects. It has often been known to kill snakes and to feed upon their bodies after¬ wards. It is a cannibal, too, at times, and will kill and eat one of its own kind. But what it likes best of all is earthworms. The number of these which it will crunch up one after another is perfectly astonishing. I once kept a tame hedgehog, and fed him almost entirely upon worms; and he used to eat, on an average, something like an ordinary jampotful every night of his life. He never took the slightest notice of the worms as long as the daylight lasted; but when it began to grow dark he would wake up, go sniffing about his cage till he came to the jampot, and then stand up on his hind feet, put his fore-paws on the edge, and tip it over. And after about an hour and a half of steady crunching, every worm had disappeared. In most parts of the country the farmers persecute the hedgehog, and kill it whenever they have a chance of doing so. And if you ask the reason, the answer is generally to the effect that hedgehogs steal milk from sleeping cows at night. Now it does not seem very likely that a cow would allow such a spiky creature as a hedgehog to come and nestle up against her body. But, on tire other hand, it cannot be denied that hedgehogs are very often to be seen close by cows as they rest upon the ground. But they have not gone there in search of milk. Don’t you know what happens if you lay a heavy weight, such as a big paving- stone, on the ground ? The worms which are buried underneath it feel the pressure, and come up to the surface in alarm. Now a cow is a very heavy weight; so that when she lies down a number of worms are sure to come up all round her. And the hedgehog visits the spot in search, not of milk, but of worms! The young of the hedgehog, which are usually four in number, do not look in the least like their parents, and you might easily mistake them for young birds; for their spikes are very soft and are quite white, so that they look much more like growing feathers. The little creatures are not only quite blind, but also quite deaf, for several days after birth, and they cannot roll themselves up till they have grown to some little size. The mother animal A NATURAL HISTORY OR MAMMALS. Y always makes a kind of warm nest to serve as a nursery, and thatches it so carefully that even a heavy shower of rain never seems to soak its way through. Strange to say, the hedgehog appears to be quite unaffected by many kinds of poison. It will eat substances which would cause speedy death to almost any other animal. And over and over again it has been bitten by a viper without appearing to suffer any ill results whatever. About the middle of October the hedgehog retires to some snug and well-hidden retreat, and there makes a warm nest of moss and dry leaves. In this it hibernates, just as bats do in hollow trees, only waking up now and then for an hour or two on very mild days, and often passing three or four months without taking any food at all. During the earlier part of the autumn, you may very often find a curious mouse-like little animal lying dead upon the ground. * Common Shrew. But if you look at it carefully, you will see at once that in several respects it is quite different from the true mice. In the first place you will notice that its mouth is produced into a long snout, which projects far in front of the lower jaw. Now no mouse ever has a snout like that. Then you will find that all its teeth are sharply pointed, while the front teeth of a mouse have broad, fiat edges specially meant for nibbling at hard substances. And, thirdly, you will see that its tail, instead of gradually tapering to a pointed tip, is comparatively short, and is squared in a very curious manner. The lact is that the little animal is not a mouse at all, but a kind of shrew. These creatures are very common almost everywhere. But we very seldom see them alive, because they are so timid that the first sound of an approaching footstep sends them away into A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. hiding. Yet they are not at all timid among themselves. On the contrary, they are most quarrelsome little creatures, and are con¬ stantly fighting. If two shrews meet, they are almost sure to have a battle, and if you were to try to keep two of them in the same cage, one would be quite certain to kill and eat the other before very long. They are not cannibals as a rule, however, for they feed upon worms and insects, and just now and then upon snails and slugs. And no doubt they do a great deal of good by de¬ vouring the mischievous grubs which cause so much damage to our crops. cage, Why these little ani¬ mals die in such numbers just at the beginning of autumn, nobody quite seems to know. It used to be thought that they were killed by cats, or hawks, or owls, which refused to eat them because of some unpleasant flavour in their flesh. But then one never finds any mark of violence on their bodies. A much more absurd idea was that they always die if they run WAter Shrew. across a path which has been trodden by the foot of man! Per¬ haps the real reason may be that just at that season of the year they find a difficulty in obtaining food, so that many of them perish from starvation. The Common Shrew, which is found plentifully in all parts of Great Britain, is about three inches long without the tail, and is of a reddish grey colour, which becomes rather paler on the lower parts of the body. But sometimes it is banded with white. Almost as common, if one knows how to look for it, is the Water Shrew. The best way to see this pretty little creature is to go and lie down on the bank of a stream, and to keep per¬ fectly still for five or ten minutes. If you do this — not moving even a finger — you will very likely see half a dozen or more of the little animals at play. They go rushing about in the wildest excitement, chasing one another, tumbling over one another, and uttering curious little sharp, short squeaks, just like a party of boys let out from school after a long morning’s work. Suddenly one will dash into the water and dive, quickly followed by another A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 49 and then by a third. As they swim away beneath the surface they look just like balls of quicksilver, because their soft, silky fur entangles thousands of little air-bubbles, which reflect back the light just as a looking-glass does. And you will notice that they do not swim straight. First they turn to one side, and then to the other side, exactly like someone who has just learned to ride a bicycle, but does not yet know how to keep the front wheel straight. And the reason is this. The shrew swims by means of its hind feet, which are fringed with long hairs, so as to make them more useful as paddles; and it uses them by striking out first with one and then with the other. The consequence is that when it strikes with the right foot its head turns to the left, while when it strikes with the left foot its head turns to the right. But it would not be able to swim even as straight as it does if it wrere not for its tail, which is fringed with long hairs just like the hinder feet. And as the little animal paddles its way through the water it keeps its tail stretched out behind it, and uses it as a rudder, turning it a little bit to one side or the other, so as to help it in keeping its course. After chasing one another under water for a minute or two, the little animals give up their game. And now, if you watch them carefully, you can see them hunting for food. First they go to one stone down at the bottom of the stream, and then to an¬ other, poking their long snouts underneath in search of fresh- water shrimps, or the grubs of water insects. But a minute or two later they are all back on the bank again, dashing about and chasing one another and squeaking as merrily as ever. Sometimes you may see a water shrew which is very much darker in colour than the others, the fur on the upper part of its body being almost black. It used to be thought that such animals as this belonged to a different species, to which the name of “Oared Shrew” was given. But we know now that they are only dark varieties of the common water shrew. The Jumping Shrews are all found in Africa. These are most curious little creatures with extremely long hind feet, by means of which they leap along just as if they were tiny kangaroos. So swift are they, indeed, that it is very difficult for the eye to follow their movements. And as they disappear into their burrows at the slightest alarm and do not come out again for some little time, very few people ever have a chance of watching their habits. The snouts of these shrews are so very long that the little animals are often known as “Elephant Shrews” in consequence. There is a group of these animals, too, called Tree Shrews, because they spend almost the whole of their lives in the trees. In some ways they are not unlike tiny squirrels, being very nearly as active in their movements, and sitting up on their hind quarters to feed, while the food is held in their fore¬ paws. They are found in various parts of Southern Asia, and . I AA l 7 MR. L A HISTOR 1 " OF JR l MM. 1 A A. 50 soon become very tame, actually entering houses, and climbing up on the table while the occupants are sitting at meals. They will even drink tea and coffee out of the cups! And if they are encouraged they make themselves quite at home, and will drive away any other tree shrews which may venture into the house. The largest animal of this group is the Tupaia, which lives in Borneo and Sumatra. But the most curious is the Pen- Tailed Tree Siirew, which has a double fringe of long hairs at the end of its tail, arranged just like the barbs of a feather, so that its tail looks very much like a quill pen. The rest of the tail, which is very long, is covered with square scales; and while the tail itself is black, the fringe of hairs is white, so that the appearance of the animal is very odd indeed. It is found in Jumping Shrews. Sarawak, and also in some of the smaller islands of the Malay Archipelago. The Desman may be described as a kind of mixture of an elephant shrew and a water shrew; for it has an extremely long and flexible snout, and it spends almost its whole life in the water. Its feet are very well adapted for swimming, the toes being joined together by a web-like membrane like those of the duck and the swan, so that they form most exquisite paddles. And the animal is so fond of the water that, although it lives in a burrow in the bank of a stream, it always makes the entrance below the surface. This is a very good plan in one way, for if the little animal is chased by one of its enemies, it can easily take refuge in its long, winding tunnel, which twists about so curiously, and has so many side passages, that the pursuer is almost sure to be baffled. But in another way it is a bad plan, for as the burrow has no other entrance except the one under water, it never gets properly A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. ventilated, the only connection with the outer air being just some chance cranny in the ground. And in winter time, when deep snow has covered up this cranny, while the surface of the stream is frozen to a depth of several inches, the poor little desman can get no fresh air at all, and very often dies in its own burrow from suffocation ! This animal has a curious musky odour, which is due to certain glands near the root of the tail. So strong is this odour, that if a pike happens to have swallowed a desman a few days before it is caught, its flesh cannot be eaten, for its whole body both smells and tastes strongly of musk. Two kinds of desman are known. One is the Russian Desman, which is found in the Steppes, anti the other is the Pyrenean Desman, which lives in the range of mountains from which it takes its name. In days of old the former of these two animals was an inhabitant of the British Islands. Next we come to a little animal which is per- Insect Eaters — namely, the ^ex-Tailed Tree Shrew. of all the haps the most interestin Common Mole. Have you ever noticed how wonderfully it is suited for a life which is almost entirely spent under the ground ? Notice, first of all, the shape of its body. It is a pointed cylinder. Now that is the very best shape for a burrowing animal, because it offers so little resistance to the ground as the creature forces its way along. And nowadays we make all our boring tools and weapons of that shape. The gimlet, which has to bore through wood; the bullet, which has to bore through air; the torpedo and the submarine boat, which have to bore through water — they are all made in the form of pointed cylinders. And the mole is a pointed cylinder too. Its body is the cylinder, and its head is the point; and so the animal is able to work its way through the soil with as little difficulty as possible. Then notice the character of its fur. It has no “set” in it. 5 2 A X A AURAL HISTORY ' OF J/AJ/ JAILS. You can stroke it backwards or forwards with equal ease. And this is most important in an animal which lives in a burrow. If a mole had fur like that of a cat, it would be able to travel head foremost through its tunnel quite easily; but it could not move backwards. And this would never do, for sometimes the mole is attacked by an enemy in front, while it has no room to turn round in order to retreat. So nature has made its fur in such a way that it “gives” in either direction, and enables the little animal to move either forwards or backwards with equal ease. Then mark what wonderful front paws it has — so broad, so very strong, and armed with, such great, stout claws. They are partly pick-axes, and partly spades, which can tear away the earth and fling it up into “mole-hills” with the most wonderful speed. The rapidity with which a mole can dig is really marvellous. Three times I have seen moles walking about on the ground. Each Desman. time I was within ten yards of the animal; each time I ran to the spot. And yet each time the little creature had disappeared into the ground before I could get there! It did not seem to be digging. It simply seemed to sink into the soil, just as though it were sinking into water. Then just see how hard and horny the skin of the paws is. If it were, not for this, the mole would be always cutting itself with sharp flints as it dug its way through the ground. Notice, too, how both the eyes and ears are hidden away underneath the fur, so that fragments of earth may not fall into them. Nature has been very careful, hasn’t she, to suit the mole to the strange life which she calls upon it to lead ? Perhaps no animal is so strong for its size as the mole. Its muscles and sinews are so hard that they will turn the edge of a knife! If a mole could be magnified, indeed, to the size of A Nu 1 TURA L HIS TOR 1 r OF IF 1 MAT 1 1 S. 53 a lion or a tiger, and its strength could be increased in corres¬ ponding degree, it would be by far the more powerful animal of the two. The reason why the mole is so strong, and so well suited for a life underground, is that it is meant to feed partly upon worms, and partly upon such grubs as “wire worms” and “leather- jackets,” which live on the roots of plants. And the appetite of the animal is perfectly astonishing. It is perpetually eating, and yet never appears to be satisfied. Don’t think of keeping a mole as a pet; because, if you do, you will have to spend almost the /- f I X ■ Mole. whole of your time m digging up worms for it to eat! Mole- catchers say, indeed, that if a mole goes without eating for three hours it is in danger of starvation! So that the animal must spend the greater part of the day, and of the night too, in searching for food. How does it find the worms and grubs ? Well, of course it cannot see underground; so sometimes, I think, it smells them, for its scent is certainly very keen. But far more often, most likely, it hears them moving about ; for its ears are even keener still. Haven’t you noticed that, although you may often walk through fields which are almost covered with mole-hills, you never see the earth being thrown up ? That is because the mole hears 54 A XATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. you coming. It hears your footsteps when you are a hundred yards distant, or even more, and immediately stops work until you have gone away again. In the “ Midsummer Night's Dream,” Caliban tells Prospero to “tread softly, that the blind mole may not hear a footfall.” And although Shakespeare was mistaken in thinking that moles are blind, he was quite right in reminding us that they have very sharp ears. Now, are we to think of the mole as a friend or a foe ? The gardener, of course, looks upon it as a foe; and so it is when it drives its tunnels under our lawns, and throws up great heaps of earth on the surface of the grass. And the farmer regards it as a foe too, and kills it whenever he has an opportunity. But I do not think that the farmer quite knows what a busy little animal the mole is, and what thousands and thousands of mis¬ chievous grubs it devours. There are wire worms, which nibble away at the roots of plants till they kill them, and then move on to destroy other plants in the same way. There are “leather- jackets,” or daddy-long-legs grubs, which feed upon the roots of grass, and sometimes ruin all the turf in a meadow. There are the great fat white grubs of the cockchafer, which are worse, perhaps, than either; and many others as well. Now the mole is always preying upon these. It eats them in hundreds every day of its life. And just think of all the mischief that they would have done if they had been allowed to live! No doubt it is annoying to the farmer to have mole-hills among his hay, which blunt the knives ot the reaping-machines, and prevent them from cutting properly. But even that is better than having no hay to cut ; and there would be none if all these mischievous grubs were allowed to live. But there is another way as well in which the mole is use¬ ful; for the earth which it digs up from down below, and throws up in heaps on the surface of the ground, serves for what the farmer calls a “top-dressing.” After a time, you see, the nourish¬ ment in the soil at the surface is sucked out of it by the roots of the grass. If it were in a garden, the farmer could dig it. If it were in a corn-field, or a turnip-field, he could plough it. But in a meadow, he can do neither, without destroying the pasture. So he applies a “top-dressing.” He gets some good, rich earth from elsewhere, and spreads it over the surface; and this earth works down to the grass roots, and gives them just the nourishment which they require. Now this is exactly what the mole is always doing. The earth which it throws up is fresh, rich earth from down below, which the roots have not reached. It is just what the failing grass requires. And if the farmer just rakes the mole-hills down, so as to spread this earth evenly over the surface of the field, he finds that it forms a “top-dressing” quite as good as any which he could apply himself. A XATFRAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 55 So instead of looking upon the mole as one of his enemies, he ought to include it in the list of his labourers. Another thing that I must tell you about the mole is the way in which it obtains water. It is a very thirsty animal, and constantly requires to drink. At the same time, it cannot leave its burrow half a dozen times a day, in order to visit a stream or a pond, for it would almost certainly be killed by one of its many enemies. So it actually digs little wells of its own, always doing so in the dampest parts of its tunnels, where they fill up almost immediately! And when it wants to drink it just goes off to the nearest of these wells, and satisfies its thirst. But the most wonderful thing that the mole does is to make what we call a “fortress,” surrounding the chamber in which it sleeps. This fortress is situated either in a natural mound of earth, or else beneath the spreading roots of a tree or a large Star-Nosed Mole. bush; and it is made in this way. First the mole digs a short circular gallery. A little way underneath this it digs another, rather larger in diameter, and connects the two by means of five short passages. In the middle of the mound, and about half way between the two galleries, it scoops out a large round hole, from which three passages run to the lower gallery. This is the mole’s bedroom, and it communicates with the main burrow by a tunnel which dips underneath the lower gallery. Finally, a number of runs branch out from the lower gallery in all directions. So, you see, if a mole is chased by an enemy, it can nearly always escape by passing through its fortress. It goes up one passage, down another, up again by a third, down again by a fourth, and then off by one of the side runs; so that its pursuer is almost sure to be bewildered. And if the little animal should A NATURAL INS 'TORY OF MAMMALS. 56 be surprised while asleep, it can escape in any direction without losing even a moment. As the mole always likes to make itself comfortable, it collects together a quantity of dry grass, moss and leaves, and piles them up in the central chamber, so as to make a warm and cosy bed! And the female mole makes a nursery for her little ones in much the same way. Sad to say, moles are very quarrelsome little animals, and frequently fight if they happen to meet. Here is an account of one of their battles, written by a passer-by who happened to witness it. “Walking along a quiet lane on May 1st, 1887, I heard some very funny little squeaks proceeding from the other side of the hedge. I am perfectly used to all sorts of animal and bird sounds, but had never heard the like of these before. On getting cautiously over the hedge, I found two moles fighting in the ditch. I went to within two yards of them, but they took not the slightest notice of me, so intent were both on their business. I at once looked at my watch. They kept on, up and down, scratch and bite, for seven minutes, when one turned the other completely over on his back, and seized him by the throat, which he cut as cleanly as if done by a knife, thus finishing the fight. The way in which they used their formidable front feet was surprising.” Another kind of mole, called the Star-nosed Mole, is found in Canada and the United States. It is a very odd-looking animal, for its muzzle is produced into a long snout, at the tip of which is a circle of fleshy rays of a rosy red colour, which look like the petals of a red daisy, or the spreading arms of a sea anemone! These rays can be opened widely out or closed up at pleasure, and seem to serve as very delicate organs of touch, helping the animal in finding and catching its prey. This mole — which resembles the common English mole in colour — is also remarkable for having a very long tail, which is more than half the length of the head and body. The total length is about seven inches. CHAPTER VI. THE LARGER CATS. NJ OW we come to the Beasts of Prey, foremost among which stand the members of the great Cat Tribe. All these animals have their bodies formed in a very wonderful way. First of all, their eyes are intended for use chiefly by night. If you look at a cat’s eyes during broad daylight, when the sun is shining, you will notice that the pupils, through which she sees, are nothing more then mere narrow slits in the middle. Look at them again towards evening, when the twilight is just beginning to creep on, and you will see that the pupils are a good deal bigger, occupying nearly half the eyeball. Look at them once again, when it is almost dark, and you will find that they are bigger still, having widened out over pretty well the whole of the eye. Now the eyes of a lion and a tiger are made in just the same way. The darker the night, the more the pupils expand, so that they may be able to take in the few rays of light that there are. We sometimes say that these animals can see in the dark. That, of course, is a mistake, for in perfect darkness no animal can see at all. But even on the darkest night there is always some light, and no matter how little there is it is enough to allow lions and tigers to see perfectly well, just because of the wonderful way in which their eyes are made. But these creatures do not only want to be able to see their victims on a dark night ; they also want to be able to creep up to them without making the slightest sound. It would be quite useless, for instance, for a lion to chase a deer, because the deer is by far the swifter animal of the two. If the lion is to catch the deer at all he must spring upon it unawares, and strike it down before it knows its danger. And this is not at all easy, for the ears of a deer are very sharp, and if the lion were to make the least noise while creeping up, it would take the alarm directly. But underneath his great broad paws the lion has soft, fleshy cushions, which enable him to walk along without making any noise at all. Haven’t you noticed how silent a cat’s tread is ? You simply cannot hear her place her foot upon the ground. Well, lions and tigers walk in just the same noiseless manner, so that the deer never hears them creeping up, and is struck down and killed before it has time to realise its danger. 5 . I W 1 Ti YA I A HISTOR ) ' OF JA 1 MM A LS. 5-s But suppose that there are bushes in the way. Suppose, for example, that in order to approach the deer at all the lion must creep through a thicket. Is#he not quite sure to brush up against a branch as he does so, causing the leaves to rustle ? And will not the deer hear the sound and take the alarm ? Well, no doubt this would happen if the lion had to depend for his silent approach only on the soft cushions under¬ neath his feet. But then, you see, he has whiskers as well ! Perhaps you thought these were only meant for ornament. But they are meant for use ; and they are employed in a very curious manner. When they are spread out on either side, they measure from tip to tip exactly the width of the body. Be¬ sides this, there is a very delicate sensitive nerve at the root of every whisker, which runs straight to the brain. So, you see, if the tip of the whisker is touched, the brain feels it directly; and if as the lion is creeping through the bushes his outspread whiskers brush against the branches, he knows at once that there is no room for him to pass without making a noise and alarming his victim. So he draws his head back, and creeps up by another way. Then it is very important that his claws should be kept sharp ; for he depends upon them for tearing his victim down. So every claw tits into a sheath, which protects the point, and prevents it from being worn down by rubbing against the ground. You can easily see these sheaths by examining the paw of a cat ; and those of the lion and tiger are formed in just the same way. And the muscles which work them are so arranged that they keep the claws always drawn back, except just when the animal uses its paw in striking. And then, once more, these animals have very curious tongues. Haven’t you noticed when a cat has licked your hand how very dry and rough her tongue feels? It is quite different from the smooth, wet tongue of a dog. Well, the tongue of a lion or tiger is even rougher still; and if you were to look at it sideways, you would see why. It is covered all over with sharp, hooklike projections, the points of which are directed to¬ wards the throat. The reason is this : A lion or a tiger does not succeed in killing prey every night. Sometimes it hunts for one night, sometimes for two nights, sometimes even for three nights, with¬ out any success at all. So that when it does catch a victim, it wants to eat as much of its flesh as it possibly can. And if its tongue were not made in this singular manner, it would have to waste a great deal ; for its sharp-pointed teeth cannot tear off nearly all the flesh of the bones. By means of its rough tongue, however, it can lick off even the tiniest scraps ; and not even the smallest atom has to be wasted. If you give a dog a bone which is too big for him to . 