Part 9

This family is remarkable for the very peculiar nature of their coat, which, at first sight, might lead to their being taken for Reptiles. Instead of being clad in hair, like other Mammals, they have the upper part of the head, the top and sides of the body and the tail protected by a scaly covering, very hard in its nature. This covering is composed of a number of bony plates, arranged in parallel rows and of various shapes; it is not separate from the skin, but forms a very curious modification of it. On the head, and fore-part of the body, these plates are firmly fixed to one another; but on the middle of the back they are possessed of a certain amount of mobility, so as to move one over the other. In this way, the animal has the power of executing various bending and stretching movements, for instance, of rolling itself up into a ball whenever it is attacked.

When pursued it makes hastily for its burrow, but if unable to gain it, or to dig a temporary retreat, it partially rolls itself into a ball, and allows itself to be turned about by its enemy without attempting to move. The Armadillo, we are told, in Nicaragua is kept not only by the people of the ranches, but by the inhabitants of some of the little towns, to free their houses from ants, which it can follow by scent. When searching for ants about a house, the animal puts out its tongue and licks the ants into its mouth from around the posts on which the houses are raised a little above the ground. It has been known to dig down under the floors, and remain absent for three or four weeks at a time. They are said to dig down in a straight direction when they discover a subterranean colony of ants, without beginning at the mouth or entrance of the ant-hole. They are very persevering when in pursuit of ants; and while they turn up light soil with the snout, keep the tongue busy taking the insects. The burrows of this Armadillo are several feet long, winding and generally dug at an angle of 45 degrees. The South American negroes, however, dig them up from their holes, whither they have been driven by Dogs. Their flesh is considered very delicate, and is roasted in the shell.

THE ANT-EATERS.

The Ant-eaters feed upon a variety of insects. They are specially organized for procuring this food. Completely destitute of teeth, the head is terminated by an elongated tube, which encloses a very long tongue, something like a worm. This slender tongue, being darted into the ant-hills, all the interstices where the insects take refuge yield numerous victims, which adhere to it through the gummy secretion with which it is covered. The Ant-eaters are armed with sharp claws, useful both as instruments for scratching and weapons of defence.

The most remarkable species is the Great Ant-eater, the largest of the family. It grows to more than a yard and a half in length, from the tip of its long nose to its tail. Its coat is rough, abundant and of a dark color. The tail, covered with very long and extremely bushy hair, has the power of being raised like a plume, and is more than a yard in length. The strength of this animal is so great that it can defend itself successfully against the ferocious Jaguar, which it either hugs, like a Bear, or tears to pieces with its formidable claws.

It lives in damp forests in which its insect food is most abundant.

There are two other species of the Ant-eater, which live more or less on trees and enjoy, on this account, one of the characteristics which are peculiar to American Monkeys—that of grasping branches firmly with the tail, a portion of which is bare of hair underneath, and capable of being twisted round any object. These species are the Tamandua, an Ant-eater about three feet long, which divides its time between the ground and the thick foliage of trees; and the Little, or Two-toed Ant-eater, so called because it has only two toes, instead of four, on the front feet. This latter species is a native of Brazil and Guiana. It but seldom descends to the ground, and is not much larger than a Rat.

THE PANGOLINS.

The Pangolins are also Ant-eaters, but the peculiar nature of the covering of their bodies will not allow them to be classed with the preceding family. The hair of their coat is glued together so as to form large scales, inserted in the skin in nearly the same way as the nails of a Man, and lapping one over the other, like the slates of a roof. From their strong resemblance to Reptiles, the name Scaly Lizard has been applied to these creatures.

The Pangolin (from the Javanese word Pangoeling, meaning to roll into a ball) have short legs, furnished with stout claws; they are devoid of any external ear and have no trace of teeth. Their method of feeding is exactly the same as that of the Ant-eaters; but their head, although elongated in shape, is not quite so long, and their tongue is less slender.

