elephant, if not indeed a variety of the same species. One of its
characteristics was a woolly covering of brownish hair, rudimentary
traces of which have been found in the Indian species.
It was abundant in Europe before the glacial epoch, and seems to have
been especially common in Siberia. Lydekker’s _Royal Natural History_
gives a good account of the finding of the mammoth, and the striking
fact is noticed that the imports of fossil ivory into England prove
that, within a period of twenty years, over 20,000 mammoths must have
been discovered.
As Brehm describes, the carcasses are found frozen in the soil, to
all appearance just as the animals died, but the explanation of this
is obscure. The particular case to which he alludes was one of the
earliest finds--by Adams in 1806. Before Adams reached the carcass,
which had been known for some years, the dogs of the yakuts had eaten
most of the flesh.
See also Vogt’s _Natural History of Mammals_.
Note 9: p. 73.--_Colour of the Arctic Fox._
On the interesting question of the winter colour-change, Mr. Poulton’s
_Colours of Animals_ and Mr. Beddard’s _Animal Coloration_ should be
consulted.
Note 10: p. 75.--_Reindeer devouring Lemming._
With reference to Brehm’s statement as to reindeer eating lemming,
I may note a report on creditable authority that in the hard winter
1894-5 stags in Aberdeenshire were known to have eaten rabbits.
Note 11: p. 76.--_Migration of the Lemming._
A careful discussion of the strange migratory instinct of the lemming
will be found in the late Mr. Romanes’s _Mental Evolution in Animals_.
Note 12: p. 77.--_Food of the Reindeer._
Though the reindeer may eat grasses and aquatic plants, its great
resource is the so-called reindeer-moss, which is really a lichen,
common on the mountain heights of the interior where the herds pass the
winter.
Note 13: p. 80.--_The Phalarope._
Of the Grey Phalarope (_Phalaropus fulicarius_) and the Red-necked
Phalarope (_Phalaropus hyperboreus_), both occurring in Britain,
Professor Newton says: “A more entrancing sight to the ornithologist
can hardly be presented than by either of these species. Their graceful
form, their lively coloration, and the confidence with which both
are familiarly displayed in their breeding-quarters, can hardly be
exaggerated, and it is equally a delightful sight to watch the birds
gathering their food in the high--running surf, or, when that is done,
peacefully floating outside the breakers.” See also Collett’s _Bird
Life in Arctic Norway_.
Note 14: p. 84.--_Sense of smell and touch._
The somewhat mysterious reference which Brehm makes to a sense between
smell and touch is thoroughly justifiable. To the senses of many of the
lower animals--and even of fishes--it is exceedingly difficult to apply
our fairly definite human conceptions of smell, taste, touch, &c.
Note 15: p. 85.--_Mosquitoes._
This general term covers a large number of species belonging to the
gnat genus (_Culex_). They are very various in size, and are widely
distributed from the Tropics to the Poles. Their larvæ are aquatic, and
for their abundance the tundra obviously offers every opportunity.
THE ASIATIC STEPPES AND THEIR FAUNA.
See--
Bovalet, G. _Through the Heart of Asia_ (trans. by C. B. Pitman, 2
vols, London, 1889).
Jackson, F. G. _The Great Frozen Land_, cited above.
Note 16: p. 91.--_Flora of the steppe._
According to Seebohm (_op. cit._), “The cause of the treeless condition
of the steppes or prairies has given rise to much controversy. My own
experience in Siberia convinced me that the forests were rocky, and the
steppes covered with a deep layer of loose earth, and I came to the
conclusion that on the rocky ground the roots of the trees were able to
establish themselves firmly, so as to defy the strongest gales, which
tore them up when they were planted in loose soil. Other travellers
have formed other opinions. Some suppose that the prairies were once
covered with trees, which have been gradually destroyed by fires.