1 AA l Tl 'R . I L HIS TOR 1 ' OF JT 1 JAJA 1 L S. 59 crunch up and swallow, you will always find that he leaves a good deal of meat upon it. But if you give a similar bone to a hungry cat, you will find that she licks it perfectly clean. That is because her tongue is made in just the same way as that of a lion. About forty different kinds of Cats are known altogether, most of which are found in the warmer parts of Africa and Asia. The most famous of all, of course, is the Lion, which is spread over the greater part of the African continent, and is also found in Persia and in India. I need not describe the lion, for everybody knows perfectly well what it is like. But perhaps you do not know that the Indian lion hardly ever has a mane. For this reason it was formerly thought that there were two different kinds of lions, the Indian animal being quite different from that found in Africa. But we now know that this is not the case, and that the Indian lion is only a kind of variety, not a distinct species. But there are very few lions left in India now, while even in Persia they are not nearly so plentiful as they used to be. In many parts of Africa, however, these animals abound, and it is not at all an uncommon thing for six or eight to be seen together. During the daytime, the lion is generally fast asleep, lying up in a thicket, or in a bed of reeds by the side of a pool or a river. But as soon as night falls he leaves his retreat, and begins to prowl about in search of prey, roaring loudly from time to time. One would think that this would only alarm other animals, and lead them to seek safety in flight. But when a lion roars he generally puts his head close to the ground, and this has the effect of making it almost impossible for them to tell from which direction the sound is coming, so that they do not know how best to try to escape him. And very often, in their bewilderment, they rush to the very spot where he is lying in wait. When a lion springs upon his victim, he either kills it by a stroke from his terrible paw, or else bites it in the throat or across the back of the neck. He then drags it away to some convenient retreat, eats his fill, and returns to his lair to sleep. Next day, very likely, he will return to the carcase for another meal. But when he gets there he often finds that the jackals and hyenas have discovered it, and have left very little indeed for him. Wherever a lion goes, indeed, he is almost sure to be followed by a number of jackals, all anxious to feast on the remains of the animals which he kills. But he never allows them to approach until he has eaten as much as he can possibly swallow, and it is said that if one of them attempts to do so he _ * Go „ / A7 1 77 77 / 7 HIS'TOR ) ' OF M ■ l MM \ I AS. will catch it and bite off all its paws as a warning to the others to be more respectful. According to a great many hunters, the lion is not nearly so courageous as it is generally supposed to be, and is really rather a cowardly animal. They say, for example, that it will hardly ever face a man unless it is brought to bay, but will always try to slink away and escape. If they kill a deer, too, and want to protect its body from the lions, the)" can always do so by tying two or three streamers of white cloth to sticks planted round the carcase, so that they flutter in the wind. And though the animals may prowl round and round all through the night, roaring loudly from time to time, they will never venture to approach within fifteen or twenty yards. Neither will they attack a tethered horse if the bridle is left hanging from its neck. All hunters agree, however, that if a lion is wounded, or if it sees no chance of escape, it is a most terrible foe, and can¬ not be encountered without the utmost peril. If a lion is captured while quite young, it is very easily tamed, and can even be taught to perform all kinds of tricks at the word of command. But lions which are born in captivity are not nearly so easy to manage, and can never be depended upon for a moment. Lions generally have three or four cubs at a birth, and the little animals are just as playful as kittens. But although they are always ready for a good romp it is not wise to play with them, for a baby lion is as big as a good-sized cat, and is very much stronger, so that a bite from its teeth or a blow from its paw is rather a serious matter. For the first few months of their lives the cubs are brindled, almost like tigers, the stripes disappearing by degrees as the fur grows darker. They do not reach their full size until they are about four years old. The Tiger is found principally in the jungles of India, although it is spread over the greater part of Central and Southern Asia. In some respects it is a finer animal than even the lion. It is certainly stronger; it is quite as courageous; and it is very nearly as large, although the shortness of its legs and the absence of a mane cause it to appear a good deal smaller. I suppose that anyone, on seeing a tiger for the first time, would imagine that it must be a very conspicuous animal in its native jungle. But, as a matter of fact, this is not the case at all. As long as a tiger keeps perfectly still it is most difficult to see him, even if you happen to be looking straight at him; for his bright orange fur, marked with glossy black stripes, looks just like the yellow leaves of the jungle grass, with streaks of deep shadow between them. This colouring, of course, helps the . / ArA TL rRA L HIS 'TOR 1 " OF AL l A/A A 1 1 S. 6 •> tiger in two ways. In the first place, when lie is hunting, it enables him to creep up to his victims without being seen; and in the second place, when he is being hunted himself, it often allows him to crawl away without being noticed. In some parts of India tigers are still extremely common ; and of course they do a great deal of mischief. They are very fond, for example, of preying upon domesticated cattle, and some¬ times, every four or five days for months together, the same tiger will kill and carry away a bullock from the same herd, lie generally kills his victims by springing upon them suddenly, seizing their throats with his jaws, and then wrenching their heads backwards and sideways, so as to break their necks. Then he will either drag away the carcase into the jungle at once, or will hide close by, and come back in order to feast upon it when night is beginning to fall. Of course a tiger cannot devour the whole of a bullock’s body at one meal ; but at the same time he does not care to leave the remainder for the jackals. So when he has eaten his fill he nearly always finds a sleeping place close by, so that if he should wake up and hear a party of jackals quarrelling over the carcase, he can rush out at them and drive them away. But worse -by far than the cattle-destroying tigers are the man-eaters. These are sometimes said to be the old and almost toothless animals which can no longer kill a buffalo or a bullock, and therefore take to preying upon human beings instead. But very often quite a young animal becomes a man-eater; and it is said that if a tiger should once taste human blood, he will always prefer it afterwards to any other food. A man-eating tiger will often throw a whole district into a state of terror. Day after day he will conceal himself among the thick bushes which border a native road, and lie in wait for solitary passers by. One day, perhaps, a man will be carried off; the next day a woman; the day afterwards a child. No one knows whereabouts the animal is hiding; and sometimes he will succeed in killing fifty or sixty human beings before he is dis¬ covered and destroyed. Wh en the natives kill a tiger, they generally do so by driving him into a small clump of jungle, surrounding it with stout netting, and then spearing him through the meshes. Or perhaps they will climb a tree close to the carcase of a bullock which the animal has killed, and shoot him when he comes at dusk to feast upon its remains. But in Oude the tiger is said to have been formerly destroyed in a very curious way. A number of leaves of the prauss tree, which are large and broad like those of a sycamore, wrere smeared with a kind of bird-lime, and laid upon the ground in the animal’s path. When he came along one of these leaves would stick to Ins paws, and he would find that he could not shake it off. So he would try to remove it by 64 A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. rubbing it against his face. The only result, of course, would be that his nose and eyes became covered with bird-lime. Mean¬ while he had trodden upon other leaves, which he tried to remove in the same way. Before very long his eyelids were stuck down so that he could not open them. Then he would he down and rub his face upon the ground, covering it with earth, and so making matters worse. By this time he would be thoroughly frightened and begin to howl pitifully, so that when the hunters came running up they found the poor beast an easy prey. Europeans, however, hunt the tiger by means of elephants, which of course have to be most carefully trained before they can be depended upon to face the furious animal. A number of elephants are generally employed, the hunters riding in “how- dahs” upon their backs, while several hundred natives, perhaps, act as beaters, shouting and yelling, beating drums, firing off guns, and making as much din as they possibly can to frighten the animal from its retreat. Sometimes it is so terrified that it slinks out, and falls an easy prey. But now and then it will charge the nearest elephant with the utmost fury, sometimes springing upon it and almost reaching the liowdah before it is killed by a well-directed bullet. The number of tiger cubs in a litter varies from two to five, or even six, although families of more than three are not very common. The little ones do not reach their full size until they are three years old, and during the whole of that time they go about with their parents. Much smaller than either the lion or the tiger, but still a very large and powerful animal, is the Leopard, which is sometimes known as the Panther. It is spread over almost the whole of Africa, and also over the greater part of Asia, and in many districts is very common indeed. You can always recognise the leopard by its markings. The ground colour of the fur is bright yellow, with just a tinge of red in it, becoming lighter on the flanks, and passing into white on the lower surface of the body. The spots are black, and those on the back and sides are always ring-shaped, enclosing a patch of yellow. Sometimes, however, the whole of the fur is black. But even then you can see the spots, which look some¬ thing like the markings in watered silk. Strange to say, these black leopards always seem far more savage than the others, and those who have had them under their care say that it is quite impossible to tame them. In spite of its smaller size, the leopard is very nearly as powerful as the tiger, and in some ways is an even more formidable foe. It is much more active, for instance, and is more easily roused into rage ; while it can climb trees like a cat, and spring down upon a passer-by from among the branches. It does not as a rule attack man, and will always seek safety in flight if Leopard. monkey. When it kills an animal it does not leave the carcase lying on the ground as the tiger does, and visit it night after night until it is consumed, but carries parts of its body up into a tree, and hides them in a kind of larder which it has made among the branches. Those who have hunted it say that the leopard is a far more difficult animal to kill than the tiger. The reason is that it is so much more wary. A tiger, as it creeps through the jungle, will look most carefully in front of it as it moves along, as well as on either side, but it never seems to think of looking _ / XA Tl VvL I L HIS TOR ) ' OF JT l MM. I L S. 65 it can. But if it is brought to bay it will light with the utmost fury, and nothing will check it but a bullet through the heart or the brain. When it can do so, the leopard always likes to live near the habitations of man, because there it has so many opportunities of springing upon a pony, a sheep or a goat. At night, too, it will rob the hen roosts, or make its wTay into the pens where the calves are kept, and carry one of them off before its presence is even suspected. Dogs, too, fall victims to it in great numbers, and now and then it succeeds in pouncing upon an unwary A AL l Ti 7L / L II IS TOR J ' OF M. U/JR i AS. 66 up into the branches of a tree above, to see if an enemy is hiding there. So very often the hunter is able to shoot it before it lias the least idea that it is in danger. But a leopard is much more cautious, and never comes back to its lair, or to the remains of its “kill,” without carefully examining the boughs above as well as the bushes below; so that unless the hunter is very well concealed indeed, the animal is almost sure to discover him and to crawl silently away before he has the chance of a shot. The Ounce looks rather like a leopard with very light- coloured fur. But the rosette¬ like spots are a good deal larger, the fur is very much longer and thicker, and the tail is almost as bushy as that of a Persian cat. The reason why the fur is so thick is that the ounce lives in very cold countries. It is found high up in the mountains of Central Asia, ascending during the summer to a height of per¬ haps eighteen thousand feet — just fancy it, a good deal higher than the summit of Mont Blanc! — and coming down to the lower levels in winter. In other words, it is hardly ever seen below the snow line, and is often known as the “ Snow Leopard ” in consequence. So it wants good thick, warm fur, doesn’t it ? Of course we do not know very much about its habits, for it is a very difficult animal to watch in a state of nature. Very few people, indeed, ever see it. And it has only once or twice been brought to Europe alive. But it seems to prey chiefly upon wild goats, wild sheep, and those odd little burrowing animals which wre call marmots, and also upon domesticated sheep and cattle which are sent up to graze on the higher slopes of the mountains. It is said never to venture to attack man. Still more like a leopard is the Jaguar, which lives in Central and South America. But you can tell it at once by looking at the rosette-like marks on its body, most of which have either one or two small patches of dark brown fur in the middle. It also has three or four bold black streaks across its breast, which are never seen in the leopard. And its tail, too, is ever so A Nu l Ti TR. 1 I HIS TOR ) ' OF M I MM / L S. much shorter, the tip scarcely reaching to the ground when the animal is standing upright. The jaguar is perhaps an even better climber than the leopard, and seems far more at its ease among the branches than upon the ground. Indeed, there are some parts of the great swampy forests of Brazil in which the animal is said never to descend to the ground at all, but to spend its whole life in the trees which stand so closely side by side that it can easily spring from one to another. You wonder, perhaps, what it feeds upon. Why, upon monkeys, and very active indeed it has to be if it wishes to catch them. But then, when a band of monkeys dis¬ cover a jaguar, they are never able to resist the temptation of getting as close to him as they dare, and chattering and screaming as loudly as they can, just to annoy him. J AGUAR. Isn’t that exactly like monkeys? But sometimes they venture just a little too close, and then, with a sudden spring, he seizes the nearest of his impudent tormentors and carries it shrieking away. Birds, too, are often caught by the jaguar, who pounces upon them as they are roosting upon a branch. But he is not at all particular as to what he eats, and sometimes he will leave the trees altogether, and go hunting in the reed-beds by the river-side for capybaras. lie is very fond of these animals, for they are so slow in their movements that they cannot run away, so badly provided with natural weapons that they cannot fight, and so fat and delicate that they afford most excellent eating. Then, just for a change, perhaps, he will stroll down to the sea-shore, and look for a good big turtle. When he sees one — which is generally a female on her way back to the A A 7 I 7 Y 77. I L HISTOR ) ' OF M. / J/JA I L S. 68 water after laying her eggs in the sand— he seizes it suddenly with his fore-paws, and turns it over on its hack, so that it can¬ not possibly escape. Then, perhaps, if he is not very hungry indeed, he leaves it for a little while. But very soon he returns, and manages to scoop out all the flesh of the animal from between the shells by means of his long hooked talons, thrusting in his paw over and over again, till scarcely the smallest particle is left remaining. Very likely, too, he will find the spot where the turtle had laid her eggs, dig them up, and devour them as well. Sometimes, too, he will crouch on the bank ot a [stream, quite close to the water, and hook out the Ash that pass by with his claws. And when he is very hungry indeed, he will eat lizards and even insects. Bike the ounce, however, the jaguar seldom or never ventures to attack a human being, although he will fight with the utmost lury if he is driven to bay. But he will often spring upon horses and cattle, and in such cases he nearly always kills them by seizing their heads between his front paws, and giving a sudden wrench sideways and upwards so as to break their necks. A HA 7 I VvJ . I L HIS TOR ) ' OF J !. 1 JR 1/A 7. S. 69 Like most of the cats, the jaguar sharpens its claws by scratching the trunks of trees, and sometimes a tree may be found with gashes in its bark quite an inch deep and more than a yard long. Next to the jaguar, the Puma is the largest of the American cats, a fully-grown male being sometimes as much as eight feet in total length, of which about three feet is taken up by the tail. In colour it is tawny brown, becoming lighter on the lower surface, and without any spots at all. But the odd thing is that its young are marked all over with large blotches of blackish brown, while their tails are ringed with black like that of the tiger. And these markings do not disappear until they are more than six months old. The puma is found in almost all parts of the American continent, irom British Columbia in the north to Patagonia Clouded Leopard. in the south, and it is even said to have been seen in Tierra del Fuego. It spends the greater part of its life in the trees, being almost as good a climber as the jaguar. But it almost always hunts upon the ground, trying to creep stealthily up to its victim, and to spring upon it before its presence is even suspected. It scarcely ever ventures to attack a man, but will often follow him for a long distance as though it were waiting an opportunity to pounce upon him unawares. But if he suddenly turns and faces the animal, it will always slink away, even if he is quite unarmed. Sometimes, too, it will allow itself to be killed without attempting to defend itself at all. So hunters have a rather poor opinion of its courage. The farmers, however, have very good reason for dreading the animal, for it is a terrible enemy to sheep, and has been known to kill no less than fifty A NATFRAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS . /o in the course of a single night. And it will also leap suddenly upon horses and cattle and break their necks, just as the jaguar does. Strange to say, too, although in some ways it is such a cowardly creature, the puma will often fight the jaguar itself. Of course it is the weaker animal of the two, but it is so exceedingly quick and active in its movements, and makes such excellent use of its teeth and talons, that in very many cases it gets the best of the battle. Sometimes, when a jaguar is killed by a hunter, its back is found to be deeply scored all over by the clawrs of a puma. In many parts of America the puma is known as the “panther,” or even the “painter,” while hunters often call it the “lion.” There is still one more of the larger cats which we must not pass by without mention, and that is the Clouded Leopard, or Clouded Tiger, which is found in the south-eastern parts of Asia, and in the larger islands of the Malay Archipelago. In size it is about as big as a small leopard, and its yellow-brown fur is marked with stripes like those of the tiger, spots like those of the leopard, rosettes like those of the jaguar, and blotches like those of the ocelots, while its tail is adorned with rings of glossy black. So, you see, it is a very handsome animal indeed. We do not know very much about its habits, for it has only once or twice been brought to Europe alive. But it seems to live almost entirely in the trees, and to prey chiefly upon birds, while those who have caught and tamed it say that it is very gentle and playful. The Malays call it the Rimau-dahan, or “tree-tiger”; and there is a smaller variety, found in the same localities, which is generally known as the Marbled Cat. Domestic Cat. CHAPTER VII. THE SMALLER CATS. "NT OW we come to the smaller members of the cat tribe; and first of all, let us notice the Serval. Unfortunately, however, although it is quite a common animal in many parts of Africa, we know very little indeed about its habits. But it appears to prey chiefly upon the smaller antelopes, creeping silently up to them as they are grazing, and springing upon them so suddenly that they never know that they are in danger until they are struck down. In Southern Africa, where it is a good deal more plentiful than it is in the northern parts of the Continent, the Dutch call the serval the “ Bosch-katte,” or “bush-cat,” because it looks like a rather big cat, and lives in the thick bushy parts of the veldt. It is a pretty animal, and would be prettier still if its short, stumpy tail were a little longer, for its fur is bright golden yellow, marked with dark spots, some of which run into one another, and so form stripes. Underneath the body the fur is nearly white, while the ears are jetty black with a broad white band running across them. In length the animal measures about three feet, ten inches of which are taken up by the tail ; and it stands about eighteen inches in height. . I A A 1 Tl 7vk I L II IS TOR i ' OR JR I JI JR 1 IS. One of the handsomest of all the cats is the Ocelot, which is found in almost all parts of tropical America. But it is not a very easy animal to describe, because it varies so much in colour that until a few years ago naturalists thought that there Seryal, or Bush^Cat. were several different kinds of ocelots, to all of which they gave separate names. As a rule, however, the ground colour of the fur is either brownish yellow or reddish grey, while the back and sides are marked with rows of streaks and spots and blotches, which sometimes run into one another in such a way as to look almost like stripes. The length of the animal is about four feet, of which about fifteen inches is occupied by the tail, and it stands from sixteen to eighteen inches in height. The ocelot is only found in forest districts, and is an excellent climber, spending most of its life in the trees. It feeds chiefly upon birds, hiding among the thick foliage until they settle within reach, and then knocking them over with its ready paw. Or it will spring down upon them as they alight on the ground below. It seems to like the head of a bird best of all, and generally eats that first ; and very often it will pluck its victim most carefully before proceeding to devour it. The animal called the Margay is really a kind of small ocelot, and is sometimes known as the Tiger Cat. The Egyptian Cat is a most interesting animal, not only because it seems quite likely that it is the ancestor of the cats which we keep now as pets, but also because in days of old the people of Egypt used to worship it, just as they worshipped the Arabian baboon. In every way they treated it with the greatest possible honour. Indeed, to kill a cat, in those days, A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 73 was a far more serious offence than to kill a man, and if the offender was discovered he was certain to be made to pay the penalty with his life. And when the animal died its body was carefully embalmed and wrapped in spices, and was then solemnly buried in the tombs of the kings. If you go to the British Museum, and visit the Egyptian galleries, you may see the mummied remains of some of the very cats which were worshipped by the people of Egypt five thousand years ago. There, too, you may see an old painting which is every bit as interesting, although in a different way. Eor it shows us that, although the ancient Egyptians held the cat in such high honour, they expected it to make itself useful in return. The picture represents a hunter and his family going out on an expedition in search of water birds, and from it we learn that they would embark in a boat with several decoy birds, together with a carefully trained cat. They would then push off into the great beds of tall reeds which fringed the sides of the river, and sit in the boat while the cat went and caught birds for them, which were attracted within reach by the decoys. In the picture you will see that the cat is represented with one bird in her mouth, another in her fore-paws, and a third between her hind paws; so that if she got all three back to the boat, she must have been a very clever cat indeed. This animal is sometimes known as the Caffre Cat, and Ocelot. it is found wild in almost all parts of Africa, and also in Syria and Arabia. In size it is about as big as a rather large domestic cat, and in colour is generally yellowish grey, with a lew faint stripes across the back and several darker ones on the hind quarters, 74 f . / ACi 7 T AL l L HI S TO R Y C IF JIF l MIL l L S. while the tail is marked with black rings and always has a black tip. Then there is the Wild Cat, which is still found in some of the rough and mountainous wilder parts of the British Is¬ lands. It is a very scarce animal nowadays, however, for it does so much mischief to game that the keepers destroy it whenever they get a chance. It is true, of course, that so-called “wild cats” are very often caught or killed, even in England. But these are almost always tame cats which have escaped from captivity and have taken to a life in the woods. If you were to see a real wild cat in captivity, you would most likely think that it looked a very gentle creature. But in reality it is one of the fiercest and most savage of all living animals, and no matter how kindly it is treated it never seems to become tame. Wild cats are nearly al¬ ways found in thickets in moun¬ tain districts which are hardly ever trodden by the foot of man. They mostly live either in hollow trees, or in crevices among the rocks, where they bring up their litters of little ones. They keep their kittens in very good order. Only a few days before these lines were written I heard of a wild cat which was kept in a large otter’s cage, with a pool of water in the middle ; and there she brought up three kittens. One day she heard a strange footstep approaching. Now she could not bear strangers, and would never allow them to look at her little ones ; so she jumped into the sleeping compartment, and called to her kittens to come in after her. Two of them obeyed ; the third preferred to stay outside. So out she jumped, soused it three times in the water, just to teach it to be more obedient in future, and then carried it off by the scruff of its neck. A fully-grown wild cat is about twenty-eight inches long without the tail, which is much shorter and more stumpy than that of the domestic cat. The thick soft fur is grey in colour, brindled with black. Another kind of wild cat is found in the northern parts of Egyptian Cat. A NATURAL HISTORY OR MAMMALS . 75 Africa, and also in Persia and India. Sometimes it is called the Jungle Cat, and sometimes the Chaus. It is rather bigger than an ordinary cat, and is sandy grey or greyish brown in colour, with just a few darker streaks across the legs. It lives, as a rule, among long grass and reeds, and in cornfields, coming out to hunt only by night. So very few people ever see it in a wild state, and we do not know very much about its habits. But it must be rather a formidable animal to meet, for the late Sir O. B. St. John tells us that a jungle cat which he kept for some years as a pet was more than a match for two powerful English bull-terriers, which used to attack her day after day, but always got the worst of the battle. Next we come to the Caracal. You may generally see this animal at the Zoo ; and if you go to look at it your first idea will most likely be that it is a Caracal. very bad-tempered creature indeed. For as soon as you come near its cage it is almost sure to throw back its ears, show its teeth, and spit and hiss and snarl at you, and to look as if it would fly at you in a moment if only the bars were not in its way. And so, no doubt it would, for it is one of the most savage of all the cats, and cannot be tamed without very great difficulty, unless it is caught while very young indeed. The name “caracal” signifies “black-eared,” and has been given to the animal because its ears are jetty black in colour. They also have a long tuft of dark hairs at the tip. The head, body and legs are bright reddish brown. But some caracals are a good deal lighter than others, and now and then the lower parts of the body are marked with dull reddish spots. The height of the animal is about eighteen inches at the shoulder, and the length of the body and tail together is from three to four feet. 6* A AN n rR. 1 L HIS TOR 1 r OF JIA MM A L S. 7 6 Caracals are found in India and Arabia, and also in most parts of Africa. They live among bushes and long grass, as a rule, and prey upon the smaller deer and antelopes and also upon birds, which they are said sometimes to capture even upon the wing, springing into the air and seizing them between their fore-paws as they by past. Now we come to a very odd-looking animal indeed; namely, the Lynx. This creature looks rather like a stoutly-built caracal. But the ears are grey instead of black, the tufts of hair upon them are a good deal longer, and the fur of the body is grey, generally marked with a number of darker spots. Its curious appearance, however, is due to the fact that it has an enormous pair of very bushy whiskers, which hang down far below the chin. Not so very long ago the lynx was found commonly in Lynx. many parts of Europe, and it is still tolerably plentiful in Norway, Sweden, and the northern parts of Russia as well as in Northern Asia. But it is very much persecuted by the hunters for two reasons. In the first place, it is a very destructive creature. A couple of lynxes have beeiT known to kill six sheep between them in a single night. And, in the second place, its fur is so thick, so soft, and so warm that its skin sells for a good deal of money. So a great many lynxes are shot or trapped every year, and before very long the animal will most likely disappear from Europe altogether. No doubt you have sometimes heard the expression “lynx- eyed’’ used of somebody whose sight is unusually good. And certainly the lynx is very sharp-sighted indeed. But in days of old it was actually thought that the animal could see right .through a solid wall as easily as we can through a pane of glass. The lynx is a very good climber, and spends a great part A XATCRAL HISTORY OR MAMMALS. / / of its life in the trees, often lurking among the branches in order to spring down upon an unsuspecting victim as it passes below. But it mostly makes its lair among rocks, just as the wild cat does. There it brings up its two or three little ones, which are very playful little creatures, but are very bad tempered if any¬ one interferes with them. However, they are easily tamed if they are captured while quite small, and will follow their master about just like a dog. Another kind of lynx, called the Pardine Lynx, inhabits the south of Europe, from Spain as far as Turkey. Lynxes are also found in Canada ; but it is not quite certain whether these belong to a different species or not. At any rate, they are rather smaller than those which live in Europe and Asia, and their tails are hardly ever more than five inches long. They live in the deepest parts of the forests, and in thick Chetah. bushy districts, so that they are not very often seen ; and they prey upon hares and other small animals, and also upon such birds as grouse and partridges. When one of these lynxes is running through long grass it looks very odd indeed; for it travels by means of a series of leaps, all four of its feet coming to the ground together. Last among the cats comes the very curious Chetaii, or Hunting Leopard, which is found both in Africa and in India. In some ways, however, it is much more like a dog than a cat. Its head, for instance, is quite small and round, its body is very slender, and its legs are much longer in proportion to its size than they are in any other member of the family. But, more remarkable still, the claws are not entirely drawn back into their sheaths while not in use, as they are in all the true cats, but partly project, so that the points are worn away by constantly rubbing against the ground. So I think that we may consider A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. the chetah as partly a cat and partly a dog — a connecting link joining the two families together. If it were not for the length of its limbs, however, the chetah might very well be mistaken for a leopard, for its head and body are coloured and marked in much the same way. But the spots are solid, so to speak, and not ringdike as they are in the leopard. The animal stands from thirty to thirty-three inches in height at the shoulders and the body and tail together are about seven feet long. The chetah does not capture its prey as other cats do. Lions, tigers and leopards, for example, always try to creep up quite close to their victims, so that they may be able to pounce upon them at a single spring. But the chetah only creeps up to within a couple of hundred yards, and then runs them down in fair chase. It is exceedingly swift of foot, being able easily to outrun a greyhound, so that when once it starts in pursuit its victim has but little chance of escape, Indeed, a chetah has actually been seen to put up a black buck two hundred yards away, and to run it down within a quarter of a mile. Just fancy being able to run nearly twice as fast as an antelope ! In India the chetah is often caught and tamed, in order that it may catch game for its master. It is always taken out to the hunting-ground in a light cart, drawn by a couple of bullocks, and its eyes are covered with a kind of hood. When a deer or an antelope is sighted, this hood is taken off, and the chetah is released from its chain. No sooner does it catch sight of its quarry than it creeps quietly towards it until it is within distance, and then starts off in pursuit like an arrow shot from a bow. The hunters ride quietly after it, and before they have gone very far they are sure to find the chetah with its victim pinned upon the ground. Then the throat of the animal is cut, and some of the blood is given to the chetah to drink, after which it is again blindfolded and is led back to the cart. When the natives wrant to catch a chetah or two, in order to train them for hunting, they do so in rather a curious way. Although these animals cannot climb trees, because of the manner in which their claws are made, there are certain trees to which they are very fond of resorting, in order to sharpen their talons upon the bark. So the natives make a number of nooses of raw hide, and arrange them on the ground all round one of these trees : and when they visit them next day, they are almost sure to find that twro or three chetahs have been snared. It is needless to say that this beautiful and interesting animal is very easily tamed. If