Quadrupeds, What They Are and Where Found Part 4

The _Rimau-dahan_ is one of the most beautiful species of cats. It is of a yellowish ground colour, not spotted like the leopard, but marked with broad black bands and patches; in other words, clouded. It is not so large as either of the species described. It is a tree-climber, and lies in wait for its prey in the forks of the lower limbs, where it also goes to sleep. From this habit it derives its name, _Dalian_; which, in the Sumatran language, signifies the fork of a tree.

Not unlike the _Rimau-dahan_, both in size and markings, is the Nepaul cat: a species, as its name imports, found in Nepaul, in the mountain forests.

The Serval is a spotted cat--black upon a pale-yellowish ground--and considerably larger than the domestic species. It is a native of South Africa; and its skin is prized among the Kaffirs, for making their fur cloaks or _karosses_.

The Ocelot is about equal in size to the last-named, and equally prized for its beautiful skin, which is clouded with an admixture of spots and stripes upon a ground of yellowish-grey. It belongs to Spanish America--more especially Mexico: and it is said to have been this animal that is represented on the hieroglyphical paintings of the ancient Aztecs. More probably its n.o.bler congener, the jaguar, which is also found in Mexico, is the animal that held this distinction in the land of Anahuac.

In Central and South America there are a great many species of striped and spotted cats, known generally as tiger cats. The Ocelot is one of these; but there are also the Pampas cats, the Chati, the Jaguarundi, the Margay, the False Margay, and many others.

Numerous species, too, exist in the forests of India; as also in the great tropical islands of Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Philippines.

There is yet a section of the cat family to be described. These are the lynxes, or cats with short tails and long ears--the latter erect, and at the tips pointing inward, or towards each other.

Of the _Lynxes_ three species are found in North America. The largest of these is the Canada lynx, which in point of size approaches the smaller species of leopards. The colour of this animal is of a reddish grey, with spots very indistinctly marked. Its fur is long, and its skins form one of the princ.i.p.al articles of the Hudson's Bay trade.

The Canada lynx is not found so far south as the United States; but its place is there occupied by the Bay lynx--a smaller species, and one very similarly marked, except that the rufous tint on the back and sides of the latter is deeper, and the spots more p.r.o.nounced.

Still further south is a third species, only made known to naturalists within the last few years. It inhabits Texas, and is hence called the Texan lynx. It is of a darker red than either of the preceding; but in other respects--size, shape, and habits--it is almost identical with the Bay lynx. Both range to the Pacific.

Of the lynxes of the Old World, there is the common or European lynx, which is still found in several European countries; the Caracal, a native of Africa and part of Asia; the Booted lynx, also indigenous to both continents; the Chaus, belonging to the country of the Mahrattas; the Kattlo, a large species, of Northern Europe; the Nubian lynx, of North Africa; and the Southern lynx, a native of Spain.

It may be added that there is scarce one of these species of which there are not two or more varieties, known only to those who have made a study of the Kingdom of Nature.

CHAPTER NINE.

RATS AND OTHER RODENTS.

In this group we include not only Rats, but a great many other small rodents, or gnawers, such as Mice, Marmots, Lemmings, Hamsters, Mole-Rats, Jerboas, and Jumping Mice. The Shrew-Mice and Moles may also be cla.s.sed here--although naturalists separate them from rodents, because their food is not herbivorous, but consists of worms and insects. For all that, there is a certain general resemblance, both as to appearance and habits, among all these small quadrupeds; which, for purposes of cla.s.sification, is, perhaps, of more value than mere difference of food, or tubercles upon the teeth; especially, as it can be proved, that the sort of food an animal eats, is often dependent on the circ.u.mstances in which it may be placed.

Of the _Rats_, properly so called, there are numerous species, as well as varieties. Their size is, in general, about the same as the Black and Norway rats--both of which belong to England, and have been introduced, by means of s.h.i.+ps, into every country upon the habitable globe. They are said to have come originally from Asia. There is one species of rat, however, that is much larger than either of these--the Gigantic rat, found in Indian countries, and which in size quite equals a rabbit!

The habits of the rats are too well-known to require description.

Some--as the Wood Rat and Florida Rat of America--dwell apart from the habitations of man, in the woods; where, instead of living in burrows, they construct large nests, by collecting together heaps of sticks, leaves, and gra.s.s.