Others suggest that the earth on the treeless plains contains too much
salt or too little organic matter to be favourable to the growth of
trees. No one, so far as I know, has suggested a climatic explanation
of the circumstances. Want of drainage may produce a swamp, and the
deficiency of rainfall may cause a desert, both conditions being fatal
to forest growth, but no one can mistake either of these treeless
districts for a steppe or a prairie.” See also for general description
of steppe vegetation Kerner’s _Plant Life_ and Wiesner’s _Biologic der
Pflanzen_.
Note 17: p. 97.--_The Quagga._
The true quagga (_Equus quagga_), intermediate between zebras and
asses, is no longer known to exist, though it was described by Sir
Cornwallis Harris in 1839 as occurring in immense herds. The name
quagga is given by the Boers to Burchell’s zebra (_Equus burchelli_).
The same sad fact of approaching extermination must be noted in regard
to not a few noble animals, _e.g._ rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and
giraffe.
Selous writes in 1893: “To the best of my belief, the great white or
square-mouthed rhinoceros (_Rhinoceros simus_), the largest of modern
terrestrial mammals after the elephant, will, in the course of the next
few years, become absolutely extinct. Yet, twenty years ago, it was
a common animal over an enormous extent of country in Central South
Africa.
“Never again will the traveller be able to stand upon his wagon-box,
and, like Burchell, Andrew Smith, Cornwallis Harris, and Gordon
Cumming, scan plains literally darkened by thousands upon thousands of
wildebeests, quaggas, Burchell’s zebras, blesboks, hartebeests, and
spring-boks.”
Note 18: p. 97.--_The Buffalo._
The American bison or buffalo (_Bos americanus_) is now practically
exterminated.
Two sentences from _An Introduction to the Study of Mammals_, by Sir
W. H. Flower and Mr. R. Lydekker (London, 1891), put the case in a
nutshell.
“The multitudes in which the American bison formerly existed are almost
incredible; the prairies being absolutely black with them as far as the
eye could reach, the numbers in the herds being reckoned by millions.”
With the completion of the Kansas Branch of the Pacific Railway in
1871, the extraordinarily careless and ruthless slaughter began. In
less than ten years bison-shooting ceased to be profitable.
And now, “A herd of some two hundred wild individuals derived from the
northern herd is preserved in the Yellowstone National Park; and it
is believed that some five hundred of the race, known as Wood-Bison,
exist in British territory; _but with these exceptions this magnificent
species is exterminated_”.
A vivid account of the buffalo’s habits and of its rapid tragic
extermination will be found in Mr. Grinell’s essay “In Buffalo Days”
in _American Big-Game Hunting_ (Boone and Crockett Club), edited by Th.
Roosevelt and G. B. Grinell, Edinburgh, 1893.
See also Hornaday, _The Extirpation of the American Bison_, 1889, and
a monograph by J. A. Allen, “The American Bisons, Living and Extinct”:
_Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology_, Harvard, vol. iv., 1876.
Note 19: p. 102.--_Fighting-ruffs._
The ruff (_Machetes pugnax_) is in many ways a most interesting bird.
Thus, there is the rapid change of plumage, as the result of which the
male acquires his characteristic frill or ruff before the breeding
season. The indefatigable pugnacity of the males, the efficacy of
their shield, their assiduous polygamous courtship, their subsequent
carelessness as to the fate of the reeve and her young, and their
extraordinary “polymorphism”, are very remarkable. While the individual
peculiarities of plumage are very marked, each ruff is true season
after season to its own idiosyncrasy. Visitors to the National Museum
of Natural History in London will remember a beautiful case of ruffs in
the Entrance Hall.
Note 20: p. 103.--_Sky-goat._
Bleating of snipe. There has been much discussion as to the origin of
the peculiar drumming or bleating sound made by the snipe, to which it
owes its Scotch name of “heather-bleater”, but many at least agree with
Brehm.
