Part 6

Gibbons are almost wholly arboreal apes; and in the trees they move about mainly with the aid of their long arms, by means of which they swing themselves from bough to bough, and thus from one tree to another, so that a whole troop will traverse the forest without descending to the ground. So active and agile indeed are these apes, that when confined in open cages they will catch birds on the wing, which apparently form part of their food. In addition to these, gibbons subsist on fruits of various kinds, leaves, young shoots, insects, and spiders.

All gibbons have a remarkably powerful double-note cry, like _hu-lok_, which has a wailing sound, and awakes the echoes in the early morning and again at evening in the forests inhabited by these apes. At a distance the cry has some faint resemblance to the human voice; but at close quarters it is enough to drive the traveller, when resting in his tent, well-nigh distracted.

THE ABYSSINIAN GREEN MONKEY

(_Cercopithecus æthiops_)

As a familiar example of a very large assemblage of exclusively African long-tailed monkeys collectively known as guenons (from a French word signifying to make grimaces), no better species could have been selected for illustration than the Abyssinian green monkey. This monkey, which like its cousin the common green monkey (_Cercopithecus callitrichus_, or _sabæus_) may be seen in almost all menageries and on many street-organs, is an East African species; whereas the true green monkey is West African, ranging from Senegambia through Sierra Leone to northern Liberia, but has been introduced into some of the Cape Verd and West Indian Islands, where it still occurs plentifully, at least in Barbados.

From the guereza monkeys (_Colobus_) of Africa, a guenon may be distinguished at a glance by its well-developed thumbs; while these monkeys also differ from guerezas, as well as from their Asiatic relatives the langurs, by having well-developed pouches in their cheeks for storing food. There is, however, another African group of monkeys, the mangabeys (_Cercocebus_), some of which are more difficult to distinguish from guenons, although the majority are recognisable at a glance by their flesh-coloured eyelids, whence the name of white eyelid monkeys. When this character fails, resource must be had to the cheek-teeth, of which the last pair in the lower jaw is less complex in a guenon than in a mangabey; but to examine the back-teeth of a live monkey is not an experiment every one would desire to try!

To any one but a specialist, the very large number of representatives of the guenons are exceedingly difficult to class and identify. The matter has, however, been somewhat simplified by arranging the species in thirteen groups, each characterised by the possession of some particular distinctive feature or features. The well-known diana monkey (_C. diana_) represents, for instance, a group in which there are long, upwardly directed, snow-white whiskers associated with blackish or dark red under-parts, a white brow-band, distinctly white areas on the chest and the inside of the arms, a chin-tuft, and a white stripe on the outer side of the thigh. The members of the spot-nosed group, again, as typified by _C. petaurista_, are recognisable at a glance by having a large, heart-shaped white spot on the tip of the nose. The green monkeys, on the other hand, belong to a group (typified by the Abyssinian species) somewhat less easy to recognise, but characterised by the absence of black on the outer surface of the arms, which may be coloured like the body, but are usually, as in the plate, somewhat paler and grey. The face is nearly always black, but may be mottled or freckled with pigment; and, except in one species, the whiskers grow upwards and backwards over the ears. The western species, the aforesaid _C. callitrichus_, lacks the white brow-band present in the Abyssinian species and nearly all the other members of the group; the species forming the subject of the plate being further distinguished by the black-speckled yellowish olive colour of the fur of the back, the long, white whiskers, sharply defined from the hair of the rest of the head, and the presence of a tuft of hair at the root of the tail.

Guenons may be regarded as some of the most typical of all monkeys, and those in which monkey-tricks attain their fullest development. They live more on fruits and seeds than either the guerezas or the langurs, which feed largely on leaves and the young shoots of trees. Guenons are indeed probably to some extent omnivorous, whereas the members of the other two groups are wholly herbivorous. This difference in the matter of diet is correlated with the presence of cheek-pouches and the simple character of the stomach in the guenons, whereas the other two groups lack pouches in the cheek, but, in compensation, have the stomach folded and divided in a complex manner.

In their native forests green monkeys and their relatives associate in large troops, which keep up a constant chattering, and each of which is under the leadership and control of an old male. Each troop appears to have its own particular territory in the forest; and if one party intrude on the domain of its neighbour, a fierce contest takes place, which does not end until the invaders have been driven out or have proved themselves the stronger. A survival of this custom may be noticed even among monkeys in a menagerie, where each species or individual will take up one portion of the cage for its own particular use, and resolutely defend it against the other occupants of the enclosure.

From the other members of the genus the patas monkey (_C. patas_) and its relatives are specially distinguished by their red colouring and large size, and they should perhaps form a genus by themselves.

