Natural History in Anecdote Part 19

The Guinea Pig.

The Guinea Pig (_Cavia Cobaya_) is said to be the domestic form of the _Cavia Aperea_ of Brazil and Peru. It derives its name from its supposed place of origin, as it was said to have been first introduced into England from Guinea. It is tailless, but clean and neat in appearance, being marked with black, white, and orange colours. It is said to lack intelligence and to be dest.i.tute of attachment, suffering its young to be destroyed without resistance. Perhaps this is due to the fact that it has so many; it breeds at intervals of two months and produces from three to twelve young ones at a birth.

Hares and Rabbits.

We come now to the second sub-order of the Rodents or animals that gnaw, the _Duplicidentati_, the rodents having four incisor teeth in the upper jaw. This brings us to the Hares and Rabbits, of which there are numerous species, the Common Hare, the Irish or Mountain Hare and the Common Rabbit being the best known. The Irish or Mountain Hare is somewhat larger than the common hare and changes from brown to white in the winter. The Sardinian, the Egyptian, the Polar, and the Sage hares are other varieties.

The Common Hare.

The Common Hare is a familiar animal and needs no description. It is found throughout Europe and is well known in England. The hare hides during the day under cover of low foliage, ferns, and the undergrowth of preserves, in spots known as 'forms'. Its habit of making a definite track from its form to its feeding grounds and of always following its own track makes it an easy sacrifice to those who know its ways. It is exceedingly swift in its movements, and it is well that it is so, for its only safety is in flight and in the sagacity and cunning it shows in eluding its pursuers. Many ill.u.s.trations of the latter have been recorded. Fouilloux mentions a hare which he saw start from its form at the sound of a hunter's horn, run towards a pool of water at a considerable distance, plunge in and swim to some rushes in the middle, and there lay down and conceal itself from the pursuit of the dogs.

Another hare, when closely pressed pa.s.sed under a gate, the dogs leaping over it. The hare quickly perceived the advantage it had gained by this, and so doubled, returning under the gate, the dogs following over it as before. This was repeated several times until taking advantage of the exhaustion of the dogs the hare escaped. The hare will often run perfectly straight while in view of the hounds, but immediately on gaining the slightest cover will double, and redouble with astonishing rapidity, apparently to confuse the scent.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Hare's-breadth Escape]

The Intelligence of the Hare.

The following anecdote seems to show remarkable intelligence on the part of a hare. It is from a statement made by Mr. Yarrell in the "Magazine of Natural History":--"A harbour of great extent on our southern coast has an island near the middle, of considerable size, the nearest point of which is a mile distant from the mainland at high water, and with which point there is frequent communication by a ferry. Early one morning in spring two hares were observed to come down from the hills of the mainland towards the seaside, one of which from time to time left its companion, and proceeding to the very edge of the water, stopped there a minute or two, and then returned to its mate. The tide was rising, and after waiting some time, one of them, exactly at high water, took to the sea, and swam rapidly over, in a straight line, to the opposite projecting point of land. The observer on this occasion, who was near the spot, but remained unperceived by the hares, had no doubt that they were of different s.e.xes, and that it was the male--like another Leander--which swam across the water, as he had probably done many times before. It was remarkable that the hares had remained on the sh.o.r.e nearly half an hour, one of them occasionally examining, as it would seem, the state of the current, and ultimately taking to the sea at that precise period of the tide called slack water, when the pa.s.sage across could be effected without being carried by the force of the stream either above or below the desired point of landing. The other hare then cantered back to the hills."

A Hunted Hare.

The following story of a hunted hare is from "The Annals of Sporting,"

