[Illustration: KING PENGUINS.]
ECCENTRICITIES
OF
THE ANIMAL CREATION.
BY JOHN TIMBS.
AUTHOR OF "THINGS NOT GENERALLY KNOWN."
WITH EIGHT ENGRAVINGS.
SEELEY, JACKSON, AND HALLIDAY, 54, FLEET-STREET.
LONDON. MDCCCLXIX.
_The right of translation is reserved._
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTORY.--CURIOSITIES OF ZOOLOGY.
Natural History in Scripture, and Egyptian Records, 11.--Origin of
Zoological Gardens, 12.--The Greeks and Romans, 12.--Montezuma's
Zoological Gardens, 13.--Menagerie in the Tower of London,
14.--Menagerie in St. James's Park, 14.--John Evelyn's Notes,
15.--Ornithological Society, 15.--Continental Gardens, 16.--Zoological
Society of London instituted, 16; its most remarkable Animals,
16.--Cost of Wild Animals, 18.--Sale of Animals, 20.--Surrey
Zoological Gardens, 20.--Wild-beast Shows, 21.
THE RHINOCEROS IN ENGLAND.
Ancient History, 22, 23.--One-horned and Two-horned, 25,
26.--Tractability, 25.--Bruce and Sparmann, 27.--African Rhinoceros in
1868, 27.--Description of, 29.--Burchell's Rhinoceros, 30.--Horn of
the Rhinoceros, 31, 32.
STORIES OF MERMAIDS.
Sirens of the Ancients, 33.--Classic Pictures of Mermaids,
34.--Leyden's Ballad, 35.--Ancient Evidence, 36, 37, 38.--Mermaid in
the West Indies, 39.--Mermaids, Seals, and Dugongs, 41.--Mermaids and
Manatee, 42.--Test for a Mermaid, 43.--Mermaid of 1822, 43.--Japanese
Mermaids, 44.--Recent Evidence, 47, 48.
IS THE UNICORN FABULOUS?
Ctesias and Wild Asses, 65.--Aristotle, Herodotus, and Pliny,
50.--Modern Unicorns, 50.--Ancient Evidence, 51.--Hunting the
Unicorn, 52.--Antelopes, 53, 54.--Cuvier and the Oryx, 54.--Tibetan
Animal, 55.--Klaproth's Evidence, 55.--Rev. John Campbell's Evidence,
57.--Baikie on, 58.--Factitious Horns in Museums, 59.--Unicorn in the
Royal Arms, 60.--Catching the Unicorn, 60.--Belief in Unicorns, 61.
THE MOLE AT HOME.
Economy of the Mole, 62.--Its Structure, 63.--Fairy Rings; Feeling
of the Mole, 64.--Le Court's Experiments, 62, 65.--Hunting-grounds,
67.--Loves of the Moles, 68, 69.--Persecution of Moles.--Shrew Mole,
70.--Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, on Moles, 71.
THE GREAT ANT-BEAR.
The Ant-Bear of 1853, 72, 73.--Mr. Wallace, on the Amazon, describes
the Ant-Bear, 73.--Food of the Ant-Bear, 74.--His Resorts, 75.--Habits
in Captivity, by Professor Owen, 76-80.--Fossil Ant-Bear, 80,
81.--Tamandua Ant-Bear, 82--Von Sack's Ant-Bear, 83.--Porcupine
Ant-Eater, 84.--Ant-Bears in the Zoological Gardens, 84.
CURIOSITIES OF BATS.
Virgil's Harpies, 85.--Pliny on the Bat, 85.--Rere-mouse and
Flitter-mouse, 86.--Bats, not Birds but Quadrupeds, 87.--Sir Charles
Bell on the Wing of the Bat, 87.--Vampire Bat from Sumatra, 88.--Lord
Byron and Vampire, 89.--Levant Superstition, 89.--Bat described by
Heber, Waterton, and Steadman, 90.--Lesson on Bats, 91.--Bat Fowling
or Folding, 91, 92.--Sowerby's Long-eared Bat, 92, 96.--Wing of
the Bat, 96.--_Nycteris_ Bat, 97.--_Kalong_ Bat of Java, 98.--Bats,
various, 100, 101.
THE HEDGEHOG.
Hedgehog Described, 102.--Habits, 103.--Eating Snakes, 105.--Poisons,
105, 106.--Battle with a Viper, 105.--Economy of the Hedgehog, 106,
107.
THE HIPPOPOTAMUS IN ENGLAND.
Living Hippopotamus brought to England in 1850, 108.--Capture and
Conveyance, 111.--Professor Owen's Account, 111-115.--Described
by Naturalists and Travellers, 115-118.--Utility to Man,
118-119.--Ancient History, 119.--In Scripture, 120.--Alleged
Disappearance, 121.--Fossil, 122.
LION-TALK.
Character, 123.--Reputed Generosity, 125.--Burchell's Account,
125.--Lion-Tree in the Mantatee Country, 127.--Lion-hunting,
128.--Disappearance of Lions, 130, 131.--Human Prey, 132.--Maneless
Lions of Guzerat, 134.--A Lion Family in Bengal, 135, 136.--Prickle on
the Lion's Tail, 137-139.--Nineveh Lions, 139.--Lions in the Tower of
London, 140, 141.--Feats with Lions, 142.--Lion-hunting in Algeria, by
Jules Gerard, 144.--The Prudhoe Lions, 144.
BIRD-LIFE.
Rate at which Birds fly, 145, 146.--Air in the Bones of Birds,
146.--Flight of the Humming-bird, 147.--Colour of Birds, 148.--Song
of Birds, 149.--Beauty in Animals, 150.--Insectivorous Birds,
151.--Sea-fowl Slaughter, 152.--Hooded Crow in Zetland, 154.--Brain of
Birds, 154.--Danger-signals, 155.--Addison's Love of Nature, 156, 157.
BIRDS' EGGS AND NESTS.
