BLACK FOX-SQUIRREL.Photo by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt][Washington.BLACK FOX-SQUIRREL.The fur of this species is as valuable as that of the grey squirrel.
Photo by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt][Washington.BLACK FOX-SQUIRREL.The fur of this species is as valuable as that of the grey squirrel.
Photo by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt][Washington.
BLACK FOX-SQUIRREL.
The fur of this species is as valuable as that of the grey squirrel.
In Africa, south of the Sahara, the place of the Oriental flying-squirrel is taken by a separate family. They have a different arrangement of the parachute from that of the flying-squirrels of India. This wide fold of skin is supported in the Asiaticsquirrels by a cartilage extending from the wrist. In the South African flying-squirrels this support springs from the elbow, not from the wrist; they have also horny plates on the under-surface of the tail. Many of the tropical flying-squirrels are quite large animals, some being as large as a small cat.
LONG-TAILED MARMOT.Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.LONG-TAILED MARMOT.The marmots live by preference on high and cold mountains just below the line of eternal snow in Europe. In Asia, where the snow-line is higher, they are found at altitudes of 12,000 feet.
Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.LONG-TAILED MARMOT.The marmots live by preference on high and cold mountains just below the line of eternal snow in Europe. In Asia, where the snow-line is higher, they are found at altitudes of 12,000 feet.
Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.
LONG-TAILED MARMOT.
The marmots live by preference on high and cold mountains just below the line of eternal snow in Europe. In Asia, where the snow-line is higher, they are found at altitudes of 12,000 feet.
Mr. W. H. Adams says ofPel's Flying-squirrel, a West African species: "These squirrels come out of their holes in the trees some hours after sunset, and return long before daybreak. They are only visible on bright moonlight nights. The natives say that they do not come out of their holes at all in stormy weather, or on very dark nights; they live on berries and fruits, being especially fond of the palm-oil nut, which they take to their nests to peel and eat. They pass from tree to tree with great rapidity, usually choosing to jump from a higher branch to a lower one, and then climbing up again to make a fresh start.... They litter about twice in a year, once in September. The young remain in the nest for about nine weeks, during which they are fed by the old ones on such food as shoots and kernels. They do not attempt to jump or 'fly' till the end of that period, extending the length of their jumps with their growth."
TheEthiopian Spiny Squirrelshave coarse spiny fur; the littleIndian Palm-squirrelis marked with longitudinal dark and light stripes on the back; others have light bands on their flanks.
The Ground-squirrels.
Many tree-living squirrels pass a good deal of their time on the ground; but there are others which burrow like mice, and, though they climb admirably, prefer to make their nest, and the regular squirrel's store of nuts, in the earth, and not in the branches. The best known is the littleChipmunkof the United States, the favourite pet of all American children. There are many kinds of chipmunks, all of which have pouches in their cheeks for carrying food. The commonest is theStriped Chipmunk. It is from 8 to 10 inches long, with white stripes, bordered with dark brown on each side. The chipmunks' hoards of grain and nuts are so large that the Indians used to rob them in times of scarcity. There is also a ground-squirrel in Northern Europe and Northern Asia with much the same habits as the chipmunk.
The burrows of the chipmunks are deep and extensive, and into them these rodents convey such quantities of grain and maize as to inflict considerable loss on the farmer. TheSiberian Ground-squirrelhas been known to conceal over 8 lbs. weight of corn in its hole. This has a sleeping-chamber at the end, filled with moss and leaves, on which the family sleep. From this side passages are dug, all leading to chambers stocked with food, often far in excess of the wants of these provident little creatures. The surplus stores are said to be eaten in the spring by wild boars and bears.
The Prairie-dogs and Marmots.
Between squirrels which live in holes in the ground and the marmots and their relations no great gap is found. These creatures drop the climbing habit and increasethat of burrowing. In disposition most of them are still very squirrel-like, though they gain something in solemnity of demeanour by never going far from their holes. A prairie-dog or marmot is like a squirrel which has left society and settled down in a suburb. The little creatures known in America asPrairie-dogshave in Northern Europe and the steppes of Asia some first cousins, calledSusliks. Both live in colonies, burrow quickly and well, feed on grass, and have a habit of sitting bolt upright outside their holes, keeping a look-out for enemies. The prairie-dogs also bark like a little dog when alarmed. Before going to sleep, the latter always carry the dry grass on which they slept out of their burrow, and carefully bite up into short lengths a fresh supply to make their beds. The susliks and prairie-dogs are of a khaki colour, like the sand in which they delight to burrow. Every one has heard that the little burrowing-owls live in the same holes in company with the prairie-dogs, and that the rattlesnake sometimes eats both the young prairie-dogs and the young owls. An acquaintance of the writer who had killed a rattlesnake actually took a young prairie-dog from its mouth. The snake had not struck it with the poison, but had begun to swallow it uninjured. It was still alive, and recovered.
