REPTILES AND BIRDS.
[Illustration: HAWKING IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
_Frontispiece._]
REPTILES AND BIRDS.
A POPULAR ACCOUNT OF THEIR VARIOUS ORDERS,
WITH A DESCRIPTION OF
THE HABITS AND ECONOMY OF THE MOST INTERESTING.
BY LOUIS FIGUIER,
AUTHOR OF "THE WORLD BEFORE THE DELUGE," "THE VEGETABLE WORLD,"
"THE INSECT WORLD," ETC. ETC.
ILLUSTRATED WITH 307 WOODCUTS.
BY MM. A. MESNEL, A. DE NEUVILLE, AND E. RIOU.
Edited and Adapted by
PARKER GILLMORE
("UBIQUE").
NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND CO.
1870.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY VIRTUE AND CO.,
CITY ROAD.
PREFACE.
In presenting to the public this English version of LOUIS FIGUIER'S
interesting work on Reptiles and Birds, I beg to state that where
alterations and additions have been made, my object has been that the
style and matter should be suited to the present state of general
knowledge, and that all classes should be able to obtain useful
information and amusement from the pages which I have now the honour and
pleasure of presenting to them.
On commencing my undertaking I was not aware of the immensity of the
labour to be done, and fear that I must have relinquished my arduous
task but for the kind encouragement of FRANK BUCKLAND, Esq., Inspector
of Salmon Fisheries, and HENRY LEE, Esq., F.L.S., F.G.S., &c., to both
of whom I take this opportunity of returning my sincere thanks.
PARKER GILLMORE
("UBIQUE").
_December, 1869._
CONTENTS.
REPTILES.
PAGE
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER I.
AMPHIBIA, OR BATRACHIANS.
Structural Distinctions 8
Intelligence 13
Characteristics 15
Historical Antiquity 18
Distribution 19
Frogs 19
Habits of Life 21
Development of Young 22
Green 23
Common 23
Green Tree 24
Toads 25
Natterjack 26
Surinam 28
Land Salamanders 31
Spotted 32
Black 33
Aquatic Salamanders 33
Crested 34
Gigantic 34
Transformations and Reproduction 35
CHAPTER II.
OPHIDIAN REPTILES, OR TRUE SNAKES.
Snakes 38
Burrowing 42
Ground 43
Tree 43
Fresh-water 43
Sea 43
Innocuous 46
Blind 46
Shield-tail 47
Black 49
Rat 49
Ringed 49
Green and Yellow 52
Viperine 52
Desert 53
Whip 54
Blunt-heads 56
Boas 56
Diamond 59
Carpet 59
Rock 61
Natal Rock 61
Guinea Rock 61
Royal Rock 61
Aboma 62
Anaconda 65
Cobra 70
Asp 75
Bungarus 76
Pit Vipers 78
Fer-de-lance 79
Jararaca 80
Trimeresurus 80
Rattle 82
Copperhead 82
Tic-polonga 88
Puff Adders 89
Common Adder 92
CHAPTER III.
THE ORDER OF LIZARDS--SAURIANS.
Lizards, Distribution and Division 99
Grey 109
Green 110
Ocellated 110
Ameivas 112
Iguanas 117
Basilisk 127
Anoles 129
Flying 132
Gecko 134
Chameleons 136
Crocodiles 141
Jacares 145
Alligators 145
Caiman 147
True 149
Gavials 153
CHAPTER IV.
CHELONIANS, OR SHIELDED REPTILES.
Formation 155
Distribution and Classification 157
Tortoises 158
Land 158
Margined 159
Moorish 159
Greek 160
Elephantine 160
Genus Pyxis 161
Ditto Kinixys 161
Homopodes 161
_Elodians, or Marsh Tortoises_:
Mud 162
Emydes 163
Pleuroderes 164
_Potamians, or River Tortoises_:
Trionyx 164
_Thalassians, or Sea Tortoises_:
Green 177
Hawk's-bill 177
Loggerhead 178
Leather-back 178
BIRDS.
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
Anatomy 181
Plumage 184
Beaks 189
Digestive Organs 191
Powers of Sight 193
Vocal Organs 195
Nests 197
Reproduction 201
Longevity 203
Utility 205
Classification 207
CHAPTER I.
THE NATATORES, OR SWIMMING BIRDS.
Divers 212
Great Northern 213
Imbrine 216
Arctic 216
Black-throated 216
Red-throated 217
Penguins 218
Manchots 219
Grebes 221
Castanean 222
Crested 223
Guillemots 224
Chapter II.
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS, AND PELICANS.
Mallard 232
Golden-eyed Garrot 242
Poachard 243
Shoveller 244
Shieldrake 246
Eider Duck 247
Common Teal 250
Velvet Duck 253
Scoter, Black 253
Great-billed 258
Goosander 259
Smew 260
Goose 261
Wild 262
Bean 266
Domestic 266
Bernicle 269
White-fronted Bernicle 269
Swan 270
Whooping 273
Black 277
Frigate Bird 277
Tropic Bird 279
Darter 281
Gannet 283
Cormorant 285
Shag 289
Pelicans 291
White 294
Crested 295
Brown 296
Spectacled 297
CHAPTER III
THE LARIDÆ.
Tern 299
Little 301
Noddy 302
Silver-winged 302
Arctic 302
Whiskered 303
Gull-billed 303
Roseate 303
Sandwich 303
Caspian 303
Scissors-bills 303
Black 304
Gulls 304
Large White-winged 306
Great Black-backed 306
Herring 306
Sea Mews 304
White, or Senator 307
Brown-masked 307
Laughing 307
Grey 308
Skua 308
Parasite 309
Richardson's 309
Pomerine 309
Common 310
Petrels 310
Giant 311
Chequered 311
Fulmar 311
Stormy 311
Blue 312
Puffins 312
Grey 312
English 312
Brown 312
Albatross 312
Common 314
Black-browed 314
Brown 314
Yellow and Black-beaked 314
CHAPTER IV.
GRALLATORES, OR WADING BIRDS.
_Palmidactyles_:
Flamingo 317
Avocet 320
Stilt Bird 321
_Macrodactyles_:
Water Hens 322
Common 323
Purple, or Sultana Fowl 324
Rails 325
Coots 326
Bald 328
Crested 328
Blue 328
Glareola 328
Jacana 328
Kamichi 330
Horned 332
Faithful 332
_Longirostres_:
Sandpipers 332
Brown 334
Greenshank 334
Redshank 334
Pond 334
Wood 334
Green 334
Common 334
Turnstone 334
Ruff 336
Knot 338
Sanderlings 339
Woodcock 339
Snipe 343
Common 344
Great 345
Jack 345
Wilson's 345
Godwit 345
Curlew 346
Ibis 348
Sacred 348
Green 351
Scarlet 351
_Cultrirostres_:
Spoonbills 352
White 352
Rose-coloured 352
Storks 353
White 353
Black 357
Argala 357
Jabiru 359
Ombrette 359
Bec-ouvert 359
Drome 359
Tantalus 360
Boatbill 360
Herons 361
Common 362
Purple 364
White 364
Bitterns 366
Crane 366
Ash-coloured 366
Demoiselle 371
Crested 371
Hooping 371
Caurale 373
_Pressirostres_:
Cariama 373
Oyster-catchers 373
Runners 376
Lapwings 376
Plovers 378
Great Land 379
Doterel 379
Ringed 379
Kentish 380
Golden 380
Pluvian 381
Bustard 381
Great 381
_Brevipennæ_:
Ostrich 383
Rhea 390
Cassowary 392
Emu 393
Apteryx 395
_Extinct Brevipennæ_:
Dodo 397
Epiornis 397
Dinornis 397
CHAPTER V.
GALLINACEOUS BIRDS.
Habits, origin, &c. 399
_Tetraonidæ_:
Capercailzie 401
Grouse, Black 402
Pinnated 402
Ruffed 403
Cock of the Plains 402
Gelinotte 403
Ptarmigans 404
Common 404
Red Grouse 405
_Perdicides_:
Gangas 405
Pin-tailed Sand Grouse 406
Heteroclites 406
Quails 406
Partridges 410
Grey 415
Partridges, Red-legged 417
Gambra 417
Colin, Virginian 417
Californian 418
Solitary 419
Francolins 419
Chinese 419
European 420
African and Indian 420
Coturnix 420
Turnix tachydroma 420
Tinamides 420
Chionidæ 421
Megapodidæ 421
_Phasianidæ_:
Pheasants 422
Common 422
Golden 425
Silver 425
Ring-necked 427
Reeves's 427
Lady Amherst's 427
Argus 427
Gallus 427
Common 427
Bankiva 429
Jungle-fowl 429
Bronzed 429
Fork-tailed 429
Kulm 429
Negro 429
Tragopans 435
Pintados 435
Turkeys 437
Wild 437
Domestic 440
Ocellated 441
Peacocks 441
Domestic 442
Wild 444
Polyplectrons 444
Impeyan Pheasants 444
Alectors 444
Hocco, or Curassow 444
Pauxis 446
Penelopes, or Guans 446
Hoazins 446
_Columbidæ_:
Colombi-Gallines 447
Pigeons (Colombes) 448
Ring or Wood 450
Wild Rock 450
Common Domestic 450
Pouter 451
Roman 451
Swift 452
Carrier 452
Tumbler 452
Wheeling 452
Nun 452
Fan-tailed 452
Turtle Dove 453
Ring Dove 453
Passenger 453
Columbars 456
CHAPTER VI.
SCANSORES, OR CLIMBERS.
Parrots 457
Macaw 464
Parrakeets 465
Tabuan 465
Parrot, Grey 466
Green 466
Cockatoos 466
Toucans 467
Proper 468
Aracaris 469
Cuckoos 469
Grey 469
Indicators 472
Anis 473
Barbets 474
Trogons 475
Resplendent 476
Mexican 476
Woodpeckers 476
Wry-necks 479
Jacamars 480
CHAPTER VII.
PASSERINES.
_Syndactyles_:
Hornbills 482
Rhinoceros 483
Fly-catchers 483
King-fishers 484
Ceyx Meninting 486
Bee-eaters 486
Common 488
Momots 487
_Tenuirostres_:
Hoopoes 488
Epimachus 490
Promerops 490
Colibri 491
Proper 491
Humming-birds 491
Creepers 495
Picumnus 496
Furnarius 496
Sucriers 497
Soui-mangas 497
Nuthatches 498
_Conirostres_:
Birds of Paradise 499
Great Emerald 500
King Bird 500
Superb 500
Sifilets 501
Crows 502
Raven 502
Carrion 502
Royston 502
Rook 502
Jackdaw 502
Magpies 507
Common 508
Brazilian 509
Chinese 509
Jays 509
Nut-cracker 510
Rollers 511
Starlings 512
Common 513
Sardinian 513
Baltimore Oriole 514
Beef-eater 514
Crossbill 515
Grosbeak 516
Bullfinch 517
Siskin 517
House Sparrow 518
Goldfinch 519
Linnets 519
Chaffinch 520
Canary 521
Widow Bird 523
Java Sparrow 523
Weaver Birds 523
Republican 524
Buntings 524
Reed 525
Cirl 526
Ortolan 526
Snow 527
Tits 527
Great 528
Long-tailed 528
Larks 529
Crested Lark 531
_Fissirostres_:
Swallow 531
Salangane 537
Goatsuckers 538
Night-jar 540
Guacharos 541
_Dentirostres_:
Manakins 542
Cock of the Rock 542
Warblers 542
Nightingale 543
Sedge Warbler 545
Night Warbler 545
La Fauvette Couturière 546
Garden 547
Robin 547
Wrens 547
Golden-crested 548
European 548
Wood 548
Stone Chat 549
Wagtails 550
Pied 551
Quaketail 551
Pipits 552
Lyretail 552
Orioles 553
Golden 553
Mino 554
Honey-sucker 555
Ouzel, Rose-coloured 555
Water 556
Solitary Thrush 556
Blackbird, Common 557
Ringed 559
Solitary 559
Thrush, Polyglot 559
Song 560
Redwing 561
Tanagers 561
Drongos 562
Cotingas 563
Caterpillar-eater 563
Chatterers 564
Fly-catchers 565
Tyrants 567
Cephalopterus ornatus 567
Shrikes 568
Vangas 571
Cassicus 571
CHAPTER VIII.
RAPTORES, OR BIRDS OF PREY.
_Nocturnal_:
Horned Owls 576
Great 576
Virginian 579
Short-eared 579
Ketupu 581
Scops 581
Hornless Owls 583
Sparrow 583
Small Sparrow 584
Pampas Sparrow 584
Burrowing 585
Tawny 585
Barn 585
Canada 588
Hawk 589
White 589
Caparacoch 590
Harfang 590
Lapland 591
Ural 591
_Diurnal_:
Eagles 592
Royal 602
Imperial 602
Bonelli's 602
Tawny 602
Booted 602
Reinwardt's 602
Vulturine 602
Sea Eagles 602
European 603
American 604
Marine 604
Piscivorous 604
Caffir 604
Mace's 604
Pondicherry 604
Indian 604
Osprey 605
Huppart 606
Falco urubitinga 606
Harpy 606
White-bellied Eagle 607
Falcons 608
Gyrfalcons 608
White 609
Iceland 609
Norway 609
Falcons 610
Lanier 610
Sultan 610
Peregrine 610
Hobby 613
Merlin 613
Kestrel 613
Bengal 613
Goshawk 622
Sparrow-hawks 623
Common 623
Dwarf 623
Chanting Falcon 624
Kites 624
Common 624
Black 625
Parasite 625
American 625
Buzzards 626
Common 627
Honey 627
Rough-legged 627
Harriers 627
Hen 628
Moor 628
Frog-eating 628
Pale-chested 629
Jardine's 629
Ash-coloured 629
Caracaras 629
Brazilian 629
Chimango 629
Long-winged 629
Chimachima 629
Funebris 631
Vultures 631
Griffons 632
Bearded 632
Sarcoramphi 634
Condor 634
King Vulture 638
Cathartes 639
Urubu 639
Turkey Buzzard 641
Common Vulture 641
Percnopterus 641
Vulture, Pondicherry 642
Kolbe's 642
Yellow 642
Sociable 645
Chinese 646
Oricou 646
Serpent-eaters 646
Secretary Bird 646
ERRATA.
_Phasianus cristatus indicus_, in page 448, should be attributed to
Brisson, not Latham.
The synonym for Ring Pigeon, in page 448, should be _Columba palumbus_.
Woodcut 182 represents the Stock Dove, erroneously named Wood Pigeons in
page 450.
REPTILES AND BIRDS.
INTRODUCTORY.
There is little apparent resemblance between the elegant feathered
warbler which makes the woods re-echo to its cheerful song, and the
crawling reptile which is apt to inspire feelings of disgust when the
more potent sensation of terror is absent--between the familiar Swallow,
which builds its house of clay under the eaves of your roof, or the
warbler whose nest, with its young progeny, carefully watched by the
father of the brood in the silent watches of the night, is now
threatened by the Serpent which has glided so silently into the bush,
its huge mouth already open to swallow the whole family, while the
despairing and fascinated parents have nothing but their slender bills
to oppose to their formidable foe. "Placed side by side," says Professor
Huxley, "a Humming-bird and a Tortoise, or an Ostrich and a Crocodile,
offer the strongest contrast; and a Stork seems to have little but its
animality in common with the Snake which it swallows." Nevertheless,
unlike as they are in outward appearance, there is sufficient
resemblance in their internal economy to bring them together in most
attempts at a classification of the Animal Kingdom. The air-bladder
which exists between the digestive canal and kidneys in some fishes,
becomes vascular with the form and cellular structure of lungs in
reptiles; the heart has two auricles, the ventricle in most is
imperfectly divided, and more or less of the venous blood is mixed with
the arterial which circulates over the body; but retaining their gills
and being therefore transitional in structure, they are also
cold-blooded. In birds, the lungs are spongy, the cavity of the
air-bags becoming obliterated by the multiplication of vascular
cellules; the heart is four-chambered, transmitting venous blood to the
lungs, and pure arterial blood to the body; the temperature is raised
and maintained at 90° to 100° Fahr.
Thus Reptiles, like Birds, breathe the common air by means of their
lungs, but respiration is much less active. "Although," remarks
Professor Owen, "the heart of Birds resembles in some particulars that
of Reptiles, the four cavities are as distinct as in the Mammalia, but
they are relatively stronger, their valvular mechanism is more perfect,
and the contractions of this organ are more forcible and frequent in
birds, in accordance with their more extended respiration and their more
energetic muscular action." It is true, as Professor Huxley informs us,
that the pinion of a bird, which corresponds with the human hand or the
fore paw of a reptile, has three points representing three fingers: no
reptile has so few.[1] The breast-bone of a bird is converted into
membrane-bone: no such conversion takes place in reptiles. The sacrum is
formed by a number of caudal and dorsal vertebræ. In reptiles the organ
is constituted by one or two sacral vertebræ.
[1] _Vide_, however, p. 8.--ED.
In other respects the two classes present many obvious differences, but
these are more superficial than would be suspected at first glance. And
Professor Huxley believes that, structurally, "reptiles and birds do
really agree much more closely than birds with mammals, or reptiles with
amphibians."
While most existing birds differ thus widely from existing reptiles, the
cursorial or struthious genera, comprising the Ostrich, Nandou, Emu,
Cassowary, Apteryx, and the recently extinct Dinornis of New Zealand,
come nearer to the reptiles in structure than any others. All of these
birds are remarkable for the shortness of their wings, the absence of a
crest or keel upon the breast-bone, and some peculiarities of the skull,
which render them more peculiarly reptilian. But the gap between
reptiles and birds is only slightly narrowed by their existence, and is
somewhat unsatisfactory to those who advocate the development theory,
which asserts that all animals have proceeded, by gradual modification,
from a common stock.
Traces had been discovered in the Mesozoic formations of certain
Ornitholites, which were too imperfect to determine the affinities of
the bird. But the calcareous mud of the ancient sea-bottom, which has
hardened into the famous lithographic slate of Solenhofen, revealed to
Hermann von Meyer, in 1861, first the impression of a feather, and, in
the same year, the independent discovery of the skeleton of the bird
itself, which Von Meyer had named _Archæopteryx lithographicus_. This
relic of a far-distant age now adorns the British Museum.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Archæopteryx lithographicus.]
The skull of the Archæopteryx is almost lost, but the leg, the foot, the
pelvis, the shoulder-girdle, and the feathers, as far as their structure
can be made out, are completely those of existing birds. On the other
hand, the tail is very long. Two digits of the manus have curved claws,
and, to all appearance, the metacarpal bones are quite free and
disunited, exhibiting, according to Professor Huxley, closer
approximation to the reptilian structure than any existing bird. Mr.
Evans has even detected that the mandibles were provided with a few
slender teeth.
On the other hand, the same writer points out certain peculiarities in
the single reptile found also among the Solenhofen slates, which has
been described and named _Compsognathus longipes_ by the late Andreas
Wagner. This reptile he declares "to be a still nearer approximation to
the missing link between reptiles and birds," thus narrowing the gap
between the two classes.
While we think it proper to point to these structural resemblances of
one class of the animal creation to others very different in their
external appearance, it is necessary to guard ourselves and our readers
from adopting the inferences sometimes deduced from them; that "these
infinitely diversified forms are merely the final terms in an immense
series of changes which have been brought about in the course of
immeasurable time, by the operation of causes more or less similar to
those which are at work at the present day." Domestication and other
causes have no doubt produced changes in the form of many animals; but
none from which this inference can be drawn, except in the imagination
of ingenious men who strain the facts to support a preconceived
hypothesis. In spite of the innumerable forms which the pigeon assumes
by cross-breeding and domestication, it still remains a pigeon; the dog
is still a dog, and so with other animals. Nor does it seem to us to be
necessary, or calculated to advance our knowledge in natural history, to
form theories which can only disturb our existing systems without
supplying a better. Systems are necessary for the purpose of arrangement
and identification; but it should never be forgotten that all
classifications are artificial--a framework or cabinet, into the
partitions of which many facts may be stowed away, carefully docketed
for future use. "Theories," says Le Vaillant, "are more easily made and
more brilliant probably than observations; but it is by observation
alone that science can be enriched." A bountiful Creator appears to have
adopted one general plan in the organization of all the vertebrate
creation; and, in order to facilitate their study, naturalists have
divided them into classes, orders, and genera, formed on the differences
which exist in the structure of their vital functions. The advantages of
this are obvious, but it does not involve the necessity of fathoming
what is unfathomable, of explaining what is to man inexplicable in the
works of GOD.[2]
[2] This, however, is a subject upon which naturalists of the
highest rank hold different opinions, many of those most highly
qualified to form a correct judgment advocating the tenets
propounded by Mr. Charles Darwin.--ED.
In previous volumes of this series[3] we have endeavoured to give the
reader some general notions of the form, life, and manners of the
branches of the animal kingdom known as Zoophytes, Mollusca, Articulata,
and Pisces. We now continue the superior sub-kingdom (to which the
fishes also belong) of the Vertebrated Animals, so called from the
osseous skeleton which encircles their bodies, in which the vertebral
column, surmounted by the cranium, its appendage, forms the principal
part.
[3] "The Ocean World," from the French of Louis Figuier. "The
Insect World," from the French of the same author.
The presence of a solid frame in this series of animals admits of their
attaining a size which is denied to any of the others. The skeleton
being organized in such a manner as to give remarkable vigour and
precision to all their movements.
In the vertebrated animals the nervous system is also more developed.
There is, consequently, a more exquisite sensibility in them than in the
classes whose history we have hitherto discussed. They possess five
senses, more or less fully developed, a heart, a circulation, and their
blood is red.
We have now to deal with a class advanced above that of fishes, that of
Reptilia, which is divided as follows:--
AMPHIBIA--(BATRACHIA, CUV.)
Animals having ribs or processes, or short, slight, and free
vertebræ, forming a series of separate centrums, deeply cupped at
both ends, one of which is converted by ossification in the mature
animal into a ball, which may be the front one, as in the Surinam
Toad, _Pipa_, or the hind ones in the Frogs and Toads, _Rana_. The
skin is nude, limbs digitate, gills embryonal,--permanent in
some, in most lost in metamorphosis,--to be succeeded by pulmonary
respiration,--or both; a heart with one ventricle and two auricles.
They consist of:--
I. OPHIOMORPHA.
Cæciliadæ or Ophiosomæ.
II. ICTHYOMORPHA.
Proteidæ or Sirens, Proteus, Newts, and Salamanders.
III. THERIOMORPHA.
_Aglosa_ Pipa or Surinam Toads.
_Ranidæ_ Frogs.
_Hylidæ_ Tree Frogs.
_Bufonidæ_ Toads.
CHELONIA, OR TURTLES.
Distinguished by the double shield in which their bodies are enclosed,
whether they are terrestrial, fresh-water, or marine.
The Turtles, _Chelonia_, have the limbs natatory.
Mud Turtles, _Trionyx_, } limbs amphibious.
Terrapens, _Emys_, }
Tortoises, _Testudo_, limbs terrestrial.
LACERTILIA.
Having a single transverse process on each side, single-headed ribs, two
external nostrils, eyes with movable lids; body covered with horny,
sometimes bony, scales.
_Lacerta_--the Monitors, Crocodiles, Lizards; having ambulatory limbs.
_Anguis_--Ophisaurus, Bimanus, Chalcides, Seps; limbs abortive; no
sacrum.
OPHIDIA.
Having numerous vertebræ with single-headed hollow ribs, no visible
limbs, eyelids covered by an immovable transparent lid; body covered by
horny scales. It includes:--
_Viperinæ_--the Vipers and Crotalidæ.
_Colubrinæ_--the Colubers, Hydridæ, and Boidæ.
CROCODILIA.
Teeth in a single row, implanted in distinct sockets; body depressed,
elongated, protected on the back by solid shield; tail longer than the
trunk, compressed laterally, and furnished with crests above. The
several families are:--
_Crocodilidæ_--the Gavials, Mecistops, Crocodiles.
_Alligatoridæ_--Jacares, Alligators, Caiman.[4]
[4] By some naturalists the _Amphibia_ are considered as a
distinct class, by other as a sub-class either of _Reptilia_ or
of _Pisces_. Of the reptiles proper (at present existing), the
arrangement into the orders _Testudinata_ (or Tortoises), _Sauria_
(or Lizards), and _Ophidia_ (or Snakes), is the one most generally
adopted; but De Blainville elevates the _Loricata_ (or Crocodiles)
to the rank of an order, and others have adopted a division of
corresponding rank, _Saurophidia_, for the _Anguis_ series above
referred to; but the latter are merely limbless Lizards (or with
abortive limbs) akin to the Scinques.--ED.
CHAPTER I.
AMPHIBIA, OR BATRACHIANS.
Those geographers who divide the world into land and sea overlook
in their nomenclature the extensive geographical areas which belong
permanently to neither section--namely, the vast marshy regions on the
margins of lakes, rivers, and ponds, which are alternately deluged with
the overflow of the adjacent waters, and parched and withering under
the exhalations of a summer heat; regions which could only be inhabited
by beings capable of living on land or in water; beings having both
gills through which they may breathe in water, and lungs through which
they may respire the common air. The first order of reptiles possesses
this character, and hence its name of Amphibia, from +amphibios+,
having a double life.
The transition from fishes to reptiles is described by Professor Owen,
with that wonderful power of condensation which he possesses, in the
following terms:--"All vertebrates during more or less of their
developmental life-period float in a liquid of similar specific gravity
to themselves. A large proportion, constituting the lowest organised and
first developed forms of this province, exist and breathe in water, and
are called fishes. Of these a few retain the primitive vermiform
condition, and develop no limbs; in the rest they are 'fins' of simple
form, moving by one joint upon the body, rarely adapted for any other
function than the impulse or guidance of the body through the water. The
shape of the body is usually adapted for moving with least resistance
through the liquid medium. The surface of the body is either smooth and
lubricous or it is smoothly covered with overlapping scales; it is
rarely defended by bony plates, or roughened by tubercles. Still more
rarely it is armed with spines." Passing over the general economy of
fishes we come to the heart. "The heart," he tells us, "consists of one
auricle receiving the venous blood, and one ventricle propelling it to
the gills or organs submitting that blood in a state of minute
subdivisions to the action of aërated water. From the gills the aërated
blood is carried over the entire body by vessels, the circulation being
aided by the contraction of the surrounding muscles."
The functions of gills are described by the Professor with great
minuteness. "The main purpose of the gills of fishes," he says, "being
to expose the venous blood in this state of minute subdivision to
streams of water, the branchial arteries rapidly divide and sub-divide
until they resolve themselves into microscopic capillaries, constituting
a network in one plane or layer, supported by an elastic plate, covered
by a tesselated and non-ciliated epithelium. This covering and the
tunics of the capillaries are so thin as to allow chemical interchange
and decomposition to take place between the carbonated blood and the
oxygenated water. The requisite extent of the respiratory field of
capillaries is gained by various modes of multiplying the surface within
a limited space." "Each pair of processes," he adds, "has its flat side
turned towards contiguous pairs, and the two processes of each pair
stand edgeway to each other, being commonly united for a greater or less
extent from their base; hence Cuvier describes each pair as a single
bifurcated plate, or 'feuillet.'"
The modification which takes place in the respiratory and other organs
in Reptilia, is described in a few words. "Many fishes have a bladder of
air between the digestive canal and the kidneys, which in some
communicate with an air-duct and the gullet; but its office is chiefly
hydrostatic. When on the rise of structure this air-bladder begins to
assume the vascular and pharyngeal relations with the form and cellular
structure of lungs, the limbs acquire the character of feet: at first
thread-like and many jointed, as in the _Lepidosiren_; then bifurcate,
or two-fingered, with the elbow and wrist joints of land animals, as in
_Amphiuma_; next, three-fingered, as in _Proteus_, or four-fingered, but
reduced to the pectoral pair, as in _Siren_."
In all reptiles the blood is conveyed from the ventricular part of the
heart, really or apparently, by a single trunk. In Lepidosiren the veins
from the lung-like air-bladders traverse the auricle which opens
directly into the ventricle. In some the vein dilates before
communicating with the ventricle into a small auricle, which is not
outwardly distinct from the much larger auricle receiving the veins of
the body. In Proteus the auricular system is incomplete. In Amphiuma the
auricle is smaller and less fringed than in the Sirens, the ventricle
being connected to the pericardium by the apex as well as the artery.
This forms a half spiral turn at its origin, and dilates into a broader
and shorter bulb than in the Sirens.
"The pulmonic auricle," continues the learned Professor, "thus augments
in size with the more exclusive share taken by the lungs in respiration;
but the auricular part of the heart shows hardly any outward sign of its
diversion in the Batrachians. It is small and smooth, and situated on
the left, and in advance of the ventricle in Newts and Salamanders. In
Frogs and Toads the auricle is applied to the base of the ventricle, and
to the back and side of the aorta and its bulb."
In the lower members of the order, the single artery from the ventricle
sends, as in fishes, the whole of the blood primarily to the branchial
organs, during life, and in all Batrachians at the earlier aquatic
periods of existence. In the Newt three pairs of external gills are
developed at first as simple filaments, each with its capillary loop,
but speedily expanding, lengthening, and branching into lateral
processes, with corresponding looplets; those blood-channels
intercommunicating by a capillary network. The gill is covered by
ciliated scales, which change into non-ciliated cuticle shortly before
the gills are absorbed. In the _Proteus anguinus_, three parts only of
branchial and vascular arches are developed, corresponding with the
number of external gills. In _Siren lacertina_ the gills are in three
pairs of branchial arches, the first and fourth fixed, the second and
third free, increasing in size according to their condition.
The AMPHIBIA, then, have all, at some stage of their existence, both
gills and lungs co-existent: respiring by means of branchiæ or gills
while in the water, and by lungs on emerging into the open air.
All these creatures seem to have been well known to the ancients. The
monuments of the Egyptians abound in representations of Frogs, Toads,
Tortoises, and Serpents. Aristotle was well acquainted with their form,
structure, and habits, even to their reproduction. Pliny's description
presents his usual amount of error and exaggeration. Darkness envelops
their history during the middle ages, from which it gradually emerges in
the early part of the sixteenth century, when Belon and Rondiletius in
France, Salviani in Italy, and Conrad Gesner in Switzerland, devoted
themselves to the study of Natural History with great success. In the
latter part of the same century Aldrovandi appeared. During fifty years
he was engaged in collecting objects and making drawings, which were
published after his death, in 1640, edited by Professor Ambrossini, of
Bologna, the Reptiles forming two volumes. In these volumes, twenty-two
chapters are occupied by the Serpents. But the first arrangement which
can be called systematic was that produced by John Ray. This system was
based upon the mode of respiration, the volume of the eggs, and their
colour.
Numerous systems have since appeared in France, Germany, and England;
but we shall best consult our readers' interest by briefly describing
the classification adopted by Professor Owen, the learned Principal of
the British Museum, in his great work on the Vertebrata.
The two great classes Batrachians and Reptiles, include a number of
animals which are neither clothed with hair, like the Mammalia, covered
with feathers like the birds, nor furnished with swimming fins like
fishes. The essential character of reptiles is, that they are either
entirely or partially covered with scales. Some of them--for instance,
Serpents--move along the ground with a gliding motion, produced by the
simple contact and adhesion of the ventral scales with the ground.
Others, such as the Tortoises, the Crocodiles, and the Lizards, move by
means of their feet; but these, again, are so short, that the animals
almost appear to crawl on the ground--however swiftly, in some
instances. The locomotive organs in Serpents are the vertebral column,
with its muscles, and the stiff epidermal scutes crossing the under
surface of the body. "A Serpent may, however, be seen to progress,"
says Professor Owen, "without any inflection, gliding slowly and with a
ghost-like movement in a straight line, and if the observer have the
nerve to lay his hand flat in the reptile's course, he will feel, as the
body glides over the palm, the surface pressed as it were by the edges
of a close-set series of paper knives, successively falling flat after
each application." Others of the class, such as the Tortoises,
Crocodiles, and Lizards, move by the help of feet, which are generally
small and feeble--in a few species being limited to the pectoral region,
while in most both pairs are present. In some, as in various Lizards,
the limbs acquire considerable strength.
There is one genus of small Lizards, known as the Dragons, _Draco_,
whose movements present an exception to the general rule. Besides their
four feet, these animals are furnished with a delicate membranous
parachute, formed by a prolongation of the skin on the flanks and
sustained by the long slender ribs, which permits of their dropping from
a considerable height upon their prey.
Batrachians, again, differ from most other Reptilia by being naked:
moreover, most of them undergo certain metamorphoses; in the first stage
of their existence they lead a purely aquatic life, and breathe by means
of gills, after the manner of fishes. Young Frogs, Toads, and
Salamanders, which are then called _tadpoles_, have, in short, no
resemblance whatever to their parents in the first stage of their
existence. They are little creatures with slender, elongated bodies,
destitute of feet and fins, but with large heads, which may be seen
swimming about in great numbers in stagnant ponds, where they live and
breathe after the manner of fishes. By degrees, however, they are
transformed: their limbs and air-breathing lungs are gradually
developed, then they slowly disappear, and a day arrives when they find
themselves conveniently organized for another kind of existence; they
burst from their humid retreat, and betake themselves to dry land. "The
tadpole meanwhile being subject to a series of changes in every system
of organs concerned in the daily needs of the coming aërial and
terrestrial existence, still passes more or less time in water, and
supplements the early attempt at respiration by pullulating loops and
looplets of capillaries from the branchial vessels." (Owen.)
Nevertheless, they do not altogether forget their native element; thanks
to their webbed feet, they can still traverse the waters which sheltered
their infancy; and when alarmed by any unusual noise, they rush into the
water as a place of safety, where they swim about in apparent enjoyment.
In some of them, as _Proteus_ and the amphibious _Sirens_, where the
limbs are confined to the pectoral region, swimming seems to be the
state most natural to them. They are truly amphibious, and they owe this
double existence to the persistence of their gills; for in these
perennibranchiate Batrachians, arteries are developed from the last pair
of branchial arches which convey blood to the lungs: while, in those
having external deciduous gills, the office being discharged, they lose
their ciliate and vascular structure and disappear altogether. The skull
in Reptiles generally consists of the same parts as in the Mammalia,
though the proportions are different. The skull is flat, and the
cerebral cavity, small as it is, is not filled with brain. The vertebral
column commences at the posterior part of the head, two condyles
occupying each side of the vertebral hole (Fig. 2). The anterior limbs
are mostly shorter than the posterior, as might be expected of animals
whose progression is effected by leaps. Ribs there are none. The sternum
is highly developed, and a large portion of it is cartilaginous; it
moves in its mesial portions the two clavicles and two coracoid bones,
which fit on to the scapula, the whole making a sort of hand which
supports the anterior extremities, and an elongated disk which supports
the throat, and assists in deglutition and respiration. The bone of the
arm (_humerus_) is single, and long in proportion to the fore arm. In
the Frogs (_Rana_), the ilic bone is much elongated, and is articulated
in a movable manner on the sacrum, so that the two heads of the thigh
bones seem to be in contact. The femur, or thigh, is much lengthened and
slightly curved, and the bones of the leg so soldered together as to
form a single much elongated bone.
[Illustration: Fig. 2.--Skeleton of a Frog.]
The respiration of Reptiles and some of the Batrachians, like that of
Birds and Mammals, is aërial and pulmonary, but it is much less active.
Batrachians have, in addition, a very considerable cutaneous
respiration. Some of them, such as Toads, absorb more oxygen through the
skin than by the lungs. Their circulation is imperfect, the structure
of the heart only presenting one ventricle; the blood, returning after a
partial regeneration in the lungs, mingles with that which is not yet
revivified: this mixed fluid is launched out into the economic system of
the animal. Thus Reptiles and Batrachians are said to be _cold-blooded_
animals, more especially the former, in which the respiratory organs,
which are a constant source of interior heat, are only exercised very
feebly. Owing to this low temperature of their bodies, reptiles affect
warm climates, where the sun exercises its power with an intensity
unknown in temperate regions; hence it is that they abound in the warm
latitudes of Asia, Africa, and America, whilst comparatively few are
found in Europe. This is also the cause of their becoming torpid during
the winter of our latitudes: not having sufficient heat in themselves to
produce reaction against the external cold, they fall asleep for many
months, awakening only when the temperature permits of their activity.
Serpents, Lizards, Tortoises, Frogs, are all subjected to this law of
their being. Some hybernate upon the earth, under heaps of stones, or in
holes; others in mud at the bottom of ponds. The senses are very
slightly developed in these animals; those of touch, taste, and smell,
are very imperfect; that of hearing, though less obtuse, leaves much to
be desired; but sight in them is very suitably exercised by the large
eyes, with contractile eye-balls, which enables certain reptiles--such,
for instance, as the Geckos, to distinguish objects in the dark. Most
Reptiles and Batrachians are almost devoid of voice: Serpents, however,
utter a sharp hissing noise, some species of Crocodiles howl
energetically, the Geckos are particularly noisy, and Frogs have a
well-known croak. In Reptiles and Batrachians the brain is small, a
peculiarity which explains their slight intelligence and the almost
entire impossibility of teaching them anything. They can, it is true, be
tamed; but although they seem to know individuals, they do not seem to
be susceptible of affection: the slight compass of their brain renders
them very insensible, and this insensibility to pain enables them to
support mutilations which would prove immediately fatal to most other
animals. For instance, the Common Lizard frequently breaks its tail in
its abrupt movements. Does this disturb him? Not at all! This
curtailment of his being does not seem to affect him; he awaits
patiently for the return of the organ, which complaisant nature renews
as often as it becomes necessary. In the Crocodiles and Monitor Lizards,
however, a mutilated part is not renewed, and the renovated tails of
other Lizards do not develop bone. In some instances, the eyes may be
put out with impunity, or part of the head may be cut off; these organs
will be replaced or made whole in a certain time without the animal
having ceased to perform any of the functions which are still permitted
to him in his mutilated state. A Tortoise will continue to live and walk
for six months after it is deprived of its brain, and a Salamander has
been seen in a very satisfactory state although its head was, so to
speak, isolated from the trunk by a ligature tied tightly close round
the neck. There is another curious peculiarity in the history of
Reptiles and Batrachians: each year as they awake from their state of
torpor, they slough their old covering, and thus each year renew their
youth; so far as the skin is concerned, it is certain that they retain
their youth a very long time. Their growth is slow, and continues almost
through the whole duration of their existence; they are, moreover,
endowed with remarkable longevity. This is not very astonishing, if we
consider that (at least in our latitudes) they remain torpid for several
months yearly; thus using up less of the materials of life than most
animals, they ought, consequently, to attain a more advanced age. The
activity of organization in Reptiles and Batrachians is so slight that
their stomachs feel less of the exigencies of hunger; hence they rarely
take nourishment; they digest their food with equal deliberation. With
the exception of the Land Tortoises, whose regimen is herbivorous, most
reptiles feed on living prey. Some, such as Lizards, Frogs, and Toads,
prey on worms, insects, small terrestrial or aquatic Molluscs; others,
such as Ophidians and Crocodiles, attack Birds, and even Mammalia. Large
Serpents, owing to the distensibility of their oesophagus, swallow
animals much larger than themselves. The Boa-constrictor darts upon the
Deer, binds him in its snaky coils, breaks his bones, and little by
little swallows him entirely.
Reptiles, whether Batrachians, Ophidians, or Chelonians, are mostly
_oviparous_, sometimes _ovo-viviparous_, and some of them are very
prolific. The eggs of some are covered with a calcareous envelope, as in
the Turtle. Sometimes they are soft, and analogous to the spawn of fish,
as in the Batrachians. They do not hatch their eggs by sitting upon
them, but bury them in the sand, and take no further care of them,
trusting to the heat of the sun, which hatches them in due course. To
this the Pythons form a partial exception. Batrachians content
themselves with diffusing their spawn or eggs in the marshy waters or
ponds, or they bear them on their backs until the time of hatching
approaches. On leaving the egg the young Tortoises have to provide
immediately for their own wants, for the parents are not present to
bring them their nourishment or to defend them against their enemies.
This parental protection, so manifest among the superior animals, does
not exist in oviparous species; that is, in those whose eggs are not
hatched in the body of the mother. The young are, so to speak, produced
in a living state, and fully prepared for the battle of life. The loves
of these animals present none of that character of mutual affection and
tender sympathy which distinguishes the Mammalia and Birds.[5] When they
have ensured the perpetuity of their species, they separate, and betake
themselves again to their solitary existence.
[5] Birds, however, are oviparous, and nevertheless manifest the
strongest parental affection.--ED.
Some reptiles attain dimensions truly extraordinary, which render them
at times very formidable. Turtles are met with which weigh as much as
sixteen hundred pounds, and the carapace of one of these measured as
much as six feet in length. The size of an ordinary Crocodile is from
eight to nine feet, but they have been seen twenty-four and even thirty
feet long, with a mouth opening from six to eight feet wide.
[Illustration: Fig. 3.--Skeleton of a Turtle.]
In Chelonians the surface of the skull is continuous without movable
articulations. The head is oval in the Land Tortoises, the interval
between the eyes large and convex, the opening of the nostrils large,
the orbits round. The general distinguishing characteristic of Tortoises
is the external position of the bones of the thorax, at once enveloping
with a cuirass or buckler the muscular portion of the frame, and
protecting the pelvis and shoulder bones. The ribs are inserted by means
of sutures into these plates, and united with each other. A
three-branched shoulder and cylindrical shoulder-blade are
characteristic of the Tortoises.
In tropical regions enormous Serpents are found, which are as bulky as a
man's thigh, and are said to be not less than forty feet in length.
Roman annals mention one forty feet long, which Regulus encountered in
Africa during the Punic wars, and which is fabulously said to have
arrested the march of his army. These gigantic reptiles are not,
however, the enemies which man has most cause to fear; their very size
draws attention to them in such a manner that it is easy to avoid them.
It is quite otherwise with Vipers twenty or thirty inches long; they
glide after their prey without being seen, strike it cruelly with their
fangs, leaving in the wound a venom which produces death with startling
rapidity. Doubtless this fatal power was the origin of the worship which
was rendered to certain reptiles by barbarous nations of old, and these
animals are indeed still venerated by many savage races. The whole class
of Reptiles are, for the most part, calculated to inspire feelings of
disgust, and such has been the sentiment in all ages. Few people can
suppress a movement of fright at the sight of an ordinary Snake, Lizard,
or Frog, notwithstanding that they are most inoffensive animals. Several
causes concur to this aversion. In the first place the low temperature
of their bodies, contact with which communicates an involuntary shudder
in the person who tries to touch one of them; then the moisture which
exudes from the skins of Frogs, Toads, and Salamanders; their fixed and
strong gaze, again, impresses one painfully in thinking of them; the
odour which some of them exhale is so disgusting, that it alone
sometimes causes fainting; add to this the fear of a real or often
exaggerated danger, and we shall have the secret of the sort of
instinctive horror which is felt by many people at the sight of most
reptiles. Nevertheless, the injurious species are exceptional amongst
reptiles, and there are not any amongst the Batrachians, for it is
altogether a mistake to take for venom the fluid which the toad
discharges.[6] It is true that these animals are repulsive in
appearance, we can nevertheless recognise their services in the economy
of nature. Inhabitants of slimy mud and impure swamps, they make
incessant war upon the worms and insects which abound in those
localities. In their turn they find implacable enemies in the birds of
the marshes, which check their prodigious multiplication. In this manner
equilibrium is maintained.
[6] The _Necturus_, a Siren-like animal inhabiting the lakes of
North America, has a series of small, fang-like teeth above and
below, which are stated to give an envenomed bite.--"Proceedings
of the Zoological Society" for 1857, p. 61. For poison-organs in
certain fishes, _vide_ the same publication for 1864, p. 155.--ED.
Some of the animals which now occupy our attention render more direct
service to man by the part which they fulfil at his table. Frogs are
eaten in the south of France, Italy, and many other countries; and in
some parts of the south of France, Adders are eaten under the name of
Hedge-eels. We know the favour in which Turtles are held in England,
where turtle-soup is considered a dish only fit for merchant princes. In
some countries Iguanas, Crocodiles, and even Serpents are eaten.
Viper-broth, which was known to Hippocrates, is discontinued as an
article of food.
As we have already remarked, the peculiar nature of their organization
leads Reptiles and Batrachians to seek the warmer regions of the earth.
It is in those regions that they attain the enormous dimensions which
distinguish certain Serpents; there, too, they secrete their most subtle
poisons, and display the most lively colours--which, if less rich than
those of Birds and Fishes, are not less startling in effect. Many
Serpents and Lizards glitter with radiant metallic reflections, and some
of them present extremely varied combinations of colour. Chameleons are
found in the same localities, but in the Old World only; these and some
other Lizards are remarkable for changing their colour, a phenomenon
which is also seen among the Frogs, but in a smaller degree.
Reptiles and Batrachians were numerous in the early ages of our globe.