THE FOX

(_Canis vulpes_ or _Vulpes alopex_)

The fox enjoys a well-earned reputation for cunning and shrewdness, and especially for its capacity to adapt itself to changed conditions and its presence of mind and resourcefulness in emergencies. Nevertheless, it is possible to deceive even a fox. A well-known American naturalist relates, for instance, how he attracted a fox to within a few yards of his own position by imitating the squeaking of a field-mouse. For some distance he came cautiously skulking between the big tussocks of coarse grass, but for the last fifty yards he had to traverse open sward. When he had got half this distance he became suspicious, and began to think that the motionless, squatting naturalist was not a stump or a rock, whereupon, it is curious to note, that he at once ran to leeward of the suspicious object, thus showing that foxes, like many other animals, trust more to their sense of smell than to their sight.

In spite of the fact that everybody knows a fox by sight, there is a difference of opinion among naturalists as to whether the fox of North America is specifically identical with the European animal. The differences between them are, however, so small and insignificant that the most sensible course is to regard the fox as a circumpolar species, with several local races, both in the Old World and in North America. To attempt anything in the way of description of such a well-known animal would be altogether superfluous, although it may be well to mention that the tip of the tail is always white or whitish; and that, as in most members of the dog family, there is a dark-coloured patch on the upper surface of the root of the tail, indicating the position of a gland.

Although nearly related to wolves and jackals, foxes are distinguished by their slighter make, the relatively shorter limbs and longer body and tail, as well as by the sharper muzzle, and also by a peculiarity in the shape of the projecting process of bone which forms part of the upper border of the socket of the eye. In wolves, jackals, and dogs this process is convex, whereas in all foxes it is concave; thus conclusively proving that the fox has nothing to do with the parentage of the dog.

The typical fox of northern and central Europe is one of the largest representatives of the species, and is further characterised by the deep “foxy” red colour of its coat, and the light colour of the under-parts. In southern Europe this race is replaced by one of rather smaller dimensions (_Canis vulpes melanogaster_) and less brilliant red in colour, with the under-parts dark, and sometimes a cross-shaped dark mark on the shoulders. Nearly allied is the Himalayan fox (_C. v. montanus_); but in central Asia and some of the neighbouring countries we find a larger and paler race known as _C. v. flavescens_. No representative of the species is found to the south of the Himalaya or in Burma and the Malay countries; but the central Asian, or a nearly allied, race probably extends right across Siberia and Manchuria.

In North America the fox reappears, and ranges as far south as Georgia; the common and most widely distributed race being known as _C. v. fulvus_, while separate names have been given to the races respectively inhabiting Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. The so-called “cross fox” of America is merely one with a blackish stripe down the back and another across the shoulders, as in many Himalayan and Afghan foxes; while the “silver fox” is a grey, and the “black fox” a black phase of the ordinary American race.

Skins of black foxes are of enormous value, really fine specimens selling for as much as £200 each; they are imitated by dyeing the skins of the white Arctic fox (_C. lagopus_) and leaving the end of the tail and the tips of the longer hairs white. Although most of these black skins come from America, black foxes apparently also occur in Siberia.

No matter how far north its range, the fox never turns white in winter. Another curious fact about this animal is that the skin, when viewed under the microscope, exhibits a structure indicating that the ancestors of the species were apparently clothed with scales instead of hair; thus affording important testimony to the view that mammals are the direct descendants of reptiles.

Unlike jackals and wolves, the fox is a more or less solitary animal, living for the greater part of the year alone, or in company with the vixen, as the female is called; the latter name being merely the west country pronunciation of _fixen_, which may be the Saxon plural of _fix_. Chiefly nocturnal in their habits, foxes may take up their residence either in holes, or “earths,” dug by themselves, in ravines or clefts among rocks, or amid coarse grass and bushes. The young, usually from five to seven in number, have slaty grey coats quite different from their parents. Although foxes are sad enemies to the poultry-yard and the game-covert, it should be remembered that they are death on field-mice and rats.

THE BROWN BEAR

(_Ursus arctus_)

With the exception of the hyænas and the civets, all the more important families of land Carnivora are represented in northern Europe; the wild cat and the lynx doing duty for the _Felidæ_, the wolf and the fox for the _Canidæ_, the pine-marten, glutton, and otter, together with several smaller species, for the _Mustelidæ_, and the bear, or brown bear, as it is commonly called, in order to distinguish it from its relatives--white, grey, or black--for the _Ursidæ_. It is further noteworthy that, with the exception of the wild cat, all these animals are either common to the northern portions of the two hemispheres or are represented in North America by species very closely allied to their European prototypes.

The bear is one of the undoubtedly circumpolar species, for although distinct names have been given to its American representatives, with the exception of the grisly bear (_Ursus horribilis_), which is specifically different, all these are obviously nothing more than local forms or races of a single variable and widely distributed species.

