HIMALAYAN WEASEL.Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.HIMALAYAN WEASEL.Weasels are still common in England. They are fierce, and absolutely fearless when in pursuit of game.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.HIMALAYAN WEASEL.Weasels are still common in England. They are fierce, and absolutely fearless when in pursuit of game.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.
HIMALAYAN WEASEL.
Weasels are still common in England. They are fierce, and absolutely fearless when in pursuit of game.
The Stoat, or Ermine.
This is the commonest and most widely distributed of all the Weasel Tribe. In winter the fur turns to pure white in the northern countries, and occasionally in Southern England. It is then known as theErmine, and yields the ermine fur. In every country where it is found it is the deadly foe of all small animals, from the hare to the smallest field-mice.It has the same passion for killing for killing's sake shared by the ferret. If a stoat finds a rabbit's nest, for instance, it always murders all the young ones. These creatures sometimes contrive to hunt in packs, or to migrate in society. They are very fond of their young, which they lay up in old crows' nests, holes in banks, or straw-stacks. They have often been seen to carry them out of danger in their mouths. The length of the head and body is 10¾ inches, and of the tail 6½ inches. The young are usually from five to eight in number, and are born in April or May. They soon move into the long standing-grass, and remain there till it is cut. After that they move to the woods and covers, and great numbers are trapped. If not, they attack the young pheasants, and do great damage. They can climb well, and are known, as is the polecat, to ascend trees and kill birds on their nests. They also suck eggs. Forty-two pheasants' eggs were taken by Mr. de Winton from one stoat's hole.
COMMON STOAT.Photos by A. S. Rudland & Sons.COMMON STOAT.In summer coat.In winter coat.These photographs show the stoat (or ermine, as it is often called) in its summer and winter coats. This animal gives us the well-known ermine fur.
Photos by A. S. Rudland & Sons.COMMON STOAT.In summer coat.In winter coat.These photographs show the stoat (or ermine, as it is often called) in its summer and winter coats. This animal gives us the well-known ermine fur.
Photos by A. S. Rudland & Sons.
COMMON STOAT.
In summer coat.In winter coat.
These photographs show the stoat (or ermine, as it is often called) in its summer and winter coats. This animal gives us the well-known ermine fur.
The Glutton, or Wolverine.
This largest and most destructive of all the Weasel Tribe is found all round the northern edge of the Arctic Circle, from Norway to Hudson Bay. It is a large heavy animal, with a short head, sharp claws, long thick fur, and a clumsy gait. Its tusks are very long and sharp; and its appetite, if not so insatiable as the old travellers were told, is sharp enough to keep it always hunting. It follows the fur-trappers in the woods, and, being very cunning, breaks in at the back of their fall-traps, and robs the baits or the prey caught. When Lord Milton and Dr. Cheadle made the North-west Passage by land, they lost nearly all their furs in this way. Once, having trapped a valuable silver fox, the only one caught by them, they found nothing but shreds of fur left by the glutton. As the marten-hunters' line of traps is perhaps fifty or sixty miles long, the loss and damage caused by the glutton is most mortifying. This animal can only be caught in steel traps, and that with great difficulty.
GLUTTON.Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.GLUTTON.A cunning, destructive animal, which follows the trappers and robs them of the animals taken in the traps.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.GLUTTON.A cunning, destructive animal, which follows the trappers and robs them of the animals taken in the traps.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.
GLUTTON.
A cunning, destructive animal, which follows the trappers and robs them of the animals taken in the traps.
CALIFORNIAN SEA-LIONS, OR EARED SEALS.By permission of the New York Zoological Society.CALIFORNIAN SEA-LIONS, OR EARED SEALS.Seal-herds form "rookeries" when on land at the breeding-season, during which time they undergo a complete fast.
By permission of the New York Zoological Society.CALIFORNIAN SEA-LIONS, OR EARED SEALS.Seal-herds form "rookeries" when on land at the breeding-season, during which time they undergo a complete fast.
By permission of the New York Zoological Society.
CALIFORNIAN SEA-LIONS, OR EARED SEALS.
Seal-herds form "rookeries" when on land at the breeding-season, during which time they undergo a complete fast.
MARINE CARNIVORA: THE SEALS, SEA-LIONS, AND WALRUS.
There are three families of the Sea Carnivora,—the Fur-seals, or Eared Seals; the Walrus; and the True or Earless Seals.
STELLER'S SEA-LION.Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co., Ltd.][Aberdeen.STELLER'S SEA-LION.The eared seal, or sea-lion, has the hind flippers divided, and is thus able to move with comparative ease on land.
Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co., Ltd.][Aberdeen.STELLER'S SEA-LION.The eared seal, or sea-lion, has the hind flippers divided, and is thus able to move with comparative ease on land.
Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co., Ltd.][Aberdeen.
STELLER'S SEA-LION.
The eared seal, or sea-lion, has the hind flippers divided, and is thus able to move with comparative ease on land.