It was then that those monstrous Saurians lived, whose dimensions even
are startling to our imagination. The forms of the Reptiles and
Batrachians of the early ages of the earth were much more numerous,
their dimensions much greater, and their means of existence more varied
than those of the present time. Our existent Reptiles are very
degenerate descendants of those of the great geological periods, unless
we except the Crocodiles and the gigantic Boas and Pythons. Whilst the
Reptiles of former ages disported their gigantic masses, and spread
terror amongst other living creatures, alike by their formidable
armature and their prodigious numbers, they are now reduced to a much
lower number of species. There are now but little more than 1,500
species of Reptiles and Batrachians described, and only 100 of those
belong to Europe.[7]
[7] _Vide_ subsequent notes on this subject, in p. 31, &c.
I. BATRACHIA.
Animals which compose this class have long been confounded with
reptiles, from which they differ in one fundamental peculiarity in their
organization. At their birth they respire by means of gills, and
consequently resemble fishes. In a physiological point of view, at a
certain time in their lives, these animals are fishes in form as well as
in their habits and organization. As age progresses, they undergo
permanent metamorphosis--they acquire lungs, and thenceforth an aërial
respiration. It is, then, easy to understand that these animals hold a
doubtful rank, as they have long done, amongst Reptiles, which are
animals with an aërial respiration; they ought to form a separate class
of Vertebrates.[8]
[8] They are regarded by some naturalists as a sub-class of Fishes
rather than of Reptiles, as _piscine_ forms certain of which
develop to a parallelism with the ordinary _reptilian_ condition of
advancement; their reproduction especially favouring this view or
idea.--ED.
Batrachians establish a transitional link between Fishes and
Reptiles--they are, as it were, a bond of union between those two groups
of animals. In the adult state Batrachians are cold-blooded animals with
incomplete circulation, inactive respiration, and the skin is bare. In
the introductory section to this chapter we have given the general
characteristics which belong to them. The Frogs--Tree Frogs, Toads,
Surinam Toads, Salamanders, and Newts--are the representatives of the
principal families of Batrachians of which we propose giving the
history.
The Frogs, _Rana_, have been irreparably injured by their resemblance to
the Toads. This circumstance has given rise to an unfavourable prejudice
against these innocent little Batrachians. Had the Toad not existed, the
Frog would appear to us as an animal of a curious form, and would
interest us by the phenomena of transformation which it undergoes in the
different epochs of its development. We should see in it a useful
inoffensive animal of slender form, with delicate and supple limbs,
arrayed in that green colour which is so pleasant to the eye, and which
mingles so harmoniously with the carpeting of our fields.
[Illustration: Fig. 4.--The Edible Frog (_Rana esculenta_).]
The body of the Edible Frog, _Rana esculenta_ (Fig. 4), sometimes
attains from six to eight inches in length, from the extremity of the
muzzle to the end of the hind feet. The muzzle terminates in a point;
the eyes are large, brilliant, and surrounded with a circle of gold
colour. The mouth is large; the body, which is contracted behind,
presents a tubercular and rugged back. It is of a more or less decided
green colour on the upper, and whitish on the under parts. These two
colours, which harmonize well, are relieved by three yellow lines, which
extend the whole length of the back, and by scattered black marbling. It
is, therefore, much to be regretted that prejudice should cause some at
least of us to turn away from this pretty little hopping animal, when
met with in the country; with its slight dimensions, quick movements,
and graceful attitudes. For ourselves, we cannot see the banks of our
streams embellished by the colours and animated with the gambols of
these little animals without pleasure. Why should we not follow with our
eyes their movements in our ponds, where they enliven the solitude
without disturbing its tranquillity. Frogs often leave the water, not
only to seek their nourishment, but to warm themselves in the sun. When
they repose thus, with the head lifted up, the body raised in front and
supported upon the hind feet, the attitude is more that of an animal of
higher organization than that of a mean and humble Batrachian. Frogs
feed on larvæ, aquatic insects, worms, and small mollusks. They choose
their prey from living and moving creatures; for they set a watch, and
when they perceive it, they spring on it with great vivacity. A large
Indian species (_R. tigrina_) has been seen to prey occasionally upon
young Sparrows. Far from being dumb, like many oviparous quadrupeds,
Frogs have the gift of voice. The females only make a peculiar low
growl, produced by the air which vibrates in the interior of two vocal
pouches placed on the sides of the neck; but the cry of the male is
sonorous, and heard at a great distance: it is a croak which the Greek
poet, Aristophanes, endeavoured to imitate by the inharmonic consonants,
_brekekurkoax, coax_! It is principally during rain, or in the evenings
and mornings of hot days, that Frogs utter their confused sounds. Their
chanting in monotonous chorus makes this sad melody very tiresome. Under
the feudal system, during the "good old times" of the middle ages, which
some people would like to bring back again, the country seats of many of
the nobility and country squires were surrounded by ditches half full of
water, all inhabited by a population of croaking Frogs. Vassals and
villains were ordered to beat the water in these ditches morning and
evening in order to keep off the Frogs which troubled the sleep of the
lords and masters of the houses. Independent of the resounding and
prolonged cries of which we have spoken, at certain times the male Frog
calls the female in a dull voice, so plaintive that the Romans described
it by the words "ololo," or "ololygo." "Truly," says Lacépède, "the
accent of love is always mingled with some sweetness."
When autumn arrives Frogs cease from their habitual voracity, and no
longer eat. To protect themselves from the cold, they bury themselves
deeply in the mud: troops of them joining together in the same place.
Thus hidden, they pass the winter in a state of torpor; sometimes the
cold freezes their bodies without killing them. This state of torpor
gives way in the first days of spring. During the month of March, Frogs
begin to awake and to move themselves; this is their breeding season.
Their race is so prolific that a female can produce from six to twelve
hundred eggs annually. These eggs are globular, and are in form a
glutinous and transparent spheroid, at the centre of which is a little
blackish globule; the eggs float, and form like chaplets on the surface
of the water.
[Illustration: Fig. 5.--Development of the Tadpole.
1. Egg of the Frog. 2. The Egg fecundated, and surrounded by its
visicule. 3. First state of the Tadpole. 4. Appearance of the breathing
gills. 5. Their development. 6. Formation of the hind feet. 7. Formation
of the fore feet, and decay of the gills. 8. Development of the lungs,
and reduction of the tail. 9. The perfect Frog.]
All who have observed the small ponds and ditches in the country at this
season, will have seen these light and elegant crafts swimming on the
surface of the water. After a few days, more or less according to the
temperature, the little black spot which is the embryo of the egg, and
which has developed itself in the interior of the glairy mass which
envelops it, disengages itself and shoots forth into the water: this is
the tadpole of the Frog.
The body of the tadpole is oval in shape, and terminates in a long flat
tail, which forms a true fin; on each side of the neck are two large
gills, in shape like a plume of feathers; the tadpole has no legs. These
gills soon begin to wither, without aquatic respiration ceasing,
however; for, besides these, the tadpole possesses interior gills like
fishes. Soon after, the legs begin to show themselves, the hind legs
appearing first; they acquire a considerable length before the fore feet
begin to show themselves. These develop themselves under the skin, which
they presently pierce through. When the legs have appeared, the tail
begins to fade, and, little by little, withers away, until in the
perfect animal it entirely disappears. About the same time the lungs
become developed, and assume their functions. In Fig. 5 may be traced
the successive phases of its transformation from the egg to the tadpole,
till we finally reach the perfect Batrachian. Through these admirable
modifications we see the Fish, little by little, become a Batrachian. In
order to follow this strange metamorphosis, it suffices to gather some
Frog's eggs, and to place them with some aquatic herbs in an aquarium,
or in a globe with Gold and Silver Fish; it there constitutes a most
interesting spectacle, and we advise our readers to give themselves this
instructive and easy lesson in natural history.
At present, there exist two species of Frog in Europe: the _Green_ or
_Edible Frog_, and the _Common Frog_. The Green Frog is that which we
have described, and of which we have given a representation in Fig. 4.
They are found in running streams and stagnant waters. It is this
species to which La Fontaine alludes in one of his fables. Common Frogs
are smaller than the preceding: they inhabit damp places in fields and
vineyards, and only return to the water to breed or to winter.
The flesh of the Edible Frog is very tender, white, and delicate. As an
article of food, it is lightly esteemed by some, but undeservedly so.
Prepared in the same manner, Green Frogs closely resemble very young
fowls in taste. In almost all parts of France Frogs are disdained as
articles of food; it is only in the south that a taste for them is
openly avowed, and there Frogs are sought for and brought to market.
Therefore, I never could comprehend how the notion popular in England,
when it is wished to express contempt for Frenchmen, should be to call
them Frog-eaters. It is a reproach which might be addressed to
Provençals and Languedocians like the author of this work, but not at
all to the majority of Frenchmen.
[Illustration: Fig. 6.--Green Tree Frog (_Hyla_).]
The Green Tree Frog is easily distinguished by having little plates
under its toes. These organs are a species of sucker, by means of which
the animal is enabled, like the house-fly, to cling strongly to any
surface, however smooth and polished it may be. The smoothest branch,
even the lower surface of a leaf, forms a sufficient hold and support to
these delicate organs.
The upper part of the body is of a beautiful green, the lower part,
where little tuberculi are visible, is white. A yellow line, lightly
bordered with violet, extends on each side of the head and back, from
the muzzle to the hind legs. A similar line runs from the jaw to the
front legs. The head is short, the mouth round, and the eyes raised.
Much smaller than the ordinary Frog, they are far more graceful. During
the summer they live upon the leaves of trees in damp woods, and pass
the winter at the bottom of some pond, which they do not leave till the
month of May, after having deposited their eggs. They feed on small
insects, worms, and mollusks; and in order to catch them, they will
remain in the same place an entire day. During the glare of the sun,
they remain hidden amongst the leaves; but when twilight approaches,
they move about and climb up the trees. We must repeat of these Green
Tree Frogs what we have already said of Frogs. Get rid of all prejudice
towards their kind, and then you will examine with pleasure their lively
colours, which harmonize so well with the green leaves; remark their
tricks and ambuscades; follow them in their little hunting excursions;
see them suspended upside down upon the leaves in a manner which appears
marvellous to those who are not aware of the organs which have been
given to enable them to attach themselves to the smoothest bodies: and
it will give as much pleasure as can be derived from the consideration
of the plumage, habits, and flight of birds. The croak of the Green Tree
Frogs is like that of other Frogs, although less sharp and sometimes
stronger in the males; it can be pretty well translated by the syllables
_caraccarac_, pronounced from the throat. This cry is principally heard
in the morning and evening; then, when one Frog begins to utter its
croak, all the others imitate it. In the quiet night the voice of a
troop of these little Batrachians sometimes reaches to an enormous
distance.
Toads, _Bufo_, are squat and disagreeable in shape: it is difficult to
comprehend why nature, which has bestowed elegance and a kind of grace
upon Frogs and Tree Frogs, has stamped the Toad with so repulsive a
form. These much despised beings occupy a large place in the order of
nature: they are distributed with profusion, but one cannot say exactly
to what end; their movements are heavy and sluggish. In colour they are
usually of a livid grey, spotted with brown and yellow, and disfigured
by a number of pustules or warts. A thick and hard skin covers a flat
back; its large belly always appears to be swollen; the head a little
broader than the rest of its body; the mouth and the eyes are large and
prominent. It lives chiefly at the bottom of ditches, especially those
where stagnant and corrupt water has lain a long time. It is found in
dung heaps, caves, and in dark and damp parts of woods. One has often
been disagreeably surprised on raising some great stone to discover a
Toad cowering against the earth, frightful to see, but timorous, seeking
to avoid the notice of strangers. It is in these different obscure and
sometimes foetid places of refuge that the Toad shuts itself up during
the day; going out in the evening, when our common species moves by
slight hops; whilst another, the Natterjack Toad, _Bufo calamita_, only
crawls, though somewhat fastly. When seized, it voids into the hand a
quantity of limpid water imbibed through the pores of its skin; but if
more irritated, a milky and Venemous humour issues from the glands of
its back.
[Illustration: Fig. 7.--The Common Toad (_Bufo vulgaris_).]
One peculiarity of its structure offers a defence from outward attacks.
Its very extensible skin adheres feebly to the muscles, and at the will
of the animal a large quantity of air enters between this integument and
the flesh, which distends the body, and fills the vacant space with an
elastic bed of gas, by means of which it is less sensible to blows.
Toads feed upon insects, worms, and small mollusks. In fine evenings, at
certain seasons especially, they may be heard uttering a plaintive
monotonous sound. They assemble in ponds, or even in simple puddles of
water, where they breed and deposit their eggs. When hatched, the young
Toads go through the same metamorphosis as do the tadpoles of the Frogs.
Their simple lives, though very inactive, are nevertheless very
enduring; they respire little, are susceptible of hibernation, and can
remain for a considerable time shut up in a very confined place.
It is proper, however, to caution the reader against believing all that
has been written about the longevity of Toads. Neither must implicit
faith be given to the discovery of the living animal (Fig. 7) in the
centre of stones. "That Toads, Frogs, and Newts, occasionally issue from
stones broken in a quarry or in sinking wells, and even from coal-strata
at the bottom of a mine," is true enough; but, as Dr. Buckland observes,
"the evidence is never perfect to show that these Amphibians were
entirely enclosed in a solid rock; no examination is made until the
creature is discovered by the breaking of the mass in which it was
contained, and then it is too late to ascertain whether there was any
hole or crevice by which it might have entered." These considerations
led Dr. Buckland to undertake certain experiments to test the fact. He
caused blocks of coarse oölitic limestone and sandstone to be prepared
with cells of various sizes, in which he enclosed Toads of different
ages. The small Toads enclosed in the sandstone were found to die at the
end of thirteen months; the same fate befell the larger ones during the
second year: they were watched through the glass covers of their cells,
and were never seen in a state of torpor, but at each successive
examination they had become more meagre, until at last they were found
dead. This was probably too severe a test for the poor creatures, the
glass cover implying a degree of hardness and dryness not natural to
half amphibious Toads. Moreover, it is certain that both Toads and Frogs
possess a singular facility for concealing themselves in the smallest
crevices of the earth, or in the smallest anfractuosities of stones
placed in dark places.
This animal, so repulsive in form, has been furnished by nature with a
most efficient defensive armature; namely, an acrid secretion which will
be described farther on. It is a bad leaper, an obscure and solitary
creature, which shuns the sight of man, as if it comprehended the blot
it is on the fair face of creation. It is, nevertheless, susceptible of
education, and has occasionally been tamed; but these occasions have
been rare. Pennant, the zoologist, relates some curious details
respecting a poor Toad, which took refuge under the staircase of a
house. It was accustomed to come every evening into a dining-room near
to the place of its retreat. When it saw the light it allowed itself to
be placed on a table, where they gave it worms, wood-lice, and various
insects. As no attempt was made to injure it, there were no signs of
irritation when it was touched, and it soon became, from its gentleness
(the gentleness of a Toad!), the object of general curiosity; even
ladies stopped to see this strange animal. The poor Batrachian lived
thus for six and thirty years; and it would probably have lived much
longer had not a Crow, tamed, and, like it, a guest in the house,
attacked him at the entrance of his hole, and put out one of his eyes.
From that time he languished, and died at the end of a year.
[Illustration: Fig. 8.--Surinam Toad (_Pipa monstrosa_).]
Nearly allied to the Toads, _Bufo_, the Surinam Toad, _Pipa_, holds
its place. Its physiognomy is at once hideous and peculiarly odd:
the head is flat and triangular, a very short neck separates it from
the trunk, which is itself depressed and flattened. Its eyes are
extremely small, of an olive, more or less bright, dashed with small
reddish spots. It has no tongue. There is only one species of Pipa,
viz. the American Pipa (Fig. 8), which inhabits Guiana and several
provinces of Brazil. The most remarkable feature in this Batrachian
is its manner of reproduction. It is oviparous, and when the female
has laid her eggs, the male takes them, and piles upon the back of
his companion these, his hopes of posterity. The female, bearing the
fertilized eggs upon her back, reaches the marshes, and there
immerses herself; but the skin of the back which supports the eggs
soon becomes inflamed, erysipelatous inflammation follows, causing an
irritation, produced by the presence of eggs, which are then absorbed
into the skin, and disappear in the integument until hatched.
The young Pipa Toads are rapidly developed in these dorsal cells, but
they are extricated at a less advanced stage than almost any other
vertebrate animal. After extrication, the tadpole grows rapidly, and the
chief change of form is witnessed in the gills. As to the mother
Batrachian, it is only after she has got rid of her progeny that she
abandons her aquatic residence.[9]
[9] The same phenomena occur, with certain variations, in some
other American Batrachians, as the _Nototrema marsupiatum_ of
Mexico, and the _Notode'phys ovifera_ of Venezuela. In the _Alytes
obstetricans_ of France, Switzerland, and the Rhine district, the
ova (about sixty in number) adhere to the hind-legs of the male
parent!--ED.
The Batrachians differ essentially from all other orders of REPTILIA.
They have no ribs; their skin is naked, being without scales. The young,
or _tadpoles_, when first hatched, breathe by means of gills, being at
this stage quite unlike their parents. These gills, or branchiæ,
disappear in the tailless Batrachians, as the Frogs and Toads, in which
the tail disappears, are called. In the tadpoles the mouth is destitute
of a tongue, this organ only making its appearance when the fore limbs
are evolved. The habits also change. The tadpole no longer feeds on
decomposing substances, and cannot live long immersed in water. The
branchiæ disappear one after the other, by absorption, giving place to
pulmonary vessels. The principal vascular arches are converted into the
pulmonary artery, and the blood is diverted from the largest of the
branchiæ to the lungs. In the meantime the respiratory cavity is
formed, the communicating duct advances with the elongation of the
oesophagus, and at the point of communication the larynx is ultimately
developed. The lungs themselves extend as simple elongated sacs,
slightly reticulated on the inner surface backwards into the abdominal
cavity. These receptacles being formed, air passes into and expands the
cavity, and respiration is commenced, the fore limbs are liberated from
the branchial chambers, and the first transformation is accomplished.
The alleged Venemous character of the Common Toad has been altogether
rejected by many naturalists; but Dr. Davy found that Venemous matter
was really contained in follicles in the true skin, and chiefly about
the head and shoulders, but also distributed generally over the body,
and on the extremities in considerable quantities. Dr. Davy found it
extremely acrid, but innocuous when introduced into the circulation. A
chicken inoculated with it was unaffected, and Dr. Davy conjectures that
this acrid liquid is the animal's defence against carnivorous Mammalia.
A dog when urged to attack one will drop it from its mouth in a manner
which leaves no doubt that it had felt the effects of the secretion.
In opposition to these opinions the story of a lad in France is told,
who had thrust his slightly wounded hand into a hole, intending to seize
a Lizard which he had seen enter. In place of the Lizard he brought out
a large Toad. While holding the animal, it discharged a milky yellowish
white fluid which introduced itself into the wound in his hand, and this
poison occasioned his death; but then it is not stated that the boy was
previously healthy.
Warm and temperate regions with abundant moisture are the localities
favourable to all the Batrachians. Extreme cold, as well as dry heat,
and all sudden changes are alike unfavourable to them. In temperate
climates, where the winters are severe, they bury themselves under the
earth, or in the mud at the bottom of pools and ponds, and there pass
the season without air or food, till returning spring calls them forth.
The species of this family are very numerous. MM. Duméril and Bibron
state that the Frogs, _Rana_, number fifty-one species; the Tree Frogs,
_Hyla_, sixty-four; and the Toads, _Bufo_, thirty-five. They are found
in all parts of the world, the smallest portion being found in Europe,
and the largest in America. Oceania is chiefly supplied with the Tree
Frogs. There are several curious forms in Australia, and one
species only is known to inhabit New Zealand. The enormous fossil
_Labyrinthodon_, of a remote geological era, is believed to have been
nearly related to these comparatively very diminutive Batrachians.[10]
[10] In Dr. Günther's Catalogue of the _Batrachia Salientia_ (as
Dr. Gray terms them) in the collection of the British Museum,
published in 1858, and which includes all the ascertained species
up to the time of publication, as many as 282 are enumerated,
which are arranged under twenty-five groups holding the rank of
families.--ED.
TAILED BATRACHIANS,
Sometimes called Urodeles, from +oura+, "tail," +dêlos+, "manifest."
The constant external character which distinguishes these Amphibians
in a general manner is the presence of a tail during the whole stage
of their existence. Nevertheless they are subject to the metamorphoses
to which all the Amphibians submit. "The division, therefore,
of reptiles," says Professor Rymer Jones, "into such as undergo
metamorphoses and such as do not, is by no means philosophical although
convenient to the zoologist, for all reptiles undergo a metamorphosis
although not to the same extent. In the one the change from the aquatic
to the air-breathing animal is never fully accomplished; in the tailed
Amphibian the change is accomplished after the embryo has escaped from
the ovum."
Salamanders have had the honour of appearing prominently in fabulous
narrative. The Greeks believed that they could live in fire, and this
error obtained credence so long, that even now it has not been entirely
dissipated. Many people are simple enough to believe from the Greek
tradition that these innocent animals are incombustible. The love of the
marvellous, fostered and excited by ignorant appeals to superstition,
has gone even further than this; it has been asserted that the most
violent fire becomes extinguished when a Salamander is thrown into it.
In the middle ages this notion was held by most people, and it would
have been dangerous to gainsay it. Salamanders were necessary animals in
the conjurations of sorcerers and witches; accordingly painters among
their symbolical emblems represented Salamanders as capable of
resisting the most violent action of live coal. It was found necessary,
however, that physicians and philosophers should take the trouble to
prove by experiment the absurdity of these tales.
The skull of the Land or Spotted Salamander, _Salamandra maculosa_, is
well described by Cuvier as being nearly cylindrical, wider in front so
as to form the semi-circular face, and also behind for the crucial
branches, containing the internal ears. The cranium of the aquatic
Salamander differs from the terrestrial in having the entire head more
oblong, and they differ also among themselves.
[Illustration: Fig. 9.--Land Salamander.]
In the Land Salamander the body is black and warty with large irregular
yellow spots distributed over the head, back, sides, feet, and tail.
They affect obscure and moist places, and only issue from their retreat
in the night or morning, walking slowly, and dragging themselves with
difficulty along the surface of the ground. They live upon flies,
beetles, snails, and earth worms. They remain in the water to deposit
their eggs; the young are born alive, and furnished with fully-developed
gills. Moreover Salamanders are gifted with a power which causes them to
be much dreaded by other animals: it has the power of discharging an
acrid and milky humour, with a very strong odour, from the surface of
its body, which serves as a defence against many animals which would
otherwise attack it. It has been proved by experiment that this liquid,
when introduced into the circulatory system by a small wound is a very
active poison, and causes certain death to the smaller animals. This
species is found in most parts of Europe, but not in the British
Islands.
The Black Salamander, _Triton alpestris_, has no spots; it is found on
the highest European mountains, in the regions of snow, and principally
on the highest Alps.
[Illustration: Fig. 10.--Newts, or Aquatic Salamanders.]
Newts, or Aquatic Salamanders, have not a round conical tail like the
terrestrial species, but have that appendage compressed or flattened
laterally. The males (during the breeding season only) are recognised
chiefly by the membranous serrated ridge or crest which extends along
the whole length of the back, from the head to the extremity of the
tail, as represented in Fig. 10. Newts are highly aquatic; they are
found in ditches, marshes, and ponds, which after the breeding season
they leave for moist places on land, often then finding their way into
drains and cellars. They are carnivorous, feeding upon different insects
and on the spawn of Frogs, not even sparing individuals of their own
species. The females deposit their eggs singly, fixing them on the under
surface of the leaves of aquatic plants. "Some Newts," says Professor
Owen, "deposit their eggs upon aquatic plants, such as _Polygonum
persicaria_, folding the leaf by means of the hind feet in such a way
that its under surface is turned inwards and the fold made to stick by
the adhesive coating of the egg, which she inserts in the fold." The
young are hatched fifteen days after. These animals give utterance to a
very peculiar noise, and when touched emit an odour quite
characteristic.
It has been ascertained that Newts can live for a long time, not only in
very cold water, but even in the midst of ice, being sometimes taken in
blocks of ice which are formed in the ditches and ponds which they
inhabit. When the ice-flakes melt they seem to awaken from their torpor,
and betake themselves to their accustomed movements with their recovered
liberty. Lacépède states that he found Aquatic Salamanders even during
summer in pieces of ice obtained from the ice-dealers, where they had
remained without movement or nourishment from the time when the ice had
been gathered from the marshes.
Newts present another remarkable feature in the facility with which they
repair any mutilations they may have undergone. Not only do their tails
grow again when broken off, but even their feet are reproduced in the
same manner, and the process may be many times repeated.
The Crested Newt, _Triton cristatus_, is frequently found in the
neighbourhood of Paris; the skin of its back is rough and warty, of a
brownish colour, with large black spots and white projecting points; the
belly has black spots upon an orange ground.
The Dutch traveller, Sieboldt, has introduced a species of Aquatic
Salamander, which inhabits the mountain lakes and marshes of Japan. This
species is remarkable for its gigantic growth. Instead of being the size
of a finger, as is the case with those indigenous to Europe, this
Batrachian is four feet and a half in length, and weighs fifty pounds.
Magnificent specimens of this gigantic Salamander, the _Sieboldtia
maxima_, may be seen by the visitors to the London Zoological Gardens.
The largest of them measured and weighed as above (March 3rd, 1869). An
analogous large fossil species was described as the _Homo diluvii
testis_!
The transformation of the tailed Batrachians, from the _tadpole_
condition to the air-breathing and four-footed state, is one of the most
interesting exhibitions of Nature, and one which everyone may verify
for himself. We cannot in our brief description have a more trustworthy
guide than Professor Rymer Jones, who selects the Water Newt, _Triton
cristatus_, as an example:--
"Immediately before leaving the egg," he says, "this tadpole presents
both the outward form and internal structure of a fish. The flattened
and vertical tail, fringed with a broad dorsal and oval fin; the shape
of the body and gills, appended to the side of the neck, are all
apparent; so that were the creature to preserve this form throughout its
life the naturalist would scarcely hesitate in classing it with fishes,
properly so called.
"When first hatched it presents the same fish-like body, and rows itself
through the water by the lateral movement of the caudal fin. The only
appearance of legs as yet visible consists in two minute tubercles,
which seem to be sprouting out from the skin immediately behind the
branchial tufts, and which are, in fact, the first buddings of anterior
extremities. Nevertheless, to compensate to a certain extent for the
total want of prehensile limbs, which afterwards become developed, two
supernumerary organs are provisionally furnished in the shape of two
minute claspers on each side of the mouth; by means of these the little
creature holds on to the leaves which are under water.
"Twelve days after issuing from the egg, the two fore-legs, which at
first resembled two little nipples, have become much elongated, and are
divided at their extremity into two or three rudiments of fingers. The
eyes, which were before scarcely visible, being covered by a membrane,
distinctly appear. The branchiæ, at first simple, are divided into
fringes, wherein red blood now circulates; the mouth has grown very
large, and the whole body is so transparent as to reveal the position of
the viscera within. Its activity is likewise much increased; it swims
with rapidity, and darts upon minute aquatic insects, which it seizes
and devours.
"About the twenty-second day the tadpole for the first time begins to
emit air from the mouth, showing that the lungs have begun to be
developed. The branchiæ are still large. The fingers upon the fore-legs
are completely formed. The hind-legs begin to sprout beneath the skin,
and the creature presents, in a transitory condition, the same external
form as that which the _Siren lacertina_ permanently exhibits.
"By the thirty-sixth day the young Salamander has arrived at the
development of the _Proteus anguinus_; its hind-legs are nearly
completed; its lungs have become half as long as the trunk of the body,
and its branchiæ more complicated in structure.
"At about the forty-second day the tadpole begins to assume the form of
an adult Newt. The body becomes shorter, the fringes of the branchiæ are
rapidly obliterated, so that in five days they are reduced to simple
prominences covered by the skin of the head; and the gills opening at
the sides of the neck, which allowed the water to escape from the mouth
as in fishes, and were, like them, covered with an operculum formed by a
fold of the integument, are gradually closed; the membranous fin of the
tail contracts, the skin becomes thicker and more deeply coloured, and
the creature ultimately assumes the form and habits of the perfect Newt,
no longer possessing branchiæ, but breathing air, and in every
particular the Reptile."
But however curious the phenomena attending the development of the
tadpoles of the Amphibian Reptiles may be to the observer who merely
watches the changes perceptible from day to day in their external form,
they acquire tenfold interest to the physiologist who traces the
progressive evolution of their internal viscera; more especially when he
finds that in these creatures he has an opportunity afforded him of
contemplating, displayed before his eyes, as it were, upon an enlarged
scale, those phases of development through which the embryo of every
air-breathing vertebrate animal must pass while concealed within the
egg, or yet unborn.[11]
[11] In the British Museum Catalogue (1850) these Amphibians
are styled _Batrachia Gradientia_, and are distributed under
three families, comprising fifty-two recognised species. The
class _Amphibia_ is divided by Dr. Gray into five orders--viz.
_Batrachia_, _Pseudosauria_, _Pseudophidia_, _Pseudichthyes_, and
_Meantia_. Of these the first, or the _Batrachia_, are divided
into the sub-orders _Salientia_ and _Gradientia_, the latter
consisting of three families, _Salamandridæ_, _Molgidæ_, and
_Plethodontidæ_. The second order, _Pseudosauria_, comprises the
families _Protonopsidæ_ (which contains the _Sieboldtia maxima_)
and _Amphiumidæ_. The third order, _Pseudophidia_, consists of only
one family, _Cæciliidæ_. The fourth order, _Pseudichthyes_, also
contains one family only, the _Lepidosirenidæ_. The fifth order,
_Meantia_, comprises the two families _Proteidæ_ and _Sirenidæ_.
Twenty-four ascertained species are distributed amongst the last
four of these orders; but the limits of this work do not permit
of a more detailed notice of these various groups of _Batrachia
Gradientia_. More recently, Dr. Günther, in his work on the
reptiles of the Indian region, has pointed out certain structural
characters connected with the generative system which show that
the _Pseudophidia_ do not properly belong to the _Batrachia_;
nor is their place in the system as yet quite satisfactorily
determined. They seem rather to be a very humble form of reptile;
while the _Pseudichthyes_ should rather be subordinated to the
class _Pisces_: though, as we have seen, there are naturalists
who would refer all of the _Batrachia_ to the fish class, certain
forms amongst them rising to a parallelism of development with
_Reptilia_, but still not constituting true reptiles. The mode
of reproduction especially is in favour of this view. Both
_Pseudophidia_ and _Pseudichthyes_ are intertropical or subtropical
animals, whereas the rest of the _Batrachia Gradientia_ belong
almost exclusively to the northern temperate zone; any exceptional
case occurring probably in very elevated regions. Of sixty-six
ascertained species, forty-nine are American, and there are five
from Japan, inclusive of the _Sieboldtia maxima_. But more species
have been discovered since the catalogue cited has been drawn
up, and of course there must be many yet to be discovered. Five
species are referred to the _Pseudophidia_, and three only to the
_Pseudichthyes_.--ED.
CHAPTER II.
OPHIDIAN REPTILES, OR TRUE SNAKES.
Reptiles are, as has been said in the preceding chapter, Vertebrated
Animals, breathing by lungs, having red and cold blood; that is to say,
not producing sufficient heat to render their temperature superior to
that of the atmosphere. Destitute of hairs, of feathers, of mammary
glands, and having bodies covered with scales.
Snakes, properly so called, have the tympanic bone, or pedicle of the
lower jaw, movable, and nearly always suspended to another bone,
analogous to the mastoid bone, which is attached to the cranium by
muscles and ligaments, a conformation which gives to these animals the
vast power of distension they possess. Their trachea is long, their
hearts placed far back, and the greater number have one very long lung
and vestiges of a second. They are divided into non-Venemous and
Venemous; and the latter are subdivided into Venemous with maxillary
teeth, and Venemous with isolated fangs.
The Snakes prey almost exclusively on animals of their own killing; the
more typical species attacking such as are frequently larger than
themselves: and the maxillary apparatus is, as we have seen, modified so
as to permit of the requisite distension. According to Professor Owen's
clear and intelligible description, the two superior maxillary bones
have their anterior extremities joined by an elastic and yielding
fibrous tissue with the small and single intermaxillary bone; the lower
maxillary rami are similarly connected. The opposite extremity of each
ramus is articulated to a long and movable vertical pedicle formed by
the tympanic bone, which is itself attached to the extremity of a
horizontal pedicle formed by the mastoid bone, so connected as to allow
of a certain yielding movement upon the cranium. The other bones have
similar loose movable articulations, which concur in yielding to the
pressure of large bodies with which the teeth have grappled.
The class of Reptiles is divided into three orders:--the OPHIDIANS,
comprehending the Snakes; the SAURIANS, the Lizards and Crocodiles; and
the CHELONIANS, the Turtles and Tortoises.
OPHIDIANS.
In Ophidians, commonly known under the name of Snakes, the body is long,
round, and straight. They have neither feet, fins, nor other locomotive
extremities. Their mouths are furnished with pointed hooked teeth. In
the Boas and Pythons the teeth are slender, curved, bending backwards
and inwards above their base of attachment. In others each maxillary
bone has a row of larger ones, which gradually decrease in size as they
are placed further back. These teeth are not contiguous, being separated
by considerable intervals. The smaller non-Venemous Serpents, such as
the _Colubridæ_, have two rows of teeth in the roof of the mouth. Each
maxillary and mandibular bone includes from twenty to twenty-five teeth.
In the Rattlesnakes and some other typical genera of poisonous Snakes,
the short maxillary bone only supports a single perforated fang. Their
lower jaw is highly distensible; the opening beings longer than the
skull. They have no neck; their eyelids are immovable; their skin is
coriaceous, highly extensible, and scaly or granulous, covered with a
thin caducous epidermis, which detaches itself in one entire piece, and
is reproduced several times in one year. Their movements are supple and
varied. In consequence of the sinuosity of their bodies,--for, though
scale-clad, Snakes are without apparent means of progression,--they make
their way with the utmost facility, by walking, leaping, climbing, or
swimming.
According to the genus chiefly, the very numerous species inhabit either
arid or moist places, the ground, or bushes and trees. Some pass much of
their time in the water, and one family (that of the _Hydrophidæ_) is
exclusively aquatic--even pelagic in the instance of one very widely
diffused species, the _Pelamis bicolor_. In the Arboreal Snakes the tail
is very long, and highly prehensile; in others, as the Vipers, it is
short and without any prehensility. In the Sea Snakes (_Hydrophidæ_), it
is laterally much compressed. Like other true reptiles, Snakes abound
more especially in warm climates, and there are many kinds of them in
Australia; but the order has not a single representative in New Zealand.
Most of the Snakes feed on living animals, only a few on birds' eggs.
Several kinds of them prey habitually on other Snakes, as the genera
_Hamadryas_, _Bungarus_, and _Elaps_, even _Psammophis_ occasionally;
and there are rare instances of non-Venemous Snakes preying upon
poisonous ones. The Venemous kinds first kill their victim by poisoning
it; various others by smothering it between the coils of their body. As
they do not possess organs for tearing the prey to pieces, nor a
dentition fit for mastication, the prey is swallowed entire; and in
consequence of the great width of the mouth, and of the extraordinary
extensibility of the skin of the gullet, they are able to swallow
animals of which the girth much exceeds their own. The Sea Snakes prey
mostly upon fishes, and the ordinary Water Snakes (_Homolopsidæ_, &c.)
on frogs and other Batrachians. Certain swallowers of birds' eggs have
peculiar spinous processes proceeding from the vertebræ of the neck,
the object of which is to fracture the shell of an egg during the
process of deglutition.
Most of the Ophidian Reptiles are oviparous, but many are
ovo-viviparous. The Pythons alone (so far as ascertained) perform a sort
of incubation, which has been repeatedly observed of captive specimens
of these huge Serpents.
Many Snakes are remarkable for their great beauty of colouring, or of
the pattern of their markings; but on account of the poisonous property
of so many of them, the whole order is popularly regarded with horror
and apprehension, and the most foolish tales are current respecting
various species of them. Thus many people suppose that there are Snakes
which rob cows of their milk; and the skeleton of a child being found in
the same hollow with a number of harmless Snakes (the North American
_Coryphodon constrictor_), it was concluded, as a matter of course,
that the Serpents must have both killed the child and stripped off its
flesh, which latter is what no Snake could possibly do. People are prone
to exaggerate, and commonly evince a fondness for the marvellous, which
induce those of hot countries more especially, where the species of
Ophidians are numerous, to declare every Snake met with as usually the
most Venemous one in their country; and thus travellers often come away
with exceedingly erroneous impressions on the subject. The Indian region
surpasses every other part of the globe in the number and variety of its
Ophidians, and almost every investigation of a limited but previously
unexplored district, is tolerably sure to add largely to our previous
knowledge of them. What, however, the late Sir J. Emerson Tennent
asserts of those inhabiting Ceylon, is equally applicable to other parts
of the Indian region. "During my residence in Ceylon," he remarks, "I
never heard of the death of an European which was caused by the bite of
a Snake; and in the returns of coroners' inquests made officially to my
department, such accidents to the natives appear chiefly to have
happened at night, when the reptiles, having been surprised or trodden
on, inflicted the wound in self-defence. For these reasons the
Cingalese, when obliged to leave their houses in the dark, carry a stick
with a loose ring, the noise of which, as they strike it on the ground,
is sufficient to warn the Snakes to leave their path."
In some parts of the vast Indian region the natives regard the innocuous
Chameleon as Venemous; in other parts various Geckos, or other Lizards.
In Bengal there is a current notion regarding a terrifically poisonous
Lizard, which is termed the _Bis-cobra_, but which has no existence
except in the imagination of the natives--who bring the young of the
Monitors and occasionally other well-known Lizards as exemplifying the
object of their dread. Again, the little harmless Burrowing Snakes
(_Typhlops_), which, superficially, have much the appearance of
earth-worms, are there popularly regarded as highly poisonous, though
not only are they harmless, but physically incapable of wounding the
human skin. Strangers who are little versed in zoology are commonly led
astray by such errors on the part of natives of those countries, and,
unfortunately, there is a number of stock vernacular names which are
applied to very different species in different localities. Thus
Europeans in India are familiar with the appellation "Carpet Snake," as
denoting a very deadly reptile, but nobody can there point out what the
Carpet Snake really is; and the one most generally supposed to bear that
name is a small innocuous Snake (_Lycodon aulicus_), which is common
about human dwellings. In the Australian colony of Victoria, however,
the appellation Carpet Snake is bestowed upon a terribly Venemous
species (_Hoplocephalus curtus_); while in the neighbouring colony of
New South Wales, a harmless and even useful creature (_Morelia
spilotes_) is habitually known as the Carpet Snake.
With regard to the poison of Venemous Snakes, attention has lately been
directed to the virtue of ammonia or volatile alkali. This should be
administered internally, mixed with alcoholic spirit and water, in
repeated doses; and it should also be injected into a vein--about one
drachm of the _liquor ammoniæ_ of the shops being mixed with two or
three times that quantity of water. The patient should be kept moving as
much as possible, and the effects of a galvanic battery should also be
tried in cases where animation is nearly or quite suspended. By these
means it is asserted that quite recently, in Australia, some very
remarkable cures have been effected.
The _Ophidia_ have many enemies, as the well-known Mongoose among
mammalia, also Swine, and various ruminating quadrupeds, as Deer and
Goats. In the bird class, the famous Serpent-eater, or Secretary-bird of
South Africa, is one of their chief destroyers; and there are various
other Snake-devouring birds of prey, besides the great African Ground
Hornbill,--even the Pea-fowl and sundry Storks and other waders.
Comparatively large birds of the King-fisher family prey chiefly upon
Snakes and Lizards in Australia; and of reptiles, besides those Snakes
which prey upon other Snakes, the Monitor Lizards frequently seize and
devour them.
The series of Ophidians is arranged by our most eminent herpetologist,
Dr. A. Günther, into five subordinate groups, which he characterises as
follows:--
I. _Burrowing Snakes_, living under ground, only occasionally appearing
above the surface. They are distinguished by a rigid cylindrical body,
short tail, narrow mouth, small head not distinct from the neck, little
teeth in small number, and by the absence or feeble development of the
ventral shields. They feed chiefly on small invertebrate animals. Not
any of them are Venemous.
II. _Ground Snakes_, or species which live above ground, and only
occasionally climb bushes or enter the water; their body is more or less
cylindrical, very flexible in every part, and of moderate proportions.
Their ventral shields are broad. They feed chiefly on terrestrial
vertebrate animals. By far the greater number of Snakes belong to this
category, and it is represented by many variations in all of the three
sub-orders to be noticed presently.
III. _Tree Snakes_, or species passing the greater part of their life on
bushes and trees, which they traverse with the utmost facility. They are
distinguished either by an exceedingly slender body, with broad,
sometimes carinated, ventral shields, or by a prehensile tail. Many of
the species are characterised by their vivid coloration, of which green
forms the principal part. We shall see, in the sequel, that the first
and third sub-orders offer numerous instances of Tree Snakes; the Tree
Snakes of the second sub-order being confined to Tropical Africa. They
feed on animals which have a mode of life similar to their own; only a
few species on eggs.
IV. _Fresh-water Snakes_, distinguished by the position of the nostrils,
which are placed on the top of the snout, and by a tapering tail. They
inhabit fresh-waters, and are, therefore, excellent swimmers and divers;
only a few species (which also in external characters approach the
following group, that of the true Sea Snakes) venture out to sea. They
feed on fishes, frogs, crustaceans, and other water animals, and are
viviparous. Not any of them are Venemous.
V. _Sea Snakes_, distinguished by a strongly compressed tail, and by the
position of the nostrils, which are placed as in the last group. They
live in the sea, only occasionally approaching the land, feed on marine
fishes, are viviparous and Venemous. One genus only (_Platurus_) has the
ventral shields so much developed as to be able to move on land. No
Oceanic Serpent is known of gigantic dimensions, such as is currently
alleged to have been seen by unscientific observers.
"Although these five groups," remarks Dr. Günther, "are not separated
from each other by defined lines of demarcation, and frequently pass
into one another by intermediate forms, yet a family and genus which
should be composed of species of several of these groups would be a very
unnatural assemblage of heterogeneous forms."
It is also remarked by the same naturalist that there is no sharp
boundary line between the order of Snakes and that of Lizards. There are
various limbless Saurians of Ophidian appearance, but the systematic
position of which is decided by the structure of their jaws. The Common
Orvet, or Slow-worm, is a familiar instance. On the other hand, certain
Ophidians remind us, by several characters, of the Saurian type,--as the
Snakes constituting the families _Typhlopidæ_, _Tortricidæ_,
_Xenopeltidæ_, and _Uropeltidæ_, which are distinguished by polished,
closely adherent, rounded, sub-equal scales, much resembling the smooth
scales of various Scincoid Lizards; most of them have a very narrow
mouth, unlike the enormous gape of the typical Serpents, and some are
without that longitudinal fold in the median line of the chin which is
so characteristic of most Ophidians; moreover, most of them have
rudiments of the bones of a pelvic arch. "The reason," alleges Dr.
Günther, "why we adopt the view of those systematists who refer such
reptiles to the Ophidians, instead of associating them with the limbless
Scincoid Lizards, is the loose connection of the jaw-bones, a character
which must be considered as peculiar to the Ophidians, and which is only
somewhat less developed in the families mentioned than in the typical
forms. The two halves of the lower jaw in Ophidians, namely, are not
united by a bony symphysis, but by an elastic ligament. The peculiar
mobility of the jaw bones enables the Snakes to extend the gape in an
extraordinary degree, and to work their prey down through the collapsed
pharynx."
The same naturalist classifies the _Ophidia_ into three sub-orders, in
which the Venemous Snakes are separated from the others; but to some
herpetologists this arrangement must appear rather forced, as his
_Venemous Colubrine Snakes_ have certainly a much nearer resemblance in
other respects to the _Colubridæ_ than they have to the _Viperine
Snakes_. For the most part, these reptiles are provided with numerous
teeth, which are lengthened, conical, thin and pointed like a needle,
and more or less bent backwards.
In Dr. Günther's _first sub-order_, that of _Non-Venemous Snakes_, the
teeth are either entirely smooth, or only the last of the maxillary
series is provided with a faint longitudinal groove, which is not
intended to convey a virus into the wound, the groove appearing rather
to increase the strength of the tooth. Many of them have long teeth in
front of the jaws or of the palate, but these are never grooved or
perforated, and only serve to afford a firmer hold on the living and
struggling prey.
"The structure of the venom-tooth is not the same in all poisonous
Snakes: in some it is fixed to the maxillary bone, which is as long or
nearly as long as in the non-Venemous Snakes, and generally bears one or
more ordinary teeth on its hinder portion. The venom-tooth is fixed more
or less erect, not very long, and its channel is generally visible as an
external groove. The poisonous Snakes with such a dentition have
externally a more or less striking resemblance to the non-Venemous
Serpents, and on this account they are designated as _Venemous Colubrine
Snakes_, forming our _second sub-order_." Two very distinct families are
here brought together--viz. the _Elapidæ_ (which comprises the Cobras
and many others), and the _Hydrophidæ_ (or Sea Snakes).