Even in the Old World there are many distinct races of the brown bear. In Syria, for instance, we have a greyish race (_U. arctus syriacus_); while in Kashmir the coat is very generally deep cream-colour, although it tends to darken in old individuals of this race, which is known as _U. a. isabellinus_. From the British Isles the bear has long since been exterminated, but it survives in the wilder parts of Spain, France, Germany, and Hungary, while it is still comparatively common in many parts of Scandinavia and Russia, whence it extends right across Asia north of the southern flank of the Himalaya to Kamchatka and Japan; its southern limit to the east of the Himalaya being marked by the Siamese race (_U. a. shanorum_). Central Asian brown bears, of which the local races are not yet properly determined, generally have light-coloured coats, with a white gorget, which is wanting in Scandinavian and Russian bears. The largest Old World race is the Kamchadale brown bear (_U. a. piscator_ or _lasiotis_), of which skins may measure as much as 9 feet in length.

On the opposite side of Bering Strait Alaska vies with Kamchatka in claiming the record in point of size among brown bears, while in the matter of local variation the representatives of the species put the rest of the world into the shade, for American naturalists recognise no fewer than half a dozen different races in Alaska alone. These include the huge Kodiak bear (_U. a. middendorffi_) of Kodiak Island, the Alaskan Peninsula bear (_U. a. gyas_), the gigantic Yakutat bear (_U. a. dalli_) from the neighbourhood of Yakutat Bay and the coast for an undetermined distance north and south, the Sitka bear (_U. a. sitkensis_) of Sitka and Baranoff Islands, the Admiralty bear (_U. a. eulophus_) of Admiralty Island, and Kidder’s bear (_U. a. kidderi_) of the Alaskan Peninsula. All these are, however, so similar to one another, that it requires an expert to distinguish them.

The grisly bear (_U. horribilis_) is, however, a distinct species, characterised, among other features, by its white claws. Typically a native of the high forests of the Rocky Mountains, the grisly is represented by two Alaskan races, namely, _U. h. phæonyx_ of the interior, and _U. h. kenaiensis_ of the Kenai Peninsula and adjacent coasts. It perhaps reappears in the Tian Shan range, in the heart of central Asia, in the shape of the so-called _U. leuconyx_.

Bears are the least carnivorous of the Carnivora, subsisting in many districts almost entirely on fruits, nuts, shoots of trees, roots, honey, and ants, with an occasional meal of carrion. In Alaska, however, when the bears wake up from their winter sleep and come abroad they find the rivers almost choked with Pacific salmon which are ascending to spawn, and in these they find an abundant and nourishing food-supply upon which they rapidly grow fat. The duration of the winter-sleep, which may take place in a hollow tree, a cavern, or a cleft in the rocks, depends upon the length of the winter; and it is when they first issue forth from these lairs that bears are in their best coats, the summer fur being short and comparatively valueless, while the skins are also difficult to preserve owing to the fatness of the animals at this season. The females bring forth their cubs, one or two in number, during the period of hibernation.

Bears are to a great extent diurnal mammals, whose haunts are chiefly the forests, although in late summer they resort in many localities, such as Kashmir, to the open mountain pastures, where they may be seen grazing at no great distance from flocks of sheep or goats. The adults go about singly or in pairs, the females generally accompanied by their cubs, which may include those of two successive seasons.

THE PINE-MARTEN

(_Mustela martes_)

The marten, or pine-marten, as it is commonly termed in order to distinguish it from its continental relative the beech-marten (_Mustela foina_), is one of those species which are on the verge of disappearing from England and Wales. In the midland and south-eastern counties of England the species appears to have become scarce during the first half of the last century, and in most of these it was killed before 1860, although isolated instances of its occurrence in Hertfordshire, Surrey, and Sussex have been recorded since that date. In Lincolnshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk it survived, however, until the ’eighties; and there have been recent occurrences in Leicestershire. The Lake District and the western side of north and central Wales are at present the strongholds of the species; and the isolated occurrences in other parts of the country appear to be largely due to its wandering habits.

In the wilder districts of Scotland, wherever there is sufficient forest, martens are still far from uncommon; and they are comparatively abundant in parts of Scandinavia, France, Spain, Germany, Hungary, and Russia. Among the characteristics of the species, the most easily recognisable is the yellow or orange area on the throat; this part being white in the beech-marten. That these two animals are distinct species, and not merely local races of a single one, seems to be demonstrated by their occurrence in the same districts. How far eastwards the range of the marten extends does not appear to be ascertained. In Siberia the species is, however, represented by the closely allied sable (_M. zibellina_), which in turn gives place in North America to the American marten (_M. americana_). All three might perhaps, however, be regarded as geographical races of one and the same species. Martens are essentially forest-animals, which prefer evergreen trees, and are especially partial to woods where dead tree-trunks lie rotting on the ground or form natural bridges from one stem to another. Here they are as active as squirrels, and chase one another in the same sportive manner. Much of their prey is, however, taken on the ground, and they are deadly foes to hares, rabbits, pheasants, and partridges, as well as to small birds of all kinds. They are also reported to eat beech-mast, and if this be the case, berries may also very probably form a portion of their diet.