The first group, which are calledEared Seals, and occasionallySea-lionsandSea-bears, have a small outer ear, and when on land the hind flippers are folded forwards beneath the body. There is a distinct neck, and on the flippers are rudimentary claws. Some of the eared seals have the close and fine under-fur which makes their capture so remunerative. Under the skin there is often a thick layer of blubber, which is also turned to commercial uses by the sealers.
TheWalrusstands by itself. It is a purely Arctic species, whereas fur-seals are found from Bering Sea to the Antarctic; and forms in some degree a connecting-link between the eared seals and the true seals. Like the former, it turns the front flippers forwards and inwards when on land; but it resembles the true seals in having no external ears. The upper canine teeth are developed into enormous tusks of hard ivory.
TheCommon Sealsare the most thoroughly aquatic. The hind flippers seem almost to have coalesced with the tail, and are always directed backwards in line with it. They have no under-fur. On land they can only use the front flippers to aid their progress.
Most seals are marine, though some are found in the land-locked sea of Lake Baikal, in Central Asia, and the true seals often come up rivers.
The Eared Seals, or Sea-lions.
These and the walrus have their hind limbs so far free that they can crawl on land and use their flippers for other purposes than swimming; they can comb their hair with them, and walk in an awkward way. They are divided into the fur-seals and hair-seals in the language of trade. The fur-seals are those from which ladies' seal-skin jackets are made; the hair-seals are sought for their hides and oil. A demand has sprung up for the latter to make coats for automobilists to wear when riding at high speed in cold weather. The "porpoise-hide" boots are really made from the skin of the hair-seal.
Both hair-seals and fur-seals have in common the remarkable habit of assembling in largeherds during the breeding-season, and of spending a long period on land after the young are born. The male seals reach the islands, or "rookeries," first, followed by the females. The latter give birth to their young almost as soon as they reach the rocks, and are then seized and gathered into harems by the strongest and oldest males. The sea-lions of Patagonia, equally with the fur-seals of Bering Sea and the Pribyloff Islands, never feed during the whole time which they spend on the rocks, often for a period of two months.
SEA-LION.Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co., Ltd.][Aberdeen.SEA-LION.This photograph shows the dry mane of the sea-lion, a rather uncommon sight, as it rarely remains long enough out of the water for its fur to become absolutely dry.
Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co., Ltd.][Aberdeen.SEA-LION.This photograph shows the dry mane of the sea-lion, a rather uncommon sight, as it rarely remains long enough out of the water for its fur to become absolutely dry.
Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co., Ltd.][Aberdeen.
SEA-LION.
This photograph shows the dry mane of the sea-lion, a rather uncommon sight, as it rarely remains long enough out of the water for its fur to become absolutely dry.
The Fur-seals.
TheNorthern Fur-sealis the only member of this group surviving in any number. These animals still annually resort to the Aleutian Islands, in the territory of Alaska, in great herds to produce their young, and to certain other islets off the coast of Japan. This northern fur-seal, from the fur of which the seal-skin jackets are obtained, is, when full grown, between 6 and 7 feet long. The females are only 4 feet or 4½ feet in length. The shoulder of the male is grey, the rest of the body varying between reddish grey and deep black. The female is lighter in colour. Males of this species are not full grown till six years of age, but breed when four years old. The females produce young at three years of age. The male seals take possession of the females almost immediately after reaching the breeding-grounds, each male collecting as many females as it can round it. The pups keep with their mothers. This assemblage is surrounded by great numbers of young male or bachelor seals, which the old males prevent from annexing any of the females. The greatest of all these gathering-places are on the Pribyloff Islands and certain other islets in Bering Sea. By the end of May both male and female seals swim in flocks through Bering Straits, making for the islands. The islands themselves are leased to American merchants. But as those seals killed on the way are all just about to bring forth young, the waste and cruelty of this "pelagic sealing" will be easily understood. On the islands, or "rookeries," the males, mothers, and pups remain till August, when the pups take to the water. The male seals have remained for at least two months, incessantly fighting and watching, without taking any food. By that time they are quite exhausted, the fat which they laid up previously being all absorbed. The fur has not naturally either the colour or texture which art gives it. Theouter fur is long and coarse, and only the inner fur of the exquisite texture of the "made" skin. The former is removed, and the latter dyed to the rich brown colour which we see. The fur-seals are steadily diminishing, and each year's catch is smaller than that of the year before.
TheCape Fur-seal,Southern Fur-seal, andNew Zealand Fur-sealare practically extinct for commercial purposes.
The Hair-seals.
Among these are the large so-called "sea-lions" of Patagonia and the North Pacific. We are familiar with their appearance, because for many years specimens have been kept at the Zoological Gardens. Their habits are much the same as those of the fur-seals. The principal species are, in the north,Steller's Sea-lion, and thePatagonian Sea-lionin the south. Those kept at the Zoological Gardens are usually of the latter species.