_Mice_ may be regarded as only a smaller kind of rats; and of these there are many distinct species--both in the Old and New Worlds.

The _Marmots_ are, perhaps, the most interesting of the small rodents.

They stand in a sort of connection with the squirrels, more especially the ground squirrels: on the other hand, they resemble rabbits; and they have still many points of ident.i.ty with rats. They belong to the northern zones of Europe, Asia, and America. There are three or four species belonging to the Old World; and a great many to North America.

Moreover there is a considerable difference in the habits of these species, which has led zoologists to separate them into several genera.

One genus, called the Seed-eaters, is a very curious kind. The marmots of this genus have a pair of pockets or pouches--one on the outside of each cheek--in which they actually carry seeds and other articles of food to their burrows. These pouches, when filled, impart to the little creatures a most ludicrous appearance.

The marmots usually live in large communities--in burrows, as rabbits do. These burrows are sometimes very extensive--especially so, in the case of the prairie marmot of America--better known as the Prairie Dog-- whose _villages_ sometimes cover an extent of many square miles; and whose odd social habits have been repeatedly and accurately described by late travellers who have crossed the American continent.

The _Mole-rats_ are a sort of combination between moles and rats: hence their common name. One species is found in Eastern Russia; where it burrows much after the fas.h.i.+on of the mole--living princ.i.p.ally upon roots. Two other kinds belong to South Africa. Both these are of large size, nearly as big as rabbits. On the plains, they make extensive excavations, which often prove dangerous to the horse and his rider-- causing the former to stumble. The Dutch of the Cape know them by the name of Sand Moles.

The _Hamsters_ differ considerably from the marmots in their mode of burrowing. They make their underground dwellings very extensive--having a great many chambers and galleries. In these they collect vast stores of food--consisting of grain, peas, and seeds of various kinds.

Sometimes two or three bushels of provision will be found in the storehouse of a single family. The hamsters do not confine themselves exclusively to a vegetable diet: since it is known that they will kill and eat birds, or even small quadrupeds. In this respect they resemble the common rats; and, therefore, it is idle to talk of mere _herbivorous_ genera of animals. The hamsters are very fierce little creatures: constantly fighting with other quadrupeds, and even among themselves; but the polecat is their master and tyrant, and carries on a war of extermination against them--following them through the intricate ways of their burrows, and destroying them even in their dens!

There are several species of hamsters in Europe and Asia, and also in North America: for the animal known as the Canada Pouched Rat is of this kind, and so also is the Tucan of Mexico. So also is that very singular and beautiful creature, the Chinchilla of South America--so celebrated for its soft and valuable fur.

The _Lemmings_ are another form of small rodent animals, celebrated for their extraordinary migratory habit; which resembles that of the grey squirrels of North America. There are several species of lemmings belonging to the northern section of the Old Continent--in Eastern Russia and Asia. One or two are found in North America--in that part of it known as the Hudson's Bay Territory.

The _Spinous Rats_ are little animals much resembling ordinary rats; but with the peculiarity of having stiff spines growing among their hair, after the manner of porcupine quills. There are several species of them: all natives of tropical America.

The _Jerboas_ are, perhaps, the most singular of all the rodents. They are noted for having the hind legs much longer than the fore ones--in fact, being shaped very much like the kangaroos--of which they might be termed Lilliputian varieties, were it not that they lack the pouch, which distinguishes these curious creatures. Like the kangaroos, they use their fore-feet only to rest upon. When in motion, or desirous of pa.s.sing quickly over the ground, they make use of their hind-feet only: proceeding by long leaps or jumps, and sometimes springing to the distance of twelve or fifteen feet. Their tails being long and slender, were supposed _not_ to a.s.sist them in this operation; but an experiment made by a cruel Frenchman--that of cutting off these appendages--proved that a considerable portion of the jumping power is derived from the tail.

Africa and Asia are the head-quarters of these quadrupeds--the most noted species being the Jerboas of Egypt, and the Leaping Hare of the Cape. They dwell in sandy deserts--burrowing in communities like the marmots. In America there are no true jerboas: they are there represented by the Jumping Mice of Labrador and the Hudson's Bay Territory; which resemble the jerboas in almost everything except size, the jumping mice being much smaller animals.