PRAIRIE-DOGS, OR MARMOTS.By permission of the New York Zoological Society.PRAIRIE-DOGS, OR MARMOTS.A most characteristic picture. It shows the prairie-dogs' method of holding their food while they eat, or cutting up grass to make their beds.
By permission of the New York Zoological Society.PRAIRIE-DOGS, OR MARMOTS.A most characteristic picture. It shows the prairie-dogs' method of holding their food while they eat, or cutting up grass to make their beds.
By permission of the New York Zoological Society.
PRAIRIE-DOGS, OR MARMOTS.
A most characteristic picture. It shows the prairie-dogs' method of holding their food while they eat, or cutting up grass to make their beds.
The suslik was once found in England; its remains, with those of other steppe animals, are found in the river gravels and brick earth in the London basin. The prairie-dogs form a kind of connecting-link between the susliks and the true marmots. They have short ears, short tails, rounded bodies, and possess great powers of digging. When a prairie-dog has nothing better to do, it usually spends its time either in digging holes or in cutting up grass or anything handy to make its bed with. Young prairie-dogs are not so large as a mouse when born. The adult animals feed almost entirely on grass and weeds in their wild state; they seem quite independent of water, and able to live in the driest places.
TheAlpine Marmotis a much larger species than the prairie-dog. It lives on theAlps just below the line of perpetual snow. From five to fifteen marmots combine in colonies, dig very deep holes, and, like the prairie-dogs, carefully line them with grass; they also store up dry grass for food. In autumn they grow very fat, and are then dug out of the burrows by the mountaineers for food. Young marmots used to be tamed and carried about by the Savoyard boys, but this practice is now rare. The monkey is probably more attractive to the public than the fat and sleepy marmot. Marmots are about the size of a rabbit, and have close iron-grey fur.
Tschudi, the naturalist of the Alps, says of the marmots that they are the only mammal which inhabits the region of the snows. No other warm-blooded quadrupeds live at such an altitude. In spring, when the lower snows melt, there are generally small pieces of short turf near their holes, as well as great rocks, precipices, and stones. Here they make their burrows, outside which they feed, with a sentinel always posted to warn them of the approach of the eagle or lammergeir. The young marmots, from four to six in number, are born in June. When they first appear at the mouth of the holes, they are bluish grey; later the fur gains a brownish tint. The burrows are usually at a height of not less than 7,000 or 8,000 feet. Winter comes on apace. By the end of autumn the ground is already covered with snow, and the marmots retire to sleep through the long winter. As they do not become torpid for some time, they require food when there is none accessible; this they store up in the form of dried grass, which they cut in August, and leave outside their burrows for a time to be turned into hay.
TheAlpine Marmotis also found in the Carpathians and the Pyrenees. Another species, theBobac, ranges eastward from the German frontier across Poland, Russia, and the steppes of Asia to Kamchatka. In Ladak and Western Tibet a short-tailed species, theHimalayan Marmot, is found, sometimes living at a height of nearly 17,000 feet. TheGolden Marmotis found in the Pamirs.
The Beavers.
AMERICAN BEAVER.By permission of the New York Zoological Society.AMERICAN BEAVER.The engineering feats of the beavers, in damming streams and forming pools, are the most remarkable achievements performed by living animals.
By permission of the New York Zoological Society.AMERICAN BEAVER.The engineering feats of the beavers, in damming streams and forming pools, are the most remarkable achievements performed by living animals.
By permission of the New York Zoological Society.
AMERICAN BEAVER.
The engineering feats of the beavers, in damming streams and forming pools, are the most remarkable achievements performed by living animals.
TheBeaversare classed as the last family of the squirrel-like group of the Rodents, and the largest creatures of that order in the northern hemisphere. The value of their fur has caused their destruction in great measure where they were once numerous, and has led to their total extirpation where there is evidence that they existed as a not uncommon animal. They were formerly distributed over the greater part of Europe. In England semi-fossilised remains show that they were not uncommon. In Wales beavers' skins were mentioned in the year 940 in the laws of Howel Dha, and in 1188 Giraldus stated that they were living on the river Teify, in Cardiganshire. Beavers were formerly found in France, especially on the Rhone, where a few are still said to survive, in Germany, Austria, Russia, Poland, and in Sweden and Norway, on the rivers Dwina and Petchora, and on the great rivers of Siberia. A few still remain in two districts of Norway, and some were known to frequent the Elbe in 1878. The Moldau, in Bohemia, is also credited with a colony; but parts of the Danube are believed to be the chief haunt of the European beaver at the present time. The American beaver, though its range has greatly contracted, is still sufficiently numerous for its fur to be a valuable item in the winter fur-sales.