Steller's Sea-lionis already on the road to extinction. When the annual catch of fur-seals reached 100,000 a year, the total number of these northern sea-lions was estimated at between 30,000 and 40,000. They repair every year to the Pribyloff Islands to breed, as the fur-seals do, but are shier and more entirely aquatic. The fur of the old males is tawny, and makes a kind of mane over the shoulders, whence its name. Off San Francisco there is a small rocky island, one of the ancient "rookeries" of these sea-lions, where they are carefully preserved by the United States Government as one of the sights of the bay. Another favourite haunt in old days was on the Farralone Islands, thirty miles from the bay.
SEA-LION.By permission of Professor Bumpus][New York.SEA-LION.All sea-lions are polygamous. The males guard their harems very jealously, and fight determinedly with any intruder.
By permission of Professor Bumpus][New York.SEA-LION.All sea-lions are polygamous. The males guard their harems very jealously, and fight determinedly with any intruder.
By permission of Professor Bumpus][New York.
SEA-LION.
All sea-lions are polygamous. The males guard their harems very jealously, and fight determinedly with any intruder.
Southwards, towards the Antarctic, on the desolate and uninhabited coasts and islets of the Far Southern Ocean, the most characteristic of the fauna still remaining are the sea-lions. Formerly they swarmed in great packs, crowding at the breeding-season the seaweed-covered rocks with their huge and unwieldy forms, and at other times cruising in uncouth and noisy companies in search of the fishes and squids, which they pursued like packs of ocean-wolves. In spring the sea-lions used to struggle on to the flat shore, where the equally aquatic tribes of penguins, which had lost the use of their wings, covered acre after acre of rock with their eggs and young. These the sea-lions devoured. When the men of the first exploring-ships visited the penguins' nurseries, all the ungainly birds began to hop inland, evidently taking the men for seals, and thinking it best to draw them as far from their native element as possible. But the eared seals can make good progress of a kind on land. When Captain Musgrave and his crew were cast away for twenty months on the Auckland Islands, they found their tracks on the top of a hill four miles from the water. Captain Musgrave also saw the mother seals teaching their puppies to swim; they were by no means inclined to do this, and were afraid of the water—fairly clear presumptive evidence that seals have only recently, so far as natural time is counted, taken to the aquatic life, and modified their form so profoundly as they have.
ThePatagonian Sea-lionis perhaps the most numerous species, though its numbershave been greatly reduced by whalers in search of skins and oil. The first sea-lion ever brought to England was one of these. The Zoological Society did not import it; they found it in the possession of a Frenchman called Lecomte, who had taken it on the Patagonian coast, trained it, and brought it home, where he showed it in a caravan. Its training was long and difficult; it bit like a bull-dog, and Lecomte's limbs were scarred all over with its bites. In spite of this it was the cleverest performing animal ever seen up to that time in England. This sea-lion died from swallowing a fish-hook concealed in some fish with which it was fed. Lecomte was then sent out by the Zoological Society to obtain some more. With the greatest difficulty several were secured, but all died on the voyage to New York. Lecomte returned and obtained others, one of which he succeeded in bringing to England. The cleverness of these animals—or rather their power of understanding what they are required to do, and their willingness to do it—probably exceeds that of any other animal, except the elephant and the dog. Why this is so is not easy to conjecture, except that the brain is more developed. They have been taught to fetch and carry on dry land like a retriever, in addition to the well-known tricks exhibited by those at the Zoo. One belonging to Barnum's Show caught strawberry-punnets on its nose when they were thrown to it, and waved a torch, which it held in its teeth and caught after tossing it into the air.
The sea-lions are much more powerful animals than the fur-seals. The male of Steller's sea-lion attains a length of 10 feet and a weight of 1,000 lbs. TheAustralian Sea-lionis even larger than that of the North Pacific. Some specimens are said to attain 12 feet in length. Captain Cook mentions seeing male Patagonian sea-lions 14 feet long and from 8 to 10 feet in circumference. Though none are now seen of such dimensions, skulls found on the beach show that anciently some of the sea-lions were larger than any now known.
FEMALE WALRUS.By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck][Hamburg.FEMALE WALRUS.This is a photograph of the only walrus which has ever been tamed and taught to perform tricks. It was taken when she was two years old and weighed 380 lbs. At that time she consumed 70 lbs. of boneless fish a day; a year later not less than 100 lbs. satisfied her. She is now an inmate of the Roumanian Zoological Gardens.
By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck][Hamburg.FEMALE WALRUS.This is a photograph of the only walrus which has ever been tamed and taught to perform tricks. It was taken when she was two years old and weighed 380 lbs. At that time she consumed 70 lbs. of boneless fish a day; a year later not less than 100 lbs. satisfied her. She is now an inmate of the Roumanian Zoological Gardens.
By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck][Hamburg.
FEMALE WALRUS.
