CHAPTER XI.

RACOON FAMILY--PANDA FAMILY--WEASEL FAMILY--FOSSIL CARNIVORA.

THE RACOON FAMILY--Characters of their Skull, Teeth, &c.--Geographical Distribution--THE RACOON--Its Habit of Washing its Food--Its External Characters and Habits--Racoon Hunting--The Crab-eating Racoon--THE COATI--THE KINKAJOU--Its Lemur-like Appearance, Prehensile Tail, &c.--THE CACOMIXLE--THE PANDA FAMILY--THE PANDA--Its Character and Habits--The Ailuropus--THE WEASEL FAMILY--Anatomical Characters--Tail-glands--Division of the Family into Three Sub-families--Importance of the Mustelidæ as Fur-producing Animals--THE GLUTTON--Its Characters--Superstitions Regarding it--Its Cunning--THE MARTEN--THE PEKAN--THE SABLE--THE WEASEL--THE STOAT, OR ERMINE--The Difference between its Winter and Summer Dress, and the manner in which the Change takes place--THE POLECAT--THE FERRET--THE MINK--THE GRISON--THE TAYRA--THE RATEL--THE COMMON BADGER--Its Habits--Burrowing--THE AMERICAN BADGER--THE TELEDU--THE CAPE ZORILLA--THE COMMON SKUNK--Its Noxious Secretion--Hydrophobia produced by Skunk Bite--The Little Striped Skunk--The White-backed Skunk--THE COMMON OTTER--The Adaptation of its Structure to Aquatic Life--Use of Tame Otters for Fishing--The Canadian Otter--The Margined-tailed Otter--THE SEA OTTER--Its Affinities with the Seals--How it is Hunted--GENERAL RELATIONS OF THE LAND CARNIVORA--FOSSIL CARNIVORA--The Tendency of these to bridge over Existing Groups--Appendix to Chapter VI. (Civet Family)--THE CYNOGALE--THE CYNICTIS--THE MANGUE--THE SURICATE.

THE RACOON FAMILY.[154]

This is a small family of curious Bear-like animals, of small size, and differing a good deal in external appearance, although agreeing closely in all essential particulars. They are plantigrade, like the Bears, and like them are quite devoid of a blind-gut, or cæcum. The skull is long-snouted, and, though presenting certain resemblances to that of the Civets, has still the essential Arctoid characters, such as the well-marked bony ear-passage, and the wide space between the ear-drum bone and the bony projection on the hinder part of the skull (paroccipital process). A great difference from the Bear’s skull, is, however, seen in the swollen and bulb-like ear-drum bone (bulla tympani), which is as large as that of a Dog.

The grinding-teeth have on their biting surfaces large and prominent tubercles, so that they are neither altogether of a crushing, nor altogether of a mincing character. The molars bear a considerable resemblance to the hinder molars of the Dog; the canines are compressed from side to side, have very sharp front and back edges, and are somewhat outstanding. The number of the teeth is forty,[155] that is, two less than in the Bears, the missing teeth being the last upper molar of each side.

The four genera of the Racoon family are found only in the New World; their northern limit is British Columbia, while southwards they reach to Paraguay in the central part of South America.

THE RACOON.[156]

Every visitor to the Zoological Gardens must have been struck with the curious habits of this animal. If any one gives it a bit of bun or biscuit, the Racoon holds out both its hands for the morsel, and takes it almost as deftly as a Monkey; it then waddles off to the little pond in the middle of its cage, dips its prize in the water, and when it is well soaked, proceeds to devour it. Except in the case of meat, which the Racoon seems to consider moist enough, the food always has to undergo this soaking process before it is thought to be fit to eat. It is from this habit that the Racoon derives its specific name of _lotor_, “the washer,” and its German appellation of _Waschbär_, or “washing Bear.”

The Racoon is a decidedly handsome animal, about the size of a large and very corpulent Cat. The hair is of a brown or grizzled colour, long and furry, the tail bushy and beautifully ringed. Its body is large and somewhat unwieldy, its legs short, and its feet armed with strong claws, suitable for burrowing or climbing. The head is large, the cheeks prominent and black, and the snout sharp, light-coloured, and somewhat up-turned--“tip-tilted, like the petal of a flower”--giving the animal a curious inquisitive look, which is quite borne out by its character. It investigates every object within reach, animate or inanimate; the latter, if portable, it is fond of carrying off and carefully washing.

In the matter of diet it is omnivorous, and seems almost equally fond of meat, insects, fruit, or bread. It is said also to catch and eat oysters and crabs, and to confine itself, in the case of the birds it catches, to the brain and blood. It is a decidedly cunning animal, and in captivity, when allowed a certain amount of liberty, shows great talent in stealing fruit and killing fowls. When eating, it very usually sits up on its haunches and holds the food with both fore-paws.

The skin of the Racoon forms a valuable fur, and the animal is, consequently, much sought after throughout the whole of its range, which extends over a considerable portion of North America. It is usually caught in traps, but is also hunted by Dogs. The hunt takes place at night, by the light of torches. The Racoon is pursued until he takes refuge up a tree, when the Dogs form a circle round the trunk, and an experienced climber swarms up to the animal’s refuge, pursues him to the end of a branch, and then, by shaking the branch, makes him fall to the ground, when the Dogs have another turn. So active is the Racoon, and so dangerous when roused, that this operation often has to be repeated two or three times before he is finally caught.

The Crab-eating Racoon (_Procyon cancrivorus_) is a South American species, differing from the foregoing chiefly in the shortness of its fur, and its consequently slender shape. It is a far less handsome animal than its North American relative, which it resembles very closely both in structure and in habits.

THE COATI.[157]

The Coati is an animal of far less attractive appearance than the Racoon. The body is proportionally longer, the limbs are short, and the snout of a remarkable length and very pig-like: in fact, the head of a Coati reminds one strongly of that of a small dark-coloured Pig pulled out until the muzzle was two or three times its ordinary length. The snout is, moreover, very flexible, and the animal perpetually turns it about in various directions in a highly inquisitive way. The body is somewhat over half a yard in length, the tail a little shorter.

The fur is short and of a reddish or greyish-brown colour, the muzzle and feet are black, the tail ringed with black and brownish-yellow. Like the Racoon, it feeds upon fruit, insects, small birds, &c., and, like it, is a good climber. The specimens in the Zoological Gardens are in a constant state of activity, trotting about from one end of the cage to another, climbing over the tree trunk placed in their prison, and turning their queer-looking snouts about ceaselessly. The geographical range of the Coati extends from Mexico in the north to Paraguay in the south.

THE KINKAJOU.[158]

Looking merely at the exterior of this animal, one would almost feel inclined to place it, as some of the earlier naturalists did, among the Lemurs: for, like them, it has a prehensile tail, one which can be coiled around branches to help its progress, precisely like that of a New World Monkey. It will be remembered that one member of the Civet family, the Binturong (p. 95), presents a similar peculiarity. But the Binturong’s tail is a comparatively imperfect organ, merely prehensile at the tip, while that of the Kinkajou can be readily coiled two or three times round a branch. We thus see that the same remarkable adaptation to arboreal life which is found in the whole group of New World Monkeys appears in one species from each of two distinct families of Carnivores, one of which is confined to the Old World, while the other exists only in the New World. And we shall see the same character crop up once more, when we come to the group of pouched animals (Marsupials), in the American Opossums. It must, of course, be clearly understood that the possession of a prehensile tail is no sign whatever of any relationship between the animals possessing it. It may be taken as certain that it was produced quite separately in all the four cases we have mentioned in relation to the habits of the animal.

The Kinkajou uses its paws in a wonderfully hand-like manner, and employs both fore and hind feet to bring food to its mouth. It will also hold a piece of bread in one hand, and break off pieces from it with the other, and this in spite of the fact that it has no opposable thumb, and that its fingers are short and webbed nearly to the claws. For the rest, it is a pretty, innocent-looking little animal, with a body about a foot long, and a tail of some eighteen inches, covered with soft brown fur, and walking on the soles of its fore feet, while in the hind feet the heel is well raised from the ground. The skull is remarkable for its rounded form, and for the shortness of its facial portion: on a superficial examination it looks almost Cat-like. It feeds upon fruit, eggs, insects, birds, &c. It is found in Mexico, Guatemala, and in the great forests of Peru and North Brazil.

THE CACOMIXLE.[159]

The Cacomixle, Civet, or ring-tailed Cat, as it is indifferently called by the miners of the districts where it is found, is a puzzling little creature, which was, until quite recently, placed in the Civet family, and, in consequence, was looked upon as one of the chief difficulties in the way of explaining satisfactorily the present geographical distribution of animals, for all the other _Viverridæ_ are Old World forms. Its true place has, however, at last been assigned to it, and the anomaly is at an end: for, like all other members of the Racoon family, it is confined to America, where it occurs in California, Texas, and the higher regions of Mexico.

The Cacomixle is about a yard long, two-fifths of this length being taken up by the tail. Its fur is brown, and its tail beautifully ringed. Its habits are entirely arboreal, and it makes a moss-lined nest in hollow trees. It has a curious habit of gnawing the wood round the entrance of the hole, so that hunters are able to tell whether a hollow tree is inhabited or not, by the presence or absence of _débris_ of bark and wood at the root. It frequently trespasses into the miner’s tent “and plunders his provision bag. When caught, as it often is, it becomes so familiar and amusing, and does so much to relieve the monotony of the miner’s life, that it is highly valued, and commands quite a large price.” It is said to be a capital mouser.