Colours of Eggs, 158.--Bird's-nesting, 159.--Mr. Wolley, the
Ornithologist, 159, 160.--European Birds of Prey, 161.--Large
Eggs, 162, 163, 164.--Baya's Nest, 164.--Oriole and Tailor-bird,
165, 166.--Australian Bower-bird, 167.--Cape Swallows, 168.--"Bird
Confinement," by Dr. Livingstone.
THE EPICURE'S ORTOLAN.
Origin of the Ortolan, 172; described, 173, 174; Fattening process,
175, 176.--Prodigal Epicurism, 177, 178.
TALK ABOUT TOUCANS.
Toucan family, 179.--Gould's grand Monograph, 180.--Toucans described,
180-182; Food, 183; Habits, 184.--Gould's Toucanet, 187.
ECCENTRICITIES OF PENGUINS.
Penguins on Dassent Island, 188.--Patagonian Penguins, 189.--Falkland
Islands, 189.--King Penguins, 190, 191.--Darwin's Account,
192.--Webster's Account, 193.--Swainson's Account, 194.
PELICANS AND CORMORANTS.
Pelicans described by various Naturalists, 195, 196.--The Pelican
Island, 197.--Popular Error, 199-200.--Cormorants, and Fishing with
Cormorants, 201-204.
TALKING BIRDS, INSTINCTS, ETC.
Sounds by various Birds, 204.--Umbrella Bird, 206.--Bittern,
207.--Butcher-bird and Parrots, 208.--Wild Swan, Laughing Goose,
Cuckoo, and Nightingale, 209.--Talking Canaries, 210.--Neighing Snipe,
213.--Trochilos and Crocodiles, 216.--Instinct. Intelligence, and
Reason in Birds, 217-219.--Songs of Birds and Seasons of the Day, 219.
OWLS.
Characteristics of the Owl, 221.--Owl in Poetry, 222.--Bischacho or
Coquimbo, 224.--Waterton on Owls, 225, 226.--Owls. Varieties of,
227-230.
WEATHER-WISE ANIMALS.
Atmospheric Changes, 231.--Stormy Petrel, 233.--Wild Geese and Ducks,
235.--Frogs and Snails, 237.--The Mole, 240.--List of Animals, by
Forster, the Meteorologist, 241.--Weatherproof Nests, 247.--"Signs of
Rain," by Darwin, 248.--Shepherd of Banbury, 249.
FISH-TALK.
How Fishes Swim, 250.--Fish Changing Colour, 251.--"Fish Noise,"
252.--Hearing of Fish, 253.--The Carp at Fontainebleau, 254,
255.--Affection of Fishes, 256.--Cat-fish, Anecdote of, 257.--Great
Number of Fishes, 258.--Little Fishes Eaten by Medusæ, 259.--Migration
of Fishes, 261.--Enormous Grampus, 262.--Bonita and Flying-fish,
263.--Jaculator Fish of Java, 264.--Port Royal, Jamaica Fish,
266.--The Shark, 267.--California. Fish of, 268.--Wonderful Fish,
269.--Vast Sun-fish, 271.--Double Fish, 272.--The Square-browed
Malthe, 274.--Gold Fish, 275.--The Miller's Thumb, 276.--Sea-fish
Observatory, 276.--Herring Question, 278.--Aristotle's History of
Animals, 279-280.
FISH IN BRITISH COLOMBIA.
Salmon-swarming, 281.--Candle-fish, 282.--Octopus, the, 283.--Sturgeon
and Sturgeon Fishing, 283-287.
THE TREE-CLIMBING CRAB.
Locomotion of Fishes, 288.--Climbing Perch, 288.--Crabs in the West
Indies, 289.--Crabs, Varieties of, 289-292.--Robber and Cocoa-nut
Crab, 292-301.--Fish of the China Seas, 301.
MUSICAL LIZARDS.
Lizard from Formosa Isle, 303.--Its Habits, 304-306.
CHAMELEONS AND THEIR CHANGES.
The Chameleon described by Aristotle and Calmet, 307, 308.--Change
of Colour, 309.--Reproduction of, 310, 311.--Tongue, 311.--Lives in
Trees, 312.--Theory of Colours, 313.--The Puzzle Solved, 315.--Mrs.
Belzoni's Chameleons, 317.--Lady Cust's Chameleons, 321.--Chameleon's
Antipathy to Black, 322.
RUNNING TOADS.
Dr. Husenbeth's Toads at Cossey, 327.--Frog and Toad Concerts, 327.
SONG OF THE CICADA.
Greeks' Love for the Song, 329.--Cicada in British Colombia,
329.--Tennyson and Keats on the Grasshopper, 330.
STORIES ABOUT THE BARNACLE GOOSE.
Baptista Porta's Account, 331.--Max Müller on, 331.--Gerarde's
Account, 332.--Giraldus Cambrensis, 332.--Professor Rolleston.
Drayton's _Poly-olbion_, 333.--Sir Kenelm Digby and Sir J. Emerson
Tennent, 334.--Finding the Barnacle, 334.
LEAVES ABOUT BOOKWORMS.
Bookworms, their Destructiveness, 336, 337.--How to Destroy, 338.--The
Death-watch, 339.--Lines by Swift, 340.
BORING MARINE ANIMALS, AND HUMAN ENGINEERS.
Life and Labours of the Pholas, 341.--Family of the Pholas,
342.--Curious Controversy, 343.--Boring Apparatus, 342.--Several
Observers, 347, 348.--Boring Annelids, 348.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Page
KING PENGUINS Frontispiece
THE TWO-HORNED AFRICAN RHINOCEROS 28
SEAL AND MERMAID 40
THE GREAT ANT-BEAR (ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S) 76
FRASER'S EAGLE OWL, FROM FERNANDO PO 228
SQUARE-BROWED MALTHE AND DOUBLE FISH 274
THE TREE-CLIMBING CRAB 288
CHAMELEONS 318
ECCENTRICITIES
OF
THE ANIMAL CREATION.