This is a photograph of the only walrus which has ever been tamed and taught to perform tricks. It was taken when she was two years old and weighed 380 lbs. At that time she consumed 70 lbs. of boneless fish a day; a year later not less than 100 lbs. satisfied her. She is now an inmate of the Roumanian Zoological Gardens.
It should be noted that all these creatures are carnivorous, yet the supply of food for them never seems to fail, as undoubtedly it would were the animals dependent for their food on land.
The Walrus.
The distinguishing features of the walrus have been mentioned in the introductory remarks to this chapter. It should be added that it has an external ear-passage, though no external ears, and very thick and bristly whiskers. It is practically confined to the Arctic Circle, though once its range extended to the British coasts (where its bones are found in the Suffolk Crag) and to Virginia. The skull of one was found in the peat at Ely—evidence that it once ascended rivers.
MALE WALRUS.By permission of the Hon. Walter Rothschild][Tring.MALE WALRUS.The "tusks" of the walrus are put to many practical uses during life, and after death are much valued for the ivory.
By permission of the Hon. Walter Rothschild][Tring.MALE WALRUS.The "tusks" of the walrus are put to many practical uses during life, and after death are much valued for the ivory.
By permission of the Hon. Walter Rothschild][Tring.
MALE WALRUS.
The "tusks" of the walrus are put to many practical uses during life, and after death are much valued for the ivory.
The walrus stands alone; it is a real monster of the deep. Strange and awful stories were told of it by some of the early voyagers to the Arctic Seas; but Captain Cook gave a very different account of his impressions of the walruses which he saw on the north coast of America: "They lie in herds of many hundreds on the ice, huddling over one another like swine. (They lie just like a lot of pigs in a yard.) They roar and bray so very loud, that in the night, or in foggy weather, they gave us notice of the vicinity of the ice before we could see it. We never found the whole herd asleep, some being always on the watch. These, on the approach of the boat, would awaken those next to them; and the alarm being thus gradually communicated, the whole herd would awake presently. But they were seldom in a hurry to get away, till after they had been once fired at; they then would tumble over one another into the sea in the utmost confusion. They did not appear to us to be that dangerous animal which authors have described, not even when attacked. Vast numbers of them would follow us, and come close up to the boats; but the flash of the musket in the pan, or the bare pointing of it, would send them down in an instant. The female will defend her young to the last, and at the expense of her own life, whether in the water or upon the ice; nor will the young one quit the dam, though she be dead; so that if one be killed the other is certain prey." The long pendent tusks, bristly whiskers, small bloodshot eyes, and great size lent colour to the terrifying tales of the walrus. But more ancient voyagers than Captain Cook told the truth—that the "morses," as they called them, were harmless creatures, which often followed the ships from sheer curiosity. They sleep on the ice like elephantine pigs, and dive and rout on the sea-bottom for clams, cuttle-fish, and seaweeds. Probably the long tusks are used to rake up mussels and clams; they also help the walrus to climb on to the ice. A young walrus was kept for some time by the members of the Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition, and was found to be an amusing pet. One kept on board a Dundee whaler used to sleep with an Eskimo dog, and got into the same kennel with it. It ate blubber and salt pork, but liked the sailors' pea-soup better than anything else; it was most sociable, and could not bear to be alone—would tumble down the hatchway to seek the society of its beloved sailors, and scramble into the cabin if the door were open. When it fell ill and before it died, it seemed most grateful for any attention shown to it. The parent walrus shows the greatest courage in trying to defend the young one. Walruses are now scarce; but as the ivory is the only part of them of much present value, there is a chance that they may not be killed off entirely.
The True Seals.
TheTrue Seals, with their greatly modified forms, heads set almost on to their shoulders, with no neck visible, have well-developed claws on all the toes, and in the typical species have double-rooted and small cheek-teeth. The number of the incisors is variable. TheGrey Sealof the North Atlantic is a large species which visits the North British coasts and the Hebrides. One old male shot off the coast of Connemara weighed nearly 400 lbs., and was 8 feet long. It is found off Scandinavia and eastwards to the coast of Greenland, and breeds off our coasts in October and November. This is the large seal occasionally shot up Scotch lochs. Its colour is yellowish grey, varied with blots and patches of dirty black and brown.
The Common Seal.
This seal is smaller than the preceding. It breeds on parts of the Welsh and Cornish coasts, and is found on both sides of the Atlantic and in the North Pacific. It assembles in small herds, and frequents lochs, estuaries, and river-mouths. In the summer it is fond of following flounders and sea-trout up rivers. A few years ago one came up the Thames and was shot at Richmond. The young are born in June, and are greyish white. The adults are variously mottled with grey, brown, and black. The fondness of seals for music is proverbial. Macgillivray, the Scotch naturalist, said that in the Hebrides he could bring half a score of them within forty yards of him by a few notes on his flute, when they would swim about with their heads above water like so many black dogs. A seal was captured by the servants of a landowner near Clew Bay, on the west coast of Ireland, and kept tame for four years. It became so attached to the house that, after being carried out to sea three times, it returned on each occasion. The cruel wretches who owned it then blinded it, out of curiosity to see whether it could find its way back sightless. The poor animal did so after eight days.