_Field Mice_ and _Dormice_ are other kinds of small rodents, differing from the common kind of mouse; but the habits and appearance of these little quadrupeds are well-known.

The _Beaver_ and _Musk-rat_, or _Musquash_ of America, are usually cla.s.sed among the rat tribe; but these animals, for many reasons, deserve to stand apart and form a group of themselves. With regard to the shrew-mice and moles, there is less reason for separating them from other mice; and we shall speak of them in this connection.

The _Moles_ are known to be the best burrowers in the world: since they can pa.s.s under the surface of the ground as fast as a man can dig after them, or even faster. In England, the common mole is well-known--too well, in fact--for it is the very pest of the farmer; and the damage done by it to the herbage is very considerable indeed--of greater amount than that occasioned by any other wild animal.

In America, where there are several species of moles, their habits are similar; and the common American mole is very like its European congener in every respect. But there are two or three species found in North American countries very different from either; and the most singular of all is that known as the Star-nosed Mole. This creature has the cartilage of the snout extended into five or six branches, that radiate from each other, like spokes of a wheel, or the points of a star--hence the name of star-nosed mole. The use of this singular appendage is not clearly understood; and, indeed, it would appear to be an obstruction to the natural requirements of the animal. No doubt, however, it has its purpose--though that purpose be unknown to us.

The _Shrew-Mice_ are still another kind of small ratlike quadrupeds.

They are distinguished by having upon each flank, under the ordinary skin, a little band of stiff and close hairs, from which an odoriferous humour is distilled. They dig holes in the earth, which they seldom come out of until towards evening; and their food consists of insects and worms. A species that inhabits the Pyrenees, and also the mountains of Russia, are called Desmans, and differ somewhat from the ordinary shrew-mice. They are aquatic in their habits; and their burrows always enter the ground below the level of the water. The Russian species are usually termed Musk-rats; but these are not to be confounded with the musk-rats of America--which last should undoubtedly be cla.s.sed with the beavers.

In India, the shrew-mice attain to the size of ordinary rats, and are there also called musk-rats, from the fact that a strong odour of musk is exhaled by them--so strong as to make the place through which the animal pa.s.ses exceedingly disagreeable. The same is true of the Russian musk-rats, but for all that their skins are employed in chests containing clothing: since the musky smell is a good preservative against the moths.

In addition to the numerous rat animals above-mentioned, there are still other kinds in different parts of the world--the names of which would alone fill many pages. Hence it is that the study of this section of the mammalia is, perhaps, the most difficult of all; and a true cla.s.sification of these small quadrupeds has. .h.i.therto proved a puzzle to the most expert zoologists.

CHAPTER TEN.

BEAVERS.

Of true Beavers there is only one species--unless the beaver of the Old World be different from the well-known animal of the American continent.

This is a question which has been much debated among naturalists; and certainly the difference which is known to exist between the habits of the two animals would seem to prove them distinct. The European beaver is generally supposed to lead a solitary life--burrowing in the banks of rivers as otters do; but this supposition is evidently erroneous: or, rather, we should say, its solitary habit is not its normal or original condition, but has been produced by circ.u.mstances. It is probable that if European beavers were left to themselves, in a situation remote from the presence of man, they would build dams, and dwell together in colonies, just as the American beavers do. In fact, such colonies have actually existed in some parts of Europe and Asia; and no doubt exist at the present hour. One has even been found on the small river Nutha, in a lonely canton of the Magdeburg district, near the Elbe. Moreover, it is well-known that the American beavers, when much hunted and persecuted (as they are certain to be whenever the settlements approach their territory) forsake their gregarious habit; and betake themselves to the "solitary system;" just as their European cousins have done. Did this const.i.tute the only difference between the beavers of the Old and New Worlds, we might regard them as one and the same; but there are other and still more important points of distinction--reaching even to their anatomical structure--which seem to prove them distinct species. The probability is in favour of this view: since there is perhaps no indigenous quadruped of the one continent exactly identical with its synonymous species of the other; excepting the polar bears, and a few other kinds--whose arctic range leads them, as it were, all round the earth. The written natural history of the beaver is usually that of the American species; not that this differs materially from his European congener, but simply because it has been more extensively and accurately observed. Its valuable fur has long rendered it an object of the chase; and for fifty years it has been hunted _a l'outrance_, and, in fact, exterminated from a wide domain of more than a million of square miles.