BEAVER.Photo by C. Reid][Wishaw, N.B.BEAVER.The beaver here shown was kept as a pet. It was photographed upon a stream in Scotland. The long upper fur is removed when the skin is prepared by the furrier.
Photo by C. Reid][Wishaw, N.B.BEAVER.The beaver here shown was kept as a pet. It was photographed upon a stream in Scotland. The long upper fur is removed when the skin is prepared by the furrier.
Photo by C. Reid][Wishaw, N.B.
BEAVER.
The beaver here shown was kept as a pet. It was photographed upon a stream in Scotland. The long upper fur is removed when the skin is prepared by the furrier.
BEAVER.Photo by C. Reid][Wishaw, N.B.BEAVER.This is a photograph of a swimming beaver. Note the advantage which it has taken of the eddy in the stream.
Photo by C. Reid][Wishaw, N.B.BEAVER.This is a photograph of a swimming beaver. Note the advantage which it has taken of the eddy in the stream.
Photo by C. Reid][Wishaw, N.B.
BEAVER.
This is a photograph of a swimming beaver. Note the advantage which it has taken of the eddy in the stream.
The beaver's tail is flattened like a paddle and covered with scales; its hind feet are webbed between the toes; it has sharp claws, which aid it in scratching up mud, and a thick, close fur, with long brown hair above, and a most beautiful and close under-fur, which, when the long hairs have all been removed, forms the beaver-fur of which hats were once made, and trimmings for ladies' jackets and men's fur coats are now manufactured. There are two separate lines of interest in connection with the animal—political and zoological. The value of the fur was anciently such that, when the first French explorers began to search the Canadian lakes, and later when the Hudson Bay Company succeeded to the French dominion, the history of Canada was largely bound up with beaver-catching and the sale of the skins. In the early days of the Company the "standard of trade" of the North-west was a beaver-skin. For nearly a century the northern territories were organised, both under French and English rule, with a view to the beaver trade. The beaver was, and is, the crest of the Canadian Dominion.
MUSK-RAT.Photo by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt][Washington.MUSK-RAT.A small water rodent, a native of the North American rivers. Immense numbers are killed for the sake of their fur.
Photo by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt][Washington.MUSK-RAT.A small water rodent, a native of the North American rivers. Immense numbers are killed for the sake of their fur.
Photo by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt][Washington.
MUSK-RAT.
A small water rodent, a native of the North American rivers. Immense numbers are killed for the sake of their fur.
The beavers' engineering feats have for their object to keep up a uniform depth of water in the streams where they live. On large rivers there is always enough water for the beaver to swim in safety from its enemies, and to cover the mouth of the hole which it makes in the bank, just as a water-rat does. But on small streams, especially in Canada, where during the winter the frost prevents the springs from running, there is always the danger that the water may fall so low that the beavers would be left in shallow water, a prey to the wolverine, wolf, lynx, or human enemies. To keep up the water, the beavers make a dyke or dam across the stream. This they go on building up and strengthening until they have ponded back a large pool. In time, as they never seem to stop adding to their dam, the pool floods the ground on either side of the stream and makes a small lake. It flows over theparts of the bank where their holes are; these also become filled up, because the beavers carry into them every day fresh quantities of wood-chips to make their beds. The beavers then scrape out the earth on the top, pile sticks over this, plaster the sticks with mud, and so build a dome over their bedroom. In time this is raised higher and higher, the artificial lake rises too, and the complete "beaver-lodge" surrounded with water is seen. The old trappers who found thesein situimagined they were built at once and outright in the water. The experiments and observations at Leonardslee, in Sussex, where Sir E. G. Loder has kept beavers in a stream for ten years, show that the "evolution" of the lodge is gradual and only incidental. But the building of the dyke, the cutting of the trees, and the making of the pool are done with a purpose and definite aim.
GAMBIAN POUCHED RAT.Photo by W. P. Dando][Regent's Park.GAMBIAN POUCHED RAT.These rats are able to carry food in their cheek-pouches, which are used as pockets.
Photo by W. P. Dando][Regent's Park.GAMBIAN POUCHED RAT.These rats are able to carry food in their cheek-pouches, which are used as pockets.
Photo by W. P. Dando][Regent's Park.
GAMBIAN POUCHED RAT.
These rats are able to carry food in their cheek-pouches, which are used as pockets.
