The Animal World, A Book of Natural History Part 30

Pouched mice always spend much of their time in the trees, where they seem quite as contented as they do on the ground. They run up and down the trunk with the greatest activity, scamper along the branches, leap from one bough to another, and never seem to miss their footing. And they are continually poking their sharp little muzzles into the cracks and crevices of the bark in order to search for tiny insects and spiders. Their habits are not very much like those of mice, and one cannot help thinking that they ought to be called pouched shrews.

THE MYRMECOBIUS, OR BANDED ANT-EATER

This marsupial ant-eater is found in Southern and Western Australia. It is a prettily marked little animal of about the same size as a squirrel, with a pointed snout, a long slender body, and a rather long and bushy tail. In color it is dark chestnut brown above and white below, while a number of white stripes run across the hinder part of the back and loins, beginning just behind the shoulders, and ending a little above the root of the tail.

The myrmecobius lives princ.i.p.ally on the ground. But it is a very good climber nevertheless, and can ascend trees and run about on the branches with considerable activity. It feeds on ants and termites, catching them by means of its long and worm-like tongue, which is so sticky that the insects adhere to it as soon as they are touched. The marsupial pouch is almost entirely wanting, so that one might almost be led to suppose that the animal must be a true ant-eater. But then the ant-eaters have no teeth at all, while the myrmecobius has no less than fifty-two, or more than any other mammal with the exception of one or two members of the whale tribe and the armadillo.

This curious and pretty little animal is very gentle in disposition, and never seems to bite or scratch even if it is taken prisoner. It makes its home either in the decaying trunk of a fallen tree, or else in a hole in the ground.

THE POUCHED MOLE

This, one of the most curious of all the marsupial animals, was quite unknown until a recent time. In size and shape it is very much like the common mole, and it has its fore paws armed with enormous claws for digging in just the same manner. In color it is pale yellow. It has no outward ears, and its eyes are so tiny, and so deeply buried in the skin, that it must be almost, if not quite, unable to see with them. And in front of its snout is an odd kind of shield made of thick, h.o.r.n.y skin, which is evidently intended to protect the face as the animal forces its way through the ground.

This singular creature lives in sandy districts in the deserts of South Australia. It appears to burrow through the soil for a few feet, then to come to the surface and crawl for a little distance, and then to burrow again. And as it creeps over the sand it leaves three tracks behind it, one being made by the feet on either side, and the third by the stiff and stumpy little tail, which appears to be pressed down upon the ground. These tracks, of course, can only be seen after rain, for in dry weather the sand very soon falls in upon them, and fills them up.

OPOSSUMS

The next group of the marsupial animals is found, not in Australia, but in America.

There are several different kinds of opossums, most of which live in the trees. They are excellent climbers, for they not only have their hind feet made more like hands, with a thumb-like great toe which enables them to grasp the branches, but are also the possessors of long prehensile tails, like those of the spider-monkeys. So powerful is the tail of an opossum that it can bear the entire weight of the body as the animal swings from a branch to pluck fruit which would otherwise be out of its reach.

But opossums do not feed upon fruit alone. Indeed, there are very few things which they will not eat. They are very fond of maize, or Indian corn, for example, obtaining it sometimes by climbing up the stems of the plants, and sometimes by cutting them down close to the ground.

Nuts, too, they devour in great quant.i.ties, together with acorns and berries. Sometimes they dig up roots out of the ground. Then they will search for birds' nests, and carry off the eggs or the unfledged little ones. They will pounce upon a rabbit, too, or a young squirrel, and do not disdain mice, or lizards, or frogs, or even insects. And the farmer has very good cause for disliking them, for they not only get into his fields and steal his grain, but find their way into his hen-roosts and carry off the eggs and the young chickens.

But then they are very easily caught, for they are attracted by any kind of bait, and will walk into the simplest of traps. Yet in some ways they are exceedingly cunning. If they are caught, for example, and are injured in even the slightest degree, they will pretend to be dead, and will allow themselves to be pulled about, or kicked, or beaten, without showing any sign of life. Then the moment they think that no one is looking at them they will rise to their feet and quietly slink away.

From this we get the proverb "playing possum."

During the daytime the opossum is usually fast asleep in its nest, which is sometimes made by itself, and sometimes is the deserted home of a squirrel. So it has to be hunted by night.

A moonlight night is always chosen for this purpose, and the animal is first of all driven into a tree by dogs. One of the hunters then climbs the tree and shakes it down from the branch to which it is clinging, and the moment it reaches the ground it is pounced upon and destroyed by the dogs.

The opossum runs in a very curious manner, moving both limbs of the same side together.

When the little opossums are born, they are not only blind, like puppies and kittens, but are quite deaf as well, and do not get their sight and hearing for some little time. They remain hidden all of their infancy in the mother's pouch, staying there five or six weeks, and afterward riding about on her back.