"In the other Venemous Snakes, composing the _third sub-order_, the
maxillary bone is extremely short, and does not bear any teeth except an
exceedingly long fang, with a perfectly closed externally invisible
channel in its interior. Although this tooth also is fixed to the bone,
the bone itself is very mobile, so that the tooth, which is laid
backwards when at rest, can be erected the moment the animal prepares to
strike. This tooth or fang, like all the other teeth, is not only
occasionally lost, but appears to be shed at regular intervals. From two
to four other venom-fangs in different stages of development, destined
to replace the one in action, exist between the folds of the gum, and
are not anchylosed to the bone." The more characteristic Venemous Snakes
appertain to this sub-order--viz. the two families _Crotalidæ_
(comprehending the Rattlesnakes, the Fer-de-lance, &c.) and _Viperidæ_
(comprising the Vipers, Puff-adders, &c.).
Let it be particularly borne in mind that the supposed distinguishing
characters of all poisonous Snakes, as assigned by sundry mischievously
ignorant writers, are those of the third of the foregoing sub-orders
almost exclusively. Even the broad, flat, and lanceolate form of head is
exemplified in certain Tree Snakes of the non-Venemous genus _Dipsas_,
and not in the Cobras and others that are quite as deadly--e.g.
_Hoplocephalus_, _Bungarus_, _Naja_, _Elaps_, and others constituting
the Colubriform family _Elapidæ_.
FIRST SUB-ORDER.
_Ophidii Coluberiformes_ (Günther), Innocuous Snakes.
These are distributed by Dr. Günther under numerous families, of which
we can only notice the more prominent, and some of the more conspicuous
species, in a popular exposition.
The _Typhlopidæ_, or Blind Snakes, comprise forms which are the most
remote from the true Ophidian type. They live under ground, their rigid
body and short curved tail being adapted for burrowing. After showers of
rain they occasionally appear above ground, and then they are tolerably
agile in their serpentine movements. The eye, which is scarcely visible
in many species, can give to them only a general perception of light.
They feed on worms and small insects, the tongue being forked, and, as
in other Snakes, frequently exserted. They are oviparous. The smallest
species of Snakes belong to this family, some of them being only half
the size of a common earth-worm, to which they bear a superficial
resemblance. Such, indeed, are the small vermiform Snakes already
referred to, as being foolishly considered Venemous by most natives of
India. Species of this family inhabit almost every country within and
near the tropics.
The _Tortricidæ_ are akin to the _Typhlopidæ_, and have rudiments of
hind limbs hidden in a small groove on each side of the vent, also a
longitudinal fold at the chin. The "Coral Snake" of Demarara (_Tortrix
scytale_) appertains to this family; and the genus _Cylindrophis_,
different species of which inhabit the great Asiatic archipelago, with
the island of Ceylon.
The family _Xenopeltidæ_ consists of a single species only, so far as
hitherto known, the _Xenopeltis unicolor_, which is common in the
Indo-Chinese and Malayan countries. It grows to three or four feet in
length, and when alive is uniformly steel-blue, most beautifully
iridescent, beneath white; but the blue fades to brown after long
immersion in spirits. Young examples have a white collar. Mr. W.
Theobald remarks of it that "this Snake is common in Lower Pegu and the
Tenasserim provinces, and is very malignly beautiful, though of
repulsive physiognomy. The skin is loose and thick, and its habits are
nocturnal. The following illustrates its ferocious nature:--I once
remarked a Colubrine Snake (_Ptyas mucosa_), some five feet in length,
in the hedge of the Circuit-house of Bassein. On running downstairs, the
Snake had vanished, but on searching for it I saw its tail sticking out
of a hole beneath a wooden plant-case. Do what I might I could not drag
it out, as it seemed held fast within. I therefore, with some trouble,
overturned the plant-case, and then saw that the unlucky Colubrine Snake
was firmly pinned by a large _Xenopeltis_, into whose hole it had
unwittingly entered. The _Xenopeltis_ seemed about four feet in length;
but, on perceiving itself uncovered, released its hold of the _Ptyas_
and made its escape." The _Xenopeltis_ preys chiefly on small mammalia,
which it hunts for in their subterranean holes; and in some respects it
approximates the _Pythonidæ_.
The _Uropeltidæ_, or Shield-tails, constitute a very curious family of
Burrowing Snakes, which bear considerable resemblance to the
_Typhlopidæ_, but have a very peculiar, short, strong, posteriorly
shielded tail, adapted for working their way below the surface. The
species are mostly small, and hitherto they have been found chiefly in
Ceylon, but a few also in the peninsula of India. They are by no means
scarce, but escape observation from their peculiar mode of life. Dr.
Kelaart remarks that "they are timid creatures, seldom making their
appearance above ground; living chiefly in ant-hills or dunghills,
sometimes also several feet deep in rich loamy soil. They feed on ants,
small earth-worms, and the larvæ of insects, and at least one species
has been ascertained to be viviparous. Five genera and eighteen species
of them are recognised."
The _Calamaridæ_ form an extensive family of diminutive slender Snakes,
from one to two feet in length, many species of which inhabit both the
Old World and the New, though the same kinds are not found both East and
West. They keep to the ground, beneath stones, fallen trees, &c.; and
their food appears to consist chiefly of insects. They are gentle, and
never attempt to bite, and themselves very commonly become the prey of
the smaller _Elapidæ_, certain of which indeed bear considerable
resemblance in appearance to the _Calamaridæ_, but are readily
distinguished by possessing the poison-fangs.
The _Oligodontidæ_ are another extensive family of small ground Snakes,
which are peculiar to South-eastern Asia and its great archipelago. They
conduct to the terrene genera of the great family _Colubridæ_.
The _Colubridæ_ are divided by Dr. Günther into ground Colubrines
(_Coronellinæ_), true Colubrines (_Colubrinæ_), bush Colubrines
(_Dryadinæ_), and fresh-water Colubrines (_Natricinæ_); and he remarks
that "they are found in every part of the temperate and tropical
regions, but are only scantily represented in Australia and in the
islands of the Pacific. The species are so numerous and show such a
gradual passage between extreme forms, that, although genera can be
easily characterized, it is almost impossible to distinguish wider
groups by definite characters." Among them the _Coronellinæ_ approximate
the immediately preceding families, and, like them, live on the ground,
and are not generally of brilliant colouring, though a few species which
frequent grassy plains are of a bright green colour. The _Colubrinæ_
"form, as it were," writes Dr. Günther, "the nucleus of the whole
sub-order of innocuous Snakes: they are typical forms, not characterized
by the excessive development of some particular organ, but by the
fairness of the proportions of all parts. Yet some of them have a more
slender body than others which always live on the ground; they are land
Snakes, but swim well when driven into the water, or climb when in
search of food. They are of moderate or rather large size." In the
_Dryadinæ_ the form is elongate and somewhat compressed, indicating
their climbing propensities; they have the body not so excessively
slender as in the true Tree Snakes, to which they lead off. They are
much more numerous in the New World than in the Old, and their
ground-colour is very commonly green. The _Natricinæ_ are generally not
very elongate or compressed, and most of them have keeled scales. They
freely enter the water in pursuit of their food, which consists chiefly
of frogs and fishes. All the Snakes of the preceding three sub-families
overpower their prey by throwing some coils of the body round or over
it, and commence to swallow it only after it has been smothered, or at
least exhausted; but the _Natricinæ_ swallow their prey immediately
after they have seized it.
Of the sub-family _Coronellinæ_, one species of the typical genus
_Coronella_ is widely diffused over Europe, and has only of late years
been recognised as an inhabitant of the British Islands, the _Coronella
austriaca_. Another, _C. girondica_, occurs in Italy. Others are found
in Africa, America, and Australia. The _C. austriaca_ has somewhat the
appearance of the common Adder, for which it is often mistaken; but it
is non-Venemous, though rather a fierce reptile, which bites and holds
on; and as it occurs in Malta (where no Venemous species is known to
exist), it is doubtless the supposed Viper which seized upon the apostle
Paul. Several other genera are recognised.
Of the _Colubrinæ_, _Rhinechis scalaris_, _Coluber æsculapii_, _C.
quadrilineatus_, _Elaphis quater-radiatus_, and three species of
_Zamenis_ inhabit Europe: there are five of _Coluber_ in North America,
and the well-known "Black Snake" of the Anglo-Americans is the
_Coryphodon constrictor_. Other species of _Coryphodon_ or _Ptyas_
inhabit South-eastern Asia, as the different "Rat Snakes" of
Anglo-Indians, of which _Ptyas mucosus_ is particularly common in India,
where it is encouraged by reasonable people as a destroyer of the far
more troublesome Brown Rat (_Mus decumanus_).
The _Dryadinæ_ are chiefly American, and do not call for particular
further remark; but the _Natricinæ_ are very numerous, and
there are three species in Europe of its most prominent genus,
_Tropidonotus_--viz. _T. natrix_, _T. hydrus_, and _T. viperinus_. [Dr.
Günther gives as many as twenty-one species of this genus as inhabitants
of the Indian region alone, and there is reason to believe that that
number is far from being complete. Others inhabit North America and
North-western Australia, and some generic groups have been detached that
are not very conspicuously separable.]
[Illustration: Fig. 11.--Ringed Snake (_Tropidonotus natrix_).]
The Ringed Snake, _Tropidonotus natrix_, is often found in fine seasons
near human habitations. It deposits its eggs, which are fifteen to
twenty in number, commonly in dunghills, in one agglutinated mass.
Exposed to the air, these eggs soon shrivel and dry, and the embryos
within them perish. The Ringed Snakes are also found near rivers and
meadows, by the side of water-courses, into which they love to plunge;
hence they are sometimes called Water Serpents, Swimming Serpents, Hedge
Eels, and other provincial synonyms. They sometimes attain to as much as
and more than a yard in length. The summit of their head is covered with
nine large scales, disposed in four rings. The upper part of the body is
of a more or less darkish grey colour, marked on each side with
irregular black spots. Between the two rows of spots are two other
longitudinal rows, which extend from the head to the tail. The belly
varies from black to a bluish white. Upon the neck are two whitish or
pale yellowish spots, which form a kind of half collar or ring, from
which its name is derived; these two spots become much more apparent
from being contrasted with two other very dark triangular spots placed
near them. They prey upon lizards, frogs, and mice, and they even
surprise young birds, and devour the eggs in their nests, for they climb
trees with facility. Towards the end of the autumn they seek the warmest
places, approaching near to houses; or they retire into subterranean
holes, often at the bottom of some hedge, which is almost always in an
elevated place, secure from inundations. The Ringed Snake is found in
nearly all European countries, and can be handled without danger.
Lacépède gives some interesting details, showing the gentleness of its
habits. They are easily tamed, and can be kept in houses, where they
soon accustom themselves to those who have the care of them. At a sign
from their keeper, they will twist themselves round his fingers, arms,
and neck, insinuate their heads between his lips to drink his saliva,
and to hide and warm themselves they creep under his clothes. In their
wild state, the adult Ringed Snake lives in the fields; and, when
full-grown, shows great irritation when attacked. When exasperated, they
move their tongues, erect themselves with great vivacity, and even bite
the hand which tries to seize them; but their bite is quite harmless.
[This Ringed Snake is the _Natrix torquatus_ of Ray, well known to
naturalists. The female is larger than the male. Its food consists a
good deal of frogs, which are generally caught by the leg, and swallowed
alive, in spite of resistance and very distressing cries.
When the skin has just been cast, the Ringed Snake presents beautiful
markings, especially when seen swimming across some clear running
stream, its head and neck raised above the limpid water, and the sun
shining on its bright enamelled skin. It has been supposed, not
unnaturally, that the Snake casts its skin at fixed intervals; this, Mr.
Bell considers to be a mistake. He has always found that it depended on
the temperature of the atmosphere and on their state of health and
feeding. "I have known the skin thrown off" he adds, "four or five times
during the year. It is always thrown off by reversing it, so that the
transparent covering of the eyes and that of the scales are always found
in the exuviæ. Previous to this curious phenomenon, the whole cuticle
becomes somewhat opaque, the eyes dim, and the animal is evidently
blind. It also becomes more or less inactive, until at length, when the
skin is ready for removal and the new skin perfectly hard underneath,
the animal bursts it at the neck, and creeping through some dense
herbage or low brushwood, leaves it detached, and comes forth in
brighter and clearer colours than before."
The Ringed Snake begins to hybernate, in some warm hedge or under the
root of some tree, or other sheltered situation, about the end of
autumn; and there they coil themselves up, sometimes in numbers, till
the spring again calls them forth. Many instances are told of this Snake
being tamed. Mr. Bell had one which knew him from all other persons; it
would come to him when let out of its box, and crawl under the sleeve
of his coat, and every morning come to him for its draught of milk.]
The Green and Yellow Snake is also about a yard in length, and is common
in the south and west of France; they have been taken in the forest of
Fontainebleau. The beautiful colours in which they are clothed causes
them to be easily distinguished from the Viper. The eyes are edged with
golden-coloured scales; the upper part of the body is of a very dark
greenish colour, upon which is extended a large number of radiating
lines, composed of small yellowish spots of different shapes, some long,
others lozenge shape, giving it a chequered appearance. These chequers
extend from the head to the tail. The belly is yellowish; the large
plates which cover it have a black spot at each end, and are bordered
with a very thin black line. This inoffensive reptile is extremely
timid, and generally hides itself from observation, taking to flight at
the least alarm. They are said to be easily tamed.
[Illustration: Fig. 12.--_Tropidonotus viperinus._]
The Viperine Snake (Fig. 12) has the body of a greyish or dirty yellow
colour, having on the middle of the back a series of blackish spots so
close to each other as to give the idea of one small continuous wavy
line from head to tail. The sides are covered with isolated spots,
forming lozenge-like figures, the centres of which are of a greenish
tint. This is the smallest of all the European _Colubridæ_, and, like
the others, it is found in most parts of Europe.
[The _Psammophidæ_, or Desert Snakes, are akin both to the _Colubridæ_
and to the Tree Snakes of the next family; but the latter, remarks Dr.
Günther, may always be distinguished either by their green coloration,
by the horizontal pupil to the eye, or the absence of a long, anterior,
maxillary tooth. In the _Psammophidæ_ the pupil of the eye is round or
vertical. Most of the species of this family belong to the fauna of
tropical Africa, which also produces a slender form (in _Psammophis
elegans_). The other species are of a stouter habit, frequenting plains,
or at all events living on the ground. Of the Indian _Psammophis
condanarus_, Dr. Jerdon procured one which had killed and was swallowing
a small Viper (_Echis carinata_), this being one of the few instances in
which a non-Venemous Snake has been known to overpower a poisonous one.
We have heard the same of a small Boa-like Serpent (_Chilabothrus?_) in
the West Indies, which is said to prey upon the formidable _Crotalidæ_.
The _Psammodynastes pulverulentus_ has a wide geographical range over
South-eastern Asia and its islands. Although innocuous, it has the
aspect of a Venemous species.
In a kindred African family, the _Rachiodontidæ_, the species of
_Dasypeltis_ have the maxillary teeth minute and few in number (four to
seven); but they have also some remarkable gular teeth, which are formed
by the elongated inferior spinous processes of the hinder cervical
vertebræ. The object of the latter is to crush the shells of birds'
eggs, upon which the Snakes in question habitually feed.
Of the more characteristic Tree Snakes, the _Dendrophidæ_ have the body
and tail much compressed, or very slender and elongated; the head
generally lengthened, narrow, flat, and distinct from the slender neck;
the snout rather long, obtuse or rounded in front; cleft of the mouth
wide; and the eye of moderate size, or large, with round pupil. These
are Diurnal Snakes, which live entirely upon trees, where they prey
chiefly on arboreal lizards and frogs. Species of them inhabit all
tropical countries. They are mostly of great beauty, and the Indian
_Chrysopelea ornata_ is excessively so, being variegated with yellow and
crimson upon a black ground; but the crimson soon fading when a
specimen is immersed in spirit. Others are very variable in their
colouring, as the African _Bucephalus capensis_ and the Indian
_Dendrophis picta_.
The next family of _Dryiophidæ_, or the Whip Snakes, have a still more
slender and elongated body, which has been aptly compared to the thong
of a whip. The head is very narrow and long, with tapering snout, ending
in a protruded rostral shield, which is sometimes modified into a
flexible appendage; eyes of moderate size, and all the Asiatic species
have the pupil of the eye horizontally linear, and a long fang-like
tooth in the middle of the maxillary. The whole of this group are
provided with a posterior grooved tooth. They are chiefly nocturnal, and
their movements are wonderfully rapid and graceful among the branches of
trees. They are numerous almost everywhere in tropical countries. In
general the various Whip Snakes are of a bright leaf-green colour, with
two white stripes on the belly, so that they are difficult to discern
among the foliage. In the genus _Langaha_, which is peculiar to
Madagascar, the muzzle is elongated into a fleshy appendage, which is
covered with small scales, constituting about one-third of the total
length of the head. This appendage is dentated in one species (_L.
crista-galli_), and not so in another (_L. nasuta_). In the Indian genus
_Passerita_ the snout is long and pointed, terminating in a flexible
appendage. The name of Whip Snake is applied by Anglo-Indians to all of
the species of _Dendrophidæ_ and of _Dryiophidæ_, and the erroneous
notion prevails that they are highly Venemous, and that they spurt venom
into people's eyes. The same is believed in South Africa of the
_Bucephalus capensis_. Even Gordon Cumming asserts that one night a
Snake which his servant had tried to kill with his loading-rod flew up
at his eye, and "spat poison into it. Immediately," he adds, "I washed
it well at the fountain. I endured great pain all night, but next day my
eye was all right."[12]
[12] "A Hunter's Life in South Africa," vol. ii. p. 133. _Vide_
also Chapman's "Travels in the Interior of South Africa," vol. ii.
p. 34. We have personally captured or assisted in capturing various
species of both families in India, and it is no easy matter to
do so sometimes, from the rapidity of their movements among the
branches of trees and bushes; but most assuredly we never saw one
of these most beautiful reptiles attempt to dart or to spurt at
anybody, and as they have no poison fangs the latter must needs be
an error.--ED.
Of a beautiful green species (_Philodryas viridissimus_), appertaining
to the family of _Dendrophidæ_, in Brazil, Dr. Wurcherer writes:--"I am
always delighted when I find that another Tree Snake has settled in my
garden. You look for a bird's nest, the young ones have gone, but you
find their bed occupied by one of these beautiful creatures, which will
coil up its body, of two feet in length, within a space not larger than
the hollow of your hand. They appear to be always watchful; for at the
instant you discover one, the quick playing of the long, black, forked
tongue will shew you that you too are observed. On perceiving the
slightest sign of your intention to disturb it, the Snake will dart
upwards through the branches and over the leaves, which scarcely appear
to bend beneath the weight. A moment more, and you have lost sight of
it." Some of the true Whip Snakes attain to six or seven feet in length,
or even more; and with reference to the vague application of vernacular
names (_vide_ p. 42), it may here be remarked that the "Little Whip
Snake" of the Australian colony of Victoria denotes a poisonous Snake of
a very different family (the _Hoplocephalus flagellum_).
The _Dipsadidæ_ are a numerous family of tropical Tree Snakes, which
also have a much compressed body, but short and triangular-shaped head,
which is broad behind; the eye large, having generally a vertical pupil.
Some of them attain to six or seven feet in length, and all live on
warm-blooded animals. It is remarkable that certain of the species prey
on birds solely, whilst others attack only mammalia. Their coloration
varies a good deal, and species of them inhabit most tropical and
subtropical countries.
The _Lycodontidæ_ are an extensive family of small Ground Snakes,
inhabiting Africa and tropical Asia, which have the body generally of
moderate length, or rather slender, and the head also of moderate length
and width, with generally a depressed, flat, and somewhat elongated
muzzle; maxillary with a fang-like tooth in front, but without a
posterior grooved tooth. The African species feed on Mice and other
small nocturnal mammalia; while the Indian species (which have a
vertical pupil) prey chiefly, if not wholly, on the smaller Scincoid
Lizards, which they would appear to follow into the place of their
retreat. _Lycodon aulicus_ is one of the commonest Snakes of the Indian
region, and is quite harmless, though often ignorantly supposed to be
dangerously poisonous.
The _Amblycephalidæ_, or Blunt-heads, comprise a few species of moderate
or small size, akin to the _Dipsadidæ_, but the narrow mouth of which
necessitates their feeding on insects, and they live on trees and
bushes, or under the roofs of huts. Of the Indo-Chinese and Malayan
_Amblycephalus boa_, Dr. Günther remarks that "the head of this most
singular Snake resembles much that of a mastiff, the lips being arched
and tumid. It climbs with great facility, frequenting the roofs of the
natives' huts in pursuit of its insect food. It attains to a length of
three feet, the tail being a third." Of a second genus, _Pareas_, three
species inhabit the same region.
The _Pythonidæ_, or Pythons, and Boas, are celebrated for the
enormous magnitude to which some of the species attain. These are
emphatically the great constrictor Serpents, to all of which the name of
_Boa-constrictor_ is popularly applied, although this appellation refers
properly to one only of them which is peculiar to South America. Various
genera of them inhabit Africa, South-eastern Asia and its islands,
Australia, and South America, with the West Indies.]
The Pythons are large Serpents of Asia and Africa. They live in marshy
places, and near the margins of rivers. They are non-Venemous, but
possessed of immense muscular power, which enables some of the species
to kill, by constriction, animals of much larger circumference than
themselves.
Aristotle tells us of immense Lybian Serpents, so large that they
pursued and upset some of the triremes of voyagers visiting that coast.
Virgil's Laocoon, so vividly represented in the well-known marble group,
owes its origin, no doubt, to the descriptions current of constricting
Serpents. Quoting Livy, Valerius Maximus relates the alarm into which
the Roman army, under Regulus, was thrown by an enormous Serpent, having
its lair on the banks of the Bagradus, near Utica. This Serpent Pliny
speaks of as being a hundred and twenty feet long. But, without
multiplying instances to which time has lent its fabulous aid, and
coming to more modern times, Bontius speaks of Serpents in the Asiatic
islands as beings so various that he despairs of even enumerating them
all. "The great ones," he says, "sometimes exceed thirty-six feet, and
have such capacity of throat and stomach, that they swallow entire
Boars." Adding that he knew persons who had partaken of a Hog cut out of
the stomach of a Serpent of this kind. "They are not poisonous," he
adds, "but they strangle by powerfully applying their folds round the
body of their prey." Mr. M'Leod, in his interesting voyage of the
_Alceste_, states that during a captivity of some months at Whidah, on
the coast of Africa, he had opportunities of observing Serpents double
this length, one of which engaged a negro servant of the governor of
Fort William in its coil, and very nearly succeeded in crushing him to
death. There can be no doubt that the length is here much exaggerated.
About thirty feet is the utmost length attained by the most gigantic
Serpents of which we possess accurate knowledge.
The body of the PYTHON is large and round. They live on trees in warm
damp places, on the banks of streams or water-courses, and attack the
animals which come there to slake their thirst. Hanging by the tail to
the trunk of a tree they remain immovable in their ambush until their
opportunity comes, when they dart upon their prey, fold their bodies
round it with amazing rapidity, and crush it in their monstrous folds.
Animals as large as Gazelles, and even larger, thus become their
victims. Their jaws are extremely distensible, as we have seen; for,
having neither breast-bone nor false sides, they can easily increase the
diameter of the opening, so as to swallow the most voluminous prey.
The Ophidians (as we have seen) surpass all other Reptiles in the number
of their vertebræ, with incomplete hæmal arches; these constitute
the skeleton of the long, slender, limbless trunk. All these
vertebræ coalesce with one another, and are articulated together by
ball-and-socket joints. Besides this articulation to the centrum, the
vertebræ of Ophidians articulate with each other by means of joints
which interlock by parts reciprocally receiving and entering one
another, like the tenon-and-mortise joint in carpentry. "The vertebral
ribs have an oblong articular surface, concave above and almost flat
below, in the Python. They have a large medullary cavity, with dense but
thin walls, with a fine cancellated structure at their articular ends.
Their lower end supports a short cartilaginous membrane, closing the
hæmal arch, which is attached to the broad and stiff abdominal scute.
These scutes, alternately raised and depressed by muscles attached to
the ribs and integuments, aid in the gliding movement of serpents."
The peculiar motion of Snakes was first noted by Sir Joseph Banks, and
commented on by Sir Everard Home. Sir Joseph was observing a _Coluber_
of unusual size, and thought he saw its ribs come forward in succession,
like the feet of a caterpillar. To test this, he placed his hand under
the animal, the ends of the ribs were distinctly felt pressing upon the
surface in regular succession, leaving no doubt that the ribs formed so
many pairs of levers, by means of which it moves its body from place to
place.
The muscles which bring forward these ribs, according to Sir Everard,
consists of five sets. One from the transverse process of each vertebra
and the rib immediately behind it, which rib is attached to the next
vertebra. The next set goes from the rib near the spine, and passes over
two ribs, sending a slip to each, and is inserted into a third, a slip
connecting it with the next muscle in succession. Under this is a third
set, issuing from the posterior side of each rib, passing over two ribs,
and sending a lateral slip to the next muscle, and is also inserted in
the third rib behind. And so on throughout the five sets of muscles.
On the inside of the chest there is a strong set of muscles attached to
the anterior surface of each vertebra, and passing obliquely forward
over four ribs is inserted into the fifth one only in the centre. From
this part of each rib a strong flat muscle comes forward on each side,
before the viscera, forming the abdominal muscles and uniting in a
middle tendon, so that the lower half of each rib which is beyond the
origin of this muscle, and which is only laterally connected to it by a
loose cellular membrane, is external to the belly of the animal, and is
used for the purpose of progressive motion, while that half of each rib
which is next the spine, as far as the lungs extend, is employed in
respiration.
These observations of Sir Everard Home apply to all Snakes; but the
muscles were compared with a skeleton of the _Boa-constrictor_ in the
Hunterian Museum, which is thirteen feet nine inches in length. The
habit of attaching themselves to trees, and holding on by the tail,
their heads and bodies floating listlessly on some sedgy river, is
explained by the structure of the tail. Dr. Meyer has minutely described
the manner in which they hook themselves on to a tree, which gives them
the power of a double fulcrum. The apparatus which gives this power is a
spur or nail on each side of the vent in the _Pythonidæ_, in which the
anatomist discovered the elements of an unguinal phalanx articulated
with another bone much stronger, which is concealed under the skin.
Following the arrangement of the _Pythonidæ_, adopted by Dr. J. E. Gray
in the Catalogue of the British Museum, we find:--
I. _Morelia_, having a strong prehensile tail, distinct head, truncate
muzzle, crown of the head with small shield-like plates. Of this genus
there are two species. The Diamond Snake (_M. spilotes_), a native of
Australia, and of a bluish-black colour; and the Carpet Snake (_M.
variegata_), from Port Essington and Swan River. It is whitish, with
irregular black-edged olive spots, and an olive head, with two or three
white spots in the centre of the crown.
II. _Python_, having the crown shielded to behind the eyes.
Of this genus there are two species, which have sometimes been referred
to the Boas. The Pythons bear the same general appearance. Upon their
bodies is traced a sort of blackish-brown chain, presenting nearly
quadrangular links upon a clear yellowish ground, extending from the
nape of the neck to the extremity of the tail. The suscephalous region
is partly covered by a large brownish-black spot. Upon each side of the
head is a black band, which frequently extends from the nostril, passing
by the eye, as far as, and up to, the commissures or corners of the
lips.
[Illustration: Fig. 13.--Natal Rock Snake (_Hortulia natalensis_).]
_P. reticulatus_, the Ular Sawad of the Malay countries, found also in
Burmah and Siam, has the four front upper labial plates pitted; the
frontal plate simple; the head has a narrow, longitudinal, brown stripe.
This is one of the most handsomely marked species of the whole family,
its body being covered with a gay lacing of black and golden yellow. It
is said to attain the great length of thirty feet, and is stout in
proportion. In its native wilds the powers of this gigantic reptile are
said to be enormous, being able to subdue a full-grown Buffalo; and even
a Man has been said to fall a prey to its fury. A Malay prao had
anchored for the night under an island of the Celebes. One of the crew
had gone ashore in search of the favourite betel nut, and is supposed on
his return to the beach to have fallen asleep. In the dead of the night
his comrades were roused by his screams; they pulled ashore with all
expedition, but came too late; the cries had ceased, and the wretched
man had breathed his last in the folds of one of these enormous
Serpents. They killed the creature, cut off the head, and carried it,
together with the lifeless body of their comrade, to the vessel. The
right wrist of the corpse bore the mark of the Serpent's teeth, and the
disfigured body showed that the man had been crushed by the constrictive
folds of the reptile round the head, breast, and thighs. The Ular Sawad
arranges its eggs by placing them in a group, which is covered by the
body. This statement, first made by Mr. Bennett, has been confirmed by
the observations of M. Lamare Picquot, and by observations on other
species of Python in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, and in the London
Zoological Gardens.
The Rock Snake of India and Ceylon (_P. molurus_) is another species to
which the name of Boa-constrictor has been given. It has the two pairs
of front upper, and three hind lower labial shields pitted, and the
frontal plates double. Of this gigantic Serpent several specimens are
generally to be seen in the Zoological Gardens.
III. _Hortulia_, having the upper and lower labial shields deeply
pitted; muzzle and forehead with symmetrical shield; nostrils lateral.
They are natives of Africa, and three species are known, namely, the
Natal Rock Snake, having the lower labial shields deeply pitted, the
muzzle and forehead with symmetrical shields, the nostrils lateral; the
Guinea Rock or Fetish Snake (_H. Sebæ_), closely resembling the last in
many structural points; and the Royal Rock Snake (_H. regia_), having
the four pairs of the upper front labials pitted, the upper ocular plate
single, the lower labial shields four in number and broad.
The Royal Rock Snake inhabits Western Africa. It is black in colour,
marked on the middle of the back with a series of oblong white spots,
the sides being marked by another series of large white spots, with one
or two black spots in the upper part; the head black, with a streak over
the nostrils and the top of the eyes, another from the lower edge of the
eye, the lips and chin beneath are white.
The Natal Rock Snake (_H. natalensis_, Fig. 13) is described by Sir
Andrew Smith as being gigantic in size, he having seen a skin measuring
twenty-five feet, although part of the tail was absent. "It feeds," he
says, "on small quadrupeds; and for some days after swallowing one it
remains in a torpid state, when it may be easily destroyed." Of this
opportunity, however, the South Africans never avail themselves; they
have a horror of the reptile, but believe that it has an influence over
their destinies, and affirm that no one has ever been known to kill one
and prosper.
The Guinea Rock or Fetish Snake (_H. Sebæ_, Fig. 14) is typical of the
genus, and has also been referred to the Boa-constrictor, and closely
resembles the Natal Rock Snake. It is a native of the warmer parts of
Africa. A living specimen at the Zoological Gardens is estimated to
weigh a hundredweight.
Of the genera _Liasis_ and _Nardoa_ there are five species, very
imperfectly known.
[Illustration: Fig. 14.--Guinea Rock Snake (_H. Sebæ_).]
IV. _Epicrates_, an American and West Indian species, having the crown
scaly; the forehead with symmetrical shields.
The Aboma (_E. cenchria_) is one of the largest of the group, sometimes
attaining dimensions quite gigantic. It is yellowish in colour, with a
row of large brown rings running the whole length of the back, and
variable spots on the sides; these are generally dark, with a whitish
semi-lunar mark. This formidable Reptile has all the habits of its
congeners; it is found in the marshy swamps of tropical America, and
near the rivers, where it lies in wait for its prey.
[Illustration: Fig. 15.--Aboma (_Epicrates cenchria_).]
The Boas, properly so called, have the scales smooth; labial shields
smooth, not pitted; the body compressed, tapering to the tail, which is
long and prehensile; the head is comparatively small, being enlarged
behind, and contracted towards the muzzle, which is rather short. The
crown is covered with scales; the nostrils lateral, between two plates.
Four species of this genus are recognised by naturalists, all of which
have been described by travellers as the true Boiguacu, or
_Boa-constrictor_ of Linnæus. This species has the scaly circle of the
orbit separated from the upper labial plates by one or two series of
scales. A large chain consisting of blackish hexagonal spots,
alternating pale oval stains, notched and jagged, extending the whole
length of the back, and forming a very elegant design. This species
seems to be strictly confined to tropical America. Humboldt found it in
Guiana, and the Prince de Wied observed it in Brazil. All the specimens
in the British Museum are from that part of the New World. This is
supposed to be the Tlicoatl and Temacuilcahuilia (the words meaning
"fighting with five men"), described by Hernandez, the latter name being
derived from its size and strength. "It attacks," he says, "those it
meets, and overpowers them with such force, that if it once coils itself
round their necks, it strangles and kills them, unless it bursts itself
by the violence of its own efforts." The same author states that he has
seen Serpents as thick as a man's thigh, which had been taken when young
by Indians and tamed. That this Boa attains an immense size is a
well-established fact. Shaw mentions a skin in the British Museum, in
one of his lectures, which measured thirty-five feet in length.
Three other species--the Lamanda (_B. diviniloqua_), from Santa Lucia;
the Emperor (_B. imperator_), a native of Mexico; and _B. eques_, the
Chevalier Boa of Peru--are all to be occasionally seen in the Zoological
Gardens.
The _Boa anaconda_, more properly _Eunectes murinus_, is also a native
of tropical America. The name of Anaconda has become well known through
Mr. Lewis's celebrated tale, so called, in which its predatory habits
are displayed in such a manner as to enthral and fascinate the reader,
as the author makes the reptile fascinate its victim. The name, Mr.
Bennett tells us, is of Cinghalese origin, and is popularly applied to
all very large Serpents. This species is of a brownish tint, with a
double series of colours extending from head to tail; the sides are
covered with annular spots with white disks surrounded by blackish
rings. Seba has represented this creature lying in wait for Mice; but
this is probably the prey of the young Anaconda. Another provincial
name, "El Troga Venado" (the Deer Swallower), is probably applied to the
matured Reptile.
[Illustration: Fig. 16.--Anaconda (_Eunectes murinus_).]
The following description of the actions of one of these large
non-Venemous Serpents, which accompanied a specimen sent to the United
Service Museum, by Sir Robert Ker Porter, is probably a fair description
of the habits of all the large _Pythonidæ_:--"This species is not
Venemous, nor is it known to injure man (at least not in this part of
the New World); however, the natives of the plain stand in great fear of
it, never bathing in waters where it is known to exist. Its common
haunt, or rather domicile, is invariably near lakes, swamps, and rivers;
likewise close and wet ravines produced by inundations of the periodical
rains. Fishes, as well as other animals which repair there to drink, are
its prey. The creature lurks watchfully under cover of the water, and,
while the unsuspecting animal is drinking, suddenly makes a dash at its
nose, and with a grip of its back-reclining range of teeth, never fails
to secure the terrified beast beyond the power of escape. In an instant
the sluggish waters are in turbulence and foam. The whole form of the
Serpent is in motion; its huge and rapid coilings soon encircle the
struggling victim, and but a short interval elapses ere every bone in
the body of the expiring prey is broken." Sir Robert then describes the
manner in which the prey is swallowed, being previously lubricated by
the Serpent's saliva; but Professor T. Bell, after carefully watching
the constricting Serpent's mode of swallowing its prey, asserts that
this is a delusion. "The mucus is not poured out till it is required to
lubricate the dilated jaws and throat for the seemingly disproportionate
feat."
[The small, but very distinct family of _Erycidæ_ have the body of
moderate length, cylindrical, covered with small and short scales; the
tail very short, with only a single series of subcaudal scales; head
somewhat elongate; eye rather small, with vertical pupil. Adult
individuals have, like the Pythons, a short conical prominence in a
groove on each side of the vent; this being the extremity of a
rudimentary hind limb. "The Snakes of this family," remarks Dr. Günther,
"shew great similarity to the Pythons and Boas, with regard to their
internal structure as well as to their external characters. But their
tail is very short, not flexible, and much less prehensile; and whilst
the Serpents just mentioned are more or less arboreal, frequenting
marshy places with luxuriant vegetation, the _Erycidæ_ inhabit dry,
sandy, or stony plains, burrowing with the greatest facility below the
surface, and entering crevices and holes in search of their prey, which
consists of Mice, Lizards, and other burrowing Snakes. Probably they are
semi-nocturnal, and able to see in dark places as well as in the night.
They are found in Northern Africa, in the islands of the Mediterranean,
in the arid parts of India, and probably in Arabia; two species are
known to have been brought from Sikhim."
The _Cursoria elegans_ is said to be from Afghanistan; _Eryx iacalus_
inhabits Greece and Egypt; and there is also _E. thebaicus_ in the
latter country, and _E. Johnii_ in India. Another Indian species is the
_Gongylophis conicus_, which the natives erroneously persist in
declaring to be Venemous. The _Eryx Johnii_ is frequently found in the
possession of the serpent-charmers of its native country, who mutilate
the end of its short, thick tail in such a manner that the scarred
extremity somewhat resembles the form of the head. Such specimens are
shewn as deadly Two-headed Snakes, and, as such, are occasionally
brought alive to Europe. An example of this species lived in the London
Zoological Gardens for about eight years, and fed regularly on young
Mice. The keeper assured Dr. Günther that it frequently covered its prey
with saliva. It always kept itself hidden below the gravel at the
bottom of its cage. This species attains to a length of nearly four
feet, the tail measuring but four inches.
The _Acrochordidæ_ constitute a very remarkable small family, of which
one genus is terrene, and another highly aquatic in its habits. Whether
a third genus, the Javanese _Xenodermus_, should be referred to it, is
doubtful in the opinion of Dr. Günther. These Snakes have the body of
moderate length, rounded, or slightly compressed, and covered with small
wart-like, not imbricate, tubercular or spiny scales; tail rather short,
prehensile; head rather small, not distinctly separated from the neck,
and covered with scales like those of the body; nostrils close together,
at the top of the snout; teeth short, but strong, of nearly equal size,
and situate both in the jaws and on the palate. These serpents are
viviparous. One of them, _Acrochordus javanicus_, inhabits Java and the
Malayan peninsula, where it is considered rare. It grows to a length of
eight feet, and its habits are terrene. The late Dr. Cantor justly
compares its physiognomy to that of a thorough-bred bull-dog; a female
in his possession brought forth no fewer than twenty-seven young in the
course of about twenty-five minutes; they were active, and bit fiercely.
Hornstedt found a quantity of undigested fruits in the stomach of this
Serpent! Upon which Dr. Günther remarks that no opportunity of making
further observations on the habits of this remarkable Snake should be
lost. The aquatic member of this family, _Chersydrus granulatus_,
inhabits from the coasts of India to those of New Guinea and the
Philippine Islands. Sometimes it is met with at a distance of three or
four miles from the shore. Mr. W. Theobald remarks that it is plentiful
in the Bassein River (in British Burmah), in salt water below Gnaputau,
and, with various other Sea Snakes, is frequently swept by the tide into
the fishing baskets of the natives. The ebb-tide, running like a sluice,
sweeps various Fishes, Crustaceans, Snakes, and even Porpoises
occasionally, into the broad mouths of those baskets, where they are at
once jammed into a mass at the narrow end of the creel. "The
_Chersydrus_," he adds, "is more nearly connected with the _Hydrophidæ_
than with the next family, being as essentially aquatic as any of the
former, to which, save from its wanting the poison-gland, it might be
appropriately referred. Indeed, it has been erroneously asserted by
some authors to be Venemous."
The _Homalopsidæ_ are an extensive family of Snakes, of thoroughly
aquatic habits, which are only occasionally found on the margins of
rivers; several of them enter the sea, and in some parts of their
organization they approximate to the true marine Snakes. They may be
easily recognised by the position of the nostrils on the top of the
snout, which enables them to breathe by raising only a very small
portion of the head out of the water; an arrangement which is likewise
seen in the Hippopotamus, the Crocodile, the Sea Snakes, and other
aquatic animals. Many of them have a distinctly prehensile tail, by
means of which they hold on to projecting objects. Their food consists
either entirely of Fishes, or, in some species, of Crustaceans also. All
appear to be viviparous, and the act of parturition is performed in the
water. Not any of them attain a large size-about three or four feet in
length, or considerably less; and in captivity they refuse to feed. All
the Asiatic species of this family have a grooved fang at the hinder
extremity of the maxillary bone. The species are numerous, and are
arranged into many generic divisions. The majority are from the grand
Indian region, extending to China and to Australia, but there are also
several from the New World. The _Herpeton tentaculatum_, of Siam, is
very remarkable from its snout terminating in two flexible, cylindrical,
scaly tubercles, which are supposed to be employed as organs of touch
under water--perhaps to discern its food, which as yet has not been
ascertained. The largest known example of this curious Snake is only
twenty-five inches long, of which the tail measures six inches.
We now proceed to the first family of Poisonous Snakes, that of
THE SEA SNAKES (_Hydrophidæ_),
which are very distinct from all that follow, though less so from
certain of the harmless species appertaining to the two families last
treated of. Some of their distinctions have been already noticed (p.
45), but they are especially characterised by their highly compressed
tail, indicative of their thoroughly aquatic habits. According to Dr.
Günther, there is no other group of Reptiles the species of which are
so little known, and the synonymy of which is so much confused, as that
of the Sea Snakes. Most naturalists who have worked at them have been
misled by the idea that the species were not nearly so numerous as they
actually are. Mr. W. Theobald makes out as many as twenty-five
inhabiting the Bay of Bengal and the adjacent seas, to which area this
group of Reptiles is mainly confined, a few species extending to
northern Australia, and one, the most emphatically pelagic, the _Pelamis
bicolor_, even to the Pacific Ocean. One genus only, _Platurus_,
approaches the Land Snakes in several of its characters; having much the
physiognomy of an _Elaps_, with the cleft of the mouth not turned
upwards behind, as in other Sea Snakes; the eye also is rather small,
nor is the tail at all prehensile. There are two species of this
particular form, one of which, _P. scutatus_, is rather common, and its
geographic range extends from the Bay of Bengal and the China seas to
the coasts of New Zealand; the distribution of the other, _P. Fischeri_,
being nearly as extensive. The great genus _Hydrophis_ has the posterior
part of the body highly compressed, and most of the species are more or
less of a bluish lead-colour, like that of the sea, or black, banded
with white or yellowish white. They are so abundant in the Indian seas
that some of them are taken with every haul of a fishing-net, and they
are helpless and seemingly blind when out of the water; the fishermen
commonly seizing them, one after the other, by the nape and throwing
them back into the sea. Some of them (_Microcephalophis_ of Lesson) have
the head very small and the neck exceedingly slender, while the
compressed body is large and thick.
THE COLUBRINE Venemous SNAKES.
These are comprised under the one family, _Elapidæ_, all of which have
an erect, immovable, grooved, or perforated fang in the fore-part of the
maxillary bone. There is little in their external appearance to
distinguish them from the harmless Colubrine Snakes, to which they are
more nearly akin, in all but their poison-fangs, than they are to the
Rattlesnakes and Vipers; yet some of the most poisonous of Ophidians
appertain to this family, as exemplified by the well-known Cobras of the
Indian region and of Africa, and also by some of the worst Snakes that
inhabit Australia. In the colony of Victoria alone as many as ten
species of Snakes are known, one only of which, _Morelia variegata_, is
harmless; and one only of them, the formidable Death-adder (_Acanthopis
antarctica_), belongs to the sub-order of the Viperine Snakes. The rest
are included among the Colubriform Venemous Snakes, and most of the
accidents from poisonous Snakes in that colony are due to what is there
known as the Carpet Snake, _Hoplocephalus curtus_, while the Snake that
bears the same name in the adjacent colony of New South Wales is the
innocuous _Morelia spilotes_, which is a small Serpent of the family of
_Pythonidæ_. Of the total number of Snakes known in all Australia, by
far the greater number are Venemous, which is the reverse of what occurs
elsewhere. Only about five species, however, are really dangerous
throughout the great island-continent, for in many of them the poison is
by no means virulent. Thus, of _Diemansia psammophis_, which sometimes
exceeds four feet in length, Mr. Krefft remarks that "its bite does not
cause any more irritation than the sting of a bee." Also, that "the bite
of _Hoplocephalus variegatus_ is not sufficiently strong to endanger the
life of a man. I have been wounded by it several times," writes Mr.
Krefft, "and experienced no bad symptoms beyond a slight headache; the
spot where the fang entered turning blue to about the size of a shilling
for a few days." Again, of _Brachysoma diadema_, "this very handsome
little Snake is Venemous, but never offers to bite, and may be handled
with impunity." Far otherwise, however, is the venom of _Hoplocephalus
curtus_, and also of some others. _H. curtus_ is one of the worst Snakes
of Australia, where it inhabits the more temperate parts of the country
from east to west. Its bite is almost as deadly as that of the Indian
Cobra, to which it is, indeed, considerably allied. "A good-sized Dog
bitten became paralyzed within three minutes, and was dead in fifty
minutes afterwards; a Goat died in thirty-five minutes; a Porcupine
Ant-eater (_Echidna hystrix_) lived six hours; and a common Tortoise, an
animal which will live a day with its head cut off, died in five hours
after being bitten." The _H. superbus_ replaces it in Tasmania.