INTRODUCTORY.--CURIOSITIES OF ZOOLOGY.
Curious creatures of Animal Life have been objects of interest to
mankind in all ages and countries; the universality of which may be
traced to that feeling which "makes the whole world kin."
It has been remarked with emphatic truth by a popular writer, that "we
have in the Bible and in the engraven and pictorial records the earliest
evidence of the attention paid to Natural History in general. The 'navy
of Tarshish' contributed to the wisdom of him who not only 'spake of the
trees from the cedar of Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth
out of the wall,' but 'also of beasts, and of fowls, and of creeping
things, and of fishes,'[1] to say nothing of numerous other passages
showing the progress that zoological knowledge had already made. The
Egyptian records bear testimony to a familiarity not only with the forms
of a multitude of wild animals, but with their habits and geographical
distribution."
The collections of living animals, now popularly known as Zoological
Gardens, are of considerable antiquity. We read of such gardens in China
as far back as 2,000 years; but they consisted chiefly of some favourite
animals, such as stags, fish, and tortoises. The Greeks, under Pericles,
introduced peacocks in large numbers from India. The Romans had their
elephants; and the first giraffe in Rome, under Cæsar, was as great an
event in the history of zoological gardens at its time as the arrival in
1849 of the Hippopotamus was in London. The first zoological garden of
which we have any detailed account is that in the reign of the Chinese
Emperor, Wen Wang, founded by him about 1150 A.D., and named by him "The
Park of Intelligence;" it contained mammalia, birds, fish, and amphibia.
The zoological gardens of former times served their masters occasionally
as hunting-grounds. This was constantly the case in Persia; and in
Germany, so late as 1576, the Emperor Maximilian II. kept such a park
for different animals near his castle, Neugebah, in which he frequently
chased.
Alexander the Great possessed his zoological gardens. We find from Pliny
that Alexander had given orders to the keepers to send all the rare and
curious animals which died in the gardens to Aristotle.
Splendid must have been the zoological gardens which the Spaniards found
connected with the Palace of Montezuma. The letters of Ferdinand Cortez
and other writings of the time, as well as more recently "The History
of the Indians," by Antonio Herrera, give most interesting and detailed
accounts of the menagerie in Montezuma's park. The buildings belonging
to these gardens were all gorgeous, as became the grandeur of the Indian
prince; they were supported by pillars, each of which was hewn out of
a single piece of some precious stone. Cool, arched galleries led into
the different parts of the garden--to the marine and fresh-water basins,
containing innumerable water-fowl,--to the birds of prey, falcons
and eagles, which latter especially were represented in the greatest
variety,--to the crocodiles, alligators, and serpents, some of them
belonging to the most venomous species. The halls of a large square
building contained the dens of the lions, tigers, leopards, bears,
wolves, and other wild animals. Three hundred slaves were employed in
the gardens tending the animals, upon which great care was bestowed, and
scrupulous attention paid to their cleanliness. To this South American
zoological garden of the sixteenth century no other of its time could be
compared.[2]
More than six centuries ago, our Plantagenet kings kept in the Tower
of London exotic animals for their recreation. The Lion Tower was built
here by Henry III., who commenced assembling here a menagerie with three
leopards sent to him by the Emperor Frederic II., "in token of his regal
shield of arms, wherein those leopards were pictured." Here, in 1255,
the Sheriffs built a house "for the King's elephant," brought from
France, and the first seen in England. Our early sovereigns had a mews
in the Tower as well as a menagerie:--
"Merry Margaret, as Midsomer flowre,
Gentyll as faucon and hawke of the Towre."--_Skelton._
In the reign of Charles I., a sort of Royal Menagerie took the place of
the deer with which St. James's Park was stocked in the days of Henry
VIII, and Queen Elizabeth. Charles II. greatly enlarged and improved
the Park; and here he might be seen playing with his dogs and feeding
his ducks. The Bird-cage Walk, on the south side of the Park, had in
Charles's time the cages of an aviary disposed among the trees. Near the
east end of a canal was the Decoy, where water-fowl were kept; and here
was Duck Island, with its salaried Governor.
Evelyn, in 1664, went to "the Physique Garden in St. James's," where
he first saw "orange trees and other fine trees." He enumerates in
the menagerie, "an ornocratylus, or pelican; a fowle between a storke
and a swan; a melancholy water-fowl, brought from Astracan by the
Russian ambassador; a milk-white raven; two Balearian cranes," one of
which, had a wooden leg "made by a soulder:" there were also "deere of
severall countries, white, spotted like leopards; antelopes, an elk,
red deer, roebucks, staggs, Guinea goates, Arabian sheepe, &c." There
were "withy-potts, or nests, for the wild fowle to lay their eggs in, a
little above y^e surface of y^e water."
"25 Feb. 1664. This night I walk'd into St. James his Parke, where I saw
many strange creatures, as divers sorts of outlandish deer, Guiny sheep,
a white raven, a great parrot, a storke.... Here are very stately walkes
set with lime trees on both sides, and a fine pallmall."[3]
Upon the eastern island is the Swiss Cottage of the Ornithological
Society, built in 1841 with a grant of 300l. from the Lords of
the Treasury: it contains a council-room, keepers' apartments,
steam-hatching apparatus; contiguous are feeding-places and decoys; and
the aquatic fowl breed on the island, making their own nests among the
shrubs and grasses.
The majority of Zoological Gardens now in existence have been founded
in this century, with the exception of the Jardin des Plantes, which,
although founded in 1626, did not receive its first living animals until
the year 1793-1794. Hitherto, it had been a Garden of Plants exclusively.