Note 21: p. 106.--_Sand-grouse._
Sand-grouse (_Pterocles_ and _Syrrhaptes_), a group of birds quite
distinct from the grouse. One species, _Syrrhaptes paradoxus_, “ranging
from Northern China across Central Asia to the confines of Europe”,
has shown a tendency to extensive migration, visiting Britain, for
instance, in 1859, 1863, 1872, 1876, and abundantly in 1888. For a
concise account of these irregular invasions see Newton’s _Dictionary
of Birds_.
Note 22: p. 107.--_Yurt._
According to Radloff “jurte” or “yurt” is a general name for a more or
less transportable rough hut made of stakes, felt, bark, and the like,
varying slightly in construction in different districts. The ring to
which Brehm here refers is probably that through which the upper ends
of the converging stakes are thrust.
Note 23: p. 109.--_The Jerboa._
The rodent here referred to is the Kirghiz jerboa (_Alactaga
decumana_). What Brehm says as to its eating eggs and young birds is
confirmed by others.
Note 24: p. 115.--_The Sand-grouse or Steppe-grouse._
Pallas’s Sand-grouse (_Syrrhaptes paradoxus_), see note 21.
Note 25: p. 115--_Ancestry of the horse._
See Sir W. H. Flower’s little book on _The Horse_ (Modern Science
Series). The kulan or kiang is rather a wild ass than a wild horse,
and the balance of evidence in favour of regarding the Tarpan as in
the line of ancestry is greater than Brehm indicates. Flower suggests
that Przewalski’s horse, discovered some years ago in Central Asia, and
looked upon as a distinct species, may be a hybrid between the kiang
and the tarpan.
Note 26: p. 116.--_Ancestors of the cat and the goat._
It is very generally believed that our domestic cat is descended from
the sacred Egyptian or Caffre cat (_Felis caffra_). See St. George
Mivart’s monograph on the cat. Similarly, the breeds of domestic goat
are often referred to the Pasang or _Capra ægagrus_, found in Crete,
Asia Minor, Persia, &c. See a vivid essay by Buxton in his _Short
Stalks_, entitled “The Father of all the Goats”.
Note 27: p. 116.--_Wild camels._
An interesting note on wild camels in Spain--a strayed herd--is to be
found in _Wild Spain_ by Chapman and Buck. St. George Littledale has
recently discussed (_Proc. Zoological Society_, 1894) the question
whether the camels of Lob-nor, on the slope of Altyn Tag, are remains
of a wild stock or strayed. No wild dromedaries are known, and the same
is probably true of camels.
THE FORESTS AND SPORT OF SIBERIA.
See also--
W. Radloff, _Aus Sibirien_, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1884.
A. Th. von Middendorf, _Voyage dans l’extrême Nord et dams l’est de la
Sibérie_ (_St. Petersburg_, 1848).
Note 28: p. 123.--_The Life of the Forest._
With Brehm’s description of this minor forest, the reader should
compare that which Stanley gives of “The Great Central African Forest”
(chap. xxiii. of 2nd vol. of _In Darkest Africa_). He computes the size
of the main mass at 321,057 square miles. A few sentences from his
description may be quoted.
“Imagine the whole of France and the Iberian peninsula closely packed
with trees varying from 20 to 180 feet high, whose crowns of foliage
interlace and prevent any view of sky and sun, and each tree from a
few inches to four feet in diameter. Then from tree to tree run cables
from two inches to fifteen inches in diameter, up and down in loops
and festoons and W’s and badly-formed M’s; fold them round the trees
in great tight coils, until they have run up the entire height like
endless anacondas; let them flower and leaf luxuriantly, and mix up
above with the foliage of the trees to hide the sun, then from the
highest branches let fall the ends of the cables reaching near to the
ground by hundreds with frayed extremities, for these represent the air
roots of the epiphytes; let slender cords hang down also in tassels
with open threadwork at the ends. Work others through and through
as confusedly as possible, and pendent from branch to branch--with
absolute disregard of material, and at every fork and on every
horizontal branch plant cabbage-like lichens of the largest kind, and
broad spear-leaved plants--these would represent the elephant-eared
plant--and orchids and clusters of vegetable marvels, and a drapery of
delicate ferns which abound. Now cover tree, branch, twig, and creeper
with a thick moss like a green fur.”