THE PANDA FAMILY.[160]

This group, which has received a most unfortunate name, as it belongs to the _Arctoidea_ and not to the _Æluroidea_, contains only two genera, one of which has been recently discovered, while the other has been known for many years.

THE PANDA[161]

forms a striking object among the small Mammals. It is a really beautiful creature, rich red chestnut in colour on the upper surface, jet black as to the lower surface, the limbs also black, the snout and the inside of the ears white, the tail bushy, reddish-brown in colour, and indistinctly ringed. The fact of the under surface being black while the upper is bright reddish-yellow is remarkable; with most animals, when there is any difference in colour, it is the under surface which is lighter. The body and head are about half a yard long, the tail about a foot. The mode of progression is plantigrade, and the large curved claws are half retractile. The main anatomical characters are decidedly ursine, as also are the habits. Mr. Bartlett, who studied the Panda that found a home for a time at the Zoo, states that, when drinking, it sucked up the fluid like a Bear, instead of licking it up as a Dog or Cat would do. When offended it would rush at Mr. Bartlett, and strike at him with both feet, the body being raised like a Bear’s and the claws projecting. It also, when angry, made a sharp spitting noise; at other times it used a “weak, squeaking call-note.” On level ground it ran in the same manner as the Weasel, Otter, and Kinkajou, with a sort of jumping gallop, the back being kept much arched.

The Panda is found in the forests of the Eastern Himalayas, as well as in Eastern Tibet. It is sometimes known as the Wah, or as the Red Bear-Cat.

The only remaining member of this family has been discovered within the last few years in the mountains of East Tibet, by the Abbé David, and has been called by M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards Ailuropus. It is a large animal, nearly white, and very Bear-like in external appearance, although the structure of the skull and teeth shows clearly that its nearest allies are the Panda and the Racoon.

THE WEASEL FAMILY.[162]

This family, including the Weasels, Martens, Skunks, Gluttons, Otters, Badgers, &c., is the most heterogeneous assemblage of all the Carnivorous group. Its members have a very wide geographical distribution, being found in all parts of the world, except the West Indies, Madagascar, and the Australian region. They differ very much among themselves, but have, nevertheless, certain important characters in common, such as the structure of the ear-drum bone, which in essential respects resembles that of the Bears, as also do the organs of digestion. They all possess, beneath the root of the tail, anal glands, organs of similar nature to the civet-producing glands of the Viverridæ, but secreting a more or less noxious fluid. The number of animals in this family is very great, and it will be impossible to treat of any but the principal species. As a matter of convenience, the members of the group are often split up into sections, one (the true _Mustelidæ_) containing the Gluttons, Martens, Weasels, Ferrets, and Grisons; another (the _Melidæ_) consisting of the Badgers, Ratels, and Skunks; and a third (the _Lutridæ_) containing the Otters.

Many of these animals are looked upon as “vermin,” but among them are some of the most valuable of the fur-producing animals: the Ermine, Sable, Mink, and Marten. These are all inhabitants of the Northern hemisphere, and the business of trapping them is a very important branch of industry, as may be gathered from the fact, quoted by Dr. Elliott Cones,[163] that “during the century 1769-1868, the Hudson’s Bay Company sold at auction in London, besides _many millions_ other pelts (skins), the following of _Mustelidæ_:--1,240,511 Sables; 674,027 Otters; 68,694 Wolverenes; 1,507,240 Minks; 218,653 Skunks; 275,302 Badgers; 5,349 Sea-Otters. In 1868 alone, the Company sold (among many thousand others), 106,254 Sables; 73,473 Minks; 14,966 Otters; 6,298 Skunks; 1,104 Wolverenes; 1,551 Badgers; 123 Sea-Otters; besides which were also sold in London, in the autumn of the same year, about 4,500 Sables; 22,000 Otters, &c.”

THE GLUTTON.[164]

The Glutton, or Wolverene, the largest of the Weasel group, is found over the greater part of the northern regions, both of the Old and New Worlds, being especially abundant in Siberia and Kamtchatka. It attains a length of some three feet four inches, ten inches of which go to the tail. It has a Dog-like snout, a broad or rounded head, short ears, an arched back, a short bushy tail, and long, dark brown or almost black fur. A band of pale reddish-brown runs along the sides, and unites with the corresponding band of the opposite side on the rump.

The skull is very strong and massive, and the jaws bear altogether thirty-eight teeth. The number of the incisors, canines, and premolars corresponds with that we have found in the Arctoids; but the molars are reduced to one on each side in the upper, and two on each side in the lower jaw.[165] The mode of progression is semi-plantigrade, and the animal’s movements are, compared with those of its nearest allies, the Martens and Weasels, slow and clumsy; unlike these, too, it is not a good climber, although the older accounts of its customs stated that it was in the habit of climbing trees, and dropping suddenly down upon large animals as they passed, and then destroying them as they fled in terror at the unexpected attack. In this, as in many other instances, the imagination has largely been called into play to supplement what was deficient in the actual observations of the writers. Probably few animals have given rise to so many or such wild fables as the Wolverene. Its name of _Glutton_ is due to the mythical account of its habits given by an early writer, Olaus Magnus, who says: “It is wont, when it has found the carcass of some large beast, to eat until its belly is distended like a drum, when it rids itself of its load by squeezing its body betwixt two trees growing near together, and again returning to its repast, soon requires to have recourse to the same means of relief.” It need hardly be said that this story must be taken _cum grano salis maximo_.

Besides its great strength, the Wolverene is noted for its excessive cunning, and the two qualities combined give it a power of destructiveness of which one would hardly expect any animal below a schoolboy to be capable. One of its favourite tricks is to frequent the “Marten-roads”--that is, the lines of traps for catching Martens--and one by one to demolish the traps, and carry off either the bait or the imprisoned animal. To make matters worse for the unlucky trapper, the Glutton’s experience and knowledge of traps in general are so great that he shows equal skill in avoiding these set for his own benefit as in despoiling those meant for others; either he takes no notice of them, or carefully pulls them to pieces, and so gets the bait and outwits the hunter, without danger to himself. It is only in a trap constructed with the greatest care, and disguised so as to resemble a “câche,” or store of hidden food, that the wary beast can be caught. Mr. Lockhart, an American writer, quoted by Dr. Coues, gives some really charming instances of his own experience in trying to get the better of his inveterate enemy. In one case, he had carefully buried a Lynx’s skin in the snow, to the depth of some three feet; the snow was arranged so as to present a perfectly undisturbed appearance, and the Lynx’s entrails and blood were strewed about, and its carcass left, so as to take off the scent. On returning next morning to his beautifully-made “câche,” he found the carcass, &c., gone, but everything else apparently just as he had left it. His joy was great, but premature; for on digging, no skin was to be found: the Wolverene had stolen it during the night, but had added insult to injury by filling up the hole, and putting everything _in statu quo_.

Mr. Lockhart gives another equally astonishing instance of the Wolverene’s ability:--“At Peel’s River, on one occasion, a very old Carcajou [the trapper’s name for the Glutton] discovered my Marten-road, on which I had nearly a hundred and fifty traps. I was in the habit of visiting the line about once a fortnight; but the beast fell into the way of coming oftener than I did, to my great annoyance and vexation. I determined to put a stop to his thieving and his life together, cost what it might. So I made six strong traps at as many different points, and also set three steel traps. For three weeks I tried my best to catch the beast, without success; and my worst enemy would allow that I am no green hand in these matters. The animal carefully avoided the traps set for his own benefit, and seemed to take more delight than ever in demolishing my Marten-traps, and eating the Martens, scattering the poles in every direction, and câching what baits or Martens he did not devour on the spot. As we had no poison in those days, I next set a gun on the bank of a little lake. The gun was concealed in some low bushes, but the bait was so placed that the Carcajou must see it on his way up the bank. I blockaded my path to the gun with a small pine-tree, which completely hid it. On my first visit afterwards, I found that the beast had gone up to the bait and smelled it, but had left it untouched. He had next pulled up the pine-tree that blocked the path, and gone around the gun and cut the line which connected the bait with the trigger just behind the muzzle. Then he had gone back and pulled the bait away, and carried it out on the lake, where he laid down and devoured it at his leisure. There I found my string. I could scarcely believe that all this had been done designedly, for it seemed that faculties fully on a par with human reason would be required for such an exploit, if done intentionally. I therefore re-arranged things, tying the string where it had been bitten. But the result was exactly the same for three successive occasions, as I could plainly see by the footprints; and what is most singular of all, each time the brute was careful to cut the line a little back of where it had been tied before, as if actually reasoning with himself that even the knots might be some new device of mine, and therefore a source of hidden danger he would prudently avoid. I came to the conclusion that _that_ Carcajou ought to live, as he must be something at least human, if not worse. I gave it up, and abandoned the road for a period.”

One very extraordinary habit of the Wolverene is shared by very few animals except man. It is stated by Dr. Coues that, when it meets a man, it will often, if it be to windward, approach within fifty or sixty yards, and then, sitting calmly down on its haunches, will shade its eyes with one fore-paw, and gaze earnestly at its enemy. This very human action it will often repeat two or three times before attempting to flee.