it is kindly treated it will rub its great round head against one, put up its tail, and purr loudly, just like a very big cat. CHAPTER V III. THE CIVETS, THE AARD WOLF, AND THE HYENAS. "DETWEEN the great tribes of the Dogs and the Cats come three small but rather important families, one of which contains the Civets, while the Aard Wolf belongs to the second, and the Hyenas to the third. I must tell you a little about each. First of all, then, come the Civets; and first among the civets is the Fossa, which is found in Madagascar. This is a very curious animal indeed. It is about five feet long from the end of its snout to the tip of its tail, and has a body shaped very much like that of a weasel. Its fur is pale reddish brown in colour, and reminds one of the coat of a dachs¬ hund dog. But the oddest thing about the fossa is its way of walking. Some animals walk on the tips of their toes, like the cats and the dogs. We call these digiti grades. Others plant their feet flat upon the ground, like the bears. We call these planti¬ grades. But the fossa does neither, for its feet have half-soles only, the front part being quite bare underneath, while the hind part is covered with hair. And as it walks the animal places the bare part of its feet upon the ground, while the hind part is lifted up ; so that it is half a digitigrade and half a plantigrade. Then it has claws just like those of a cat, which are drawn back into sheaths while not in use, so that their sharp points may not be worn down by rubbing against the ground. No doubt this is the reason why the animal is able to climb so well. If you go to look at the fossa in the Zoo you will be quite surprised at its activity. Its cage is a double one, with one compartment above the other, and two or three stont branches on which it can take exercise, and it goes running up and down from one to the other, and backwards and forwards from the branches to the walls, and from the walls to the branches, with such wonderful swiftness that it is really not at all easy to follow its movements. But don’t be tempted to stroke the animal, if it happens to be lying quietly near the bars, for although it looks very gentle it is in reality a most savage creature, and has hardly ever been tamed. And partly for this reason, and partly because it only comes out to hunt for prey by night, we know very little indeed about its habits. The true civets have much stouter bodies than the fossa. Their heads are long and narrow, with the muzzle drawn out A XA 'RURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. So almost into a point, their legs are quite short, and along the back runs a crest of stiff hairs, which can be raised and lowered at will, just like the spines of the hedgehog. Six different kinds of civets are known, five of them being found in Asia, and one in Africa, and they are chiefly remarkable for producing a most powerful perfume. This perfume is obtained in a very curious way. It is secreted in a kind of double pouch underneath the body, close to the root of the tail, and as it is continually being formed, the animal is much too valuable to be killed in order that its pouch may be emptied. At the same time, its sharp teeth and claws are so sharp and strong, and it knows so well how to use them, that it would be a most dangerous creature to handle. So when the perfume has to be taken, the animal is forced into a long and very narrow cage, in which it is held so close a prisoner that it can neither scratch nor bite. Then the contents of the pouch are scraped out by means of a long, slender spoon, which is passed through a hole underneath the cage. Each side of this pouch is about as big as an almond, and the contents are thick and greasy in character, almost like butter. When the animal is at liberty the perfume is dropped from time to time, in lumps about as big as an ordinary hazel nut. 1 he best known of these animals is the Indian Civet, A NATURAL HISTORY OF JU1JT1L ITS. 8 1 which is about four feet in length, including the tail. The general colour of its fur is dark grey, sometimes with a yellowish tinge, and on the chest, shoulders, and thighs there are a number of dark stripes. The crest of hairs along the back is glossy black, and the tail is marked with six black rings and five white ones. It is a solitary animal, and is hardly ever seen during the day¬ time, which it spends in hiding among bushes, or in long, thick grass, coming out after dark to search for the lizards, frogs, birds and other small creatures upon which it feeds. The Genets may be described as small civets, with narrower bodies, shorter legs, and longer tails, and without the curious pouch for producing perfume. One of these animals — the Common Genet — is found in Spain and the South of France, as well as in South-west Asia, and the Northern parts of Africa. It is between three and four feet in total length, and is yellowish grey in colour, with blotches of dark brown scattered all over the body. It is a very gentle creature, and is easily tamed, being often kept in houses to destroy rats and mice, just as we keep cats in England. The Palm Civets live in trees, chiefly in palm trees, and they are so fond of drinking the sweet juice, or “toddy,” which the natives collect in small vessels suspended on the trunks, that they are often known as “toddy-cats.” One of these animals is very common in many parts of India, where it is in the habit of taking up its abode in the thatched roofs of the native huts. It is often tamed, too, by Europeans, and after roaming about the house all night in searcli of mice and cockroaches will come up to its master’s bedroom, jump up on his bed, snuggle away under his pillow, and there sleep soundly until late in the following day. But if it finds a chance it will get into the poultry-houses and kill some of the A AVI 7 ( TRA L III STL 1R ) ' OR MA MM A L S . 82 fowls, in order to suck their blood; so that it has to be looked after very carefully. There are ten or eleven different kinds of these animals, the commonest of which is the Indian Palm Civet. It is about Ixdi an -Palm Civet. as big as a rather big cat, and is brownish grey in colour, with very coarse and rather ragged fur. It has an odd way of twisting up its tail into a very tight coil, and for this reason is sometimes known by the name of “ paradoxure,” a word which signifies “queer tailed.” Next we come to the Binturong, or “bear-cat,” as it is often called, which may be recognised at once by the long tufts of black hair upon its ears. Its fur, too, is entirely black, with¬ out any gloss upon it, except upon the head, which is grey, and its tail is very long indeed, and very bushy, and is prehensile at the tip, like that of a spider monkey. When the animal is climbing it makes a great deal of use of this organ, seldom moving unless it is tightly coiled around a branch. But it hardly ever seems to hang from a bough by its tail alone, as the spider monkeys so often do. The binturong is a native of Assam, Siam, and some of the larger islands in the Malay Archipelago. It is not at all an un¬ common animal, but is very seldom seen, for it not only lives in the thickest and darkest parts of the forests, which are scarcely ever trodden by the foot of man, but spends the whole of the day fast asleep in some snug retreat, with its head com¬ pletely buried beneath its big bushy tail. And even if it is found and disturbed it only gives an angry snarl and shows its teeth, and then goes to sleep again. Of course you have heard of the Mongooses. They look rather like weasels with very long tails, which are thickly covered with hair. The head is pointed, with a rather sharp nose, the A NATURAL HISTOR Y OF MAMMALS. 83 ears are small and rounded, the legs are very short indeed, and the claws cannot be drawn back into sheaths, so that they are always projecting like those of a dog. The general colour of the body is either brownish or reddish grey. But the fur has a peculiar speckled appearance, which is due to the fact that all the longer hairs are marked with alternate rings of black and white, like those upon a surveyor’s measuring pole. At least sixteen kinds of mongooses are found in different parts of the world, but I shall only be able to tell you about two. Idle first of these is the Indian Mongoose, which is common in almost all parts of the great country from which it takes its name. And it is one of the most useful of all animals, for although it will feed upon mice, small birds and their eggs, lizards, and even upon insects and fruit when it is really hungry, there is nothing of which it is so fond as a snake. Now snakes are more plentiful in India, perhaps, than in any other country in the world. Many of them, too, are terribly poisonous, and kill at least twenty thousand people every year; so that an animal which destroys them is a very useful animal indeed. And many people keep tame mongooses in their houses just as we keep cats, knowing that if a snake should find its way indoors they are sure to find it and kill it. . I A7 A TL ' RA L HISIOR ) ' OF M. I J/JA l AS. s 4 When a mongoose attacks a snake it dances about in front of the reptile, and pretends to be about to spring upon it, until the snake strikes. Then, like lightning, it leaps over the snake’s head, or underneath its open jaws, or round to one side, and gives it a sharp bite just at the back of its neck. This renders the snake quite harmless, paralysing it so that it cannot use its fangs. Then the mongoose crunches up its head, eats a little of the body also if it is very hungry indeed, and goes off to look for another. Rats, too, are killed in great numbers by the mongoose. So in the year 1871, when these animals swarmed in some of the West Indian Islands to such an extent that it was feared that the sugar cane plantations would be wholly destroyed by them, nine mongooses were set free in Jamaica. Very soon they began to multiply, and the rats began to decrease, till in about two years’ time the mischievous little animals were almost entirely destroyed. So mongooses were turned down in other islands, with equally satisfactory results. Unfortunately, however, the mongooses soon found out that fowls and chickens were even nicer than rats, and began to visit the hen-roosts at night. Then they took to killing young lambs, and even small pigs, while they also did a great deal of damage to mangoes and yams. So now the planters had to turn their attention to destroying mongooses, and on one estate alone more than 1400 were trapped in about a couple of months. The Egyptian Mongoose is a rather larger animal, being about three feet in length from the head to the tip of the tail. Like its Indian relation, it preys upon snakes; but it also feeds very largely upon crocodiles’ eggs, which it digs out of the sand on the banks of the rivers. Lor this reason it was worshipped by the ancient Egyptians, who used to treat it with the greatest reverence while it lived, and to embalm its body and bury it in the tombs of the kings when it died, just as they did with the cat and the sacred baboon. The last of the civet-like animals about which I can tell you is the Meerkat, which is sometimes known as the Suricate. It is found in South Africa, and is a small, slender-bodied animal of a light grizzled grey colour, with a number of black stripes running across its back, while the ears are black, and the tail is yellowish with a black tip. Meerkats live in large colonies, almost like rabbits, each animal scratching out for itself a deep hole in the ground. If you were to drive across the South African veldt, you would very likely come across one of these curious meerkat warrens, and would see several hundred of the little animals sitting upright on their hind legs with their front paws hanging down, just like so many small dogs “begging.” Until you came quite close they would remain quietly watching you. But the moment that you stopped and attempted to seize one of them there would be a A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. H sudden whisk of hundreds of tails, and down they would all pop into their burrows as if by magic. As they are very gentle creatures, and very clean in their habits, meerkats are often kept as pets, and in many parts of Cape Colony there is scarcely a single house without them. You would think that the dogs would be very jealous of them, wouldn't you, and that they would be very much afraid of the dogs? But, strange to say, the two are nearly always the best of friends, and may often be seen trotting about after their master together. The Aard Wolf is such a very odd animal that it has been placed in a familv all bv itself, thouerh there can be no doubt whatever that it is related to the civets on the one side and to the hyenas on the other. In size it is about as big as a fox, but with very much, longerlegs; and in general ap¬ pearance it cer¬ tainly resem¬ bles a half- grown striped hyena. But then its skull and teeth are not like those of a hyena at all ; they are like those of a very big mongoose. So the aard wolf evidently forms a connecting link between the two creatures. The name “aard wolf” means “earth wolf,” and has been given to this animal because the Dutch people in South Africa thought that it really was a kind of wolf, and because it lives in deep burrows which it digs in the ground. Strange to say, although each aard wolf digs its own burrow, several of these tunnels often unite in one large central chamber — a common sitting-room, as it were— which is used by all the animals alike. But each always goes in and out by its own front door. During the daytime the aard wolf is nearly always fast asleep underground, so that it is hardly ever seen except by those who go out to hunt it. But it is not often hunted, being so timid and cowardly that when it is turned out of its burrow its only idea is to run away as fast as it possibly can, so that it affords very poor sport indeed. This animal is not a creature of prey, and feeds chiefly upon carrion. But it is rather fond of insects, and will some¬ times break a hole in the side of a termite’s nest, and lick up Aard Wolf. 86 . I A7! 1 1 Y 76 / L HTSTOR Y OF JA 1 J/J7/1 Z A. the inmates by thousands as they come hurrying up to repair the breach in the walls. Now we come to the Hyenas. They are not very pleasant- looking animals, for their sloping hind quarters give them a very slinking and cowardly appearance. In their habits, too, they are most disgusting. But nevertheless they are most useful creatures in the countries in which they live. For 1 1 i ey belong to that vast group of animals which I always like to call “Nature’s Dustmen,” because their great work in life is to clear away the rubbish from the world. There are millions upon millions of these natural scavengers, and some of them have to clear away carrion, some to clear away skins, and some to clear away decaying vegetable matter. But the principal duty of the hyenas is to clear away bones, and very thoroughly they do it. For their jaws and teeth are most immensely strong. A hyena will seize the thigh bone of an ox, and crush it up into splinters as easily as a dog will crush a chicken bone. And when a lion or a tiger kills a victim, he always leaves a great part of the carcase lying on the ground. Some of it he has no time to eat because the jackals come and steal it while he is fast asleep after the big meal which he always takes as soon as he has killed his victim. Some of it neither he nor the jackals can eat because their teeth are not nearly strong enough to crush the larger bones. So they have to leave these for the hyenas which come up in numbers to the “kill,” and quarrel and fight over it, until nothing even of the skeleton is left remaining. Although the hyena is a much stronger animal than the aard wolf, it is quite as cowardly, and will hardly ever show fight, even when it is driven to bay. The Arab hunters despise it very much for its want of courage, and if they find it hiding in a burrow will never condescend to kill it themselves. Neither . I NA TURA L HIS TOR V OF JF 1 MUF l L S. will they use any weapon against it. They just fling a handful of wet mud into its face, drag it out by its hind feet, and hand it over to be stoned to death by the women. But sometimes, after all, it contrives to escape, for it is so cunning that it will pretend to be dead when it is not really injured, allowing itself to be pulled about, or even to be severely beaten, without moving a limb. Then quite suddenly, when the attention of its captors is taken off for a moment, it will jump up and run away. Perhaps you wonder why they should want to kill the hyena Spotted Hyena. if it is such a useful creature and never attacks human beings. But the reason is that it is very fond of prowling about the outskirts of the villages in order to prey upon the cattle. It is much too cowardly to attack them openly, and always tries to frighten them and make them run away, so that it can leap upon them from behind. It generally does this by creeping as close to them as it can, and then springing up suddenly just under their eyes. But if they stand and face it instead of running away it just looks at them for a few moments and then slinks off without attempting to touch them. Three different kinds of these animals are known, the commonest being the Striped Hyena, which is found in India, Syria, Persia, Arabia and Northern Africa. It is about as big as a collie dog, and is brownish grey in colour, with a number of black stripes running across the body and round the legs. The ears are A XATFRAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 88 long and pointed, the tail is big and bushy, and a kind of mane or long hairs runs down the neck and along the middle of the back. In some parts of Africa these animals roam about by night in large packs, entering the native villages, and searching the streets for the offal which has been thrown out from the huts. And more than once, when they have been very lningy indeed, they have been known to enter a house, and to carry off a sleeping man. Sometimes, too, they will set a kind of snare for a dog. One hyena will lie in wait behind a bush, while another will run boldly up to within two or three hundred yards of the village and utter a series of loud howls. A dog is almost sure to hear him and to rush out in pursuit. Then the hyena, pretending to be dreadfully frightened, runs away past the bush where his com¬ panion is hiding, and the dog is pounced upon and killed almost before he realises that he has two enemies to deal with instead of only one. The Brown Hyena, which is found in South Africa, is not nearly so plentiful. It is about the same size as the striped hyena, but may be recognised at once by the great length of its mane, which hangs down on either side below the body. In fact, the animal looks just as if it were wearing a mantle of thick, shaggy fur. It lives chiefly in rocky ground, on the lower slopes of the mountains, but it is very fond of visiting the sea-shore by night, and prowling about in search of the dead bodies of Ashes and other creatures which have been flung up by the waves. Much more dangerous is the Spotted Hyena, or Tiger Wolf, which is a larger and more powerful animal than either of its relations, and is not nearly so cowardly. It will enter a sheep- fold or cattle-pen, for instance, under cover of darkness, and boldly attack and carry oft' one of the animals. But even an unarmed man need not be afraid of it, for though it will come quite close, and will follow him for a long distance, it will never venture to spring upon him. This animal is often known as the Laughing Hyena, because of the extraordinary sounds which it utters when very much excited. These sounds are not in the least like a yell or a howl, but resemble a peal of strange, unearthly laughter, and while they are being uttered the hyena dances about on its hind legs, nods its head up and down, runs to and fro, and twists itself into all sorts of singular positions, just as though it had suddenly gone mad. Travellers tell us that sometimes for nights together sleep is rendered impossible by the hideous outcry of these creatures, which surround the camp as soon as darkness sets in, and never cease from their horrible din till sunrise. The spotted hyena is found throughout Southern Africa, and may be known from the other two species by its larger size, and also by the dark brown spots with which the body and the limbs are marked. CHAPTER EX. THE DOG TRIBE. EXT in order comes the great tribe of the Dogs, which includes altogether about forty different animals. I am not speaking of domestic dogs, for I have no space in which to tell you about those. Indeed, if I were to say all that might be said about them, they would want a very big book all to them¬ selves. But besides these there are two or three wild dogs in the ( 9° A XA/'i’RA/. HISTORY OF MAMMALS. Dog Tribe, several wolves, several jackals, and several foxes; and many of them are very interesting creatures. First of all, there is a dog which is known by three different names. Sometimes it is called the Dhole, sometimes the Kiiolsun, and sometimes the Bu^nsuah. It lives in India, but it Dhole. is not very often seen, for it keeps to the thickest parts of the jungle, and never ventures near the habitations of man. Yet it is by no means a cowardly animal, like the hyenas and the aard wolf. On the contrary, it is extremely courageous, and does not seem to know what fear is, for it will even attack the tiger itself, and more than that, will kill it. .? Of course the tiger is by far the stronger and more formidable animal of the two, and if he only had one dhole to reckon with, there would be no doubt at all as to the issue of the combat. But the dhole always hunts in packs. Sometimes there are eight or ten animals in one of these packs ; sometimes there are fifteen ; sometimes there are as many as twenty, or even thirty. And so fierce are they, and so determined, and so per¬ severing, that it is said that when they once put up an animal, no matter whether it be large or small, they never fail to kill it. The deer, of course, are swifter than they are. But then the deer become tired much sooner than the dholes ; and while they are resting their pursuers catch them up. The tiger is much more powerful, and has his talons and fangs to fight with. But while he is killing one of his foes three or four more are leaping upon him ; and even if he should succeed in killing half the pack the rest will still go on lighting as savagely as ever. They do not dread the horns of the buffalo, or the tusks of the wild boar. In fact, they dread nothing, and no animals are so feared in the jungle. W hen the pack are running, they never bark, or yelp, A W l TL TRA L HI STAR ) ' OR JR IJ/J/AZS. 9 1 or bay, as almost all domesticated dogs do. For the most part they are silent, the only sound which they utter being a kind of low whimper. In colour the dhole is a rich bay, which becomes rather darker upon the ears, the muzzle, and the tip of the tail. Another very interesting animal is the Dingo. This is the only member of the dog tribe which is found in Australia, and many naturalists think that it is not really a native of that continent, but was brought there a very long time ago from some other county. But as the dingo is not now Dingo. found in any other part of the world, it is quite impossible to say whether this is actually the case or not. It is a very fine looking animal, about as big as a large sheep dog, with a reddish brown coat, pointed, upright ears, and a bushy tail. And if you were to see it you would most likely think that it must be a very gentle animal indeed. We have already seen, however, that there are several creatures which look very gentle, but are in reality most savage and ferocious, and though the dingo is not quite so fierce as the fossa or the wild cat, its appearance is not at all in keeping with its character, for it is very bach * / 9 2 A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. tempered indeed, and very hard to tame, and is always liable to fits of furious rage. In many ways the dingo is not unlike the dhole. It lives in packs, for instance, which scour the country in search of prey. These packs are always led by one of the strongest and most experienced animals, which has won its position by fighting and overcoming all the rest ; and when the leader begins to grow old and feeble, a younger and stronger animal takes his place by overcoming him in the same way. In some strange manner, these packs divide up the country among themselves. Each pack lias its own district allotted to it, over which it may roam at will, while it is never permitted to hunt outside its own borders. Wouldn’t it be interesting to know how these districts are marked out, and how the animals arrange what part of the country shall be allotted to each pack ? When the first white colonists settled down in Tasmania, they found these packs of dingoes most terribly troublesome, for they would visit the folds night after night, and carry off the sheep and lambs in numbers. Watchers were employed to shoot them, traps were set for them, huge bonfires were lighted to keep them away ; but all to no purpose. One Colony lost 1,200 sheep from their ravages in less than three months; another lost 700. So at last the settlers banded themselves together in a war against the dingoes, and by hanging pieces of poisoned meat to the branches of trees, about a foot from the ground, they succeeded in greatly reducing their numbers, so that now they are comparatively scarce. There is generally a dingo to be seen at the Zoo, and one which was kept there many years ago used to sit outside his kennel and bay at the moon so loudly, that his dismal howling could be heard all over the Regent’s Park. Two or three kinds of wild dog are also found in South America; but of these 1 can only mention the Crab-eating Dog, which is chiefly found in the forests of Guiana, Demerara, and Brazil. This animal owes its name to its great fondness for crabs. Even English dogs will often eat these creatures. I once had a black and tan terrier, for instance, called “ [ock,” whose greatest delight was to be taken for a walk along the sea-shore, so that he might hunt for crabs. Whenever he found one he would fling it up into the air half a dozen times or so, until it was perfectly dazed. Then holding it down with one paw, he would twist off the great claws so that it could not nip him; and finally he would crunch up its body and lick out pieces of flesh from the shell. Now and then, however, he would get a pinch and I would see him dancing about on his hind legs with a crab hanging to his lip, howling pitifully for me to come and set him free. W hether the crab-eating dog gets nipped in the same way, i-MBS ^lvioay A 2V A TURAL HISTOR ) ” OF JA / JAJA / A A. 95 sometimes, I cannot tell you. Most likely he does. But at an)- rate he spends a great deal of his time in hunting for crabs on the shore. He also feeds on small animals and birds, however, and it is said that sometimes he hunts in packs, like the dingo and the dhole, which even run down and kill the swift-footed deer themselves. Of wolves — which are really only very large and very savage wild dogs — there are several different kinds. First of all, of course, there is the Common Woi.f, of Europe. We have all read accounts of its ferocity, and of the way in which it sometimes pursues travellers through the Russian forests during the depths of winter. In days of old, too, it was plentiful in England, while the last wild wolf in Scotland was not killed until the middle of the eighteenth century. During the spring, summer, and autumn, the wolf is mostly found singly, or at any rate only in pairs. But when the ground is covered with snow, and food becomes scarce, the hungry animals gather together in packs, which scour the forest in all directions and kill every living creature which they meet. In the year 1875 no less than 161 human beings fell victims to them in Russia, while the mischief which they do in the farmyards and sheep-folds is very great indeed. In Livonia alone, for instance, during a single year, 15,182 sheep, 1,807 cattle? 1,841 horses, 3,270 goats, 4,190 pigs, 703 dogs, and 1,873 geese and fowls were destroyed by wolves. In some parts of France, too, these animals are still not uncommon, although a reward of 100 francs is paid for every adult wolf that is killed, and thirty francs for each cub. And they are also found in almost every other country in Europe. When they are not famished with hunger, wolves are by no means courageous animals, and if we have many tales of their savage ferocity we have quite as many more which bear witness to their cowardice. In Norway, for example, a large tract of country, in which wolves had always been only too plentiful, was suddenly deserted by them ; and what do you think was the reason ? Simply that a telegraph wire had been put up, which frightened the wolves so much that they left the neighbourhood altogether, and never came near it again! And if a hunter kills a deer, and wishes to leave the carcase lying on the ground for a while, and at the same time to protect it from the wolves, all that he has to do is to plant three or four sticks beside it with streamers of white cloth fastened to the tips; for not a wolf will dare to approach the spot as long as these are fluttering in the wind. When wolves are running, they generally utter a series of dismal howls, which are so loud that they can be heard from a distance of many miles away. And even one wolf can make such an outcry that more than once a traveller, hearing one of these A XAT'CRAL HISTORY OR MAMMALS. 96 animals howling, has imagined that a large pack were in pursuit of him, and has climbed up into a tree and spent the wdiole night among the branches before discovering his mistake. Wolves usually make their lairs among rocks, or in a trunk of a hollow tree, or among very thick bushes. But sometimes they live in holes in the ground, which they seem to dig out for themselves. There are generally from six to ten cubs in a litter, which are born in the spring, and do not leave their parents for at least eight or nine months. Strange to say, the father often seems much fonder of them than the mother, for he will take care of them, and hunt for them, and teach them how to hunt for themselves for weeks after she has left them altogether. The common wolf is by no means confined to Europe, but is also found in many parts of Asia, and throughout almost the whole of North America. In India, however, there is another kind of wolf which is rather smaller, and has very much shorter fur. It is seldom seen in large packs, and hardly ever howls as the common wolf does. It is not in the habit, as a rule, of attacking human beings. But now and then two or three of these animals will band together to attack a man, while sometimes they will prowl round the outskirts of a native village, in the hope of being able to carry off some of the smaller children. These animals have a very clever way, too, of killing deer. Three or four of them will creep quietly up and hide themselves near the spot where the deer are feeding. Then another will come dashing up from just the opposite direction, the result of course being that when the frightened animals run away they pass close to the very place where their enemies are lying concealed. On the great plains of North America lives a very hand¬ some wolf called the Coyote. It is a good deal smaller than the common wolf, but has much thicker and longer fur, so that it looks bigger than it really is. And a very odd thing about it is that it is differently coloured at different seasons of the year, being reddish yellowish-brown in summer, and greyish, or even quite grey, in winter. Thq, back is generally darker than the rest of the body', and the tail is rather long, and is very bushy indeed. The coyote is an exceedingly cunning animal. When it wants to rob a poultry yard, for example, and finds that the dogs are loose, it will get two or three of its companions to come and help it. They will then come and howl close by, knowing perfectly well that the dogs will answer by barking, and that they will be able to tell by the sounds how many of them there are. If they find that there are several, they trot quietly away. But if there is only one, three of the coyotes will hide while the fourth entices the dog towards them, when they will all set upon him together and kill him. A NATURAL history of mammals. 