We shall not be expected to enumerate the great Continental gardens,
of which that at Berlin, half an hour's drive beyond the Brandenburg
gates, contains the Royal Menagerie; it is open upon the payment of
an admission fee, and generally resembles our garden at the Regent's
Park. Berlin has also its Zoological Collection in its Museum of Natural
History. This collection is one of the richest and most extensive in
Europe, especially in the department of Ornithology: it includes the
birds collected by Pallas and Wildenow, and the fishes of Bloch. The
best specimens are those from Mexico, the Red Sea, and the Cape. The
whole is exceedingly well arranged, and _named_ for the convenience of
students. Still, our Zoological Collection in the British Museum (to be
hereafter removed to South Kensington) is allowed to be the finest in
Europe.
The Zoological Society of London was instituted in 1826, and occupies
now about seventeen acres of gardens in the Regent's Park. Among the
earliest tenants of the Menagerie were a pair of emues from New Holland;
two Arctic bears and a Russian bear; a herd of kangaroos; Cuban mastiffs
and Thibet watch-dogs; two llamas from Peru; a splendid collection of
eagles, falcons, and owls; a pair of beavers; cranes, spoonbills, and
storks; zebras and Indian cows; Esquimaux dogs; armadilloes; and a
collection of monkeys. To the menagerie have since been added an immense
number of species of _Mammalia_ and _Birds_; in 1849, a collection
of _Reptiles_; and in 1853, a collection of _Fish_, _Mollusca_,
_Zoophytes_, and other _Aquatic Animals_. In 1830, the menagerie
collected by George IV. at Sandpit-gate, Windsor, was removed to the
Society's Gardens; and 1834 the last of the Tower Menagerie was received
here. It is now the finest public Vivarium in Europe.
The following are some of the more remarkable animals which the Society
have possessed, or are now in the menagerie:--
_Antelopes_, the great family of, finely represented. The
beautiful _Elands_ were bequeathed by the late Earl of Derby, and
have bred freely since their arrival in 1851. The Leucoryx is the
first of her race born out of Africa. _Ant-eater. Giant_, brought
to England from Brazil in 1853, was exhibited in Broad-street,
St. Giles's, until purchased by the Zoological Society for 200l.
_Apteryx_, or _Kiwi_ bird, from New Zealand; the first living
specimen brought to England of this rare bird. The _Fish-house_,
built of iron and glass, in 1853, consisting of a series of glass
tanks, in which fish spawn, zoophytes produce young, and algæ
luxuriate; crustacea and mollusca live successfully, and ascidian
polypes are illustrated, together with sea anemones, jelly-fishes,
and star-fishes, rare shell-fishes, &c.: a new world of animal
life is here seen as in the depths of the ocean, with masses of
rock, sand, gravel, corallines, sea-weed, and sea-water; the
animals are in a state of natural restlessness, now quiescent,
now eating and being eaten. _Aurochs_, or _European Bisons_: a
pair presented by the Emperor of Russia, in 1847, from the forest
of Bialowitzca: the male died in 1848, the female in 1849, from
pleuro-pneumonia. _Bears_: the collection is one of the largest
ever made. _Elephants_: including an Indian elephant calf and its
mother. In 1847 died here the great Indian elephant Jack, having
been in the gardens sixteen years. Adjoining the stable is a tank
of water, of a depth nearly equal to the height of a full-grown
elephant. In 1851 the Society possessed a _herd of four elephants_,
besides a hippopotamus, a rhinoceros, and both species of tapir;
being the largest collection of pachydermata ever exhibited in
Europe. _Giraffes_: four received in 1836 cost the Society upwards
of 2,300_l._, including 1,000_l._ for steamboat passage: the female
produced six male fawns here between 1840 and 1851. _Hippopotamus_,
a young male (the first living specimen seen in England), received
from Egypt in May, 1850, when ten months old, seven feet long,
and six and a-half feet in girth; also a female hippopotamus,
received 1854. _Humming-birds_: Mr. Gould's matchless collection
of 2,000 examples was exhibited here in 1851 and 1852. _Iguanas_,
two from Cuba and Carthagena, closely resembling, in everything
but size, the fossil Iguanodon. The _Lions_ number generally from
eight to ten, including a pair of cubs born in the gardens in 1853.
_Orang-utan_ and _Chimpanzee_: the purchase-money of the latter
sometimes exceeds 300_l._ The orang "Darby," brought from Borneo
in 1851, is the finest yet seen in Europe, very intelligent, and
docile as a child. _Parrot-houses_: they sometimes contain from
sixty to seventy species. _Rapacious Birds_: so extensive a series
of eagles and vultures has never yet been seen at one view. _The
Reptile-house_ was fitted up in 1849; the creatures are placed in
large plate-glass cases: here are pythons and a rattle-snake, with
a young one born here; here is also a case of the tree-frogs of
Europe: a yellow snake from Jamaica has produced eight young in the
gardens. _Cobra de Capello_, from India: in 1852, a keeper in the
gardens was killed by the bite of this serpent. _A large Boa_ in
1850 swallowed a blanket, and disgorged it in thirty-three days.
A _one-horned Rhinoceros_, of continental India, was obtained in
1834, when it was about four years old, and weighed 26 cwt.; it
died in 1850: it was replaced by a female, about five years old.
_Satin Bower-Birds_, from Sydney: a pair have built here a bower,
or breeding-place. _Tapir_ of the Old World, from Mount Ophir;
the nearest existing form the Paleotherium. _Tigers_: a pair of
magnificent specimens, presented by the Guicoway of Baroda in 1851;
a pair of clouded tigers, 1854. _The Wapiti Deer_ breeds every year
in the Menagerie.
The animals in the Gardens, although reduced in number, are more
valuable and interesting than when their number was higher. The mission
of the Society's head-keeper, to collect rare animals for the Menagerie,
has been very profitable. The additional houses from time to time, are
very expensive: the new monkey house, fittings, and work cost 4,842_l._;
and in 1864, the sum of 6,604_l._ was laid out in permanent additions to
the establishment.
Very rare, and consequently expensive, animals are generally purchased.