THE MARTEN.[166]

The Pine Marten is perhaps the most pleasing of the Weasel group, as far as appearance is concerned. Its long, lithe body attains a length of over half a yard; its tail is about a foot in length. The legs are short, though not nearly so short as in the Weasels, and its paws have five digits, armed with sharp claws. The snout is sharp and beset at the sides with long vibrissæ. The skin is very beautiful, dark-brown for the most part, lighter on the cheeks and snout, and on the throat and under side of the neck a light yellow.

The skull is much more elongated than either a Bear’s or a Glutton’s; the tympanic bullæ are slightly swollen, and the jugal arches, beneath which the jaw muscles pass, are comparatively narrow and slender. As in the Wolverene, there are thirty-eight teeth, eighteen in the upper, twenty in the lower jaw, and the molars are thoroughly carnivorous in character, being produced into sharp, trenchant, cutting edges.

The Pine Marten occurs over a considerable portion of Europe and Asia, and, amongst other places, in Great Britain, where, however, it is becoming rare. The finest specimens are said to come from Sweden.

This animal is essentially arboreal in its habits, inhabiting chiefly thick coniferous woods, whence its name of Pine Marten is derived. In the branches the female makes a nest of leaves or moss, and sometimes saves herself this trouble by ejecting Squirrels or Woodpeckers, and occupying the vacant dwellings. For its size it is, like all the _Mustelidæ_, extremely ferocious and strong. It attacks and kills Fawns, notwithstanding their superior size; from these down to mice, nothing comes amiss to it, and nothing is safe from its attacks.

The Beech Marten, or Stone Marten (_Mustela foina_), differs from the foregoing species in certain characters of the skull and teeth, as well as in the fact that the throat is white instead of yellow. Its habits are, on the whole, similar to those of the Pine Marten, but it is more often found away from woods, on the sides of mountains and rocks, or in the neighbourhood of farms. Its general distribution is the same as that of the Pine Marten, but it is decidedly more common than the latter in Great Britain.

THE PEKAN.[167]

The Pekan, or Pennant’s Marten, is a North American species. It is much larger than either of the preceding, the body attaining a length of thirty inches from snout to root of tail, while the tail itself is about sixteen inches long. The face is more Dog-like than that of the Common Marten; the skin is brown, becoming lighter in the front part of the back, and presenting white patches on the chest and belly.

Like the Pine Marten, it is a good climber, but, unlike it, shows a partiality, not for the driest parts of the wood, but for the neighbourhood of water. Its chief food seems to be Mice, but it is also fond of stealing the fish used to bait traps--whence it is often called the Fisher--and Sir J. Richardson states that its favourite meal is the Canadian Porcupine, which it kills by a bite on its unprotected belly, and eats, notwithstanding the quills. Sometimes it is forced, by want of better food, to eat beech-nuts.

THE SABLE.[168]

This is another species of the same genus, important from the fact that it is the most valuable of the fur-producing animals. Its skin seems to have been even more precious in former times than now. A writer in the sixteenth century states that “forty of the best quality, which is the quantity usually packed in one bale, have been sold for more than a thousand pieces of gold.”

The Sable is found in the northern parts of Asia, being especially abundant between the Lena and Kamstchatka. It differs markedly from the true Martens in the form of its head, which is conical, the apex of the cone being formed by the pointed snout, while from its base project the pointed, and, for a _Mustela_, large ears. The legs and feet, too, are larger and stronger than in the other species of this genus.

Sable-hunting is, naturally, a very important branch of industry, and forms the chief occupation of many of the Siberian tribes. The work is by no means an easy one; it entails miles of travelling in dark woods and through heavy snow-storms; the track of the Sables may have to be followed for long distances; and numerous traps must be skilfully set and visited daily. With all his trouble, the hunter often finds that “an Arctic Fox, or some other Carnivore, has eaten up the costly booty, leaving only a few fragments, as if for the express purpose of showing him how narrowly he has escaped earning forty, fifty, or sixty silver roubles.”

The American Sable (_Mustela americana_), often called the Marten, is a closely allied species. It attains a length of eighteen inches, not including the tail, which measures about a foot more. Its capture gives the American trapper his staple occupation. It “is ordinarily captured in wooden traps of very simple construction made on the spot. The traps are a little enclosure of stakes or brush, in which the bait is placed upon a trigger, with a short upright stick, supporting a log of wood. The animal is shut off from the bait in any but the desired direction, and the log falls upon its victim with the slightest disturbance. A line of such traps, several to the mile, often extends many miles. The bait is any kind of meat, squirrel, piece of flesh, or bird’s head. One of the greatest obstacles that the Sable-hunter has to contend with in many localities is the persistent destruction of his traps by the Wolverene and Pekan.... I have accounts from Hudson’s Bay trappers of a Sable road fifty miles long, containing 150 traps, every one of which was destroyed through the whole line twice--once by a Wolf, once by a Wolverene. When thirty miles of the same road were given up, the remaining forty traps were broken five or six times in succession by the latter animal.”[169]

THE COMMON WEASEL.[170]

The Weasel, like the remaining members of the genus _Putorius_, are very often called “vermiform,” and a better name could scarcely be applied to them, for anything more worm-like could hardly be imagined in a hairy quadruped. The legs are extremely short in relation to the body, which is attenuated in the highest degree, and almost regularly cylindrical from one end to the other. Then the neck is of most disproportionate length, and carries the head out so far, that the fore legs appear as if placed quite at the hinder end of the chest, instead of in the front of it. The head passes almost insensibly into the neck, and the neck into the body. The head is flattened, and bears little glittering savage-looking eyes, and small rounded ears. The length from snout to root of tail does not exceed eight inches. The tail is about two inches long. The fur is light reddish-brown above, and white below; in northern latitudes the brown parts assume a much lighter colour in winter, so that the Weasel undergoes a change of coat similar to, but less extensive than, that undergone by the Ermine.

The Weasel is a good climber, and makes use of its skill in this accomplishment to prey upon birds, their eggs, and young. Rats and Mice are, perhaps, its staple food. Of these it makes great havoc, and is therefore a useful hanger-on to the farm-yard, notwithstanding its occasional depredations in the hen-roost. When it catches a Mouse or Rat, it gives it one bite on the back of the head, piercing the most vulnerable part of the brain, and killing instantly. Professor Thomas Bell says:--“I have observed that when a Weasel seizes a small animal, at the instant that the fatal bite is inflicted, it throws its long, lithe body over its prey, so as to secure it should the first bite fail, an accident, however, which I have never observed when a Mouse has been the victim. The power which the Weasel has of bending the head at right angles with the long and flexible, though powerful neck, gives it a great advantage in this mode of seizing and killing its smaller prey.” The first part eaten is usually the brain. The stories of the Weasel’s blood-sucking propensities are probably false, or at any rate grossly exaggerated.

The Weasel will pursue its prey over fields, in trees, in subterranean burrows, or across water. Like many of the wild Cats, it kills far more than is necessary for its support, and in pursuance of its favourite occupation of slaughter shows an unequalled courage and pertinacity. Its power of keeping its presence of mind under very trying circumstances is well shown in the following anecdote related by Bell:--A gentleman, “while riding over his grounds, saw at a short distance from him a Kite pounce on some object on the ground, and rise with it in his talons. In a few moments, however, the Kite began to show signs of great uneasiness, rising rapidly in the air, or as quickly falling, and wheeling irregularly round, whilst it was evidently endeavouring to force some obnoxious thing from it with its feet. After a sharp but short contest, the Kite fell suddenly to the earth, not far from where Mr. Pindar was intently watching the manœuvre. He instantly rode up to the spot, when a Weasel ran away from the Kite, apparently unhurt, leaving the bird dead, with a hole eaten through the skin under the wing, and the large blood-vessels of the part cut through.”

THE ERMINE.[171]

The Stoat, or Ermine, is an important species closely allied to the Weasel, from which it differs chiefly by its greater size, and by the peculiarities of its colouring. In summer the upper parts vary from yellowish-brown to mahogany brown, while the under side is white tinged with sulphur-yellow, except on the throat, which is pure white. The tail is tipped with black. The brown upper and white under surfaces are separated by a perfectly distinct line of demarcation, which extends from the snout to the root of the tail, dipping down at the limbs, so as to include the outer surfaces of the latter in the dark area. In winter, on the other hand, the skin is, with the exception of the tip of the tail, which always remains black, pure white, tinged here and there with sulphur-yellow. Intermediate states between full winter dress and full summer dress are often found, and these, curiously enough, show their half-way character in two ways. Sometimes there is an alteration in level of the line of demarcation between the white and brown portions of the skin, the latter being occasionally found restricted to a narrow strip along the back, but remaining still without any admixture of white hairs. In other cases, again, the line of demarcation remains unaltered, but the dark portions become gradually lighter and lighter, until the final white dress is assumed.