97 It is not at all an easy matter to destroy coyotes, for they are so wary that it is almost impossible to approach within gun¬ shot. If a trap is set for them, too, they nearly always discover it and carefully pass it by. And even if poisoned meat is laid down they are generally much too suspicious to touch it. So very often even a single coyote will do a great deal of mischief before it can be killed. Next we come to the Jackals, which perhaps we may describe as being half wolves and half foxes. One of these animals — the Common Jackal — is found very plentifully indeed in the south of Asia, the north of Africa, and the south-eastern corner of Europe. Sometimes it is seen singly, sometimes in pairs ; but generally it associates in great packs, which go roaming about the country together. In India these Si DE-STR I FED JACKAL. packs visit the native villages by night, to carry off any offal which may have been thrown out of the houses. They are “natural dustmen,” you see, like the hyenas. Then they will follow a lion or a tiger about for weeks, in order to feast upon the carcases of the animals which he kills after he has eaten his fill. And when twenty or thirty of these ravenous creatures are all struggling and fighting over the body of a deer or an antelope, you can easily imagine that in a short time there is not very much of it left. The jackal is sometimes called “the lion’s provider,” but I think that the lion ought rather to be called “the jackal’s provider.” Don’t you ? The natives of Africa say that the jackals stand very much in awe of the lion, and very seldom dare even to show them¬ selves until he has eaten his fill of his victim’s body, and has gone away to sleep. And they also declare that if a jackal comes A M. 1 77 VA I T HI STAR ) ' OF MAMMA IS. too near the carcase before the lion lias finished his meal, the lion catches him and bites off all his paws in order to teach the rest of the pack better manners. The howling cry of the jackal is very strange and weird, and the animals call to one another, and answer one another, just as if they were carrying on a conversation. First comes a long, wailing yell ; then another, rather higher, then another, a little higher still, and then three short, sharp barks. And so on, over and over again. When a jackal is caught, it often pretends to be dead, and will be perfectly still for a very long time in the hope of being able to make its escape when the attention of its captors is taken off. On one occasion one of these animals lay without moving for a whole hour although several times over it was picked up and “worried” by a dog. Then quite suddenly it jumped up and rushed away apparently unhurt. ddie common jackal is reddish brown in colour, sometimes lighter and sometimes darker, while the tip of the tail is black. But there is another kind of jackal found in South Africa which has the whole upper part of the back black, and the lower part of the body and the inner sides of the limbs nearly white. This animal is called the Black-backed Jackal, while a third, which has a pale streak running across its flanks, is called the Side- striped Jackal. In habits, the three animals are almost exactly alike. The best-known of the foxes, of course, is the Common Fox of Great Britain, which is also found in many other parts of the world. This animal is famous for its cunning, and certainly, in many ways, it is very clever indeed. It has all sorts, of tricks, for example, to throw the hounds off its track when it is being hunted. It seems to know perfectly well that it is followed by scent, and sometimes it will suddenly leap to one side so as to break the trail, and then make oft' in quite a different direction. Sometimes, when it has a sufficient start, it will return on its track for sixty or seventy yards, and then leap aside. Or it will roll in carrion in order to disguise its own peculiar odour. I once found an “earth,” too, which was very cleverly made. The entrance to the burrow was about twenty feet from the edge of a sand-pit, in the middle of a thick clump or bushes, and there was a “bolt-hole” about half way down the side of the pit. So when the fox was chased he could run into his burrow by the upper entrance, slip out by the lower one and so make his escape through the pit while the hounds were all gathered round the hole up above. Very often, too, a fox will climb a tree, sometimes to a great height, and hide among the branches, and I have heard of a fox which baffled the hounds over and over again in a most ingenious way. lie used to run to a certain fence, spring to the A NATFRAL HISTORY OF JlAJ/JfATS. 90 top, and then walk along for several hundred yards before leaping down again to the ground. By doing this, of course, he broke the scent most thoroughly, and long before the hounds could find it again he had reached a place of safety. But although the fox is generally so exceedingly clever, he sometimes does the most stupid things possible. Mr. Charles Waterton, for instance, tells us of a fox which visited a poultry yard near Stonyhurst, and carried off eight young turkeys. He could not eat them all, of course, so he buried five in the ground, meaning, no doubt, to come and fetch them away on the following evening. But apparently he thought that if he buried them entirely he might not be able to find them again. So he carefully left one wing of each bird sticking up above the surface to serve as a guide, and never seemed to reflect that others would Arctic Fox. be able to see it as well as himself! So the farmer recovered his turkeys, and when Reynard came to look for his supper next night he found that it had disappeared. The “earth” of a fox is sometimes an old rabbit-hole enlarged to a suitable size. But generally the animal scrapes out a burrow for himself, frequently choosing the roots of a large tree as a situation, or a very rocky piece of ground from which it will be very difficult to dig him out. In this burrow four or five little ones are brought up. They are odd-looking creatures, with very snub noses, and if you did not know what they were you would never take them for young foxes. More interesting still, perhaps, is the Arctic Fox, which lives in the ice-bound regions of the far north. There are generally several of these animals to be seen at the Zoo, and the first thing that one notices on seeing them is that no two of them 100 A XATRRAJ, H/SZ'ORY OF MAMMALS. are alike. One, perhaps, is reddish brown above and yellowish white beneath. Another is grey all over. A third, very likely, is mottled ; while a fourth may be of that curious bluish colour which we see in Russian cats. That is strange, isn’t it ? You would almost think that you were looking at three or four different kinds of foxes instead of only one. But it is stranger still to know that in the great snow-fields of the polar regions a great many of these foxes turn perfectly white in winter. No doubt this is to allow them to creep over the snow without being seen by their victims. Then, when Fen nf.cs. warmer weather comes, and the snow begins to melt, their fur passes back again to its original colour. During the spring and summer the arctic fox feeds on sea birds and their eggs, and it is said to attract the birds to the place where it is lying in wait by imitating their peculiar cries. But I do not think that that is true. What it feeds upon during the rest of the year is rather doubtful. It cannot catch birds, for they have all flown away farther south. It cannot catch fishes, for the water is covered in by ice several feet in thickness. Most likely it catches numbers of those odd little animals known as lemmings just as winter begins, and stores. them away in a kind of larder, where the cold prevents their bodies from decaying. A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. IOI In order to allow it to travel over the slippery ice, the arctic fox has the soles of its feet covered with long stiff hairs, which give it a perfectly firm foothold on the frozen surface. The arctic fox is not nearly such a clever animal as our own English fox, and is very easily trapped. If a hunter follows it, too, it will certainly run into its hole ; but a moment or two later it is almost sure to poke out its head in order to yelp at him, so that he is easily able to shoot it. The consequence is that these animals are destroyed in very great numbers for the sake of their skins, those with bluish fur being especially valuable. Cape Hunting Dog. They are mischievous creatures too, and will steal anything that they can carry away. When Nansen was making his famous journey in the “Fram” through the Arctic regions he had his thermometers stolen time after time by foxes. So that even travellers who do not wish for the skins of these creatures are not at all sorry to have an opportunity of destroying them. The arctic fox is a good deal smaller than our English fox, and has ears so short and rounded that they look just as if they had been cropped. Next must be mentioned the Fennec, a very pretty fox¬ like little animal found in Nubia and Egypt. It is only about twenty inches long, including its big bushy tail, and its fur is some¬ times pale fawn colour, and sometimes creamy white. But what strikes one most about it is the extraordinary size of its ears, which are always carried perfectly upright, and look as if they wrere intended for an animal at least five times as big as itself. The fennec is a creature of the desert, and lives in burrows which it scoops out in the sand. In order to make these burrows more comfortable, it lines them with leaves, hair, and the feathers of birds, while they are nearly always situated beneath the roots 102 A MAY 7 7A I L III A TORY OF J I A MM A L S. of plants, where the sand is softer and more easy to work. The animal digs with the most wonderful speed, and those who have surprised it while at a distance from its burrow say that it dis¬ appears in the sand just as though it were sinking into water, and is lost to sight in about a couple of seconds. The fennec spends the heat of the day comfortably curled up in its burrow, with its nose tucked away under its big bushy tail. W hen the sun sets it wakes up and goes off to the nearest water to drink, after which it hunts for jerboas, birds, lizards, insects and the various other small creatures upon which it feeds. There is only one more member of the great Dog Tribe which I can mention, and that is the Cape Hunting Dog. It is not really a dog, in spite of its name. It looks very much like a spotted hyena and yet it is not really a hyena. Sometimes it is known as the Hyena Dog; and perhaps that is the best name which can be given to it. This animal is found throughout Southern Africa, and is especially plentiful in Cape Colony. It hunts in packs of from ten to fifty or sixty, which run with such wonderful speed that even the swiftest antelopes cannot escape them. When they catch up with their quarry they all spring upon it together, snapping at it over and over again until they bring it to the ground. And in a very few minutes there is nothing left of its carcase but just a few of the larger bones. In size the hyena dog is about as big as a wolf. In colour it varies a good deal, but the head is always black, with a white mark round the eyes, while the body is more or less mottled with black, white and yellow. The long bushy tail is yellow at the root, black in the middle, and 'white at the tip. CHAPTER X. THE WEASEL TRIBE. A LMOST all the animals which belong to this tribe have very long, slender bodies and very short legs; and the reason is a simple one. They feed on living prey, which they often have to follow through a long and winding burrow. Now if they had stout bodies or long legs they could not do this. Most likely they could not enter the burrow at all ; and even if they did so they would be almost sure to find, before they had gone very far, that they could neither move forwards nor backwards. But, having such snake-like bodies and such very short limbs, they can wind their way through the tunnels without any difficulty, and then spring upon their victim at the end. They always try to seize their prey by the throat, in order to tear open the great blood vessels which pass through that part of the body, and I once had a personal experience of the strength and sharpness of their teeth. I was walking through a park one day early in the autumn, when I noticed that the dead leaves underneath a tree were tossing and tumbling about in a very curious manner. On going a little closer I found that a mother weasel and her little ones were having a game of play together. When I came up, of course, they all ran away. So I ran after them, and caught one of the little ani¬ mals by putting my foot on it, just hard enough to hold it down on the ground without hurting it. And immediately the little creature, which was only about six inches long, twisted itself round, and drove its sharp “eye” teeth deeply into the edge of the sole of my shoe, both from above and below. So that if I had done what I thought of doing at first, and had stooped to pick it up, its teeth would certainly have met in my finger. Weasel. 104 . 1 XA 7Y 'AY l A II /STAR 1 ’ (9 A JA l MM A A A. The Weasel is very common in most parts of Great Britain, and you can scarcely take a walk through the lanes and the meadows without catching sight of it. Very likely it will poke its head out of a hole in the bank at the side of the road, and watch you in the most inquisitive manner as yon go past. Or you may notice it slipping in and out of the herbage at the foot of a hedge, as it searches for the small creatures on which it feeds. But very often it will leave the hedge, and follow a mole along its burrow. Or it will make its way to a wheatstack, and pursue the mice through their “runs.” And it is very fond indeed of going out birds’-nesting, Pole Cat. and robbing the nests of the eggs or little ones which they contain. But the weasel is not always successful when he sets out on one of these expeditions. While coming down Helvellyn, for instance, I once witnessed a most interesting little scene. Hearing a loud chattering, 1 looked up, and saw just above me a pair of stonechats and a weasel. Evidently the weasel had come too near the nest of the birds, and they were trying to entice him away. And this is how they managed it. First the cock bird sat down on a stone about a yard in front of the weasel, and began to flap his wings, and to chatter and scream. The weasel immediately darted at him, and the bird flew away. Next the hen bird sat A XATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. I05 down on another stone a yard farther on, and began to flap her wings and to chatter and scream. Then the weasel darted at her, and she flew away. As soon as she had gone the cock came back, sat on a third stone, and played the same trick again. And so the two birds went on over and over again, till they got the weasel far up the mountain side, quite two hundred yards from the nest, when they quietly left him and flew away together. Wasn’t it clever of them ? And the odd thing was that the weasel never realized that he was being taken in, but evidently thought that he was going to catch one of the birds every time that he darted at them. Wh en fully grown the weasel is from eight to ten inches long, about one-fourth of that length being occupied by the tail. The fur of the upper parts of the body is brownish-red in colour, while that of the throat and lower surface is white. The Stoat, which is almost as plentiful as the weasel, is nearly half as large again, and you can also distinguish it by the fact that the fur of the lower parts of the body is pale yellow instead of white, while the tip of the tail is black. In very cold countries the whole of the fur becomes white in winter, like that of the arctic fox, the tip of the tail alone excepted. Indeed, the famous “ermine” fur which we value so highly, and which even the King wears when he puts on his robes of state, is nothing but the coat of the stoat in its winter dress. The stoat preys upon rather larger animals than the weasel, and many a hare and rabbit falls victim to its sharp little fangs. Strange to say, when one of these creatures is being followed by a stoat it seems almost paralysed with fear, and instead of making its escape by dashing away at its utmost speed, drags itself slowly and painfully over the ground, uttering shrill cries of terror, although it has not been injured in any way at all. 8 io6 A XA/FRAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. In poultry yards the stoat is sometimes most terribly mis¬ chievous, for it does not seek merely to satisfy its appetite, but appears to kill for the mere sake of killing. One stoat, indeed, has been known to destroy no less than forty fowls in a single night. So both the gamekeeper and the farmer have very good reason for disliking it. But in some ways it is really very useful. It kills large numbers of mice and rats and voles, for instance, which often do such terrible damage in our fields. And if we could set the good which it does against the evil, I think we should find that the former more than makes up for the latter. The Polecat was formerly very common in Great Britain. But owing to its mischievous habits it has been greatly perse¬ cuted, and now it is very seldom met with. It is a good deal larger than the stoat, being nearly two feet in length from the nose to the tip of the tail, and you would think, on looking at it, that its fur was brown, yet it scarcely has a brown hair on the whole of its body. The fact is that the long outer hairs are so dark as to be almost black, while the soft under-fur next the skin is pale yellow; and as the inner coat shows through the outer one, the effect is very much the same as if the whole of the fur were brown. The polecat is sometimes called the “foumart.” This name is formed from the two words “foul marten,” and has been given to the animal because it looks like a marten, and has a most foul and disagreeable smell. In its habits it is very much like the stoat. It comes out chiefly by night, and preys upon any birds or small ani¬ mals which it may meet with, following rab¬ bits down their burrows, track¬ ing hares to their “forms,” and sometimes killing nearly all the poultry, geese, and tur- Sable. keys in a farm¬ yard. Early in April it makes a kind of nest in a deserted rabbit- hole, or in a crevice among the rocks, and there brings up its family of from three to eight little ones. The Ferret, which is so much used in hunting rabbits and rats, seems to be really a variety of the polecat, and is usually of a yellowish white colour with pink eyes. But there is also a brown form, which is generally called the “polecat-ferret.” A XATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. io: The Martens may be described as very large weasels which live in the trees. One of them — the Pine Marten — is still found in the wilder parts of Great Britain, although it is even scarcer, perhaps, than the polecat. This animal is about as big as a cat. But it does not look as large as it really is, be¬ cause of the shortness of its legs. In colour it is rich brown above and yellowish white below, while the tail is very long, and is al¬ most as bushy as that of a squirrel. Martens are only found in the thickest parts of the forests, and spend almost the whole of their lives in the trees, running up and down the trunks, and leaping from bough to bough with the most wonderful activity. They even make nests among the branches, in which to bring up their little ones, weaving a quantity of leaves and moss together in such a way as to make a most cosy little nursery. But I am afraid that they are rather lazy animals, for sometimes, just to save themselves trouble, they will turn squirrels or woodpeckers out of their nests, and take possession of them for themselves. Martens feed on any small animals which they can find, and have more than once been known to kill lambs, and even fawns. When they happen to live near the sea, it is said that they will visit the shore by night in order to hunt for mussels. The Sable, which is found in the mountainous forests of Northern Asia, seems to be nothing more than a variety of the pine marten with very long fur. This fur is so much in request that the animal is greatly persecuted, more than two thousand skins being sometimes taken in a single season. The Glutton, or Wolverena, hardly looks like a weasel at all, for it is very heavily and clumsily built, and, including the tail, is often as much as four feet long. If you did not know what it was, you might almost take it for a bear cub with a tail. It is blackish brown in colour, with a lighter band which runs from the’shoulders along the sides and across the flanks, as far as the root of the tail. “Glutton’’ is rather an odd name for this creature, isn’t it? But certainly the animal deserves it, for it will go on eating, and 8* .1 LA II MAT HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 108 eating, and eating, long after yon would think that it could not possibly swallow a morsel more. Indeed, a glutton has been known to devour, at a single meal, a great joint of meat, which would have been more than sufficient for a lion or a tiger for a whole day! It lives in North America, and also in Northern Europe and Northern Asia, and the hunters find it a terrible nuisance, for night after night it will go round their traps and devour all the animals which have been caught in them. Then, too, if they bury a quantity of provisions in the ground, meaning to come back and fetch them later on, a glutton is \ery likely indeed to dis¬ cover them and dig them up, while the animal is very fond oi visitin their huts while they are absent, and stealing everything which it can possibly carry away. Blankets, knives, axes, and even sauce¬ pans and frying-pans have been stolen in this way by gluttons, and once one of these animals actually succeeded in dragging away and hiding a gun! It is even a worse robber, in fact, than the arctic fox. And it can hardly ever be trapped, because it is so cunning that it almost always discovers the traps, and either passes them by or pulls them to pieces, while it is so wary, and so swift of foot, that the hunter very seldom has a chance of shooting it. It was formerly supposed that this animal was even more cunning still, and that it would collect a quantity of the mosses of A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 109 which deer are so fond, lay it upon the ground as a bait, and hide in the foliage of an overhanging bough, so as to spring down upon the animals when they stopped to feed. But this story seems to be quite untrue. More curious still is the Ratel, which belongs to the family of Badgers. You cannot possibly mistake it if you see it, for all the upper part of its body is greyish white, and all the lower part is black. So that it looks rather like a lady wearing a white mantle and a black skirt! But if the ratel is odd in appearance, it is odder still in habits. A couple of these animals are nearly always to be seen at the Zoo, and if you go to look at them you are sure to find them trotting leisurely round and round their cage in a perfect circle, one behind the other. And when they come to a certain spot they always stop, turn head over heels, pick themselves up, and then run on again. Why they do so nobody knows, but for hours ever}7 day they keep up this singular performance. The ratel is very fond of honey — so fond, indeed, that it is often called the Honey Ratel, or Honey Weasel, in consequence; and it spends a good deal of time in prowling about in search of the nests of wild bees. You would think that it would get badly stung by the bees, wouldn’t you, when it tore their nests open and robbed them of their sweet stores. But its coat is so very thick that the insects can scarcely even force their stings through it, while even if they do so there is a thick loose skin underneath it, and a layer of fat underneath that. So it seems quite certain that a ratel never gets stung, no matter how many nests he may rob. The animal does not live entirely on honey, however, but also feeds upon rats, mice, small birds, lizards, and even insects. Two kinds of ratels are known, one of which lives in Africa and the other in India. The Badger, in days of old, was very common in Great Britain. It was generally known as the “Brock,” and when we find a place called by such a name as Brockley, or Brockenhurst, we may be quite sure that it was once inhabited by a great many badgers. Nowadays, however, these animals are scarce, and are only to be found in the wildest parts of the country; and as they only come out of their burrows by night, very few people even see them in a state of freedom. These burrows are generally made either in the very thickest part of a dense forest, or else on the side of a steep cliff which is well covered with trees. They run for some distance into the ground, and generally open out into several chambers, while at the end there is always a large hollow which the animals use as a bed¬ room. They like to be comfortable, so they always line this hollow with a good thick layer of dried fern and dead leaves. You would be quite astonished to find how much of this bedding is often packed away in the burrow of a single badger. I 10 A XA 7 'i 'R . I L JUS /'OR Y O F MA J R UAL S. These animals are most cleanly in their habits, and are very careful not to take any dirt into their burrows with them. They have been known, for example, to use a low branch near the entrance as a scraper, and always to rub their feet upon it before going in. And every now and then they have a grand house-cleaning, turning out all their bedding, and taking in a perfectly fresh supply. When the badger is digging, it uses its nose as well as its paws, shovelling the earth aside with it from time to time. And every now and then it walks backwards to the entrance of the burrow pushing out the loosened earth in a heap behind it. 1 he teeth of the badger are made in a very curious way, for they interlock with one another just like those of a steel trap. The jaws, too, are exceedingly strong, so that the animal is able to inflict a very severe bite indeed. 13ut it is a most peaceable creature, and never attempts to attack unless it is driven to bay. ( ) i ters a a: i tura l iris tor j - of ma j/j/a l s. i 13 As regards food, the badger will eat almost anything. It seems equally fond of mice, frogs, lizards, birds’ eggs, snails, worms, fruit, beech-mast, and roots. If it finds a wasps’ or a humble bees’ nest, too, it will dig it up and devour all the grubs and the food which has been stored up for them, caring nothing for the stings of the angry insects. And very often it gathers a quantity of provisions together in a small chamber opening out of its burrow, which it uses as a larder. The head of the badger is white, with a broad black streak on either side, which encloses both the eye and the ear. The body is reddish grey above, whitish grey on the sides, and blackish brown below, and the flanks and tail are nearly white. In length it is very nearly three feet from the muzzle to the tip of the tail. Many of the animals of the weasel tribe have a most dis¬ agreeable odour; but there is none whose scent is so horribly disgusting as that of the Skunk. This is a North American animal of about the size of a cat, with a long, narrow head, a stoutly-built body and a big bushy tail. In colour it is black, with a white streak on the forehead, a white patch on the neck, and a broad stripe of the same colour running along either side of the back. The offensive odour of the skunk is due to a liquid which is stored up in certain glands near the root of the tail. This liquid can be squirted out at will to a distance of twelve or fifteen feet, and if the animal is attacked, or thinks itself in danger, it does not attempt to use its teeth, but just turns round, raises its tail, and sends a perfect shower of the vile fluid over its enemy. And it is almost impossible to wash the smell away. A drop or two once fell on the coat of a dog. The animal was washed over and over again, most thoroughly, with various kinds of soap. Yet a week later, when he happened to rub himself against one of the legs of a table, no one could bear to sit by it afterwards. The skunk seems to know perfectly well how offensive its odour is, and never runs away if it meets a man, or even a large dog. It just stands perfectly quiet, like a cat expecting to be stroked, ready to make use of its evil-smelling fluid if necessary. This singular animal lives in holes in the ground, making a warm little nest at the end in which to bring up its young. It feeds upon small animals, small birds and their eggs, frogs, lizards and insects. Last among the members of the Weasel Tribe come the Otters. These animals are specially formed for living in the water. The paws, for example, are very large and broad, and the toes are fastened together by means of a kind of web, like that on the foot of a swan or a duck, so that they form very useful paddles. Then the body is long, lithe, and almost snake-like, and the tail is so broad and flat that it serves as a capital rudder, and enables H4 A XATt'RAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. the animal to direct its course. The fur, too, consists of two coats of hair instead of only one, the outer, which is composed of long, stiff bristles, lying upon the inner like a very close thatch, and quite preventing water from passing through. So although an otter is dripping from head to foot when it comes out of the water, it never gets really wet. The animal is wonderfully active in the water, and can easily overtake and capture the swiftest of fishes. Sometimes it is very destructive, for when fishes are plentiful it becomes so dainty that it never eats its victims, but just takes a bite or two from the best part of the flesh at the back of the neck, and then leaves the rest of the body lying upon the ground. So fishermen are not at all fond of it, and kill it whenever they can. But some¬ times, when the rivers are very low, or when the surface of the water is thickly covered with ice, the otters find it very difficult to obtain a sufficient supply of food. So they leave the streams and wander far inland, sometimes making their way into the farmyards, and feasting upon poultry, or even upon young pigs and lambs. But they only do this when they are in real danger of starvation, and always return to the river banks as soon as they possibly can. The home of the otter is generally^ situated beneath the spreading roots of a large tree on the bank of a stream. The animal does not dig a burrow if it can help it, but prefers to take advantage of some natural cleft in the ground, at the end of which it makes a nest of flags and rushes. In this nest from three to five little ones are brought up, and if you wrere to lie very quietly indeed on the bank for some little time quite early on a warm spring morning, you would very likely see the mother otter having a game of play with her little ones, or teaching them how to swim and to catch fish. The bite of the otter is very severe, and it is almost im¬ possible to force the animal to loose its hold. In India there is a kind of otter which is often trained to catch fish for its master. It is taught, first of all, to pursue an imitation fish as it is drawn through the wTater by a string, and to bring it ashore and lay it down upon the ground. Then a dead fish is substituted for the false one, and when the otter has learnt to bring this to its