for May 1822:--"Two years ago, a doe hare produced two young ones in a field adjoining my cottage; and the three were occasionally seen, during the summer, near the same spot. But the leverets were, I have reason to believe, killed at the latter end of September of the same year; the old doe hare was also coursed, and making directly for my cottage, entered the garden, and there blinked the dogs. I repeatedly afterwards saw her sitting, sometimes in the garden, (which is one hundred and ten yards by forty-three,) but more frequently in the garden-hedge. She was repeatedly seen by greyhounds when she sat at some distance, but uniformly made for the garden, and never failed to find security. About the end of the following January, puss was no longer to be seen about the garden, as she had probably retired to some distance with a male companion. One day, in February, I heard the hounds, and shortly afterwards observed a hare making towards the garden, which it entered at a place well known, and left not the least doubt on my mind, that it was my old acquaintance, which, in my family, was distinguished by the name of Kitty. The harriers shortly afterwards came in sight, followed Kitty, and drove her from the garden. I became alarmed for the safety of my poor hare, and heartily wished the dogs might come to an irrecoverable fault. The hare burst away with the fleetness of the wind, and was followed breast high, by her fierce and eager pursuers. In about twenty minutes I observed Kitty return towards the garden, apparently much exhausted, and very dirty. She took shelter beneath a small heap of sticks, which lay at no great distance from the kitchen door. No time was to be lost, as, by the cry of the hounds, I was persuaded they were nearly in sight. I took a fishing-net, and, with the a.s.sistance of the servant, covered poor Kitty, caught her, and conveyed the little, panting, trembling creature into the house. The harriers were soon at the spot, but no hare was to be found. I am not aware that I ever felt greater pleasure than in thus saving poor Kitty from her merciless pursuers. Towards evening I gave Kitty her liberty; I turned her out in the garden, and saw her not again for some time. In the course of the following summer, however, I saw a hare several times, which I took to be my old friend; and, in the latter end of October, Kitty was again observed in the garden. Henceforward she was occasionally seen as on the preceding winter. One morning, in January, when I was absent, a gun was fired near my cottage; Kitty was heard to scream, but, nevertheless, entered the garden vigorously. The matter was related to me on my return home; and I was willing to hope that Kitty would survive. However, I had some doubt on the subject; and, the next morning, as soon as light permitted, I explored the garden, and found that my poor unfortunate favourite had expired; she was stretched beneath a large gooseberry tree; and I could not help very much regretting her death."

Tame Hares.

Though exceedingly timid creatures hares are readily tamed, and have often become as domesticated as cats and dogs. Cowper's experiments with hares will naturally occur to the reader, besides which there are cases recorded where tame hares have been a.s.sociated in domesticity with cats and even sporting dogs. One possessed by Mr. A. S. Moffat was thus domiciled and would feed from the same plate with a cat and a dog. This hare would knock a book out of its master's hand to secure his attention.

The Common Rabbit.

The Common Rabbit is found all over the British Isles, as well as in France and Spain; and in the north of Africa where it is indigenous. It is smaller than the hare and lives in burrows, in large numbers, completely honey-combing sand hills which are covered with gra.s.s and vegetation. Before producing her young, the female forms a separate burrow where she conceals them after birth. This is done to protect them from the male who destroys, if he discovers them. The young are born blind and gain their sight after ten days. They are a month old before they are allowed to leave the burrow.

ORDER XI.

Toothless Animals.

Curiously enough this order, though denominated toothless, includes several animals which have well developed dental arrangements. In these, however, the teeth are not found in the front of the jaw, and those which are found are elementary and simple. Several families are cla.s.sified with this order, of which the Sloth, the Pangolin, the Armadillo, the Cape Ant-Bear, and the Ant-Eater are the best known representatives.

The Sloth.

The Sloth belongs to South America. "In its wild state," says Waterton, "the Sloth spends its whole life in the trees, and never leaves them but through force or accident, and, what is more extraordinary, not _upon_ the branches, like the squirrel and monkey, but _under_ them. He _moves_ suspended from the branch, he _rests_ suspended from the branch, and he _sleeps_ suspended from the branch." "In fact," says the Rev. J. G.

Wood, "as Sydney Smith observes, he pa.s.ses a life of suspense, like a curate distantly related to a Bishop. To render it fit for this singular mode of life, its long and powerful arms are furnished with strong curved claws, which hook round the branches, and keep the animal suspended without any effort. When on the ground, these claws are very inconvenient, and it can barely shuffle along; but when it is in its native element, it moves with exceeding rapidity, particularly in a gale of wind, when it pa.s.ses from branch to branch, and from tree to tree, with an activity which its movements on the ground by no means portend."

The Pangolin.

There are two species of the Pangolin, or Manis, the long-tailed and the short-tailed, the former being a native of Africa and the latter of the East Indies. The long-tailed manis measures about five feet inclusive of the tail which is about three feet long, the short-tailed manis about four feet in all. All the upper parts of its body are closely covered with scales of different sizes, which, as they are attached to the skin only by the lower extremity, it can erect at pleasure, opposing to its adversary a formidable row of offensive weapons. They are sharp at the point, and so hard as, on collision, to strike fire like a flint. The moment it perceives the approach of an enemy, it rolls itself up like a hedgehog, by which means it covers all the weaker parts of its body. The Pangolins live on ants, which they catch by thrusting their long slender tongues into the midst of their prey, their tongues being covered by a gummy saliva to which the ants adhere.

The Armadillo.