Formerly, its range extended from the Gulf of Mexico almost to the sh.o.r.es of the Arctic Sea, and lat.i.tudinally from ocean to ocean. At present, it is not found in the territory of the United States proper, except in remote and solitary situations, among the mountains, or in some tracts still unsettled. Even where found in these places, its mode of life approximates more to that of the European species; that is, it burrows instead of builds. The beaver has been long reputed as the most sagacious of quadrupeds. True it is, that the capacity of cutting down trees--often a foot or more in diameter--floating or rafting these trees down a stream, and constructing a dam with them, and afterwards building its singular houses or lodges in the water, would seem to indicate the presence of a rational power. But there are many other creatures-- birds, insects, and quadrupeds--that exhibit instincts quite as surprising.

Nevertheless the habits of the beaver are curious in the extreme, and deserve to be given in detail. The best account of them is that of the old and truthful traveller Hearne: upon whose homely but accurate observations scores of fireside naturalists have established a measure of their fame. We shall leave _him_ to tell the story of these singular animals.

"The beavers," he says, "being so plentiful, the attention of my companions was chiefly engaged on them, as they not only furnished delicious food, but their skins proved a valuable acquisition,--being a princ.i.p.al article of trade, as well as a serviceable one for clothing.

The situation of the beaver-houses are various. Where the beavers are numerous, they are found to inhabit lakes, ponds, and rivers, as well as those narrow creeks which connect the numerous lakes with which this country abounds; but the two latter are generally chosen by them when the depth of water and other circ.u.mstances are suitable, as they have then the advantage of a current to convey wood and other necessaries to their habitations; and because, in general, they are more difficult to be taken than those that build in standing water. They always choose those parts that have such a depth of water as will resist the frost in winter, and prevent it from freezing to the bottom. The beavers that build their houses in small rivers or creeks, in which water is liable to be drained off when the back supplies are dried up by the frost, are wonderfully taught by instinct to provide against that evil by making a dam quite across the river, at a convenient distance from their houses.

The beaver-dams differ in shape, according to the nature of the place in which they are built. If the water in the river or creek have but little motion, the dam is almost straight; but when the current is more rapid, it is always made with a considerable curve, convex towards the stream. The materials made use of are drift-wood, green willows, birch, and poplars if they can be got; also mud and stones, intermixed in such a manner as must evidently contribute to the strength of the dam; but there is no other order or method observed in the dams, except that of the work being carried on with a regular sweep, and all the parts being made of equal strength. In places which have been long frequented by beavers undisturbed, their dams, by frequent repairing, become a solid bank, capable of resisting a great force both of water and ice; and as the willow, poplar, and birch generally take root and shoot up, they by degrees form a regular planted hedge, which I have seen in some places so tall, that birds have built their nests among the branches.

"The beaver-houses are built of the same materials as their dams, and are always proportioned in size to the number of inhabitants, which seldom exceeds four old and six to eight young ones; though, by chance, I have seen above double the number. Instead of order or regulation being observed in rearing their houses, they are of a much ruder structure than their dams; for, notwithstanding the sagacity of these animals, it has never been observed that they aim at any other convenience in their houses than to have a dry place to lie on; and there they usually eat their victuals, which they occasionally take out of the water. It frequently happens that some of the large houses are found to have one or more part.i.tions (if they deserve that appellation), but it is no more than a part of the main building left by the sagacity of the beaver to support the roof. On such occasions it is common for these different apartments, as some are pleased to call them, to have no communication with each other but by water; so that, in fact, they may be called double or treble houses, rather than different apartments of the same house. I have seen a large beaver-house built in a small island that had near a dozen apartments under one roof; and, two or three of these only excepted, none of them had any communication with each other but by water. As there were beavers enough to inhabit each apartment, it is more than probable that each family knew their own, and always entered at their own door, without any further connection with their neighbours than a friendly intercourse, and to join their united labours in erecting their separate habitations, and building their dams where required. Travellers who a.s.sert that the beavers have two doors to their houses--one on the land side, and the other next the water-- seem to be less acquainted with these animals than others who a.s.sign them an elegant suite of apartments. Such a construction would render their houses of no use, either to protect them from their enemies, or guard them against the extreme cold of winter.