What this is, and how done, is explained in the following description of the beaver colony at Leonardslee: "Their first object was to form in the brook a pool, with water maintained at a constant height, to keep the mouth of their burrow in the bank submerged during the droughts of summer. To this end they built a dam, as good a specimen of their work as can be seen even in Canada. Its situation was carefully chosen. A small oak, growing on what appears to have been a projection in the bank, gives support to the work. It may be concluded that this was part of their intention; for though they have cut down every other tree in their enclosure to which they had access, except two or three very large ones, they have left this small tree which supports the dam untouched. (Later, when the dyke was stronger, they cut it down.) Above this stretches the dam, some 12 yards wide, and rising 5½ feet from the base to the crest. The beavers built it solidly of battens of alder, willow, larch, and other straight-limbed trees, cut into lengths of from 2 to 3 feet. The bark of each was carefully gnawed off for food; and the whole work, constructed of these cut and peeled logs, has a very regular and artificial appearance. Smaller twigs and sticks are jammed in between the battens, and the interstices are stuffed with mud, which the beavers bring up from the bottom of the pool in their mouths, and push in with their feet, making the whole structure as watertight as a wall." This dam converted what was a narrow brook into a long lake, some 50 yards by 15 or 20 yards broad. Later the beavers made another larger dam below this, cutting down some more trees. One tree gave them a great deal of trouble; it was a beech, 40 feet high, and hard to gnaw; so they waited till the water rose round it, and thendug it up. When the large dam was made, quite a considerable lake was formed below the first. They then neglected their first dam, and let the water run out of the top lake into the lower one. At the time of writing there are five old beavers and a family of young ones at Leonardslee. The work done by these beavers, so few in numbers, shows how large colonies may alter the course of rivers.
The Dormice.
There are a considerable number of animals, even in England, which hibernate. Most of these feed largely on insect food, which in winter is unobtainable in any great quantity. Consequently the hedgehog and the badger, which live largely on snails and worms, go to sleep in the famine months. So does the sleepiest of all—theDormouse. This alone would show that this little rodent probably feeds on insects very largely, for if it only ate nuts and berries it could easily store these, and find a good supply also in the winter woods. It has been recently proved that dormice are insectivorous, and will eat aphides, weevils, and caterpillars. But a dormouse hibernates for so long a time that one might imagine its vitality entirely lost; it sleeps for six months at a time, and becomes almost as cold as a dead animal, and breathes very slowly and almost imperceptibly. Mr. Trevor-Battye says that if warmed and made to awaken suddenly in the winter it would die in a minute or two, its heart beating very fast, "like a clock running down." Before their hibernation dormice grow very fat. There is a large species, found in Southern Europe, which the Romans used to eat when in this fat stage. In winter dormice usually seek the nest of some small bird, and use it as a sleeping-place. They pull out and renew the lining, or add a roof themselves. Into the interior they carry a fresh supply of moss, and sleep there in great comfort. Their great enemy at this time is the weasel. There are two main groups of the dormice, divided by naturalists in reference to the structure of their stomach. The South AfricanGraphiureshave short tufted tails. The hibernating habit is confined to the more northern species.
POCKET-GOPHER.Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.POCKET-GOPHER.The pocket-gophers are almost entirely subterranean. Their burrowing powers are remarkable. The teeth as well as claws are used to aid them.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.POCKET-GOPHER.The pocket-gophers are almost entirely subterranean. Their burrowing powers are remarkable. The teeth as well as claws are used to aid them.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.
POCKET-GOPHER.
The pocket-gophers are almost entirely subterranean. Their burrowing powers are remarkable. The teeth as well as claws are used to aid them.
The Mouse Tribe.
This family, which includes theMice,Rats, andVoles, contains more than a third of the number of the whole order of Rodents. Some are arboreal, others aquatic; but most are ground-living animals and burrowers. The number of known species has been estimated at 330. Among the most marked types are theWater-miceof Australia and New Guinea, and of the island of Luzon in the Philippines. The feet of the Australian species are webbed, though those of the Philippine form are not. TheGerbilsform another group, mainly inhabitants of desert districts. They have very large eyes, soft fur, and tails of various length and form in different species. They have greatly developed hind legs, and leap like jerboas, and are found in Southern Europe, Asia, and Africa. ThePhilippine Rats, large and long-haired, and theTree-miceof Africa south of the Sahara, form other groups. A very mischievous race of rodents is represented in Europe by theHamsters, and in the New World by a closely allied group, theWhite-footed Mice.
The Hamsters.