The Cobras (_Naja_) are widely known, alike from the virulence of their
poison, and for their remarkable dilatable disk or "hood" on the nape,
the ribs which support this hood being much elongated. Two species are
commonly recognised, the Cobra di capella of Southern Asia (_Naja
tripudians_), and the Asp (_N. haje_) of Africa; but there are marked
local varieties of both species, and the _N. sputatrix_ of the Malay
countries should probably be recognised as a third species. Those of
India, with Ceylon, have a mark like a pair of spectacles upon the hood,
while those of Burmah and the neighbouring countries eastward have only
an oval black spot upon it. In India the commonest colour of this
formidable reptile is uniform brown, though many are of a pale yellowish
straw colour, and there are others of every shade between that and
black. It grows to a length of about five feet, seldom more. "Almost
every writer on the natural productions of the East Indies," remarks Dr.
Günther, "has contributed to the natural history of this Snake, which
has been surrounded by such a number of fabulous stories, that their
repetition and contradiction would fill a volume." It is very generally
diffused over the Indian region, though, as Mr. Theobald notices, from
its nocturnal habits it is less often seen than many harmless species.
"This Snake is, I believe," he adds, "of inoffensive habits, unless
irritated, but is, of course, a dangerous neighbour to have in a
house.[13] Not only in Burmah, where the respect for animal life is
greatest, but in India also I have known a Cobra enticed or forced into
an earthen jar, and then carried by two men across a river, or some
distance from the village, and liberated. Dr. Günther remarks that,
'singularly enough, it has never been obtained in the valley of Nepâl.'
This is very easily accounted for," continues Mr. Theobald, "since few
would venture to kill a Cobra, even for scientific purposes, in the
rigorously Hindu state of Nepâl. In British India, decent Hindus will
not kill a Cobra; and if one has taken up his abode in a house, he is
permitted to remain, or else carefully inveigled into an earthen-pot,
and carried away as described. Of course only the orthodox Hindu is so
careful to abstain from injuring the Cobra, and their reverential
feeling is now perhaps rather the exception than the rule, though
probably as strong as ever in Nepâl." A fine example of the still more
formidable gigantic Cobra (_Hamadryas elaps_), to be noticed presently,
was obtained from an earthen pot which had floated out to sea.
[13] Although the _Cobra di capella_ is so plentiful in India, we
could never hear of one instance of a European being stung by one
during a residence of more than twenty-one years in that country.
They prey chiefly on Rats, the presence of which is the attraction
which brings them about human habitations; and they also prey
occasionally upon young chickens, and commonly upon Toads.--ED.
The late Sir J. Emerson Tennent mentions that "the Cinghalese remark
that if one Cobra be destroyed near a house, its companion is almost
certain to be discovered immediately after--a popular belief which I had
an opportunity of verifying on more than one occasion. Once, when a
Snake of this description was killed in a bath of the Government House
at Colombo, its mate was found in the same spot the day after; and
again, at my own stables, a Cobra of five feet long having fallen into
the well, which was too deep to permit its escape, its companion, of the
same size, was found the same morning in an adjoining drain.[14] On this
occasion the Snake, which had been several hours in the well, swam with
ease, raising its head and hood above water; and instances have
repeatedly occurred of the Cobra di capella voluntarily taking
considerable excursions by sea" (or by rivers, as the writer has
personally witnessed).]
[14] "Pliny," remarks Sir J. E. Tennent, "notices the affection
that subsists between the male and female Asp (or African Cobra);
and that if one of them happens to be killed, the other seeks to
avenge its death"--lib. viii. c. 37.
Cobras are much dreaded, for they instil the most subtle poison into
their bites. Their manners are very singular. When at rest the neck of
the animal is no larger in diameter than the head; but when under the
influence of passion and irritation the neck swells at the same time
that the animal raises the front part of his body vertically, holding
this part straight and rigid as an iron bar. The lower part of the body
rests upon the ground, and serves as a support to the upper part, which
is movable and capable of locomotion. This faculty of dilating the neck
is as striking a trait in the organization of the Cobras, as the rattle
is in _Crotalus_. The ancient inhabitants of Egypt adored them; they
attributed to their protection the preservation of grain, and allowed
them to live in the midst of their cultivated fields. The Cobra is no
longer an object of adoration in the East, but is held sacred by many
people, and it serves in nearly every country of Asia as a very
curious spectacle; being the Serpent chiefly used by snake-charmers in
these countries, terrible as it seems to us.
[Illustration: Fig. 17.--Snake-charmers.]
[Illustration: Fig. 18.--Hooded Snake.]
The action of the snake-charmer is as follows: he takes in his hand a
root, the virtue of which is supposed to preserve him from the Venemous
effects of the bite of the Cobra. Drawing the reptile from the cage in
which he keeps it confined, he irritates it by presenting a stick to it;
the animal immediately erects the fore part of its body, swells its
neck, opens its jaws, extends its forked tongue, its eyes glitter, and
it begins to hiss. Then a sort of battle commences between the Serpent
and the charmer; the latter, striking up a monotonous sort of song,
opposes his closed fist to his enemy, sometimes using his right hand and
sometimes his left. The animal fixes its eyes upon the fist which
threatens it, follows all its movements, balances its head and body, and
thus simulates a kind of dance. Other charmers obtain from the Cobra an
alternating and cadenced movement of the neck by the help of sounds
which are drawn from a whistle or small flute. It is said that these
mysterious jugglers are able, by some sympathetic action they possess,
to plunge these dangerous enemies into a sort of lethargy and death-like
rigidity, and to bring them at will out of this momentary torpor. It is
certain, at any rate, that they handle these animals, whose bite is
extremely dangerous, with considerable impunity, and without having in
any way neutralized or intercepted the venom. It is supposed by some
that these charmers take the precaution of exhausting the venom of the
Cobra every day by forcing it to bite something several times before
exhibiting it. It is also certain that they more frequently draw the
poison fangs--a wound from which can kill in the course of two or three
hours.
The Asp (_Naja haje_) has a less dilatable neck; it is of a greenish
colour, and marked with brownish spots. It is smaller than the former;
is found in the west and south of Africa; and is especially common in
Egypt. It was said to have been this Reptile which caused the death of
Cleopatra.
[The genus _Hamadryas_ of Cantor (_Ophiophagus_ of Günther) differs very
little from the true Cobras, but has a less developed hood, and a single
small tooth placed at some distance behind the fang. The only species,
_H. elaps_, attains to thirteen feet in length, and is proportionately
formidable, being much less timid and retiring in its habits than the
Cobras of the genus _Naja_. It preys habitually on other Snakes, and
seems to be more plentiful eastward of the Bay of Bengal than it is in
India. In Burmah it is styled the Gnán, and Mr. Theobald tells us that
its venom is fatal in a few minutes. "One of these Snakes," he adds,
"was brought in alive, and a snake-charmer came up to display his
command over the animal. At first (as I am told) the Snake seemed cowed
by the authoritative 'Hah' of the man; but suddenly, through some
carelessness on his part, the Snake struck him on the wrist. The poor
fellow at once ran off home to get an antidote, but fell down before
reaching his own door, and died in a few minutes. When at Tonghu,"
continues Mr. Theobald, "I heard a case of an Elephant being killed by
one of these Snakes, which I have no reason for doubting. The Elephant
was a fine powerful male, and was pulling down with his trunk some
creepers or boughs, when a large 'Gnán,' which was disturbed in the
tree, struck the Elephant on the trunk between the eyes. The Elephant at
once retreated, became faint, and died in about three hours." This
terrible Snake would appear to be not uncommon in the Andaman Islands,
and its range of distribution extends through the Malay countries to the
Philippines and to New Guinea.
The genus _Bungarus_ is so called from the vernacular appellation of
Bungarum, which is applied to one of the species on the Coromandel
coast. Some of them are very like Cobras without the hood, as the
"Kerait" (_B. cæruleus_), which is a much-dreaded Snake in India, but
the geographic range of which extends neither to the countries eastward
nor to Ceylon. The Snakes of this genus have a row of broad hexagonal
scales along the middle of the back. The Kerait grows to four feet and a
half in length, and has the upper parts of a bluish or brownish black,
either uniform or more generally marked with numerous narrow white
cross-lines, which mostly radiate from a white vertebral spot. In its
habits it resembles the Cobra, preying on small Mammalia, Lizards,
Toads, and probably other Snakes occasionally. The "Raj-sámp" (literally
Lord Snake) is a larger and thicker species than the Kerait, beautifully
marked throughout with alternate broad rings of black and golden-yellow.
This one is found almost generally throughout the Indian region, and
would seem to prey entirely on other Snakes, especially of the
_Tropidonotus_ genus. It is of very sluggish habits, and frequents moist
places and the vicinity of water. A species, or local variety (_B.
ceylonicus_), takes its place in Ceylon, and there is also a kindred
species (_B. semifasciatus_) in China and Formosa. According to Cantor,
the Bungarums are capable of darting nearly the anterior half of the
body. Their bite is very dangerous; but "the magnitude of the danger,"
remarks Dr. Günther, "depends, as in other Venemous Snakes, on many
circumstances--chiefly on the size and energy of the individual Snake
and on the place of the wound. As the fangs of the Bungarums are
comparatively short, the wound is always superficial, and can be easily
excised and cauterised; also, experiments made on some of the lower
animals show that the general effect on the whole system becomes visible
only after a lapse of time."
Of poisonous Snakes akin to the Bungarums, there are the _Xenurelaps
bungaroides_, founded on a single specimen received from the Khásya
hills (north of Sylhet); and the _Megærophis flaviceps_, which inhabits
the Indo-Chinese and the Malayan countries, but not India. The latter
attains to more than six feet in length, and when alive or fresh the
head and neck are vivid blood-red, which soon fades to a pale buff hue
in specimens immersed in spirit, and hence the faulty name of
_flaviceps_. As many as seven genera--_Glyphodon_, with two ascertained
species; _Diemansia_, with four; _Hoplocephalus_, with eight;
_Pseudechis_, with one; _Pseudo-naja_, with one; _Brachysoma_, with
three; and _Vermicalla_, with one--are peculiar to Australia with
Tasmania, making twenty known species of Colubriform Venemous Snakes in
that range of territory, where others doubtless remain to be discovered;
and there is one described as _Pseudo-elaps superciliaris_, which is
suspected to be a second species of _Pseudo-naja_. The _Cyrtophis
scutatus_ of South Africa is a sort of hoodless Cobra, without any small
teeth behind its fangs. In America there is only the genus _Elaps_, with
numerous species, which are mostly of small size, and in some instances
are very brightly coloured, as one of the Coral Snakes[15] of Brazil
(_E. corallinus_), which is beautiful coral-red, with the body encircled
by equidistant black rings. The genus _Elaps_ in America is represented
in Africa by _Homorelaps_, in the Indian region by _Callophis_, and in
Australia by _Vermicalla_. In general, these are small and slender
Snakes, too much so to be held in much dread. What Dr. Günther remarks
of the species of _Callophis_ will apply, as we believe, equally to the
others:--"They appear to prefer hilly countries to the plains, live
constantly on the ground, and are slow in their movements. In their
habits, in their form, and in their powerless muscular organization,
they show the greatest similarity to the _Calamariæ_; and this is why
the _Callophides_ feed almost entirely on the latter, the Venemous Snake
being able to overpower the non-Venemous. Both of these genera have also
the same geographical distribution; and Ceylon, where we do not find the
_Calamariæ_, is not inhabited by a single _Callophis_. If we are allowed
to judge from the number of individuals of both genera brought to Europe
in collections, the _Calamariæ_ are about twice as numerous as the
_Callophides_." Cantor, who had opportunities of observing them, states
that they are generally seen lying motionless, with the body thrown into
many irregular folds, but not coiled. Although they are diurnal, their
sight, from the minuteness of the pupil, appears to be as defective as
their sense of hearing, and they may be closely approached without
apparently being aware of danger. He never observed them to strike
voluntarily, even when provoked, and he had difficulty in making an
adult _C. gracilis_ bite a Fowl; although, of course, the venom of these
Snakes is as virulent as that of a Viper, the animals used for the
experiments having died in the course of from one to three hours after
they had been wounded. Therefore the greatest caution should be observed
in catching or handling these Snakes. The shortness of their fangs and
the small quantity of their poisonous fluid, however, will always give a
very fair chance of recovery if the proper remedies be applied, should
an accident occur. Two or three species of this genus inhabit India, and
the rest are found in the Indo-Chinese and Malayan countries, one of the
most common of them (_C. intestinalis_) having likewise been received
from the Philippines. The _C. nigrescens_ of the mountains of southern
India attain to four feet in length, but they are mostly about half of
that size, or even smaller.
[15] This name being also applied to the harmless _Tortrix scytale_
Lastly, we arrive at
THE VIPERINE SNAKES,
which have a long, perforated, erectile fang on the maxillary bone,
which is extremely short and bears no other teeth. This is described in
greater detail subsequently (pp. 93, 94). They are arranged under the
two families _Crotalidæ_ and _Viperidæ_.
The _Crotalidæ_, or Pit Vipers, have the body robust, the tail of
moderate length, or rather short, sometimes prehensile; head broad,
sub-triangular, frequently scaly above or imperfectly shielded; a deep
pit on the side of the snout, between the eye and nostril; the eye of
moderate size, with vertical pupil. They are viviparous. The Pit Vipers
are found only in Asia and America; those of the New World surpassing
the Asiatic species in size, and therefore they are much more dangerous.
Some live in bushes, others on the ground. A rudiment of the curious
caudal appendage of the American Rattlesnakes is found as a simple
spine-like scale in the Asiatic species, constituting the genus _Halys_.
Some have the head covered with scales, having small shields on the edge
of the forehead and brows; the cheeks are scaly, and the tail ends in a
spine. Of these, the American genus _Craspedocephalus_ and the Asiatic
genus _Trimeresurus_ have the subcaudal plates two-rowed to the tip.
The genus _Craspedocephalus_ comprises the terrible Fer-de-lance of
certain islands in the West Indies, which occurs on the mainland of
South America, where four other species are recognised--one of them
being found as far north as Mexico.]
[Illustration: Fig. 19.--Fer-de-lance (_Trigonocephala mycalæ_)]
The Fer-de-lance (_C. lanceolatus_) is met with in Martinique, Santa
Lucia, and in the little island of Boquin, near St. Vincent. It attains
to a length of nearly six feet; its colour is not always yellow,
sometimes it is greyish, and even marbled with brown; the head, which
is large, is remarkable for a triangular space, the three angles of
which are occupied by the muzzle and the two eyes.
This space, raised at its front edge, represents the head of a lance,
large at its base and slightly rounded at the summit. On each side of
the upper jaw, one, sometimes two, and even three, fangs are visible;
all of which the animal makes use of for the purpose of wounding and
discharging his venom. Of the poison fangs of the Fer-de-lance,
Professor Owen remarks, "that they (in common with the Rattlesnake and
Viper) are coated with a thin layer of a sub-transparent and minutely
cellular cement. This disposition of the dentinal tubes is obedient to
the general law of verticality, and the external surface of the tooth
can be exposed to no other pressure than that of the turgescent duct
with which it is in contact." It feeds on Lizards and the smaller
Mammals, especially Rats, but it is capable of killing large animals,
such as Oxen. The Negroes working among the sugar-cane, and soldiers in
the Martinique service, often become victims to the Fer-de-lance. This
Snake is, unfortunately, very prolific, and its venom is so subtle, that
animals stung by it die three hours, twelve hours, one day, or several
after the accident; but their death is certain. The wound produces
extreme pain, and is immediately followed by more or less livid
swelling; the body becomes cold and insensible, the pulse and
respiration become slower, the head becomes confused, coma appears, and
the skin turns bluish; sometimes extreme thirst and spitting of blood
are experienced, and paralysis attacks the whole system.
Another species is known in Brazil as the "Jararaca" (_C.
brasiliensis_), and there is a third in the same country, the _C.
bilineatus_; a fourth, _C. elegans_, is believed to be from the west
coast of South America; and a fifth, _C. atrox_, inhabits from Demerara
to Mexico. All of them are most highly formidable and dangerous Snakes,
which are held in especial dread.
The ten or more species of _Trimeresurus_ occupy their place in the
woodland districts of tropical Asia and its islands. In them the hinder
labial shields are the smallest. The head is triangular, covered above
with small scales, except the foremost part of the snout and the
superciliary region, which generally are shielded; body with more or
less distinctly keeled scales, in from seventeen to twenty-five series.
Body and tail of moderate length, prehensile. These reptiles are more or
less arboreal, as is indicated by their prehensile tail, and by their
green or varied coloration. "In general," remarks Dr. Günther, "they are
sluggish, not attempting to move out of the way, and as they very
closely resemble the branch on which they rest, they are frequently not
perceived until they prepare to dart, vibrating the tail, and uttering a
faint hissing sound, or until they have struck the disturber of their
rest. Accidents caused by them, therefore, are not of uncommon
occurrence, and it is a fortunate circumstance that comparatively few of
them attain to a size of more than two feet, so that the consequences of
their bite are less to be dreaded than that of various other poisonous
Snakes. Indeed, numerous cases are on record which show that the
symptoms indicating a general effect on the system were of short
duration, extending only over from two to forty-eight hours, and
confined to vomiting, retching, and fever. After the pain and swelling
of the bitten member or spot have subsided, the vicinity round the wound
becomes discoloured, mortifies, and is finally thrown off as a black,
circular slough, after which health is speedily restored. The bite of
larger specimens, from two to three feet long, is more dangerous, and
has occasionally proved fatal; so that the greatest care should always
be observed in the immediate treatment of the patient. When roused,
these Snakes are extremely fierce, striking at everything within their
reach; and Cantor states that in the extreme of fury they will fix their
fangs in their own bodies. Frogs, small mammalia, and birds form their
food, and I have never found a Lizard or Snake in their stomach."
Three or more of the species inhabiting India and Burmah are of a
beautiful leaf-green colour, which changes to dull blue after long
immersion in spirit. The commonest of them, _T. carinatus_, varies
remarkably in colouring, however, in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands;
if, indeed, the species be quite the same. These grow to over three feet
in length, of which size they are sufficiently formidable. The kindred
genus, _Peltopelor_, is founded on a single species inhabiting the
mountains of Southern India, _P. macrolepis_, which is remarkable for
the very large scales with which its head and body are covered.
_Lachesis_, with two species, is another kindred genus in South America,
in which the end of the tail has four rows of scales underneath. The
_Calloselasma rhodostoma_ is a very formidable reptile of this same
series, which inhabits the Malay countries. It has a remarkably broad
head, and grows to three feet or more in length. Dr. Günther states that
"it is one of the most beautiful and most dangerous of Venemous Snakes.
Feeding on frogs, it frequents grassy plains, and approaches gardens and
human dwellings. Kuhl was eye-witness to a case where two Men, bitten by
one and the same Snake, expired five minutes after." Another Malayan
species is known as the _Atropos acouba_. The genus _Halomys_ is
characteristic of the fauna of Central Asia, the species being found in
Tartary, on the northern side of the Himalayas, in China, in Japan, and
in Formosa. One of them occurs in the Western Himalaya, at an altitude
of 9,000 feet, and another has been referred to this genus from the
mountains of Southern India. The "carawalla" of Ceylon (_Hypnale nepa_)
is likewise found on the mountains of Southern India. It is a small
species, but a good deal dreaded, although, remarks Dr. Günther, "its
bite is but exceptionally fatal to Man, and in such cases death does not
occur before the lapse of some days. There is always every hope of
restoring the patient by a timely application of the proper remedies."
Its crown is more shielded than is usual with Snakes of this family, and
it varies much in colouring.
The rest of the _Crotalidæ_ are American, and consist of the famous
Rattlesnakes and their immediate kindred. In the genus _Cenchris_ the
tail ends with a spine, and the tip of the tail has several rows of
scales beneath. The well-known "Copperhead" (_C. contortrix_) belongs to
this genus, and the black "Water Viper" (_C. piscivorus_). The last has
bred repeatedly in the London Zoological Gardens, and is rather a large
species, of very aquatic propensities. "The Copperhead," according to
Dekay, "is a vicious reptile, and its venom is justly dreaded, being
considered as deadly as that of the Rattlesnake; and an instance is
recorded in which a Horse, struck by one of these reptiles, died in a
few hours. Its motions are sluggish, and when approached it assumes a
threatening aspect, raising its head and darting out its tongue. It
chiefly occurs in pastures and low meadow grounds, feeding on
Field-mice, Frogs, and the smaller disabled birds." The poison of the
black Water Viper is equally to be dreaded.
The true Rattlesnakes have the tail furnished with the extraordinary
appendages at its tip which will be described presently. According to
differences in the shields and scales covering the head, Dr. Gray
arranged them into three genera--_Crotalophorus_, with three species;
_Uropsophus_, with one; and _Crotalus_ also with one, _C. horridus_,
which appears to be the only one known in South America. Of the common
Northern Rattlesnake (_Uropsophus durissus_), Dekay remarks that,
"although furnished with such deadly weapons, the Rattlesnake can
scarcely be termed a vicious animal, for he rarely strikes unless almost
trodden upon. When suddenly disturbed, he throws himself into a coil,
and warns the aggressor by rapidly vibrating his rattles, which,
however, can scarcely be heard beyond the distance of a few yards. This
is most usually the case, but they occasionally strike without the
slightest warning. At the moment the Snake strikes, he ejects the venom
forcibly into the wound. In an instance of a very large Rattlesnake from
Florida (_C. horridus_), which was irritated, he struck violently
against the iron wire on the side of the cage, and spurted the venom to
the distance of three feet."[16] The fibulæ, or rattles, seldom exceed
fifteen in number, and are rarely so many.]
[16] We have seen a Cobra thus spurt its venom against the
plate-glass cover of the box in which it was kept.--ED.
The common Northern Rattlesnake sometimes attains to six feet in length,
the middle being about the size of a man's leg; the colour of the back
is grey, mixed with yellow. Upon this foundation extends a longitudinal
row of black spots, bordered with white; towards the muzzle the flat
head is covered with six scales larger than the others, and disposed in
three transverse rows, each formed of two scales. The males are smaller,
much more brightly and less darkly coloured than the other sex. The very
long and visible fangs are situated in front of the upper jaw. The
scales on the back are oval, and raised in the middle by a bone which
extends in the direction of their greatest diameter. The underpart of
the body is furnished with a single row of large plates. The Rattlesnake
owes its name to a remarkable peculiarity in its structure; the
extremity of the tail is furnished with small horny cells, articulated
one into the other. When the animal advances these little capsules
resound slightly, like the dry husks of beans which still retain their
seeds, thus giving notice of the approach of this terrible enemy. The
sibilant rattle of these appendages is not very loud, but it may be
heard about thirty paces off, and announces the approach of the reptile
while it is still at that distance.
[Illustration: Fig. 20.--Northern Rattlesnake (_Uropsophus durissus_).]
Rattlesnakes feed on small mammals and upon other reptiles, waiting
patiently for their approach; when close to them, the Rattlesnake throws
itself upon them. They are oviparous; and for some time after they are
hatched, the young are said to seek a refuge in the mouth of their
mother. During summer Rattlesnakes remain in the midst of stony
mountains, uncultivated places, or places covered with wild wood; they
generally choose those parts most exposed to the heat,--the sunny shores
of a fountain or stream where small animals come to drink. They like
also to place themselves under the shadow of an old fallen tree.
Audubon, the celebrated ornithologist, says that he has often met with
Rattlesnakes rolled up in a state of torpor when the temperature was
low. Rattlesnakes are revered by some of the American natives, who know
how to lure them from their houses without killing them; for it is a
singular fact that this terrible animal is not insensible to the sound
of music. Chateaubriand's remarks will be read with interest: "In the
month of July, 1791," says this celebrated writer, "we were travelling
in Upper Canada with some savage families of the Ounoutagnes. One day,
when we had stopped in a plain on the banks of the river Genedie, a
Rattlesnake entered our camp. We had a Canadian amongst us who played on
the flute; wishing to amuse us, he approached the animal with this new
kind of weapon. At the approach of his enemy, the splendid reptile at
once coiled itself up spirally, flattened its head, puffed out its
cheeks, contracted its ears, and showed its envenomed fangs, while its
forked tongue moved rapidly, and its eyes burned like red-hot coals; its
body became inflated with rage, rose and fell like a pair of bellows;
its dilated skin bristled with scales; and its tail, which produced a
sinister sound, oscillated with lightning rapidity. The Canadian now
began to play upon his flute. The Snake made a movement expressive of
surprise, gradually drew its head backwards, closed its inflamed mouth,
and, as the musical sounds struck it, the eyes lost their sharpness, the
vibration of its tail relaxed, and the noise which it made became
weaker, and finally died away altogether; the coiled-up line became less
perpendicular, the orbs of the changed Snake opened, and in their turn
rested in wider concentric circles on the ground. The scales of the skin
were also lowered, and immediately recovered their wonted brilliancy,
and, turning its head slowly towards the musician, it remained immovable
in an attitude of pleased attention. At this moment the Canadian walked
away a few steps, drawing low and monotonous tones from his flute; the
reptile lowered his neck, opened a way among the fine grass with its
head, and crawled in the steps of the musician who thus fascinated him,
stopping when he stopped and following him when he began to move away.
The Snake was thus conducted from our camp in the midst of a throng of
spectators--as many Red-skins as Europeans--who could hardly believe
their eyes."
It is generally agreed that Rattlesnakes only attack Men in
self-defence, but it is at all times a dangerous neighbour, and it is
important to know how to keep them at a distance in countries where they
abound. The Pig is an excellent auxiliary in obtaining this result. In
the west and south of America, when a field or farm is infested by these
ferocious reptiles, it is usual to put a Sow with its young brood there,
and the Snakes, it is said, will soon be eaten up. It appears that owing
to the fatty matter which envelopes the body of this animal, it is safe
from the Venemous bite. Besides, it likes the flesh of the Snakes, and
eagerly pursues them. According to Dr. Franklin, when a Pig sees a
Rattlesnake, it smacks its jaws, and its hairs bristle up; the Snake
coils itself up to strike his enemy; the Pig approaches fearlessly, and
receives the blow in the fold of fat which hangs upon the side of its
jaw. Then he places a foot on the tail of the Snake, and with his teeth
he begins to pull the flesh of his enemy to pieces, and eats it with
evident enjoyment.[17] The Pig is not the only animal employed to
destroy Rattlesnakes. Dr. Rufz de Lavison, who has long resided in the
French Antilles, and who has since been manager of the Jardin
d'Acclimatation, of Paris, has published a highly interesting work, in
which he relates the very important services which certain birds,
especially the Secretary-bird, or Serpent-eater (imported from South
Africa), render by destroying Rattlesnakes in the West Indies. We have
said that the _Crotalidæ_ are some of the most dangerous of any Snakes;
let us mention some facts which show the frightful power of their venom.
A _Crotalus_, about three feet in length, killed a Dog in about fifteen
minutes, a second in two hours, and a third in about four hours. Four
days after he bit another Dog, which only survived thirty seconds; and
another, which only struggled four minutes. Three days afterwards it bit
a Frog, which died at the end of two seconds; and a Chicken, which
perished at the end of eight minutes.
[17] Dekay, in his "Natural History of New York," remarks that
it is a popular belief that Hogs are particularly destructive
to Rattlesnakes; but neither their bristly hide nor their thick
teguments afford them perfect immunity from the stroke of this
reptile. I was informed by a respectable farmer that he lost three
Hogs in one season by the poison either of the Copperhead or
Rattlesnake.--ED.
An American, named Drake, arrived at Rouen with three live Rattlesnakes.
In spite of the care which he had taken to preserve them from cold, one
of them died. He put the cage which contained the other two near to a
stove, and excited them with a small stick, to assure himself that they
were alive and in health. As one of the Snakes made no movement, Drake
took it by the head and tail and approached a window to see if it was
dead; the animal turned its head quickly, and bit the unfortunate man on
the back of his left hand; as he replaced it in the cage he was bitten
anew in the palm of the same hand. "A doctor! a doctor!" cried the
unhappy man. He rubbed his hand upon some ice which was close by, and
two minutes after, he bound the wrist tightly with a cord. Four hours
later a doctor arrived, and cauterized the wound, but alarming symptoms
soon appeared. Syncope, noisy respiration, scarcely any pulsation, and
involuntary evacuations followed; the eyes closed, their pupils
contracted; the limbs became paralyzed, and the body cold. Drake died at
the end of nine hours.
Some experiments made by a friend of Dr. Bell seem to present different
results. This gentleman had received a living Rattlesnake from America,
intending to try the successive effects of its bite upon some Rats. He
introduced one into the cage with the Snake: it immediately struck the
Rat, and the latter died in two minutes. Another that was placed in the
cage ran to the farthest corner, uttering cries of distress. The Snake
did not attack it immediately; but after about half an hour, on being
irritated, it struck the Rat, which, however, exhibited no signs of
being poisoned for several minutes; nor did it die for about twenty
minutes after the bite had been inflicted. A third Rat, remarkably
large, was then introduced into the cage, and exhibited no signs of
terror, nor did it seem to be noticed by its dangerous companion: after
watching some time, the gentleman retired to bed, leaving the
Rattlesnake and Rat in the cage together. In the morning the Snake lay
dead, and the Rat had supped on the muscular part of its backbone.
Unfortunately, Dr. Bell does not remember at what season this experiment
took place, but thinks it was not in very warm weather.
The climate of France differing only slightly from that of the United
States, it is consequently well adapted for the production of
Rattlesnakes. If a living male and female of these dangerous _Crotalidæ_
were to escape from a menagerie, they would soon infest the country
with their terrible progeny. It is for this decisive reason that public
exhibitions of Rattlesnakes are forbidden in France. Nevertheless, two
or three may be seen in the collection of the Museum of Natural History
at Paris, miserably installed in a chest, which is quite unworthy of
this establishment. The Rattlesnakes are enclosed in a double cage, and
every measure of precaution is taken which prudence demands.
It is a remarkable fact that the poison is secreted after death. Dr.
Bell, in his "History of British Reptiles," adduces the following as
evidence of the facts:--He was dissecting very carefully and minutely
the poison apparatus of a large Rattlesnake, which had been dead some
hours; the head had been taken off immediately after death; yet, as Dr.
Bell continued his dissection, the poison continued to be secreted so
fast as to require to be dried up occasionally with a sponge or rag: and
his belief is, that there could not be less than six or eight drops of
the poison. It is obvious that such experiments require the utmost
caution, seeing that preparations are not without danger.
[The family of the _Viperidæ_, or true Vipers, are peculiar to the Old
World, inclusive of Australia, with the sole known exception of one
species in Peru. They have generally a robust body, with non-prehensile
tail; the head broad or thick, generally scaly above or incompletely
shielded; the eye of moderate size, with vertical pupil, and they are at
once distinguished from the _Crotalidæ_ by the absence of the pit below
the eye. The scales are keeled except in one genus (_Acanthopis_). For
the most part, these reptiles inhabit exposed and arid situations,
though perhaps all of them will take to the water on occasions, as does
the common British Adder.
They are divided, firstly, into those which have a depressed head,
rounded on the sides, and covered with acutely-keeled scales. Some of
these have large nostrils in the centre of a ring-like shield, edged
with a large scale above. Such are the genera _Daboia_ in the warmer
parts of Asia, and _Clotho_, which is peculiar to Africa--both genera
are terrifically Venemous.
The famous _Tic-polonga_ of Ceylon (_Daboia elegans_) is also widely
diffused over India and Burmah. It is beautifully marked with three rows
of white-edged, oblong, brown spots. Occasionally the spots forming the
middle row are connected like the beads of a necklace, whence the name
_Cobra monil_ (literally _Coluber moniliger_), applied to the young of
this Viper by the Indo-Portuguese, and now corrupted into "Cobra de
Manilla," which bears the reputation of being a highly poisonous Snake
of diminutive size; it attains, however, to a length of nearly five
feet, the tail then measuring about eight inches, with considerable
thickness of body. It is nocturnal, and preys chiefly on Mice. In Burmah
this formidable Viper is dreaded almost as much as the _Hamadryas_. It
has been obtained in the Himalayas at an elevation of 5,500 feet, at
Almorah, and elsewhere. Mr. Theobald has known one to kill a
Bull-terrier in twenty minutes. The _D. xanthina_ is a second species of
this form inhabiting Asia Minor.
[Illustration: Fig. 21.--The Horned Puff-adder (_Clotho cornuta_).]
The genus _Clotho_ consists of the terrible Puff-adders of Africa, of
which there are at least four or five species. Among the best known of
them are the ordinary Puff-adder (_C. arietans_), and the Berg-adder
(_C. atropos_), of the Cape colonists. The Rhinoceros Puff-adder, _C.
nasicornis_, of Guinea, has the scales over the nostrils of the male
produced into a long recurved spine; and in the Horned Puff-adder, _C.
cornuta_, of South Africa, there is a group of small horn-like scales
over each eye. Examples of the Common and of the Rhinoceros Puff-adders
may generally be seen in the reptile house of the London Zoological
Gardens. The last mentioned is a huge Viper of wondrous beauty, both of
colouring and in the complex pattern of its markings, especially as
seen when it has newly shed its epidermis; but the aspect of its
surprisingly broad, flat, and triangular-shaped head unmistakably
betokens its terrific powers. Its head is remarkably massive. One
peculiarity of the Puff-adders is that they sometimes hold on to their
victim by their long fangs. Thus, of the common _C. arietans_ Sir A.
Smith remarks that "although generally inactive, it is by no means so
when attacked--its movements are then bold and energetic, and when once
it seizes the obnoxious object, it retains its hold with great
determination, and some considerable exertion is often necessary to
detach it."[18] The traveller Burchell remarks of this Snake that "its
venom is said to be most fatal, taking effect so rapidly as to leave the
person who has the misfortune to be bitten no chance of saving his life,
but by instantly cutting out the flesh surrounding the wound. Although I
have often met with this Snake," he adds, "yet, happily, no opportunity
occurred of witnessing the effects of its poison; but, from the
universal dread in which it is held, I have no doubt of its being one of
the most Venemous species of Southern Africa. There is a peculiarity
which renders it more dangerous, and which ought to be known to every
person liable to fall in with it. Unlike the generality of Snakes, which
make a spring or dart forward when irritated, the Puff-adder, it is
said, throws itself backwards, so that those who should be ignorant of
this fact would place themselves in the very direction of death, while
imagining that by so doing they were escaping the danger. The natives,
by keeping always in front, are enabled to destroy it without much
risk. The Snakes of South Africa, as of Europe, lie concealed in their
holes in a torpid state during the colder part of the year. It is,
therefore, only in the hottest summer months that the traveller is
exposed to the danger of being bitten." Dr. Gray refers doubtfully to
this genus both the _Echidna inornata_ of Sir A. Smith, and the _E.
mauritanica_ of Duméril and Bibron, from Algeria; likewise a Peruvian
species named _Echidna ocellata_ by Tschudi, which is the only known
instance of a member of this family inhabiting the New World. The
appellation _Echidna_, however, belongs properly to the Porcupine
Ant-eaters of the class Mammalia.
[18] In Chapman's "Travels in the Interior of South Africa" (vol.
ii. p. 59), we read--"May 19th. I lost my best Dog, Cæsar. He had
seized a large Puff-adder by the tail, and shook it. When the
Snake was released it darted at the Dog's face, and having fixed
its fangs in its cheek, stuck there like a Bull-dog until it was
killed. The Dog only survived ten minutes."--ED.
[Illustration: Fig. 22.--The Unadorned Puff-adder (_Clotho inornata_).]
The species of _Cerastes_ and of _Echis_ have the nostrils much smaller
than the preceding, and are Vipers of less formidable size. In the two
species of _Cerastes_, or Horned Viper, the eyebrows of the male bear
commonly a sort of horn. _C. Hasselquistii_ is common in Egypt, and the
other, _C. Richii_, inhabits Tripoli. Of _Echis_ there is one species in
Egypt and North Africa--_E. arenicola_, and another in India--_E.
carinata_. The latter grows to about twenty inches long, of which the
tail measures two inches and a third. These Vipers commonly lie
half-buried in the sand, which they much resemble in colour. They feed
upon Centipedes (_Scolopendra_), and no case is known of their bite
having proved fatal.
The remaining _Viperidæ_ have the head more or less shielded. They are
divided by Dr. Gray into _Vipera_ (with two European species, not found
in Britain--_V. aspis_ from the Alps, and _V. ammodytes_ from the
countries bordering on the Mediterranean);--_Pelias_, which contains
only the Common British Adder, _P. berus_; _Sepedon_, with one species
only, from South Africa, _S. hæmachates_; _Causus_, with also only one
African species, _C. rhombeatus_; and finally, _Acanthopis_, founded on
the Death-adder of the Australian colonists, _A. antarctica_, which is
the only member of the family _Viperidæ_ known to inhabit Australia,
where the Poisonous Colubrine Snakes are so numerous. It is also the
only known species the scales of which are smooth or not keeled. It
seldom exceeds thirty inches in length, and varies a good deal in
colour. Like other _Viperidæ_ it is sluggish in its movements, but when
irritated it flattens itself out generally in the form of the letter S,
turning round to one side or the other with astonishing rapidity, but
never jumping at its enemy or throwing itself backward, as the
Puff-adders are described to do. The Death-adder is found in almost
every part of Australia northward of the thirty-sixth parallel of south
latitude.]
The Common Adder (_Pelias berus_), is not improbably the +Echis+ of
Aristotle, and the _Vipera_ of Virgil, as it is the _Manasso_ of the
Italians, the Adder of the country-people in England and Scotland, and
the Vipère of France. It is found in all these countries, and in Europe
generally.
[Illustration: Fig. 23.--The Common Adder (_Pelias berus_).]
The Common Adder varies in length, from thirteen or fourteen inches to
double that length; and from two to three or even four inches in girth.
Its general colour varies considerably: in some it is olive, in others
reddish-brown, varying sometimes to an ashy-grey; at other times it is
greyish-black. A waving brown or blackish line runs along the back. A
row of unequal spots of the same colour is observable on the flanks; the
belly is slate-coloured; the head nearly triangular, a little larger
than the neck, obtuse and truncated in front, and covered with
granulated scales. Six small plates cover the muzzle, two of which are
perforated for the nostrils, which are lateral, forming a blackish spot.
Above is a sort of V shape, formed by two black bands. The upper jaw is
a white ground, spotted with black; the lower jaw is yellow. The eyes
are small and sharp, edged with black. The tongue is long, grey, and
forked.
Adders are met with in the wooded, stony, and mountainous regions of
southern and temperate Europe--in France, Italy, England, Germany,
Prussia, Sweden, Poland, and even Norway. They are met with in the
heaths near London and in the neighbourhood of Paris; they are met with
at Montmorency, and in the forest of Fontainebleau. They feed upon
Lizards, Frogs, mollusks, worms, insects, and small mammalia, such as
Field-mice, Shrews, and Moles. They pass the winter and early spring in
a state of torpor in deep hollows, where they are sheltered from the
cold. It is not unusual to find several Adders coiled up together in one
heap, entwined and intimately interlaced together.
The movement of Adders is abrupt, slow, and irregular. They appear to be
shy and timid creatures, shunning the day, and only seeking their food
in the evening. The young come into the world naked and living: so long
as they are maintained within the mother, they are enclosed in eggs with
membranous shells. Soon after their birth the young Vipers, whose length
does not exceed six or seven inches, are abandoned by the mother, and
left to shift for themselves. They do not, however, acquire their full
development till they are six or seven years old. Adders are justly
considered objects of fear and horror both to Men and to other animals.
They carry with them a formidable apparatus, of which it is important
that both the structure and the mode of action should be known. This
Venemous apparatus is composed of three parts--the secreting glands, the
canal, and the hooked fangs.
The gland is the organ which secretes the venom; it is situated upon the
sides of the head, behind and a little beneath the globe of the eye; it
is formed of a number of inflated bladders, composed of a granulous
tissue, and disposed with great regularity along the excretory canal,
not unlike the barbs of a pen-feather. This arrangement, however, is
only visible through a microscope. The tube destined to conduct the
secreted venom through the gland is straight and cylindrical; after
being filled, in its short journey it ends in two peculiar hook-like
teeth, called fangs, tapering to a point, and in shape horn-like. They
are much longer than the others, and placed one to the right, the other
to the left of the upper jaw. The Adder, then, is furnished with two of
these poison-fangs; they are curved and sharp-pointed, convex
anteriorly, and furnished with a straight duct which commences in one
part by a slit placed at the anterior part of its base, terminating by a
second and smaller cleft towards its point, and on the same side. This
last cleft is like a little trench or fine furrow, which extends the
whole length of the convexity. These hooked teeth are surrounded by a
fold of the gums, which receives and partly hides them, like a sheath,
when they are at rest or hidden. They are attached to the upper
maxillary bones, which are small and very mobile, and are put in motion
by two muscles. Behind them are dental germs, intended to replace them
when they fall out. The other teeth in the roof of the mouth belong to
the palate, where they form two rows.
[Illustration: Fig. 24.--Fangs and Tongue of a Poisonous Colubrine
Snake.]
Such are the terrible weapons of the Viper group. It is not, therefore,
as many persons still believe, with the tongue that the Adder inflicts
its wound; the forked, projecting tongue serves them as a feeler, and to
drink with, but cannot inflict a wound. We have said that when in a
state of repose the hooked teeth are hidden; when the animal wishes to
use them, they issue from their fleshy sheath, somewhat in the same
manner as a man draws his knife, when attacked, to defend himself, and
in this case the knife is poisoned.
Adders use their fangs to seize the small animals which serve as their
prey. They do not voluntarily attack a Man; on the contrary, they flee
at his approach. But if he imprudently places his foot on or attempts to
seize them, they defend themselves vigorously. Let us see how an Adder
conducts itself when it hunts its prey and takes it. In this case it may
be supposed to act without passion, merely seizing its prey for food; it
simply bites, sinking its fangs into the body of its victim. In
proportion as the fangs penetrate the body of the animal the poison
flows into the canal, which again conducts it to the fangs under the
influence of the contracting muscles, by which they are raised and made
to press upon the gland; but this movement causes the Adder to close its
mouth, and the venom is injected into the wound.
Adders bite in much the same manner when seized by the tail or middle of
the body; but when they think themselves attacked and become irritated,
they _strike_ rather than bite. At first they coil themselves up into
several superposed circles, then they will uncoil themselves to their
whole length with excessive quickness, extending their bodies like a
spring, drawing it out with the rapidity of lightning, and gliding over
a space equal to their own length; for they never leave the ground. They
will now open their jaws wide, erect their fangs, and strike, first
throwing back their heads, by which means they contrive to strike as
with a hammer.
Dr. Bell expresses doubts, in his "History of British Reptiles," of the
existence of any well-authenticated case in this country of an Adder
bite terminating fatally.[19] At the same time he cautions all persons
against exposure to them in the heat of summer and autumn, when the
poison is most virulent. The remedy applied to such a bite is to rub the
part with olive oil, over a chafing dish of coals, and to take a strong
dose of ammonia (spirit of hartshorn) internally.
[19] A few cases have been known.--ED.
Open copses, dry heaths, new woodland clearings, and sandy wastes are
the usual haunts of the Adder; and in such places its hibernaculum is
usually found in winter, where several of the same species lie
intertwined in a torpid state.
It was long supposed that Adders, and Snakes generally, exercise a sort
of magnetic action from a distance--a power which has been called
_fascination_. This impression has been denied, and attributed, not
without reason, to a less mysterious cause; namely, the sentiment of
profound terror which these creatures inspire. This terror manifests
itself in animals by tremblings, spasms, and convulsions. The sight of a
Venemous Snake sometimes renders its victims immovable, incapable of
flight, and as it were paralyzed, and they allow themselves to be
seized without opposing the slightest resistance. Others give themselves
over to confused movements, which, far from saving them, only make their
capture easier. M. Duméril, while pursuing experiments in the Museum of
Natural History, demonstrative of the sudden and mortal action of the
bite of a Viper on little birds, saw a Goldfinch, which he held in his
hands, die suddenly, merely at the sight of the Viper.
In warm countries, wounds produced by the larger species of these
terrible reptiles are extremely dangerous--they swell, become red and
ecchymose, and sometimes livid; the wounded person is seized with
syncope, fever, and a series of morbid symptoms, which often terminate
in death. The remedy is to bind immediately a ligature above the wound
with a band, such as a rolled handkerchief, a cord, or a string, so as
to stop all communication of the blood with the rest of the body, and
thus prevent the absorption of the venom into the system till more
effectual means can be adopted. It is well to suck the wound and make it
bleed; it is necessary also to make an incision, so as to expose the
internal parts, and then to cauterize the wound immediately, either with
a red-hot iron or by means of a caustic agent. For this purpose the
following composition may be employed:--
Perchloride of iron 60 grains.