The common opossum is about as big as a cat. But it looks much more like a very big rat, for its tail is long and scaly. It is found in North America. In South America there is a different species, called the crab-eating opossum, because it is so fond of the crabs and crayfishes which abound in the salt creeks and the great swamps of Brazil. Then Merian's opossum, in which the marsupial pouch is not developed, has a most curious way of carrying its young about, for the little ones stand in a row on their mother's back, with their tiny tails coiled tightly round hers, to prevent them from falling off. And the yapock opossum spends most of its life in the water, and lives upon fish, being such an excellent swimmer that it is able easily to overtake them.

Last of all, we come to two most extraordinary animals, which differ from all other mammals in the fact that they lay eggs, while in some parts of their skeletons they closely resemble the reptiles.

THE ECHIDNA

The first of these creatures is called the echidna, and is also known as the spiny ant-eater. It is from fifteen to nineteen inches in length, and has the whole upper surface of the head and body covered with a mixture of stiff hairs and short sharp spines, something like those of a hedgehog. The head is drawn out into a very long, slender, beak-like snout, at the tip of which the nostrils are placed, and the tongue is long and worm-like and very sticky, just as it is in the true ant-eaters. The feet are furnished with enormous claws, which are used in tearing open the nests of the insects upon which the animal feeds, and those of the hind feet, strange to say, are turned backward in walking, so that they point toward the tail instead of the head.

These claws are also used in digging, and can be used with such effect that if the animal is surprised when on sandy soil it sinks into the ground as if by magic. But if the ground is so hard that it cannot use its claws, it rolls itself up like a hedgehog, and trusts to its spiny coat for protection.

The common echidna is found in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea.

Besides this there is another species, called the three-toed echidna, which is found in New Guinea only.

THE DUCKBILL

Even more curious still is the duckbill, or duck-billed platypus, which not only lays eggs like a bird, but resembles a bird in several other ways as well.

It has a bill, for example, just like that of a duck--broad and flat, with a number of grooves round the edges. And it feeds by taking a beakful of mud from the bottom of a pond or ditch, squirting out the mud itself through the grooves, and then swallowing the grubs and other small creatures which are left behind.

Then its feet are like those of a duck, the toes being joined together by webbing, so that they can be used as paddles. And even the tail is rather like that of a duck, for it is very broad and flat, so that it can serve as a rudder when the animal is swimming.

This remarkable creature is found in Southern and Eastern Australia, and also in Tasmania. It is not at all uncommon, but is seldom seen, for it spends most of its time in the water, or else in its burrow, which is always made in the bank of a pool or stream. This burrow is generally a long one, running to a distance of forty or even fifty feet, and terminates in a large chamber, which is used as a nursery. And it always has two entrances, one below the surface of the water and one above, so that if the animal is alarmed in any way it can run in by one door and out again by the other.

Two eggs are laid by this most curious creature. They measure about three-quarters of an inch in length, and are enclosed in a tough white sh.e.l.l. How they are hatched n.o.body seems quite to know; but when the little ones first make their appearance they are quite blind and quite naked, and have hardly any beaks at all.

When fully grown the duckbill is about eighteen inches long from the end of the snout to the tip of the tail.

BIRDS

CHAPTER XX

BIRDS OF PREY

We have now first to think of the great cla.s.s of the birds, which are distinguished from all other living creatures by having their bodies covered with feathers.

These feathers serve a double purpose.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TYPICAL BIRDS OF PREY.

1. Red-tailed Buzzard. 2. Sparrow-hawk.

3. Golden Eagle. 4. Great Horned Owl.]

In the first place, they help to preserve the warmth of the body. Birds are hot-blooded animals--indeed, their blood is a good deal warmer than ours--and they often have to fly very fast through very cold air. So, you see, it is most important that they should be clothed with some sort of covering which is very warm and at the same time light. And nothing is warmer, and at the same time lighter, than a coat of feathers.

And then, in the second place, many of these feathers are most useful in flight. Without them, indeed, a bird could not fly at all. If we want to keep a tame bird from escaping, we have only to clip its wings, and then it can no longer raise itself into the air. But it is not only the feathers of the wings that are used in flight; those of the tail are employed as well, for they a.s.sist in flight, especially in checking speed, and serve as a rudder, enabling the bird to steer its way through the air.

Now birds are divided into orders and tribes and families, just as the mammals are. But scientific men are not quite sure which of the orders ought to be placed first. Among the birds of prey, however, we find some of the largest and finest and most powerful of all the feathered race; so that we cannot do better than place these at the head of our list.

You can always tell a bird of prey by two points in its structure. The first we find in its beak, which is always very large and strong, and very sharply hooked. And the second we find in its talons, which are specially made for seizing and killing the animals upon which it feeds. Some persons think that an eagle or a hawk kills its victims with its beak, but that is a great mistake, for the beak is only used for tearing the flesh from off its bones after it is dead. The real weapons are the talons, which are so sharp and so strong that they can be pressed deeply into the vitals of a captured animal and kill it at once. All the birds of prey, therefore, have very powerful legs and large feet and claws.

VULTURES--SYMBOLS OF RAPACITY