TheHamsteris a well-known European species, and represents the group of pouched rats.These creatures have cheek-pouches to aid them in carrying food. In addition they are most voracious and inquisitive, so that the hamster is a type throughout Central Europe of selfishness and greed. We are sorry to add that John Bull occasionally appears in German cartoons as the "Land-hamster," or land-grabber. Hamsters are numerous from the Elbe to the Obi. They burrow and make cellars in the corn- and bean-fields, and convey thither as much as a bushel of grain. As soon as the young hamsters can shift for themselves, each moves off, makes a separate burrow, and begins to hoard beans and corn. As the litter sometimes contains eighteen young, the mischief done by the hamster is great. Its coloration is peculiar. The fur, which is so thick as to be used for the linings of coats, is a light yellowish brown above. A yellow spot marks each cheek. The lower surface of the body, the legs, and a band on the forehead are black, and the feet white. Thus the hamster reverses the usual natural order of colour in mammals, which tends to be dark on the back and light below. The animal is 10 inches long, and very courageous. Hamsters have been known to seize a horse by the nose which stepped on their burrow, and at all times they are ready to defend their home. Besides vegetables and corn, they destroy smaller animals. They spend the winter in a more or less torpid state in their burrows, but emerge early in spring. They then make their summer burrows and produce their young, which in a fortnight after birth are able to begin to make a burrow for themselves.
LONG-EARED JERBOA.Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.LONG-EARED JERBOA.These curious little animals are mainly desert creatures. They move by a series of leaps.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.LONG-EARED JERBOA.These curious little animals are mainly desert creatures. They move by a series of leaps.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.
LONG-EARED JERBOA.
These curious little animals are mainly desert creatures. They move by a series of leaps.
Among the South American members of the group to which the hamster belongs are theFish-eating Rats, with webbed hind feet. TheRice-rat, which is found from the United States to Ecuador, lives on the Texas prairies much as do the prairie-marmots, though its burrows are not so extensive, and often quite shallow. In these the rats make beds of dry grass.
CAPE JUMPING-HARE.Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.CAPE JUMPING-HARE.This animal is very common in South Africa. The Boers call it the "Springhaas."
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.CAPE JUMPING-HARE.This animal is very common in South Africa. The Boers call it the "Springhaas."
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.
CAPE JUMPING-HARE.
This animal is very common in South Africa. The Boers call it the "Springhaas."
The Voles.
TheVolesare allied to the preceding groups, but are marked externally by a shorter and heavier form than the typical rats and mice. Their ears are shorter, their noses blunter, their eyes smaller, and the tail generally shorter. They are found in great numbers at certain seasons, whenthey often develop into a pest. TheShort-tailed Field-voleis responsible for much destruction of crops in Europe. One of the latest plagues of these animals took place in the Lowlands of Scotland, where these voles devoured all the higher pastures on the hills. Nearly at the same time a similar plague occurred in Turkish Epirus. When an English commissioner was sent to enquire into the remedies (if any existed) there in use, he found that the Turks were importing holy water from Mecca to sprinkle on the fields affected. TheBank-voleis a small English species, replaced on the Continent by theSouthern Field-vole.
OCTODONT.Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.OCTODONT.The octodonts, so called because they have four molar teeth on each side of the jaw, are a group of rodents found mainly in South America.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.OCTODONT.The octodonts, so called because they have four molar teeth on each side of the jaw, are a group of rodents found mainly in South America.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.
OCTODONT.
The octodonts, so called because they have four molar teeth on each side of the jaw, are a group of rodents found mainly in South America.
TheWater-ratbelongs to the vole group. It is one of the most commonly seen of all our English mammals—probably, except the rabbit, the most familiar. Although not entirely nocturnal, it prefers the darkness of twilight; but whenever the visitor to the waterside keeps still, the water-rats will allow him to watch them. The writer has had rather an extensive acquaintance with these cousins of the beavers, and, while watching them, has never ceased to be struck with their close resemblance to those creatures. At Holkham Lake, in Norfolk, he noticed a willow-bush, in which a number of twigs had been gnawed off; and then saw the missing sticks lying neatly peeled, just like "beaver-wood," in the water below. Waiting quietly, he noticed a water-rat climb into the bush, gnaw off a willow twig, descend with it to the edge of the water, and there, sitting on some crossed boughs, peel and eat the bark, just as a beaver does. By the Thames a sound is often heard in the round reeds as of something tearing or biting them; it is made by the water-rats getting their supper. The rat cuts off three or four sedges and makes a rough platform. It then cuts down a piece of one of the large round reeds full of pith, and, holding it in its hands, seizes the bark with its teeth, and shreds it up the stem, peeling it from end to end. This exposes the white pith, which the rat then eats. Water-rats have been seen to swim out and pick up acacia blossoms floating on the water. When swimming under water, each hair is tipped by a little bubble, which makes the rat look like quicksilver. When it comes out, the rat shakes itself with a kind of shiver, throwing all the water off its coat. Though so good a swimmer, its feet are not webbed. It is found from Scotland to the Bering Sea, but not in Ireland.