The common seal is still fairly numerous on the rocky western coasts of the British Islands, though a few old seals, unable to forget their early habits, appear now and then in Morecambe Bay and in the Solway. It is not uncommon off the coasts of Caithness and Sutherland. It also frequents a sandbank in the Dornoch Firth, though it has been much persecuted there. The common seal is gregarious, while the grey seal usually lives only in pairs, or at most in small companies. Two or three dozen like to lie closely packed on shore with all their heads turning seawards. The white hair of the young seals—which, as already said, are born in June—is shed in a day or two, when the young take to the water. With regard to their reputed musical proclivities, some experiments made at the Zoological Gardens did not bear out this belief; but there is much evidence that in a state of nature they will approach and listen to music. The common seal has a large brain-capacity, and is a very intelligent creature. The upper parts of this seal are yellowish grey, spotted with black and brown, the under parts being silver-grey.
WALRUS AND SEA-LION.By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck][Hamburg.WALRUS AND SEA-LION.Another photograph of the walrus tamed by Herr Carl Hagenbeck. Notice the sea-lion in the right-hand corner, which also formed one of the same performing troupe.
By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck][Hamburg.WALRUS AND SEA-LION.Another photograph of the walrus tamed by Herr Carl Hagenbeck. Notice the sea-lion in the right-hand corner, which also formed one of the same performing troupe.
By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck][Hamburg.
WALRUS AND SEA-LION.
Another photograph of the walrus tamed by Herr Carl Hagenbeck. Notice the sea-lion in the right-hand corner, which also formed one of the same performing troupe.
TheHarp-sealis an Arctic or ice-seal which sometimes finds its way to Britain. The youngare born on ice-floes. It is found in great herds in Davis Straits, on the coasts of Greenland, and in the greater part of the frozen Arctic Ocean. It is the animal which the sealing-vessels which hunt seals for oil and "hair"—that is, the leather of the skins, not the fur—seek and destroy. In the old days they could be seen in tens of thousands blackening square miles of ice. They are still so numerous that in Danish Greenland more than 30,000 are taken each year. TheRinged Sealis a small variety, not more than 3 or 4 feet in length, found in great numbers in the Far North. Its flesh is the main food of the Eskimo, and its skin the clothing of the Greenlanders. The seals make breathing-holes in the ice. There the Eskimo waits with uplifted spear for hours at a time, until the seal comes up to breathe, when it is harpooned. TheBladder-nosed Sealis a large spotted variety, with a curious bladder-like crest on the head and nose of the male. Unlike all other seals, it sometimes resists the hunters and attacks the Eskimo in their kayaks.
GREY SEAL.Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.GREY SEAL.Seals are not so well adapted as sea-lions for getting about on the dry land, and, except for their habit of coming ashore to bask in the sun, are thoroughly aquatic.
Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.GREY SEAL.Seals are not so well adapted as sea-lions for getting about on the dry land, and, except for their habit of coming ashore to bask in the sun, are thoroughly aquatic.
Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.
GREY SEAL.
Seals are not so well adapted as sea-lions for getting about on the dry land, and, except for their habit of coming ashore to bask in the sun, are thoroughly aquatic.
If any evidence were needed of the great destruction which the sealing and whaling industry causes, and has caused, among the large marine animals, the case of theElephant-sealsought to carry conviction. These are very large seals, the male of which has a projecting nose like a proboscis. They were formerly found both north and south of the Equator, their main haunts being on the coast of California, and on the islands of the South Pacific and Antarctic Ocean. They are gigantic compared with the common seals, some of the males being from 16 to 20 feet long. Cuttle-fish and seaweed are the principal food of this seal, which was formerly seen in astonishing numbers. The whaling-ships which hunted both these seals and sperm-whales at the same time almost destroyed those which bred on the more accessible coasts, just as the earlier whalers entirely destroyed Steller's sea-cow, and their modern descendants destroyed the southern right-whales. The elephant-seal is now very scarce, and when one is killed the skin is regarded as something of a curiosity.
GREY SEAL.Photo by J. W. McLellan][Highbury.GREY SEAL.Note the difference between the seal's and the sea-lion's hind flippers. When on land, the seal advances by a jumping movement, produced by the muscles of the body, assisted forward by the front flippers.
Photo by J. W. McLellan][Highbury.GREY SEAL.Note the difference between the seal's and the sea-lion's hind flippers. When on land, the seal advances by a jumping movement, produced by the muscles of the body, assisted forward by the front flippers.
Photo by J. W. McLellan][Highbury.
GREY SEAL.
Note the difference between the seal's and the sea-lion's hind flippers. When on land, the seal advances by a jumping movement, produced by the muscles of the body, assisted forward by the front flippers.