They dwell in forests, where they dig burrows, or lodge in the hollow of trees. When they are attacked, they roll themselves into a ball, like the Armadillo; at the same time their scales are erected, forming an impregnable buckler. This family possesses several species.

The Pangolins are of medium size; they never exceed a yard in length. They are natives of the Old World exclusively; India and the Malay Isles, the south of China, and a great part of Africa, are the regions in which they are usually found.

Although the animals look at first sight like curious, heavy-bodied Lizards, they have warm blood, and nourish their young like the rest of the Mammalia. The Pangolin lives in burrows in the earth, or sometimes in the large hollows of colossal trees which have fallen to the ground. The burrows are usually made in light soil on the slope of a hill. There are two holes to each gallery: One for entrance, and another for exit. This is quite necessary on account of the animal being quite incapable of curving its body sideways, so that it cannot turn itself in its burrow.

The bodies of Pangolins are very flexible vertically—that is, they can roll themselves up into a ball, and coil and uncoil themselves very readily—but they cannot turn round within the confined limits of their burrows.

“In hunting them,” says M. Du Chaillu, “we had first to ascertain by the foot-marks, or more readily by the marks left by the trail of the tail, which was the entrance and which the exit of the burrow, and then making a trap at one end, drive them out by the smoke of a fire at the other, afterwards securing them with ropes.

“Their flesh is good eating. Those I captured were very lean, but I was informed by the natives that they are sometimes very fat.”

RODENTIA—GNAWING QUADRUPEDS.

THE order of animals to which the well known and widely distributed Rats and Mice belong, is a very large one, including animals that are adapted, according to the genus, either for running, jumping, climbing, flying or swimming. They are armed with sharp claws, enabling them to climb trees or burrow in the earth. But the special characteristic of all the animals of this group, is that they possess only two kinds of teeth—incisors and molars. The incisors, two in number, in front of each jaw, are very remarkable. Their office is to cut, as with shears, roots and branches, and they are wonderfully constructed for this purpose. These teeth are long, stout and curved, and being covered with enamel on their front face only, they wear away more behind than in front; and by rubbing one against the other naturally form a bevelled edge. They therefore keep a hard edge that is always sharp-cutting, ready for sawing through or gnawing tough substances.

Another strange thing about these teeth is that they always keep the same length, notwithstanding their continual wear. The fact is, they have no roots, and grow from the base in the same proportion as they are worn away at the top.

Many of the Gnawing Quadrupeds have their hind limbs much larger than the front ones, so that they leap rather than walk, giving them the appearance of the Kangaroo and others belonging to the Marsupial family. The animals of the Rodent order feed mainly on seeds, fruit, leaves, grasses and occasionally on roots and bark. Some of them, however, such as the Rat, are omnivorous, and will even eat flesh.

A great number of the Rodents have their bodies covered with fine, soft and prettily-colored hair. For instance, the small Grey Squirrel and the Chinchilla both furnish furs of value; and the coats of the Beaver and the Rabbit are used in some of our manufactures.

The Rodents are not usually divided into very distinct families, as their natural characteristics are not clearly marked. In the family of Rats and Mice a large number may be grouped. These form the Mus species, from the Latin, Mus, meaning Mouse or Rat. The most of the members of this family are too well known to require more than mere mention. This family includes besides what are known as the Rats and Mice proper, the Field Rats and Mice, the Dormice, Ondatras, Musquash or Musk Rats, Lemmings, Hamster Rats and Jerboa Rats.

Grouped with the Chinchillas we find the Lagotis, the Viscacha, and the Ctenomys. Then come the Porcupine family, the family of Ground Hogs, Guinea Pigs and the Agoutis. The Beavers and the extensive Squirrel family are then followed by the Marmots and Woodchucks, the Prairie Dogs, and the large family of Hares and Rabbits.

THE BEAVERS.