As to the interesting question of the exact manner and cause of this change, it is sometimes stated that the direct influence of cold produces a rapid lightening in the colour of individual hairs, while there are also facts to show that the change is not due to an alteration in colour of existing hairs, but to a renewal of the coat, the hairs of one colour being replaced by those of the other. Dr. Elliott Coues, who has worked up the subject in an able and exhaustive manner, has satisfied himself that the change may take place in either way. Some of his specimens, “notably those taken in spring, show the long woolly white coat of winter in most places, and in others present patches--generally a streak along the back--of shorter, coarser, thinner hair, evidently of the new spring coat, wholly dark-brown. Other specimens, notably autumnal ones, demonstrate the turning to white of existing hairs, these being white at the roots for a varying distance, and tipped with brown. These are simple facts not open to question. We may safely conclude that if the requisite temperature be experienced at the periods of renewal of the coat, the new hairs will come out of the opposite colour; if not, they will appear of the same colour, and afterwards change; that is, the change may or may not be coincident with shedding. That it ordinarily is not so coincident seems shown by the greater number of specimens in which we observe white hairs brown-tipped. As Mr. Bell contends, temperature is the immediate controlling agent. This is amply proven in the fact that the northern animals always change; that in those from intermediate latitudes the change is incomplete, while those from farther south do not change at all.” The advantage of the change to the animal is manifest; its colour becomes that of the snow over which it travels in pursuit of game, so that it is less easily seen and avoided. Unfortunately for it, however, a similar “protective colouring” is adopted by some of its victims.

The habits of the Stoat resemble those of the Weasel; it is dangerous both to the sheep-fold and to the poultry-yard, but partly atones for its poaching by the immense number of Rats and Mice it is capable of destroying. Audubon relates that he “once placed a half-domesticated Ermine in an outhouse infested with Rats, shutting up the holes on the outside to prevent their escape. The little animal soon commenced its work of destruction. The squeaking of the Rats was heard throughout the day. In the evening it came out, licking its mouth, and seemed like a hound after a long chase, much fatigued. A board of the floor was raised to enable us to ascertain the result of our experiment, and an immense number of Rats were observed, which, although they had been killed in different parts of the building, had been dragged together, forming a compact heap.”

Both Weasel and Ermine are found over the greater part of Northern Europe, Asia, and America.

THE POLECAT.[172]

In form this animal does not differ very markedly from the Marten, except for the fact that its head is broader, its snout blunter, and its tail very much shorter: the latter being about five and a half inches, while the head and body together are nearly a foot and a half long. The neck is considerably shorter, and the body stouter than in the Weasel and Stoat. The fur is made up of hairs of two kinds, the shorter woolly and of a yellowish colour, the longer black or brownish-black and shining. One of its most marked characters is its horrible stench. This is produced, like the scent of the Civets, in a pair of glands near the root of the tail, which secrete a yellowish creamy substance of the most fetid character.

The Polecat is also known as the Fitchet (Fitchew of Shakspere), Foumart, or Foulimart: the latter names are said to be a contraction of “Foul Marten,” thus distinguishing it from the Common or Sweet Marten, which is a comparatively inodorous animal. The name Polecat is probably a contraction of Polish Cat.

The Polecat is perhaps even more destructive than the other Mustelidæ, and is certainly a far greater plague to the farmer. Its ravage among Rabbits, Hares, and Partridges is immense, and if once it gets unobserved into a poultry-yard, the fate of a very considerable number of the inmates is sealed, as it possesses in a high degree the family love of slaughter for slaughter’s sake. It has been known to kill as many as sixteen Turkeys in a single night; and, indeed, it seems a point of honour with this bloodthirsty little creature to kill everything it can overpower, and to leave no survivors on its battlefields. It has, too, an unfortunate liking for eggs, as well as for game and poultry, and in this way alone does great harm to preserves. There are also many accounts of its fondness of fish; Bell also quotes an instance in which a female Polecat was pursued to her nest, and was found to have laid up, in a side hole, a store of food, consisting of forty Frogs and two Toads, all of which she had skilfully “pithed,” that is, bitten through the brain, so that, although retaining a certain amount of vitality, they were effectually prevented from running away!

The Polecat is found throughout Northern Europe, not extending southwards into the warmer parts of the Continent, but being quite at home in snow-covered regions. It is essentially, like the Marten, a sub-arctic and temperate animal.

THE FERRET.[173]

This is a domesticated variety of the genus _Putorius_, of African origin. It shows its Southern nature by being, unlike the Polecat, unable to endure great cold; even an English winter is enough to kill it if not properly housed. It is an interesting animal, zoologically, from the fact that it is a true-breeding Albino, having the white fur and pink eyes of that peculiar “sport.” It is a little smaller than the Polecat, with which it will breed with perfect readiness, producing hybrids intermediate in character between the two parent species.

Ferrets are much used, both in Britain and America, chiefly for killing Rats and for driving Rabbits out of their burrows. For the latter function the Ferret is muzzled, to prevent its killing the Rabbit in the burrow; the latter is either netted or killed immediately, as soon as it is driven out. The Ferret is also frequently employed to kill fowls for the table. Its particularly neat method of slaughtering by one bite in the neck is much admired by Ferret-fanciers, who make quite a pet of the animal. It, however, never shows the slightest affection for its master, and has usually to be confined: the necessity of this is shown in an instance, quoted by Bell, in which a child was attacked in its cradle, and only rescued after the veins of its neck had been severed, its face, neck, and arms lacerated, and its eyes so injured that the sight of one of them was permanently lost.

THE MINK.[174]

This important fur-producing animal is found in the northern parts of both hemispheres under various specific forms, the most important of which are the European Mink (_P. lutreola_) and the American Mink (_P. vison_). Although most nearly allied to the Stoats and Weasels, it shows a certain resemblance to the Martens in its larger and stouter body, which attains a length of from fifteen to eighteen inches, the tail being about seven or eight inches long, and bushy at the tip. Like most of its allies, it has two kinds of fur--“a soft matted under fur, mixed with long, stiff, lustrous hairs.” The colour varies from dull yellowish-brown to dark chocolate-brown; the upper lip is usually white in the European, dark in the American species. The scent-glands are well developed, and their secretion is second only in offensiveness to that of the Skunk.

The habits of the Mink differ altogether from those of the other species of the genus. As Dr. Coues observes, “It is to the water what the other Weasels are to the land, or the Martens to the trees. It is as essentially aquatic in its habits as the Otter, Beaver, or Musk Rat, and spends, perhaps, more of its time in the water than it does on land. In adaptation to this mode of life, the pelage has that peculiar glossiness of the longer bristly hairs and felting of the close under fur which best resists the water.” It feeds chiefly upon aquatic or amphibious animals, such as fish, frogs, crayfish, molluscs, and the like, but also preys largely upon the smaller Mammals. It is stated that it is not an indiscriminate slaughterer, but kills only what is necessary for its actual wants.

In America the Mink has been regularly domesticated and trained as a Rat-catcher, like the Ferret. “Minkeries” have been established in connection with farm-yards, and have proved in more than one instance eminently successful. The animals soon allow themselves to be handled, and besides becoming good Ratters, bring their owner a very considerable profit by their fur, for which alone it is well worth while to breed them, as the expense of keeping them is trifling.

THE GRISON.[175]

This is a Weasel-like animal, found only in South America, and distinguished from its nearest relations, the Martens and Weasels, by the fact that the colour of the upper is lighter than that of the lower surface of its body, the former being grey, the latter dark brown. Its whole length is rather under a yard; of this not more than a third is taken up by the tail. It is found in plantations and in the neighbourhood of buildings, and makes its abode in hollow trees, clefts in rocks, and holes in the earth.

As to its disposition, some notion may be gained from a tale told by Bell of a tame specimen in his possession. He says that it “was very fond of Frogs, but these were not the only animals which were obnoxious to its voracity. On one occasion, in the winter, I had placed it in its cage, in a room with a fire, where I had also two young Alligators, which in general were stupidly tame. On going into the room in the morning, I found the Grison at large, and one of the Alligators dead, with a hole eaten under the fore-leg, where the great nerves and blood-vessels were torn through; and the other Alligator began snapping furiously at every one who attempted to approach it.”

THE TAYRA.[176]

This animal may be considered without exaggeration to be one of the ugliest in the whole Carnivorous order. It is not unlike the Marten in shape, but of a dark brown colour, and with a low, villainous, and almost debauched expression of face. The head and body together attain a length of rather more, the tail of rather less, than half a yard. The colour of the pelage is dark blackish-brown, becoming lighter on the head and neck, on the under surface of which there is a yellowish spot. It is found, like the Grison, in South America, where it extends from Brazil and British Guiana in the north to Paraguay in the south.

It lives in forests, preying upon small mammals and birds, and does its hunting chiefly in the morning, starting for work at sunrise, and returning about midday.

THE RATEL.[177]

This animal, sometimes known as the Honey Badger, is one of the exceptional animals whose colour is lighter above than below. Its stiff, wiry hair is ashy-grey on the upper surface, while on the under surface, the muzzle, limbs, and tail are black. The line of demarcation between the grey and black is so sharp, that the animal has the appearance of being really black, but covered, as to its back, with a grey cloak. It is about three-quarters of a yard long, the tail taking up about a sixth of the length. In the matter of teeth it is interesting, as its molars are reduced to one on each side in each jaw: a reduction equal to that found in the Cats.

It is said to live largely on Bees, and to show a great amount of skill in tracking to their nest the insects which it observes on the wing. Sparrmann states that it seats itself on a hillock to look out for the Bees, and shades its eyes with one fore-paw against the rays of the setting sun.

It is a stupid animal, very sleepy during the day, and issuing from its burrows at sunset to seek for the birds, tortoises, insects, and worms on which it feeds. It is very tenacious of life, and is well protected from attacks by the thickness and looseness of its skin, and the thick subcutaneous layer of fat. It also possesses an additional means, if not of defence, at least of offence, in its tail glands, the secretion of which is very strong and pungent as to its odour. It is still further advantaged by its burrowing powers; it will scratch up a hole, and disappear into it in an incredibly short space of time.