Citric acid 60 "
Hydrochloric acid 60 "
Water 144 "
A few drops of this is poured on the wounded part, which is then covered
with a small piece of lint. Iodine or iodinet of potassium can also be
employed. M. Viand-Marais has substituted the following composition for
this compound with great success:--
Water 50 grains.
Iodinet of Potassium 50 "
Metallic iodine 50 "
To facilitate the introduction of caustic into the wound, the same
naturalist has invented a little bottle closed with emery; the stopper,
which is long, and conical at the lower end, plunges into the liquid.
By means of this stopper the medicated substance can be made to
penetrate by drops as far as the bottom of the wound, which has been
previously enlarged by the bistoury. This little apparatus will replace
with advantage the bottle of volatile alkali with which Viper-hunters
are usually furnished. But all these means are only useful when applied
immediately. The limbs and round about the wound must besides be rubbed
with ammoniacal liniments. Afterwards emollient poultices should be used
to lower the swelling and reduce the chances of congestion; while
tonics, sudorifics, and sometimes ammoniacal potions should be given
internally.
It is a remarkable fact that this venom, which is one of the most
virulent poisons known, can yet be swallowed with impunity. It is
neither acrid nor burning, and only produces a sensation on the tongue
analogous to that caused by greasy matter. But if introduced into a
wound in sufficient quantities, it enters into the blood, and causes
death with frightful rapidity. This is a characteristic common to all
morbid and Venemous virus.
The strength of the venom varies according to the species of Snake, and
likewise the condition of the animal. The same species is more dangerous
in hot than in cold or temperate regions. The bite is serious, according
as the poison is more or less abundant in the glands, and probably with
the degree of rage experienced by the animal, as Professor Owen
supposes.
[Of Snakes in general it has been remarked that "all strangers in
countries where these reptiles abound are apt to exaggerate their
danger; but in a year or two they think as little of them as we do in
England. I never knew an instance of a Snake attacking a person unless
it was trodden upon or molested, and even then they almost always give
warning by hissing, or endeavour to effect their escape. During my
residence in the Cape colony, I have at different times trodden on them
or kicked them in the grass unintentionally, but was never bitten."[20]
This writer, however, could hardly have accidentally placed his foot
upon a Puff-adder.[21]]
[20] Moodie's "Ten Years in South Africa," vol. i. p. 318.
[21] Subsequent experiments with the virus of the Indian Cobra
have conclusively proved that ammonia is not a sufficient antidote,
as alleged in p. 95.--ED.
CHAPTER III.
THE ORDER OF LIZARDS.--SAURIANS.
This is the second order of the great section of Scaly Reptiles
(_Squamata_), as distinguished from the Shielded Reptiles
(_Cataphracta_). The name Saurian, +Sauros+, given by Aristotle to the
genus of Lizards, has been more comprehensively applied to a group of
Reptiles which have the body elongated, covered with scales, or having
the skin rough like shagreen. They have, for the most part, four feet,
the toes of which are furnished with hooked claws; their eyelids are
movable, and their jaws armed with encased teeth; they have a distinct
tympanum, a heart with two auricles and a single ventricle, sometimes
partially valved, having sides and a sternum. They are not subject to
metamorphosis, and, finally, they are furnished with a tail.
["By far the greater number of the Saurians," writes Dr. Günther, "are
easily distinguished from the other orders of reptiles by their
elongated form, by their movable thorax covered with skin, by the
presence of legs, and by their general integuments, which are either
folded into scales, or granular, or tubercular, or shielded; still,
there are many Saurians which, at a superficial glance, might easily be
taken for members of the preceding order--that of the Snakes; and it
cannot be denied that there is a gradual transition from one of these
orders to the other. On the part of the Saurians, we allude to those
which have no externally visible limbs, and which combine with a greatly
elongate, cylindrical body, the peculiar kind of locomotion we observe
in Snakes. Yet the greater affinity of these reptiles to the ordinary
Lizards is indicated by another character, which is in intimate
connection with their mode of life. The Snakes, having movable
maxillary bones, and mandibles not joined by a symphidis, are enabled to
swallow other animals of apparently greater bulk than their own. In the
Saurians the maxillæ are fixed and immovable, and the mandibles are
joined by an osseous suture, so that the cleft of the mouth can be
dilated only in the usual vertical direction. Moreover, in these
limbless Saurians we always find bones of the shoulder hidden below the
skin, whilst no trace of them can be discovered in the true Snakes. The
motions of some Lizards are extremely slow, while those of others are
executed, with very great, but not lasting, rapidity. Many of them have
the power of changing their colours, which depends on the presence of
several layers of cells loaded with different pigments; these layers the
animal compresses by more or less inflating its lungs, whereby the
changes in the coloration are effected."
Dr. Günther does not follow Dr. Gray in arranging all true reptiles into
the two grand divisions of Shielded Reptiles (_Cataphracta_) and Scaly
Reptiles (_Squamata_), but he includes the _Crocodilidæ_ among the
Saurians as a first grand division of them--_Emydosauri_, and the other
Lizards constitute his second grand division of them--_Lacertini_. These
latter are again primarily divisible according to the structure of
the tongue. Thus, in the series of _Leptoglossa_, the tongue is
elongate, forked, and exsertile, much as in the Ophidians; in that of
_Pachyglossa_ the tongue is short, thick, attached to the gullet, and is
not exsertile; and in the _Vermilingues_ it is Worm-like, club-shaped in
front, and very exsertile.
The various genera of Saurians which have either not a trace of external
limbs, or have them more or less diminutive and rudimentary--either the
usual two pairs or one pair only, and in the latter case sometimes the
fore and sometimes the hind pair being deficient--are included among the
_Leptoglossa_, or the series which have a forked and protrusile tongue;
and, so far as is practicable, we will commence by noticing the
different serpentiform genera; only, in a classification which is not
confessedly superficial, it will be found that the various Snake-like
Saurians appertain to several distinct natural families, most of the
other genera belonging to which have, in sundry cases, limbs that are
well developed. Some of them, therefore, will have to be noticed as the
different families to which they belong are successively treated of; and
there will yet remain the curious serpentiform family of _Amphisbænidæ_,
which Dr. Gray refers to his grand series of Shielded Reptiles
(_Cataphracta_).
The same naturalist divides the _Leptoglossa_ into two tribes, which he
styles _Geissosaura_ and _Cyclosaura_; and, as constituting particular
division of the former, he includes under it the family _Typhlopidæ_,
which Dr. Günther refers--as we have seen--to the order of Ophidians. In
the series of _Geissosaura_, the scales of the belly and (almost always)
of the back and sides are quincuncial, rounded, and imbricate; the
tongue is narrow, short, flat, and but slightly forked; and the head is
of a conical shape, and is covered with regular shields.
Of the families thus characterised, some only have distinct eyelids, as
the families _Acontiadæ_, _Ophiomoridæ_, _Sepsidæ_, and _Scincidæ_;
while others have the eyelids rudimentary and the eyes exposed, as the
families _Lialisidæ_, _Aprasiadæ_, _Pygopodidæ_, and _Gymnopthalmidæ_.
In the _Acontiadæ_ the nostrils are placed in the enlarged rostral
plate, with a longitudinal slit behind. The form of the body much
resembles that of our common Orvet, or Blind-worm, and their limbs, when
present, are so rudimentary that they can aid little in locomotion. One
genus, _Acontias_, is without limbs, and the eyes are furnished with a
lower lid, while the upper eyelid is rudimentary. Of this, one species,
_A. meleagris_, inhabits South Africa; and another, _A. Layardii_, has
been discovered in Ceylon. The genus _Nessia_ has four rudimentary
limbs, and the rostral shield is large, sub-conical, and depressed. In
one species, _N. monodactyla_, the limbs are diminutive, the posterior
placed far apart from the anterior, all being very short, weak, and
undivided into toes. In another, _N. Burtoni_, each foot is divided into
three minute toes. Both species are peculiar (so far as known) to
Ceylon, and the habits of this family are much the same as those of our
common Orvet (_Anguis fragilis_).
The family of _Ophiomoridæ_ is founded on a single genus and species,
_Ophiomorus miliaris_, which inhabits North Africa. As remarked by Dr.
Gray, this reptile seems to be intermediate to the _Acontiadæ_ and the
_Scincidæ_, and makes it appear as if the large rostral shield of the
former was formed of the united rostral, supra-nasal, and nasal shields
of the present family, and of the _Scincidæ_. It has an elongate,
cylindrical body, without external limbs, and the ears are hidden under
the skin; the eyes are distinct, with valvular eyelid; and the scales of
the body and somewhat elongate tail are hexagonal.
The _Sepsidæ_ differ from the preceding, and also from the great family
of the _Scincidæ_, by having the nostrils placed in the front edge of a
small shield, in a notch at the hinder side of the rostral plate, which
latter is rather large and square. The eyes are distinct, the lower
eyelid scaly, or with a transparent disk. Body fusiform or
sub-cylindrical, elongate. These reptiles burrow in dry sand, and are
peculiar to the anciently-known continents and certain islands. Some
have a wedge-shaped head, with prominent rostral plate. Of these the
genus _Sphenops_ has more developed limbs, each dividing into four toes;
and the only species, _S. sepsoides_, inhabits Egypt and other parts of
North Africa. _Sphenocephalus_ has a more slender and elongate shape,
and the limbs are placed more distantly apart; the anterior minute, and
fitting into a groove, the posterior as large as in _Sphenops_, and each
of them having but three toes, of which the innermost and next are
sub-equal, and the outer much shorter. The only known species, _S.
tridactylus_, is common in Afghanistan. In _Scelotes_ the anterior limbs
disappear altogether; and the only known species, _S. bipes_, inhabits
South Africa. Other genera have a pyramidal head, with the rostral plate
erect, and rounded in front. Such are the five following, each founded
on a single species:--_Gongylus ocellatus_, from North Africa and the
borders of the Mediterranean; _Thyrus Bojeri_, from the Mauritius;
_Amphiglossus astrolabi_, from Madagascar; _Seps tridactylus_, from the
south of Europe and north of Africa; and _Heteromeles mauritanicus_,
from North Africa. The last has only two toes to the fore-feet, three to
the hind; and _Seps_ has three toes to each foot, while the other three
genera have five to each foot. In general these animals are found in dry
and elevated spots, where they hide themselves in the sand or under
stones.
[Illustration: Fig. 25.--Seps tridactylus.]
The _Scincidæ_ have the head covered with shields, which are
symmetrically arranged. Tongue slender, free, extersile, terminating in
two pointed lobes. Scales on the back rounded, quincuncial, imbricate;
those on the belly similar to those on the back and on the sides. No
fold across the throat or along the side; no femoral or inguinal pores.
Tail generally long, rounded, fragile. Eyes and eyelids well developed.
Nostrils in a separate plate, between the frontal and labial shields.
Generally four limbs, moderately developed, sometimes feeble or hidden
below the skin. The species of this family are exceedingly numerous, and
inhabit almost every part of the tropical regions, some extending into
the temperate zones. They are thoroughly land Lizards, preferring dry
ground, and hiding themselves in the sand, under stones, fallen leaves,
&c., very few of them entering the water. They do not attain to any
considerable size, only a few species of Australia and the West Indies
growing to the thickness of a man's wrist, and exceeding a foot in
length. Some of them are viviparous, others deposit from eight to twelve
globular eggs. Dr. Gray divides them into the sub-families of
_Scincinæ_, or those which have the scales thin, smooth, and neither
striated nor keeled; the nostrils in a single smooth plate, without any
lunate groove behind; and the tail round, tapering, unarmed; and
_Tropidophorinæ_, or those which have the scales thick, bony, rugous,
striated, and with one or more keels upon each of them; the rostral
plate rounded in front, and the body fusiform, with well-developed
limbs, which terminate always in the full complement of toes. A few
species of the _Scincinæ_ have no external limbs, thus approximating in
their appearance to certain of the burrowing Ophidians.]
The Orvet, or Blind-worm, _Anguis fragilis_, is small, cylindrical in
shape, about eleven or twelve inches in length, and having the exterior
appearance of Snakes. The scales which cover the body are small, smooth
and shining, being red in the middle, and edged with white, of a silvery
yellow on the upper part, and dusky beneath; the sides somewhat dusky
brown, and the throat slightly marbled with white, black, and yellow.
Two larger spots appear, one above the muzzle, the other upon the back
of the head; from this point two blackish longitudinal rays start, which
extend to the tail, as well as two other nut-brown rays, which start
from the eyes; the markings vary, however, in different countries, and
probably with age and sex.
[Illustration: Fig. 26.--Orvet, or Blind-worm (_Anguis fragilis_).]
The Orvet is found in woods and dry, sandy, and stony wastes. They are
timid, harmless creatures, retiring into holes and concealing themselves
in moss at the foot of trees to hide themselves from observation. They
feed upon worms, insects, and the smaller mollusks. Although perfectly
harmless, the country-people are strongly prejudiced against them,
believing their bite to be a deadly poison. This animal is extremely
brittle. Laurenti and others assert that when captured it throws itself
into a position of such rigidity that it sometimes breaks in two, and
that a smart blow of a switch will at any time divide it.
[There are little-known species of _Anguis_ in India and South Africa,
which are at least provisionally so considered, and certainly do not
differ essentially; and next we come to forms in which the limbs are
successively more developed. Such are the _Ophiodes striatus_ of Brazil,
which has two short, flattened, undivided, and one-pointed limbs,
corresponding to the usual hind pair; the _Brachymeles bonitæ_ of the
Philippines, in which there are two pairs of short and rudimentary
limbs, the fore bearing two minute claws, while the hind are undivided;
_Venira bicolor_, of the same archipelago has very short limbs, the fore
and hind being placed distantly apart, but in this genus all have five
distinct toes; _Chiamelea lineata_, from some part of India, and _Hagria
Vosmaërii_, from Bengal, are kindred forms which conduct to the genus
_Eumeces_, the species of which are very numerous, and spread over
nearly all the different countries between or near the tropics, and in
certain of them (as the Burmese _E. anguinus_) the limbs are still
remarkably diminutive, and (as in _E. isodactylus_ of Cambodia) the fore
and hind limbs are placed very far apart, the body and tail being long
and anguiform. In various other species of _Eumeces_, however, the
proportions are more those of an ordinary Scink, as again in the kindred
genera _Mabonia_ and _Plestiodon_, which are widely distributed.
In other series of Scinks, the distinctions of which are far from being
conspicuous, we again have limbless genera, or nearly so, as the
Australian _Soridia lineata_, which has one pair of small, posterior,
undivided extremities; while in another Australian form, the _Rhodona
punctata_, the anterior pair of limbs are simple and undivided, while
the hinder divide into two unequal toes, and the two pairs of limbs are
situate as distantly apart. And thus we may continue to trace the
successive gradations, in sundry genera, until we arrive at the _Scincus
officinalis_ of North Africa, a well-known reptile, the geographical
range of which extends eastward into Afghanistan, and which was formerly
in considerable request for its supposed medicinal properties. Indeed,
this notion still prevails in Hindustan, into which country dried
specimens of both this reptile and of _Sphenocephalus tridactylus_ (p.
101) are brought by Afghan traders, and are sold in the bazaars. Both of
these are Sand Lizards, which burrow into the sand with great rapidity.
We now come to the _Tropidophorinæ_, or second sub-family of Scinks
indicated by Dr. Gray (_vide_ p. 102), which have always well-developed
limbs, the body only moderately elongated, and the scales variously
keeled. Several species of larger size appertain to this series, as the
_Cyclodus gigas_ of Australia, and the curious Stump-tail Lizards,
_Trachydosaurus rugosus_ and _T. asper_, of the same insular continent,
which latter have most prominently rugous scales, and the tail literally
appearing like the short and abrupt stump of one. _Egernia Cunninghami_
and _Tropidolesma_ (of different species) are other comparatively large
Australian Lizards; and examples of most of those that have been
mentioned may generally be seen alive in the London Zoological Gardens,
where the _Cyclodus gigas_ has bred and proves to be viviparous. Of the
species of _Euprepes_, of which several inhabit the Indian region, some
(as the very common _E. rufescens_) are viviparous, and others (as _E.
multicarinata_) are oviparous. These have three more distinct, though
not prominent, keels upon each scale; and the different species inhabit
both the Old World and the New, as well as Australia. The Galliwasps
(_Celestus_) of the West Indies, and sundry other genera, do not greatly
differ. Of _Tropidophorus_, which has exceedingly rugged scales, the
species inhabit the Indo-Chinese countries, and one (_T. cocinsinensis_)
is found likewise in the Philippines; while of another (_T. Berdmorei_),
in Burmah, Mr. Theobald remarks that "its scales are dull and
lustreless, and the coloration peculiar for a Scink. It harbours under
half-immersed stones, and enters the water and gravel freely." In
several of this family of Lizards the scales are beautifully iridescent,
and many of them show longitudinal pale or white lines, or are otherwise
variegated.
Nearly akin to the extensive family of _Scincidæ_, there are three small
families (as classed by Dr. Gray), the species of which are peculiar to
Australia. They have small, undivided, posterior limbs only, or are
quite limbless. These families are the _Lialisidæ_, founded on three or
more species of a single genus, _Lialis_; the _Aprasiadæ_, founded upon
one species only--_Aprasia pulchella_, which is limbless; and the
_Pygopodidæ_, comprising the two genera _Pygopus_ and _Delma_, the
former containing two, the latter only one ascertained species. The
_Gymnopthalmidæ_ constitute still another small family, quadrupedal, but
with the limbs small and weak. Of seven genera referred to it, five are
Australian, one is European, and one belongs to South America.
_Ablepharus pannonicus_ is a small Lizard of this family, inhabiting
Eastern Europe, with a congener, _A. bivittatus_, in the Caucasus; and
_Gymnopthalmus lineatus_ inhabits Brazil and the Island of Martinique.
In the second tribe of _Leptoglossa_, entitled _Cyclosaura_, the scales
of the belly are square, in cross bands; those of the back and tail are
rhombic and imbricate, or circular and subgranular; the tongue is
lengthened, and more or less conspicuously furcate; and the eyes are
diurnal, having two valvular lids. The limbs are generally well
developed; but in several genera they still are more or less
rudimentary, or even absent.
There are four small families in which the sides are rounded and covered
with scales like the back. Of these, that of _Chamæsauridae_ is founded
upon the South African _Lacerta anguina_ of Linnæus, now _Chamæsaura
anguina_, which has the limbs quite rudimentary. In the American
families of _Cercosauridæ_, _Chirocolidæ_, and _Anadiadæ_, the limbs are
moderately developed, and have each five toes. The two last-mentioned
families are founded each upon a single species, _Chirocolus imbricatus_
and _Anadia ocellata_; and the other contains the two genera
_Circosaura_ and _Lepisoma_--of which the first comprises some two or
three species only. All of these reptiles have exceedingly long tails,
though not so inordinately long as in the _Lacertidæ_ of the genus
_Tachydromus_.
Certain other families have a distinct longitudinal fold, covered with
small granular scales on each side. These are the families _Chalcidæ_,
_Holaspidæ_, and the more extensive one of _Zonuridæ_. The _Chalcidæ_
have the head covered with regular many-sided shields, and the lateral
fold is indistinct; limbs small and rudimentary, and the hind feet are
undivided in the genera _Chalcis_ and _Bachia_, with three tubercles in
place of toes in _Microdactylus_, and with four clawed toes in
_Brachypus_. Each of these genera is founded on a single species, and
all are doubtless peculiar to the New World. The _Holaspidæ_ is also
founded on one species only, the _Holaspis Guentheri_, which again is
supposed to be South American. It has four well-developed limbs, a
double row of plates along the back and upper surface of the tail, and
the latter organ is curiously serrated laterally.
The _Zonuridæ_ constitute a considerable family, to which some eighteen
or twenty genera are assigned, and which present considerable
modification of form. The ears are distinct, whereas in the _Chalcidæ_
they are hidden under the skin. The head is pyramidal, or depressed, and
covered with regular many-sided shields; eyes with two valvular lids.
Limbs mostly well developed, but short in some, and rudimentary, or even
wanting in the so-called "Glass-snakes" which constitute the sub-family
_Pseudopodinæ_. There is no external trace of them in the North American
Glass-snake, _Ophisaurus ventralis_; and in the Old World genus,
_Pseudopus_, there is only one pair, posterior, rudimentary, and
undivided. These reptiles are long, and serpentiform in shape: whilst in
other Saurians the whole skin of the belly and of the sides is
extensible, the extensibility is limited in the "Glass-snakes" to a
separate part of the skin; and, as Dr. Günther remarks, "the scaly
covering of the upper and lower parts is so tight that it does not admit
of the same extension as in Snakes and other Lizards; and the
_Pseudopus_, therefore, could not receive the same quantity of food in
its stomach as those animals, were it not for the expansible fold of the
skin running along each side of its trunk." One species of _Pseudopus_,
the _P. Pallasii_, inhabits Asia Minor and the south-east of Europe; and
there is another, _P. gracilis_, in the Indo-Chinese countries (or
those lying eastward of the Bay of Bengal). A second sub-family,
_Gerrhonotinæ_, is peculiar to America, and consists of more
ordinarily-shaped Lizards, which are ranged in four genera. Together
with the _Ophisaurus_, or American Glass-snake, they are the only known
_Zonuridæ_ that inhabit the New World. The great mass of this family and
all of its most characteristic species are African, and these are
arranged by Dr. Gray under the sub-families _Cicigninæ_ and _Zonurinæ_.
In the first of these sub-families the tail is smooth, or unarmed, and
in the second it is spinous. The Cordules, _Cordylus_, _Zonurus_, &c.,
are very characteristic Lizards chiefly of Southern Africa, several
species of which have been figured by Sir Andrew Smith. They are mostly
of shortish form, and the neck is more or less spinous; the body-scales
in some (as _Zonurus cataphractus_) being extraordinarily rugous. These
Lizards squeeze themselves into crevices in the rocks, in which they
hold on so firmly by their nuchal spines that it is next to impossible
to dislodge them, the tail commonly giving way at once if it be
attempted to pull them forth by means of it.
The family of _Lacertidæ_, comprising our ordinary European Lizards,
have no longitudinal fold along the sides, but generally one across the
throat; the tail is very long, rounded, with its scales arranged in
rings, being also fragile; the head is covered with shields, which are
symmetrically arranged; scales on the back granular or rhombic; on the
sides granular; on the belly largely quadrangular or rounded, and
arranged in cross-bands; eyes diurnal, with eyelids; the tympanum
distinct; limbs always four, and well developed. This group of Lizards
has no representative in America or (so far as known) in Australia.
The sub-family of _Tachydrominæ_ is included by Dr. Gray in the family
_Zonuridæ_. These are Asiatic Lizards, with a most inordinate length of
tail, the fore and hind limbs being not placed distantly apart, as in
the various anguiform Lizards already treated of--there is an indistinct
collar, and the toes are not serrated or keeled. Two genera have been
distinguished, _Tachydromus_ and _Tachysaurus_, the latter founded on a
Japanese Lizard, _T. japonicus_. At least three species are known of
_Tachydromus_, two of which inhabit China, _T. septentrionalis_ and _T.
meridionalis_; the third belonging to the Indo-Chinese countries, _T.
sex-lineatus_. In an example of the last, measuring fourteen inches
long, the tail occupies eleven inches and a half. It is the
longest-tailed creature that we have any knowledge of, in proportion to
its other parts; indeed, something quite wonderful to behold and muse
over.
The rest of the _Lacertidæ_ are chiefly from Africa and the south of
Europe; there are probably more of them to be discovered in Middle Asia,
and only three or four species are known to inhabit the Indian region.
Fifteen or more genera are recognised. In temperate Europe (inclusive of
the British Islands) two species are common--the _Zootica vivipara_ and
the _Lacerta agilis_. The former, as its name imports, is viviparous,
whereas the other genera belonging to the family are (so far as known)
oviparous. Others occur in the south of Europe.]
The common Grey or Sand Lizard (_L. agilis_), sometimes attains the
length of from eight to ten inches, of which the tail occupies more than
half. These little inoffensive creatures, so common in Southern Europe,
are slender and active; their movements are so rapid that they escape
the eye as quickly as a bird. They require a mild temperature, and seek
shelter among ruins. When the sun strikes with its meridian force upon a
wall, they may be seen basking in its rays, enjoying themselves
delightedly upon the heated surface. They seem to be pervaded with the
blessed warmth, and mark their pleasure by soft undulations of the tail.
It is commonly said that the Lizard is the friend of Man, since far from
flying at his approach, they seem to regard his appearance with great
complacency. They pass the winter at the bottom of small holes which
they have hollowed out of the earth, where they become torpid. At the
commencement of spring they issue from their hiding-place, and each
seeks its mate; they go in pairs, male and female, it is said, living in
faithful union for many years, sharing between them the domestic
arrangements, which comprise hatching the young and nursing them in
their helplessness, carrying them into warm and sunny places, and
sheltering them from cold and damp.
Lizards feed chiefly upon insects, and especially flies. All who have
watched the actions of the Grey Lizards must have observed that the
caudal vertebræ are so extremely fragile that they separate on the
slightest touch, the tail remaining in the hand of any one attempting to
seize it. These tails sometimes grow again. When an attempt is made to
seize a Grey Lizard on the wall it lets itself fall to the ground, and
remains there a moment immovable before attempting to run, evidently
simulating death.
Grey Lizards are easily tamed, and appear happy in captivity. From their
extreme gentleness they soon become familiar with their keepers, and
return caress for caress, approaching mouth to mouth, and suck the
saliva from between their lips with a grace that few people would allow
them to display.
In the Green Lizard, _L. viridis_, the scales of the temple are
many-sided and unequal, with a central layer; back granular and oblong,
with shelving sides; throat fold distinct. Nothing can be more brilliant
than the variegated colouring with which it is ornamented. Its favourite
locality is a slightly elevated woody place, where the sun's rays
readily penetrate. It is also found in sunny meadows. It feeds upon
small insects, and shows no alarm at the presence of Man, but stops to
look at him. Snakes, on the contrary, they seem to fear much, but when
they cannot avoid them they fight courageously. In length they are about
eighteen inches.
[Illustration: Fig. 27.--Green Lizard and Ocellated Lizard.]
Green Lizards are found in Jersey and Guernsey, and other warm countries
of Europe, on the African coast of the Mediterranean, and they are not
rare in France.
How often have we admired their magnificent colours in the neighbourhood
of Montpelier, where they rival the green of the meadows, and glitter in
the sun like so many living emeralds!
In the Ocellated Lizard, _L. ocellata_, the upper part of the body is
green, variegated, spotted, and reticulated or ocellated with black,
having large round blue spots upon the flanks; the underpart of the
body is white, frosted with green; in size it is about twenty inches.
They are found at Fontainebleau, in the south of France, and in Spain.
They establish themselves in hard sand, often between two beds of
calcareous rock, upon some steep declivity, more or less directly
exposed to the south; they are also found between the roots of old
stems, either in hedgerows or vineyards. They feed almost exclusively on
insects; but are said to attack Mice, Shrews, Frogs, and even Snakes,
and to destroy the eggs of the Partridge. They have sometimes been tamed
by feeding them on milk.
[In the genus _Ophiops_, two species of which inhabit Asia Minor, and
one of them the shores of the Mediterranean, the eyelid is rudimentary
and the eye exposed, whence the name, signifying "snake eye." So far as
known, the habits of the various Lizards which constitute the family of
_Lacertidæ_ are much the same.
The family of _Teidæ_ is peculiar to the New World, and some of the
species attain to the length of several feet. In these Lizards the head
is pyramidal, and is covered with regular many-sided shields;
supra-orbital plate horny; the teeth solid and well rooted; tongue
elongate, flat, free (rarely slightly sheathed at its base); the scales
of the back are regular and keeled, and of a rhombic shape; sides flat,
and covered with small granular scales; the throat scaly, with a double
collar, rarely indistinct.
In some the throat has two cross-folds, with large six-sided scales
within; and of these some have the ventral shields small, long, and
smooth, while others have them much broader. The former are known as the
Teguexins (_Teius_ and _Callopistes_), and the latter as the Ameivas
(_Ameiva_, and three other genera). One species of Teguexin, _Teius
teguexin_, may commonly be seen alive in the London Zoological Gardens.
This is a large and powerful Lizard, exceeding five feet in length when
full grown, and extremely active. It feeds on small living animals of
any kind, and will even devour poultry, and especially their eggs, for
which latter it manifests an especial liking, as observed in captivity.
Sometimes it has been known to prey on other and kindred Lizards, as the
Ameivas. The teeth of this species are strong, and the reptile can bite
with great force. It is a bold and determined combatant when attacked,
and if it succeeds in seizing its foe, retains its hold with
pertinacity. Its flesh is eaten by some people, who consider it
excellent. Together with a second species, _T. nigropunctatus_, it
inhabits Brazil, and the two species of _Callopistes_ are also South
American, one at least of them occurring in Chili. The species of this
family, although strong and agile, never ascend trees, but range at will
the hot sandy plains or the dense and damp underwood on the margins of
lakes and rivers, into which they plunge when alarmed, and remain below
the surface until the danger has passed away, their capacious lungs and
imperfect circulation permitting them to endure a very long immersion
without inconvenience.
The Ameivas have a long whip-like tail, and peculiarly elongated toes on
their hind feet. The species of _Ameiva_ and _Cnemidophorus_ are
numerous, and the genera _Dicrodon_ and _Acrantus_ are founded each of
them upon a single species. In general these are Lizards which
correspond with the ordinary _Lacertidæ_ of the Old World. One species
only, _Cnemidophorus sex-lineatus_, inhabits the Southern States of
North America; there are at least four others in Mexico, and the rest
belong to South America and the Antilles. "The _Ameiva dorsalis_,"
writes Mr. Gosse, "is one of the most common of the reptiles of Jamaica,
and is as beautiful as abundant. Its colours are striking, but not
showy, and its countenance has a very meek expression. All its motions
are elegant and sprightly; when it is proceeding deliberately, its body
is thrown into latent curves the most graceful imaginable; but when
alarmed its swiftness is so excessive that it appears as if it literally
_flew_ over the ground, and the observer can scarcely persuade himself
that it is not a bird. It is very timid, and though its toes are not
formed as in the Geckos and Anoles, for holding on against gravity, I
have seen a large Ameiva run with facility on the side of a dry wall,
along the perpendicular surfaces of the large stones."
A second series occurs in those _Teidæ_ which have a collar of large
shields on the throat. As many as five genera of them have been
established, each upon a single species, and all are from intertropical
America. In _Crocodilurus lacertinus_ the two rows of crests along the
tail recall to mind the Crocodiles, whence the name bestowed. Others
have been styled Dragons, as the Great Dragon, _Ada guianensis_, and the
Smaller Dragon, _Custa bicarinata_. All bear a certain amount of
superficial resemblance to the Crocodiles, and the Great Dragon grows to
six feet in length, and is found in many parts of South America. This
large reptile runs up the trunks of trees with facility, is quick when
on the ground, and it also swims, though not particularly well. It preys
upon such small animals as it can manage to seize, and chiefly frequents
the inundated savannahs and marshy localities, where it is seen basking
in the sunshine; but there is considerable difficulty in taking this
Lizard, as it makes generally for its burrow in some raised spot, and
bites desperately in self-defence. Its flesh is eaten, and is considered
a delicacy. Its eggs, also, are considerably esteemed at Cayenne and
other places, and each female lays some dozens of them.
The family of _Helodermidæ_ is founded on a very remarkable Lizard from
Mexico, the _H. horridum_, which is of the same size as the Great
Dragon, and in some respects approximates the following Old World family
of _Varanidæ_. Its back and sides are covered with oblong, hexagonal,
very convex and shield-like scales, and the belly with oblong, rather
convex plates; tail cylindrical, with oblong, convex scales above, and
flat, elongate, thin plates beneath. The head is somewhat flattened, and
is covered with polygonal, convex shields; the muzzle is rounded; and
the teeth are on the inner side of the jaws, incurved, with a groove on
the front of their inner side. The bite of this reptile is said to be
severe.
The family of _Varanidæ_ inhabit South-eastern Asia and its islands,
Africa, and Australia. In this family are comprised the largest of
existing Lizards, with the exception of the _Crocodilidæ_. They are very
commonly miscalled Iguanas by Europeans and their descendants, in the
countries where they are found. These reptiles have a pyramid-shaped
head, more or less elongated, and covered with small and scale-like, but
not imbricate, shields. Their teeth are acute and compressed. The tongue
is elongate, slender, terminating in a long fork, and is retractile into
a sheath at its base. Their scales are small, equal on the sides and on
the back, and arranged in cross rings; those on the belly and tail are
square, in cross bands. Tail long, and generally more or less
compressed. The feet are well developed, with five toes on each, which
are armed with strong claws. Most of them live near water, and they are
excellent swimmers, their long and compressed tail serving as a
propeller. Their movements on land are not much less rapid than in the
water. Several of the species climb trees, and they are more or less
nocturnal in their time of action, though also about by day. They are
exclusively carnivorous, feeding on the different water animals, and on
the eggs of birds, and likewise on those of other large reptiles; some
of them are also destructive to ducklings, and to various Snakes. Dr.
Günther remarks that "their external nasal opening leads into a spacious
cavity situated in the snout; when the animal dives, it closes the nasal
aperture, and retaining a certain quantity of air in that pouch, or
rather in the two pouches, it is enabled to remain under water for a
prolonged period without the necessity of rising to the surface in order
to breathe. It is the same plan of structure as that with which a large
northern Seal (_Cystophora borealis_) is provided." In like manner, the
air-bag connected with the one developed lung of the Ophidians retains
the necessary supply of air during the tedious process of deglutition or
swallowing. The nostrils are variously placed, either mid-way between
the eye and muzzle, or nearer to one or to the other; and according to
this and some other differences, Dr. Gray divides the _Varanidæ_ into as
many as seven genera, but Dr. Günther would seem to admit not more than
two genera. When the tail of these Lizards is mutilated, the lost
portion is never renewed; whereas in the preceding families of the
_Zonuridæ_, _Lacertidæ_, and _Teidæ_ a new tail or portion of one soon
sprouts forth--but this renewed portion contains no bony vertebræ, and
it remains smooth externally; when the fracture is cleft, as sometimes
happens, two new tails are put forth. Another family of Lizards in which
the tail is thus commonly renewed is that of the Geckos; but never in
the _Iguanidæ_, the _Agamidæ_, and the _Chameleonidæ_, any more than in
the _Varanidæ_. The species of this family defend themselves vigorously,
when attacked, by lashing forth smart blows with the tail, as do also
the Crocodiles and the larger _Iguanidæ_.
In the genus _Varanus_, the nasal apertures form an oblique slit, in,
or nearly in, the middle, between the eye and the tip of the snout. The
scales are elliptic and small; those on the back and on the sides are
not imbricate, each of them being surrounded by a small, circular,
granular fold. Tail with a low crest, formed by two or four series of
strongly keeled scales. Throat with a transverse fold. One very common
in India and Ceylon is the _V. dracæna_, which grows to a length of five
feet, the tail being longer than the body. These reptiles live in holes,
and in mid-day they steal out of their cells to seek their food, which
consists chiefly of the smaller reptiles and of insects. In many parts
of India, and in Ceylon, the flesh is much eaten by the natives. The
late Dr. Kelaart states that he once tried some excellent soup made from
it, which tasted not unlike hare-soup. At Trincomali, he tells us, they
are hunted down by Dogs, and sold in the market for sixpence each. This
species climbs walls, and holds on so firmly with its strong claws,
wherever these can be inserted, that it is actually used by
house-breakers in India to help in raising themselves up a wall or
building, the man grasping the tail, while the reptile affords a lift by
endeavouring to escape from him upwards. It lays twenty or thirty eggs,
which in texture and appearance resemble those of many Snakes, being
similarly agglutinated together by a viscid mucus. Sir J. E. Tennent
remarks that "one of the earliest, if not the first, remarkable animal
to startle a stranger on arriving in Ceylon, whilst wending his way from
Point de Galle to Colombo, is this large Lizard, which may be seen at
noonday searching for Ants and other insects in the midst of the highway
and along the fences. When disturbed, but by no means alarmed, by the
approach of Man, it moves off to a safe distance; and the intrusion
being at an end, it returns again to the occupation in which it had been
interrupted. It lives in any convenient hollow, such as a hole in the
ground, or the deserted nests of the Termites; and some small ones,
which frequented my garden at Colombo, made their retreat in the heart
of a decayed tree."
Of another species, _V. flavescens_, which inhabits Lower Bengal, and to
the eastward in Burmah, &c., Mr. Theobald remarks that "large specimens
are not often procurable by Europeans, as they are much sought after by
both Burmese and Karéns as choice articles of food. They are chiefly
hunted with Dogs, whose scent enables them to discover the Varans in
the hollow trees in which they habitually shelter themselves. A Burman,
though ordinarily a lazy man, will think nothing of cutting down and
breaking up a large tree in which one of these creatures has sought
refuge. The _Varanidæ_ deposit their eggs in the ground, usually
selecting a deserted White-ant's nest. The eggs are cylindrical, with
tapering ends, of a dirty white colour and leathery texture (those of
_V. dracæna_ are two inches long), and, being esteemed an uncommon
luxury by the Burmese, sell dearer than fowls' eggs. They are oily and
feculent-looking, though devoid of any nauseous odour, and some
Europeans eat them with pleasure."
A well-known African species, the _V._ or _Psammosaurus scincus_,
extends (without the slightest difference) to the extreme desert region
of the north-west of India, and more habitually frequents dry localities
than others. In this species the nasal apertures are placed very near
the eyes.
In the genus _Hydrosaurus_, the nostrils are more or less rounded, and
are situate near the extremity of the snout. These animals are more
decidedly aquatic than the preceding, and some of the species grow to
seven or even eight feet in length. Such is the _H. giganteus_ of
Australia, where three, if not four, species inhabit. In all
south-eastern Asia and its islands, its range extending to Lower Bengal
but not to India proper, although found in Ceylon, the _H. salvator_ is
a common species, which, according to the late Dr. Cantor, is "very
numerous in hilly and marshy localities of the Malayan peninsula. It is
commonly, during the day, observed in the branches of trees overhanging
rivers, preying upon birds and their eggs and smaller Lizards, and when
disturbed it throws itself from a considerable height into the water; it
will courageously defend itself with teeth and claws, and by blows with
its tail."
We have now to treat of the
PACHYGLOSSA,
which are those Lizards which have the tongue short, thick, attached to
the gullet, and not exsertile. These fall under two very distinct
tribes--the _Strobilosaura_ and _Nyctisaura_ of Dr. Gray, or the tribe
of the Iguanas and their kindred, and that of the Geckos and their
kindred. The tribe of
STROBILOSAURA
Have the scales of the back and sides imbricate, generally rhombic, and
those of the lower parts imbricate and of small size. Tail with more or
less distinct whorls of scales. The eyes diurnal, with round pupil, and
valvular lids. Feet with toes of very unequal length. Many of these
reptiles have a row of spines or spine-like scales along the back and
tail, which in some are very long, while others have high dorsal and
caudal crests, an expansile gular pouch, or other adornments. Like the
Varans among the _Leptoglossa_ (p. 114), these Lizards do not renew the
tail, or a portion of it, after mutilation. There are two great families
of them--one peculiar to the Old World with Australia, the other to the
New World; but as families they do not differ much, and might very well
be retained as divisions of the same extensive family.
In the family of _Iguanidæ_, all of which inhabit America or its
islands, the teeth are round at the root, dilated and compressed at the
tip, and toothed at the edge; they are placed in a simple series on the
inner side of the jaws, just below the edge, and are covered on the
inner side by the gums; as they fall out they are replaced by others,
which grow at the base of their predecessors, and gradually cause the
absorption of their roots. Probably not fewer than a hundred and fifty
species are now recognised, which are distributed under more than fifty
genera. We can only notice a few of the most remarkable of these
Lizards, some of the larger of which attain a length of five or six
feet, with proportionate bulk of body. As a general rule, the larger
species are mainly herbivorous, while the smaller are chiefly
insectivorous, though many of the latter also devour fruit. As most of
them are remarkable for their rapid changes of colouring, the name of
Chameleon is often misapplied to them, in the supposition that the
Chameleons are the only Lizards in which that curious phenomenon is
observable. In one remarkable species, the _Sphærops anomalus_,
inhabiting Brazil, it is stated that the eye nearly resembles that of
the true Chameleons, and it is also one of those which are particularly
celebrated for its changes of hue.]
[Illustration: Fig. 28.--Iguana tuberculata.]
The name _Iguana_ was given by Laurenti to a heterogeneous group of
Saurians, various forms being included which were first separated by
Daudin. The Iguanas, as thus restricted, are characterized by a very
large thin dew-lap under the neck, a double row of small palatal teeth,
and a crest on the back and tail; the latter long, slender, compressed,
and covered with small imbricated and carinated scales. Messrs. Duméril
and Bibron describe the genus, thus modified, as principally remarkable
for the cutaneous prolongation which constitutes the deep and thin
dew-lap, or pouch, the free border of which describes a curved line, and
is dentated at the part nearest the chin. The head is moderately long,
and has the form of a pyramid with four faces. The neck is slightly
compressed, the limbs long, the toes unequal and sometimes denticulate
on the edge. The five toes of the posterior feet are graduated; the
tail, which is long and slender, is slightly flattened from right to
left. The Iguanas live chiefly on trees, but they take readily to the
water, swimming with great facility.
There are numerous species, all of which are found in South America and
the Antilles. In the Island of Isabella, Sir E. Belcher found swarms of
them which he had reason to consider omnivorous, feeding voraciously on
birds' eggs and the intestines of birds and insects.
The Common Iguana, _I. tuberculata_, which inhabits a great part of
South America, is one of the best known species of this family. These
reptiles are easily recognised from the large pouch underneath the neck,
and the dentated crest which extends from the head to the extremity of
the tail. The tail, feet, and body are covered with small scales. On the
upper part, their colour is a more or less decided green, sometimes
becoming blue, at others slate-coloured; the lower part is of a
yellowish green. The sides present zigzag, roundish, brown scales, edged
with yellow; frequently a yellow line is traced obliquely in front of
the shoulder, and some individuals are sprinkled with brown; others have
the limbs spotted with brown on a black ground. The tail is surrounded
with brownish rays alternating with others green and yellow. When full
grown it attains the length of four feet, but the more ordinary length
of the animals is about thirty inches. They are very gentle creatures,
and perfectly harmless, feeding almost exclusively on vegetables. They
are hunted in America for their flesh, which is excellent; and they are
especially common at Surinam, in the neighbourhood of Cayenne, and in
Brazil.
[Of a kindred species, _Metopoceros cornutus_, which also is common in
the Antilles, an excellent description has been published by Lieutenant
Tyler,[22] which we must endeavour to condense. This reptile attains a
length of five, and sometimes even of six feet, the tail being about
twice and three quarters the length of the body. When first hatched it
measures four inches. The mouth is large, and is armed with two rows of
maxillary and two of palatal teeth, which appear simply to be intended
to crop leaves and to provide the stomach with vegetable food. Each
maxillary tooth is a little double-edged saw, and they are so lapped
over each other that the reptile, in closing its mouth upon a leaf,
cuts through it completely. The tongue is curiously used by the animal
to draw food into the mouth, and to forward it down the gullet, or to
repel it at will, and the only use of the palatal teeth appears to be to
secure the food while the tongue moves forward to afford fresh
assistance in its journey down the throat. The tongue is always covered
by a glutinous secretion, which is perceptibly appended to the jaws when
the mouth is open. Between the lower jaw and the chest is a pouch, which
the animal draws in or extends simultaneously with the compression or
swelling out of the body when enraged or excited. The portion of the
gular pouch attached to the jaw is inflatable, and food is sometimes
retained in it for a considerable period, but the lower part is merely
extensible.
[22] "Proceedings of the Zoological Society" for 1850, p. 106.
"Whilst always retaining the same colours, this Iguana has the power of
considerably changing its hues; but these changes are gradually
performed. The colours become more dull as the period of the change of
cuticle approaches--which is not, however, very frequent. Each scale has
its own tint, and the colours being thus irregularly blended, an
appearance is given, particularly to the younger reptiles, very much
like that of worsted-work.
"These Iguanas live principally on trees, and near the windward coast of
the island" (of St. Lucia). "They are not much seen, excepting in the
months of February, March, and April, when they quit their
hiding-places, and repair to the sea-shore or other sandy places to lay
their eggs in the sand. The older females lay a great number of eggs. I
have known an instance of one in confinement laying five in one day, and
thirty-two within the space of ten minutes five days afterwards, making
thirty-seven in all. Younger females are much less prolific, according
to their size. The eggs are very liable to destruction by Ants, which
fact probably accounts for their being usually deposited in sea-sand.
They are soft, and without any white, and their shell resembles the most
beautiful kid leather used for French gloves, of a very light
straw-colour. They are about the size of those of a domestic Pigeon, but
rather longer; but they vary in dimensions according to the age and size
of the Iguana.