These animals, which are celebrated all over the world for their industrious habits and their intelligence, do not possess a very pleasing appearance. The thick-set shape of the large head, small eyes, cloven upper lip which shows its powerful incisors, the long and wide tail, flattened like a spatula and covered with scales—combine to give the animal an awkward appearance. The hind feet are larger than the fore, and are fully webbed.

The Common Beaver is an aquatic animal; the structure of its feet and tail enables it to swim with perfect facility. As these animals live principally upon the bark of trees and other hard substances, their front teeth are excessively strong, and by their assistance they are enabled to cut down trees of considerable size, to be used in the construction of the curious edifices for the erection of which they have been long celebrated. Their mode of building, as adopted by the Beaver of America, is described by Hearne with great exactness.

“The situation chosen is various where the Beavers are numerous. They tenant lakes, rivers and creeks, especially the two latter for the sake of the current, of which they avail themselves in the transportation of materials. They also choose such parts as have a depth of water beyond the freezing power to congeal at the bottom. In small rivers or creeks in which the water is liable to be drained off when the back supplies are dried up by the frost, they are led by instinct to make a dam quite across the river, at a convenient distance from their houses, thus artificially procuring a deep body of water in which to build.

“The dam varies in shape; where the current is gentle it is carried out straight, but where rapid it is bowed, presenting a convexity to the current. The materials used are drift wood, green willows, birch and poplar, if they can be secured, and also mud and stones. These are intermixed without order, the only aim being to carry out the work with a regular sweep, and to make the whole of equal strength.

“Old dams by frequent repairing become a solid bank, capable of resisting a great force of water and ice; and as the willows, poplars and birches take root and shoot up, they form by degrees a sort of thick hedgerow, often of considerable height. Of the same materials the houses themselves are built, and in size proportionate to the number of their respective inhabitants, which seldom exceeds four old and six or eight young ones. The houses, however, are ruder in structure than the dam, the only aim being to have a dry place to lie upon, and perhaps feed in.

“When the houses are large it often happens that they are divided by partitions into two or three, or even more compartments, which have in general no communication except by water; such may be called double or treble houses rather than houses divided. Each compartment is inhabited by its own possessors, who know their own door, and have no connection with their neighbors, more than a friendly intercourse and joining with them in the necessary labor of building.

“So far are the Beavers from driving stakes, as some have said, into the ground when building, that they lay most of the wood crosswise, and nearly horizontal, without any order than that of leaving a cavity in the middle, and when any unnecessary branches project they cut them off with their chisel-like teeth and throw them in among the rest to prevent the mud from falling in; with this is mixed mud and stones, and the whole compacted together. The bank affords them the mud, or the bottom of the creek, and they carry it, as well as the stones, under their throat, by the aid of their fore-paws; the wood they drag along with their teeth.

“They always work during the night, and have been known during a single night to have accumulated as much mud as amounted to some thousands of their little handfuls. Every fall they cover the outsides of their houses with fresh mud, and as late in the autumn as possible, even when the frost has set in, as by this means it soon becomes frozen as hard as a stone, and prevents their most formidable enemy, the Wolverine, or Glutton, from disturbing them during the winter. In laying on this coat of mud, they do not make use of their broad flat tails, as has been asserted—a mistake which has arisen from their habit of giving a flap with the tail when plunging from the outside of the house into the water, and when they are startled, as well as at other times. The houses, when completed, are dome-shaped, with walls several feet thick.”

THE PORCUPINE FAMILY.

The Porcupines are singular animals, endowed with a very peculiar faculty, that of causing their body, which is covered with quills, to bristle up, and thus forming for themselves a formidable armor. The small family of Porcupines is divided into four genera—Porcupines proper, the Brush-Tailed Porcupine, the Canadian Porcupine and the Prehensile Porcupines.

COMMON PORCUPINES.

The species often called the Crested Porcupine, inhabits Italy, Greece, Spain, Northern Africa, and different parts of Asia. We shall describe it, which will serve to characterize the whole genus.