Thus, the first Rhinoceros cost 1,000_l._; the four Giraffes, 700_l._,
and their carriage an additional 700_l._ The Elephant and calf were
bought in 1851 for 500_l._; and the Hippopotamus, although a gift, was
not brought home and housed at less than 1,000_l._--a sum which he
more than realised in the famous Exhibition season, when the receipts
were 10,000_l._ above the previous year. The Lion Albert was purchased
for 140_l._; a tiger, in 1852, for 200_l._ The value of some of the
smaller birds will appear, however, more startling: thus, the pair
of black-necked Swans were purchased for 80_l._; a pair of crowned
Pigeons and two Maleos, 60_l._; a pair of Victoria Pigeons, 35_l._;
four Mandarin Ducks, 70_l._ Most of these rare birds (now in the great
aviary) came from the Knowsley collection, at the sale of which,
in 1851, purchases were made to the extent of 985_l._ It would be
impossible from these prices, however, to judge of the present value
of the animals. Take the Rhinoceros, for example: the first specimen
cost 1,000_l._; the second, quite as fine a brute, only 350_l._ Lions
range again from 40_l._ to 180_l._, and Tigers from 40_l._ to 200_l._
The ignorance displayed by some persons as to the value of well-known
objects is something marvellous.--A sea-captain demanded 600_l._ for
a pair of Pythons, and at last took 40_l._! An American offered the
Society a Grisly Bear for 2,000_l._, to be delivered in the United
States; and, more laughable still, a moribund Walrus, which had been fed
for nine weeks on salt pork and meal, was offered for the trifling sum
of 700_l._!
There is a strange notion that the Zoological Society has proposed a
large reward for a "Tortoiseshell Tom-cat," and one was accordingly
offered to the Society for 250_l._! But male Tortoiseshell Cats may be
had in many quarters.[4]
The Surrey Zoological Gardens were established in 1831. Thither
Cross removed his menagerie from the King's Mews, where it had been
transferred from Exeter Change. At Walworth a glazed circular
building, 100 feet in diameter, was built for the cages of the
carnivorous animals (Lions, Tigers, Leopards, &c.); and other houses
for Mammalia, Birds, &c. Here, in 1834, was first exhibited a young
Indian one-horned Rhinoceros, for which Cross paid 800_l._ It was the
only specimen brought to England for twenty years. In 1836 were added
three Giraffes, one fifteen feet high. The menagerie was dispersed in
1856. The menagerie at Exeter Change was a poor collection, though the
admission-charge was, at one period, half-a-crown!
The collections of animals exhibited at fairs have added little to
Zoological information; but we may mention that Wombwell, one of the
most noted of the showfolk, bought a pair of the first Boa Constrictors
imported into England: for these he paid 75_l._, and in three weeks
realised considerably more than that sum by their exhibition. At the
time of his death, in 1850, Wombwell was possessed of three huge
menageries, the cost of maintaining which averaged at least 35_l._ per
day; and he used to estimate that, from mortality and disease, he had
lost, from first to last, from 12,000_l._ to 15,000_l._
Our object in the following succession of sketches of the habits and
eccentricities of the more striking animals, and their principal
claims upon our attention, is to present, in narrative, their leading
characteristics, and thus to secure a willing audience from old and
young.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] 1 Kings iv. 10.
[2] "Athenæum."
[3] Journal of Mr. E. Browne, son of Sir Thomas Browne.
[4] In April, 1842, Mr. Batty's collection of animals was sold by
auction, when the undermentioned animals brought--Large red-faced Monkey
(clever), 1_l._ 10_s._; fine Coatimondi, 1_l._ 4_s._; Mandril (the
only one in England), 1_l._ 17_s._; pair of Java Hares, 1_l._ 9_s._; a
Puma, 14_l._; handsome Senegal Lioness, 9_l._; a Hyæna, 7_l._; splendid
Barbary Lioness, 24_l._; handsome Bengal Tigress, 90_l._; brown Bear,
6_l._; the largest Polar Bear in Europe, 37_l._; pair of Esquimaux
Sledge-Dogs, 3_l._ 7_s._; pair of Golden Pheasants, 3_l._ 10_s._; a
blue-and-buff Macaw (clever talker), 2_l._ 10_s._; a horned Owl, from
North America, 3_l._ 10_s._; a magnificent Barbary Lion, trained for
performance, 105 guineas; a Lioness, similarly trained, 90 guineas;
handsome Senegal performing Leopard, 34 guineas; two others, 50 guineas;
Ursine Sloth, 12 guineas; Indian Buffalo, 10 guineas; sagacious male
Elephant, trained for theatrical performances, 350 guineas. The above is
stated to have been the first sale of the kind by public auction in this
country.
THE RHINOCEROS IN ENGLAND.
The intellectual helps to the study of zoology are nowhere more
strikingly evident than in the finest collection of pachyderms
(thick-skinned animals) in the world, now possessed by our Zoological
Society. Here we have a pair of Indian Elephants, a pair of African
Elephants, a pair of Hippopotami, a pair of Indian Rhinoceroses, and an
African or two-horned Rhinoceros.
The specimens of the Rhinoceros which have been exhibited in Europe
since the revival of literature have been few and far between. The
first was of the one-horned species, sent from India to Emmanuel. King
of Portugal, in the year 1513. The Sovereign made a present of it to
the Pope; but the animal being seized during its passage with a fit of
fury, occasioned the loss of the vessel in which it was transported. A
second Rhinoceros was brought to England in 1685; a third was exhibited
over almost the whole of Europe in 1739; and a fourth, a female, in
1741. A fifth specimen arrived at Versailles in 1771, and it died in
1793, at the age of about twenty-six years. The sixth was a very young
Rhinoceros, which died in this country in the year 1800. The seventh, a
young specimen, was in the possession of Mr. Cross, at Exeter Change,
about 1814; and an eighth specimen was living about the same time in
the Garden of Plants at Paris. In 1834 Mr. Cross received at the Surrey
Gardens, from the Birman empire, a Rhinoceros, a year and a-half old,
as already stated at page 21. In 1851 the Zoological Society purchased
a full-grown female Rhinoceros; and in 1864 they received a male
Rhinoceros from Calcutta. All these specimens were from India, and
_one-horned_; so that the _two-horned_ Rhinoceros had not been brought
to England until the arrival of an African Rhinoceros, _two-horned_, in
September, 1868.[5]
The ancient history of the Rhinoceros is interesting, but intricate. It
seems to be mentioned in several passages of the Scriptures, in most
of which the animal or animals intended to be designated was or were
the _Rhinoceros unicornis_, or Great Asiatic one-horned Rhinoceros.