In the Far North theLemmingtakes the place of the voles. It is a very small, short-tailed creature, like a diminutive prairie-dog. Like the voles, lemmings have seasons of immoderate increase. They then migrate in enormous flocks, and are said never to stop till they reach the sea, into which they plunge. It is believed that they are following an inherited instinct, and that where there is now sea there once was land, over which they passed onwards.
COYPU.Photo by L. Midland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.COYPU.This is a large aquatic rodent, found on the South American rivers. Its fur, called "nutria," forms a valuable export from Argentina.
Photo by L. Midland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.COYPU.This is a large aquatic rodent, found on the South American rivers. Its fur, called "nutria," forms a valuable export from Argentina.
Photo by L. Midland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.
COYPU.
This is a large aquatic rodent, found on the South American rivers. Its fur, called "nutria," forms a valuable export from Argentina.
TheMusk-ratinhabits the same waters as the beaver of North America. It makes a house, generallyof reeds piled in a mound, in the lakes and swamps. The body is only 12 inches long, but the fur is thick and close, and much used for lining coats and cloaks. The vast chains of rivers and lakes in Canada make that country the favourite home of the musk-rat. This creature lives upon roots of aquatic plants, freshwater-mussels, and stems of juicy herbs. Besides making the domed houses of grass, reeds, and mud, it also burrows in the banks of streams. There it makes rather an elaborate home, with numerous passages leading to the water. The odour of musk is very strong even in the skin. The tail is narrow and almost naked. This species is the largest of the vole group.
SHORT-TAILED HUTIA.Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.SHORT-TAILED HUTIA.The hutias are another group of octodonts, found in the West India Islands.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.SHORT-TAILED HUTIA.The hutias are another group of octodonts, found in the West India Islands.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.
SHORT-TAILED HUTIA.
The hutias are another group of octodonts, found in the West India Islands.
The Typical Rats and Mice.
These animals were originally an Old World group. Though the brown rat is now common in America, it is believed to have come originally from China.
A very large number of animals are now almost dependent on man and his belongings. Such creatures are said to be "commensalistic," or eaters at the same table. They are often very unwelcome guests, whether they are flies, sparrows, or cockroaches; but probably the least welcome of all are the rats and mice. TheBrown Ratis the best known of any. It has come into worse repute than usual of late, because it is now certain that it harbours the plague-bacillus, and communicates the disease to man. Its habits and appearance need no description. TheBlack Ratis the older and smaller species indigenous in Europe, which the brown rat has almost extirpated from England. A few old houses still hold the black rat, and there are always a few wild ones at the Zoological Gardens which feed in the animals' houses. TheBlack-and-white Rat(not the albino white rat) kept tame in this country is probably a domesticated form of theAlexandrine Ratof Egypt.
TheHouse-mouseis now found in all parts of the world to which Europeans have access. In England its main home is in the corn-ricks. Were the farmers to thresh the grain, as is done in the United States, as soon as it is cut, mice would be far less common. Besides these parasitic mice, there are a host of field- and forest-mice in this and other countries. One of the best-known English species is theHarvest-mouse, which makes a globular nest of grass in the wheat-fields, attached to stems of corn or weeds. In this the young are born. In winter the mouse lives in holes in banks, and lays up a store of kernels and grain. TheWood-mouseis larger than the former, or than theHouse-mouse. It is yellowish brown in colour, lays up a great store of winter food, and is itself the favourite prey of the weasel.
PORCUPINE.By permission of the Hon. Walter Rothschild, Tring.PORCUPINE.The common porcupine is found in Italy, Spain, and North Africa. This one was kept by Mr. Rothschild, who had it photographed by Mr. S. G. Payne, of Aylesbury.
By permission of the Hon. Walter Rothschild, Tring.PORCUPINE.The common porcupine is found in Italy, Spain, and North Africa. This one was kept by Mr. Rothschild, who had it photographed by Mr. S. G. Payne, of Aylesbury.
By permission of the Hon. Walter Rothschild, Tring.
PORCUPINE.
The common porcupine is found in Italy, Spain, and North Africa. This one was kept by Mr. Rothschild, who had it photographed by Mr. S. G. Payne, of Aylesbury.
The Bandicoots.