This Porcupine is one of the largest Rodents; its average length exceeds twenty-four inches. The principal features are very powerful upper incisors, short thick toes, furnished with strong claws, a large head, small eyes, short ears, a slightly split mouth, and thick-set shape, combined with an awkward and clumsy gait.

The body of this animal is covered with pointed quills from eight to nine inches long. By means of the action of an enormous muscle, which moves at the will of the animal, these can bristle up and radiate in all directions. The tail is rudimentary, and is not, like the back, covered with quills, but with entirely hollow, white tubes, which produce a sharp sound when they clash together. The muzzle is furnished with long and strong whiskers; the head and neck are covered with flexible hair, which is not prickly, but is susceptible of standing on end.

Under ordinary circumstances, the quills of the Porcupine lie close down on its body, and no one would suppose that at a moment’s warning they could become formidable weapons. But let anger or fear seize upon the animal, and a whole forest of bayonets spring up. If assailed, the Porcupine turns its back to the enemy, and places its head between its fore-paws, at the same time uttering a hollow grunting noise. If the assailant will not be intimidated, the Porcupine endeavors to thrust its quills against the body of the foe. The wounds thus inflicted are much to be dreaded; for not only are they difficult and tedious to cure, but frequently the detached barbs adhering in the flesh are almost impossible to extract.

The Porcupine is a shy, solitary and nocturnal animal. It inhabits unfrequented localities, and hollows out deep burrows with several entrances. At night it comes forth to procure its food, which consists of herbs and fruit.

The flesh of the Porcupine is good food, with somewhat the flavor of pork. It is, doubtless this similarity, and also the grunting noise which it makes, to which it owes its name of Porcupine, as they were originally called Porcus Spinatus, or “Prickly Pigs.”

THE BRUSH-TAILED PORCUPINE.

The Sunda Islands possess a species of Porcupine which is distinguished from the preceding by a long tail. This is the Malacca Porcupine, or Brush-tailed Porcupine. It is smaller than the common species, and is found in Sumatra, Java and Malacca.

THE CANADIAN PORCUPINE.

America also possesses some species of Porcupines. The most remarkable is the Urson, or Canadian Porcupine, which is found north of the 46th degree of latitude. It is as large as the European species, and it inhabits pine forests, feeding principally on the bark of trees, and its den is hollowed out underneath their roots. When attacked, it draws its legs beneath its body, sets up its quills, and lashes around with its tail.

The Indians hunt it for the sake of its flesh, which is good, and also for its skin, from which they make caps, after having plucked out the quills, which are used by them for pins.

PREHENSILE-TAILED PORCUPINES.

Prehensile Porcupines are characterised by a partly bare, prehensile tail, and hooked and sharply-pointed claws, which enable them to climb trees. Their quills are not long, and are frequently hidden under their hair. They have a depressed forehead, and not a prominent one, like that of common Porcupines. They are principally met with in South America.

THE SQUIRREL FAMILY.

The Squirrels are pretty little animals, distinguished by their graceful forms and bushy tails. The Common Squirrel lives in tree-tops and feeds upon fruit and nuts. During the fine summer nights the voices of the Squirrels may be heard, as they chase each other in the tops of the trees. They appear to dislike the heat of the sun, and remain during the day in their nests, coming out in the evening to play and to feed. The nest is warm, neat and impervious to rain; it is generally placed in the fork of a tree. They construct it by interlacing twigs with moss, pressing and treading on their work to make it firm and capacious, that their little ones may repose in safety. The only opening to this nest is at the top, just sufficiently wide to allow the Squirrel to pass in and out; above the aperture is a kind of conical roof, which completely shelters it, and allows no rain to enter the nest.

At the commencement of winter the coat of the Squirrel is renewed, the hair being redder than that which falls off. They comb and smooth themselves with their paws and teeth, and are very neat.

GREY SQUIRRELS.