"This Iguana is not averse to water, when not too cold, taking to it
only when the sun is shining; in fact, not moving about much at any
other time. Its mode of swimming differs from that of other Lizards,
inasmuch as it places its four legs close by the side of its body, and
swims entirely with its tail. It dives with great facility, and remains
sometimes for a considerable time under water. I believe that it never
ventures into the sea. The tail is a very valuable limb; for, besides
being the sole means of swimming possessed by the animal, it is of great
use in climbing trees, although not prehensile; and it is a most
important weapon of defence, a blow from it being frequently sufficient
to inflict a severe wound. In fact, this reptile is rather formidable
when brought to bay in the woods. It is hunted by the natives with Dogs
trained for the purpose. The Dog, immediately upon scenting it, gives
tongue, and, if on the ground, the Dog seizes it by the back, and either
kills it or maims it, which makes its capture easy; if in a tree, the
Iguana is either shaken down--a matter ordinarily of no small
difficulty--or the branch is cut off. It is almost useless to attempt to
find these reptiles without Dogs, as the resemblance of their colour to
that of the trees which they inhabit prevents them from being easily
seen. Few Dogs but those accustomed to the sport will touch them, as, in
addition to the blows which they inflict with the tail, they bite and
scratch furiously; and when once they lay hold of anything with their
teeth, they can only be made to let go by an inducement to bite some
other attractive object being offered to them. They run into holes when
chased, if an opportunity offers, and when their eyes are hidden from
view, they fancy that their whole body is safely covered. The flesh,
particularly of the female, is a great delicacy; it is cooked in various
ways, sometimes in a fricassee, with the eggs whole, sometimes roasted
or stewed. The eggs have a very glutinous consistence. The flesh is said
to disagree with some constitutions.
"Unless when caught young, it is very difficult to induce these reptiles
to feed in confinement, and particularly when watched. Their disposition
is sulky and savage, and I have known some of them," continues
Lieutenant Tyler, "to die in confinement from starvation, rather than
feed. This has caused me to try the following plan, which I find very
successful, of affording them nourishment:--I hold them by the lower
part of the body with one hand, and with the other I irritate them until
they open their mouth and attempt to bite, when I insert food; and by
annoying them in this way, I have not only made them eat their natural
food, but I have killed some of them by forcing them to eat corn and
leaves, which appear to have disagreed with them. By some of the natives
this Iguana is said to eat Lizards and insects; but I have opened
several, and I have never succeeded in finding any but vegetable matter
in the stomach."
Of the habits of a kindred species of Iguana, the _Cyclura lophura_,
inhabiting Jamaica, Mr. Gosse has given an elaborate description; and he
tells us that the gular pouch in the _Iguanidæ_ "is _extensible_, but
not _inflatable_," as is the current opinion. Holbrook and others have
remarked the same; and Professor Thomas Bell describes the fold of skin
as being drawn down by a peculiar arrangement of the lingual bone, and a
singular cartilage fixed to it and attached also to the skin. These
parts are moved by delicate muscles, so that, when the cartilage is
drawn down, the skin of course is distended, and follows it "in the same
way that the silk is stretched over the whalebone of an umbrella." "In
fact the skin," writes Professor Holbrook, "when distended in life by
the animal, does not resemble the inflated vocal sacs of the Frogs and
Toads, which are round, but looks like a fold of the skin, pinched and
drawn down, the two portions of it being in contact, like a dew-lap." It
appears that the _Cyclura_, also, is exclusively herbivorous; and Mr.
Gosse remarks upon the severe wounds which it inflicts upon Dogs with
its sharply-serrated tail. In general, the larger species of this family
are solely vegetable-feeders, while the smaller kinds (such as the
Anoles) are more or less insectivorous; and there are some, of
intermediate size, which even prey occasionally upon the kindred Anoles
and other small animals. The genera of these reptiles are exceedingly
numerous, as we have seen, and amongst so many there must be
considerable variety in the habits; but we can only notice a very few of
them. Within the limited area of the small archipelago of the
Galapagos, situated on the equator about ten degrees west of South
America, there are two remarkable species of _Iguanidæ_, of which the
habits have been described and commented upon by Mr. Darwin in his
volume of the "Voyage of H.M.S. _Beagle_." One of them is particularly
so, because, as that naturalist observes, it is the only existing
Saurian which can properly be said to be a maritime animal. In the whole
of that group of islands, as he tells us, there is only one rill of
fresh water that reaches the coast; yet this reptile frequents the
sea-beaches, and no other parts of the islands. He adds that it is the
only known existing Lizard that feeds exclusively on aquatic
productions. Although he refers both species to the genus
_Amblyrhynchus_, the aquatic sort now constitutes the genus
_Oreocephalus_ of Dr. Gray, and it bears the name of _O. cristatus_.
This Lizard, according to Mr. Darwin, "is extremely common on all the
islands throughout the archipelago of the Galapagos. It lives
exclusively on the rocky sea-beaches, and is never found--at least, I
never saw one--even ten yards inshore. It is a hideous-looking creature,
of a dirty black colour, stupid and sluggish in its movements. The usual
length of a full-grown one is about a yard, but there are some even four
feet long. I have seen a large one which weighed twenty pounds. On the
island of Albemarle they seem to grow to a greater size than on any
other. These Lizards were occasionally seen some hundred yards from the
shore swimming about; and Captain Colnett, in his 'Voyage,' says, 'they
go out to sea in shoals to fish.' With respect to the object, I believe
that he is mistaken; but the fact stated on so good an authority cannot
be doubted. When in the water the animal swims with perfect ease and
quickness, by a serpentine movement of its body and flattened tail--the
legs, during this time, being motionless and closely collapsed on its
sides. A seaman on board sank one, with a heavy weight attached to it,
thinking thus to kill it directly; but when an hour afterwards he drew
up the line, the Lizard was quite active. Their limbs and strong claws
are admirably adapted for crawling over the rugged and fissured masses
of lava which everywhere there form the coast. In such situations, a
group of six or seven of these ugly reptiles may oftentimes be seen on
the black rocks, a few feet above the surf, basking in the sun with
outstretched legs. I opened the stomachs of several," continues Mr.
Darwin, "and in each case found it largely distended with minced
sea-weed of that kind which grows in thin foliaceous expansions of a
bright green or dull red colour. I do not recollect having observed
this sea-weed in any quantity on the tidal rocks; and I have reason to
believe that it grows at the bottom of the sea, at some little distance
from the coast. If such is the case, the object of these animals
occasionally going out to sea is explained. The stomach contained
nothing but the sea-weed. Mr. Bynoe, however, found a piece of a Crab in
one; but this might have got in accidentally. The intestines were large,
as in other herbivorous animals."
The food of this Lizard, equally with its compressed form of tail, and
the certain fact of its having been seen voluntarily swimming out at
sea, absolutely prove its aquatic habits; nevertheless, as we are told
by Mr. Darwin, "there is in this respect one strange anomaly, namely,
that when frightened it will not enter the water. From this cause, it is
easy to drive these Lizards down to any little point overhanging the
sea, where they will sooner allow a person to catch hold of their tail
than jump into the water. They do not seem to have any notion of biting;
but when much frightened they squirt a drop of fluid from each nostril.
One day I carried one to a deep pool left by the retiring tide, and
threw it in several times as far as I was able. It invariably returned
in a direct line to the spot where I stood. It swam near the bottom,
with a very graceful and rapid movement, and occasionally aided itself
over the uneven ground with its feet. As soon as it arrived near the
margin, but still being under water, it either tried to conceal itself
in the tufts of sea-weed, or it entered some crevice. When it thought
the danger was passed, it crawled out on the dry rocks, and shuffled
away as quickly as it could. I several times caught this same Lizard by
driving it down to a point, and though possessed of such perfect powers
of diving and swimming, nothing would induce it to enter the water; and
as often as I threw it in, it returned in the manner above described.
Perhaps this singular piece of apparent stupidity may be accounted for
by the circumstance that this reptile has no enemy whatever on shore,
whereas at sea it must often fall a prey to the numerous Sharks. Hence,
probably urged by a fixed and hereditary instinct that the shore is its
place of safety, whatever the emergency may be, it there takes refuge. I
asked several of the inhabitants if they knew where it laid its eggs:
they said, that although well acquainted with the eggs of the other
kind, they had not the least knowledge of the manner in which this
species is propagated--a fact, considering how common an animal this
Lizard is, not a little extraordinary. During our visit (in October) I
saw extremely few small individuals of this species, and none I should
think under a year old. From this circumstance it seems probable that
the breeding season had not commenced."
The terrene species, _Amblycephalus subcristatus_, unlike the aquatic
one, is confined to the central islands of the Galapagos archipelago,
where they inhabit both the higher and damp, as well as the lower and
sterile parts; but in the latter they are much more numerous. "I cannot
give a more forcible proof of their numbers," relates Mr. Darwin, "than
by stating that, when we were left at James Island, we could not for
some time find a spot free from their burrows on which to pitch our
tent. These Lizards, like their brothers of the sea-kind, are ugly
animals; and, from their low facial angle, have a singularly stupid
appearance. In size, perhaps, they are a little inferior to the latter,
but several of them weighed between ten and fifteen pounds each. The
colour of their belly, front legs, and head (excepting the crown, which
is nearly white) is a dirty yellowish orange; the back is of a brownish
red, which, in the younger specimens, is darker. In their movements they
are lazy and half-torpid. When not frightened, they slowly crawl along,
with their tails and bellies dragging on the ground. They often stop and
doze for a moment, with closed eyes, and hind legs spread out on the
parched soil. These Lizards inhabit burrows; which they sometimes
excavate between fragments of lava, but more generally on level patches
of soft volcanic sandstone. The holes do not appear to be very deep, and
they enter the ground at a small angle; so that when walking over one of
these Lizard _warrens_, the soil is constantly giving way, much to the
annoyance of the tired pedestrian. This animal, when excavating its
burrows, alternately works the opposite sides of its body. One front leg
for a short times scratches up the soil, and throws it towards the hind
foot, which is well placed so as to heave it beyond the mouth of the
hole. This side of the body being tired, the other takes up the task,
and so alternately. I watched one for a long time," continues Mr.
Darwin, "till half of its body was buried; I then walked up and pulled
it by the tail; at this it was greatly astonished, and soon shuffled up
to see what was the matter; and then stared me in the face, as much as
to say, 'What made you pull my tail?' They feed by day, and do not
wander far from their burrows; and, if frightened, they rush to them
with a most awkward gait. Except when running downhill, they cannot move
very fast; which appears chiefly owing to the lateral position of their
legs. They are not at all timorous; when attentively watching any one,
they curl up their tails, and raising themselves on their front legs,
nod their head vertically, with a quick movement, and try to look very
fierce, but in reality they are not at all so; if one just stamps the
ground, down go their tails, and off they shuffle as quickly as they
can. I have several times observed small fly-eating Lizards, when
watching anything, nod their heads in precisely the same manner; but I
do not at all know for what purpose. If the _Amblyrhynchus_ is held, and
plagued with a stick, it will bite it very severely; but I caught many
by the tail, and they never tried to bite me. If two are placed on the
ground, and held together, they will fight and bite each other till
blood is drawn. Those individuals (and they are the greater number)
which inhabit the lower country, can scarcely taste a drop of water
throughout the year; but they consume much of the succulent cactus, the
branches of which are occasionally broken off by the wind. I have
sometimes thrown a piece to two or three when together; and it was
amusing enough to see each trying to seize and carry it away in its
mouth, like so many hungry Dogs with a bone. They eat very deliberately,
but do not chew their food. The little birds are aware how harmless
these creatures are: I have seen one of the thick-billed Finches
(peculiar to the Galapagos) picking at one end of a piece of
cactus--which is in request among all the animals of the lower
region--whilst a Lizard was eating at the other; and afterwards the
little bird, with the utmost indifference, hopped on the back of the
reptile. The stomachs of several that I opened were full of vegetable
fibres and leaves of different trees, especially of a species of
_Acacia_. In the upper region they live chiefly on the acid and
astringent berries of the guayavita, under which trees I have seen
these Lizards and the huge Tortoises feeding together. To obtain the
acacia leaves, they crawl up the low, stunted trees; and it is not
uncommon to see one, or a pair, quietly browsing, whilst seated on a
branch several feet from the ground.
"The meat of these animals, when cooked, is white; and by those whose
stomachs rise above all prejudices, it is relished as very good food.
Humboldt has remarked, that in intertropical South America, all Lizards
which inhabit _dry_ regions are esteemed as delicacies for the table.
The inhabitants of the Galapagos say, that those inhabiting the damp
region drink water, but that the others do not travel up for it from the
sterile country, like the gigantic Land Tortoises. At the time of our
visit, the females had within their bodies numerous large elongated
eggs. These they lay in their burrows, and the inhabitants seek them for
food."
These two curious Lizards of the Galapagos agree nearly in general
structure, and in many of their habits; and neither of them has that
rapidity of movement which is characteristic of various other
_Iguanidæ_. The form of the head resembles a good deal that of a land
Tortoise, and we find the same form of head, and again the same
disinclination to bite, in certain herbivorous Lizards, such as the
_Uromastyx_ and kindred forms, which are referred by Dr. Gray to the
corresponding Old World family of _Agamidæ_.]
In the family of Iguanas the Basilisk may be noted. According to
ancient authors, reproduced by writers of the middle ages, the
Basilisk, although such a small animal, could produce instant death
by its sting. The man whose eyes met theirs was supposed to be at
once devoured by an intense fire. Such are the fabulous ideas which
tradition has transmitted to us about these animals. It is to be
remarked, however, that the Basilisk of modern herpetology is not
the +basiliskos+, or Royal Serpent, of the ancients, the Cockatrice
of Scripture. The reptile which now bears the name is an inoffensive
animal, living in the forests of Guiana, Martinique, and Mexico, and
leaping from branch to branch, in order to gather the seeds or seize
the insects on which it feeds.
The Basilisk is distinguished from the other Iguanian Lizards by the
absence of the long and dilatable skin under the throat, and by the
presence of an elevated crest which runs along the whole length of the
back and tail.
[Illustration: Fig. 29.--Hooded Basilisk.]
The Hooded Basilisk, _B. americanus_ (Fig. 29), measures seven or eight
inches from the nose to origin of the tail, which is itself nearly three
times as long, being nineteen or twenty inches in length. Upon the
occiput it has a sort of horn or bag, in shape like a hood, round at the
summit, and slightly inclined towards the neck. This bag, when
distended, is about the size of a pullet's egg. In the male the back and
tail are surmounted by a raised crest, such as we have described above,
sustained in its thickness by the knotty process of the vertebræ. The
general colour is a mixture of sandy brown, slightly marbled on the back
and sides, with shades of blue on the upper part, and a silvery white
underneath. On the throat are larger bands of brown, and on each side of
the eye is a white ray bordered with black, which is lost upon the back;
and the tail is so remarkably attenuated towards its extremity as to
show the articulations of the vertebræ beneath.
[According to Mr. O. Salvin, the Basilisk is very common about Lanquin,
in the province of Guatemala, where it may frequently be seen on the low
branches of a bush, and it is particularly fond of basking on the boughs
of a felled tree in a clearing near a stream. In some specimens of the
males, we are informed, the tail is much more compressed than in others.
In a series of the young the crest is shown in all stages of
development. We also learn from this naturalist that, notwithstanding
the compressed form of its tail, the Basilisk does not habitually enter
the water, as most writers have supposed.
The sub-family of Anoles (_Anoliinæ_) have mostly the skin of their toes
widened (under the ante-penultimate phalanx) into an oval disk, striated
crosswise underneath, which enables them to attach themselves to various
surfaces. They do not attain the large size of the Iguanas, and the
habits and characteristics of the various species inhabiting Jamaica are
thus vividly described by Mr. P. H. Gosse in his "Naturalist's Sojourn"
in that beautiful island. "The stranger," he remarks, "walks into the
dwelling-house. Lizards, still Lizards, meet his eyes. The little Anoles
(_A. iodurus_, _A. opalinus_, &c.) are chasing each other in and out
between the _jalousies_, now stopping to protrude from the throat a
broad disk of brilliant colour, crimson or orange, like the petal of a
flower, then withdrawing it, and again displaying it in coquettish
sport. Then one leaps a yard or two through the air and alights on the
back of his playfellow; and both struggle and twist about in
unimaginable contortions. Another is running up and down on the
plastered wall, catching the Ants as they roam in black lines over its
whitened surface; and another leaps from the top of some piece of
furniture upon the back of the visitor's chair, and scampers nimbly
along the collar of his coat. It jumps on the table;--can it be the
same? An instant ago it was of the most beautiful golden green, except
the base of the tail, which was of a soft, light, purple hue; now, as if
changed by an enchanter's wand, it is of a dull sooty brown all over,
and becomes momentarily darker and darker, or mottled with dark and pale
patches of a most unpleasing aspect. Presently, however, the mental
emotion, whatever it was--anger, or fear, or dislike--has passed away,
and the lovely green hue sparkles in the glancing sunlight as before."
The green colour of certain of these Anoles so closely resembles that of
foliage, that they are apt to be overlooked. Thus Mr. Gosse was about to
throw a net over a Butterfly, when, as he remarks, "on a slight rustle
among the leaves, I observed that it was fluttering as if unable to get
away. My impression was that an invisible Spider's-web was holding it;
but, looking closer, I found that a little green Anolis had the
Butterfly in its mouth. Its colour was so exactly that of the verdant
leaves of the bush, that I had not perceived it before, although my eyes
were fixed on the spot. I have also observed the same species feeding on
Ants. On a gateway a number of scattered Ants of a small kind were
running to and fro, as they very frequently are seen to do. A beautiful
male Anolis had stationed himself on the post perpendicularly, with the
head downwards, and as the Ants one by one came near him he snapped them
up. Each capture was the work of an instant; he touched the post with
his muzzle, and the Ant was gone: they were evidently seized with the
lips, not with the tongue. These little creatures are as playful as they
are pretty. As they creep about they often catch sight of another of the
same species; immediately one suddenly raises and depresses the head and
fore-parts, flirts the tail from side to side, and extends the goitre by
means of the elastic arched bone in front, till its tip reaches nearly
as far as the muzzle. The brilliant goitre is thus alternately extended
and relaxed several times. After being thus 'signalized' for a few
seconds, one darts towards the other, who usually runs away, apparently
as if wishing to be caught." Elsewhere Mr. Gosse describes the noosing
of an example of a fine Lizard of this Anolis group, the _Dactylæ
Edwardsii_, which is also a native of Jamaica, "about a foot long, and
of a lively green colour. He was very savage, biting at everything near:
presently his colour began to change from green to blackish, till it was
of an uniform bluish black, with darker bands on the body, and a
brownish black on the tail; the only trace of green was just around the
eyes." He was placed in a cage, and "at night," continues Mr. Gosse, "I
observed him vividly green as at first--a token, as I presumed, that he
had in some measure recovered his equanimity. The next day he continued
very fierce. I hung the cage out in the sun; two or three times in the
course of the day I observed him green, but for the most part he was
black. The changes were rather quickly accomplished. The food of this
Lizard appears to include both vegetable and animal substances. I was
never able to induce one to eat in captivity; but the dissection of
several has given me this result. Thus in one I have found seeds and
farinaceous substance; in another the fragments of a brilliant beetle of
the weevil group. I once observed one deliberately eat the ripe
glass-berries, munching half of one at a mouthful."[23]
[23] "A Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica," by P. H. Gosse.
Thus far we have treated of chiefly arboreal _Iguanidæ_; and although a
Marine Lizard (_Trachycephalus cristatus_) cannot well be so designated,
it nevertheless belongs to the same particular series. We have next a
long series of mainly terrene genera of the same great American family,
in which the body is subtrigonal or depressed. As many as twenty-two
genera, with sixty-one species of the terrene _Iguanidæ_, were
catalogued by Dr. Gray in 1845, and a good many have since been added.
There is a corresponding series in the kindred Old World family of
_Agancidæ_, and in neither instance are the majority of them
ground-frequenting Lizards to any great extent. Thus, of Dr. Gray's
first genus _Tropidolipis_ (so named from its large keeled scales), and
of which as many as nine species are given from Mexico, a tenth (_T.
undulatus_, of the United States) is described by Professor Holbrook to
inhabit chiefly the pine-forests, where it is often found under the bark
of decaying trees; it also commonly chooses old fences for its
basking-place. "It is exceedingly rapid in its motions, climbing with
great facility to the tops of trees, and is hence not taken alive
without great trouble. Its food consists of insects, especially such as
are found under decaying wood." The colouring of this Lizard is
remarkably brown, with narrow zigzag black bands above, and green
below, with a white medium stripe bordered with black; throat and breast
black, with a broad green band across. Various species of kindred genera
were collected by Mr. Darwin, and are figured in the "Zoology of H.M.S.
_Beagle_," and of one of these (probably _Lecolænus Darwinii_), which he
observed at Bahia Blanca, in Northern Patagonia, he remarks that "it
lives on the bare sand near the sea-coast, and from its mottled colour,
the brownish scales being speckled with white, yellowish red, and dirty
blue, can hardly be distinguished from the surrounding surface. When
frightened it attempts to avoid discovery by feigning death, with
outstretched legs, depressed body, and closed eyes: if further molested,
it buries itself with great quickness in the loose sand. This Lizard,
from its flattened body and short legs, cannot run quickly." With others
these Lizards constitute the sub-family _Tropidolepinæ_ of Dr. Gray,
which are followed by the sub-family _Phrynosominæ_, in which some very
singular Lizards find their place. The most extraordinary of them
constitute the genus _Phrynosoma_, four species of which inhabit Western
North America. These have great spines to the occiput, in these respects
resembling the African genus _Cordylus_ (p. 107), and very Toad-like
proportions, looking somewhat like Toads with short tails; and again
they decidedly approximate in appearance to the curious _Moloch
horridus_ of Western Australia, which belongs to the corresponding Old
World family of _Agancidæ_; and, like that strange reptile, they are
slow of motion, and perfectly harmless, and they may be handled with
impunity, as they never attempt to bite.]
FLYING LIZARDS.
[Illustration: Fig. 30.--Flying Lizard (_Draco volans_).]
Flying Lizards (_Draco_) have the head small, the nostrils in a scale,
tubular, on the side ridge; tympanum white and opaque. They live on
trees, walking with agility with their wings folded by their sides.
These wings they expand and use as a parachute when they throw
themselves upon their prey from the tops of trees or other elevated
places. But they cannot move them as birds do their wings. These
remarkable appendages also serve to drive away insects.
[The fabulous Dragons of the ancient Greeks were Serpents or Lizards
with remarkably piercing sight, which guarded treasures and devoured
men. The Dragons of mediæval artists were frightful and fantastic
beings, one half Bat and the other half quadruped or Serpent. The little
Saurians which now bear the once dreaded name are no less interesting,
although they are no longer monsters; they are distinguished from all
other reptiles by a kind of wing, which is a large fold of skin, or
membrane, on each side of the body. These wings are entirely independent
of the other members, being sustained by six false ribs, which do not
surround the abdomen, but rather extend horizontally. They are the only
existing examples of our day of that organic arrangement which
distinguished the reptiles known under the name of _Pterodactyli_, and
which belonged to the jurassique period of geology.
Dr. Gray divides the Draconina into three genera, namely:--
I. _Dracos_, having the ears naked, nostrils below the fore ridge, of
which three species are described--viz., _D. volans_, the Flying Lizard
(Fig. 30), having the scales of the back broad, generally smooth, those
of the throat granular; wings grey, fulvous, or brown, spotted and
marbled with black, sometimes forming four or five oblique black bands
near the outer edge; the sides with a series of large keeled scales: the
Timor Flying Lizard, _D. viridis Timorensis_ of Schlegel; and the
Fringed Flying Lizard, _D. fimbriatus_, keeled.
II. _Draconella_, of which there are two species, one _D. Dussumieri_,
having the nape crested; and _D. hæmatopogon_, the Red-throated Dragon,
without crest on the nape.
III. _Dracunculus_, of which five species are described--namely, _D.
quinquefasciatus_, the Banded Flying Lizard, nape not crested, having a
longitudinal fold; _D. lineatus_, having the nape crested, the ears
slightly concave; _D. ornatus_, wings grey, reticulated with black, and
having broad black bands at the edge; the Spotted Winged Dragon, _D.
maculatus_, grey, and the wings black spotted; and _D. spilopterus_,
having the wing reddish near the body.]
GECKOTIDÆ, OR THICK-TONGUED LIZARDS.
This singular family of Saurians have the head wide and flattened, the
mouth wide, the nostrils distant and lateral, the eyes large, with short
lids; the tongue short, fleshy, and capable of slight elongation. The
body is thick and short, low on the legs, rather squat and depressed,
with a belly trailing on the ground; back without crest. The skin is
defended by granular scales, interlaced with others of a tubercular
character; they are almost always of a sombre colour. Their feet are
short, wide apart, and robust; they are furnished on the upper part with
imbricated laminæ, which enable them to adhere firmly to the surface of
even the smoothest bodies, and to run with rapidity in all directions on
a plain surface, and even to remain stationary with the back downwards,
like the common house Fly. More generally, however, their hooked and
retractile claws, like those of cats, assist them in climbing, crawling
up trees, rocks, and even perpendicular walls, and to remain there
immovable for several hours. Their flexible bodies mould themselves into
the depressions of the surface of the earth, in which they become
scarcely visible, their natural colour blending, and being confounded
with, the colour of the soil. Their eye-balls, which dilate and contract
considerably, protect them from the action of the sun's rays, and enable
them, it is thought, to see in the dark. They are nocturnal, avoid the
sun's rays, and catch their food in the chinks of rocks. Their movements
are rapid, silent, and sudden. They hibernate, and are provided with
fatty masses in the groin which are supposed to be a provision for their
nourishment during that period. Geckos emit sounds which resemble the
noise an equestrian makes when he would encourage his horse--smacking
their tongues on the palate to produce the sound. They seek habitations
in which they can find food, and are timid, inoffensive, and quite
incapable of inflicting injury either by their bite or claws; but their
repulsive appearance makes them objects of general repugnance, and has
caused evil properties to be attributed to them. Thus people try to
destroy them by every possible means. There are about sixteen known
species of Geckos distributed in all quarters of the globe, but chiefly
in warm countries.
[Illustration: Fig. 31.--Platydactylus homalocephalus.]
[The _Geckotidæ_ are divided into many genera, according to the
construction of the toes. Duméril refers to the comparative shortness
and general structure of the feet and conformation of the toes, which
he describes and figures in detail. The lower surface and the sole he
states are very dilatable, and furnished with small plates or lamellæ,
following or overlying each other in a mode which varies in the
different species. The nails are sometimes wanting on all the toes, but
more frequently hooked, and more or less retractile; the toes sometimes
united at the base, and in _Platydactylus_ the extremity of the toe
expands into a fan shape, as in the Tree Frogs. The membranous and soft
plates of the lower surface of the toes have various modifications in
different genera, which have been made the basis of their arrangement.
The Wall Gecko is supposed by Gesner to be the Lizard spoken of by
Aristophanes and Theophrastus, and the Tarentula of the Italians: and
there is little doubt that it was the +Aakalabônme+ of Aristotle and
the ancient Greeks; it clambered about their walls catching spiders,
on which it fed. Schneider has shown it was the _Stellio_ of Pliny.
Linnæus mentions three species, which he places with his great genus
_Lacerta_. Modern herpetologists, following Cuvier and Duméril, class
them according to the structure under the several genera _Ascalabotes_,
_Platydactylus, Hemidactylus_, _Ptyodactylus_, _Thecadactylus_,
_Stenodactylus_, and _Gymnodactylus_.]
The Wall Gecko (_P. homalocephalus_), Fig. 31, is of an ashy grey
colour, as if powdered on the upper part of the body. It is white
underneath, and inhabits the islands of the Mediterranean, as well as
the countries which form the basin of that sea, such as Italy, France,
Spain, and Africa. They are generally found in old walls; they are,
however, sometimes seen running on those of modern habitations. They
feed on all sorts of insects, particularly on the dipterous insects and
Arachnidans.
CHAMELEO. (LAURENTI.)
The genus _Chameleo_, of which ten species are described in the British
Museum Catalogue, are natives of Africa and Asia and naturalised in
Southern Europe. They live on trees, clinging to the branches by their
feet and prehensile tails; they move slowly and with great caution,
feeding upon insects, which they catch with singular dexterity by the
rapid elongation of their tongue, which is viscid at the tip.
Certain groundless metaphors, deeply rooted in the popular mind, have
singularly distorted the truth in respect to these reptiles. It is
commonly believed that the Chameleon often changes its shape, that it
has no fixed colour belonging to itself, but takes that of all objects
which it approaches. This singular idea has descended from very ancient
times. According to the reports of Theophrastus and Plutarch, the
Chameleon takes all colours in turn but white; according to Aristotle it
changes colour all over the body; but Ælian seems to have had views more
in accordance with those of modern observers, for he says when it takes
other colours than grey and disguises itself, it covers only certain
parts of the body with them. Altogether the ancients made the Chameleon
a very fantastic animal; hence in the familiar comparisons of literature
these fabulous beings serve as a type to designate uncertain principles;
to paint fawning men, who have neither character nor individuality of
their own, but who bend themselves to the will and adopt the opinions of
others. Putting aside the imaginary attributes accorded to the Chameleon
by the fancies of the ancients, and painting them such as they are, we
still see in them animals most worthy of observation and highly
interesting to the naturalist, as well for the singular formation of
different parts of their bodies as for their remarkable habits, and even
for peculiarities which have given some sanction to the errors and
prejudices to which we have alluded.
Chameleons have compressed bodies; the back round and projecting, or
rather pyramidal; the skin granulated; the head angular, with salient
occiput resting on a short and thick neck; their legs are slender; the
hind, as well as the fore toes are five; the tail prehensile and round.
The eyes are very large and protruding, their globes covered by a single
shagreen-like eyelid, which the animal can dilate or contract at will,
but which leaves little liberty to a small hole pierced at the centre,
through which a quick and rather brilliant eye-ball is perceived. The
eyes, in the Chameleon, are thus completely enveloped, as if they were
too delicate to sustain any glaring light; but this is not all--their
eyes have a singular mobility. By certain special muscular arrangements
they have the power to direct them on objects either together or
separate. Sometimes they turn their eyes in such a manner that one eye
looks back and the other forward. With one eye they can see objects
above them, while with the other they can see those situated below. It
is a common saying in France, applied to the Chameleon, "that it could
look into Champagne and see Picardy in flames."
The vermiform and retractile tongue is also a most singular organ. It is
cylindrical, about six inches long, terminating in a fleshy, dilatable,
and somewhat tubular tip, which is covered with a glutinous secretion,
by the aid of which it seizes its insect food, and draws it towards its
mouth. The feet have five very long and almost equal strong and hooked
claws, but the skin of the legs extends to the end of these toes, and
unites them in a very peculiar manner. Not only is this skin attached to
each of the toes, but it envelops them, and forms, as it were, two
bundles,--the one of three fingers, and the other of two. From this
structure one can anticipate the extreme difference which exists between
the habits of Chameleons and those of Lizards. These two bundles of long
toes are placed in such a manner as to enable them to seize the branches
easily on which they love to perch; they can grasp these branches by
holding on with one bundle of fingers before, and the other behind, in
the same manner as Woodpeckers, Cuckoos, and Parrots. Chameleons are
better able to preserve their equilibrium upon trees than upon the
ground; consequently they are more often seen in those ærial domiciles.
Besides, their long and strong prehensile tail serves them as a fifth
limb. They swing themselves about like monkeys, grasping the small
branches, and thus saving themselves from falling. Moreover, they are
cautious, moving at all times very slowly when going from one branch to
another. Walking becomes much more difficult for them when they rest
upon a level surface--groping their way as they advance, placing their
feet upon the earth, one after the other, with the greatest
circumspection. They also steady themselves on the ground by the aid of
their tail. In their walk they display a certain gravity which contrasts
with their diminutive size and the agility which might be expected from
them. Even when perched upon a tree their movements exhibit a slowness
and deliberation that one would be inclined to say was affected. It is
true that the arrangement of their eyes, and the rapid movements of
their tongue, render personal activity superfluous in their search for
food. They can see their prey and their enemies from a great distance,
and in all directions. The latter they readily avoid. As to their prey,
when about to seize it, the Chameleon rolls round its extraordinary
eye-balls so as to bring them to bear on the devoted object. As soon as
it arrives within range of the tongue, that organ is projected with
unerring precision, returning into the mouth with the prey adhering to
the viscous tip. This tongue they can extend to a length sometimes
surpassing that of their body. The skin of the Chameleon does not adhere
to the muscles everywhere; some spaces are left free, into which the air
penetrates, causing the skin to heave and swell; this mechanism is
voluntary, the animal having the power of inflating or relaxing it at
pleasure. When this great living bladder is emptied, the animal may be
said to resemble a bag of gold-beaters' skin filled with bones.
Chameleons exhibit great variation in their colours; that is to say,
they may be almost white, sometimes yellowish, at other times green,
reddish, and even black, either in portions, or all over their bodies.
These changes of colour were for a long time attributed to the greater
or less distention of the vast lungs they possess, and to the
corresponding modifications in the quantity of blood sent to the skin;
but this explanation is now abandoned. According to Mr. Milne Edwards,
the cause of these variations of colour lie in the peculiar structure of
their skin, in which there exists two layers of membranous pigment,
placed the one above the other, but disposed in such a manner as to
appear simultaneously under the cuticle, and at other times so that the
one hides the other. Again, occasionally the cuticle is hidden under the
superficial pigment.
[Sixteen or seventeen species of Chameleon are described in the British
Museum Catalogue.
I. Having an erect fin on the back, the belly crested; which includes
the Fringed Chameleon, _C. cristatus_, a native of Fernando Po.
II. Having the back high, and compressed belly and sides, with a toothed
crest; including the Side-crested Chameleon, _C. laterales_, a native of
Madagascar.
III. The back and belly having a toothed crest, the sides simple, the
scales small and equal, muzzle simple; including the Common Chameleon,
_C. vulgaris_, with many synonyms. It is a native of the East Indies, is
the recognised type of the family (Fig. 32), and the one most commonly
brought to England. There are probably two varieties,--one from North
Africa, which is also found in Sicily and the South of Spain; the other,
the East Indian variety--_C. Senegalensis_, the Senegal Chameleon, a
native of West Africa; _C. arpelis_, from Ashantee and Gaboon; _C.
verrucosus_, a native of Bourbon and Madagascar; the Rhinoceros
Chameleon, _C. rhinoceroceratus_, also from Madagascar.
IV. Having a toothed crest on the back, with the belly and sides simple,
the chin and muzzle simple; including _C. tuberculiferus_, a native of
South Africa; _C. cucullatus_, the Hooded Chameleon, a native of
Madagascar; _C. nasutus_, having the chin simple, and the muzzle
compressed, and _C. bifurcus_, having the muzzle in the male
forked--both natives of Madagascar; _C. Tigris_, Seychille Islands;
_C. ventralis_, from South Africa, and _C. pumilus_, from the Cape of
Good Hope.
[Illustration: Fig. 32.--Chameleo vulgaris.]
V. Having back and belly without crest; including _C. Parsonii_, a
native of Madagascar; and _C. Owenii_, the Three-horned Chameleon, from
Fernando Po, and _C. Brookesianus_, an adult species, from S. W.
Brookes's collection.
EMYDOSAURIANS
Have the head large, covered with a thick skin, ears closed with two
valves, gape very wide, tongue short, jaws with a single series of
cone-shaped teeth inserted in sockets; back with a hard disc formed of a
longitudinal series of square keeled plates of hard bony consistence
embedded in the skin; the under surface covered with smooth thin square
plates; legs short, feet webbed, with four to five toes, the three inner
toes of each foot only armed with claws.
They are divided into two groups:--
I. _Crocodilidæ_, having the lower canines fitting into a notch in the
edge of the upper jaw.
II. _Alligatoridæ_, having the canines fitting into a pit in the upper
jaw.]
CROCODILES.
The Shielded Saurians, as Duméril designates the largest of living
species of that order of reptiles, have the body depressed, elongated,
and protected on the back with a solid carinated shield or buckler; the
tail longer than the trunk, compressed laterally, annulated and crested
above; having four very short feet; the toes of the posterior feet
united, or web-footed, each foot having three claws only; head depressed
and elongated into a muzzle; the gape of the mouth extending back beyond
the skull; tongue fleshy, adherent; teeth conical, simple, hollowed at
the base or towards the root, unequal in length, and in a single row.
Such is a brief summary of the family by Duméril and Bibron.
If the Eagle is the king of the air, the Tiger and the Lion the tyrants
of the forests, and the Whale the monarch of the deep, the Crocodile has
for the exercise of his undisputed control the maritime shores of
tropical seas and the borders of tropical rivers. Living on the confines
of land and water, this formidable reptile is at all times the scourge
of those human beings who are compelled to reside near its haunts. Much
larger than the Tiger, Lion, or Eagle, the Crocodile surpasses all
terrestrial animals, with the exception of the Elephant, Hippopotamus,
and some Serpents, in its power of destruction.
Crocodiles have the head depressed and elongated into a muzzle, in the
front of which the nostrils are seen close to a fleshy tubercule, and
furnished with movable valves. The mouth opens up to the ears; the jaws
are of commensurate length, and are armed, as we have seen, with
conical-pointed teeth, bent back, and disposed in such a manner that
when the mouth is closed they pass one under the other. These teeth are
implanted in a single row, and continually maintained in a good
condition by an organic system which ensures their immediate reparation.
In short, each tooth is hollowed at the base in such a manner as to form
the cell or sheath of another tooth of a larger calibre. The new tooth,
which presses on, exercises a sort of absorption upon the base of the
old hollow tooth, so that the first is developed while the second is
decaying. In some species the front teeth of the lower jaw are so long
and sharp that they perforate the edge of the upper jaw and appear
above the muzzle when the mouth is closed. The lower jaw alone is
movable, and that only in a downward movement. The mouth is without
lips, consequently, whether walking or swimming, the teeth of Crocodiles
are always visible.
This formidable conformation gives to the Crocodile an aspect at once
terrible and alarming, which is increased by two wicked-looking eyes
placed obliquely and close together, surmounted by a kind of eyebrow.
The tail of these animals is very long, as thick as the body at the
junction, and in shape it is flat, like an oar; this enables them to
steer through the water like a fish, and to swim with rapidity. They
have four short legs, of which the hinder have toes, united by a
natatory membrane, and only three claws to each foot. The skin is
coriaceous, thick, and resistant; being also protected by very thick
knots intermingled with plates of different size, according to the parts
of the body they protect. On the skull and face the skin adheres closely
to the bone, and there is no trace of scales.
Nature has provided for the safety of these animals by covering them
with a cuirass, the resistance of which is proof against almost
everything. Thus the scales which defend the back and the upper part of
the tail are square, and form hard transversal bands possessed of great
flexibility, which prevents them from breaking. Down the centre of the
back there is a hard crest, which adds to the strength of their armour.
This cuirass is in many points proof against a bullet from a gun. The
plates which cover the belly, the upper part of the head, neck, tail,
and legs are also arranged in transversal bands, but less hard, and
without crests. It is at these weaker and consequently vulnerable parts
that those inhabitants of the waters which are enemies to Crocodiles
manage to attack them successfully.
The general colour of the Crocodile is a dullish brown, with sometimes a
shade of green along the back; the head and the sides are marked with
green, or at least they have a greenish tint, with blackish spots; the
under part of the legs and belly are of a yellowish grey. All these
shades, however, vary with age and sex, and the nature of the water in
which the animals live.
Crocodiles are oviparous, and their eggs are provided with resistant
shells. These eggs are deposited by the female in some secluded place in
the sand on the banks of the river, and are hatched simply by the
ambient heat, without any assistance from the mother. The female
Crocodiles of the Nile deposit their eggs where the solar heat soon
brings them to maturity. In certain countries, such as the neighbourhood
of Cayenne and Surinam, the eggs are buried under a kind of mound which
the Alligators raise in damp places by gathering together leaves and
herbaceous stems. This vegetable debris undergoes a kind of
fermentation, the result of which is an increase of temperature, which,
joined to that of the atmosphere, produces the desired result.
Lacépède describes an egg in the Museum of Natural History in Paris,
which was laid by a Crocodile fourteen feet in length, which was killed
in Upper Egypt. This egg is only two inches and five lines in its
greatest diameter; in its least diameter it is one inch and eleven
lines. It is oval and whitish. Its shell is cretaceous in substance,
like the eggs of birds, but not so hard. At the time of their birth the
little Crocodiles are only about six inches in length, but their growth
is very rapid. They abound in large rivers in the tropics, and in marshy
places near their banks. They often come on shore, for they are
amphibious. In the night they watch for their prey. They feed
exclusively on flesh--that is to say on fish, small Mammalians, aquatic
birds, and reptiles. When they have seized a large object they drag it
under the water, where it soon dies by asphyxia; there they leave it to
macerate, when they eat it by instalments. In this manner men are
sometimes carried away by Crocodiles, but it is contrary to the habits
of the animal to suppose that they are devoured immediately. When a
Crocodile has succeeded in seizing a negro, it does not devour him till
the body becomes decomposed, when it can tear it to pieces with greater
facility.
From the general structure of their bony framework it is difficult for
Crocodiles to turn round or move otherwise than forward. This
circumstance renders it easy to escape their pursuit. When chased by a
Crocodile, it can be avoided by describing a circle, or running in a
succession of curves. Upon the banks of the Lake of Nicaragua, in
America, an Englishman was once pursued by an Alligator which had
surprised him when on its margin. The animal was gaining upon him
rapidly, when some Spaniards who witnessed the scene cried out to him to
run round it. Thus fortunately warned the pursued dodged the Alligator,
and escaped from his dangerous enemy (Fig. 33).
[Illustration: Fig. 33.--The Englishman and the Caiman, or the Circular
Flight.]
[No specimens of the _Crocodilidæ_ have been found in Europe, and until
very recently none had been found in Australia, but they are very common
in the new colony of Queensland, an Alligator twenty feet long having
been shot on the banks of the Mackenzie river, which was afterwards
exhibited at Rockhampton. Crocodiles, properly so called, are found in
Africa, Asia, and America. The Gavials seem to be limited to the Ganges
and other large rivers in India. Besides the Gavial, Asia produces three
other species, namely, _C. vulgaris_, _C. galeatus_, and _C.
bifurcatus_. Of the first, Siam is the chief locality; the others are
found in the rivers which debouch into the Indian Ocean and the Ganges.
THE ALLIGATORIDÆ
Include the _Jacares_, _Alligators_, and _Caimans_.
The _Jacares_ have the head oblong and depressed, with a ridge across
the face in front of the eyes; teeth unequal, canines of the lower jaw
fitting into a pit in the upper jaw; toes only partially webbed, eyelids
fleshy, nostrils separated by a cartilage. Five species are
described--namely, _J. fissipes_, from Tropical America, six feet in
length; _J. sclerops_, from the Brazils; _J. Nigra_, also from the
Brazils; _J. punctulatus_, with triangular oblong head, muzzle
elongated, thin and flat, with a rounded point in front, and a slight
enlargement behind the nostrils; _J. vallefrons_, differing slightly
from the above--both natives of the Brazils.
_Alligators_ have the jaws oblong, much depressed, broad and nearly
parallel; forehead with a small longitudinal ridge between the orbits;
feet fringed, toes half webbed, the outer toes free; nostrils separated
by a bony septum rising from the upper edge, muzzle lengthening with
age. One species only is known, which is a native of North America; it
attains a length of six to seven feet, and is known also as _Crocodilus
Mississipensis_.
The _Caimans_ have the jaws oblong, depressed, rounded, and swollen at
the end, without frontal ridges or maxillary pits; teeth unequal, the
lower canines fitting into pits in the upper jaw; toes webbed. There are
three species described--_C. trigonatus_, _C. palpebrosus_, and _C.
goddeceps_, all natives of Tropical America.
The Jacares, Alligators, and Caimans are natives of America, which
country is fruitful in other species of the family. _C. acutus_ is also
found in Martinique and San Domingo; _C. rhombifor_, at Cuba; _A.
palpebrosus_, _A. sclerops_, _A. punctulatus_, and _A. cynocephalus_ are
natives of the southern part of the American Continent; and _A. lucius_
is found in the north.]
The principal characteristics of the American Crocodile are a head
one-third its length, and a very short muzzle; teeth unequal in shape
and size, the fourth lower tooth being buried in the upper jaw when the
mouth is closed; the first teeth of the lower jaw piercing the upper at
a certain age, so as to appear through the muzzle when closed. The
hinder legs and feet rounded, having neither crest nor indentation on
their edges; the intervals of the toes more than half covered with a
short membrane, forming semi-palmated feet.