The Ratels in the Zoological Gardens in Regent’s Park (where the habits of all the animals will repay the study of the most casual observer) exhibit a remarkable peculiarity. We have very frequently watched one of them run round and round his cage in the usual purposeless manner of captive animals, but with this peculiarity: when he reached a particular corner of the den, he quietly, and without effort, turned over head and heels, and then went on again. On one occasion, after he had been doing this with great regularity for some rounds, he seemed to become abstracted, and passed the usual spot without the somersault. When, however, he had proceeded a few paces, he recollected himself, stopped for a moment, returned to the exact place, turned over as usual, and proceeded without further let or hindrance.

There are two species of Ratel, one, the Cape Ratel (_Mellivora capensis_), occurs in South Africa, the other, or Indian Ratel (_M. indica_), being found in India.

THE COMMON BADGER.[178]

The Badger is the largest of the indigenous Carnivora of Great Britain; for although the length of its body is not quite equal to that of the Fox, in bulk it far exceeds the slender and active Reynard. It is, indeed, a heavy and somewhat clumsy animal, long and stout-bodied, and short-legged, with a tapering and mobile snout, and a short scrubby tail. The long hair is of three colours: black, white, and reddish, the mingling of the three producing a varying grey hue. The head is white, except for a black band on each side, which commences a little behind the nose, and extends backwards, including the eye and ear, the tip of the latter being, however, white. The lower parts of the body and the legs are black, the tail grey. The length of the body from snout to root of tail is about two feet three inches; that of the tail, seven inches and a half.

It is fond of retired places, such as sheltered woods, and in them it makes for itself a large burrow or earth “which has but a single entrance from without, but afterwards divides into different chambers, and terminates in a round apartment at the bottom, which is well lined with dry grass and hay.” The Badger is consequently a very skilful digger, and for this purpose is possessed of strong curved claws. Its diet is completely mixed: it eats roots, fruit, eggs, small mammals, frogs, insects, &c. It is quite susceptible of domestication, and is said to show a vast amount of affection and good temper. As to its habits, we cannot do better than quote an excellent account of some half-domesticated Badgers given in a letter to _The Times_ by Mr. Alfred Ellis, of Loughborough:--“About ten years since, the Badger was established here, but it was not until the third attempt that my efforts prospered. The Badgers then introduced, or their successors, have bred every year, and as not more than one pair remain in permanent occupation it is probable that there are many more of these animals in this country than is generally supposed; but their shyness, their colour, and the short time they require to obtain their food, and the recesses of the woods in which they delight to dwell, make it no easy task to study their life and habits. The deep earth in which our Badgers live is only fifty yards from the window at which I write. The building of this house two years ago did not disturb them, and they have shown an increasing confidence and trust. The Badger breeds later than the Fox, and it was the middle of March this year before the preparations for the coming family were made. These consisted in cleaning out the winter bed, and replacing it by a quantity of dry fern and grass, so great that it would seem impossible the earth could receive it. In June the first young Badger appeared at the mouth of the earth, and was soon followed by three others, and then by their mother. After this, they continued to show every evening, and soon learnt to take the food prepared for them. The young are now almost full grown, and, forgetting their natural timidity, will feed so near that I have placed my hand on the back of one of them. The old ones are more wary, but often feed with their family, though at a more cautious distance. Their hearing and sense are most acute, and it is curious to see them watch, with lifted head and ears erect, then, if all is quiet, search the ground for a raisin or a date. But the least strange sight or sound alarms them, and they rush headlong to earth with amazing speed.

“The Badger, like the Bear, treads upon the whole heel, and its walk closely resembles that animal. They caress each other in the same grotesque manner while they gambol and play, and at times they utter a cry so loud as to startle any one ignorant of its source. It is not unlike the chatter of the Stoat, but many times louder. On fine evenings we can watch them dress their fur-like coats, or do kind offices for each other, and search for parasites after the manner of Monkeys. No creature is more cleanly in its habits. Over their earth hangs a birch-tree, from which grows a horizontal bough eighteen inches from the ground. On this they scrape their feet in dirty weather, and keep their house inodorous by depositing their excrement at one place for many months and covering it with earth. The hibernation of the Badger is not like that of the Hedgehog--continuous and complete--but is irregular, and is probably influenced by the character of the winter. I have known the mouth of the earth covered with a coat of snow for fourteen days, and it might have been much longer before they came forth, while they may sometimes be tracked in a thin snow for a long distance.”

“As the winter approaches, the old bedding is replaced by dry fern and grass, raked together by their powerful claws. This is often left to wither in little heaps till dry enough for their purpose. Partially concealed, I have watched a Badger gathering fern and using a force in its collection quite surprising.

“Bell, in his ‘Quadrupeds’ quotes Buffon as stating that Badgers are fond of Wasps’ nests. This is true, for, like the Bear, they love honey and sweet food. I once heard a pair of Badgers fighting, and crept upon the ground until within a few yards of the angry conflict, but the bracken hid them from view. Next morning I visited the place. A Wasps’ nest had been stormed and eaten; very little of the comb remained, and not a dozen homeless Wasps. That summer I myself saw the wrecks of seven Wasps’ nests taken by the Badgers in one field, and this autumn they are digging out every one they can find.

“The Badger and the Fox are not unfriendly, and last spring a litter of cubs was brought forth very near the Badgers; but their mother removed them after they had grown familiar, as she probably thought they were showing themselves more than was prudent.”[179]

Although far from common, the Badger is found in many parts of Great Britain and on the Continent. Closely allied species occur over a great part of Northern Europe and Asia.

In former times it was in great requisition for the so-called sport of “Badger-baiting,” in which charming and refined amusement the unhappy animal was put into a barrel and attacked by an unlimited number of Dogs, amongst whom it was often able to do considerable execution, thanks to its sharp teeth and powerful jaws.

THE AMERICAN BADGER.[180]

The distinction between this species and the European Badger consists chiefly in the shorter and more hairy character of the snout, and in the fact that the body is of a uniform whitish hue, sometimes shaded with grey or tawny. The body and head together are about twenty-four inches long, the tail six inches. It is found throughout the greater part of North America.

In its shyness, its general mode of life, and its habits, it differs but slightly from the Common Badger. Although in many parts it is so numerous that its burrows form a very serious obstacle to the traveller, yet it is a comparatively rare thing to see a specimen, so immediately does it retire to its strongholds on the first intimation of man’s approach. It can, however, be trapped without much difficulty, and thousands are caught in this way every year. In 1873 the Hudson’s Bay Company sold 2,700 in London alone. Dr. Coues quotes an interesting account of the habits of a captive Badger. He says:--“In running, his fore-feet crossed each other, and his body nearly touched the ground. The heel did not press on the ground like that of the Bear, but was only slightly elevated above it.... We have never seen any animal that could exceed him in digging. He would fall to work with his strong feet and long nails, and in a minute bury himself in the earth, and would very soon advance to the end of a chain ten feet in length. In digging, the hind as well as the fore-feet were at work, the latter for the purpose of excavating, and the former (like paddles) for expelling the earth out of the hole; and nothing seemed to delight him more than burrowing in the ground. He seemed never to become weary of this kind of amusement; and when he had advanced to the end of his chain he would return and commence a fresh gallery near the mouth of his first hole. Thus he would be occupied for hours, and it has been necessary to drag him away by main force. He lived on good terms with the Racoon, Grey Fox, Prairie Wolf, and a dozen other species of animals. He was said to be active and playful at night, but he seemed rather dull during the day, usually lying rolled up like a ball, with his head under his body for hours at a time.”

THE TELEDU.[181]

This animal, sometimes called the “stinking Badger,” is found only in Java and Sumatra, and in those islands only on mountains having an elevation of more than 7,000 feet above the sea. It is a little more than a foot long; has a pig-like head, a stout body, very short legs, and a stumpy tail, not more than an inch long. The feet are plantigrade. It is of a dark brown colour, with the exception of a white band running along its back. But one of its chief characteristics is its power of ejecting, from its tail-glands, a volatile fluid, the odour of which is said to be even as bad as that of the Skunk.

The Teledu lives in burrows during the day, and comes out at night to seek its food, which consists chiefly of earth-worms, insects, and their larvæ.

THE CAPE ZORILLA.[182]

An ally both of the Skunks and Badgers, the Zorilla may be said to take the place of the former animals in Africa, through the whole of which continent it extends, reaching also into Asia Minor. The body, which attains a length of about a foot, is moderately stout, of a shining black ground-colour, and marked with white bands and spots. The snout is elongated like that of the South American Skunk (_vide infra_); the tail is bushy, about eight or nine inches long, and striped or spotted.

The Zorilla lives upon small mammals, birds, and their eggs, as well as amphibia and crustacea. It is a determined enemy to poultry, and entails great loss to the inhabitants of the districts where it is found, but is often tamed, and used to catch Rats and Mice. In the matter of scent, the secretion in its tail-glands is worthy of comparison with that of the Skunk itself.

An allied form is the Indian genus _Helictis_, a Weasel-like animal with a long body, and of a grey-brown colour, white underneath, and marked along the back with a white stripe. The tail is long and bushy. This animal is found from Nepaul to Java in the south, and Formosa in the east.