The Armadillo is a native of South America, in which country there are several varieties. They are all covered with a strong crust or sh.e.l.l, resembling, as the Rev. J. G. Wood puts it, "the modified plate armour"

worn by men in the 16th century. They eat vegetables and insects, and do good work as scavengers. They burrow with great rapidity and when rolled up, after the manner of the hedgehog, are invulnerable to their ordinary enemies.

The Cape Ant-Bear.

The Cape Ant-Bear belongs to the Cape of Good Hope. It differs from the ant-eaters of the western world in many ways, being a hairy animal without scales, its head resembling that of the deer kind, having long ears but no horns. The length of its body which is covered with bristles is about four feet, and its feet which are short, are furnished with strong claws which enable it to excavate the cavities in which it lives.

The Ant-Eater.

The true Ant-Eater is found in the South American tropics. The Great Ant-Eater belongs to La Plata, the Little Ant-Eater to the Brazils. The Great Ant-Eater is four feet in length, without its tail, which is two feet six inches long. The true ant-eater like the Pangolin already described inserts its long tongue into the nest of the ant, catching its little victims in large numbers by the sticky mucus which covers its tongue.

ORDER XII.

Pouched Animals.

Of the several families cla.s.sed in this order the opossums and the kangaroos are the most familiar. The Dasyures of Tasmania and the Bandicoots of Australia and New Guinea also belong to this order, as do the many varieties of the Phalanger of Australasia and those of the Wombat of Tasmania. The pouch is one of the most remarkable provisions of Nature, the young of the pouched animals being small and of imperfect form at birth and requiring the protection of the pouch for their sustenance and development.

The Opossum.

The common Opossum, which is a native of Virginia, is about the size of a badger. It is provided with a pouch, in which it carries its young, and into which they leap on the approach of danger. Its covering is a coat of long fur, of a dingy white colour. It feeds upon fish, birds, insects, and reptiles. Its tail is very muscular, and by this it hangs from the branches of trees and, watching its prey, lets itself fall upon its victims with great precision. Its hind feet are formed something like hands, by which it is enabled to climb with wonderful facility. The opossum when caught often simulates death so admirably that he deceives his captors and ultimately escapes them.

The Kangaroo.

The Kangaroo belongs to Australia and New Guinea. The length of its body is from four to five feet six inches; its fore legs are very short; its hind ones very long. Its tail is from three to four feet in length, and its strength is such, that a stroke of it will break a man's leg. The Kangaroo moves by great leaps or bounds of from twelve to twenty feet.

It is covered with a short soft fur, of a reddish ash-colour. It feeds on vegetables, and has a pouch for its young, like the opossum. Mr.

Cunningham says: "The Kangaroos make no use of the short fore legs, except in grazing. When chased, they hop upon their hind legs, bounding onward at a most amazing rate, the tail wagging up and down as they leap, and serving them for a balance. They will bound over gulleys and deep declivities, and fly right over the tops of low brush wood." There are several varieties of this animal; one of which, called the Rat Kangaroo, is only the size of a rabbit; another, called the Tree Kangaroo, can hop about on trees in an extraordinary manner and is furnished with curved claws, on its fore paws, similar to those of the sloth, by which he can lay hold of the branches.

Kangaroo Hunting.

Kangaroo hunting is a favourite Australian sport. It is not unattended with danger either to dogs or men, the sharp claws and powerful hind legs of the animal making it a formidable enemy at close quarters.

Dawson in his "Present State of Australia" says: "A full-sized 'wool man' at bay always sits on his haunches, and when he rises to move forward, he stands four, or four and a half feet high. In this manner, he will, when pressed, meet a man, and hug and scratch him, if not to death, in such a way that he does not soon forget it. When hard pressed, and near to water, the kangaroo always takes it; if it be deep water, and the dogs follow him, one or the other is almost sure to be drowned.

If a single dog, the kangaroo is nearly certain to come off victorious, by taking his a.s.sailant in his fore arms, and holding him under water till he is dead; but, if he has two dogs opposed to him, he is not left at liberty to hold either of his opponents long enough under water to drown him, and he generally himself falls a sacrifice, after a long and hard struggle. Notwithstanding the courage and ferocity of the kangaroo, when pressed, he is otherwise extremely timid, and more easily domesticated than any wild animal with which I am acquainted, The smaller ones are frequently quite as swift as a hare; and I have sometimes seen them outstrip the fleetest dogs." Young and inexperienced dogs are almost sure to fall victims to the sharp claw and powerful hind leg of the kangaroo, with one stroke of which he will rip the dog open and let his entrails out.