It is generally admitted, as we have stated above, that there are five
species of this genera, all exclusively American, the type of which is
the Alligator, or _Caiman_. _A. Mississipensis_ (Gray) belongs properly
to North America, through the whole southern extent of which it is
found. They are gregarious, living together in large herds in the
Mississippi and its southern tributaries; they are also found in the
lakes and marshes of Louisiana, Carolina, and even as far north as
thirty degrees of north latitude. Alligators do not appear to leave
fresh water. During the winter season they bury themselves in the mud of
the marshes, and await in a state of torpor the return of spring, which
is the signal of their restoration to activity. In the neighbourhood of
Bayou Sarah, on the Mississippi, flats of lakes and marshes stretch away
to a vast extent on either bank; every year these reservoirs are flooded
by the overflow of the river, when they are visited by myriads of
fishes. The heat soon partly dries up these lakes, leaving only about
two feet deep of water, thus displaying a vast amount of prey ready
prepared for the shore birds and Crocodiles. Millions of ibis, herons,
cranes, and cormorants wade into the water in pursuit of these fish. In
the deepest portions vast quantities of these imprisoned fish
accumulate, and these parts are known in the country as the Alligators'
holes. Thither these reptiles crowd, pressing one against the other, and
they soon thoroughly clear it of the fish which lately were in such
dense crowds. As evaporation proceeds and the marshes gradually dry up,
the fish are more and more exposed to their voracious enemies. The
Alligators pursue and devour them in the water, whilst the ibis destroys
those which seek the banks for refuge. Alligators fish chiefly during
the night. In the hours of darkness and obscurity they assemble in large
herds, chase the fish before them, driving them into some retired creek,
where they rejoice their hearts at the expense of the unfortunate finny
tribes, which they force into their widely opened mouths by a lateral
movement of their tails. On these occasions the clashing of their jaws
may be heard at the distance of a mile. Alligators are found by
thousands in Mexican waters, and nearly all North American rivers to the
south of them. In the beautiful transparent waters of Lake Claro they
abound, and are without difficulty seen by the naked human eye. Here
they are so closely pressed one against the other that they resemble a
raft of trees recently felled, and the resemblance is further increased
by the colour of their backs and the bark of a newly-felled tree being
identical. In this united and immovable condition, while waiting for
their prey, the approach of a boat is disregarded; but they rush with
avidity at everything animate which either falls or is thrown into the
lake. Many children of poor negro women become a prey to the Caiman in
this locality. They rarely, however, pursue men, yet they would not
hesitate to devour them if their imprudence has placed them close to
their terrible jaws.
The natives of Mexico hunt the Caiman. When they meet an isolated
individual asleep, they throw a lasso round its body, and when secured,
gag it. After this operation, the victim's career is terminated by
hammering on his head. There is another means which the Indians use to
capture the Caiman. They provide themselves with four pieces of hard
wood about a foot long, and as thick as a man's finger, and pointed at
each end; round these they tie a cord in such a manner that, supposing
the cord to be an arrow, the four sticks would form the head of it. They
then fasten the other end of the cord round a tree, and bait with meat.
This device is thrown into the water. When the Caiman snaps at the prey
the points of the hook, on straining on the line, penetrate into its
flesh. Having waited till the Alligator is dead, it is drawn from the
water, when the captors further gratify their dislike and spirit of
revenge by breaking its skull with stones and sticks.
Another method of capturing Alligators is practised by the residents on
the upper waters of the giant river Orinoco. A tree is bent (generally a
bamboo is selected from its elasticity) till the top is brought down to
the butt, a bait is then placed on a sharp hook, the line attached to it
being fastened securely to the small end of the bent tree, which is
caused to relax its position by an ingenious piece of mechanism which
gives way the moment the least strain is felt upon the line; the
tree-point becoming thus released, straightens itself with great
velocity, and drags the victim from the water.
Frequently the Alligator, from constant pursuit and interruption,
becomes excessively wary and difficult to destroy; when such is the
case, a live bait is sometimes successfully employed. For instance, a
Dog with a hook tied to his back is taken in a canoe and dropped in the
water; it is seldom the unfortunate cur is permitted to swim far before
being seized.
It is currently believed that the Alligator prefers dog-flesh to all
others. The negroes on the plantations in the South-Western States of
America, by imitating the barking of a dog, frequently lure these
reptiles from their hiding-places, when a well-directed bullet
terminates their career.
Alligators are very voracious, but, like Serpents and Turtles, they can
live a long time without nourishment. In Brown's "Natural History of
Jamaica," he asserts that he has known the Caiman to live several months
without food. The following experiments have been tried in that
island:--The mouth of an Alligator was muzzled by a strong cord, it was
then thrown into a reservoir of water. Thus these animals lived a
considerable time. They were seen to rise occasionally to the surface of
the water, until death came to their rescue. Let us add to this, that
Crocodiles bred in captivity in the menagerie of the Museum of Natural
History, at Paris, sometimes live for several months without eating.
[Illustration: Fig. 34.--Alligator (_Crocodilus lucius_).]
The female Alligator takes more care of her young than the female
Crocodile, properly so called. She conducts them to the water, and in
the slimy mud she disgorges her half-digested food for their
nourishment.
The TRUE CROCODILES are indigenous to Africa, but they are found also in
Manilla and India. Their length of head is almost double its breadth.
The fourth tooth of the lower jaw is the longest and largest of all, and
passes into an indentation hollowed out in the edge of the upper jaw,
becoming visible on the outside. The hind feet have on their external
edge a dentated crest, and the interstices of their toes, externally,
are palmated.
The principal type is the Common Crocodile, _C. vulgaris_, which
sometimes attains the length of nine or ten feet. The upper part of the
body of these reptiles is of an olive green colour spotted with black,
and marbled upon the head and neck with the same colour, also the back
and tail; two or three broad, oblique black bands are visible upon the
flanks of the under part of the body, which is of a yellowish green.
Crocodiles abound in Africa. Formerly they were found in all parts of
the Nile, but lately it is said that _C. vulgaris_ is no longer to be
met with in the Delta, but that it exists in great numbers in the
Thebaid and in the Upper Nile. They are also found in the rivers Senegal
and Niger, in Caffraria, and in Madagascar. Most authors give them the
name of Crocodiles of the Nile. This species are found also in India.
The Crocodile was considered a sacred animal by the ancient Egyptians.
In ruins of temples mummies of Crocodiles are still found in a perfect
state of preservation. The Romans introduced living Crocodiles at the
national games in the Colosseum. At first only five were imported under
the ædileship of Scaurus. Under the Emperor Augustus thirty-six were
killed in the Circus of Flaminius. Several ancient medals represent this
reptile, the body of which perfectly resembles that which now lives in
the waters and on the banks of the Nile. There is a truly wonderful fact
in the natural history of the Crocodile. Listen to what Herodotus, the
father of history, tells us with regard to it:--"When the Crocodile
takes his food in the Nile, the interior of its mouth is always covered
with _bdella_ (flies). All birds, with one single exception, flee from
the Crocodile; but this one, the Nile Bird, _Trochylus_, far from
avoiding it, flies towards the reptile with the greatest eagerness, and
renders it a very essential service. Every time the Crocodile goes on
shore to sleep, and at the moment when it lies extended with open jaws,
the Nile Bird enters the mouth of the terrible animal and delivers it
from the _bdella_ which it finds there; the Crocodile shows its
recognition of the service, and never harms the bird."
This fact, reported by Herodotus, was long considered to be a fable, but
the naturalist, Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, who formed part of the
commission that General Bonaparte took with him in his expedition into
Egypt, had on several occasions opportunities of proving the truth of
the historian's narrative.
In a memoir read to the Academy of Science on the 28th of January, 1828,
he says, "It is perfectly true that there exists a little bird which
flies about, perpetually seeking, even in the mouth of the Crocodile,
the insects which form the principal part of its nourishment." This
bird, which Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire recognised as the _Charadrius
Ægyptius_ of ornithologists, is like a Plover. The _bdella_, which thus
torment the Crocodiles, and even excite them to madness, are no other
than our European gnats. Myriads of these insects haunt the banks of the
Nile, and when these giants of its waters repose on its margin, warming
themselves in the sun, they become the prey of these insignificant
pigmies. It is like the war between the Lion and the Mouse, described by
La Fontaine. The _bdella_ fly into the Crocodiles' mouths in such
numbers that they cover the entire surface of the palate, and form a
brownish crust. These little pests pierce the tongues of the reptiles
with their stings. It is then that this bird comes into the mouth of the
monster to catch them, and deliver it from such innumerable enemies. The
Crocodile with one bite could easily destroy the bird, but he knows too
well what he owes to this friend to do it an injury. Crocodiles of the
Nile are more voracious than the American Alligators. Hasselquist
asserts that in Upper Egypt they often devour women who come to draw
water from the Nile, as well as children playing upon its banks.
Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire says, that in the Thebaid they often met with
Arabs wanting an arm or leg, who accused Crocodiles of this mutilation.
Sir Samuel Baker also mentions, in his late work on the Nile and its
tributaries, the desire of these amphibia for human flesh, and the dread
they are held in by the natives. Livingstone, the celebrated traveller,
gives the following account of an encounter he had with one of these
ferocious animals:--
"The Crocodile," says the celebrated traveller, "makes many victims
every year among the children who are so imprudent as to play on the
banks of the Liambia when their mothers go to fetch water. The Crocodile
stupefies its victim with a blow from its tail, then drags it into the
river, where it is soon drowned. In general, when the Crocodile
perceives a Man it dives, and furtively glides away from the side which
he occupies. Sometimes, on the other hand, it precipitates itself with
surprising agility towards the person it has discovered, which may be
noticed from the disturbance caused on the surface of the water. An
Antelope which is being hunted and takes to the water, in the lagunes of
the Barotsé valley, a Man or a Dog who goes there to seek for game, will
scarcely fail to be seized by a Crocodile, of whose presence he has not
the slightest suspicion. It often happens that, after having danced in
the moonlight, the young natives of the river's bank will often plunge
into the water in order to refresh themselves, when, being seized by an
Alligator, they perish."
[This mode of attack (striking with the tail) is also one of the methods
adopted by the Alligator of America for disabling its prey. A friend, on
whose veracity I have much dependence, while shooting wild fowl on one
of the tributaries of the Lower Mississippi, had the fortune to witness
a fight between a Bear and an Alligator. He was called to the scene of
the struggle by the noise made by the combatants, in the dry cane, that
yielded to their pressure as they fought in each other's embrace.
Several times both ceased only to recover breath and fresh energy; at
length the Alligator missed striking the foe with its tail, Bruin seized
the opportunity, and with all his efforts succeeded in turning the
amphibian on its back, where he held him for some minutes, at the same
time gnawing one of the fore-shoulders. A final struggle of the now
worsted Alligator hurled both into the water, where they disappeared,
the disturbed surface telling of the dreadful contest that was being
prolonged beneath; after the lapse of over a minute the Bear came up,
evidently much fatigued, and swam ashore, my friend forbearing to wound,
or possibly kill, the gallant conqueror.]
Crocodiles, it is said, which have never eaten human flesh, are much
less dangerous than those that have acquired a taste for it. Mr. Combes
states that he was assured by an inhabitant of Khartoum, who had reached
the town with the Egyptian troops--that is to say, before the horrors
committed by the Desterdar, acting with Mehemet Bey, who had been
Governor of the Soudan some time before Mr. Combes's voyage--that the
Crocodiles appeared to be quite indifferent to human flesh; but after
the many executions by drowning ordered by Mehemet Bey, as he was told
by a native whom he interrogated--"since the Nile has been loaded with
the carcasses of my brethren"--the monsters which inhabit it have
become habituated to substantial food, which they scarcely knew before:
so that afterwards those swimming in the river, or even bathing on its
banks, were exposed to imminent danger.
Natives of Africa shoot the Crocodile with a gun, or attack it with a
barbed javelin, which is thrown by hand, and aimed at the fore-shoulder.
Some Egyptians are reported to be daring enough to swim under the
Crocodile, and pierce him in the belly with a dagger. The negroes of
Senegal are said to be equally expert. If they surprise the animals in
parts of the river where there is not sufficient water for them to swim,
they attack the monster with a lance; and with their left arm wrapped in
a sheet of leather, they commence by aiming with their weapon at the
eyes and throat; then they thrust the arm, encased in leather, into its
mouth, and, holding it open, their enemy is either suffocated or expires
under the wounds received. Traps are also employed successfully for
their destruction. In Egypt the natives dig a deep hole in the ordinary
route of the Crocodiles, which is easily discovered by the trail they
leave in the sand. This hole is covered with branches and strewed with
earth. The Crocodile is now alarmed with loud cries, which disturb and
drive him back to the river, by the same way that it has left it. As it
passes over the treacherous hole it falls in, when it is killed, often
with the most brutal cruelty. At other times a thick cord is attached to
a large tree, and to the other end of the cord a lamb is bound, held by
a protruding hook. The cries of the lamb attract the Crocodile, which,
in its attempt to carry off the bait, is taken by the hook.
Still another method for the destruction of these repulsive-looking
creatures has been adopted on one or two occasions by our countrymen in
India. A dead animal is procured, in its abdomen is placed a loaded
shell, to which is attached a wire made fast to an electric battery;
when the bait has been seized and carried to the bottom, the shell is
exploded, which invariably maims or kills the Crocodile.
The _Gavials_, or Indian Crocodiles, have long narrow cylindrical
muzzles, slightly inflated at the extremity; the teeth are almost the
same, both in number and shape, on each jaw, the two first and the
fourth of the lower jaw pass into notches or indentations in the upper
jaw, and not into holes, as in Crocodiles; the hind legs are dentated
and palmated, like those of African Crocodiles. The Gavials are chiefly
remarkable for their long head, its type being the _Gavial of the
Ganges_, or _Gavial longirostre_. It is of a deep watery green colour,
having on the upper part numerous irregular brown spots; in the young,
the back and limbs are transversely banded with black; the lower part is
of a pale whitish yellow; the jaws are marked with brown, the claws are
of a clear horn colour. This species is not so carnivorous as the
others, and is consequently less dreaded.
The Gavial of the Ganges, _G. Gangeticus_, is supposed to be the largest
of the existing Saurians; its length, as given by Duméril, is seventeen
feet four inches.
CHAPTER IV.
CHELONIANS, OR SHIELDED REPTILES.
["The body," as described by Dr. Gray, "is covered with square imbedded
plates, generally forming a dorsal and ventral shield united by their
margins, leaving only the head, neck, limbs, and tail free, and (in some
species, as the Box-Tortoises, _Cinasternon_, shut up by movable
closely-fitting doors) only covered with a scaly skin; the upper shield
formed of the ribs united together and adherent to the dorsal vertebræ
by a toothed suture, and surrounded by a series of bones forming the
edge of the shields; the lower shield, or sternum, formed of four pairs
and a central anterior bone; the jaws toothless, covered with a horny
bill, rarely hid by fleshy lips; eyelids distinct; drum of the ear
visible; legs short and thick; tail conical." "The natural dwelling
chamber of the Chelonia consists chiefly," says Professor Owen, "and in
the marine species (_Chelone_) and Mud Turtles (_Trionyx_) solely, of
the floor and the roof; side-walls of variable extent are added to the
fresh-water species (_Emydians_) and Land Tortoises (_Testudinians_).
The whole consists of 'osseous plates,' with superincumbent horny
plates, or 'scutes,' except in the Soft or Mud Turtles (_Trionyx_ and
_Sphargis_), in both of which these are wanting."--("Circle of the
Sciences.")
These animals, to which a portable stronghold is thus given in
compensation for inferior powers of locomotion and defence, are
recognisable at a glance from the singular armour with which Nature has
provided them. A double shield envelopes all parts of their bodies, only
permitting the head, neck, legs, and tail to pass through it: moreover,
all these organs can be hidden within this double cuirass by means of a
retractile power possessed by the animal. This double armour consists of
a _carapace_, or back-piece, and _plastron_, or breast-plate, composed
of a series of small bones or plates closely united together; the first
resulting from the union of the sides and dorsal vertebræ, the plastron,
or lower buckler, being only a highly-developed sternum. These organs
are merely portions of the skeleton, which, in place of being lodged in
the depths of the soft parts, has become the superficies, which is only
covered by a thin, dry skin.
This numerous and highly-interesting order of Reptiles, called
Chelonia, from +chelônê+, a Tortoise, are also called _Testudinata_,
from _testudo_, the Latin name for a Tortoise, from the double shield
in which the bodies of all, whether terrestrial, fresh-water, or marine
Tortoises, are enclosed.
The skeleton of the Tortoise is, perhaps, the most extraordinary
structure with which we are acquainted. This oddly-organised animal when
first seen strikes the beholder with astonishment. The carapace and
plastron, with their connecting plates, form a sort of protecting box,
in which the animal lives, its head and tail excepted. In the land
Turtles the head and feet, which are comparatively senseless, can be
withdrawn within the protecting armour. The ribs and sternum are both
placed quite on the exterior of the body, so as to form a broad dorsal
shield on the upper surface, and an equally strong ventral plate;
between these, the limbs and the head can be more or less completely
retracted. Nevertheless, the modifications in the arrangement of the
elements by which these changes are accomplished are of the simplest
nature. In the common Tortoise, _Emys Europæus_, the vertebræ of the
neck and tail being connected together in the ordinary manner, the neck
and caudal region of the spine present their usual flexibility, but the
dorsal vertebræ are strangely distorted, the upper arch being
disproportionately developed, while the bodies remain almost in a
rudimentary state; the spinous processes of these vertebræ are flattened
and converted into broad osseous plates, which form a longitudinal
series along the centre of the back, and connected together by means of
sutures. The ribs are changed into broad flat bones firmly united by
sutures to each other, and also to the lateral margins of the spinous
processes of the vertebræ, so that they form together a single broad
plate; the heads of the ribs are feebly developed, and the intervals
between them and the bodies of the vertebræ filled up with ligament. The
margin of the shield thus formed by the dorsal ribs is further enlarged
by a third set of flat bones fixed by sutures around the whole
circumference of the carapace.
The plastron, or ventral plate, is made up of nine pieces, of which
eight are arranged in pairs; but the ninth, which is always placed
between the four pieces composing the two anterior pairs, is single, and
occupies the mesial line. The bones of the shoulder and hip are placed
within the thorax, and articulated to the sides of the vertebral column.
Of this vertebral column in these extraordinary animals, Professor Owen
remarks that the manifold modifications of the framework which render it
a portable abode, appear to have been given as a compensation for
inferior powers of locomotion, and the absence of offensive weapons. But
with all its modifications, the same number of pieces are found in the
bony skeleton as in other ordinary vertebratæ, the form and volume of
many of these pieces being alone changed.
The skin which covers the body of these animals sometimes preserves its
softness, being altogether devoid of scales; but in nearly all the
species it is covered with horny scales of great consistency. Upon the
plastron and carapace these scales form large plates, the arrangements
and appearances of which vary in different species, some of them being
often remarkably beautiful. The material which bears the name of
Tortoise-shell forms an important article of commerce.
* * * * *
Aristotle mentions three groups of Tortoises; namely, +chelôêchersaia+,
or Land Tortoises; +thalattia+, or Sea Tortoises; and +Eôhus+, or
Fresh-water Tortoises. Cuvier divides them into five sub-genera:--1,
Land Tortoises, _Testudo_ (Brogniart); 2, Fresh-water Tortoises,
_Emydes_ (Brogniart); 3, Marine Tortoises, _Chelque_ (Cuvier);
4, Chelydes, _Testudo fimbriata_; 5, Soft Tortoises, _Trionyx_
(Geoffrey)--in which he is followed by Dr. Gray in the British
Museum Catalogue, who makes them the third order of Reptiles in his
arrangement as follows:--
I. TESTUDINIDÆ.
Testudo, Chersina, Kinixys, Pyxis.
II. EMYDIDÆ.
Geoemyda, Emys, Cyclemys, Malaclemys, Cistudo, Kinosternon,
Chelydra, Platysternum.
III. CHELYDIDÆ.
Sternotherus, Pelomedusa, Hydraspis, Chelymys, Phrynops, Chelodina,
Hydromedusa, Chelys, Peltocephalus, Padocnemis.
IV. TRIONYCIDÆ.
Trionyx, Emyda.
V. CHELONIADÆ.
Sphargis, Chelonia, Caretta, Casuana.
In the valuable "Erpétologie" of Messrs. Duméril and Bibron, the
Chelonians are divided into--1, Land Tortoises, _Chersites_; 2, Marsh
Tortoises, _Elodites_; 3, River Tortoises, _Potamites_; 4, Sea
Tortoises, or Turtles, _Thalassites_.
This arrangement being the most simple, is adopted as best adapted to
our purpose.]
LAND TORTOISES.
Terrestrial Tortoises are distinguished by their short, oval, and convex
bodies, covered by carapace and plastron; four feet, and the absence of
teeth; short, stumpy, unshapely legs; nearly equal toes, armed with
claws, united by a thick skin, so as to form a clumsy foot, the
periphery of which forms a sort of hoof, which seems adapted for the
land.
In this group the carapace is very convex, its height sometimes
exceeding its breadth; it forms a solid, generally an immovable, arch,
under which the animal can completely conceal its feet and tail. This
_buckler_ is covered with large horny plates or scales.
Land Tortoises have been known from the earliest times, representations
of them being found on numerous monuments of antiquity, the product of
ancient art. Moreover, ancient writers tell us that the carapace of the
Tortoise contributed its substance to the formation of the first lyre;
it was consequently sacred to Mercury as the deity of music and inventor
of that instrument.
The Land Tortoises are divided into four genera, which Duméril and
Bibron again divide into three sub-genera and thirty species. The most
interesting species, however, to which we must limit our remarks
are--the Marginate Tortoise, _Testudo marginato_; the Moorish Tortoise,
_Testudo Mauritianica_; the Greek Tortoise, _Testudo Græca_; and the
Elephantine Tortoise, _Testudo elephantina_.
[Illustration: Fig. 35.--Testudo Mauritianica.]
The Margined Tortoise, which was long confounded with the Greek
Tortoise, is found abundantly throughout the Morea, in Egypt, and upon
the Barbary coasts. The carapace is oval in form, oblong, convex, and
much dilated at the posterior margin, and nearly horizontal; the
plastron is movable behind, which is its chief sub-generic character;
the tail is thick, conical, and scarcely issues from the carapace. The
plates of the disc are of a blackish-brown, presenting towards the
centre certain spots of a beautiful yellow colour; the marginal plates
are habitually ornamented with two triangular spots, one yellow, the
other black. The underpart of the body is of a dirty yellow, with one
large triangular black spot upon six or eight of the sternal scales.
This Tortoise is of medium size.
The Moorish Tortoise, _Testudo Mauritianica_, is commonly found in the
neighbourhood of Algiers, and along the coast of Morocco, whence those
are sent which are sold in the Paris markets. When shooting in Morocco,
scarcely a day would pass without the setters or pointers finding
numbers of them, to which they would stand with as much staunchness as
game. The scent they emit is so powerful as to be easily detected by a
human being. The carapace of this species is also convex; the sternum is
also movable behind: it is generally olive-coloured. The plates of the
disc are marked with blackish spots, and sometimes with a buckle of the
same colour, which covers their circumference on the front and sides.
The plates of the plastron, the ground of which is olive, have each a
large black spot in the centre. This species is rather smaller than the
Marginate Tortoise.
The Greek Tortoise, _Testudo Græca_, is of small dimensions, scarcely
exceeding twelve inches in length. They inhabit Greece, Italy, some of
the Mediterranean isles, and the south of France, from whence it seems
to have been transplanted into Italy. They feed upon herbs, roots,
slugs, and lob-worms. Like all their race, they sleep during the winter,
passing this season in holes which they excavate in the soil sometimes
more than thirty inches deep. As the month of May approaches they issue
from their retreat, resorting to some sheltered sandy place, where they
bask themselves in the sun's rays. Towards the month of June the females
lay from twelve to fourteen white spherical eggs, as large as a small
walnut; they dispose these eggs in a hole exposed to the sun; but
covered over with earth. Thus the operation of hatching is performed.
The carapace of this species is oval and very much arched; their
marginal plates are twenty-five in number; the plastron, which is almost
as long as the carapace, is separated into two great portions by a
longitudinal line; the plates of the carapace are spotted with black and
greenish yellow, forming a large marbled pattern; the centre of the disc
is besides relieved by a small, irregular, blackish, central spot. These
three species are held in high estimation on account of their flesh,
which gives an agreeable taste to soup.
The Elephantine Tortoise, _Testudo elephantina_, the length of which is
more than three feet, inhabits most of the islands situated in the
Mozambique Channel--namely, between the eastern coast of Africa and the
Isle of Madagascar. The Museum of Natural History at Paris had
specimens of this Tortoise which lived more than twelve months, and
which weighed about six hundred pounds. Their flesh is extremely
delicate, and much sought after.
In some other Terrestrial Tortoises, from which the genus _Pyxis_ has
been formed, the anterior portion of the plastron is movable; and when
the head and feet are drawn in, the animal can fasten itself against the
sides of the carapace like a door in its case.
In some Terrestrial Tortoises, which have been formed into particular
genera, the carapace is flexible, and can lower itself behind like the
plastron; these are _Kinixys_. Lastly, there are others which, for legs,
have only four unguiculated toes: such as the _Homopodes_.
MARSH TORTOISES.
Marsh Tortoises, _Elodites_, occupy a place between Terrestrial
Tortoises and those which are essentially aquatic. They have the
carapace more or less depressed, oval, and broader behind; their feet
have distinct flexible toes supplied with hooked claws, of which the
phalanges are united at the base by means of an elastic skin, which
enables them to separate one from the other, at the same time preserving
their strength and assisting them to grasp a much larger surface. Thus
they can walk upon the ground, swim on the surface of deep waters, and
climb up the banks of lakes or other tranquil waters, which are their
habitual dwelling-places.
These Tortoises are generally of small size; being carnivorous, they
feed upon small living animals. As they exhale a nauseous odour they are
not used as an article of food; and further, as their carapace is
neither thick enough nor beautiful enough to be manufactured as
tortoise-shell, they are consequently little sought after. There are a
hundred species of Elodians, or Marsh Tortoises, known, which are spread
over all parts of the globe, but principally in warm and temperate
regions. Such are the _Cistudo_, _Emydes_, and _Trionyx_.
The Elodians have none of the sluggishness of the Land Tortoises; they
swim with facility, and on land they walk with considerable rapidity.
Their eggs are white, and nearly spherical, with a calcareous shell, and
these are deposited in a hollow dug in the soil or sand, like the Land
Tortoises, the place chosen being generally situated on the banks of
some secluded stream; the number of eggs increasing as the animal
approaches maturity.
The Elodians are divided into _Cryptoderes_ and _Pleuroderes_: the
former distinguished from the latter by the retractile power they
possess of concealing their cylindrical neck, with its sheath of loose
skin, under the middle of the carapace; the head, whose width is nearly
equal to its height at the occiput; the eyes always lateral, and their
orbit so large that the diameter of the cavity nearly equals a fourth of
the whole cranium; and the jaws, which are strong, sometimes trenchant,
in others are dentated on the edge. In the larger number of species the
anterior extremity of the upper beak is notched with a strong tooth on
each side, producing the appearance of a beak closely resembling that of
birds of prey.
[Illustration: Fig. 36.--Mud Tortoise (_Cistudo Europæa_).]
The Mud Tortoises, _Cistudo_, sometimes called the Yellow Tortoise (Fig.
36) are very abundant in Europe. They are found in Greece, Italy, Spain,
Portugal, and in the southern provinces of France; also in Hungary,
Germany, and as far north as Prussia. They inhabit lakes, marshes, and
ponds, at the bottom of which they bury themselves in the mud.
Occasionally they come to the surface of the water, and remain there for
hours. They live principally upon insects, mollusks, aquatic worms, and
small fishes. Although the flesh of the Mud Tortoise is far from being
palatable, it is nevertheless eaten in countries where they are common.
[Illustration: Fig. 37.--Emydes Caspica.]
[Illustration: Fig. 38.--Chelys matamata.]
The _Emydes_ are divided into four considerable groups, namely, the
European group, of which Fig. 37, _E. Caspica_, is typical; the American
group, containing twelve or fourteen species; the African _Emys_; and
the Oriental group of twelve species.
The _Pleuroderes_ have the neck retractile on one side of the carapace,
without their having the power of drawing it between their fore feet,
and under the buckler and plastron, like the _Cryptoderes_. _Chelys
matamata_ (Fig. 38) belongs to this division. This species lives in
stagnant water, and is altogether remarkable for its singular
appearance--for its depressed, wide, and triangular nostrils, prolonged
into a proboscis; its wide gape, rounded jaws, and the cutaneous
appendages to the chin. This is sometimes called the Bearded Tortoise.
POTAMIANS, OR RIVER TORTOISES.
The River Tortoises live constantly in the water, only coming to land
occasionally; they swim with much ease below and on the surface. The
carapace is very broad and flat; the toes united up to the claws by
broad flexible membranes. These membranes change the feet into true
paddles, which perform the office of oars. They seem to attain a
considerable size, one kept by Pennant for three months weighing twenty
pounds, its buckler not reckoned; the neck measuring twenty inches in
length. The upper parts of their bodies vary in tint from brown to grey,
with irregularly marbled, dotted, or ocellated spots; the underpart is a
pale white, rosy, or purple tint. Sinuous brown, black, or yellow lines
are symmetrically disposed on the right and left, principally on the
neck and on the limbs.
During the night, when they think themselves safe, the River Tortoises
seek repose on the rocks and islets, or on timber floating in the
rivers, from which they plunge into the water on the slightest noise.
These Tortoises, which accommodate themselves so perfectly to the medium
that they inhabit, are continually at war with the fishes, reptiles,
mollusks, and other denizens of the rivers. They are voracious and
active, and are relentless enemies to the young of fishes, and
especially of Crocodiles.
The carapace of the River Tortoise, _Trionyx_, is soft, covered with a
flexible cartilaginous skin resting on a greatly-depressed osseous disk;
its upper surface is covered with shrivelled sinuosities. As they are
destitute of scales these Tortoises are said to be soft; their flesh is
much esteemed, and they are angled for with hook and line, baited with
small fishes or living worms and mollusks, or with dead bait, to which
the sportsman gives motion and apparent life, for they are said never to
approach dead prey. When they seize their victim, or defend themselves,
they dart out their head and long neck with great rapidity, biting
sharply with their trenchant beak, and holding on till they have bitten
out the piece. From this peculiarity they are commonly known in the
United States as the Snapping Turtle. Persons wading have been known to
lose toes from their bite.
[Illustration: Fig. 39.--Trionyx Ægyptiacus.]
M. Lesueur states that towards the beginning of May the females of
_Gymnopus spinifera_, belonging to this division, seek out sunny sandy
spots on the river's bank for the deposit of their eggs; they are not
deterred from choosing steeps of ten or fifteen feet for this purpose.
Their eggs are spherical, and more fragile than those of the Marsh
Tortoise. They deposit from fifty to sixty at a time. None of this group
are found in Europe. The fresh-water lakes and rivers of the warmer
regions, such as the Nile and the Niger, in Africa, the Mississippi, the
Ohio, and the Amazon rivers, in America, the Euphrates and the Ganges,
in Asia, are its habitats. Among other remarkable species in the group
we here represent _Trionyx Ægyptiacus_, Fig. 39, supposed to be the
+Emys+ of Aristotle.
No modern naturalist has done more to illustrate the habits of the
Fresh-water Turtle than Mr. Bates, in his highly interesting work, "The
Naturalist on the Amazon." "The great Fresh-water Turtle (probably
_Platemys æfipes_) of the Amazon or Solimoens grows on the upper river,"
he says, "to an immense size, a full-grown one measuring nearly three
feet in length, by two in breadth, and is a load for the strongest
Indian. Every house (in Ega) has a little pond called a corral, or pen
in the back-yard, to hold a stock of these animals through the season of
dearth--the wet months. Those who have a number of Indians in their
employ send them out for weeks, when the waters are low, to collect a
stock, and those who have not purchase their supply--this is attended
with some difficulty however, as they are rarely offered for sale. The
price of Turtles, like that of other articles of food, has risen greatly
since the introduction of steam-vessels. Thus, when I arrived, in 1850,
a middle-sized one could be bought for ninepence, but when I left, in
1859, they were with difficulty obtained for eight or nine shillings
each. The abundance of Turtles varies with the amount of diurnal
subsidence of the waters. When the river sinks less than the average,
they are scarce; but when high waters have prevailed, they can be caught
in abundance, their haunts being less restricted, and appropriate
breeding-places more numerous.
"The flesh is very tender, palatable, and wholesome; but it is very
cloying, and every one ends sooner or later by becoming thoroughly
surfeited. I became so sick of Turtle in the course of two years that I
could not bear the smell of it, although nothing else was to be had;
consequently I suffered from actual hunger."
One of the most amusing sketches in Mr. Bates' book is a journey he made
on the Solimoens, during which he visited the praias, or sand-islands,
the Turtle-pools in the forests, and the by-streams and lakes of the
great river. His companion was Cardozo, who was a sort of official
superintendent of the diggers for Turtles' eggs on the sand-banks of
Shimuni, the island lying nearest to Ega. There are four or five of
these Royal Praias, as they are called, in the district, each having its
commandant, whose business is to see that every inhabitant has an equal
chance in the egg-field.
"The pregnant Turtles descend from the interior pools of the main river
in July and August, before the outlets dry up, and seek their favourite
sand-island in countless swarms; for it is only a few praias that are
selected by them out of the great number existing. When hatched, the
young animals remain in the pools throughout the dry season; for these
breeding-places of the Turtle then lie from twenty to thirty feet above
the level of the river, and are accessible only by cutting a path
through the dense forest." On the 26th of September Mr. Bates left Ega
with his companion, who was about to visit the sentinels placed to mark
when and where the Turtles laid their eggs. Their conveyance was a
stoutly-built canoe, or _igareté_, arranged for two paddlers, with an
arched covering in the stern, under which three persons could sleep
pretty comfortably. The swift current of the Solimoens carried them
rapidly to the large wooded island of Baria, which divides the river
into two broad channels. Shimuni lies in the middle of the
north-easterly passage. They were quickly paddled across, reaching it an
hour before sunset. The island is about three miles long and half a mile
broad. The forest which covers it rises to an immense uniform height,
presenting all round a compact and impervious front, the uniformity
being interrupted here and there by a singular tree, called Mulatto
wood, whose polished dark-green trunk is seen conspicuously through the
mass of vegetation. The sand-bank lies at the upper end of the island,
and extends several miles, presenting an irregular surface of ridges and
hollows. At the further shore to the north-east, where no forest line
shuts out the view, the white, rolling, sandy plain stretches away to
the horizon; to the south-west a channel, about a mile in breadth,
separates Baria from Shimuni.
Arrived at this island, Mr. Bates proceeds to describe with great
minuteness the operations of the Turtles, as well as those of the
sentinels placed to watch them.
"We found two sentinels," he says, "lodged in a corner of the praia,
where it commences at the foot of the towering forest west of the
island, having built themselves a little rancho with poles and
palm-leaves. Great precautions are obliged to be taken to avoid
disturbing the vigilant Turtles, which, previous to crawling ashore to
lay, assemble in great shoals off the sand-bank. The men during this
time take care not to show themselves, and they warn off any fisherman
who attempts to pass near the place; for the passage of a boat, or the
sight of a man, or a fire on the sand-bank, would prevent their laying
their eggs that night, and if repeated, they would forsake the praia for
some quieter place."
After a night spent under a temporary shed rapidly constructed for
himself and companion, Mr. Bates rose from his hammock shivering with
cold.
"Cardoza and the men were already watching the Turtles on a stage
erected on a tall tree fifty feet high; from this watch-tower they are
enabled to ascertain the place and date of successive deposits of eggs,
and thus guide the commandant in fixing the time for his general
invitation to the Ega people. The Turtles lay their eggs during the
night, leaving the water in vast crowds when all around is quiet, when
they crawl to the central and highest part of the praia. The hours
between midnight and dawn are those when the Turtles excavate, with
their broad, webbed paws, deep holes in the fine sand, the animal in
each case making a pit about three feet deep; in this pit it lays its
eggs, about a hundred and twenty in number, covering them over with
sand; then a second deposit is placed on the top of the first, and so on
until the pit is full." This goes on for about fourteen days. "When all
have done, the area, or _taboliero_, over which they have been digging
is only distinguished from the rest of the praia by signs of the sand
having been a little disturbed.
"On rising I went to join my friends," he continues, "and few
recollections of my Amazonian rambles are more vivid and agreeable than
that of my walk over the white sea of sand on this cool morning. The sky
was cloudless; the just-risen sun was hid behind the dense woods on
Shimuni, but the long line of forest to the west on Baria, with its
plumy decorations of palms, was lighted up with his yellow horizontal
rays. A faint chorus of singing-birds reached the ears from across the
water, and flocks of Gulls and Plovers were calling plaintively over the
swelling banks of the praia. Tracks of stray Turtles were visible on
the smooth white surface, two of which had been caught, for stragglers
from the main body are a lawful prize.
"On arriving at the edge of the forest I mounted the sentinels' stage
just in time to see the Turtles retreating to the water on the opposite
side of the sand-bank. The sight was well worth the trouble of
ascending. They were about a mile off, but the surface of the sand was
blackened with the multitudes which were waddling towards the river; the
margin of the praia was rather steep, and they all seemed to tumble head
first down the declivity into the water."
On the 2nd of October the same party left Ega on a second excursion, the
object of Cardoza being this time to search certain pools in the forest
for young Turtles. The exact situation of these hidden sheets of water
are known to few. The morning was cloudy and cool, and a fresh wind blew
down the river; they had to struggle, therefore, against wind and
current. The boat was tossed about and shipped a good deal of water.
Their destination was a point of land twenty miles below Shimuni. The
coast-line was nearly straight for many miles, and the bank averaged
about thirty feet above the then level of the river; at the top rose an
unbroken hedge of forest. No one could have divined that pools of water
existed on that elevated land.
A path was cut through the forest by our party with their hunting-knives
to the pool, half a mile distant; short poles were cut and laid across
the path, over which three light canoes were rolled, after being dragged
up the bank. A large net, seventy yards in length, was then disembarked
and carried to the place. Netting, however, the older Indians considered
unsportsmanlike; and, on reaching the pool, they commenced shooting the
Turtles with bows and arrows from light stages erected on the shores.
"The pool covered an area of about four acres, and was closely hemmed in
by the forest, which, in picturesque variety and grouping, often
exceeded almost anything I had seen. The margins for some distance were
swampy, and covered with large tufts of fine grass called _matupá_.
These tufts were in many places overrun with ferns, and exterior to them
was a crowded row of arborescent shrubs growing to a height of fifteen
or twenty feet, forming a green palisade. Around the whole stood the
taller forest trees--palmate-leaved _Cecropiæ_; slender Assai palms
thirty feet high, with their thin feathery heads crowning their
gently-curving, smooth stems; and, as a background to these airy forms,
lay the voluminous masses of ordinary forest trees, with garlands,
festoons, and streamers of leafy parasites hanging from their branches."
The pool which was hemmed in by this gorgeous scenery was nowhere more
than five feet deep, and of that one foot was a fine soft mud. Cardoza
and the author spent an hour paddling about admiring the skill displayed
by the Indians in shooting Turtles. They did not wait for the animals to
come to the surface to breathe, but watched for the slightest movements
in the water which revealed their presence underneath; that instant an
arrow flew from the bow of the nearest man, which never failed to pierce
the shell of the submerged animal, and by mid-day about a score of
full-grown Turtles had been shot. The net was now spread at one
extremity of the oval-shaped pool, its side resting on the bottom, while
the floats buoyed the other side up on the surface, the cords being held
by two Indians. The rest of the party now spread themselves round the
pool, beating the water with long poles, in order to drive the Turtles
towards the centre. When they neared the net, the men moved more
quickly, beating and shouting with great vigour. The ends of the net
were now seized with vigorous hands, and dragged suddenly forward,
bringing them at the same time together, so as to enclose all within a
circle. Every man then leapt into the enclosure, the boats were brought
up, and the captured Turtles were thrown in. In this manner about eighty
were secured in twenty minutes.
Among these were several male Turtles, or _capetaris_, as they are
called by the natives. They are much less numerous than the females,
much smaller, and more circular in shape; their flesh is considered
unwholesome.
On the 17th of October, the day announced for the _taboliero_, or
egg-digging, Mr. Bates made a last excursion in Senhor Cardoza's
company. Egg-collecting occupied four days. On the morning of the 17th
about four hundred persons were assembled on the sand-bank; each family
had erected a rude temporary shed of poles and palm-leaves, to protect
themselves from sun and rain. Large copper kettles to prepare the oil,
and hundreds of red earthenware jars, were scattered about on the sands.
The commandant commenced by taking down the names of all masters of
households, with the number of persons each intended to employ in
digging; he then exacted from each a fine equal to fourpence a head
towards defraying the expense of the sentinels, when the whole were
allowed to go to the _taboliero_. It was exhausted by the end of the
second day, when each household had erected large mounds of eggs beside
their temporary hut.
THALASSIANS, OR SEA TORTOISES.
_Cheloniadæ_, Gray; _Carettoidæ_, Fitzing; _Halychelones_, Kelgen;
_Oiocopodæ_, Wagler.
The Turtles or Sea Tortoises are distinguished from all others by a
comparatively flat carapace, long members, the extremities of which
terminate in broad paddles, the anterior much longer than the posterior
ones; the toes, though formed of distinct pieces, can only act together,
thus constituting true oars, admirably arranged for swimming. Their
carapace, besides being flat, is indented and elongated in front, and
contracted behind, being disposed in such a manner that the head and
feet can be completely hidden.
Marine Tortoises are the largest of their species: they swim and dive
with great facility, and can remain long under water. The external
orifice of the nasal canal is furnished with a sort of valve, which the
animal raises when it is in the air and closes when under water; but it
rarely leaves its liquid element except in the breeding season, when
nature prompts it to seek the shore to lay its eggs. Some of the
species, however, seek the shore in the night, when they frequent the
banks of desert and solitary isles, where they browse on marine plants.
Although they walk with difficulty, and even with pain, in quiet seas
they may be seen floating like a boat, in absolute immobility, and
asleep on the surface of the water. With their horny jaws, which are
hard and trenchant as the beak of a bird of prey, some of them feed upon
sea-weed and algæ, while others feed on living animals, such as
crustaceans, zoophytes, and mollusks.
We have seen how regularly and systematically the Land Tortoises
proceed in depositing their eggs--nor is less precaution taken by the
Sea Tortoise. The females, accompanied by the males, traverse several
hundreds of miles of sea in order to deposit their eggs in some favoured
locality. Other females resort, year after year, almost to a day, to the
sandy shore of some desert isle, where they drag themselves ashore
during the night, sufficiently inland to be safe from the tide. In some
such spot, using their hind feet by way of a shovel, they excavate holes
about thirty inches deep. Here they lay frequently a hundred eggs,
covering them up afterwards with the fine sand, levelling the surface,
and then returning to sea, leaving the eggs to be hatched by the solar
rays. The eggs are round, slightly depressed at both ends, and furnished
with a coriaceous shell. From the high temperature communicated to the
sand-bank, they are hatched in about fifteen days. The females seem to
have two or three layings in the season, at intervals of two or three
weeks. When the young Turtles are hatched, they are feeble, white, and
about the size of frogs, and their instincts lead them at once to the
sea. Under the fostering care of their mother, those which have escaped
the birds of prey on their way to the sea, and the fishes lying in wait
for them, rapidly develop, and attain, under favourable circumstances,
an enormous size,--some of the _Sphargis_, or Soft Turtles, having been
known to weigh from fifteen to sixteen hundred pounds,--while others,
whose carapaces measured more than fifteen feet in circumference and
seven feet in length, exceeded eighteen hundred pounds.
Marine Tortoises are met with in herds more or less numerous in all
seas, principally towards the torrid zone in the tropical regions, on
the shores of the Antilles, in Cuba, Jamaica, St. Domingo, the Gulf of
Mexico, and in the Indian Ocean. Those occasionally found by navigators
in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean seem to be wanderers separated
from some travelling bands.
[Illustration: Fig. 40.--Green Turtle (_Chelonia Mydas_).]
Of all reptiles, the Sea Tortoise is the most useful to man. In
countries where they are common, and where they attain an enormous size,
their flesh is the most healthy and nourishing food, and their carapace
serves as a canoe in which the natives paddle along the shores. They
even roof their huts with them; they convert them into drinking-troughs
for their cattle and into baths for their children. According to Strabo
and Pliny, the ancient inhabitants of the shores of the Indian Ocean and
the Red Sea converted the enormous carapaces of the Tortoise which
frequented their shores into coverings for their houses, and boats for
paddling along the coast. The fat of many species, when fresh, is used
as a substitute for oil and butter. When the musk-like odour of this
fatty substance, as in _Chelonia caouana_ and _C. caretta_, becomes too
repulsive for food, it is employed in embrocations, in tanning leather,
or in lamps. The eggs of nearly all the Turtles are sought after for
their flavour. Finally, the carapace of several species constitutes a
valuable material much employed in the arts, and known as
tortoise-shell. This material is sought after in consequence of its
hardness and the fine polish of which it is susceptible, and also for
the facility with which it is worked. It has a strong resemblance to
horn, but is easily distinguished from it. Though, like horn, it is
formed of parallel fibres, it seems to be rather the result of
exudation, consisting of a kind of solidified mucus. Its texture is
homogeneous; it can be cut and polished with precision and beauty; in
short, under the influence of a gentle heat, it is softened and can be
modelled into any fashion, according to the taste of the moulder; after
becoming cool it retains the desired shape.