THE COMMON SKUNK.[183]

This notorious American species is a stoutly-built animal, with short legs, a long conical head with a truncated snout, and a long bushy tail. The general colour of the fur is black, or nearly so, but on the forehead there is a white streak, and on the neck a white patch, from which two broad bands of the same hue proceed backwards along the upper surface of the body. The length from tip of snout to root of tail is something over a foot; the tail itself is less than a foot in length. The general appearance of the animal is decidedly Badger-like; it has, in fact, a good deal of resemblance both to the Ratel and to the Teledu. As in the Weasel, Ermine, and Polecat, there is one molar on each side of the upper, two on each side the lower jaw; altogether there are thirty-four teeth. It occurs throughout the whole of the temperate portion of North America.

We have mentioned that several of the Weasel family enjoy the distinction of being able to eject a foul-smelling fluid from glands at the root of the tail. In this accomplishment the Skunk is the undoubted chief. It can eject its perfume to a considerable distance, and with unerring aim: and the smell! The “odour of mingled guano and Polecat,” which, according to Mr. Kingsley, distinguishes the ancient Cornish dainty squab-pie, is simply nothing in comparison with the horrible stench emitted by this little animal. It is so durable, that the spot where a Skunk has been killed will often retain the scent for days, or even weeks; indeed, Audubon relates that at one place where a Skunk had been killed in the autumn, the odour was quite perceptible in the following spring after the snow had melted. Clothes defiled with the secretion cannot be thoroughly cleansed by any ordinary means: for even if the scent seems to have disappeared, it will make itself evident every time the wearer goes near a fire, or into the sun. Notwithstanding this, furriers have found out a way for effectually purifying Skunk-skins, which are now a good deal used as furs. In Britain, where the Skunk is not known in the flesh, these furs are called by their right names, but in America, where the inhabitants do not enjoy the same blissful ignorance of this noxious beast, they are dignified with the appellation of “Alaska sable.”

But the scent of the secretion is not its worst feature. Sir John Richardson quotes Mr. Graham as saying “that he knew several Indians who lost their eyesight in consequence of inflammation, produced by this fluid having been thrown into them by the animal,” and continues, “I have known a dead Skunk, thrown over the stockades of a trading-port, produce instant nausea in several women, in a house with closed doors, upwards of a hundred yards distant.” Dogs often suffer from inflammation of the eyes after being squirted with the fluid, and appear to be almost distracted with the pain. Curiously enough, the secretion has been recommended as a cure for asthma. “The story is told of an asthmatic clergyman who procured the glands of a Skunk, which he kept tightly corked in a smelling-bottle, to be applied to his nose when his symptoms appeared. He believed he had discovered a specific for his distressing malady, and rejoiced thereat; but on one occasion he uncorked his bottle in the pulpit, and drove his congregation out of church.”[184]

The efficacy of the secretion as a defensive weapon for the not otherwise formidable animal is greatly enhanced by the distance to which it can be ejected. This is probably as much as twelve or fourteen feet, while the smell itself can be perceived for a comparatively immense distance.

Besides its perfume, the Skunk has yet another claim to careful avoidance: its bite has been known in many cases to produce hydrophobia, in a form quite indistinguishable, according to an American surgeon, Dr. Janeway, from that induced by the bite of a rabid Dog.

An allied species, the Little Striped Skunk,[185] is less than a foot long, and the tail is shorter than the body. The fur is black, and marked with numerous white stripes and spots. It is found in the southern part of the United States, and is said to be readily capable of domestication, proving very serviceable as a Mouser. Of course, under these circumstances, the glands are removed while the animal is young.

The White-backed Skunk[186] is the South American form of the genus. It occurs throughout that Continent as well as in Mexico and the south-western portions of the United States. It is much larger than the northern species, attaining a length of from eighteen inches to two feet, and is further distinguished by its short white tail, which does not exceed nine or ten inches in length, its pig-like snout projecting a full inch beyond the mouth, and its white back sometimes marked by a median black stripe. The rest of the fur is, as usual, black.

Our friend, Mr. Purdie, whose acquaintance with the Skunk in South America has been of the most practical kind, assures us that when about to discharge its secretion, the animal invariably faces round, so as to look its enemy full in the face, throws its tail over its back, and allows the breeze to carry the fluid in the desired direction. This method of discharge seems highly unaccountable, and difficult to reconcile with the anatomical facts; but it would be certainly going too far to say that it is impossible. Dr. Coues, who has repeatedly observed the North American Skunk, states that the animal invariably turns its back to its intended victim.

THE COMMON OTTER.[187]

We now come to the most thoroughly aquatic of the Fissipedia, the sub-family of Otters, animals which, although quite capable of active and unembarrassed movement on land, are yet thoroughly at home only in the water. In accordance with this mode of life, the toes are webbed, and provided with very short claws, and the tail is long, tapering, and flattened, so as to serve the precise purpose of the corresponding appendage in a fish. The length of the head and body is about two feet, that of the tail, one foot five inches. The fur is of a soft brown colour, becoming lighter on the under side of the throat and the breast, and consists of long, coarse, shining hairs, with a short under-fur of fine texture, well calculated to preserve equality of temperature as the animal resorts alternately to land or water. The skull is greatly elongated, and flattened from above downwards; the facial part of it is small, as compared with the brain-containing or cranial part. The region of the skull between the eyes is very narrow, and its floor is wide and thin. In all these points, save the first mentioned, the skull of the Otter approaches that of the Seal. As to the teeth, there is one premolar less on each side of the lower jaw than in the Martens,[188] and both molars and premolars have sharp-pointed cusps, quite like those of the other _Mustelidæ_.

The habits of the Otter are so entirely aquatic, that in the good old times it was thought to be a sort of cross between a beast and a fish, just as the Bat was thought to be intermediate between a beast and a bird. So deeply rooted was this opinion that the Otter’s flesh was considered quite fishy enough to be eaten by devout Catholics on fast days. To this Izaak Walton alludes in a well-known passage in his “Complete Angler.”

“_Piscator._ ‘I pray, honest huntsman, let me ask you a pleasant question: do you hunt a beast or a fish?’

“_Huntsman._ ‘Sir, it is not in my power to resolve you; I leave it to be resolved by the College of Carthusians, who have made vows never to eat flesh. But I have heard the question hath been debated among many great clerks, and they seem to differ about it, yet most agree that her tail is fish; and if her body be fish too, then I may say that a fish will walk upon land.’”

The movements of the Otters in water are marvellous. They swim about in families, performing the most astonishing pranks, from mere exuberance of spirits and excess of energy. Nothing can give a better idea of their activity, than the description of them in that most delightful of natural history books and fairy tales, “Water Babies.”

“Suddenly Tom heard the strangest noise up the stream; cooing, and grunting, and whining, and squeaking, as if you had put into a bag two Stock Doves, nine Mice, three Guinea-pigs, and a blind puppy, and left them there to settle themselves and make music. He looked up the water, and there he saw a sight as strange as the noise; a great ball rolling over and over down the stream, seeming one moment of soft brown fur, and the next of shining glass: and yet it was not a ball; for sometimes it broke up and streamed away in pieces, and then it joined again; and all the while the noise came out of it louder and louder.

“Tom asked the Dragon-fly what it could be: but, of course, with his short sight, he could not even see it, though it was not ten yards away. So he took the neatest little header into the water, and started off to see for himself; and, when he came near, the ball turned out to be four or five beautiful creatures, many times larger than Tom, who were swimming about, and rolling, and diving, and twisting, and wrestling, and cuddling, and kissing, and biting, and scratching, in the most charming fashion that ever was seen. And if you don’t believe me, you may go to the Zoological Gardens (for I am afraid that you won’t see it nearer, unless, perhaps, you get up at five in the morning, and go down to Cordery’s Moor, and watch by the great withy pollard which hangs over the back-water, where the Otters breed sometimes), and then say, if Otters at play in the water are not the merriest, lithest, gracefullest creatures you ever saw.”

The Otter makes a sort of nest in hollows in the banks of the river in which it lives, but does not, as is sometimes stated, construct complicated burrows: its claws, indeed, are too weak for any such work. It usually confines itself to rivers, but is sometimes found on the sea-shore.

Otter hunting was formerly a very favourite sport. It was conducted with a special breed of Dogs--the Otter-hound--(see p. 141), and the spear was used for killing the animal when brought to bay.

Otters are quite capable of domestication, and may be taught to catch fish for their masters. For this purpose they must be caught young, and gradually brought to live upon bread and milk. When this end is attained, they are taught to fetch and carry, like a Dog--first sticks, &c., then a stuffed fish, then a dead one. When this part of their education is perfect, and they make no attempt to mangle the fish given to them, they are sent into the water to catch living fish. Otters are trained for this purpose in India, and also in China, where they are used by the fishermen of the Yang-tse-kiang. Mr. J. Thomson[189] says:--“We noticed men fishing with trained Otters in this part of the river. There were a number of boats, and each boat was furnished with an Otter tied to a cord. The animal was thrust into the water, and remained there until it had caught a fish; then it was hauled up, and the fisherman, placing his foot upon its tail, stamped vigorously until it had dropped its finny prey.”

There is one peculiar habit of the Canadian Otter[190] which is worthy of mention. “Their favourite sport is sliding, and for this purpose in winter the highest ridge of snow is selected, to the top of which the Otters scramble, when, lying on the belly, with the fore-feet backwards, they give themselves an impulse with their hindlegs, and swiftly glide head foremost down the declivity, sometimes for the distance of twenty yards. This sport they continue apparently with the keenest enjoyment until fatigue or hunger induces them to desist.”