A very mischievous class of rats is representedby the various species ofBandicoot. They are found throughout Southern Asia as far as Ceylon, and in Kashmir and Turkestan. TheBandicoot-ratof India is a large and destructive species which is sometimes brought to the London docks in ships, but has not spread into the country.
PORCUPINE.Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.PORCUPINE.This photograph shows the arrangement of the porcupine's defence of spines; but when frightened it erects these, so as to form a complete protection to the body.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.PORCUPINE.This photograph shows the arrangement of the porcupine's defence of spines; but when frightened it erects these, so as to form a complete protection to the body.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.
PORCUPINE.
This photograph shows the arrangement of the porcupine's defence of spines; but when frightened it erects these, so as to form a complete protection to the body.
Other Murine Rodents.
Among the numerous other rodents allied to the rat group are theMole-rats, with short mole-like bodies. The largest is theGreat Mole-rat, found in South-eastern Europe, South-western Asia, and North-eastern Africa. It is a subterranean creature, burrowing for food like a mole. TheBamboo-ratshave minute eyes, small external ears, and a short tail partly covered with hair. In Somaliland a small, almost nakedSand-ratis found, which burrows in the sand of the desert, throwing up little heaps like mole-hills.
The Gophers.
In North and Central America thePocket-gophersform a curious group of small rodents with cheek-pouches opening on the outside. They spend their entire existence underground, and are said to use their incisor teeth as picks to open the hard earth in their tunnels. They push the loosened soil out by pressing it with their chests and fore feet. When a gopher has eaten enough to satisfy the immediate calls of hunger, it stores all spare food away in the large cheek-pouches. When gophers desire to empty the pouches, they pass their feet along their cheeks from behind, and press the food forwards on to the ground.
The Jerboas, Springhaas, and Jumping-mice.
The hopping rodents have an immense range, from Southern Europe, through Africa, Arabia, India, and Ceylon, and even in the New World, where theAmerican Jumping-mouseis found throughout the northern part of the continent. The latter is only 3 inches long. The trueJerboasare mainly found in Africa. All these, when excited, move like kangaroos. Their main home is the Central Asian steppe region, but they are found in Egypt, India, Syria, and Arabia. The hind legs are much elongated, the fore legs very small, and the body usually of a sandy colour. The American jumping-mouse, though a very small creature, can cover from 3 to 5 feet at each leap. It inhabits the beech and hard-wood forests. In winter it makes a globular nest about 6 inches under the surface of the ground.
VISCACHA.Photo by W. P. Dando][Regent's Park.VISCACHA.The viscacha form colonies like those of the prairie-dogs. It is found on the pampas north of the La Plata.
Photo by W. P. Dando][Regent's Park.VISCACHA.The viscacha form colonies like those of the prairie-dogs. It is found on the pampas north of the La Plata.
Photo by W. P. Dando][Regent's Park.
VISCACHA.
The viscacha form colonies like those of the prairie-dogs. It is found on the pampas north of the La Plata.
TheCape Jumping-hareforms a family by itself, with no near allies. It is of a tawny brown colour, becoming almost pure white below.
CHAPMAN'S ZEBRAS.Photo by the Duchess of Bedford, Woburn Abbey.CHAPMAN'S ZEBRAS.These zebra have for some years been running loose in the park at Woburn Abbey.
Photo by the Duchess of Bedford, Woburn Abbey.CHAPMAN'S ZEBRAS.These zebra have for some years been running loose in the park at Woburn Abbey.
Photo by the Duchess of Bedford, Woburn Abbey.
CHAPMAN'S ZEBRAS.
These zebra have for some years been running loose in the park at Woburn Abbey.
The tail is long, and carried upright as the animal leaps. The head and body are nearly 2 feet long, and the tail 20 inches. It is found both in the plains and mountains of South Africa, where it makes deep burrows, in which several families live. It is mainly nocturnal.
CHINCHILLA.Photo by W. P. Dando][Regent's Park.CHINCHILLA.A small rodent of the Andes, possessing very soft and valuable grey fur.
Photo by W. P. Dando][Regent's Park.CHINCHILLA.A small rodent of the Andes, possessing very soft and valuable grey fur.
Photo by W. P. Dando][Regent's Park.
CHINCHILLA.
A small rodent of the Andes, possessing very soft and valuable grey fur.
The Octodont Family.
America is the main home of this family of rodents, though there are several representatives in Africa. Their name is due to the fact that they have four molar teeth on each side of the jaw. The best-known species is theCoypu, orNutria, of South America, an aquatic, fur-bearing animal. It is very plentiful in the large rivers of that continent, where its fur is a valuable commodity for export. When swimming, the female coypu carries its young on its back. The coypu is usually 20 inches long, with a tail two-thirds of the length of its head and body. The general colour is brown above and brownish yellow below. Coypus live in pairs in holes in the river-banks. In the Chonos Archipelago they frequent the seashore, and burrow near the beach.
