THE SQUIRREL FAMILY.
The Squirrels are pretty little animals, distinguished by their graceful forms and bushy tails. The Common Squirrel lives in tree-tops and feeds upon fruit and nuts. During the fine summer nights the voices of the Squirrels may be heard, as they chase each other in the tops of the trees. They appear to dislike the heat of the sun, and remain during the day in their nests, coming out in the evening to play and to feed. The nest is warm, neat and impervious to rain; it is generally placed in the fork of a tree. They construct it by interlacing twigs with moss, pressing and treading on their work to make it firm and capacious, that their little ones may repose in safety. The only opening to this nest is at the top, just sufficiently wide to allow the Squirrel to pass in and out; above the aperture is a kind of conical roof, which completely shelters it, and allows no rain to enter the nest.
At the commencement of winter the coat of the Squirrel is renewed, the hair being redder than that which falls off. They comb and smooth themselves with their paws and teeth, and are very neat.
“The Grey Squirrels of North America,” says Audubon, “migrate in prodigious numbers, crossing large rivers by swimming with their tails extended on the water, and traverse immense tracts of country where food is most abundant. During these migrations they are destroyed in vast numbers. Their flesh is very white and delicate, and affords excellent eating when the animal is young.”
The Flying Squirrels are so called from having the skin of the sides spread out between the fore and hind legs, so as to constitute a sort of parachute, whereby there are enabled to sail through the air to some distance, and thus take prodigious leaps from tree to tree.
The Flying Squirrels are gregarious, traveling from one tree to another in companies of ten or twelve together.They will fly from sixty to eighty yards from one tree to another. They cannot rise in their flight, nor keep in a horizontal line, but descend gradually, so that in proportion to the distance the tree they intend to fly to is from them, so much the higher they mount on the tree they fly from; that they may reach some part of the tree, even the lowest part, rather than fall to the ground, which exposes them to peril. But having once recovered the trunk of a tree, no animal seems nimble enough to take them. Their food is that of other Squirrels, including nuts, acorns, pine-seeds, berries, &c.
PRAIRIE DOGS.
PRAIRIE DOGS.
PRAIRIE DOGS.
Between the lively, graceful, well-proportioned Squirrels and the Marmots, with their squat bodies and sluggish movements, there is a great difference. Yet, notwithstanding this, the Marmots are allied to the Squirrel.
The Marmots are characterised by very long, powerful incisors, strong claws, indicatingburrowing habits, and by a tail of medium length, somewhat thickly garnished with hair. They have short limbs, and from that results the slowness of movement peculiar to them.
The Marmots inhabit different chains of mountains in Europe, Asia and North America. They have nearly all the same habits; so that it will suffice if we speak of the common species, the only one, in fact, which has been well studied.
The Common Marmot lives on the high peaks of the Swiss and Savoy Alps, in the vicinity of the glaciers. It forms small societies, composed of two or three families, and digs out burrows on the slopes exposed to the sun. These burrows have the form of the letter Y; the galleries are so very narrow that it is with difficulty the human hand can be inserted into them. At the extremity of one of these oblique shafts is found a spacious chamber of an oval form, in which the proprietors rest and sleep.
The Marmots in a state of nature live exclusively on herbage. They crop off the shortest grass with wonderful rapidity. During fine weather they love to stretch themselves out, frisk, play or bask in the rays of the sun. Remarkable for caution, they never leave their retreats without taking the greatest precaution; the old venturing first, after carefully inspecting the neighborhood, then the others following. Feeding, playing, or basking, they lose nothing of their vigilance, for as soon as one has the slightest suspicion of danger, it utters a sharp bark of warning, which is quickly repeated by those near it, and in an instant the whole band rush into their burrow, or fly towards some place of concealment.
After the Alpine Marmot, we may mention the Quebec Marmot, the Maryland Marmot, or Woodchuck, which is peculiar to various parts of North America, and the Bobac or Poland Marmot.
The Prairie Dog is an allied species, which lives in extensive communities in the wild prairies of North America; their villages, as the hunters term their burrows, extending sometimes many miles in length. They owe their name to the supposed resemblance of their warning cry to the bark of small Dog.
RABBITS.
RABBITS.
RABBITS.