In the Margined-tailed Otter[191] the skull characters, which we have mentioned as distinctive of Otters, especially the narrowness of the region between the eyes, and the shortness of the nasal region, are so exaggerated, that the animal approaches towards the Sea Otter, of which we shall speak next. The Margined-tailed Otter, which is found in Brazil and Surinam, derives its name from a longitudinal ridge on each side of its conical tail. The fur is of a bright bay-brown colour, both above and below.

THE SEA OTTER.[192]

This interesting animal differs in many important respects from the Common Otter, and in all such points shows an approximation to the structure of the Seals. It is a large animal, about three feet long, not counting the tail, which is about a foot more. Its fur is dark brown, both on the upper and lower surfaces, and presents a frosted or silvered appearance, owing to the fact that the long stiff hairs, which differ greatly from those of the under-fur, are grey or colourless at the tip. The head is very short, the snout naked; the eyes extremely small, and placed low down on the sides of the head, and the whiskers are short, but stout and stiff, and mostly directed downwards; altogether there is something very Seal-like about the face. The fore-limbs and feet are small, the paws rather Cat-like in their rounded form, and the claws are quite hidden by the hair. The hind feet, on the other hand, are flat and expanded, being no less than six inches long by four broad, and webbed like a Duck’s feet, or a Seal’s flippers; they differ, however, from the Seal’s, in the fact that the toes increase in length from the inner to the outer side; both above and below they are covered with dense fur, which quite hides the short, stout claws. The skull is, both in its cranial and facial portions, much shorter in comparison with its width than in the ordinary Otters; its base is extremely broad, and both upper and lower jaws bear on each side only eight teeth, so that there are altogether thirty-two teeth, or four less than in the Common Otter.[193] This diminution in number is brought about, as will be seen from the formula below, by reducing the upper premolars from four to three, and the lower incisors from three to two on each side. The form of the grinders differs altogether from what we have found, not only in the Mustelidæ, but in all the Land Carnivores. Their grinding surfaces present no sharp cusps, or jagged cutting edges, as in most Carnivorous forms; neither are they provided with numerous small tubercles and ridges, as in the Bears; but the surface of each is raised into a small number of rounded eminences, reminding one of the “roches moutonnées” of a glacial district, or, as Dr. Coues remarks, differing from the teeth of ordinary Carnivores, as water-worn pebbles differ from fresh-chipped angular pieces of rock.

The Sea Otter is found in the North Pacific, chiefly in the regions of Kamstchatka and Alaska, and extends as far south as California.

Like the Seal, the Sea Otter is gregarious, being often found “in bands numbering from fifty up to hundreds. When in rapid movement, they make alternate undulating leaps out of the water, plunging again as do Seals and Porpoises. When in a state of quietude, they are much of the time on their backs. They are frequently seen in this posture, with the hind flippers extended, as if catching the breeze to sail or drift before it. They live on Clams, as well as Crabs and other species of Crustacea; sometimes small fish. When the Otter descends and brings up any article of food, it instantly resumes its habitual attitude on the back to devour it. On sunny days, when looking, it sometimes shades its eyes with one fore paw, much in the same manner as a person does with the hand.”[194] This curious habit, as we have seen, is adopted also by the Glutton. The supine position is so habitual that the females actually sleep in the water on their backs, with the young ones clasped between their fore paws. While in this position, too, the Otter will toss a piece of sea-weed backwards and forwards from paw to paw, like a ball, and the mother play with her offspring for hours together.

The fur is very valuable, and the animal is consequently hunted regularly; so regularly, that there is every possibility of the species becoming speedily extinct unless some check is put upon the chase. For taking some action in the matter, there is the further reason that the natives of the Aleutian Isles, the chief resort of the animal, are dependent on its hunting for their subsistence, and it has been shown that the people have diminished in numbers coincidently with the Otters.

“There are four principal methods of capturing the Sea Otter, namely, by _surf-shooting_, by _spearing-surrounds_, by _clubbing_, and by _nets_.”

“The surf-shooting is the common method, but has only been in vogue among the natives a short time. The young men have nearly all been supplied with rifles, with which they patrol the shores of the island and inlets, and whenever a Sea Otter’s head is seen in the surf, a thousand yards out even, they fire, the great distance and the noise of the surf preventing the Sea Otter from taking alarm until it is hit; and in nine times out of ten, when it is hit in the head, which is all that is exposed, the shot is fatal, and the hunter waits until the surf brings his quarry in, if it is too rough for him to venture out in his ‘bidarkie.’ This shooting is kept up now the whole year round.

“The spearing-surround is the orthodox native system of capture, and reflects the highest credit upon them as bold, hardy watermen. A party of fifteen or twenty bidarkies with two men in each, as a rule, all under the control of a chief elected by common consent, start out in pleasant weather, or when it is not too rough, and spread themselves over a long line, slowly paddling over the waters where the Sea Otters are most usually found. When any one of them discovers an Otter asleep, most likely, in the water, he makes a quiet signal, and there is not a word spoken or a paddle splashed while they are on the hunt. He darts towards the animal, but generally the alarm is taken by the sensitive object, which instantly dives before the Aleut can get near enough to throw his spear. The hunter, however, keeps right on, and stops his canoe directly over the spot where the Otter disappeared. The others, taking note of the position, all deploy and scatter in a circle of half a mile wide round the point of departure thus made, and patiently wait for the re-appearance of the Otter, which must take place within fifteen or thirty minutes, for breath; and as soon as this happens the nearest one to it darts forward in the same manner as his predecessor, when all hands shout and throw their spears, to make the animal dive again as quickly as possible, thus giving it scarcely an instant to recover itself. A sentry is placed on its second diving-wake as before, and the circle is drawn anew; and the surprise is often repeated, sometimes for two or three hours, until the Sea Otter, from interrupted respiration, becomes so filled with air or gases that he cannot sink, and becomes at once an easy victim.

“The clubbing is only done in the winter season, and then at infrequent intervals, which occur when tremendous gales of wind from the northward, sweeping down over Saanach, have almost blown themselves out. The natives, the very boldest of them, set out from Saanach, and scud down on the tail of the gale to the far outlying rocks, just sticking out above surf-wash, where they creep up from the leeward to the Sea Otters found there at such times, with their heads stuck into the beds of kelp to avoid the wind. The noise of the gale is greater than that made by the stealthy movements of the hunters, who, armed with a short, heavy, wooden club, dispatch the animals one after another without disturbing the whole body, and in this way two Aleuts, brothers, were known to have slain seventy-eight in less than an hour and a half.”

The nets used by the Atka and Attore Aleuts “are from sixteen to eighteen feet long, and six to ten feet wide, with coarse meshes made nowadays of twine, but formerly of sinew. On the kelp-beds these nets are spread out, and the natives withdraw and watch. The Otters come to sleep or rest on these places, and get entangled in the meshes of the nets, seeming to make little or no effort to escape, paralysed, as it were, by fear, and fall in this way easily into the hands of the trappers, who have caught as many as six at one time in one of these small nets, and frequently get three.... No injury whatever is done to these frail nets by the Sea Otters, strong animals as they are; only stray Sea Lions destroy them.... The salt water and kelp seem to act as a disinfectant to the net, so that the smell of it does not repel or alarm the shy animal.”[195]

GENERAL RELATIONS OF THE LAND CARNIVORA, RECENT AND FOSSIL.

From very obvious reasons we have been compelled to describe the various forms of Land Carnivora of which we have been able to take account, one by one, beginning with Cats, and ending with the Otters. But the reader will already have discovered that a linear arrangement like this gives no true conception of the relations existing between the various families of which the sub-order is composed, or of the various genera which are included in the families. For cross-relationships of the most puzzling and often complicated description are perpetually turning up: among the Æluroids, for instance, we found Cryptoprocta to be intermediate between Cats and Civets, and yet, if we had followed the order indicated by this relationship, we should have had to ignore the close connection between Cats and Hyænas, and that between Hyænas and Civets, through the intermediation of the Aard Wolf.

It is necessary, then, to devise some method of writing down the names of the families, other than that of placing them one under the other, if we are to get anything like a clear notion of their mutual relationships. The method adopted by Professor Flower is perhaps the most convenient, and following him, we arrange the groups thus:--

FELIDÆ. HYÆNIDÆ. URSIDÆ. CRYPTOPROCTIDÆ. PROTELIDÆ. CANIDÆ. PROCYONIDÆ. AILURIDÆ. VIVERRIDÆ. MUSTELIDÆ.

In this scheme we see an expression of the fact that the Dogs (_Canidæ_) form a central group, from which the families of the Æluroidea--those to the left--diverge in one direction, and the families of the Arctoidea--those to the right--in the other direction. The Civets (_Viverridæ_) and the Weasel family (_Mustelidæ_), being the least modified of the Æluroid and Arctoid sections respectively, are placed at the bottom of the table, the Cats (_Felidæ_) and Bears (_Ursidæ_), being the most modified, are placed at the top. The two latter families, again, are placed at opposite extremities of the table, as far from one another as possible, to indicate the great gap which separates the digitigrade, short-skulled, active, carnivorous Cats, from the plantigrade, long-skulled, clumsy, herbivorous Bears. To be quite accurate, such a scheme should take account not merely of families, but of genera: in our table, for instance, there is nothing to show the immense amount of specialisation undergone by one section of the _Mustelidæ_--the Otters--to fit them for aquatic life; but such a detailed arrangement is quite beyond the scope of the present work.