owner, and to give it up at the word of command, it is sent in pursuit of a live fish fastened to a line. And before very long it learns its duties so thoroughly that it will catch fish after fish, and bring them back without attempting to eat them, just as a well-trained retriever dog will bring back the birds or the rabbits which its master has shot. There is also a kind of otter which lives in the sea, and is called the Sea Otter in consequence. It is also known as the Ivalan. It is found on the coasts of the northern Pacific, and is much larger than the common otter, often weighing as much as seventy or eighty pounds, and being nearly four feet in total length. CHAPTER XI. THE BEAR TRIBE. THE Bears are very interesting animals indeed, and one of tire most interesting of them all is the Polar Bear, which is found in almost all parts of the Arctic regions. Sometimes it is called the White Bear, on account of the colour of its coat. But this is very seldom really white. Generally it is creamy yellow. And sometimes, in an old male, it is dingy yellow, and not even of the colour of cream. This is one of the largest of the bears, for it often grows to a length of nine feet, and weighs 800 or even 900 pounds. Yet it is wonderfully active, and it can run with very great speed. Indeed, if it were to pursue a man, he would have very little chance of escape. But it is not at all a quarrelsome animal, and although it will fight most savagely if it is wounded or driven to bay, using both teeth and claws with terrible effect, it very seldom attacks if it is not molested. One of the first things that we notice on looking at a polar bear is the small size of its head and the length of its neck. This, no doubt, is to help it in swimming ; for if it had a head as big as that of an ordinary bear it would find it very much harder to force its way through the water. And of course it must be able to swim very well indeed, for otherwise it could never catch the porpoises and fishes upon which it feeds. We notice, too, the huge size of its paws, which are nearly eighteen inches long, and very broad as well. These form most excellent paddles, while the thick fur is so oily that it quite prevents the icy water from coming into contact with the skin. The bear is very fond of feeding upon seals, however, as well as upon porpoises and fishes. But these are so active in the water that it very seldom attempts to chase them, preferring to creep quietly up to them as they lie sleeping on the ice instead. Then it kills them with one stroke of its terrible paw. Some¬ times, too, it is said to prey upon the walrus, crushing in its skull by a series of tremendous blows before it can shuffle off the ice into the sea. The feet of the polar bear are specially suited for travelling over the ice, for the soles are covered with long, thick hairs, which give it a firm foot-hold, and at the same time prevent it from feeling the cold of the frozen surface. The young of these bears are born and brought up in a A X- 1 Tl 7 ?A L HISTOR 1 ' OF MA MMA LS. 1 16 kind of nursery underneath the snow, which is so warm and snug that they do not feel the cold at all. Here they live with their mother until the snow7 melts at the return of warmer weather, and then for some months father, mother, and cubs all wander about together. Polar bears sometimes live for a very long time in cap¬ tivity. One of these animals lived in the Zoo for no less than thirty-four years, and another for thirty-three. The former of these once gave the keepers a terrible fright, for early one morning he managed to climb out of his enclosure, and when they found him he wras just setting oft' on a journey of discovery into the Regent’s Park. After a good deal of trouble, however, they got him back, Brown Bear. and altered his enclosure in such a way that he could never make his escape again. The Brown Bear is found in most parts of Europe, and also throughout almost the whole of Asia north of the Himalayas. In former days it was not uncommon even in England, and in the time of Edward the Confessor the city of Norwich was obliged to kill a bear every year and send its body to the king. These bears are found in wooded, hilly districts, often ascending to considerable heights in the mountains. In some parts of Asia they make regular tracks through the forest, in the form of pathways about two feet wide; and it is said that these tracks sometimes run for hundreds of miles. They are solitary animals, and it is not often that even a pair are seen together. But for A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 1 1 several months after they are born the cubs go about with their mother. This bear is generally supposed, when it fights, to try to “hug” its enemies to death, throwing its fore limbs round them, and crushing them in its embrace. But in reality it strikes a kind of side blow, and forces its great claws into its victim’s body, thus causing a most terrible wound. Just before it strikes it rears its body erect, and sits for a moment almost perfectly still ; and it is for this moment that an experienced hunter waits in order to send a bullet through its heart. Grizzly Bear. The brown bear can scarcely be called a beast of prey, though now and then, when it is very hungry, it will kill a pony or a sheep and feast upon its flesh. It eats roots, as a rule, digging them up with its great paws ; and it is also very fond of fruit. It will rob the nests of wild bees, too, and feed greedily upon the honey, appearing to pay no attention to the stings of the angry insects. And sometimes it may be seen turning over large stones, in order to catch and eat the beetles, earwigs, centi¬ pedes, etc., which have been hiding beneath it. Now and then, too, brown bears have been known to catch fish. Their usual plan seems to be to wade out into a stream, in A W I Tl 7x\ 1 L HIS TO A ) ' OF J/A MJT 1 LS. 1 18 some place where the water is not more than about eighteen inches deep, and there to stand perfectly motionless until a fish comes swimming past. Then with one quick, sudden stroke the victim is killed, and the bear seizes it in its mouth and carries it to the bank to be devoured. When bears catch fish in this way they are usually rather dainty, and only eat the best part of the flesh upon the back. In cold countries the brown bear often hibernates during the winter, just as bats and hedgehogs do in Great Britain. It cats a great deal of food towards the end of summer, and becomes exceedingly fat, and then retires to a hollow tree, or a cave, and falls asleep for several months, during which it lives on its own fat. In the spring, of course, when it wakes up, it is very thin lb, Ac k Bear. indeed. But a week or two of good feeding very soon brings it back into proper condition. The brown bear is very easily tamed, and the “performing bears” which we often see almost always belong to this species. It is not nearly such a large animal as the polar bear, its average length being only about six feet. The famous Grizzly Bear, however, which lives in North America, is much bigger and stronger and more savage, so that it is really a very formidable animal indeed. When fully grown, this huge creature is sometimes as much as nine feet long from the tip of the snout to the root of the tail, while it weighs at least 800 or goo pounds. The grizzly bear — or “old Ephraim,” as the hunters call Sloth Bears. A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMA IS. I 2 I it — preys largely upon deer, and when it has killed one it generally scratches a hole in the ground and buries the body, returning to it when in want of a meal. If it finds the carcase of an animal it treats it in the same way. It is said, too, that more than once a hunter, who had been caught by one of these bears, has contrived to escape by pretending to be dead, allowing the bear to bury him, and then breaking out of his shallow grave when it had gone away to sleep. But the animal is a vegetable feeder as well, and is very fond of acorns. It gets these by climbing a tree, shaking or Sun Bicar. striking the branches with all the force of its mighty limbs, and then coming down to feast on the results ol its labours. It is sometimes said, however, that the grizzly bear cannot climb trees. But this seems to be true only of the old animals, for the younger ones can climb quite as well as brown bears. The Bi .Ac k Bear is also an inhabitant of North America, but is neither so common or so widely distributed as it used to be. There are two reasons for this. The first is that this bear is an extremely mischievous animal, and is very fond of visiting 9 1 22 A XAZTRAT ///STORY OR MAMMA/. S. farmyards, and carrying ofi sheep, calves, pigs and poultry. So the farmer loses no opportunity of shooting or trapping it. And the other reason is, that its coat is very valuable, so that the hunters follow it even into the wilder parts of the country, where settlers, as yet, have not made their appearance. This animal is only about half as big as the grizzly bear, for it seldom exceeds five feet in total length. It never attacks man unless it is provoked. When driven to bay, however, it becomes a most formidable opponent, dealing terrific blows with its fore-paws, and fighting on with furious energy even after it has received a mortal wound. Early in the autumn the black bear generally goes into winter quarters. Finding a hollow underneath a fallen tree, or a cave of suitable size, it gathers together about a cartload of Panda, dead leaves and ferns, and makes a snug, cosy nest. Very often it lays a number oEbranches on the top, to prevent the leaves from blowing away. Before very long, of course, this nest is deeply covered with snow, and the bear lies fast asleep inside it for four or five months, living on the fat which it stored up inside its body during the summer. This bear is sometimes known as the Musquaw. The Sun Bears are so called because they wander about by day, and like to bask in the hottest sunshine, instead of hiding away in some dark retreat, as most of the other bears do. They live in India, China, and the larger islands of the Malay Archipelago, and are excellent climbers, spending a great part of their lives among the branches of the trees. These bears have most curious tongues, which are very long A A'A Tl YA / A HISTOR 1 ' YA JIA J/JA 1 AS. indeed, and very slender, and can be coiled and twisted about in the most singular way. Apparently they are used for licking out honey from the nests of wild bees. Sun bears are very gentle creatures, and are easily tamed. Those at the Zoo are extremely playful, and you may often see them standing upon their hind legs and wrestling with one another, and then tumbling over and rolling upon the floor, and evidently enjoying themselves very much indeed. Their fur is very smooth and glossy, and is jet black in colour, the chin and a crescent-shaped patch underneath the throat being white. The Aswail, or Sloth Bear, is perhaps the oddest of all the bears, for it has very long and shaggy hair, a flexible snout which it is always curling and twisting about, and a very awkwardly and clumsily built body. It walks, too, with a curious rolling gait, crossing its paws over one another at every step that it takes. And it has a queer way of eating termites and ants by breaking open their nests with its great fore-paws, blowing away the dust and fine earth, and then sucking up the insects by forcibly drawing in its breath through its lips. It makes such a noise when doing this that it can be heard from a distance of two or three hundred yards. The aswail is very seldom seen abroad during the daytime, for a very odd reason — viz., that the skin of the soles of its feet is so delicate that it cannot bear to walk upon ground which is heated by the rays of the sun. Sometimes, when a hunter has driven an aswail from its lair and pursued it by day, he has found its feet most terribly scorched and blistered when at last he killed it, simply because it had been obliged to walk over rocks on which the midday sun was beating down ! When a mother aswail has little ones, she always carries them about on her back. If she stops to feed they at once jump down, but always spring up again as soon as she moves on. Even when they are quite big they travel about in this way, and an aswail may often be seen with a cub as large as a retriever dog perched upon her back, and another one trotting along by her side. And from time to time she makes the little ones change places. If a mother aswail is wounded while her cubs are with her, she always seems to think that one of them must have bitten her, and immediately gives them both a good sound box on the ears. If several of these animals are together, too, and one of them is struck by a bullet, it begins to howl and cry at the top of its voice. The other bears at once come running up to see what is the matter, and begin to howl and cry too, out of pure sympathy for its sufferings. Then the wounded animal thinks that they have caused his injuries, and begins to cuff them with his paws. They, of course, strike back, and very soon all the 9* 124 A XATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMA L S. bears are buffeting and biting and scratching one another. They must be very stupid creatures, mustn’t they ? The aswail is a little more than five feet long when fully grown, and stands from twenty-seven to thirty-three inches in height at the shoulder. In colour it is black, with a white crescent¬ shaped mark on the upper part of its chest, like that of the sun bear. Besides the true bears, there are a number of smaller animals which belong to the same tribe. One of these is the Panda, or Wah, which is only about as Racoon. big as a rather large cat. It is rusty red in colour, with darker rings upon the tail, the tip of which is black. The face is white, and the lower parts of the body are very dark brown. The panda is found in the forests of the Eastern Himalayas, and also in Eastern Thibet. It is a very good climber and spends much of its time in the trees, searching for the nuts, fruits, and acorns on which it feeds. If it happens to find a bird’s-nest with eggs in it, too, it will suck them all, one after the other. And sometimes it will come down to the ground to make a meal upon roots, or the young shoots of bamboo. The panda lias rather large claws — just like those of A XA Tl XA L IIIS TOR ) ' OF MA MM A L S. 1 25 a bear — and one would think that they would form very serviceable weapons. But the animal seems to have very little idea of fighting, and scarcely tries even to defend itself if it is attacked. Next come the Racoons, all of which live in America. The best known of them is the Common Racoon, which is found throughout the United States, and also in Central America as far south as Costa Rica. This is a very pretty animal. In size it is about as big as a rather large cat, and is brown or greyish brown in colour, with a tail which is very bushy and is beautifully ringed with grey and black. The head is rather like that of a fox, with a whitish forehead, and a black patch just below it, enclosing the eyes. COAITI . There are always two or three racoons to be seen in the Zoo, and if you give one of them a piece of bread or biscuit it will take it in its fore-paws, just as if it were a monkey, and then go and rinse it carefully in the little pond in the middle of its cage. It never eats a scrap of food without washing it in this curious manner, and for this reason the Germans have given it the name of “Waschbar” or “washing bear.” The fur of the racoon is so soft and thick that it is very valuable, and the animal is very much persecuted in consequence. It is generally hunted by night, the hunters going out with a number of dogs, which soon drive the animal into a tree. They then sit in a circle round the trunk, while one of the hunters climbs the tree, drives the racoon to the end of the branch, and then shakes it violently till the poor creature falls to the ground, where it is quickly seized and dispatched. 126 A l 77 V\\ 1 L HISTOR ) ' OF JR I JIJ/A RS. Racoons will eat almost anything. Sometimes they will visit a poultry-yard and kill a number of the fowls by biting off their heads. Or they will go down to the seashore when the tide is out to search for crabs and oysters, or to the creeks and streams to hunt for crayfish. They are fond, too, of mice, and young birds, and eggs, and lizards, and fresh-water tortoises, and even insects, while they will occasionally make a meal on nuts, or fruit. But although they are such capital climbers, and can run about among the tree-branches as actively as squirrels, they never seem to pluck these as they grow, but only pick up those which have fallen on the ground below. Closely allied to the racoons is the Coaiti, or Coaiti- Mondi, which you may recognize at once by its very long snout. This snout is turned up at the tip, and gives to the animal a most curious appearance, while it is continually being curled and twisted about like that of the as wail. It is chiefly used for rooting about in the ground in search of worms and insects, and when the animal is drinking it always turns up the tip of its snout as far as possible, in order that it may not get wet. The coaiti can climb quite as well as the racoons and spends most of its life in the trees, very seldom coming down to the ground except to feed or to drink. It has a queer way of descending a tree with its head downwards, turning the hinder feet round in a such wray that it can hook its claws into the little crevices in the bark. During the day-time it is generally fast A XATVRAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 12; asleep, using its long bushy tail partly as a pillow and partly as a blanket. But almost immediately after sunset it wakes up and begins to scamper about among the branches with the most wonderful activity, stopping every now and then to rob a bird’s- nest, or to poke its snout into a hole in search of insects. The coaiti is about a yard in length, very nearly half of which is occupied by the tail. In colour it is chestnut brown, with black ears and legs, wdiile the tail is ringed with black and brownish yellow. Only one more member of the Bear Tribe remains to be mentioned, and that is the very curious Kinkajou, which is found in the forests of Central America. It is about as big as a cat, with very woolly fur of a light brown colour, and a very long tail. This tail is prehensile, like that of a spider monkey, and the animal never seems quite happy unless the tip is coiled round a branch. And if you make a pet of it, and carry it about in your arms, it will always try to coil its tail round one of your wrists. It has a very odd tongue, too, so round and long that it looks almost like a worm. The animal can poke this tongue into the cells of a honeycomb, in order to lick out the honey, or use it in plucking fruit which would otherwise be out ot its reach. And it descends the trunks of trees head first, just as the coaiti does. This animal is also known as the Potto. CHAPTER XIE THE SEAL TRIBE. \\ 1 now come to a group of carnivorous or flesh-eating mammals which live in the water — namely, the Seals. People sometimes think that these creatures are fishes ; but that is quite a mistake, for their blood is as hot as our own, and they breathe by means of nostrils and lungs just as we do, and not by means of gills, like the fishes. Then they have no fins to keep their bodies upright in the water as fishes have, neither do they swim by means of their tails. And their bodies are covered with fur, not with scales. So, you see, seals are very different indeed from fishes, although they spend almost the whole of their lives in the water. But nature has formed them in such a way that they can swim and dive quite as well as the fishes can. Yet it is very difficult indeed to see how they do so. If you watch a tame seal swimming about in a large tank of water, you will see that it glides smoothly and swiftly and easily and gracefully along, rising and diving and turning with the most perfect ease ; but how it swims you will not be able to tell at all. Perhaps you know, however, that you can row a boat by means of a single oar, if you work it from side to side at the stern. You will not travel very fast, partly because the oar is not very big, and partly because you are not very strong. But still the boat will move. Now if you look at the hinder feet of a seal, you will see that they are very broad indeed, that they are set very far back upon the body, and that, if necessary, they can be placed side by side together. Then think of the body of the seal as a live boat, and of these great broad feet as an oar worked from the stern, and you will be able to understand how the animal swims. It just places these feet side by side, and uses them in such a way that they act upon the water exactly as an oar does, while their strength is so great that they drive the body along very swiftly indeed. But if the seal is a hot-blooded animal, how can it remain in the sea for days together without being chilled? If we go to the seaside, and wish to bathe, we are advised not to stay in the water for more than ten or fifteen minutes ; and if we were to do so, we might be made seriously ill. Yet the seal can live for days, or even weeks, in the icy seas of the far North and yet never seem to suffer from the cold at all. Plow is this ? A jVA /'UR A L HIS TOR J ’ OF MA MM A L S. 129 Well, the fact is that, first of all, Nature has supplied the seal with a kind of mackintosh, to keep it dry. This mackintosh, in most seals, is made of a double coat of fur. First there is an outer layer of long, stout hairs, almost like bristles; and underneath there is generally another layer of soft, close hairs — those which you see in a lady’s sealskin jacket. And in order to keep the water from passing through it, this double coat of fur is kept constantly oiled. All over the surface of a seal’s skin are thousands upon thousands of little holes, each of which opens into a tiny bag of oil, and this oil is constantly oozing out on to the fur. So, you see, the furry coat really does act like a mackintosh, for it quite prevents the seal from ever getting wet. When an animal lives in water which is often covered with ice, however, something more than a mackintosh is necessary in order to keep it warm; so under the mackintosh Nature has Common seal. provided the seal with a thick great-coat. And this great-coat is made of a substance much warmer than cloth, or even than fur. It is made of fat. Just underneath the skin, covering the whole of the body, is a layer of fat two or three inches in thickness. And this keeps the seal so warm that even when it is lying upon ice it never gets chilled in the least. Then the nostrils and the ears of the seal are made in such a way that water cannot enter them when the animal is diving. They are furnished with little valves, which are so arranged that they close as soon as the water presses upon them. And the greater the pressure the more tightly they shut up, so that not the tiniest drop of water can ever enter them. There is still one more way in which the animal is specially fitted for its life in the water. It has to feed on fishes; and fishes are very slippery !3° A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. creatures. If you have ever tried to hold a live fish in your hand you will know that it is a most difficult thing to do, for the fish just gives a wriggle and a twist, and slips out of your grasp as if it had been oiled. So that it would seem quite impossible for the seal to hold its finny victims, even if it overtook and seized them. But when we come to look at its teeth we find that those which we call “molars,” or “grinders,” are set with long, sharp points; so that when a fish is seized they enter its body, and hold it in a grip from which there is no escape. There are a good many different kinds of seals, but I shall only be able to tell you about four or five of the best known. 'NTAGONIAN SEA LlOX. The first of these, of course, is the Common Seal, which may still be seen in many parts of our own British coasts. It is very much disliked by the fishermen, owing to the great number of fishes which it devours, while it is so cunning that it will even find its way in among the nets which they have let down, feast heartily upon the captive fish, and then quietly swim out again, often doing the same thing day after day for weeks together. And it is almost impossible to destroy it, for it seems to know perfectly wTell when its enemies are on the watch, and will only expose just its nostrils above the water when it comes up to the surface to breathe. A NATURAL HISTORY OR MAMMALS. 13 1 Very often, however, the fishermen consider that it is “unlucky” to kill a seal, so that the animal is able to carry on its robberies without being interfered with. The common seal, when fully grown, is about five feet long, and is yellowish-grey in colour, with a number of darker spots sprinkled over the body and sides. It is very active indeed in the sea, and fairly active upon land, for although it cannot walk it will shuffle along over the beach at a really wonderful pace. Crested; Seal. As it does so, it throws up a perfect shower of stones with its hinder flippers, and those who have chased it have often thought that it w7as doing so on purpose, and was actually throwing stones at them. If this seal is caught when quite young and treated kindly, it soon becomes exceedingly tame. It has even been known to live indoors, like a dog or a cat, and to lie for hours together basking in front of the fire. And in more than one case, when its owner wished to get rid of it, and put it back into the sea, it swam after him, crying so pitifully as he rowed away that he could not bear to leave it, and took it home with him again after all. The Sea Lions are so called because they are supposed to look very much like lions. But it is not easy to see the resemblance. Sometimes they are called Hair Seals, because there is no soft woolly under-fur beneath the coating of thick bristles, as there is in most of the animals belonging to this family. There are nearly always ' two or three sea lions to be’ seen at the Zoo, and they are so intelligent and clever that the keeper is able to teach them to perform all kinds of tricks. A wooden platform has been built for them, with the upper end standing some feet above the surface of the water, and they are very fond of shuffling up this, lying at the end until a number of visitors have come close to the railings to look at them, and then diving A A II Tl rRA I HIS TOR J ” OF M. I MM A IS. into the water with a great splash, so as to send a perfect shower of spray over the spectators. There are several different kinds of these animals, of which the Patagonian Sea Lion is perhaps the best known. It is found on both the Atlantic and the Pacific coasts of South America, and is rather more lion dike than its relations, since it has a crest of long hairs on the back of its neck, which really looks something like a mane. But you cannot see this crest when the animal is wet, as it then lies down flat upon the skin. The colour of the fur varies very much, for the old males are brown, the females are grey, and the young ones are a rich chocolate, which begins to grow paler when they are almost twelve months old. One of these animals, which lived for a good many years in the Zoo, was exceedingly clever, for it would climb up and down a ladder, with either its head or its tail first, fire off a gun, kiss its keeper, and catch fishes in its mouth if they were thrown to it, just as a dog will catch a piece of biscuit. And several others which have been kept in the gardens since have been quite as highly trained. Cleverest of all, however, were a party of sea lions which were established at the London Hippodrome in 1902, for they would play a kind of football with their heads, catching the ball and passing it from one to the other in a most wonderful way, and scarcely ever missing it or making a mistake. They would take part, too, in a musical performance, one playing the drum, another cymbals, a third the horn, and a fourth the bells, while their trainer stood in the middle and beat time. And one of them would actually balance an upright pole, with a fish on the top, on the tip of its nose, waddle across the stage, still holding the pole upright, and then suddenly jerk the pole aside, and catch the fish in its mouth as it fell. But sea lions are rather expensive pets to keep, for they have such very large appetites. A single sea lion, indeed, will eat about twenty-five pounds weight of fish in a single day !. And when one remembers that these seals are sometimes found in herds of hundreds of thousands, one would almost think that they must very soon devour all the fishes in the sea. When fully grown this animal is about seven feet long. The Fur Seals are sometimes known as Sea Bears, although they are not even as much like bears as the sea lions are like lions. They are destroyed in very great numbers for the sake of their skins, which have a thick coating of soft fur under¬ neath the stiff outer bristles. These bristles, of course, have to be removed before the fur can be used, and this is done by shaving the inner surface of the skin away until their roots are cut off. They can then be pulled out without any difficulty, while the roots of the under fur, which are not nearly so deeply buried, are not hurt in the least. But the operation is not at A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. J33 all an easy one, and can only be performed by a highly-skilled workman, and that is one reason why sealskin jackets are so expensive. Another reason is that in almost every skin there are a number of “flaws,” all of which have to be most carefully cut out, after which the holes have to be filled up in such a way as to leave no traces of the operation. Then the fur has to be cleaned, and combed and prepared and dyed, so that the garments which are made from it really cannot be sold except at a very high price. These seals are not hunted in the sea, for they are such good swimmers that it would be very difficult indeed to kill them. So during the greater part of the year they are allowed to live in peace. But during the breeding season they live upon land, lying upon certain parts of the coast in enormous Sea Elephant. herds, which are mostly known as “rookeries”; and the seal hunters visit these places, drive the young males to a distance from the rest, and there kill them by striking them on the head with a heavy club. Such vast numbers of fur seals were destroyed in this way that at last it became necessary to protect them, for fear lest they should be entirely killed off. So only a certain number may now be killed in each year. The best known of the fur seals is the Northern Sea Bear, which is found on both shores of the Northern Pacific. It visits the Prybilaff Islands in enormous numbers during the breeding season, and in the year 1872 it was estimated that there were at least three million of the animals on one island alone, Another seal whose fur is verv valuable is called the Crested Seal, because the adult male has a most singular crest upon the front part of the head. This crest consists of a kind of . I Ml Ti ' 1\ . I /. I//STOR ) " OF JR l JIM A RS. M bag of skin which lies just above the nose, and can be inflated with air at will. What its use may be in a state of nature is not known. But when the seal is hunted it is often of the greatest service, for the force of a blow which would other¬ wise have caused instant death, is so broken by the crest, that the animal is merely stunned for a few moments, and is able to slip into the water before the hunter returns to take off its skin. This seal is rather a formidable animal when it is enraged, for it is ten or eleven feet long when fully grown, and Walrus. uses both its claws and its teeth in fighting. The male animals are very quarrelsome among themselves, and most desperate battles take place, the combatants screaming so loudly with rage as they attack one another, that they can be heard from a very long distance away. The crested seal is chiefly found off the coast of Southern Greenland, where large herds may sometimes be seen lying on the ice. One of the biggest of all the seals is the great Sea Elephant which frequents the shores of many of the islands in . I X. I '/'UR. 1 L I/ISTOR 1 ’ OR MA A1JR 1 L S. ‘.