The animals composing this family have twenty-two molar teeth, formed of vertical layers joined to each other; the ears are very large and funnel-shaped, covered with hair externally, almost nude internally; the upper lip cleft; the tail is short, furry and ordinarily elevated; the hind feet are much longer than those in front, and are provided with five toes, while the fore feet have only four; the claws are but little developed; the feet are entirely covered with hair, above as well as below.
It would be superfluous to describe the Hare in detail; the animal is too well known to render it necessary. As, however, it might be confounded with the Rabbit, which it much resembles, it may be remarked that the Hare has the ears and the thighs longer, the body more slender, the head finer, and the coat of a deeper fawn color.
The Hare inhabits hilly or level regions, forest or field; but it is most frequently found in flat or slightly elevated districts. It does not burrow, but chooses a form or seat, the situation of which varies with the season. In summer it is on the hillocks exposed to the north, in the shade of heaths or vines; in winter, it is found in sheltered places facingthe south. It is often found crouched in a furrow between two ridges of earth, which have the same color as its coat, so that it does not attract attention.
During the daytime, the Hare does not generally stir from its retreat; but as soon as the sun approaches the horizon it goes forth to seek food—consisting of herbs, roots and leaves. It is very fond of aromatic plants, such as thyme, sage and parsley. It is also partial to the bark of some varieties of trees.
No animal has so many enemies as the Hare. Snares and traps are set for it by poachers. Foxes, Birds of Prey, and sportsmen, aided by Dogs, are all its persecutors.
To guard itself against so many perils, the poor creature has ears endowed with extraordinary mobility, and which catch the faintest sounds from a great distance; four agile and very muscular limbs, which rapidly traverse space, and transport their owner quickly from its pursuers. In aword, its defence consists in perceiving danger and fleeing from it.
The Rabbit is closely allied to the Hare in its form and external aspect, the two differ greatly in habits. The Rabbit lives in societies, and retires into burrows. It is not found on the open plain, but chooses for its home places where there are hillocks and woody banks. Like the Hare, the Rabbit has not a preference for day; but towards evening it comes forth and gambols about in the glades or nibbles the dewy herbage.
It has also, like the Hare, many enemies, and to escape them it takes refuge in its subterranean dwelling. As it has not the speed of the Hare, it would be rapidly overtaken by Dogs if it trusted to its powers of flight. Its fear or anger is expressed in a singular fashion, namely, by striking the ground with its hind foot; some say it does this to warn its fellows of danger.
Besides our well known Wild Rabbits, many fine species have been imported from different countries and trained as pets.
The Wild Rabbit, also called the Warren Rabbit, is said to be a native of Africa, from whence it passed into Spain, then into France and Italy, and successively into all the warm and temperate parts of Europe and America.
Among the different breeds of domestic Rabbits must be mentioned the Angora Rabbit, originally derived from Asia Minor. Like the Cats and Goats bearing the same name, it is celebrated for the length and fineness of its hair. It is bred for its fur, which is of value.
Not only is the flesh and the hair of the Rabbit utilized, but its skin is also employed in the manufacture of gelatine.
The domestic Rabbit is, therefore, a valuable animal. Not so the wild Rabbit, for, by its rapid multiplication, its burrowing habits, and its herbivorous tastes, it is to the agriculturist a veritable scourge. For this reason it is hunted with perseverance, ferrets being frequently employed in some countries to drive it from the depths of its warren.
These Rodents differ from the Hares and Rabbits in having ears of moderate length, and in the nearly equal development of all their limbs. They are principally inhabitants of Siberia and the north of Europe; their voice is sharp and piercing, and they are destitute of any tail; they are all of small size, none of them exceeding the dimensions of a large Rat.
The Pica is about the size of a Guinea Pig, and covered with yellowish-red hair. It inhabits the loftiest summits of mountains, and employs itself, during the summer, in collecting and drying a supply of herbage for winter use. The heaps of hay thus accumulated are of extraordinary dimensions, sometimes measuring as much as six or seven feet in height, and are invaluable to the hunters of Sables, affording fodder for their Horses at a period when no other provender is obtainable.
The Calling Hare inhabits the southeastern parts of Russia, and the slopes of the Ural mountains, and also the western side of the Atlantic chain. The head is long; the ears large, short, and rounded; there is no tail. There are twenty molar teeth, five on either side of each jaw. The body is only six inches in length. The fur is of a greenish-brown color, hoary underneath.