In the records of the voyage of theChallengerit is stated that there were still great numbers of the elephant-seals surviving near Heard Island, and not a few round the shores of Kerguelen Island. Professor Moseley states that on the windward shore of Heard Island "there is an extensive beach, called Long Beach. This was covered with thousands of sea-elephants in the breeding-season; but it is only accessible by land, and then only by crossing two glaciers. No boat can safely land on this shore; consequently men are stationed on the beach, and live there in huts. Their duty is constantly to drive the sea-elephants from this beach into the sea, which they do with whips made out of the hides of the seals themselves. The beasts thus ousted swim off, and often 'haul up,' as the term is, upon the accessible beach beyond. In very stormy weather, when they are driven into the sea, they are forced to betake themselves to the sheltered side of the island. Two or three old males, which are called 'beach-masters,' hold a beach for themselves and cover it with cows, but allow no other males to haul up. They fight furiously, and one man told me that he had seen an old male take a young one up in his teeth and throw him over, lifting him in the air. The males show fight when whipped, and are with great difficulty driven into the sea. The females give birth to their young soon after their arrival. The new-born young ones are almost black, unlike the adults, which are of a light slate-brown. They are suckled by the female for some time, and then left to themselves, lying on the beach, where they seem to grow fat without further feeding. They are always allowed by the sealers to lie like this, 'in order to make more oil.' This account was corroborated by all the sealers I met, but I do not understand it. Probably the cows visit their offspring unobserved from time to time. Péron says that both parent elephant-seals stay with the young without taking any food at all till the latter are about six or seven weeks' old, and that the old ones conduct the young to the water and carefully keep them company. The rapid increase in weight is in accordance with Péron's account. Goodridge gives a somewhat different story—namely, that after the females leave the young the old males and the pups proceed inland, as far as two miles sometimes, and stop without food for more than a month, during which time they lose fat. The male sea-elephants come ashore for the purpose of breeding about the middle of August, the females a little later."
Formerly the elephant-seals were found as far north as the Californian coast, where their capture was the main business of the sealing-traders. This species also formed the mainstay of the far southern sealers. As the elephant-seals were killed off, so the business became less and less profitable. It is to be hoped that the voyages of exploration to the Antarctic ice-fringe will not lead to the discovery of fresh sealing-grounds, for if this is the case there is little chance that any of the southern seals will escape entire destruction. Some form of close time has already been enforced in the pursuit of the hair-seals of Northern Europe; but it is very desirable that the species still found on our own coasts should also receive protection. Except when they paid visits to the fixed salmon-nets, they never did any harm; and fixed nets are now illegal. When a seal learned the use of the stake-nets, which these animals were very quick to understand, it would wait quietly till it saw a fish caught, and then swim up and carry it off before the fishermen could take it.
Two species—namely, theCommon SealandGrey Seal—still regularly visit our shores. The common seal breeds on our south-western coasts, and the grey seal off the Hebrides. If the common seal were accorded a close time, its numbers would probably increase; and the spectacle of such interesting creatures visible on our coast could not fail to be of great interest. All the old legends of mermaids and wild men of the sea are based on the capture of seals. Perhaps the most ancient is one which records such a capture in the river near Orford Castle, in Suffolk, in the reign of Henry II. The ignorant soldiers were persuaded that it was a man, and tortured it to make it speak. They then took it to the church, and showed it the sacred emblems. As it "showed no reverence," they took it back to the castle, and fed it on fish. It was allowed to go into the river, but returned to its captors of its own accord. Later it swam away to the sea. The monk who recorded the story stated his conviction that this seal was an evil spirit which had got into the body of a drowned sailor. A grey seal was taken not many years ago in the creek leading up to the little town of Wells, in Norfolk. It was so tame that the fishermen caught it by throwing coats over it as it lay on the mud.
HARP-SEAL.By permission of the Hon. Walter Rothschild][Tring.HARP-SEAL.The harp-seal comes from Greenland.
By permission of the Hon. Walter Rothschild][Tring.HARP-SEAL.The harp-seal comes from Greenland.
By permission of the Hon. Walter Rothschild][Tring.
HARP-SEAL.
The harp-seal comes from Greenland.
SEA-ELEPHANT.By permission of the Hon. Walter Rothschild][Tring.SEA-ELEPHANT.These enormous seals (about 20 feet in length) are becoming very scarce. When they come ashore, they are easily approached, though not so easily killed. They are much valued for their oil. Note the trunk-like prolongation of the nose, which, when the animal is excited, becomes distended.
By permission of the Hon. Walter Rothschild][Tring.SEA-ELEPHANT.These enormous seals (about 20 feet in length) are becoming very scarce. When they come ashore, they are easily approached, though not so easily killed. They are much valued for their oil. Note the trunk-like prolongation of the nose, which, when the animal is excited, becomes distended.
By permission of the Hon. Walter Rothschild][Tring.
SEA-ELEPHANT.