M. Lesson expresses a decided opinion to this effect: indeed, the
description in Job (chap. xxxix.) would almost forbid the conclusion
that any animal was in the writer's mind except one of surpassing bulk
and indomitable strength. The impotence of man is finely contrasted
with the might of the Rhinoceros in this description, which would be
overcharged if it applied to the less powerful animals alluded to in the
previous passages.
It has also been doubted whether accounts of the Indian Wild Ass, given
by Ctesias, were not highly coloured and exaggerated descriptions of
this genus; and whether the Indian Ass of Aristotle was not a Rhinoceros.
Agatharchides describes the one-horned Rhinoceros by name, and speaks
of its ripping up the belly of the Elephant. This is, probably, the
earliest occurrence of the name _Rhinoceros_. The Rhinoceros which
figured in the celebrated pomps of Ptolemy Philadelphus was an
Ethiopian, and seems to have marched last in the procession of wild
animals, probably on account of its superior rarity, and immediately
after the Cameleopard.
Dion Cassius speaks of the Rhinoceros killed in the circus with a
Hippopotamus in the show given by Augustus to celebrate his victory over
Cleopatra; he says that the Hippopotamus and this animal were then first
seen and killed at Rome. The Rhinoceros then slain is thought to have
been African, and two-horned.
The Rhinoceros clearly described by Strabo, as seen by him, was
one-horned. That noticed by Pausanias as "the Bull of Ethiopia," was
two-horned, and he describes the relative position of the horns.
Wood, in his "Zoography," gives an engraving of the coin of Domitian
(small Roman brass), on the reverse of which is the distinct form of a
two-horned Rhinoceros: its exhibition to the Roman people, probably of
the very animal represented on the coin, is particularly described in
one of the epigrams attributed to Martial, who lived in the reigns of
Titus and Domitian. By the description of the epigram it appears that
a combat between a Rhinoceros and a Bear was intended, but that it was
very difficult to irritate the more unwieldy animal so as to make him
display his usual ferocity; at length, however, he tossed the bear from
his double horn, with as much facility as a bull tosses to the sky the
bundles placed for the purpose of enraging him. Thus far the coin and
the epigram perfectly agree as to the existence of the double horn; but,
unfortunately, commentators and antiquaries were not to be convinced
that a Rhinoceros could have more than one horn, and have at once
displayed their sagacity and incredulity in their explanations on the
subject.
Two, at least, of the two-horned Rhinoceroses were shown at Rome in the
reign of Domitian. The Emperors Antoninus, Heliogabalus, and Gordian
also exhibited Rhinoceroses. Cosmas speaks expressly of the Ethiopian
Rhinoceros as having two horns, and of its power of moving them.
The tractability of the Asiatic Rhinoceros has been confirmed by
observers in the native country of the animal. Bishop Heber saw at
Lucknow five or six very large Rhinoceroses, of which he found that
prints and drawings had given him a very imperfect conception. They
were more bulky animals, and of a darker colour than the Bishop
supposed; though the latter difference might be occasioned by oiling
the skin. The folds of their skin also surpassed all which the Bishop
had expected. Those at Lucknow were quiet and gentle animals, except
that one of them had a feud with horses. They had sometimes howdahs, or
chaise-like seats, on their backs, and were once fastened in a carriage,
but only as an experiment, which was not followed up. The Bishop,
however, subsequently saw a Rhinoceros (the present of Lord Amherst to
the Guicwar), which was so tamed as to be ridden by a Mohout quite as
patiently as an elephant.
No two-horned Rhinoceros seems to have been brought alive to Europe in
modern times. Indeed, up to a comparatively late period, their form
was known only by the horns which were preserved in museums; nor did
voyagers give any sufficient details to impart any clear idea of the
form of the animal. The rude figure given by Aldrovandus, in 1639,
leaves no doubt that, wretched as it is, it must have been taken from a
two-horned Rhinoceros.
Dr. Parsons endeavoured to show that the one-horned Rhinoceros always
belonged to Asia, and the two-horned Rhinoceros to Africa; but there are
two-horned Rhinoceroses in Asia, as well as in Africa. Flacourt saw one
in the Bay of Soldaque, near the Cape of Good Hope, at a distance. Kolbe
and others always considered the Rhinoceros of the Cape as two-horned;
but Colonel Gordon seems to be the first who entirely detailed the
species with any exactness. Sparrman described the Cape Rhinoceros,
though his figure of the animal is stiff and ill-drawn. At this period
it was well known that the Cape species was not only distinguished by
having two horns from the Indian Rhinoceros then known, but also by an
absence of the folds of the skin so remarkable in the latter.
We should here notice the carelessness, to call it by the mildest
name, of Bruce, who gave to the world a representation of a two-horned
Rhinoceros from Abyssinia, with a strongly folded skin. The truth
appears to be that the body of the animal figured by Bruce was copied
from that of the one-horned Rhinoceros given by Buffon, to which Bruce
added a second horn. Salt proved that the Abyssinian Rhinoceros is
two-horned, and that it resembles that of the Cape.
[Illustration: THE TWO-HORNED AFRICAN RHINOCEROS.]
Sparmann exposes the errors and poetic fancies of Buffon respecting the
impenetrable nature of the skin. He ordered one of his Hottentots to
make a trial of this with his hassagai on a Rhinoceros which had been
shot. Though this weapon was far from being in good order, and had no
other sharpness than that which it had received from the forge, the
Hottentot, at the distance of five or six paces, not only pierced with
it the thick hide of the animal, but buried it half a foot deep in its
body.