* * * * *

In considering the chief forms of Carnivora existing at the present day, we have by no means exhausted this varied and interesting group, for a number of its members, the forerunners of those now living, have vanished from the face of the earth, and are known to us only by their bones, which we find here and there entombed in the strata of which the crust of our earth is composed.

In the newest, that is the most recently deposited, set of strata, those which together form the beds of the Pleistocene period, we find a very curious change in the flesh-eaters inhabiting England. Instead of having nothing but Wild Cats, Wolves, and Bears--the only wild beasts known to have existed in the historical period--we have the enormous Cave Lion (_Felis spelæa_), besides the Cave Bear (_Ursus spelæus_), and the Cave Hyæna (_Hyæna spelæa_), the last being merely a variety of the Spotted Hyæna (_Hyæna crocuta_) of the present day. The presence of the first and last of these would seem to indicate that the climate of Britain was warmer in the Pleistocene period than it now is; but the presence of the Glutton, as well as of some non-carnivorous Arctic animals, tends to the other opinion, namely, that the climate of England was sub-Arctic. Very probably the Cave Lion and Hyæna were provided with thick woolly fur, and so, like the Mantchurian Tiger and the Northern Leopard (see pp. 34 and 42), enabled to bear a degree of cold experienced by but few of their relatives at the present day.

In beds of the same age in South America is found a true Cheetah, a species now confined to the Old World. But the most wonderful animal belonging to this period is the great Sabre-toothed Tiger (_Machærodus_), a gigantic animal, with canines six or eight inches long, and jagged at their edges like a very fine saw. It would almost seem as if Dame Nature, in producing this terrible beast, had actually got to the end of her tether in the matter of specialisation for carnivorous habits; the canines of Machærodus were so long that he must have had some difficulty in opening his mouth sufficiently wide to take in anything large, and thus it would seem that he actually overshot the limit of perfection, and died of over-specialisation. The canines of the Sabre-toothed Tiger are, however, not its only peculiarity: there is one less premolar on each side of the upper jaw than in the modern members of the Cat family, so that the total number of teeth is reduced to twenty-eight,[196] the smallest number found in any of the Carnivora.

On descending to the rocks of Pliocene age, we find, amongst many forms existing at the present day, an animal called _Galecynus_, about the size of the Fox, and possessing many characters, in its teeth, limbs, &c., intermediate between those of the Dogs and those of the Civets. Another genus, _Hyænarctos_, is almost exactly half-way between Dogs and Bears; its molars have less of a cutting character than a Dog’s, and less of a grinding character than a Bear’s, and its front premolars, though much smaller than a Dog’s, do not fall out altogether, as in the Bear.

In the Pliocene, or Late Miocene strata, remains have been found of many existing genera, such as Cats, Civets, Hyænas, Dogs, Weasels, Ratels, and Otters; but amongst these are several genera not occurring in any of the more recent strata, and all, or nearly all, tending to bridge over the gaps which separate existing families from one another. For instance, a perfect gradation between the Hyænas and Civets is afforded by two genera, _Hyænictis_ and _Ictitherium_; while _Lutrictis_ shows affinities both with Civets and Otters, _Hemicyon_ with Dogs and Gluttons, and _Dinictis_ with Cats and Weasels. Another very interesting genus, _Promephitis_, belongs undoubtedly to the Weasel family, but is intermediate between its three sub-families, the Weasels proper, Badgers, and Otters. _Simocyon_, again, an animal about the size of a Leopard, is described as having the canines of a Cat, the molars of a Dog, and jaws shaped like those of a Bear. Lastly, _Amphicyon_ is a large plantigrade animal, Bear-like for the most part, but with trenchant molars, like a Dog’s, and having a small additional or third molar on each side of the lower jaw, the number of its teeth being thus brought up to that which may be called the typical Mammalian number, namely, forty-four.[197]

In the Eocene, or Lower Tertiary, still more remarkable forms occur, along with several genera existing at the present day, such as the Cryptoprocta, Civet, Dog, and Marten, all of which are found in the upper or more recent strata of the Eocene formation. But lower down the genus _Cynodon_ also connects Dogs with Civets; and in the very lowest beds occurs a large plantigrade animal (_Arctocyon_), with a very small brain-case, wide jugal arches, a complete set of forty-four teeth, and altogether of a generalised character. In the Eocene of North America, _Limnocyon_ and _Prototomus_ occur low down, and in the Middle Eocene a form as large as a Lion has been discovered, to which the name _Limnofelis_ has been given, and also _Orocyon_, and some allies of the _Hyænodon_.

But we have not yet learned all that Palæontology can teach us about the history of the Carnivora. In the Eocene and Lower Miocene beds are found animals referred to the genera _Hyænodon_, _Pterodon_, _Palæonictis_, and _Proviverra_ which, not content with trespassing on the boundaries between existing families, actually wander outside the Carnivorous order altogether, and approach so nearly to the Marsupials (Kangaroos, Opossums, &c.) that many competent anatomists have proposed to place them in the latter group. The premolars and molars in these extinct animals have sharp cusps, and increase gradually in size from before backwards; so that, of the whole grinding series, the first premolar is the smallest, and the last molar the largest. Now we have seen that the rule among existing Carnivora is for the last molar to be a small tooth, and for the largest of the set to be the fourth premolar in the upper jaw, and the first molar in the lower jaw. On the other hand, the regular increase in size is very characteristic of the flesh-eating Marsupials, amongst which the Thylacine, or so-called Tasmanian Wolf, shows a considerable resemblance, as to its teeth, to _Hyænodon_ and _Pterodon_, while _Palæonictis_ and _Proviverra_ are more nearly allied to the Opossums and to the Dasyure, or Tasmanian Devil. The brain-case in these forms was very small, and a cast of the interior of the skull of Proviverra, figured by M. Gaudry,[198] shows that the brain must have had an extremely low character.

We thus see that a considerable number of the existing genera of Carnivora took their origin in the Eocene epoch, where they co-existed with creatures curiously intermediate between the various existing families, and with others intermediate between Carnivora and Marsupials. In the rocks of the Secondary period (chalk, oolite, lias, &c.), none of the Carnivora have as yet appeared, and only Marsupial remains are found.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VI. (VIVERRIDÆ, CIVET FAMILY.)

THE CYNOGALE.[199]

Although in all essential respects a true Viverrine, the Cynogale, or Mampalon, differs very considerably in external appearance from all the members of the family we have hitherto considered. It has none of a Civet’s lithe and slender appearance, but is stout and plump. Its tail is very short, not more than six inches long, or a quarter the length of the head and body, which together attain length of about two feet. The snout is long and pointed, the muzzle bald, and the ears very short; the whiskers are decidedly extensive in their development, for besides the usual hairs on the snout, there are two large bundles of long bristles on the cheeks, one a little in front of and below the eye, the other in front of the ear. The limbs are short and stout, and the digits are five in number, slightly webbed at the base, and provided with short, retractile claws. The close thick fur is of a yellowish-brown colour, lighter on the under side of the head, and over the eyes, and darker on the legs. The mode of progression is nearly plantigrade.

There is not much known of the habits of the Cynogale, except that it frequents the neighbourhood of water, and is also a good climber. It is found in the island of Borneo.

THE CYNICTIS.[200]

This animal, a near relative of the Ichneumons, is found in South Africa, where it is represented by three species. The head and body attain a length of about half a yard; the tail of about a foot. The pelage is smooth, of a reddish colour, darker on the head and limbs; the tail is bushy, of a greyish colour, and tipped with white. There are five toes on the fore foot, three on the hind foot.

THE MANGUE.[201]

The Crossarchus, Mangue, or Kusimanse, presents a good deal of resemblance to the Cynogale, but differs from it in having rough fur and a comparatively long tail. It is also a much smaller animal, not exceeding fourteen or fifteen inches in length from snout to root of tail, which latter appendage is about eight inches in length. The body is thick and stout; the fur brown, becoming lighter on the head; the ears are short, and the snout is long and flexible, projecting some distance beyond the mouth, somewhat like that of the Coati. The secretion of the tail glands is very fetid.

The single species of Crossarchus is found in tropical Africa. Very little is known of its habits in a wild state; in captivity it soon becomes tame, and seems to prefer animal to vegetable food.

THE SURICATE.[202]

This is a South African species, and, as in the case of the last two forms, little or nothing is known of its habits in a state of nature. It is about the size of the Crossarchus, the body and head attaining a length of about thirteen, the tail of about six inches. The body is of a greyish-brown colour, marked along the back with yellowish-grey transverse stripes. There is a black patch round the eye, bordered by a lighter area, and the ears and the end of the tail are also black. As in the Cynogale, the head is rounded, the snout long, and the ears short. The legs are much longer than in either of the preceding genera, and the feet are distinguished by being provided with only four instead of five toes. The claws are very long and curved, and, as might be judged from this, the animal is addicted to burrowing.

There are several of these pretty little animals in the Zoological Gardens, where their innocent faces and quiet ways distinguish them very favourably from their relatives, the Ichneumons, which are perpetually quarrelling in the most outrageous fashion.

WILLIAM KITCHEN PARKER. THOMAS JEFFERY PARKER.

THE AQUATIC OR MARINE CARNIVORA.