The persistency with which a marten will follow the trail of a hare or a rabbit, even in deep snow, is a character the species possesses in common with the weasel tribe generally; and if it fail to pounce upon the unsuspecting victim in the first few springs, it will settle down to the chase as steadily as a beagle or a harrier.

Martens are devoid of the unpleasant odour of the polecat, or foumart, and are therefore suitable for taming. In their native forests they associate in pairs, and make their nests high up in tall trees, selecting in some instances a hole in the stem, but in other cases taking possession of the deserted nests of wood-pigeons or other large birds, or occasionally the drey of a squirrel. In this nest are born early in the spring the six or seven young, which come into the world blind, and are tended by their parents with assiduous care; and they remain in its neighbourhood till they are nearly full grown.

In North America it has been observed that once in about every eight or ten years martens more or less completely disappear from districts in which they are at other times abundant. Strange to say, there is no evidence of the prevalence of disease on such occasions; and it is certain that the martens do not migrate after the manner of lemmings. It has, however, been noticed by the trappers that just before their disappearance none of the martens in the district will take a bait, although at other times they are caught with comparative ease.

In the forest martens and sables are much less difficult to approach than many other wild animals; but they nevertheless display a keen aversion to the neighbourhood of human dwellings, which they never voluntarily approach. Martens and sables, unlike their smaller relative the stoat or ermine, do not turn white in winter; for the very sufficient reason that, on account of being arboreal animals, they would be extremely conspicuous in such a livery. They are so relentlessly hunted for the sake of their valuable fur, that it is a marvel they have not long since been exterminated from many portions of their habitat. The value of the skins of the ordinary European marten varies from eight to twelve shillings, but Russian and Siberian sable commands a much higher price in the market.

THE LEOPARD

(_Felis pardus_)

It is not a little remarkable that three such closely related animals as the lion, the tiger, and the leopard or panther (for these two names really indicate the same species) should exhibit such striking dissimilarity in their type of colouring. The explanation of the difference in this respect is, however, probably to be found in the diversity of habit. Neither the lion nor the tiger can climb; and as the former is mainly an inhabitant of open and more or less desert country, it has assumed a uniformly sandy coat to accord with the tawny hue of its surroundings. The tiger, on the other hand, resorts more to covert, and has therefore adopted a livery suitable to such situations, or, at all events, one which tends to break up the general outline of the body.

From both its larger cousins the leopard differs by its arboreal habits, and this may to a great extent account for its spotted type of colouring, which harmonises well with the chequered shade thrown by the foliage on the horizontal and gnarled branches of forest-trees. It is, however, important to notice that the dark markings on the fur of an ordinary leopard are not solid black circular spots, but take the form of rosettes of irregular black patches enclosing a centre of darker tint than the general ground-colour of the fur. Such a type of colouring seems to be one specially adapted to a partially arboreal life, for in the purely terrestrial hunting-leopard (_Cynælurus jubatus_), as well as in the smaller African cat known as the serval (_Felis serval_), the markings all take the form of solid circular black spots. It is further noteworthy that the Amurland race of the leopard (_F. pardus villosa_), which inhabits a country where the forests are coniferous and therefore ill-adapted for climbing by a large animal, the spots are in the main solid and more or less nearly circular.

Leopards have a range larger than that of either the lion or the tiger. In former times they probably inhabited a considerable portion of Europe; and at the present day they extend from the Caucasus over the greater part of Asia, inclusive of Persia, India, China, and the Malay countries, although unknown in northern Siberia, the highlands of Tibet, and Japan. In Africa they inhabit the whole continent from Morocco to Cape Colony, although from certain districts they have now been killed off. As a rule, the central chestnut area forming the centre of the rosettes does not carry any small spots, but two or three such spots occur in the rosettes of some Asiatic leopards; and skins thus marked serve to connect the leopard with its near relative the jaguar (_F. onca_) of Central and South America, in which these central spots are constant. Now the jaguar is an even more arboreal animal than the leopard; and the more complex development of its rosettes is a further proof that this type of marking is one specially adapted to a life among thick-foliaged trees. It may be added that the near relationship existing between the leopard and the jaguar affords conclusive evidence that large spotted felines at one time inhabited North America.