Mr. Tegetmeier has sufficiently described in the "Field" journal the
African Rhinoceros just received at the Zoological Society's menagerie
in the Regent's-park, and which has been sketched by Mr. T. W. Wood
expressly for the present volume.
It was captured about a year ago in Upper Nubia by the native hunters
in the employment of Mr. Casanova, at Kassala; and was sent, by way of
Alexandria and Trieste, to Mr. Karl Hagenbeck, of Hamburg, a dealer in
wild beasts, who sold it to the Zoological Society.
"This animal is very distinct from its Asiatic congeners; it differs
strikingly in the number of horns, as well as in the character of its
skin, which is destitute of those large folds, which cause the Indian
species to remind the observer of a gigantic 'hog in armour.'
"The arrival of this animal will tend to clear up the confusion
that prevails respecting the number of distinct species of African
Rhinoceros. Some writers--as Sir W. C. Harris--admit the existence of
two species only, the dark and the light, or, as they are termed, the
'white' and the 'black.' Others, as Dr. A. Smith, describe three; some,
as the late Mr. Anderssen, write of four; and Mr. Chapman even speaks of
a fifth species or hybrid.
"Three of these species are very distinctly defined--the ordinary dark
animal, the _Rhinoceros bicornis_, in which the posterior horn is much
shorter than the anterior; the _Rhinoceros keitloa_, in which the two
horns are of equal length; and the 'white' species, _Rhinoceros simus_.
The last, among other characters, is, according to Dr. Smith,
distinguished by the square character of the upper lip, which is not
prehensile.
"The young animal now (October, 1868) in the Zoological Society's
garden, appears to belong to the first-named species, the largest
specimens of which when full grown reach a height of 6ft., and a length
of 13ft., the tail not included. Its present height is 3-1/2ft., and
length about 6ft. In general appearance the mature animal resembles a
gigantic pig, the limbs being brought under the body. The feet are most
singular in form, being very distinctly three-toed, and the remarkable
trefoil-like _spoors_ that they make in the soil render the animal
easy to track. The horns vary greatly in length in different animals;
the first not unfrequently reaches a length of 2ft., the second being
considerably shorter. These appendages differ very much from ordinary
horns; they are, in fact, more of the nature of agglutinated hair, being
attached to the skin only, and consequently they separate from the skull
when the latter is preserved.
"The head is not remarkable for comeliness, especially in the mature
animal, in which the skin of the face is deeply wrinkled, and the small
eyes are surrounded with many folds. The upper lip is elongated, and is
used in gathering the food. The adult animals are described by Sir W. C.
Harris, in his 'Illustrations of the Game Animals of South Africa,' as
'swinish, cross-grained, ill-tempered, wallowing brutes.'"
Mr. Burchell, during his travels in Africa, shot nine Rhinoceroses,
besides a smaller one. The latter he presented to the British Museum.
The animal is, however, becoming every day more and more scarce in
Southern Africa; indeed, it is rarely to be met with in some parts.
It appears that, in one day, two Rhinoceroses were shot by Speelman,
the faithful Hottentot who attended Mr. Burchell. He fired off his gun
but twice, and each time he killed a Rhinoceros! The animal's sense of
hearing is very quick: should he be disturbed, he sometimes becomes
furious, and pursues his enemy; and then, if once he gets sight of the
hunter, it is scarcely possible for him to escape, unless he possesses
extraordinary coolness and presence of mind. Yet, if he will quietly
wait till the enraged animal makes a run at him, and will then spring
suddenly on one side, to let it pass, he may gain time enough for
reloading his gun before the Rhinoceros gets sight of him again, which,
fortunately, owing to its imperfection of sight, it does slowly and with
difficulty.
Speelman, in shooting a large male Rhinoceros, used bullets cast with
an admixture of tin, to render them harder. They were flattened and
beat out of shape by striking against the bones, but those which were
found lodged in the fleshy parts had preserved their proper form, a fact
which shows how little the hardness of the creature's hide corresponds
with the vulgar opinion of its being impenetrable to a musket-ball.
Mr. Burchell found this Rhinoceros nearly cut up. On each side of the
carcase the Hottentots had made a fire to warm themselves; and round a
third fire were assembled at least twenty-four Bushmen, most of whom
were employed the whole night long in broiling, eating, and talking.
Their appetite seemed insatiable, for no sooner had they broiled and
eaten one slice of meat than they turned to the carcase and cut another.
The meat was excellent, and had much the taste of beef. "The tongue,"
says Mr. Burchell, "is a dainty treat, even for an epicure." The hide is
cut into strips, three feet or more in length, rounded to the thickness
of a man's finger, and tapering to the top. This is called a _shambok_,
and is universally used in the colony of the Cape for a horsewhip, and
is much more durable than the whips of European manufacture. The natural
food of the Rhinoceros, till the animal fled before the colonists, was a
pale, bushy shrub, called the Rhinoceros-bush, which burns while green
as freely as the driest fuel, so as readily to make a roadside fire.
The horn of the Rhinoceros, single or double, has its special history by
the way of popular tradition. From the earliest times this horn has been
supposed to possess preservative virtues and mysterious properties--to
be capable of curing diseases and discovering the presence of poison;
and in all countries where the Rhinoceros exists, but especially in the
East, such is still the opinion respecting it. In the details of the
first voyage of the English to India, in 1591, we find Rhinoceros' horns
monopolised by the native sovereigns on account of their reputed virtues
in detecting the presence of poison.
Thunberg observes, in his "Journey into Caffraria," that "the horns of
the Rhinoceros were kept by some people, both in town and country, not
only as rarities, but also as useful in diseases, and for the purpose
of detecting poisons. As to the former of these intentions, the fine
shavings were supposed to cure convulsions and spasms in children. With
respect to the latter, it was generally believed that goblets made of
these horns would discover a poisonous draught that was poured into
them, by making the liquor ferment till it ran quite out of the goblet.