■>5 the Antarctic Ocean. It owes its name, partly to its enormous size, the old males sometimes reaching to a length of eighteen or even twenty feet, and partly to its very curious trunk, which is sometimes as much as a foot long. In the females and the young animals this trunk is wanting, and even in the male it is seldom seen unless the animal is excited, when it can be blown out very much like the bladderdike crest of the crested seal. The fur of the sea elephant is much too coarse to be of any great value. But its skin can be made into most excellent leather, while the thick coat of blubber which lies beneath it furnishes large quantities of most useful oil. The consequence is that the animal has been greatly persecuted, and is now com¬ paratively scarce even in districts where it was once exceedingly plentiful. It is not nearly so fierce as the crested seal, and almost always takes to flight if it is attacked, its huge body quivering like a vast mass of jelly as it shuffles awkwardly along over the beach. But the males fight most fiercely with one another, inflicting really terrible wounds by means of their tusk¬ like teeth. The strangest of all the seals, however, is the Walrus, whose upper “eye” teeth really do deserve to be called tusks, since they are sometimes as much as two feet long. This animal is found only in the Northern parts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and is not very often seen outside the Arctic Circle. Formerly, however, it was much more widely distributed, and was even seen more than once off the coasts of Scotland. But it has been so persecuted by the hunters that it is not nearly so plentiful as it used to be, and has quite disappeared from many districts where once it was found in numbers. The walrus is not quite so large as the sea elephant, never¬ theless, it is a very big animal, for a fully-grown male will often measure twelve or thirteen feet in length, and will weigh very nearly a ton. It uses its tusks for all sorts of different purposes. When it wants to climb upon an ice-floe, for example, it will dig them deeply into the ice, and so obtain “purchase” while it raises its huge body out of the water. They are very formidable weapons, too, and the animal can strike so quickly with them, both sideways and downwards, that it is not at all easy to avoid their stroke. Then they are very useful in obtaining food. If a walrus finds the body of a dead whale, it will cut off huge lumps of the flesh by means of its tusks; and very often it will dig in the sandy mud with them for mussels and cockles. The con¬ sequence is that the tusks are frequently broken, while they are nearly always very much worn at the tips. The name “walrus” is a corruption of “ whale-horse.” The animal is sometimes known as the “Sea Horse,” and also as the Morse. CHAPTER XIII. THE WHALE TRIBE. ^pHE Whales are more thoroughly creatures of the water than even the seals, for they never come upon dry land at all, even during the breeding season. Indeed, if a whale is unfortunate enough to be thrown upon the shore by a great wave, and left stranded, it cannot possibly make its way back into the sea, but is obliged to he there helplessly until it dies. Yet we must not think that these giant creatures are fishes; for they are as truly mammals as the seals are. Their blood is hot, and is driven through the body by a heart made up of four chambers, instead of only two. They breathe by means of nostrils and lungs, and not by means of gills. And besides that they suckle their young, just as all other mammals do. Then, once more, if you look at the body of a whale, you will see that its tail is quite different from that of a fish. The tail of a fish is upright, but that of a whale is set cross-wise. So that there is only one respect in which whales are really like fishes, and that is the general shape of the body. These huge animals fall naturally into two families, the first consisting of those which have teeth, and the other of those which have whalebone, or “baleen” instead. But in many ways the members of both these families are alike. All whales, for example, breathe in a very curious way. No doubt you have heard of the “spouting” of these animals, and perhaps you may have seen a picture of a whale lying on the surface of the sea, and throwing up a great column of water from its nostrils, or “blow-holes.” These pictures, however, are rather exaggerated, for what really happens is this: a whale, as of course you know, often remains under water for a very long time, and when at last it rises to the surface, the air in its lungs is heavily laden with moisture. When this air is discharged through the “blow-holes” into the cold atmosphere the moisture condenses at once into a kind of misty spray, just as that in our own breath does in very cold weather. This is what one sees when a whale is “spouting,” although as the animal sometimes begins to blow while its nostrils are still beneath the surface, a small quantity of sea water may, perhaps, be thrown up too. A whale, if it is not disturbed, will often “blow” fifty or sixty times in succession. Let me try to explain why it does so. If you try to hold your breath, you will find that it is very Sperm Whale. A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 139 difficult to do so for more than three-quarters of a minute. But if, before you make the attempt, you get rid of as much of the air in your lungs as you possibly can, draw in a very deep breath and get rid of that, and then repeat the process about half a dozen times, you will find that you can hold your breath quite easily for at least a minute and a half. The reason is that by breathing so often and so deeply you have purified all the blood in your body, instead of having, as usual, a very large quantity which has done its work, and requires to be refreshed in the lungs before it can be of any further use. Now the whale “spouts” fifty or sixty times in succession for just the same reason. It is taking a series of deep breaths so that it may purify all the blood in its body, and be able to remain under water for as long a time as possible without having to rise to the surface for air. And, besides this, there is a most wonderful arrangement in its body which enables it to stay below for very much longer than would otherwise be possible. Inside its chest it has a sort of blood-cistern, so to speak, consisting of a number of large vessels, which contain a great quantity of extra blood, besides that which is circulating through the body. This blood, also, is purified when the whale “spouts.” Then, when the animal has remained under water for some little time, and begins to feel the want of air, it does not rise to the surface at once, in order to breathe, but just pumps some of the extra blood from this curious cistern into its veins and arteries, to take the place of that which is used up and requires to be purified. This it can do over and over again until all the extra blood-supply is used up too, when it is obliged to rise and “spout.” As a general rule a whale spends from ten to twelve minutes in “spouting,” and can then remain under water, if necessary, for considerably more than an hour. It is owing to this singular method of breathing that whales can be so easily killed. The object of the hunters is simply to drive them below before they have finished “ spouting.” They do this again and again, and the consequence is that the poor animal soon becomes completely exhausted and falls an easy prey. You remember, don’t you, how the seals are protected from cold, partly by their thick and oily fur, and partly by the layer of fat which lies just underneath the skin. Well, the whales are protected in much the same way. They have no fur, of course; but the layer of fat, which we call blubber, is always several inches in thickness, and is sometimes as much as two feet ; so that the whale is never chilled by living in the water, even when it has to make its way through floating ice. This blubber has another use as well. When the whale dives to a great depth — and sometimes it sinks nearly half a mile beneath the surface of the sea — the pressure on its body becomes 10* A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 140 enormously great, because of the weight of the water above it. If you were to dive to half that depth you would die. But the blubber of the whale is so elastic that it resists the pressure just as a great thick sheet of indiarubber would, so that the animal does not suffer from it in the very least. Sometimes you see pictures in which whales are drawn with very big eyes, very long ears, and perhaps even with their tongues hanging out of their mouths. Now such pictures are drawn by artists who know nothing about whales, for the eyes of these animals are quite small, their outward ears are merely little G KEEN LAND Wl l A EH. holes in the skin, closing by means of self-acting valves like those ot the seals, and the tongue cannot be poked out of the mouth at all. Now let us learn something about the different kinds of whales. First, then, come the toothed whales or Denticetes. As an example of these we will take the famous Sperm, or Spermaceti whale, which is also known as the Cachalot. This whale has nearly all its teeth in the lower jaw, the upper one only having a very short row of small teeth on either side. The lower teeth are hve or six inches long, and fit into pits in the upper jaw when the mouth is closed. These teeth are composed of most beautiful ivory, and were formerly valued A NATURAL HIS 'TORY OR MAMMALS. H1 so highly by the natives of the South Sea Islands, that more than once a tribe has actually gone to war with another tribe simply to obtain possession of a single whale’s tooth. Now that it is so persecuted, apparently the sperm whale does not grow to so great a size as it did in days gone by. Yet it is a very big animal indeed, for a fully-grown male will attain to a length of sixty or even seventy feet, while even a baby whale is from eleven to fourteen feet long, or as big as a big walrus. And, strange to say, the head is almost as large as the body and tail put together. This is chiefly due to the fact that there is a great cavity in the skull, which contains the valuable substance which we call “spermaceti.” When one of these whales is killed, the head is cut off, and a kind of well is dug in the forehead, from which the spermaceti is drawn to the Rorqual. surface in buckets, as much as thirty barrels being sometimes taken from a single animal. Besides this, the blubber yields a large quantity of very valuable oil, which burns with a much clearer and stronger light than ordinary whale oil. And sometimes a most curious substance cailed “ambergris” is found in its body. It is used in making certain kinds of scent, and is worth about fi per ounce, although no less than fifty pounds of it have once or twice been taken from a single whale. Sperm whales are generally seen in companies, which are known as “schools.” In olden days there were sometimes as many as a couple of hundred whales in one of these “schools.” But so many of the great creatures have been killed by whalers that it is now quite the exception to see more than four or five together. These whales are very pi a)7 ful creatures, and may often be A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 142 seen gambolling on the surface of the sea, and now and then “breaching,” or leaping completely out of the water and falling back again with a tremendous splash. They feed chiefly upon the great cuttles, or squids, which are so plentiful in some parts of the ocean, but also devour large numbers of cod and other fishes. But how they manage to catch these fishes nobody quite seems to know. These whales were formerly hunted by means of a small boat, in the bow of which stood a man with a long spear, or “harpoon,” in his hand, attached to an enormous coil of rope. As soon as this was hurled at a whale the boat was backed, so as to escape the stroke of its tail, and the whale would then “sound,” or dive to the depth of perhaps three-quarters of a mile. As sdoii as he rose he was driven down again, as already described, before he had had time to finish “spouting,” and at last, when quite exhausted, was killed by means of a very long and sharply-edged lance. Nowadays, however, the harpoon is generally fired from the ship by means of a gun, and as a charge of dynamite or gun-cotton is placed in the head, which explodes as soon as the wreapon enters the body of the whale, such a severe wound is caused that the animal very soon dies. Sometimes one hears of whales being seen off our own British shores. These are nearly always Bottlenose Whales, which are so called because their muzzles are produced into beaks shaped somewhat like bottles. Although they belong to the toothed whales they only have two teeth in the lower jaw, and even these are so small that they are completely buried in the gum. By the side of the cachalot the bottlenose whale seems quite a small animal, for even the fully-grown male seldom exceeds thirty feet in length, while the female is quite six feet shorter. It yields, on an average, about two hundredweight of spermaceti and a couple of tons of oil. Its colour, strange to say, is continually changing all through its life, for the young animals are black above and the older ones brown, which grows lighter and lighter as time goes on, till at last it becomes almost yellow. These whales seem to be very sympathetic creatures, for if one of them is wounded, its companions generally swim round and round it, and will even allow themselves to be killed one after the other rather than take to flight. But they are also rather stupid animals, for if they happen to find themselves near the coast they seldom seem to realise that they can easily escape by turning round and swimming out to sea, but leap and tumble about in a state of great terror till at last a big wave comes and throws them up on the beach. The members of the other great group of these animals are called Whalebone Whales, because they have whalebone in their mouths instead of teeth. A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. J43 Of course this substance is not really bone at all. It consists of a kind of horny material which grows all round the upper jaw in a series of flattened plates, which are usually very long, and hang downwards from the edge of the palate. Each of these plates, at the tip, is broken up into a sort of hairdike fringe; so that when the jaws are partly closed there is a kind of sieve, or strainer, between them, through which everything must pass that goes in or out of the mouth. This sieve is used in feeding. It seems strange that an animal so huge as a whale should feed on some of the smallest Narwhal. creatures which live in the sea. Yet such is the case, for the throats of the whalebone whales are so narrow that one of these animals would almost certainly be choked it it tried to swallow a herring. So these whales live upon very small jelly-fishes, and the young of shrimps, prawns, tiny crabs, etc., which often swim about in such vast shoals that for miles and miles the sea is quite alive with them. When the whale meets with one of these shoals it opens its mouth wide and swims through it. Then it partly closes its mouth, and squirts out the water which it has taken in through the whale-bone strainer, the little animals, of course, remaining behind. These are then swallowed, a few A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMA]. S. H 4 thousand at a gulp, and the whale opens its month and repeats the operation over and over again, until its enormous appetite is satisfied. Most of the whalebone which we use is obtained from the Greenland Whale, which is found in the northern seas. This animal is from fifty to sixty feet long when fully grown, and the baleen plates are often ten or even twelve feet in length, while there are nearly four hundred of them on each side of the upper jaw. In a large whale these plates weigh more than a ton, and are worth at least ^3,000. Then from 130 to 150 barrels of oil will be obtained from its blubber ; so that a big Greenland whale is a very valuable animal indeed. But whales of this size are now very rarely met with, and there seems to be some danger that before many years have passed awray these giant creatures will be almost extinct. The Rorquals are sometimes known as Fin Whales, because they have an upright fin on the hinder part of the back. They are not so valuable as the Greenland whale, because their baleen is of inferior quality, and is very much shorter, while their blubber does not yield nearly so much oil, and they swim with such speed that they are very much harder to catch. The Common Rorqual grows to a length of about sixty or sixty-five feet, and is found throughout all the northern seas, and occasionally even in the Mediterranean. Sometimes it visits our British coasts, for two dead examples were found floating in the Channel in 1885, while another was stranded at Skegness two years later. It is a solitary animal as a rule, but “schools” of from ten to fifteen individuals are sometimes met with, and may be seen leaping into the air, and rolling and tumbling about in the water, as though they wTere having a game of play together. The rorqual feeds partly upon the small creatures which it captures by means of its whalebone “strainer,” and partly upon fishes. How vast its appetite is you can judge from the fact that no less than six hundred large codfish have been found in the stomach of one of these animals, together with a number of pilchards. Sometimes a rorqual wall come quite near the coast, and remain in a fishing-ground for weeks together, and as it swallows several boatloads of fishes every day, it is scarcely necessary to say that the fishermen are not at all pleased to see it. There is another kind of whale, called the Lesser Rorqual, which only grows to the length of about hve-and-twenty or thirty feet. It is an occasional visitor to the British coasts, but is commoner off the shores of Norway, and commoner still in North American waters, wdiere it is generally known as the Sharp¬ nosed Finner. It is a very playful animal, and is said sometimes to gambol round and round a ship for miles, nowr and then diving underneath it on one side and coming up on the other. Next we come to the Dolphin family, which includes the A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. Narwhal, the Grampuses, and the Porpoises, as well as the true Dolphins. The Narwhal is a very curious animal indeed, for the male has a very long straight tusk projecting from one side of its upper jaw. This tusk is often as much as seven or eight feet in length, and the ivory of which it is made is twisted round and round in a spiral from base to tip. In olden days this tusk was thought to be the horn of the unicorn, and the narwhal is often known as the Sea Unicorn in consequence. In reality, this tusk is the leftdiand upper “eye” tooth of the animal, that on the right-hand side being very small indeed, and completely buried in the bone of the jaw. Just now and then, however, both teeth are developed, and a narwhal was once killed which had one tusk seven feet five inches long, and the Porpoise. other seven feet. There are no other teeth in the mouth, and the female animal has no tusks at all. Now what is the use of this singular weapon ? Well, two or three answers have been given to that question. Some people have supposed, for example, that it is used in spearing fish, or in digging up buried molluscs from the mud at the bottom of the sea. But the female narwhals require food just as much as the males do; how is it that they are not provided with tusks also ? Other people have thought that when the winter is very severe indeed, and the ice on the surface of the sea is very thick, the animal could bore a hole through it with its tusk, and so be able to breathe. But then again, female narwhals require air just as they require food. So this suggestion will not do either. And the only explanation which we can really give is that i46 A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. the narwhal’s tusk is a weapon used in fighting, just like the antlers of the male deer. At any rate, narwhals have several times been seen as they were taking part in a kind of make- believe battle, and striking and clashing their tusks together just as though they were fencing with swords. And when they are fighting in earnest they must be able to use their long spears with terrible effect, for several times a narwhal has charged a ship, and driven its tusk so deeply into her timbers that it was quite unable to withdraw it. The ivory of which this weapon is made is of very fine quality. But as the tusk is hollow for the greater part of its length it is not very valuable. Narwhals are only found in the half- frozen seas of the far north, where they are sometimes seen swimming side by side together in large companies. They grow to a length of from twelve to sixteen feet, and are dark grey in colour on the upper part of the body, and white underneath, the back and sides being more or less mottled with grey. The Wh ite Whale, or Beluga, is something like a large narwhal without a tusk, and is also a dweller in the northern seas. But it often ascends the larger rivers for hundreds of miles in search of fish. Just now and then it has been killed off the coasts of Scotland, and one example lived for quite a long time in the Firth of Forth, going up the river day after day as the tide came in, and ahvays retreating as it began to fall. The fishermen were ver}7 anxious to kill it, because of the quantities of fish which it devoured. But it was so quick and active that it eluded them over and over again, and three whole months passed away before at last they succeeded. In one or two of the great rivers of North America white whales are regularly hunted, the animals being first driven up the stream, and then intercepted by nets as they return. They yield a large quantity of very pure oil, and the “porpoise-hide,” which is used so largely in making boots and shoes, is in reality prepared from their skins. The true Porpoise, or Sea Hog, is much more widely distributed, and you may often see a herd of these animals tumbling and gambolling on the surface of the sea quite close to our own coasts. They will ascend tidal rivers too. I once saw quite a large number in the Thames just above Gravesend, and they have several times been known to swim up as far as London Bridge. Porpoises have a most curious way of swimming, for they travel along by a series of bounds, first of all leaping almost out of the water, and then diving underneath it. When a number of them are moving along in this way one behind the other, as they very often do, they look from a little distance just like an enormous snake winding its way through the water, and no A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 47 doubt have given rise to some of the tales about the great sea serpent. A herd of porpoises will frequently follow a sailing ship for days, sometimes, apparently, out of pure curiosity, and some¬ times in the hope of picking up something eatable among the rubbish that is thrown overboard. But they are very much afraid of steamers, and always keep at a very respectful distance from them. They feed chiefly upon fish, and are so quick and active that even the salmon cannot escape from them, while they will follow up shoals of mackerel and herrings and destroy them in enormous numbers. When fully grown the porpoise is rather more than five feet long. The upper part of the body is almost black in colour, becoming paler on the sides, while the lower surface is almost pure white. Grampus. The largest and fiercest of all the members of the Dolphin family is undoubtedly the Grampus, which is also known as the Killer Whale. It often reaches a length of twenty feet, or even more, and is so savage and voracious that it has sometimes been called the Wolf of the Sea. One of these animals was once found floating on the surface of the sea, choked by a seal which it had attempted to swallow ; and when its body was opened, no less than fourteen other seals and thirteen porpoises were taken from its stomach. Three or four grampuses will often combine, too, in an attack upon even a whalebone whale, leaping upon it again and again, and striking terrific blow's upon its body with their tails, hanging upon its lips like so many bull-dogs, biting and tearing its flesh, and often actually killing it, in spite of its enormous size. The whale seems perfectly terrified by the onslaught of the A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. ferocious creatures, and sometimes scarcely attempts to resist them, apparently knowing quite well that they are sure to be victorious in the end. The grampus is most plentiful in the northern seas, but is found now and then in almost all parts of the ocean. It occa¬ sionally visits the British shores, and on one occasion no less than three examples were seen swimming about in the Thames between Battersea and Chelsea Bridges, where they remained for several hours before they turned and swam back again to the sea. And once a living specimen was exhibited in the Brighton Aquarium, and did very well for some little time. But one day it got its snout jammed in the rock-work in the bottom of its tank, so that it could not rise to the surface to “spout.” And when the keeper discovered what had happened to it the poor creature was dead. Almost as large as the grampus, but not nearly so savage, is the Blackfish, which is so called on account of its colour. It is found in great shoals, generally consisting of two or three hundred animals, and often of a great many more, which are always under the guidance of a single leader. Wherever he goes they will always follow, and the)'- are such stupid creatures that if he swims into shallow water and casts himself ashore, they will all swim after him and fling themselves on the beach also. In Iceland, and also in the Faroe Islands, large numbers of them are often killed, the fishermen arranging their boats in a semi¬ circle between the shoal and the deep sea, and then driving them forwards till they strand themselves upon the shore in their efforts to escape. And large herds have also been driven ashore in the Orkneys and the Shetlands, and even in the Firth of Forth. This animal is also known by the rather curious name of Caaing Whale. There are two groups of Dolphins, the first of which contains three animals which live in rivers, and therefore are generally called Fresh-water Dolphins. The only one of these that I can mention is the Gangetic Dolphin, which inhabits the great rivers of India. Its chief peculiarity is that it is almost totally blind. Although the animal grows to the length of seven or eight feet, and is bulky in pro¬ portion, yet its eyeballs are no larger than peas, while the nerves of sight are so imperfect that it is quite possible that it may not be able to see at all. This is no deprivation to it, however, for the rivers in which it lives are always so thick with mud that even if it had properly developed eyes it would be quite unable to use them. The Gangetic dolphin is very seldom seen, because when it comes up to breathe, it only raises just the blow-holes above the surface of the water. For the same reason, we know very little indeed about its habits. But it seems to feed on fresh -water A A A Z'UIA l L mS TOR V OF JT l MAR ITS. 1 49 shrimps and molluscs, and also on certain fishes which lie half- buried in the mud at the bottom of the water, rooting about for them with its snout after the manner of a pig. This animal is often known as the Susu. Of the Sea Dolphins we can only notice two. The first of these is the Common Dolphin, which is found in great numbers in almost all parts of the temperate and tropical seas. Now and then it is seen off the southern coasts of England. It generally lives in herds, which will follow ships for hours ■'■Vv, . ■v*sw, , lu V Com mon Dolphin. together, leaping and gambolling and playing about on the surface of the sea, and yet keeping pace with the vessel without the least apparent effort. It feeds on fishes, and in order to capture them and hold them firmly it has no less than one hundred and ninety teeth, which are arranged in such a way that when the mouth is closed the upper and lower ones fit in between one another like those of a steel trap, and hold the prey in a grip from which there is no escape. A fully-grown dolphin is usually about seven feet long, but specimens are occasionally found which are very much larger. i50 A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. The colour is glossy black above, and almost pure white on the lower parts of the body. The Bottle-nosed Dolphin is a rather smaller animal, with a shorter and more pointed beak which is shaped rather like the neck of a bottle, and is purple black above and greyish white below. It has once or twice been met with off the British coasts, but is most abundant near the shores of North Carolina. There is just one other family of water mammals which it will be convenient to mention here, although they do not really belong to the Whale Tribe. These are the very curious creatures known as Sirenia, the best-known of them being the Manatee and the D UGONG. Of course, you have heard of “ mermaids,” those imaginary creatures of the sea, which were supposed in days of old to Manatee. combine the head and body of a woman with the tail of a fish. Well, very likely these stories were told in the first place by some traveller who had seen a manatee, for the animal has a queer way of raising its head and the upper part of its body almost upright out of the water and cuddling its little one in its flippers, so that from a little distance it really looks something like a human being with a child. But at close quarters the comparison would not be a very flattering one, for there is a kind of disc-like swelling at the end of the snout, and the skin is black and coarse, and wrinkled like that of an elephant. Manatees are found on the west coast of Africa, and also on the shores of South America, living near the mouths of the larger rivers. They never seem to leave the water of their own accord, and if by any chance they find themselves upon dry land, they are perfectly helpless, and can only roll over and over. Two A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 15 1 or three examples have been brought to this country, one of which lived for some little time in the Zoo. It was quite a small animal, and had to be fed with milk out of a baby’s bottle, while the keeper nursed it upon his knees. When it grew a little bigger it became very playful, and would tumble and roll about in its tank almost like a dolphin or a porpoise. And more than once it even succeeded in knocking its keeper into the water. Another of these animals, which was caught at the mouth of the Essequibo River, was brought to the Royal Aquarium in London in 1878, where it lived for no less than sixteen months. It was about eight feet long, and its tail was so enormously powerful that everyone was afraid that the sides of its tank would be broken in by its tremendous blows. Its appetite was remarkably good, for it used to eat no less than eighty-four pounds of lettuces every day. The dugong is found on the east coast of Africa, and also on the coasts of Mauritius, Ceylon, the islands of the Indian Archipelago, and Western Australia. In many respects it is very much like the manatee. But it has a forked tail instead of a rounded one, and its body is bluish black above and whitish below. It lives in shallow