These enormous seals (about 20 feet in length) are becoming very scarce. When they come ashore, they are easily approached, though not so easily killed. They are much valued for their oil. Note the trunk-like prolongation of the nose, which, when the animal is excited, becomes distended.
THE RODENTS, OR GNAWING ANIMALS.
The Rodents, or Gnawing Mammals, have all the same general type of teeth, from which the order receives its distinctive name. There are a very large number of families and of genera among the rodents, more than in any other order of mammals. All the rodents possess a pair of long chisel-shaped incisor teeth in each jaw. The ends of these teeth are worn into a sharp edge which cuts like a steel tool. In most rodents these are the only teeth in that part of the jaw, a wide gap intervening between them and the other teeth. The hares, rabbits, and calling-hares have a minute pair of teeth set just behind the large pair in the upper jaw. The grinding-teeth are set far back, and are never more than six in number, these being sometimes reduced to four. Rodents generally have five toes on the fore feet; in the hind feet there are in some cases only four, or even three. None of the species are of great size; the largest, theCapybara, a water-living animal of South America, is about the dimensions of a small pig. But the number of species of small rodents is prodigious, and their fecundity so great that they constantly increase in favourable seasons until they become a plague. Voles, lemmings, field-mice, and rabbits are constant sources of loss to agriculture in their seasons of extraordinary increase. Most rodents feed on vegetables, though rats and mice have developed carnivorous tastes. No rodents have canine teeth.
CAPYBARA.Photo by W. P. Dando][Regent's Park.CAPYBARA.This, the largest of the Rodents, is found by the rivers of South America.
Photo by W. P. Dando][Regent's Park.CAPYBARA.This, the largest of the Rodents, is found by the rivers of South America.
Photo by W. P. Dando][Regent's Park.
CAPYBARA.
This, the largest of the Rodents, is found by the rivers of South America.
The Squirrels.
Those of the order of Gnawing Animals which have only two incisors in each jaw, and no rudimentary teeth like those possessed by the hares, are called "Simple-toothed Rodents." Of those the family usually placed first in order is that of theSquirrelsand their allies. The True Squirrels and Marmots have five molar teeth on each side of the upper jaw.
FLYING-SQUIRREL.By permission of Professor Bumpus, New York.FLYING-SQUIRREL.One of the small species of the group.
By permission of Professor Bumpus, New York.FLYING-SQUIRREL.One of the small species of the group.
By permission of Professor Bumpus, New York.
FLYING-SQUIRREL.
One of the small species of the group.
Squirrels are found in nearly every temperate part of the globe, from Norway to Japan, and in very great numbersin India and the tropics. Everywhere they are favourites; and though they do some mischief in highly cultivated countries, they are among the most harmless of creatures. Most of them live on wild nuts and the kernels of fruit; they suck eggs occasionally, and in Canada will come to the traps in extreme cold and eat the meat with which they are baited.
FLYING-SQUIRREL.Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.FLYING-SQUIRREL.The large flying-squirrels are mainly nocturnal. They can leap a distance of 40 feet with the aid of the parachutes of skin stretching from the fore to the hind limbs.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.FLYING-SQUIRREL.The large flying-squirrels are mainly nocturnal. They can leap a distance of 40 feet with the aid of the parachutes of skin stretching from the fore to the hind limbs.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.
FLYING-SQUIRREL.
The large flying-squirrels are mainly nocturnal. They can leap a distance of 40 feet with the aid of the parachutes of skin stretching from the fore to the hind limbs.
The Red Squirrel.
This, the common squirrel of England, is representative of the whole order. In old Scandinavian legends the squirrel is represented as the messenger of the gods, who carried the news of what was going on in the world to the other animals. Together with its close relations, it is the most graceful of all climbers of trees. With its long tail waving behind it, it races up or down the trunks and across the forest from branch to branch as easily as a horse gallops across a plain. It will descend the trunk head downwards as fast as it runs up. Squirrels pair for life, and are most affectionate little creatures, always playing or doing gymnastics together. The squirrel builds a very good house, in which he shows himself far more sensible than the monkeys and apes; it is made of leaves, moss, and sticks. The sticks come first as a platform; then this is carpeted, and a roof put on. No one who has seen English squirrels at work house-building has ever described exactly how they do it; it is the best nest made by any mammal, thoroughly well fitted together and waterproof. In this nest the young squirrels are born in the month of June; that year they keep with the parents, and do not "set up for themselves" till the next spring. The red colour is very persistent in squirrels. One Chinese variety, black and red, has even bright red teeth. In cold countries the red squirrels make stores of food, but spend much of the winter asleep.