“The Grey Squirrels of North America,” says Audubon, “migrate in prodigious numbers, crossing large rivers by swimming with their tails extended on the water, and traverse immense tracts of country where food is most abundant. During these migrations they are destroyed in vast numbers. Their flesh is very white and delicate, and affords excellent eating when the animal is young.”

THE FLYING SQUIRRELS.

The Flying Squirrels are so called from having the skin of the sides spread out between the fore and hind legs, so as to constitute a sort of parachute, whereby there are enabled to sail through the air to some distance, and thus take prodigious leaps from tree to tree.

The Flying Squirrels are gregarious, traveling from one tree to another in companies of ten or twelve together. They will fly from sixty to eighty yards from one tree to another. They cannot rise in their flight, nor keep in a horizontal line, but descend gradually, so that in proportion to the distance the tree they intend to fly to is from them, so much the higher they mount on the tree they fly from; that they may reach some part of the tree, even the lowest part, rather than fall to the ground, which exposes them to peril. But having once recovered the trunk of a tree, no animal seems nimble enough to take them. Their food is that of other Squirrels, including nuts, acorns, pine-seeds, berries, &c.

MARMOTS AND PRAIRIE DOGS.

Between the lively, graceful, well-proportioned Squirrels and the Marmots, with their squat bodies and sluggish movements, there is a great difference. Yet, notwithstanding this, the Marmots are allied to the Squirrel.

The Marmots are characterised by very long, powerful incisors, strong claws, indicating burrowing habits, and by a tail of medium length, somewhat thickly garnished with hair. They have short limbs, and from that results the slowness of movement peculiar to them.

The Marmots inhabit different chains of mountains in Europe, Asia and North America. They have nearly all the same habits; so that it will suffice if we speak of the common species, the only one, in fact, which has been well studied.

The Common Marmot lives on the high peaks of the Swiss and Savoy Alps, in the vicinity of the glaciers. It forms small societies, composed of two or three families, and digs out burrows on the slopes exposed to the sun. These burrows have the form of the letter Y; the galleries are so very narrow that it is with difficulty the human hand can be inserted into them. At the extremity of one of these oblique shafts is found a spacious chamber of an oval form, in which the proprietors rest and sleep.

The Marmots in a state of nature live exclusively on herbage. They crop off the shortest grass with wonderful rapidity. During fine weather they love to stretch themselves out, frisk, play or bask in the rays of the sun. Remarkable for caution, they never leave their retreats without taking the greatest precaution; the old venturing first, after carefully inspecting the neighborhood, then the others following. Feeding, playing, or basking, they lose nothing of their vigilance, for as soon as one has the slightest suspicion of danger, it utters a sharp bark of warning, which is quickly repeated by those near it, and in an instant the whole band rush into their burrow, or fly towards some place of concealment.

After the Alpine Marmot, we may mention the Quebec Marmot, the Maryland Marmot, or Woodchuck, which is peculiar to various parts of North America, and the Bobac or Poland Marmot.

The Prairie Dog is an allied species, which lives in extensive communities in the wild prairies of North America; their villages, as the hunters term their burrows, extending sometimes many miles in length. They owe their name to the supposed resemblance of their warning cry to the bark of small Dog.

HARES AND RABBITS.

The animals composing this family have twenty-two molar teeth, formed of vertical layers joined to each other; the ears are very large and funnel-shaped, covered with hair externally, almost nude internally; the upper lip cleft; the tail is short, furry and ordinarily elevated; the hind feet are much longer than those in front, and are provided with five toes, while the fore feet have only four; the claws are but little developed; the feet are entirely covered with hair, above as well as below.

It would be superfluous to describe the Hare in detail; the animal is too well known to render it necessary. As, however, it might be confounded with the Rabbit, which it much resembles, it may be remarked that the Hare has the ears and the thighs longer, the body more slender, the head finer, and the coat of a deeper fawn color.