He goes on to describe the rush of life to fill up each gap--the
struggle for existence--the crowding, crushing, and strangling--the
death and disease.
“To complete the mental picture of this ruthless forest, the ground
should be strewn thickly with half-formed humus of rotting twigs,
leaves, branches; every few yards there should be a prostrate giant, a
reeking compost of rotten fibres, and departed generations of insects,
and colonies of ants, half veiled with masses of vines and shrouded
by the leafage of a multitude of baby saplings, lengthy briars and
calamus in many fathom lengths, and every mile or so there should be
muddy streams, stagnant creeks, and shallow pools, green with duckweed,
leaves of lotus and lilies, and a greasy green scum composed of
millions of finite growths.”
Note 29: p. 126.--_Appearance of Decay in the Forests._
A closely similar picture is given by Mr. E. N. Buxton in recounting
a journey in the Rocky Mountains. He says: “This bane of pack-trains
is caused by forest fires, which have burnt out the life of the trees,
leaving only gaunt stems and blackened ground, followed by tempests
which have whirled these tottering giants in heaps to the ground. In
places the stems lie parallel to one another, and piled to the height
of many feet as though they had been laid in sheaves. Elsewhere, while
some have stood the shock and are still erect, their neighbours lie
prone at every conceivable angle to one another, and their branches
pierce the air as weathered snags. This ghastly waste, whether brought
about by natural causes, or the recklessness of man, will have to be
paid for some day, for are we not within measurable distance of the
inevitable world-wide timber-famine” (E. N. Buxton, _Short Stalks_,
1893).
See also Rodway’s _In the Guiana Forest_ (London, 1895), and article
“Death in the Forest” (_Natural Science_, Sept., 1892).
Note 30: p. 129.--_Taiga._
“A strip of Alpine region, 100-150 miles in breadth, consisting of
separate mountain-chains whose peaks rise from 4800-6500 feet above
sea-level, and beyond the limits of forest vegetation.” According to
Radloff, the name _taiga_ is also generally applied by the Kalmucks to
wooded and rocky mountain-land.
Note 31: p. 135.--_Extermination of the Beaver._
Mr. Martin, in his eulogy of the beaver (_Castorologia_, 1892),
describes the rapid diminution of numbers in Canada, largely as the
result of careless greed, but also through the spread of colonisation.
He believes that by the end of the century, none will be found except
in museums. Their rarity in Europe is well known.
Note 32: p. 136.--_Export of skins._
Radloff notes, in 1884, that the yearly sale of furs at the Irbitsch
fair amounts to between three and four millions of roubles.
Note 33: p. 144.--_Velvet of antlers._
An account of the various ways in which pounded antlers and the
vascular velvet were once used in medicine will be found in Prof. W.
Marshall’s recent _Arzenei-Kästlein_, Leipzig, 1894.
Note 34: p. 147.--_The Elk._
The elk (_Alces machlis_) is the largest of the land animals of Europe,
and is the same as the “moose” of Canada.
Note 35: p. 150.--_Rouble._
This varies from 3_s._ 8_d._ to 3_s._ 10_d._, but is usually reckoned
as 4_s._ Of the kopeks, afterwards referred to, a hundred go to the
rouble.
Note 36: p. 161.--_Brick Tea._
Broken or powdered tea-leaves mixed with the blood of the sheep or ox,
and formed into cakes. Other fragrant leaves are sometimes added.
Note 37: p. 165.--_The Bear rearing her cubs._
I have been unable to find any corroboration of this story as to the
she-bear employing her children of a former year as nurses.