Of these horns goblets are made, which are set in gold and silver and
presented to kings, persons of distinction, and particular friends, or
else sold at a high price, sometimes at the rate of fifty rix-dollars
each." Thunberg adds:--"When I tried these horns, both wrought and
unwrought, both old and young horns, with several sorts of poison, weak
as well as strong, I observed not the least motion or effervescence; but
when a solution of corrosive sublimate or other similar substance was
poured into one of these horns, there arose only a few bubbles, produced
by the air which had been enclosed in the pores of the horn and which
were now disengaged."
Rankin (in his "Wars and Sports") states this mode of using it: a small
quantity of water is put into the concave part of the root, then hold it
with the point downwards and stir the water with the point of an iron
nail till it is discoloured, when the patient is to drink it.
FOOTNOTE:
[5] The conveyance of a Rhinoceros over sea is a labour of some risk. In
1814 a full-grown specimen on his voyage from Calcutta to this country
became so furious that he was fastened down to the ship's deck, with
part of a chain-cable round his neck; and even then he succeeded in
destroying a portion of the vessel, till, a heavy storm coming on, the
Rhinoceros was thrown overboard to prevent the serious consequence of
his getting loose in the ship.
STORIES OF MERMAIDS.
Less than half a century ago, a pretended Mermaid was one of the sights
of a London season; to see which credulous persons rushed to pay
half-crowns and shillings with a readiness which seemed to rebuke the
record--that the existence of a Mermaid is an exploded fallacy of two
centuries since.
Mermaids have had a legendary existence from very early ages, for the
Sirens of the ancients evidently belonged to the same remarkable family.
Shakspeare uses the term Mermaid as synonymous with Siren:--
"O train me not, sweet Mermaid, with thy note,
To drown me in thy sister's flood of tears;
Sing, Syren, for thyself."--_Comedy of Errors_, iii. 2.
Elsewhere, Shakspeare's use of the term is more applicable to the Siren
than to the common idea of a Mermaid; as in the "Midsummer Night's
Dream," where the "Mermaid on a dolphin's back" could not easily have
been so placed. A Merman, the male of this imaginary species, is
mentioned by Taylor, the water-poet:--
"A thing turmoyling in the sea we spide,
Like to a Meareman."
An old writer has this ingenious illustration:--"Mermaids, in Homer,
were witches, and their songs enchantments;" which reminds us of the
invitation in Haydn's Mermaid's Song:--
"Come with me, and we will go
Where the rocks of coral grow."
The orthodox Mermaid is half woman, half fish; and the fishy half is
sometimes depicted as doubly tailed, such as we see in the heraldry of
France and Germany; and in the Basle edition of Ptolemy's "Geography,"
dated 1540, a double-tailed Mermaid figures in one of the plates. In the
arms of the Fishmongers' Company of London, the supporters are "a Merman
and maid, first, armed, the latter with a mirror in the left hand,
proper." From this heraldic employment, the Mermaid became a popular
tavern sign; and there was an old dance called the Mermaid.
Sir Thomas Browne refers to the _picture_ of Mermaids, though he does
not admit their existence. They "are conceived to answer the shape of
the ancient Sirens that attempted upon Ulysses; which, notwithstanding,
were of another description, containing no fishy composure, but made up
of man and bird." Sir Thomas is inclined to refer the Mermaid to Dagon,
the tutelary deity of the Philistines, which, according to the common
opinion, had a human female bust and a fish-like termination; though the
details of this fish idolatry are entirely conjectural.
Leyden, the Scottish poet, has left a charming ballad, entitled "The
Mermaid," the scene of which is laid at Corrievreckin: the opening of
this poem Sir Walter Scott praised as exhibiting a power of numbers
which, for mere melody of sound, has seldom been excelled in English
poetry:--
"On Jura's heath how sweetly swell
The murmurs of the mountain bee!
How softly mourns the writhèd shell
Of Jura's shore its parent sea!
"But softer floating, o'er the deep,
The Mermaid's sweet sea-soothing lay,
That charmed the dancing waves to sleep
Before the bark of Colonsay."
The ballad thus describes the wooing of the gallant chieftain:--
"Proud swells her heart! she deems at last
To lure him with her silver tongue,
And, as the shelving rocks she passed,
She raised her voice, and sweetly sung.
"In softer, sweeter strains she sung,
Slow gliding o'er the moonlight bay,
When light to land the chieftain sprung,
To hail the maid of Colonsay.
"O sad the Mermaid's gay notes fell,
And sadly sink remote at sea!
O sadly mourns the writhèd shell
Of Jura's shore, its parent sea
"And ever as the year returns,
The charm-bound sailors know the day;
For sadly still the Mermaid mourns
The lovely chief of Colonsay."
Curious evidences of the existence of Mermaids are to be found in
ancient authors. Pliny says that "the ambassadors to Augustine from Gaul
declared that sea-women were often seen in their neighbourhood." Solinus
and Aulus Gellius also speak of their existence. Some stories are,
however, past credence. It is related in the "Histoire d'Angleterre"
that, in the year 1187, a Merman was "fished up" off the coast of
Suffolk, and kept for six months. It was like a man, but wanted speech,
and at length escaped into the sea! In 1430, in the great tempests which
destroyed the dykes in Holland, some women at Edam, in West Friesland,
saw a Mermaid who had been driven by the waters into the meadows, which
were overflowed. "They took it, dressed it in female attire, and taught
it to spin!" It was taken to Haarlem, where it lived some years! Then we
read of Ceylonese fishermen, in 1560, catching, at one draught, seven
Mermen and Mermaids, which were dissected! In 1531, a Mermaid, caught in
the Baltic, was sent to Sigismund, King of Poland, with whom she lived
three days, and was seen by the whole court!