water near the mouths of rivers, feeds upon various water plants, and is said to be so affectionate that if one of a pair is killed the other cannot be induced to leave the dead body, but will remain by it and allow itself to be slaughtered also. Not very many years ago dugongs were found in large herds, sometimes consisting of two or three hundred individuals, and were so tame that they would even permit themselves to be touched without attempting to escape. But they have been very much persecuted for the sake of their hides, and also for that of a valuable oil which is extracted from their bodies, so that nowa¬ days it very seldom happens that more than two or three are seen together. A fully-grown dugong is generally from seven to eight feet long, and measures about six feet round the body. CHAPTER XIV. THE RODENT ANIMALS. ^JMiE group of the Rodents is the largest of all the tribes ot Mammals, for it contains more than a thousand different animals. Indeed, nearly one third of all the mammals in the world belong to this very important division. The word “rodent” signifies “gnawing,” and is given to these creatures because their front teeth are specially formed for the purpose of gnawing hard substances. You know, of course, how long and sharp the front teeth of a rat or a mouse are, and how easily these animals can nibble their way through a stout piece of board. Well, all the rodent animals have these teeth formed in just the same way. And when we come to examine them we find that they are most beautifully suited to their purpose. You would think that as they are so constantly in use, these teeth would be very quickly worn down to the gums, wouldn’t you ? Ours would, if we employed them in the same way. But then, in the rodent animals, these teeth never stop growing, so that as fast as they are worn away from above they are pushed up again from below. Sometimes this fact leads to a very singular result. It happens now and then that a rodent animal meets with an accident, and breaks off one of its front teeth. Now these teeth, remember, cannot be used unless they have one another to work against, just as the blades of a pair of scissors cannot be used unless they have one another to cut against. So, you see, when one tooth is broken short off, the opposite tooth in the other jaw becomes useless. It has nothing to work against. So it is no longer worn away from above. But of course it still goes on growing. So before very long it projects in front of the other teeth. Still it continues to grow, and in course of time its natural curve brings it round in a semi- circle, with the point towards the face. And at last, if it is a lower tooth, it pierces first the flesh of the fore¬ head and then the skull beneath it, and enters the brain and kills the animal; while, if it happens to be an upper tooth, the point curls round under the chin and at length prevents the poor crea¬ ture from opening its mouth, so that it dies miserably of star¬ vation! It seems impossible, doesn’t it? Yet in several of our great museums there are skeletons of hares and rabbits which have been killed in this singular way by one of their own front teeth. But how are these teeth kept sharp ? One would think that their edges, at any rate, must very soon be worn away. A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. T53 Nature has guarded against this danger, however, by making these teeth of two different substances. The face of the tooth is made of a very thin plate of exceedingly hard enamel, the rest of the tooth of much softer bone, bone is worn away very much faster than the hard enamel, and so the sharp, cutting edge is preserved. It is interesting to find that we make our chisels in a very similar way. The blade is not a solid piece of steel, of the same quality throughout; it con¬ sists of steel of two different qualities. The face of the tool is a very thin plate of extremely hard steel, but the rest is of much softer metal. And as it is with the rodent’s tooth, so it is with the chisel. The soft metal is worn away during use much faster than the hard, so that the edge is not destroyed. Only two pairs of front teeth are developed in the rodent animals, and as the “eye” teeth are wanting there is always a gap in each jaw between these and the grinders. During use, of course, the soft Squirrel. First on our list of rodent animals comes the common Squirrel, which of course you know by sight very well indeed. There are very few parts of the country where we may not see it frisking and gambolling among the branches of the trees, or sitting upright on its hind quarters and nibbling away at a nut, which is delicately held between its front paws. It skips up the trunk of a tree quite as easily as it runs along the ground. That is because its sharp little claws enter the bark, and give it a firm foothold. And it scarcely ever falls from a branch because its big bushy tail acts as a kind of balancing pole, like that of a man walking upon a tight-rope; and by stretching it straight out behind its body, and turning it a little bit to one side or a little bit to the other, the animal can nearly always manage to save itself from a tumble. Even if it does fall, however, it does not hurt itself, for the skin of the lower part of the body is very loose, and it is fastened for a little distance along the inner surface of each leg. So, when the animal falls from a height, it merely stretches out its limbs A XA /'UR. I L HIS TOR J ' OF M. I MM A IS. ]5-| at right angles to its body — stretching out the loose skin, of course, with them — and so turns itself into a kind of open umbrella, just like the parachutes which are sometimes sent down from balloons. And instead of tumbling headlong to the ground and being killed by the fall, it is buoyed up by the air and floats down comparatively slowly, so that it is not hurt in the least. The squirrel feeds on nuts, acorns, beech-mast, bark, buds, and the young shoots of certain trees. But it is also very fond of fir-cones, which it nibbles right down to the core; and some¬ times it will eat birds’ eggs. Early in the autumn it always lays up a store of provisions, hiding them away in a hole in a tree, or burying them in the ground. Then, when a warmer day than usual rouses it from its long winter-sleep, it goes off to its hoard and enjoys a hearty meal. Sometimes, however, it forgets where it has buried its nuts, so that they remain in the ground and grow. There is many a fine chestnut and oak tree, indeed, which has really been planted by a squirrel. ij i)VC These pretty little animals generally go about in pairs, and the little ones are brought up in a warm cosy nest made ot leaves and moss. This “drey,” as it is often called, is placed either in the fork of a lofty branch or in a hole high up in a tree-trunk, and is so beautifully made that rain never soaks through it, and the wind never blows it away. So-called “ Flying Squir¬ rels” are found in some parts of the world; but like the colugo, of which we have read already, they do not really fly. They merely skim from one tree to another by spreading out the very loose skin of the sides of the body and then leaping into the air. In this way they can travel for perhaps two or three hundred feet. But as a rule they merely spring from branch to branch, just like our common English squirrel. The largest and perhaps the best-known of these squirrels is the Taguan, which is found in India and Siam, and is about Flying Squirrel. . I Ml TCR. I L HIS 7 'OR ) ' OF MA MMALS. I ss two feet in length, not including the tail. It is tolerably plentiful, but is not very often seen, for all day long it is fast asleep in a hole in some tree, only coming out of its retreat after sunset. In colour it is greyish black above and greyish white below, with brownish head and limbs. Then there are several squirrels which live upon the ground, and do not climb trees at all. The most famous of these is the Hackee, which is very common indeed in many parts of North America. It is often known as the “Chipping Squirrel,” or “Chipmuck,” because when it is excited or alarmed it utters a sharp little cry like the word “ chip-r-r-r,” over and over again. This is an extremely pretty little animal, its fur being brownish grey on the back and orange- brown on the forehead and hind quarters, while a broad black stripe runs along the back, and a yellowish-white stripe edged with black along each side. The throat and the lower part of the body are white. The hackee lives in burrows which it digs in the ground, and very wonderful little burrows they are, seldom less than eight or nine feet long, with a large sleeping-chamber at the end, filled with moss and grass and dry leaves. Then on either side of the main burrow are several shorter ones which are used as larders, and in which large stores of provisions are packed away. From a single hackee’s nest have been taken nearly a peck of acorns, together with about a quart of beaked nuts, two quarts of buckwheat, a few grains of maize, and a quantity of grass seeds! Only three hackees were found in this burrow, so that they were in no danger of starving during the winter, were they ? These “beaked nuts” have very sharp points, and the hackee bites these carefully off before it attempts to pack the nuts away in its mouth. It always carries four nuts to its burrow at a time, putting one into each of its odd cheek-pouches, which are very much like those of certain monkeys, and one into the mouth itself, while the fourth is held between the teeth. The hackee is a very active little creature, and its quick, 156 A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS . jerky movements as it darts in and out among the herbage have often been compared to those of the wren. Of course you have heard of the Prairie Dog, which is so called because it lives on the prairies of North America, and utters an odd little yelping cry which is something like the bark of a very small dog. But it has several other names as well, for some¬ times it is known as the Barking Squirrel, sometimes as the Prairie Marmot, and sometimes as the Wish-ton-wish. It is quite a small animal, being seldom more than twelve inches in length without counting the tail, and is reddish brown or brownish grey above, and yellowish or brownish white beneath. The tail is about four inches long. In the great prairie-lands which lie to the east of the Rocky Mountains, this quaint little animal is exceedingly plentiful. It lives in underground burrows, and the earth which it digs out in making them is always piled up just outside the entrance in the form of a mound about two feet high, on the top of which it likes to sit upright, squatting on its hind quarters as a dog does when “ begging.” At the slightest alarm it utters its queer little yelping cry, throws a sort of half-somersault, and dives into its burrow, to re- appear a few minutes later when it thinks that the danger has passed away. A large number of prairie dogs always live together, like rabbits in a warren, and sometimes the prairie, as far as one can see, is dotted all over with their mounds. And in almost every case the animals are steadily moving eastward. The reason is that as they feed upon the prairie-grass in summer, and upon its roots in winter, they very soon destroy it altogether, and are obliged to travel onwards in order to avoid starvation. It was formerly thought that prairie dogs take in lodgers, so to speak, for small owls, known as Burrowing Owls, are often found in their tunnels, together with rattlesnakes; and it was supposed that all three lived peaceably together. But now wre know that this is not the case, for the owls are nearly always found in deserted burrows, while the rattlesnakes undoubtedly enter the homes of the prairie dogs for the purpose of feeding upon their young. Not unlike a rather big prairie dog is the Common Marmot, which is found in considerable numbers in the mountainous parts of Northern Europe. It is about as large as a rabbit, and has greyish-yellow fur, which is very much darker upon the head and tail, that of the latter being almost black. Marmots live in warrens, just as prairie dogs do, and during the summer months they are very active and busy. From about the middle of autumn till the beginning of spring, however, they are fast asleep in their burrows, not waking up at all for at least six months! Before entering upon this long slumber they pack their sleeping-chamber full of dry grass, and sometimes as many A NATURAL H. 1 STORY OR MAMMALS. ■ V as fifteen of the little animals have been found snuggling up together in a single burrow. Another kind of marmot, called the Bobac, is found both in Northern Europe and in Asia. It is sometimes eaten as food, but is most difficult to kill, for unless it is actually shot dead as it sits it will nearly always contrive to get back into its burrow. And if the animals are startled by the report of a gun they all disappear underground, and will not be seen again for several hours. Quite one of the most interesting of all the rodent animals is the Beaver, which is found in the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and America. It spends a great part of its life in the water, and no doubt you have heard of the wonderful dams which it makes in order to prevent the rivers from drying up during the summer months. When the animals want to construct one of these dams, Common Marmot. the first thing they do is to fell a number of trees which stand near the banks of the river. They do this by gnawing through the stems quite close to the ground, and are able easily to cut through trunks ten or even twelve inches in diameter. Most likely one of the trees falls across the stream. In that case they leave it as it is. Then they strip off the bark from the others, and cut up both the trunks and the larger branches into logs about four or five feet long. These logs they arrange most carefully in position, piling them upon one another, and keeping them in their places by heaping stones and mud upon them. 1 hey also fill up all the gaps between them with mud, and so hard do they work that by the time the dam is finished it is often a couple of hundred yards long, fifteen or even twenty feet thick at the bottom, and six or eight feet high! And when the river runs swiftly, they are clever enough to make their dam in the form of a curve, so that it may be better able to resist the force of the current. i ^8 A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. Beavers. to form a sort of hut. These lodges are oven-shaped, and are from twelve to twenty feet in diameter, the inside chamber being about seven feet wide. So, you see, they have very thick walls. And they are generally entered by several underground passages, all of which open in the river bank below the surface of the water, so that the animals can go straight from their lodge into the river without showing themselves above ground at all. Inside each lodge is a bed of soft warm grasses and wood- chips, on which the animals sleep; and it is even said by some hunters that each beaver has his own bed! At any rate, five or The effect of this dam, of course, is to cause the river to swell out into a broad, shallow pool, and in districts where beavers are plentiful the whole course of a stream is sometimes converted into a series of pools, made in this curious manner. After a time peat is formed round the edges, and gradually spreads, and then the marshy ground round the pool is called a “beaver-meadow.” But beavers do not only make dams. They construct what are called “lodges” as well, to serve as dwelling-places. These are made by piling up a number of logs, plastering them all over with clay, and digging out the soil from underneath them, so as A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. i59 six animals live together in each lodge. Then all round the lodge these wonderful creatures make a ditch, which is so deep that even in the hardest winter the water in it never freezes quite to the very bottom. And close by they pile up a great quantity of logs and branches, so that they may always be able to go and eat as much bark as they require. Beavers are capital swimmers, for the toes of their hinder feet are joined together with webbing, and make excellent oars, while the broad, flat tail is very useful as a rudder. They J ERIiOA. are very much persecuted by hunters, ior their fur is valuable, while they also secrete a curious substance known as “castoreum,” which is used in medicine, and is worth about two guineas a pound. So in some parts of North America these animals are strictly preserved, and only a certain number may be killed every third year. Everybody knows what the Dormouse is like, so that it is not necessary for me to describe it. And everybody knows, too, what a sleepy little creature it is, so that very often it may actually be picked up and handled without waking! It always sleeps all day long, and hibernates from the middle of October till the beginning of April as well, so that it fully deserves its title of “dormouse,” or “ sleepy-mouse.” In Germany it is called the “haselmaus,” or “hazel-mouse,” because it is so fond of hazel nuts. It eats these just as the squirrel does, holding them in its fore-paws as it sits upright on its hind quarters. But it also feeds upon acorns, beech-mast, “hips and haws,” and corn when it can get it. Dormice always make two nests during the year, one being used during the summer, and the other during the winter. They are very warm and cosy little retreats, about six inches in diameter, and are made of grass, leaves, and moss. You may sometimes i6o A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. find numbers of the summer’s nests in thick bushes, or among the low herbage at the bottom of a hedge, perhaps with the dormice fast asleep in them. But the winter nests are generally more care¬ fully hidden, so that it is not very easy to find them even when the leaves are off the bushes. Before it goes into hibernation in the autumn the dormouse becomes exceedingly fat. But it does not sleep right through the winter without taking any food at all, for on very mild days it wakes up for an hour or two, and eats one of the nuts or acorns which it has carefully stored away in its nest. The Jerboa is an extremely curious animal, and if you were to see it in the sandy deserts of Northern Africa, from which it comes, you would be very likely indeed to mistake it for a small bird. For it has very short forelegs, which it tucks up against its breast in such a way that they can hardly be seen, and very long hind ones, on which it hops about in a very bird¬ like manner. But you would soon notice that it has a long tail, rather like that of a mouse, but with a tuft of hairs at the tip. When it is leaping about it stretches this tail out behind it, and seems to find it of very great use in keeping its balance. Jerboas are very common indeed in Egypt, and other parts of North Africa, and live in burrows which they dig in the sandy soil. In order to enable them to obtain a firm foothold on the slippery sand, the soles of their feet are covered with long hairs, which also prevent them from being scorched by contact with the heated ground. But as a rule they do not come out of their burrows until the evening, when the sun is not so powerful as it is during the middle of the day. They feed upon grasses and dry shrubs; but how they find enough to eat in the desert places in which they live it is rather hard to understand. About twenty different kinds of jerboas are known. The best-known of these, the Common Jerboa, is about as big as a small rat, and has a tail about eight inches long. In colour it is so much like the sand that from a few yards away it is almost impossible to see it, even when it is skipping about. The Hamster is a queer little rodent which is found very plentifully in Germany, and also in many districts between that country and Siberia. It is a rather stoutly-built animal, and measures nearly a foot in length including the tail, which is about two inches long. In colour it is generally light brownish-yellow above and black beneath, with a black stripe on the forehead, a yellow patch on the back, and white feet. But hamsters are by no means all alike, and some are entirely black, some pied, and some entirely white. You remember, don’t you, how dormice make summer and winter nests ? Well, just in the same way, hamsters make summer and winter burrows. The summer burrow is quite a small one, not more than a foot or two deep, with a small sleeping chamber A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 1 6 1 at the bottom. But the winter one is very much larger, for it is not only six feet long at least, with quite a big sleeping chamber, but there are from one to five side-chambers as well, which are used as granaries. In these the animal stores up vast quantities of grain, peas, and beans, no less than sixty pounds of corn having been taken from the burrow of a single hamster, and a hundred¬ weight of beans from that of another. Then about the middle of October it stops up the entrances to its home, and passes into a state of hibernation, in which it remains till the beginning of March. For about a month longer it still remains in its burrow, feeding on its stores of provisions, till early in April it resumes its active life, and returns to its summer habitation. Of course hamsters are terribly destructive in cultivated land, and large numbers are destroyed every year. In one district alone nearly 100,000 have been killed in a single season, while an enormous quantity of grain was recovered from their tunnels. As you walk along the bank of a stream, you may often hear a splash, and see a brownish animal about eight inches long swimming away through the water. This is a Water Vole, which many people call a “Water Rat,” although it belongs to quite a different family from that of the true rats. And if you look down the side of the bank you will see its burrow, which generally runs into the ground for some little distance. Water Vole. Water voles are usually supposed to be mischievous; but during the greater part of the year they feed only on water plants, being specially fond of the sweet pith of the wild flags. In winter, however, when food of this kind is scarce, they will nibble away the bark of small trees and shrubs, and sometimes do a good deal of damage in osier beds, while they will also visit cultivated fields in order to feed on the mangolds and turnips. But they never A A\ l TUR. t L HISTOR J ' OR M. I MM A LS. 1 6 2 kill fishes, as has sometimes been stated, and never seem to touch animal food at all. The water vole is a very good swimmer, although its toes are not webbed, and its fur is so close and so glossy that it throws off the wrater just like the feathers on a duck’s back. A near relation of the water vole is the Field Vole, which is found very commonly in England and Scotland, and also in most parts of Europe. It is about as big as an ordinary mouse, and is greyish brown in colour, which becomes rather paler on the lower parts of the body. Yon can recognize it at once by its very short tail. This animal is found chiefly in meadows, wEere it 'makes Brown Rat. long “runs” beneath the grass, and also burrows into the ground. It is always plentiful, but sometimes appears in such vast numbers that it can only be described as a plague. In 1892, for instance, parts of Dumfriesshire and Roxburgh were overrun by field voles, which did most terrible mischief, and although enormous numbers of the little animals were killed, it was nearly two years before they could be brought under control. Still more mischievous, in Norway and Sweden, are the odd little rodents known as Lemmings, which make their appearance from time to time literally in millions. They always seem to come down from the mountains, and when once they have begun their journey nothing will stop them. If they come to a river they swim across it ; if to a house they climb over it ; if to a stack of corn or hay, they eat their way through it. Large numbers of wrolves, foxes, weasels, stoats, hawks, and owls soon discover the swarm, and kill off the animals in thousands; but still the great army moves steadily on, leaving the country perfectly bare behind A NA 77 7T 1 L HI STAR ) r OF MAMMALS. i63 it, until it reaches the sea. And then those behind push on those in front, till almost the whole vast host perish in the waves. These great migrations take place, as a rule, about once in seven years, and no one seems to know quite where the lemmings come from, or why they travel in this singular manner. These strange little animals do not seem to know what fear is, for if a passer-by happens to meet one of them it will never turn aside, but will sit up and yelp defiantly at him, while if a dog goes up and examines it, the chances are that it will try to bite his nose! In colour the lemming is blackish brown above and yellowish white below, while its length is about six inches. The Brown Rat, of course, is only too common everywhere; but, strange to say, it is not really a native of Great Britain. It seems to have come in the first place from China, and has now spread to almost all parts of the world. For almost every ship that sails the sea is infested with rats, some of which are nearly certain to make their way ashore at every port at which she touches. Stranger still, the Black Rat, which really was a native of Great Britain, has been almost entirely driven away by these fierce invaders, Harvest Mouse. and is now hardly ever found in any part of the country. But rats are really rather formidable animals, for in addition to being very savage, a number of them will often combine together in order to attack a common foe. I have known a large cat, for example, to be so severe])7 wounded by rats, that after lying in great pain for two or three days it actually died of its injuries! They are very blood-thirsty creatures, too, for if one or their own number is caught in a trap, they will actually tear it in pieces and devour it. They will enter fowl-houses at night, too, and kill the birds as they roost upon their perches, while if they can find their way into a rabbit hutch they will even destroy the rabbits. Then in barns and farmyards they are very mischievous indeed. Corn-stacks, too, are often infested by them, while some¬ times they get into houses. But on the other hand, they often do . 1 NA Tl 'R. I L HISTOR ) ' OF MA MM A L S. a great deal of good, by devouring substances which would other¬ wise decay and poison the air; so that they are not altogether without their uses. Rats generally have three broods of little ones in the course of the year, and as there are from eight to fourteen in each brood, you can easily understand how it is that these animals multiply so rapidly. Still more plentiful, and almost as mischievous, is the Common Mouse, which is found both in town and country. And this, too, seems to have been in the first place a native of Asia, and to have since spread to almost all parts of the world. There is no need, of course, to describe its appearance, and most of us are familiar with its habits. So we will pass on at once to one of its near relations which is not quite so well known, namely, the Long-tailed Field Mouse. In some respects this animal is very much like the Field Vole. But you can tell it at once by its more pointed muzzle, by its much larger ears, and, above all, by its very much longer tail. It lives in gardens, fields, and hedgerows, but sometimes takes shelter in houses and barns during the winter. But all through the spring, summer, and autumn it occupies burrows in the ground, and very often it lays up quite large quantities of provisions in its tunnels for winter use, just as the hamster does in Germany. It does not always dig these burrows for itself, however, for very often it will take possession of the deserted “run" of a mole, or even of a natural hollow beneath the spreading roots of a tree. As a general rule, this little animal is a vegetable eater only. But when food is scarce it will kill and devour small animals, and has even been known to prey upon its own kind. The pretty little Harvest Mouse is the smallest of the British rodents. Indeed, with the exception of the Pigmy Shrew, it is the tiniest of all the British mammals. A fully-grown harvest mouse is very seldom more than four and a half inches long, of which almost one half is occupied by the tail. And it would actually take six of the little creatures to weigh an ounce! The harvest mouse is rather local, but in many parts of the British Islands it is very common indeed. It is not found, as a rule, near human habitations, but lives in corn-fields and pastures. But sometimes it is carried home in sheaves of corn at harvest time, and in that case it lives in the ricks during the winter. Generally, however, it spends the winter months fast asleep in a burrow in the ground. Then, when the warm months of spring come round, it wakes up, and sets about building a most beautiful little nest of grasses and leaves, which it always suspends among corn-stalks or grass-stems at some little height from the ground. This nest is about as large as a cricket-ball, and the odd thing about it is that you can never find any entrance! Apparently, when the little builder wishes to go in and out, it pushes its way A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. ^5 between the strips of grass of which the nest is composed, and then carefully arranges them again in position. And it is so cleverly built that when eight or nine little mice which are brought up inside it begin to grow, it stretches to suit their increasing size, so that their nursery is always just big enough to contain them! The harvest mouse is a capital climber, and runs up and down the corn-stalks with great activity, even though they bend nearly to the ground beneath its weight. The tip of its tail, strange to say, is prehensile, just like that of a spider monkey. Common ' Porcupine. The Porcupine, too, belongs to the Rodent [tribe. Of course you know what this animal is like, with its coat of long, bristling spines. Indeed, the word “porcupine’' means “spiny-pig,” and refers partly to the quill-like spikes, and partly to the odd grunting noise which the animal utters from time to time. There are several different kinds of porcupine, but the only one about which I can tell you is the Common Porcupine. It is found in the south of Europe, and also in the northern and western parts of Africa, and grows to a length of about two feet four inches, not including the tail. The quills are of two kinds. First of all, there are a number of long, slender spines, which bend A NA TOR. I T HIS TOR I " OF MA MM A L S. 166 quite easily, and are not of very much use as weapons. But under these is a close array of very much stiffer ones from five to ten inches long; and these are very formidable indeed. For they are so loosely fastened to the skin that when the animal backs upon a foe a good many of them are sure to be left sticking in its flesh; while, further, they are made in such a manner that they keep on boring their way farther and farther in, and in course of time may penetrate a vital organ, and cause death. Even tigers have sometimes lost their lives through the quills of a porcupine which they had been trying to kill and devour. The animal is not at all fond of fighting, however, and never attacks unless it is provoked. During the day-time the porcupine is very seldom seen, being fast asleep in its burrow. But soon after sunset it leaves its retreat, and wanders to long distances in search of the roots, etc., upon which it feeds. The pretty little rodent known as the Chinchilla is famous for its beautiful silky fur, which is in much request for ladies’ garments. In appearance it is rather like a large dormouse, with very big rounded ears, and a short, hairy tail. It is found in Bolivia, Chili, and Peru, and lives high up among the moun¬ tains in burrows in the ground. A always dwell together, so that their warren, and they dart up and down the steep rocks with such wonder¬ ful speed that it is almost impossible to follow their movements. When it is feeding the chinchilla sits upright, like a squirrel, and conveys the food to its mouth with its fore-paws. It lives chiefly upon roots, and as the districts in which it lives are so wild and barren it often has to travel for long distances in order to obtain them. Closely related to the chinchilla is the Viscacha, which is found, very abundantly in the great pampas districts of South America. It generally lives in little colonies of from twenty to thirty animals, which dig their burrows close together, and heap up the earth which they scrape out into one common mound, these burrows are generally dug in the form of the letter Y, and very often a number of them communicate with one another by Chinchilla. number burrows form I a rge animals kind of large ot 'the a A Ad l TUIA I L HIS TOR 1 ' OF JI. 1 JUT l L S. 1 6- i means of short passages, so that if the little animals feel in want of society they can easily go and see their friends. These colonies are called “ viscacheras,” and in some parts of the Argentine Republic the plains are closely studded with them as far as the eye can reach. Viscachas have a curious way of clearing off all the vegeta¬ tion that grows near their burrows, and piling up the refuse in a mound near the entrance. They will also collect together any hard objects which they may happen to find, and we are told by Darwin that sometimes quite a barrow-load of bones, stones, thistle stalks, and lumps of earth may be found outside the entrance to a single burrow, and that a traveller who dropped his watch one evening found it next day by searching the viscacha mounds in the neighbourhood. In appearance the viscacha is not unlike a rather small Agouti. marmot. But the fur is grey above, with dusky markings, and white below, while the face is crossed by two black bands, with a broad white stripe between them. Next we come to the Agouti, which is found in South America. Formerly it was very plentiful indeed, literally swarming in some parts of the country. But it did so much mischief in cultivated ground that it was trapped and shot in immense numbers, and it has now almost entirely disappeared from many districts in which it once abounded. The first point that strikes one on looking at the agouti is the great length of its hind legs. So long are these limbs, indeed, that the animal finds a good deal of difficulty in running down hill, and often tumbles head over heels and rolls for several yards before it can recover its footing. And for the same reason, when it is running at any pace on level ground, it travels along by a kind of gallop, which is really made up of a series of leaps. A XATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 1 68 As the agouti comes out only by night it is a most difficult animal to watch, and it is, besides, so very wary that it cannot be approached without the very greatest caution. All the time while it is feeding, indeed, it keeps on turning its head first to one side and then to the other, so that it can scarcely ever be taken by surprise. If it should be captured, however, it never seems to fight, and has no idea of using either its sharp teeth or its claws to defend itself. So sometimes it has been thought that an agouti would make a very nice pet. Those who have allowed it to run loose in the house, however, have seldom repeated the experiment, for it will ruin any article of furniture in a very short time, and will cut its way through the stoutest door in a few minutes! When fully grown, the agouti is rather more than eighteen Capybara. inches long, and in general colour it is olive brown. But the hair of the hinder quarters, which is very much longer than that of the rest of the body, is golden brown, while the middle line of the lower part of the body is almost white. Very few people, on seeing a Capybara for the first time, would take it to be a rodent. It looks much more like a wild pig, for it has a very heavily-built body, which almost touches the ground as it waddles along, short, stiff, bristly hair, and great hoof-like feet. Indeed, it is sometimes called the “water-hog.” Yet we only have to look at its front teeth to see that it really is a rodent after all. The capybara is a native of South America, and is generally found in the damp, marshy ground near the banks of the larger rivers. It is a very good swimmer, and always makes for the water when alarmed. It is a very good diver, too, and can easily A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS . 169 remain below the surface for seven or eight minutes without requiring to breathe, so that if it can once plunge into the river it is safe from almost any foe. When fully grown, the capybara is about four feet long, and weighs very nearly 100 pounds. In fact, it is the largest of all the rodent animals. In colour it is reddish- brown above, and brownish-yellow beneath, and it is further remarkable for having no tail at all. Two more rodents remain to be mentioned, although they are so well known that it is not necessary to say very much about them. The first of these is the Common Rabbit, which is so very plentiful in all parts of the British Islands. In many places, indeed, it is almost too plentiful, for it is apt to be very destructive in cultivated ground. But as a rule it prefers to live on sandy commons, where it can easily burrow into the ground, and where Hake. there are plenty of furze bushes, on the young shoots of which it can feed. The best time to watch rabbits is just after sunset, as then they leave their burrows and indulge in all kinds of pranks and games. But at the very slightest alarm they all dash back into their holes and do not reappear for some little time. The burrow generally has two entrances, so that if an enemy should enter by one they can dart out by the other. But when the mother rabbit has little ones to look after, she digs a burrow with only one entrance, at the end of which she makes a soft, warm bed for them with her own fur. There are from five to eight little ones in a brood, and when the mother has to leave them for a little while she carefully stops up the entrance to the burrow with earth. The Hare does not make a burrow at all, but sits and sleeps in what is mostly known as its “form.” Sometimes this is a slight 1 2 I ;o . I J YA Tl \ RA 1. HI STL ~)R J ' OF MA MM. \ L S. i hollow in the ground, sometimes a flattened resting-place among long grass, and sometimes merely the sheltered side of a large stone. Generally the animal spends the whole day in its “form,” going out to seek for food soon after sunset. And if a heavy snow¬ storm comes on the animal does not leave the “form,” but just moves its body slightly to and fro, so as to press the snow together as it falls. In this way a kind of domed chamber is formed underneath the snow, in which the hare remains, quite warm and comfortable, until the thaw comes. While the animal is lying in this chamber, however, it is very easily found by dogs, for the warmth of its breath keeps a hole open through the snow above, and up this passage comes its scent. The hare is remarkable for three qualities. The first is its wonderful speed of foot. It runs so fast that only a very swift greyhound can overtake it, while it can “double” on its track just as it is on the point of being seized, so that it often contrives to escape its pursuers. The next quality is its cunning. For the hare is almost as crafty as the fox, and plays all sorts of tricks in order to throw its foes off its track. It will return upon its line, for example, for two or three hundred yards, leap suddenly to one side so as to break the scent, and there lie hidden till the hounds have rushed by, when it will take to flight in the opposite direction. And the third quality is its seeming cowardice. 1 say its “seeming” cowardice, for really the hare is not cowardly at all. It will run away, of course, when hunted by men or dogs. But what else can it do ? And sometimes it is very brave indeed. A mother hare, for instance, will fight to the death in defence of her young. And many a case has been recorded in which a hare has valiantly attacked an enemy much bigger and stronger than itself, and has had the best of the encounter. The young of the hare are called “leverets,” generally four or five in a brood. and there are CHAPTER XV. THE WILD OXEN. WE, now come to a very important group of mammals called “Ungulates,” or “hoofed animals,” because of the way in which their feet are formed. The oxen, sheep, goats, antelopes, deer, horses, swine, elephants, and rhinoceroses all belong to this order. First let ns notice some of the wild oxen. The largest of these is the Gaur, which is found in India. It is a very big animal indeed, for it sometimes stands more than six feet in height at the shoulder, and as it lias long and very powerful horns, it is much dreaded by the natives. As a rule, however, it is a very gentle and peaceable animal, scarcely ever venturing to attack man, and only dwelling in those remote parts of the jungle to which even hunters seldom find their way. The gaur lives in small herds, generally of from ten to twenty in number. Each of these is led by an old bull, and there are generally two or three younger ones, the rest being cows and calves. When the younger bulls grow up they mostly fight the old one in order to take his place. For some time he contrives to hold his own; but when at last he is beaten he goes off and lives in the thickets by himself. These “solitaries,” as they are called, are generally very savage, and will often rush out and attack a passer-by, even when he has not provoked them at all. The gaur is a very wary animal, and sentries are always posted near the herd, in order to give warning of the approach of a foe. When feeding, too, they are said to stand in a circle with their heads outwards, so that they can see in every direction. The old male gaurs are nearly black in colour, and the younger ones and the cows reddish brown, while they all have white “stockings” from the knee downwards. The Yak, which lives in Thibet, is something like an ox with great masses of hair on its flanks, limbs, and tail. In colour it is blackish brown, with a little white upon the muzzle, and in height is about five feet six inches at the shoulder. The thick fringes of hair do not begin to grow till it is about three months old, and the young calf is covered all over with curly black hair, like a Newfoundland dog. The yak lives among the mountains, sometimes climbing to a height of fully 20,000 feet, and scrambles about among the boulders with really wonderful activity. Large herds of these animals, however, have been domesticated, and are used as beasts 12* A NATURAL HISTORY OR MAMMALS. of burden, while their flesh is said to be almost as tender and well-flavoured as beef. The big, tufted tail, too, is highly valued, for it is dyed in various colours, and is then employed in making the “fly-flappers” which are used so much in Eastern countries. The famous Bison of North America, sad to say, is now almost extinct, for there are only a few small herds living under special protection. Yet, not so very many years ago, this magni¬ ficent animal wandered over the prairies literally in millions. Even a single herd, sometimes, would extend further than the eye could Yak. reach, and we read of one herd which covered a tract oi country fifty miles long and twenty-five miles broad! But these herds were recklessly destroyed for the sake of their hides and tongues, and now, probably, there are not more than two or three hundred bison left alive altogether. Generally, however, a couple are to be seen in the Zoo, and if you go to look at them you wil 1 most likely think that the male looks rather like a very big lion. For it has an enormous mane of long, shaggy hair, which covers the head and shoulders. There is also a sort of long beard underneath the chin, and the Bison A XI TL 'R. 1 L HISTOR 1 ' OF JF l JF1F I L S. T75 hair of the sides and hind quarters is very thick. The consequence is that the animal looks a great deal bigger than it really is, although it stands well over five feet high at the shoulders. In spite of this great mass of hair, the bison is a very active animal, and can both trot and gallop with very considerable speed. When galloping it always holds its head close to the ground, and its tail high up in the air. It is not by any means a courageous animal, notwithstanding its size and strength. But the bulls fight most savagely with one another, roaring so loudly as they do so, that in the days of the great herds the noise was compared to thunder, and could be heard from many miles away. Another kind of bison, sometimes, but wrongly, called the Aurochs, lives in the great forests of Northern Europe. Its mane is not so long and thick as that of the American animal, but its horns are longer, and not so strongly curved. Smaller than the bison, but very much more formidable, is the Cape Buffalo, which is spread over almost the whole of Africa south of the Equator. It is about as big as an ordinary bullock, and has a pair of massive and sharply-pointed curved horns, which are sometimes as much as three feet in length. This animal lives in reedy swamps, and is generally found in herds, which often number from 250 to 300 individuals. They are very wary, and difficult to approach, while they are so swift of foot that only a very fast horse can escape from them when carrying a rider on its back. In charging the)7 throw their heads back, with the horns upon the shoulders, and then suddenly bend down and strike upwards when they come within reach. The buffalo does not usually attack unless it is wounded, however, though “solitaries” will often lie in concealment and rush out upon the hunter as he passes by. There is another kind of buffalo found in India, which is a very different animal in every way. It is different in appearance, for it has its head drawn out into a kind of muzzle, while its horns are very long indeed, and taper gradually from base to tip, at the same time curving outwards and upwards and backwards. And it is different in disposition, because it is easily tamed, and is employed in many parts of India as a beast of draught and burden. You might see buffaloes drawing a plough, for example, or dragging a cart, and for these and similar purposes they have been introduced into Egypt, and even into Italy. The wild bulls, however, are apt to be very savage when they live alone. But a herd of buffaloes, strange to say, though they will gallop up close, and toss their heads, and behave in a most threatening manner, seem never to actually attack a man so long as he has the courage to stand perfectly still. The Musk Ox, though it is called an ox, and looks like an ox, is in reality much more closely related to the sheep. It is of about the size of a rather large ram, but looks much bigger than i/6 a ; v : i tura i hi star j ' of m. i aimals. it really is, owing to the great masses of long hair, which cover the whole of its body, and hang down so far that one can scarcely see its legs at all. It is even more hairy, indeed, than the yak. The horns of the male animal are very curiously formed, for they are so broad and flat at the base that they form a kind of helmet, which covers almost the whole of the forehead. They then droop downward on either side of the face, but curve upward and outward at the tips. Those of the cow, however, are very much smaller. Cape Buffalo. The musk ox lives in the most northerly parts of North America. It is perfectly at home amid the snow and ice, and lives in the wildest and dreariest regions, in which the ground scarcely thaws during the whole of the year; so that the life of those who hunt it is a very hard one. But, as a rule, its only enemies are the arctic wolves, which drive it to bay on some rocky mountain slope, and tear it to the ground by the mere force of numbers. The name of this animal is due to the musky flavour of its flesh, which is, nevertheless, said to be very tender and delicate. As an example of the wild sheep, let us take the Argali, 1 )omestic Oxen. A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 179 which is found in Mongolia, and also in Thibet. It is about as big as a large donkey, and has most enormous twisted and wrinkled horns, which are sometimes as much as four feet long, and nineteen inches round at the base. The argali rams are very fond of fighting one another, and such fierce conflicts take place that sometimes their horns are broken short off, and left lying upon the ground. And it will give you some idea of the size of these horns when I tell you that more than once a fox has been found lying fast asleep in one of them ! The argali is a mountaindoving animal, seldom seen at a i. Musk Ox. lower level than twelve or thirteen thousand feet even in winter, while in summer it ascends much higher, it is a most difficult creature to approach, for it lives in small flocks, which always post a sentry to keep careful watch while they are feeding. At the slightest sign of danger the alert sentinel gives the alarm, and a moment later the animals are dispersing in all directions, scrambling so actively over rocks and up and down precipices that it is quite impossible to follow them. It has sometimes been said that when the argali leaps from a height it alights on its horns, which break the force of its fall. But this statement seems to be quite untrue. A NA TURA L HlSTOR ) ’ OR JR l MAR 1 L .V. 1 80 Next come the wild goats, of which we may take the Ibex as one example. In some respects this animal is not at all unlike the argali. It lives high up among the mountains, for instance, and goes about in small herds, which always post one of their number to keep watch while they are feeding or resting. And it is quite as active and sure-footed when scrambling about among the crags 1 BEX. and rocks. But in appearance it is very different, for it has a long beard underneath its chin, like almost all the goats, while the horns spring upwards and backwards from the head, instead of drooping downwards. Besides this, there is a row of strong ridges running crosswise up the horns from the base almost to the tip. In a large ibex these horns are sometimes more than four feet long. Until a few years ago the ibex was found in the Alps. But as a wild animal it is now extinct in Europe, the few remaining A NATURAL ILLS TORY OF MAMMALS. 1 8 1 herds having been brought under domestication. In the Himalayas, however, it is still very plentiful, although a large number are destroyed by wild dogs and also by avalanches, to say nothing of those which are killed by hunters. Although they are very wary, they never seem to understand that they can be attacked from above, so that if a hunter can creep down upon an overhanging rock, he can generally obtain a shot without very much difficulty. Chamois. The colour of the ibex varies at different times of the year, its coat being reddish-brown in summer, and greyish-brown in winter. It stands from thirty to forty inches in height at the shoulder. The goats are linked with the antelopes by the famous Chamois, which is especially interesting because it makes its home among the snow-clad mountains of Europe. It is a pretty little creature about two feet in height, with a pair of short black horns which spring upright from the forehead, and are then sharply A NATURAL HISTORY OR MAMMALS. 182 hooked, with the points directed backwards. And its coat, strange to say, instead of becoming paler in winter grows darker, so that from brownish-yellow it deepens into rich chestnut. The chamois is one of the most active of all living animals, leaping from rock to rock, and skipping up and down steep cliffs, where it would seem quite impossible for it to obtain any foothold at all. It will often spring down, too, from a very great height, never seeming to injure itself, and always alighting upon its feet. And as it is very sharp-sighted and exceedingly wary, a hunter finds the utmost difficulty in approaching, and very often for days together he never has the chance of obtaining a shot. When a chamois notices any sign of danger, it utters a shrill whistling cry, on hearing which all the members of the herd instantly take to flight. There are generally from fifteen to twenty animals in each herd, consisting partly of does and partly of young bucks. The old bucks spend most of the year quite by themselves. But early in the autumn they rejoin the herds, drive away their younger rivals, and then fight fierce battles with one another for the mastery. The young of the chamois are born in May or June, and are so strong and active that when they are only a day old they can follow their mother almost anywhere. Now we come to the true Antelopes, the finest of which is the Eland. This is a really magnificent animal, for it stands from five to six feet high at the shoulder, and sometimes weighs nearly 1,500 pounds! Both the buck and the doe have spirally twisted horns, which are generally about two feet long, and there is a heavy dewlap underneath the throat. In colour the animal is pale fawn, but sometimes the old males are bluish grey. I11 former days the eland was spread all over Southern and Eastern Africa. But it has been so much persecuted on account of its hide that it has quite disappeared from South Africa, and is fast disappearing elsewhere. Indeed, there seems only too much reason to fear that in a few years’ time this splendid antelope will be altogether extinct. It lives for the most part in wooded plains, and is generally found in large herds, which spend the day-time hiding in the forests, and come out into the open country by night to graze and drink. In the desert districts, however, where water is scarce, they quench their thirst by feeding upon melons. The eland is a difficult animal to hunt, for besides being very wary and very timid, it is often accompanied by a “rhinoceros bird,” which gives it early warning of the approach of a foe. And, further, it is very swift of foot, so that it can only be ridden down by a good horse. As a rule it will never fight. But when a doe has calves with her, she will withstand the onset of dogs, and has even been known to impale them upon her horns. A .YA TUR. 1 L HIST OR 1 ' OF JR 1 MAR 1 L S. The Koodoo, another very fine antelope, can easily be distinguished from the eland by the shape of the horns of the male, which are twisted just like a corkscrew, while the female lias none at all. Besides this, it has a white mark across its face, shaped something like the letter V, several white spots on its cheeks and throat, a white streak along its back, and several others running down its sides and hinder quarters. It stands rather more than four feet in height at the shoulder, and the horns are often more than three feet long. Ei. AND. The koodoo is found all over Africa, from the Cape to Abyssinia, though it is now very rare in the extreme south. It does not live in herds, as a rule, but is generally found in pairs, which pass the day in dense thickets, and come out to graze in the evening. It is not very swift of foot, and can easily be run down by a man on horseback. But as it is chiefly found in the country infested by the terrible “tsetse fly,” whose bite kills horses in a very few days, it is generally hunted only with dogs. Another very fine antelope is the Gemsbok, which is found in the more desert regions of South-western Africa. It is remark- A NATURAL HISTORY OR MAMMALS. able for its very long straight horns, which sometimes measure nearly four feet from base to tip, and are such very formidable weapons, that the animal has been known to drive off even the lion. More than once, indeed, a lion and a gemsbok have been found lying dead together, the antelope having thrust his horns deeply into the lion’s body, and been quite unable to withdraw them. What the gemsbok feeds upon is rather a mystery, for it is often found in districts where there is no vegetation at all except a little dry scrub. Yet it nearly always seems to be in Gemsbok. good condition. And it is odder still to find that or months together sometimes it must go without drinking! Some hunters, indeed, have declared that they are quite positive that the animal never drinks at all, obtaining all the moisture it needs from small water melons and certain bulbous roots. The gemsbok is of about the same size as the koodoo, and is grey in colour above and white below. But there is a black streak across the face, while another streak, which is much broader, runs along the sides, dividing the grey of the upper parts from the white of the lower. This antelope is hunted on horseback, and is so swift and so enduring, that there is said to be no animal in Africa which is harder to overtake. A NATURAL HISTORY OR MAMMA/, S. l85 The most graceful and elegant of all the antelopes are the gazelles, of which we may take the Springbok as an example. In former days this was by far the most abundant of all the African game animals, and would sometimes be seen travelling from one district to another in enormous herds, covering the country as far as the eye could reach. So vast were these herds, indeed, and so closely did the animals march side by side together, that sometimes a lion would be seen in their ranks marching along Gnus. with them, quite unable to stop, or to make his escape, because of the pressure all round him ! The springbok, or “spring buck,” owes its name to its marvellous activity, and to its curious habit of suddenly leaping straight up into the air. In this way it can easily spring to a height of eight or ten feet. The springbok is easily tamed, and soon comes to know who are its friends. One of these animals was kept as a pet by a lady living at Klerksdorp, in South Africa, and would wander about the town by itself, not seeming to be in the least afraid of the passersdjy, or even of the dogs. Every morning, too, it would A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 1 (SO cross the river, and go out upon the veldt to feed; and, strange to say, although it would mix freely with its wild companions during the day, it always left them in the evening and came home to sleep. In height the springbok stands about two feet six inches, and it can easily be distinguished from all the other gazelles by the white streak which runs along the middle of the back. The horns are black, with a number of ridge-like rings running round them, and the colour of the coat is dark cinnamon-yellow above and white beneath, with a blackish stripe on the flanks between the two. If the gazelles are the most graceful of all the antelopes, the Gnus are certainly the most ungainly, their great broad heads, and very high shoulders giving them an extremely awkward appearance. Then the curved horns are very broad at the base, and are set so closely together on the forehead that they form a sort of helmet, like those of the Cape buffalo, while the muzzle is fringed with long bristles, and there is an upright mane of stiff hairs upon the neck. So that altogether the gnu cannot be considered as a handsome animal! Two kinds of gnus are known, Toth of which are found in Southern and Eastern Africa. The commoner of the two is called the White-tailed Gnu, because it has a long white tail, while the other, or Brindled Gnu, has a black one. Both animals stand about four feet six inches in height at the shoulder. Gnus are very suspicious, very inquisitive, and very timid, and when they catch sight of a human being, they often behave in a most extraordinary way, prancing about, pawing the ground, capering on their hind legs, leaping into the air, and whisking their long tails about in the most absurd manner. Then some will chase the others round and round in circles. Next they will come charging on in a long line like cavalry, as though they meant to attack. And then, quite suddenly, the whole herd will wheel round, and dash oft' together, enveloped in a cloud of dust! They are so inquisitive, too, that a hunter has often attracted a gnu to within a very few yards just by tying a red handkerchief to the muzzle of his gun, and allowing it to flutter in the breeze like a flag! These animals are also known as Wildebeests. CHAPTER XVI. THE GIRAFFES, PEER, CAMELS AND ZEBRAS. IRAFFES are the tallest of all living animals, for a fully-grown male may stand eighteen or even nineteen feet in height. Just think of it. If one elephant were to stand upon another elephant’s back a giraffe could look over them both! This wonderful height is chiefly due to the great length of the neck. Yet there are only seven vertebra, or joints of the spine, in that part of the body, just as there are in our own necks. But then each of these joints may be as much as a foot long! When the animal is hungry, its height is of very great nse to it, enabling it to feed upon the leaves of trees which do not throw out branches near the ground. And in captivity, of course, its manger has to be put quite close to the roof of its stable! Strange to say, the giraffe plucks each leaf separately by means of its tongue, which is very long indeed and very slender, and is prehensile at the tip, like the tail of a spider monkey. So it can be coiled round the stem of a leaf in order to pull it from the branch. And sometimes at the Zoo a giraffe will snatch flowers out of ladies’ hats and bonnets by means of this curious tongue. If a giraffe wants to feed upon grass instead of leaves, it straddles its front legs very widely apart, and then bends its long neck down between them. And it does just the same when it drinks. The giraffe is a very fast runner, and only a swift horse can overtake it. It runs in a most singular manner, using the two legs on one side together, and throwing out the hinder ones with a semi-circular movement, while its long neck goes rocking backwards and forwards like that of a toy donkey, and the long tail switches up and down as regularly as if it were moved by clockwork. So a long line of giraffes all running away together must look very odd indeed. You would think that giraffes would be very easily seen, even in the forest, wouldn’t you? Yet every hunter tells us that as long as they are standing still it is almost impossible to detect them, since they look just like the stems and foliage of the trees, with the sunlight shining in patches between the leaves! Giraffes are found in various parts of Africa, south of the Sahara, and two different varieties are known, that from South Africa being much the darker of the two, and having the spots much larger and closer together. A third kind, with five of the so-called “horns” on the head, has lately been recorded by Sir Harry Johnston, who brought home the skulls of two males and two females from the great Semliki Forest. A NATURAL HISTORY OF MAMMALS. 1 88 A still more remarkable discovery, made in the same great forest district by the same famous explorer, was that of the Okapi, which is a very singular animal indeed. Perhaps I can best describe it to you by saying that it is something like a giraffe, and something like an antelope, and something like a zebra, and something like an ox! The colour of its coat is like that of a very red cow, there are zebra-like stripes on the fore and hind quarters, and the legs are cream-coloured, while on the skull are faint traces of “horns” like those of the giraffe. Okapi. We do not as yet know anything about the habits of this wonderful animal, except that it lives in the thickest parts of the forest and seems to go about in pairs. But a skin which has been brought to this country, and carefully set up, may now be seen in the Natural History Museum at South Kensington. Next in order come the Deer. In some ways these animals are not unlike antelopes. But one great difference between the two is this. In the antelopes the horns are hollow, growing upon bony cores which spring from the skull, and remain all through the life of the animal. But in the deer they are solid, and are thrown off every year, fresh ones A XA Tl TRA L HIS TOR 1 ' OF ill A 71 01/ A L S. 1 8