THE STEPPES OF INNER AFRICA.
See--
Selous, F. C. _Travel and Adventure in South-East Africa_ (1893).
Solymos, B. (B. E. Falkenberg). _Desert Life: Recollections of an
Expedition in the Soudan._ London, 1880.
Foà, E. _Mes grandes Chasses dans l’Afrique Centrale._ Paris, 1895.
Lichtenstein, M. H. K. _Reise im Südlichen Africa._ Berlin, 1812.
G. Schweinfurth. _The Heart of Africa._
J. Thomson. _Through Masai Land._
_Emin Pasha in Central Africa._ Edited by Schweinfurth, Ratzel,
Felkin, and Hartlaub. London, 1885.
Also well-known works by Livingstone, Stanley, &c.
Note 38: p. 170.--_Heat in the Desert._
50° Celsius, or Centigrade = 122° Fahrenheit. Temperatures of 121°,
122°, 133° Fahr., and so on, have been repeatedly recorded in the
desert. Solymos, in his _Desert Life_, notes 115° Fahr. in the shade as
the maximum for his year. He also calls attention to the frost and ice!
“Duveyrier registered frost twenty-six times between December and March
in the plains of the Central Sahara.” His picture of the desert-well is
much less optimistic than Brehm’s.
Note 39: p. 173.--_The Termites._
Termites or “white ants” are very characteristic, wood-eating insects
of tropical Africa and other warm countries. Though not related to the
true ants, they have somewhat similar social organizations.
The reader will be rewarded who turns to Prof. Henry Drummond’s
_Tropical Africa_, where there is not only a graphic description of
the ways of the termites, but an interesting theory of their possible
agricultural importance. As they avoid the light, and travel on the
trees only under cover of their tunnels of finely-comminuted and
cemented earth, they must be continually pulverizing the soil. When
rain-storms come this fine dust is washed from the trees, and some of
it may go to swell the alluvium of distant valleys. Hence the termite
may be, like the earthworm, a soil-maker of considerable importance.
Mr. H. A. Bryden, in his _Gun and Camera in Southern Africa_ (London,
1893), writes as follows of the termites: “Our cases, portmanteaus,
&c., were arranged round, but not touching the walls. Every article
reposed on glass bottles, as the only known protection against the
depredations of white ants.... They will eat large holes in a thick
tweed coat in one night, and anything softer than metal left to their
tender mercies for a night or two is irretrievably ruined.... If the
huts are inspected every few days, the tunnels of self-made mortar
can be swept away, and the depredator kept at all events to the
flooring.... Most housewives have, at least once a year, to institute a
crusade against the marauders, dig up the flooring, and attempt to find
the queen. If the queen-ant can be successfully located and dug up, the
nuisance is ended; the rest of the ants, bereft of their sovereign, at
once quit the building, and for a season trouble no more.... In the
forests to the north and west the mischief done by these insects is
enormous. The tree is attacked, the tunnels are run up along the bole,
the wood is pierced and riddled, and the work of destruction is soon
completed.”
There is, however, a lack of precise observation as to the extent to
which termites attack trees which are altogether sound and living. In
great measure they merely hasten and complete a destruction for whose
initiation they are not responsible.
Note 40: p. 173.--_Summer Sleep._
Summer-sleep in torrid regions, affecting a few fishes, amphibians, and
reptiles, is a phenomenon analogous to hibernation elsewhere, but its
physiological explanation is even more obscure.
Note 41: p. 174.--_The Karroo._
Karroo, a general name for the highland steppes of South Africa. See H.
A. Bryden’s _Kloof and Karroo_ (1889).
Note 42: p. 178.--Cerastes (_Vipera hasselquistii_).
The horned viper is the most common viper of Northern Africa. It is
extremely poisonous. It is of a brownish-white colour with darker
markings, and has a scaly spine or horn over each eye. This species is
usually supposed to have been Cleopatra’s asp.