"So far are the beavers from driving stakes into the ground when building their houses, that they lay most of the wood crosswise, and nearly horizontal, and without any other variation than that of leaving a hollow or cavity in the middle. When any unnecessary branches project inward they cut them off with their teeth, and throw them in among the rest, to prevent the mud from falling through the roof. It is a mistaken notion that the woodwork is first completed and then plastered; for the whole of their houses, as well as their dams, are, from the foundation, one ma.s.s of mud and wood, mixed with stones, if they can be procured. The mud is always taken from the edge of the bank, or the bottom of the creek or pond near the door of the house; and though their fore-paws are so small, yet it is held close up between them under their throat: thus they carry both mud and stones, while they always drag the wood with their teeth. All their work is executed in the night, and they are so expeditious, that in the course of one night I have known them to have collected as much as amounted to some thousands of their little handfuls. It is a great piece of policy in these animals to cover the outside of their houses every fall with fresh mud, and as late as possible in the autumn, even when the frost becomes pretty severe, as by this means it soon freezes as hard as a stone, and prevents their common enemy, the wolverene, from disturbing them during the winter; and as they are frequently seen to walk over their work, and sometimes to give a flap with their tail, particularly when plunging into the water, this has, without doubt, given rise to the vulgar opinion that they use their tails as a trowel, with which they plaster their houses; whereas that flapping of the tail is no more than a custom which they always preserve, even when they become tame and domestic, and more particularly so when they are startled.

"Their food consists of a large root, something resembling a cabbage-stalk, which grows at the bottom of the lakes and rivers. They also eat the bark of trees, particularly those of the poplar, birch, and willow; but the ice preventing them from getting to the land in the winter, they have not any bark to feed on in that season, except that of such sticks as they cut down in summer, and throw into the water opposite the doors of their houses; and as they generally eat a great deal, the roots above-mentioned const.i.tute a princ.i.p.al part of their food during the winter. In summer they vary their diet by eating various kinds of herbage, and such berries as grow near their haunts during that season. When the ice breaks up in the spring the beavers always leave their houses, and rove about until a little before the fall of the leaf, when they return again to their old habitations, and lay in their winter-stock of wood. They seldom begin to repair their houses till the frost commences, and never finish the outer coat till the cold is pretty severe, as has been already mentioned. When they erect a new habitation they begin felling the wood early in the summer, but seldom begin to build until the middle or latter end of August, and never complete it till the cold weather be set in.

"Persons who attempt to take beavers in winter should be thoroughly acquainted with their manner of life; otherwise they will have endless trouble to effect their purpose, because they have always a number of holes in the banks, which serve them as places of retreat when any injury is offered to their houses, and in general it is in those holes that they are taken. When the beavers which are situated in a small river or creek are to be taken, the Indians sometimes find it necessary to stake the river across to prevent them from pa.s.sing; after which they endeavour to find out all their holes or places of retreat in the bank.

This requires much practice and experience to accomplish, and is performed in the following manner:--Every man being furnished with an ice-chisel, lashes it to the end of a small staff about four to five feet long; he then walks along the edge of the banks, and keeps knocking his chisel against the ice. Those who are acquainted with that kind of work well know by the sound of the ice when they are opposite to any of the beavers' holes or vaults. As soon as they suspect any, they cut a hole through the ice big enough to admit an old beaver; and in this manner proceed till they have found out all their places of retreat, or at least as many of them as possible. While the princ.i.p.al men are thus employed, some of the under-strappers and the women are busy in breaking open the house--which at times is no easy task, for I have frequently known these houses to be five or six feet thick; and one, in particular, was more than eight feet thick in the crown. When the beavers find that their habitations are invaded, they fly to their holes in the banks for shelter; and on being perceived by the Indians, which is easily done, by attending to the motion of the water, they block up the entrance with stakes of wood, and then haul the beaver out of its hole, either by hand, if they can reach it, or with a large hook made for that purpose, which is fastened to the end of a long stick. The beaver is an animal which cannot keep long under at a time; so that when their houses are broken open, and all their places of retreat discovered, they have but one choice left, as it may be called--either to be taken in their house or their vaults; in general they prefer the latter; for where there is one beaver caught in the house, many thousands are taken in the vaults in the banks. Sometimes they are caught in nets, and, in summer, very frequently in traps.