It is a great pity that in England no one tries to tame the squirrels as they do in America; there they are the greatest ornament of the parks of cities, coming down to be fed as tamely as our sparrows. The writer has known one instance in which a ladyinduced wild squirrels to pay daily visits to her bedroom for food; they used to climb up the ivy and jump in at the open window. The great enemies of squirrels near houses are the cats, which kill all the young ones when they first come down from the trees. In a garden in Berkshire a pair of squirrels had a family every summer for five years, but none ever survived the cats' persistent attacks. These squirrels were most amusing and improvident. They used to hide horse-chestnuts, small potatoes, kernels of stone fruit, bulbs of crocuses, and other treasures in all kinds of places, and then forget them. After deep snows they might be seen scampering about looking into every hole and crevice to see whether that happened to be the place where they had hidden something useful. Much of the store was buried among the roots of trees and bushes, and quite hidden when the snow fell.
DORSAL SQUIRREL FROM CENTRAL AMERICA.Photo by W. P. Dando][Regent's Park.DORSAL SQUIRREL FROM CENTRAL AMERICA.A most beautiful species. The main colour is red, but the back is French grey, and the tail French grey and red mingled.
Photo by W. P. Dando][Regent's Park.DORSAL SQUIRREL FROM CENTRAL AMERICA.A most beautiful species. The main colour is red, but the back is French grey, and the tail French grey and red mingled.
Photo by W. P. Dando][Regent's Park.
DORSAL SQUIRREL FROM CENTRAL AMERICA.
A most beautiful species. The main colour is red, but the back is French grey, and the tail French grey and red mingled.
The Grey Squirrel.
In Northern Europe, and across Northern Asia and America, a large grey squirrel is found. From its fur the "squirrel-cloaks" are made. These squirrels live mainly on the seeds of pines in winter, and on wild fruits, shoots, and berries in summer. It has been noticed that they will entirely forsake some great area of forest for a year or two, and as suddenly return to it. The marten and the sable are the great enemies of the grey squirrel, but the eagle-owl and goshawk also kill numbers of them. In many countries the flesh of the squirrel is eaten.
ASIATIC CHIPMUNKS.Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.ASIATIC CHIPMUNKS.Small ground-squirrels which store food for the winter.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.ASIATIC CHIPMUNKS.Small ground-squirrels which store food for the winter.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.
ASIATIC CHIPMUNKS.
Small ground-squirrels which store food for the winter.
The grey-and-black squirrel of the United States was thus described some sixty years ago: "It rises with the sun, and continues industriously engaged in the search for food for four or five hours every morning. During the warm weather of spring it prepares its nest on the branch of a tree, constructing it first of dried sticks, which it breaks off, or, if these are not at hand, of green twigs as thick as a finger, which it gnaws off from the boughs. These it lays in the fork of a tree, so as to make a framework. It lines this framework with leaves, and over these again it spreads moss. In making the nest, the pairis usually engaged for several days, spending an hour in the morning hard at work. The noise they make in cutting the sticks and carrying material is heard at some distance." In winter they reside entirely in the holes of trees, where their young are in most cases born. Green corn and young wheat suffered greatly from their depredations, and a wholesale war of destruction used to be waged against them everywhere. In Pennsylvania an old law offered threepence a head from the public treasury for every squirrel destroyed, and in 1749 the enormous sum of £8,000 was paid out of the public funds for this purpose. In those days vast migrations of these squirrels used to take place, exciting not only the wonder but the fear of the old settlers. In the Far North-west multitudes of squirrels used to congregate in different districts, forming scattered bands, which all moved in an easterly direction, gathering into larger bodies as they went. Neither mountains nor rivers stopped them. On they came, a devouring army, laying waste the corn- and wheat-fields, until guns, cats, hawks, foxes, and owls destroyed them.
RED-FOOTED GROUND-SQUIRREL.Photo by W. P. Dando][Regent's Park.RED-FOOTED GROUND-SQUIRREL.This species has some of the characteristics of the tree-squirrels, among them the bushy tail.
Photo by W. P. Dando][Regent's Park.RED-FOOTED GROUND-SQUIRREL.This species has some of the characteristics of the tree-squirrels, among them the bushy tail.
Photo by W. P. Dando][Regent's Park.
RED-FOOTED GROUND-SQUIRREL.
This species has some of the characteristics of the tree-squirrels, among them the bushy tail.
The Flying-squirrels.
One of the finest squirrels is theTaguan, a large squirrel of India, Ceylon, and the Malacca forests. It is a "flying-squirrel," with a body 2 feet long, and a bushy tail of the same length. Being nocturnal, it is not often seen; but when it leaps it unfolds a flap of skin on either side, which is stretched (like a sail) when the fore and hind limbs are extended in the act of leaping; it then forms a parachute. The colour of this squirrel is grey, brown, and pale chestnut. There are a number of different flying-squirrels in China, Formosa, and Japan, and in the forests of Central America. One small flying-squirrel, thePolatouche, is found in North-east Russia and Siberia. It flies from tree to tree with immense bounds, assisted by the "floats" on its sides. Though only 6 inches long, it can cover distances of 30 feet and more without difficulty. Wherever there are birch forests this little squirrel is found. One nearly as small is a native of the Southern States of America, ranging as far south as Guatemala.