Note 43: p. 182. See Note 39.
Note 44: p. 183.--_The mud-fish._
This remarkable animal (_Protopterus_) is one of the Double-breathers
or Dipnoi, a member of a small class between Fishes and Amphibians,
represented by three genera--_Ceratodus_ in Queensland, _Lepidosiren_
in Brazil, and this _Protopterus_ in Africa. They differ in many ways
from other fishes, being physiologically intermediate between Fishes
and Amphibians. Hundreds of specimens have been brought within their
‘nests’ from Africa to Europe. Brehm speaks of the complete enclosure
of the capsule, but this is now known to communicate with the outer
world by a tubular passage through the mud. At the foot of this tube
the mud-fish keeps his nostrils. The lung is a specialization of the
swim-bladder which is present in most fishes.
Note 45: p. 184.--_The Royal Aspis or Uräus._
The Uräus snake or Aspis is the well-known Egyptian jugglers’ snake
(_Naja haje_). It may be over six feet in length, and is very deadly.
Note 46: p. 185.--_Spitting poison._
The poison of a snake is contained in the secretion of a specialized
salivary gland. The compression of this venom gland propels the fluid
along a duct which leads to the groove or canal of the fang. Infection
with the venom only occurs when, by more or less of a bite, the poison
is injected into the victim. No spitting of poison is known, nor would
it have effect without a wound.
Note 47: p. 186.--_The Gecko._
Figures and a brief description of the gecko’s clinging foot will be
found in Semper’s well-known _Animal Life_ (International Science
Series, 1881). The clinging power is due to numerous long bristle-like
hairs on the sole of the foot. These appear to be modifications of the
“casting-hairs” which are used in “skin-casting”.
Note 48: p. 191.--_Dance of Ostrich._
A vivid picture of the Ostrich dance will be found in Prof. Lloyd
Morgan’s _Animal Sketches_ (1892).
Note 49: p. 192.--_Ostrich._
Prof. Newton, in his _Dictionary of Birds_, notes that Ostriches,
though sometimes assembling in troops of 30-50, commonly live in
companies of four or five--one cock and the rest hens. This is
especially true at the breeding season. All the hens lay together; the
cock broods during the night; the hens take turns during the day, more,
it would seem, to guard their common treasure from jackals and small
beasts of prey than directly to forward the process of hatching, for
that is often left wholly to the sun. Some thirty eggs are laid in the
nest, and round it are scattered perhaps as many more, which are said
to be used as food for the newly-hatched chicks.
Compare works cited in that article: M. H. K. Lichtenstein, _Reise
im südlichen Africa_ (Berlin, 1812); Fursch and Hartlaub, _Vögel Ost
Afrikas_; De Mosenthal and Harting, _Ostrich and Ostrich Farming_;
also, Mrs. Martin, _Home Life on an Ostrich Farm_.
Note 50: p. 193.--_Primaries and Secondaries._
Primary feathers are the longer quill-feathers of the wing, and are
borne by the ‘hand’ of the bird; the secondaries are the quill-feathers
higher up, borne by the ulna of the arm.
THE PRIMEVAL FORESTS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
Note 51: p. 220.--_Hornbills._
Members of the family Bucerotidæ, including some 60 species whose
generic arrangement is uncertain. Of their habits Prof. Newton says:
“They breed in holes of trees, laying large white eggs, and when the
hen begins to sit, the cock plasters up the entrance with mud or
clay, leaving only a small window, through which she receives the
food he brings her during her voluntary imprisonment”. He notes Mr.
Bartlett’s discovery, confirmed by others, that the hornbills cast out
at intervals the lining of their gizzard in the form of a bag, which is
filled with the fruit that the bird has been eating, and asks whether
“these castings are really intended to form the hen-bird’s food during
her confinement”.
Note 52: p. 221.--_Umber- or Umbre-bird._