TheHutia, another large octodont, is found in the West Indies. There are two species, both partly arboreal. TheTuco-tucos, burrowing octodonts of the pampas and the far south of the American Continent, are rat-like animals, with large claws and very small eyes and ears.
The Porcupines.
These animals are either tree-climbers or ground-dwellers. The former are found in South America, though one, theCanadian Porcupine, is found in the North; the latter are European and Asiatic. In Africa they are also common. The Canadian porcupine passes nearly all its life in trees, feeding on the leaves; but it has not a prehensile tail. TheCommon Porcupineis abundant in Italy (where it is eaten by man), Greece, Spain, and Africa. It lives in burrows or among rocks. In India a very similar species is found. The head and shoulders of these ground-porcupines are not protected by the larger sharp spines which guard the rest of their bodies.
AGUTIS.Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.AGUTIS.The agutis are also a South American group, found both in the forests and on the plains.
Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.AGUTIS.The agutis are also a South American group, found both in the forests and on the plains.
Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.
AGUTIS.
The agutis are also a South American group, found both in the forests and on the plains.
The tree-porcupines of the forests of Central America have long prehensile tails, and are very lightly built. The quills are short, the head rounded, and the appearance very different from that of the European or African species. The common porcupine of Europe and North Africa measures about 28 inches in length from the nose to the root of the tail. The head, neck, and shoulders are covered with short spines and hairs, and the shoulders and back by a crest of longspines, varying from 12 to 15 inches in length. The tail also carries spines.
PACA, OR SPOTTED CAVY.Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.PACA, OR SPOTTED CAVY.The pacas are among the larger rodents, found mainly in the northern part of the South American region.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.PACA, OR SPOTTED CAVY.The pacas are among the larger rodents, found mainly in the northern part of the South American region.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.
PACA, OR SPOTTED CAVY.
The pacas are among the larger rodents, found mainly in the northern part of the South American region.
Viscachas and Chinchillas.
On the plains of La Plata the commonest large rodent is theViscacha. It assembles in societies like the prairie-dogs, but is a much larger animal, from 18 inches to 2 feet long. Viscachas always set a sentinel to give warning of danger. They cut every kind of vegetable near and drag them to their holes; they also have a habit of picking up and collecting round the burrows any object which strikes them as curious. Articles lost by travellers, even whips or boots, may generally be found there. The viscacha belongs to the chinchilla family, but differs much from the beautiful creature of the high Andes from which chinchilla fur is taken. TheCommon Chinchillais about 10 inches long, and theShort-tailed Chinchillarather smaller. The exquisite fur is well known. Two other chinchillas are more like hares in appearance. All four creatures are found on the Andes.
The Agutis and Pacas.
South America also produces a family of rodents not unlike small pigs, but nearer to the mouse-deer in general appearance; they are calledAgutis. Mainly forest animals, but living also in the plains, they feed on grass, leaves, and plants of all kinds; they are very swift in their movements, and have much the habits of the small South African bucks. The fur is long, olive- or chestnut-coloured, and thick.
ThePacasare allied to the agutis, but are stouter; they live either in burrows made by themselves, or in holes in the banks of rivers, or in old tree-roots. The pacas are spotted and rather ornamentally marked; they are found from Ecuador to Brazil and Paraguay.
The Cavies.
TheDinomys, a spotted rodent known by one example from Peru, has been thought to form a link between the pacas and the cavies, of which the guinea-pig is the most familiar and the aquatic capybara the largest. The original of our guinea-pig is believed to be theRestless Cavy, a small rodent common on the plains of La Plata. It is dark blackish, with yellowish-grey and white hairs of the domesticated species; and it is suggested that the original of the present name was "Guiana pig." This cavy lives in thickets rather than in forests or plains.
ThePatagonian Cavyis a larger form, about twice the size of our hare. It burrows in the ground, and has a grey coat, with yellowish markings on the sides. It has been acclimatised successfully in France and England. The flesh is like that of the rabbit.
PACAS, OR SPOTTED CAVIES.Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.PACAS, OR SPOTTED CAVIES.This photograph, which represents young animals, shows in great perfection the linear arrangement of the stripes.
Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.PACAS, OR SPOTTED CAVIES.This photograph, which represents young animals, shows in great perfection the linear arrangement of the stripes.
Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.
PACAS, OR SPOTTED CAVIES.
This photograph, which represents young animals, shows in great perfection the linear arrangement of the stripes.