[Illustration: Fig. 41.--Capturing Turtles.]
While most of the Tortoises are highly useful to man, both for food and
other purposes, perhaps the most interesting are the Green Turtles
(_Tortues franches_ of French authors), _Chelonia caouana_ and
_Caretta_. From these man draws the greatest advantage from their
superior size, and from the thickness of their shells. The Green Turtle
(_Chelonia Mydas_, Fig. 40) is so called from the reflected green of its
carapace. It abounds in the Southern Atlantic Ocean, where it keeps
habitually far from the shore, except in the breeding seasons, when it
makes long voyages in order to deposit its eggs, giving a preference for
that purpose to Ascension Island and St. Vincent. It rests on the
surface of the open sea, and as it sleeps heavily, it is easily taken by
a cord with a running knot, which is carefully slipped round its neck as
the boat containing the captors silently glides past. It is even said to
be a practice with the Malay fishermen to dive beneath them, and
attaching a cord to the foot of a sleeping Turtle, thus take it alive.
Many other modes are employed for capturing them. In the regions
frequented by them in the breeding season, they are followed by their
track on the sands, and their retreat cut off, when met with, by forming
a circle round them, when they are thrown on their backs; hand-spikes
sometimes being necessary to accomplish this from their great size. In
this position they are helpless, and must remain until wanted, so that
their enemies have time to pursue their sport elsewhere, as represented
in Fig. 41. The next day they are collected or destroyed at leisure. In
1802 the crew of a French ship surprised a female Turtle on the Island
of Lobos. The men had infinite trouble in making good its capture and
throwing it on its back, for it was strong enough to drag them all
towards the sea. It was at last mastered. Its head was as large as that
of an infant, and its beak four times the size of a paroquet. It weighed
two hundred and sixty pounds, and had in its body three hundred and
forty-seven eggs. Turtles are also taken in nets, in the meshes of which
their beaks and flippers get entangled; thus prevented from coming to
the surface for air, they die of asphyxia. Others harpoon them on the
open sea when they come to the surface to breathe. The harpoon is
attached to a cord, by which the animal is soon brought to the surface
and drawn into the boat. But the commonest mode of capture is
approaching them in a boat as they float asleep on the surface--this
must be done silently. When within reach, a back flipper is laid hold of
by one of the crew, and by a sudden twist the Turtle is thrown on its
back, when becoming helpless for the moment, it is dragged on board.
[Illustration: Fig. 42.--Hawk's-bill Turtle (_Chelonia caretta_).]
A very curious mode of fishing for Turtle is pursued by means of small
fish, a species of Echeneis or Remora. These small fish are provided
with an oval plate on the head, which consists of a score of parallel
plates, forming two series, furnished on their outer edge with an oval
disk, soft and fleshy at its circumference; in the middle of this plate
is a complicated apparatus of bony pieces dispersed across the surface,
which can be moved on their axis by particular muscles, their free edges
being furnished with small hooks, which are all raised at once like the
points of a wool-card. The fishermen keep many of these fishes in
buckets of water. When they see a sleeping Turtle they approach it, and
throw one of these suck-fish into the sea. The fish dives under the
Turtle, and fixes itself inextricably to it by means of their cephalic
disk. As the fish is attached to a long cord by means of a ring in its
tail, the fish is drawn on board along with its victim. This is line
fishing of a new kind, in which the hook is living, and pursues its prey
in the bosom of the deep.
The Green Turtle, whose flesh is celebrated for its delicacy and
excellence of its fat, is that from which Turtle soup is made. Turtle
soup is only of recent invention, the first Turtle having been brought
to London by Admiral Anson in 1752. It was long a costly dish, and even
now, although the introduction of steam and other adjuncts to navigation
has greatly modified the expense, its price is about ten shillings per
pound weight.
[Illustration: Fig. 43.--Loggerhead Turtle (_Chelonia caouana_).]
Much of the tortoise-shell of commerce comes from the Green Turtle, but
by far the finest specimens are produced by the Imbricated or
Hawk's-bill Turtle, _Chelonia caretta_ (Fig. 42). In this species the
plates of the disk are imbricated, or lapping over each other, and
thirteen in number. The muzzle is long and compressed; the jaws with
straight edges, without dentation, curving slightly towards each other
at their extremities, with two nails on each fin. It rarely attains the
size or weight of the Green Turtle. The Hawk's-bill Turtle is met with
in the Indian Ocean, and also on the American shores. It feeds on marine
plants, on mollusks, and small fishes, and is chiefly sought after for
its shell, which produces the finest tortoise-shell known; while its
flesh is rendered unpalatable from its musky flavour. On the other
hand, its eggs are excellent when fresh, and eagerly sought after.
In order to prepare the shell, it is softened by means of boiling after
being torn from the animal's back. It is then flattened by being passed
through a press, previous to being polished. In this condition it is
ready for all sorts of ornamental work. The Loggerhead Turtle, or _C.
caouana_ (Fig. 43), like the Green Turtle, has its scales placed side by
side. Its colour is brownish or deep maroon. It is found incidentally on
the French and English coasts, and abounds in the Atlantic and
Mediterranean seas. Its length is about four feet; its weight, from
three to four hundred pounds. It is very voracious, and feeds
principally on mollusks. Its shell is much valued, but its flesh is
indifferent, and its fat altogether uneatable; however, it is used in
some localities to make lamp-oil.
[Illustration: Fig. 44.--Leather-back or Corded Tortoise (_Spargis
coriacea_).]
The Leather-back or Corded Tortoise, _Spargis coriacea_, differs from
every other genus, its body being enveloped in a coriaceous hide;
tuberculous in the young, perfectly smooth in adults. The feet are
without claws. Seven longitudinal grooves extend from the neck to the
tail, which remind one of the seven chords of the ancient lyre. Only one
species of _Sphargis_ is known (_S. coriacea_, Fig. 44). This species
is found in the Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean, and is, with the
Hawk's-bill Tortoise, the only species found on the British coast. Its
body is a light brown, with the lines of the carapace fawn-colour; its
members black, edged with yellow. It attains the length of six to eight
feet, and a breadth of about one-fifth of the length: it sometimes
attains the weight of fourteen to sixteen hundred pounds. Its flesh is
said to be unwholesome, and, on being eaten, to produce severe vomiting
and purging.
BIRDS.
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
Birds are the spoilt children of nature--the favourites of creation.
Their brilliant plumage often assumes the most resplendent colours. They
have the happy privilege of moving in space--now fluttering through the
air, hunting the insect which flits from flower to flower; now soaring
high aloft, and swooping upon the victim it has marked for its prey; now
cleaving the atmosphere on rapid wing, and performing journeys of vast
extent with great rapidity. Mankind have a profound sympathy with these
little winged beings, which charm at once by the elegance of their form,
the melody of their song, and the graceful impetuosity of their
movements.
Anatomically speaking, birds are connected with the _Mammifera_ by their
internal structure. Their skeleton essentially resembles that of the
Mammals, the bones being nearly the same, only modified slightly for the
purposes of flight.
In birds there is a double circulation. The heart consists of two
moieties, or lobes, known as the auricle and ventricle. It is conical in
form, and occupies the anterior part of the thorax, its apex passing
between the lobes of the liver; but there is little perceptible
distinction between auricles and ventricles. Their blood is richer in
globules than that of the Mammalia, being more thoroughly permeated by
air; the respiratory function is also more energetic, from the same
cause--in fact, they consume a larger quantity of oxygen, and produce a
proportionately greater degree of heat; for while their lungs are small,
and placed in the upper part of the thorax only, where they are
confined on each side to a cavity, bounded above by the ribs, and below
by an imperfect diaphragm, they are perforated by tubes, which
communicate with membranous cells, distributed over the thoracic and
abdominal cavities, between the muscles, and beneath the skin,--often in
all parts of the body. What distinguishes the bird, in fact, is not the
wing; for certain of the Mammalia, as the Bat, and even some fishes, as
the Gusard and Exocoetus, can traverse the air by expanding their wings.
In birds the diaphragm which arrests the air in the Mammalia is scarcely
perceptible, so the external air penetrates into every part of the body
by the respiratory tubes, which ramify the whole cellular tissue, the
interior of the bones, and even the feathers, and between the muscles.
Their bodies, dilated by the air inhaled, lose a proportionate amount of
weight; balloon-like, they float in the air, and, from their peculiar
forms, they can swim, so to speak, in any direction in the gaseous
element.
[Illustration: Fig. 45.--Skeleton of the Swan.]
Wings alone, then, would fail to support the bird in space. The
position renders a double system of breathing necessary. Vital heat in
animals is always in proportion to their respiration, for the oxygen of
the air, which penetrates every cell and cavity of their bones,
feathers, and body, warming and giving increased activity to their
circulation, and specific lightness to their bodies, from its rich
organisation enables birds to live in the coldest atmospheric regions.
In Fig. 46 the respiratory organs of a Pigeon are represented. The
trachea, or windpipe, is composed of many bony rings, varying in
different species. In the Falcons it is slightly flattened, and tapers
in a small degree; but in many genera it presents dilatations and
contractions, and in others it is variously curved, two slender muscles,
which run along its sides towards the sternum, serving to contract it.
In many of the song-birds several pairs of small muscles are attached to
the lower larynx where the tube bifurcates, by which they are enabled to
control this organ, which is the producer of their note.
[Illustration: Fig. 46.]
[Illustration: Fig. 47.]
The trachea carries the air to the lungs in a Pigeon, and separates into
two branches in the breast, where it abuts on the _aërial sacs_, and on
the two lungs (Fig. 47). The air carried by the windpipe acts upon the
blood through the thin substance of the cells which constitute the
pulmonary tissue, in which it traverses in an infinity of minute
vessels, whose thin walls are permeable by the gas.
The lungs are small, and placed in the upper part of the thorax, where
they are confined on each side by a cavity bounded above by the ribs and
below by an imperfect diaphragm; but they are perforated by tubes which
communicate with membranous cells distributed over the thoracic and
abdominal cavities, between the muscles, beneath the skin, and in all
parts of the body--the air even penetrating many of the bones when the
species are peculiarly aërial in their habits.
The external form of birds is modified so as to be subservient to aërial
progression. The vertebral column, or spine, along the centre of which
runs the spinal cord, is divided into three regions--the cervical,
dorsal, and sacral regions--terminating in the caudal extremities, the
number of vertebræ, or pieces, varying much in different genera. The
body consists of the dorsal, sacral, and caudal parts of the column;
laterally, of the ribs and pelvis; and beneath, of the sternum and the
soft parts contained in it. Its anterior part, containing heart, lungs,
and liver, is named the _thorax_; the posterior, the _pelvis_. The
_sternum_, with the clavicles and scapulæ, is perhaps the most curiously
modified part of the skeleton of birds.
The sternum, then, is a large expanded plate extended over the whole
anterior part of the thorax, and even covering more or less what may be
considered the abdomen. It varies greatly in different genera; but in
all it is more or less four-sided, and convex externally, forming the
basis for the powerful muscles by which the wings are moved. These wings
serve as arms by which the bird guides itself, ascending or descending
according to the impulse given them. "That the anterior form of birds is
modified so as to be subservient to the aërial progression for which
these animals are intended," says McGillivray, "is obvious and
intelligible. Their bodies are oval, with the more powerful muscles
placed on the breast, so that, when the horizontal position is assumed,
the centre of gravity comes between the wings, and is kept near the
lower part by the weight of the pectoral muscles. The length and
flexibility of the neck enable the bird to make the necessary changes in
the centre of gravity, while the solidity of the dorsal spine gives
advantage to the action of the muscles. The head is terminated by a
pointed bill, which aids in cleaving the air; the feet, when short, are
drawn up and concealed under the feathers; when long, they are stretched
out beneath or behind the tail, which is more or less expanded, and
helps to support the body in the air, as well as, by acting in the
manner of a rudder, to change its direction, or, by being expanded, to
break its descent."
[Illustration: Fig. 48.]
[Illustration: Fig. 49.]
[Illustration: Fig. 50.]
The wings of birds are acute or obtuse. The more angular the wing of
birds--that is to say, the longer the feathers on the edge of the
wing--the more rapidly does it propel itself through the air. The tail
consists of a number of feathers, to which are attached a series of
small muscles, one for each vertebra, which are capable of depressing
and elevating the tail in various degrees; while a series of
connections, whose fibres invest the base of the quills, curve round
the edge of the tail. Their action is to spread out the tail-feathers,
and incline them to the right or left; thus enabling it to perform the
part of a helm or rudder as it cleaves the atmosphere.
Besides flight, birds possess other means of locomotion. They are formed
for walking or for swimming as well as for flying, according as their
habits are aërial, terrestrial, or aquatic. Their general form, though
possessing all the characteristics of the class, is modified and adapted
to the kind of life they are intended to lead. Where the skin of a bird
is covered with feathers, it is observed that the true skin, or derma,
is thin and transparent; while the cuticle is thicker, and even covered
with scales, in those parts where feathers are absent.
Before addressing ourselves to the physiological functions of birds, a
few words descriptive of their feathers, beaks, and claws will not be
out of place.
The covering of birds is known by the general name of _plumage_. It is
composed of many individual _feathers_. The feathers are horny
productions, consisting of a hollow tube or barrel, and a stem rising
from it. Chemically, this covering is of the same material as the hair
on Mammals and the scales on reptiles and fishes, differing only in its
mechanical structure. Besides the more conspicuous feathers, most birds
have an underneath covering of smaller ones known as down-feathers. A
feather of the ordinary kind consists of the _tube_, or barrel, by which
it is attached to the skin, varying in length according to the species;
the _stem_, or _shaft_, composed internally of a soft, compact, but
elastic substance of a whitish colour, and in its buoyancy not unlike
cork; the _web_, which is a lateral prolongation of the external coating
of the shaft, and which assumes the form of a thin linear membrane
springing from it at an angle more or less acute in different species:
this is the _barb_. From the upper edge of each barb two sets of minute
filaments proceed at an angle similar to that of the barb itself in
respect to the shaft. These smaller filaments are the _barbules_, by
means of which the barbs are retained in opposition--not by the barbules
of one barb interlocking with those of another in the manner of
dovetailing, but by the anterior series of one barb overlapping and
hooking into the recurvate formation of the barb next to it (Figs. 51,
52). The barbules themselves frequently throw out filaments in the same
manner, which are called _barbicels_, whose object is apparently the
same--namely, that of connecting and retaining the barbules in position.
These may be observed, by the aid of a small magnifying glass, in the
quills of the Golden Eagle, _Aquila chrysaëtus_.
[Illustration: Fig. 51.]
[Illustration: Fig. 52.]
[Illustration: Fig. 53.]
[Illustration: Fig. 54.]
[Illustration: Fig. 55.]
Feathers, then, consist of three parts--the tube, the shaft, and the
webs; the webs being the barbs furnished with barbules, sometimes
barbicels. They are convex above, and are thus enabled to resist flexion
or fracture better from beneath than from any other direction. They are
also elastic; and this property, together with their curvature, tends to
keep them closer together.
In the feathers of a large portion of birds there is a plumiform
formation, or small feather or plumule. This plumule is conspicuous in
gallinaceous birds--for instance, the Pheasants (Fig. 53); it springs
from the fore part of the tube, just at the commencement of the shafts;
it gradually narrows, and is continued in the form of a very delicate,
thread-like fibre; from its side proceed two series of barbs, and from
the barbs two series of barbules, extremely fine, entirely disunited,
and very loose. This plumule seldom exists among aquatic birds, but in
gallinaceous fowls it attains the length of two-thirds of the feather,
and in the Emu and Cassowary it equals it in length.
Feathers may be divided into those specially employed as the means of
locomotion and those intended to protect the bird from extreme cold. The
former are much stronger, more compact, and more elongated than the
others. The row of feathers bordering the wing behind is known as the
_alar quills_, or wing-quills, and those terminating the extremity of
the tail, as _caudal quills_. From the head, backwards to the tail, the
feathers increase in strength and size; those on the face, or round the
base of the bill, being smallest, the tail-coverts longest. Immediately
covering the base of the wing-quills are a row of feathers on both
surfaces of the wing; these are the quill-coverts.
The most brilliant feathers are found in birds of warm climates, and the
more tropical the climate the more dazzling and brilliant is the
plumage. In many species the brilliant plumage is confined to the males,
while that of the females is dark and sombre. In other cases it is the
same in both sexes. The young of some species attain the adult
appearance after the first moult; others take several years to acquire
their full splendour.
Birds cast their feathers at least once a year, in order to put on a
fresh dress. This is called moulting--a change which usually occurs in
the autumn, but sometimes both in spring and autumn. During the moulting
season birds are dull, retiring, and silent; but when they emerge from
this state they proudly display their lively colours, which now rival
the gayest flowers that surround them.
Among the gallinaceous birds, and especially among the aquatic species,
there exist over the coccyx certain receptacles from which is distilled
the oily substance with which they lubricate their plumage. These
receptacles are known as the uropygial glands. On the lower surface is a
layer of cellular tissue containing a similar fluid, which seems to be
connected with the growth of the feathers.
[Illustration: Fig. 56.]
[Illustration: Fig. 57.]
[Illustration: Fig. 58.]
[Illustration: Fig. 59.]
[Illustration: Fig. 60.]
The feet of birds are as varied in different species as are their wings.
In birds of prey the claws are powerful and hooked. In some the foot is
flat and the claw straight and adapted for walking (Figs. 56, 57, 58).
The great toe is generally the strongest, but this is not an absolute
law: a projection which is found on the leg of some birds, and is
designated a spur, is a formidable weapon in some species (Figs. 59,
60). Some birds walk by bringing their feet forward alternately; others
by a simultaneous motion, or a succession of leaps. Some run with great
velocity, while others walk with great difficulty, and that only on a
flat surface. Many have their toes joined by thin membranes, which act
as paddles by which they propel themselves through the water.
The beak, or bill, of birds is composed of two bony pieces, called
mandibles, surrounded by a horny substance, differing both in form and
thickness according to the habits of the species. In the genus FALCO the
bill is shorter than the head; the upper mandible is furnished at the
base with a bare coloured skin, of a peculiar dense texture, called the
cere; its outline slightly convex as far as the edge of the cere (Fig.
61), then curved so as to form about the third of a circle, and
evidently destined, in connection with its formidable claws, to tear its
prey.
[Illustration: Fig. 61.]
[Illustration: Fig. 62.]
[Illustration: Fig. 63.]
In the TOUCANS RAMPHASTIDÆ the bill is half a foot long, hollow within,
thin, and nearly transparent; and the mandibles are so disposed as to
combine, with their great bulk, strength and lightness, and assisting by
their digestive power to assimilate both animal and vegetable food (Fig.
62). In the PELICANIDÆ, as in the Common Cormorant, _Phalacrocorax
carbo_, the bill is long, straight, and compound; the upper mandible
curved towards the point, the lower compressed; the base inserted in a
small membrane which extends under the throat. In the back part of the
head is an additional bone (Fig. 63, _a_), attached in such a manner to
the occiput as to admit of great expansion, which permits of its
swallowing plaice and other flat fish of considerable size. The CRANE,
_Grus cinerea_ (Fig. 64), has the bill rather longer than the head,
strong, straight, compressed, and pointed at the extremity; the sides of
the mandible deeply channelled with nostrils, and closed backwards by a
thin membrane.
[Illustration: Fig. 64.]
In the Goose, genus _Anser_ (Fig. 65), we find the bill short, not
longer than the head, conical, covered at the base with a cerous skin,
with under mandible smaller than the upper. In the Sparrows, _Passerina_
(Fig. 66), the bill is strong and conical, the upper mandible slightly
curved, the lower compressed and smaller than the upper; nostrils
lateral, basal, round, and partly concealed by the short feathers at the
base of the mandibles. In the Goatsuckers, _Caprimulgus_ (Fig. 67), the
bill is remarkably small and weak, the sides inflexed and sometimes
gaping.
[Illustration: Fig. 65.]
[Illustration: Fig. 66.]
[Illustration: Fig. 67.]
The tongue, like the bill, however, is only an accessory to the
digestive apparatus; for while the beak serves the purpose of prehension
and trituration, the tongue assists in deglutition or swallowing.
Digestion is so active in some birds, that they get fat in an
excessively short space of time. The Ortolan Bunting, _Emberiza
hortulana_, and some others, are fattened for the table in five or six
days. In the swelling under the throat, called the crop, _a_ (Fig. 68),
or first stomach, which is largely developed in some of the granivorous
or grain-eating birds, the food remains for a time, where it undergoes
certain modifications which facilitate digestion; thence it passes into
the succenteric ventricle, or second stomach, _b_ (Fig. 68),--there it
imbibes the necessary amount of gastric juice; being finally transformed
into _chyme_ in the gizzard, _c_ (Fig. 68), or third stomach, which is
possessed of great muscular power, being capable of acting upon the most
solid bodies, triturating even the flints and gravel which the
gallinaceous birds swallow to aid their digestion.
[Illustration: Fig. 68.]
It is a curious fact that a grain of seed, introduced into the stomach,
may be digested without alteration, and ejected where it will germinate,
if it meets with no obstacle to its vegetation. In this manner trees are
frequently found in regions where their species appear to have been
previously unknown.
_Chyle_, which is a milky fluid formed from the junction of chyme and
bile, is received by the small intestine, where the bile also flows from
the liver and the saliva from the pancreas.
The urinary apparatus consists of the kidneys, two in number, thick and
irregular, and distinct one from the other, abutting on the intestine,
which terminates in a species of pouch, or _cloaca_, through which
evacuation, alternately of urine, excrement, and eggs, takes place.
The sense of touch, of smell, of taste, and hearing are only slightly
developed in birds. Some have spoken of great delicacy of scent in birds
of prey, which are observed to assemble in great numbers on fields of
battle and other places where human carcasses are exposed. But the
opinions of naturalists, such as Audubon and Levaillant, seem to prove
that these animals were attracted rather by the sight than smell.
The organ of sight is, indeed, more highly developed in birds than in
any other class of animals. The volume of the eye itself is large
compared with the head. It includes an addition which seems to be
confined to birds. This is a black membrane, with many folds, very rich
in blood-vessels, and situated at the bottom of the ocular globe, and
advancing towards the crystalline. Anatomy has failed to explain the use
of this, but it is supposed that by advancing or withdrawing it, it
gives to birds additional power of vision. Other parts of the eye, such
as the choroïds, the thin membrane which covers the posterior part of
the eye, the iris, the retina, present nothing remarkable. The white of
the eye is surrounded by an osseous or cartilaginous matter, evidently
placed there for protection of this delicate and useful organ.
[Illustration: Fig. 69.]
Besides the ordinary upper and lower pupils, birds possess a third. This
consists of an extensive transparent membrane, disposed vertically,
which covers the eye like a piece of network, protecting it from the
effects of a blaze of light. It is this pupil, or nictating membrane,
placed at the internal angle of the eye, between the orb and the
external pupil, which the animal uses at will, which permits the Eagle
to gaze at the sun, and prevents the nocturnal birds of prey from being
dazzled when exposed to daylight.
The perfection of the sight of birds seems to be proved from the
Vulture, so distant from his prey as to appear a mere speck in the
heavens, without deviation flying directly to it; or the Swallow, which
perceives, while on rapid wing, the smallest insect on which it feeds.
According to Spallanzani, the Swift has sight so piercing, that it can
see only five lines in diameter at the distance of five hundred feet.
Birds, of all animal creation, can traverse distances with the
greatest rapidity. The fleetest among the Mammifera cannot
run over five or six leagues in an hour. Certain birds easily
traverse their twenty leagues in the same interval of time. In
less than three minutes we lose sight of a large bird, such as a
Kite or an Eagle, whose body is more than a yard from wing to
wing. It is assumed, from these facts, that these birds traverse more
than fifteen hundred yards each minute, or more than fifty miles
in an hour. A Falcon of Henri II. strayed from Fontainebleau
in pursuit of a Bustard; it was taken the next day at Malta.
Another Falcon, sent from the Canaries to the Duke de Lermes,
in Spain, returned from Andalusia to the Peak of Teneriffe in six
hours--the flight representing a distance of two hundred and fifty
leagues. In short, the whole organisation gives to a bird that
remarkable lightness which contributes so much to its velocity. Not
to speak of the feathers with which it is covered, its bones are hollow
and form large cells, called _aërial sacs_, which it is able to fill
with air at will, and its sternum is furnished with a bony frame
or breast-bone, formed somewhat like the keel of a ship, into
which the pectoral muscles are inserted--which, besides being
largely developed, in birds of flight possess remarkable contractile
properties.
The vocal apparatus in birds, represented in Figs. 70 and 71,
is very complicated, and differs from the human larynx and trachea.
It consists of a kind of osseous chamber; which, however, is only
a swelling in the arterial trachea at the point where it bifurcates
and enters the breast to form the bronchial tube. It is this
formation, called the lower larynx, which constitutes the organ of
song. Five pairs of muscles, attached to the walls of this chamber,
stretch or relax the vocal chord, by which means they enlarge
or diminish the cavity of the larynx. Whoever has watched any
song-bird singing must have noted the swelling and contracting
of its throat as it poured out its melody, modifying, in a thousand
ways, the tension of the vocal chords and of the larynx, and
producing those marvellous modulations whose perfection must
always be a subject of astonishment and admiration.
[Illustration: Fig. 70.]
[Illustration: Fig. 71.]
The song of birds must be the expression of some sentiment; they surely
sing as much for their own pleasure as to charm those who listen to
them. While they fill the woods with their melodious accents they direct
their looks on all sides, as if proud of their talents, and desirous of
gathering the tribute of admiration to which they feel themselves
entitled. Their song varies with the season, but it is in the early
spring their efforts are the most successful, and we are most disposed
to admire the beauty and harmony of their voices. Can anything be more
delicious than the warbling of the Linnet, the piping of the Goldfinch,
slowly swelling from their leafy bower, or the melodious cadence of the
Nightingale, as it breaks the silence of the woodland during the serene
nights of leafy June?
Our landscape would be sad and mute indeed without these graceful
inhabitants of the air, which give so much animation to country life and
solitary rambles. In the silence of night, when all nature sleeps and
life seems suspended, all at once certain notes of harmony rise from
under the dense foliage, as if to protest against the universal silence.
It is sometimes a plaintive cry, prolonged into a stifled sigh, now a
continuous warbling, now a lively song, gay and melodious, which the
whole forest re-echoes to.
When the darkness of night gives place to the first dawn of day--when
the soft gleam of Aurora has appeared on the horizon, all is
transformed, all is vivified on the new-born earth, lately asleep and
apparently deserted. The larger birds rise higher and higher in the air,
till they are lost in the clouds. The small birds hop from branch to
branch with joyous gambols, communicating a movement of happiness and
content over all nature. What a wonderful variety of music issues from
them--what dazzling brilliancy and variety deck their plumage--what a
charm pervades the whole scene, enlivened by these living flowers
flitting about in intense enjoyment, hovering, traversing, and
embellishing the air! Be it a Titmouse, which seems to spend its life
suspended from the branch of a tree; or the Fly Catcher, on the other
hand, always perched; the Lark, performing its graceful circles in the
air as it rises higher and higher, pouring forth its melodious song more
vigorously with each circle described; the Thrush, which runs along the
grassy path, watching for its prey, or the House Sparrow chirping from
the straw-built roof, or the Robin warbling from some leafless
bower--how completely the little winged wanderers decorate the landscape
and improve the picture with their innocent gambols!
Assuredly birds have a language which they alone comprehend. When danger
threatens them, a particular cry is uttered by one, and immediately all
of the same species hide themselves until their fears are dispelled and
confidence restored. When the presence of a bird of prey is announced by
the plaintive cry of the Thrush, all the feathered race of the
neighbourhood are hushed into silence.
Birds of prey with carnivorous instincts live in the most solitary
places. The Eagle lives alone with his mate in some unapproachable
aerie, his nest placed on the side of some steeply-scarped mountain, or
perhaps hidden in the depth of some inaccessible ravine, whence they
sally forth to visit some distant region in search of prey.
It is very difficult for us to appreciate the degree of intelligence
exhibited by birds. In the Mammifers, whose organisation approaches
nearer to that of man, we are enabled partially to comprehend their joys
and griefs; but in the case of birds we are reduced to conjecture in
order to arrive at an estimate of their sensations. To explain this
profound mystery a word has been invented which satisfies easy minds: we
call the sentiment which leads birds to perform many admirable actions
which are related of them, _instinct_. The tenderness of the mother for
her young--a tenderness so full of delicacy and foresight--is, we say,
only the result of _instinct_. It is agreed on all hands, however, that
this instinct singularly resembles the intelligence called reason, and,
in the opinion of many, is nothing else.
Reproduction in birds occurs at intervals regulated by nature, and they
are distinguished, above all other creatures, for the fidelity of their
affections. It is frequently a matter of observation that a male
attaches itself to a female, and they henceforth live together till the
death of one or both; and many affecting scenes are described where
death has overtaken one of the affectionate pair. When the breeding
season approaches, the habits of the female are modified; she abandons
her former freedom, and, having laid her eggs, she passes her whole time
in incubation, defying hunger and all other dangers, apparently well
instructed in the fact that the equal and prolonged heat communicated by
their contact with her body is necessary to hatch them. During the
period of incubation the male, in most instances, watches the female,
and supplies her with food; afterwards the little ones are waited on by
both the parent birds with the tenderest care until they finally attain
the use of their wings.
The solicitude of birds for their young is first manifested in the
choice of the locality for the nest, and in the care with which this
cradle of their progeny is constructed. But all this disappears when the
young no longer require the maternal protection.
[Illustration: Fig. 72.]
[Illustration: Fig. 73.]
[Illustration: Fig. 74.]
[Illustration: Fig. 75.]
In spring, when the birds have paired, they set themselves to work at
once to collect the necessary materials for their nest. Each carries its
blade of grass or stem of moss. Large birds content themselves with a
coarser structure--chips of wood, or branches of trees interlaced with
twigs, lined with hair and other soft materials, are fashioned into the
necessary shape. But the smaller species really display great art in
framing their miniature dwelling, which they furnish inside with wool,
blades of grass, or down, the male and female labouring in the common
work. Their effort is to make a soft, warm, and solid bed on which to
deposit the coming eggs. The mother-bird has recourse to all sorts of
cunning devices in order to conceal her nest from prying eyes, choosing
for this purpose the heart of a leafy bush, the forked limb, the
concealed crack or hollow in the trunk of a tree, the chimneys of a
house, crevices in a wall or under a roof. Curiously enough, the nests
of the same species are always fashioned in precisely the same manner.
The Kinglet, or Wren (Fig. 72), builds its nest under a bank, generally
near some brook; it is neatly formed of moss, nearly covered with
leaves, and lined with small feathers, hair, and wool. In this nest the
smallest of our native birds lays six delicate little white eggs, marked
with small pink spots. The Humming-birds (Fig. 73), which flit about in
tropical woods, build their nests of grass, lined with feathers. The
House Sparrow (Fig. 74) builds its nest under the eave of some house;
while the Hedge Sparrow (Fig. 74) chooses the fork of a hawthorn-tree in
which to construct its children's home. The Magpie, more ambitious,
constructs, in the topmost fork of some tall ash, or poplar, or elm, its
nest of branches interlaced with twigs, and lined with fine grass, hair,
and other soft materials (Fig. 75). It is a large and consequently a
conspicuous fabric, elliptical in form, composed first of rough boughs,
on which is laid a quantity of mud, and then a layer of twigs, the whole
lined with fibrous roots and other soft material. The Goldfinch builds
its nest on trees; it is composed of grass, moss, and lichens, and lined
with the down of various plants and such other soft material as comes in
its way, elaborately interwoven with wool and hair (Fig. 76).
[Illustration: Fig. 76.]
[Illustration: Fig. 77.]
The Owl, _Strix flammea_, chooses her nest in some obscure nook of an
old tower, the steeple of a church, a dovecot, or the hollow of an aged
tree (Fig. 77). It is composed of twigs and straws loosely arranged.
Some birds form into a sort of coarse tissue the fibres of which they
construct their nest, which has procured them the name of Weaver Birds.
The nest of _Fondia erythrops_ occupies the centre of a bundle of reeds
growing in shallow water, in which various grasses are roughly
interwoven in the form of a cupola. The Black-headed Synalaxis, _S.
melanops_ (Bonaparte), constructs a more delicate fabric, but remarkable
for its strength. It builds its nest with grasses, interlacing them in a
firm and inextricable web; the form is globular, and the entrance is a
small hole in one of its sides. The Orioles and Cassiques of the New
World cannot be passed without noticing their wonderful skill in nest
construction. The nest of the Baltimore Oriole forms a perfect family
pouch, which it suspends from the upper branches of a shrub or tree. The
nest of _Cassicus hæmorrhous_ (Cuvier) consists of dry grasses woven
into long sacks, gradually increasing in size towards the bottom, with
an elongated slit in the side; this is so constructed as to exclude rain
from the nest. These wonderful structures are sometimes two yards in
length; and when these birds are numerous in the country, the nests, as
they hang suspended from the branches of trees, give a singularly novel
aspect to the landscape.
Not less curious is the nest of the Tailor Bird, _Orthotonia_ (Fig. 78),
which is formed of a large leaf, the two sides of which the bird has
contrived to sew together; in the interior is placed the nest.
Miraculous indeed is the produce of these little workers. The wonder is
how the birds contrive to enter a nest on the wing when the opening
seems scarcely so large as the bird's body, and yet it enters without
disturbing a fibre. The hut of some savage races is left constantly
open, their intelligence not suggesting a protecting door. The Spiders
are more ingenious. They contrive to close the entrance to their
dwellings, while the door is left habitually open; some birds adopt
analogous precautions. In M. Jeudon's book on the Birds of India, he
reports a curious arrangement of a species of Homrain: when the female
of this bird begins to lay, the male encloses her in their nest by
shutting up the door with a thick mud wall, leaving only a small opening
by which the female can breathe and receive her food from the male
bird's bill; for this severe husband is not forgetful of his duties, but
every few minutes conveys some morsel to the enclosed prisoner.
[Illustration: Fig. 78.]
[Illustration: Fig. 79.]
Sonnerat, in his "Voyage to India," speaks of a Cape Tit, the nest of
which is in the form of a bottle, and composed of cotton. While the
female hatches the eggs, the male, like a true sentinel, maintains a
strict watch on a specially-formed resting-place, built on one of the
sides. Finally, for ingenious construction, instigated by affection for
its progeny, there is nothing to compare to the work of the Republican
(Fig. 79). This little bird of the Cape, which is about the size of a
Sparrow, which it much resembles, lives in numerous families, that unite
in forming immense colonies. Their dwellings have the appearance of a
circular framework surrounding the trunk of some large tree, as
represented beneath. Levaillant counted as many as three hundred cells,
which indicate that it is inhabited by six hundred birds. These nests
are so heavy that Levaillant was compelled to employ a cart with many
men in transporting one of their colonies. At a distance they resemble
great roofs attached to the trunks or branches of trees, on which
hundreds of birds sport and enjoy themselves. Further, the Oriole
suspends its basket-like nest by a twig at the extremity of a flexible
branch, placing it thus beyond the reach of any prowling four-footed
ravisher. The Magpie selects the topmost fork of the loftiest trees.
Again, the nest of the esculent Eastern Swallow, the one so much sought
after by gourmands, hangs from those cliffs washed by the sea, and is
constructed of a _fucus_, or marine plant, of the genus _Gelidium_,
which gelatinous substance, cemented by the saliva of the bird, forms a
sort of paste of most delicate flavour.
When this nest is built, and the walls properly cemented, and the home
of the little brood prepared, the eggs are laid and the process of
hatching commences. Eggs are generally numerous in inverse proportion to
the size of the bird. The Eagle lays two, for instance, while the
Titmouse (_Parus_) lays from twelve to eighteen.
The eggs laid, the female must now submit to the long and painful labour
of incubation. While the male lies in wait in the neighbouring bush to
defend his young brood against any enemy which may present itself,
giving battle to much larger animals if they venture to attack his nest,
the female only quits her charge for necessary food, and her place is
often occupied during her absence by her mate. Enemies that lie in wait
are numerous. Among them may be enumerated birds of prey, small
quadrupeds, reptiles which treacherously insinuate themselves into the
nest, and perhaps more unfeeling than all, children with destructive
instincts.
If nothing occurs to disturb the repose of the pair, the male, perched
upon a neighbouring branch, pours out a song expressive of his felicity.
The little ones are finally hatched. Helpless and incapable, without
feathers and with closed eyes, they are utterly dependent on the parent
birds, by which they are fed until the time when they are covered with
feathers. They now begin to try their wings, and find their own food.
The mother directs their first efforts, uttering a peculiar cry to
attract them when she discovers a favourite morsel; defending them
courageously, and, with a total abnegation of self, meeting the most
formidable enemies; sometimes going so far for their protection as to
offer herself a victim. How pitiful are the cries of a Swallow whose
nest is built under the roof of a house on fire! Fearlessly she rushes
on the flames, flying to the assistance of her young, as if she would
rescue them or perish under the fatal roof. Or mark the unhappy
Partridge which the sportsman has surprised on the nest. She hesitates
not to offer herself a sacrifice, throwing herself almost under the
intruder's feet, in order to attract his attention from her progeny.
When the young are strong enough to take wing, they abandon the family
tie, and soon lose themselves in the great world of nature, forgetful of
their parents' unselfish care. The ingratitude of their first-born does
not, however, discourage the forsaken couple. With the returning season
they renew their labours, exhibit the same solicitude, the same
affection, to meet with the same return. Nature is an unfailing
source--an eternal focus of tenderness and love.
Most families of birds are migratory; that is, they abandon their summer
quarters and undertake long journeys at certain seasons. These
migrations occur with the greatest regularity. By their departure from
temperate or cold climates they prognosticate the approach of winter, as
their return heralds spring. Among the ancient Greeks, as we learn from
a passage of Aristophanes on birds, the arrival of the CRANE pointed out
the time of sowing; the arrival of the KITE the sheep-shearing season;
and the arrival of the SWALLOW in Greece was the date for putting off
summer clothing. The impulse which causes birds to depart is an
instinctive desire to find climatic conditions appropriate to their
wants of life. At the approach of winter they desert the regions of the
north in search of southern countries with a warmer climate, while
others migrate northwards to escape the heat.
Nevertheless, all birds are not migratory; many species remain during
their whole lives in the locality where they were hatched, straying but
little distance from their birth-place. The majority of those which
migrate perform their journeys annually and with great regularity; a few
irregularly and accidentally; that is, they are caused by necessity, or
by atmospheric influences, to change their residence; and it is no
unusual sight on such occasions to see numerous flocks of birds
assembling under the leadership of a chief, and taking their flight in
perfect order, traversing seas, and passing from one continent to
another, with astonishing rapidity. On the 22nd of September, 1771,
White, of Selborne, witnessed the flight of a flock of Swallows which
had rendezvoused the night before in a neighbour's walnut-tree. "At dawn
of what was a very foggy day, they arose all together in infinite
numbers, occasioning such a rustling from the strokes of their wings
against the hazy atmosphere that the sound might be heard at a
considerable distance." In the Old World, choosing a time when the winds
are favourable, most migratory birds direct their flight towards the
south-west in the autumn, and the north-east in spring. In America the
migratory birds take a south-east direction in autumn, and the reverse
in spring. These aërial travellers instinctively direct their flight to
the same regions--often to the same district; and there are good grounds
to believe that the same pair frequently find their way year after year
to the same nest.
The duration of the life of birds in a state of nature is one of those
subjects on which little is known. Some ancient authors--Hesiod and
Pliny, for example--give to the Crow nine times the length of life
allotted to man, and to the Raven three times that period; in other
words, the Carrion Crow, according to these authors, attains to seven
hundred and twenty years, and the Raven two hundred and forty. The Swan,
on the same authority, lives two hundred years. This longevity is more
than doubtful. Paroquets, however, are known to have reached more than a
hundred. Goldfinches, Chaffinches, and Nightingales unquestionably, even
in the confinement of a cage, have lived four-and-twenty years. A Heron,
Girardin tells us, lived fifty-two years, which was testified by the
ring which he bore on one of his legs, and even then he lost his life by
an accident, while in full vigour. A couple of Storks, moreover, have
been known to nestle in the same place for more than forty years. All
that we can affirm is that birds live much longer than the Mammalia.
We can easily fix a circumscribed geographical boundary to any
species of Mammalia. They may be limited to a country, or even a
district. Can we impose a like distribution on birds? At first sight
this seems difficult: their powerful organs of locomotion permit of
their travelling rapidly; and, moreover, their nature, essentially
mobile, and their wandering humour, lead them to continual change;
and then their organisation adapts them for great extremes of
temperature--circumstances which would lead us to consider them quite
cosmopolite. Nevertheless, many species reside habitually in
countries of very limited range. A Sovereign Hand has traced on the
surface of the globe limits that cannot be passed. How such small
creatures are able to perform such distant journeys, pausing only at
far-severed resting-places for necessaries, has always been a matter
of surprise. They pass on without an instant's sleep, however long
and fatiguing the route. How can the Quail, for instance, with its
short wing and plump body, traverse the Mediterranean twice in the
year? Hasselquist tells us that small short-winged birds frequently
came on board his ship in squally weather, all the way from the
Channel to the Levant; and Prince Charles Bonaparte was agreeably
surprised by the visit of a party of Swallows to the ship _Delaware_,
in which he was a passenger, when five hundred miles from the coast
of Portugal, and four hundred from Africa. Audubon relates a similar
occurrence; and numerous instances are recorded in which these
fatigued travellers have taken shelter in the first fisherman's boat
they met, sometimes so weak as to be hardly able to move a wing. It
is therefore a fact truly inexplicable, in spite of every hypothesis,
more or less reasonable, which has been advanced by naturalists in
explanation.
Men have little influence over birds, and have, therefore, few
opportunities of studying their habits in a state of nature. Some few
species may be retained in captivity, and some observers have been able
to obtain their entire confidence while in that condition; but, except
two or three species, it has not been possible to reduce them to a state
of domestication. Our knowledge of the habits and manners of the
feathered race is, therefore, entirely dependent on chance observation.
The Humming-bird is confined to certain portions of America. The
Nightingale, if a visitor to Scotland, is only found in Berwick and
Dumfriesshire in fine seasons, while it is constantly seen in Sweden, a
country much colder and much more northerly. The Toucans, so brilliant
in plumage, are only found in tropical South America. The Swallow, so
rapid on the wing, clearing its twenty leagues an hour when it leaves us
for its southern winter quarters, never deviates from the route which
seems to have been traced for it by a Sovereign Master.
It may, then, be stated that the great zones of the earth differ as much
in birds as in the Mammifers found in them. We find in climatic regions
birds, or groups of birds, of perfectly distinct species, and which are
rarely found beyond that particular zone. Glancing at the various
countries forming a region, particular types of birds are easily
recognised. Africa, for instance, alone possesses the Great Ostrich,
while only a small species exists in America--the Rhea; the Emu
represents the genus in Australia. Africa has species brilliant as the
most precious stones. To America belong exclusively the Humming-birds,
so remarkable for the brilliancy of their plumage. Again, if Africa is
the country of the Vulture, to America belongs the Condor.
Nevertheless, the acclimatisation of birds is by no means beyond our
power. Experience proves that by carrying a bird far from its native
country, and placing it in conditions approaching those to which it has
been accustomed, it will live and multiply--acclimate itself, in short,
to its new home.
Europe possesses no ornithological type peculiar to it. It is only in
Africa and America that we find those rich varieties of form and colour
which characterise the feathered race. The Island of Madagascar is the
land which possesses the greatest number of ornithological
types--simply, perhaps, because that island abounds in species whose
rudimentary wings do not permit of their wandering away. Whatever the
cause, however, the species found there are not obtained elsewhere. Here
we find the unique Dodo, a form of animal which became extinct in Europe
in the last century.
There is a wonderful charm of companionship in birds--they give
animation to the scene, skipping from bush to bush, or skimming the
surface of land and water. They please the eye by their graceful shape
and plumage, and they charm our ears by their ceaseless warblings. Even
in this sense we lie under a debt of gratitude to these graceful
inhabitants of the air. But this is far from being the limit of the
benefits we derive from them. The birds of the poultry-yards furnish our
most delicate food; their eggs form a considerable branch of trade, and
are indispensable in the kitchen; and what would become of our country
gentleman should our game birds ever become extinct?--an event by no
means improbable, seeing that, in the year of grace 1868, the head-dress
of every votary of fashion was decorated with the wing of a bird--not
confining the demand to Birds of Paradise, Ostrich, Pheasant, and other
feathers of brilliant plumage whose value was a protection, but
extending to the harmless sea-fowl, which were destroyed by thousands
only for the sake of their feathers.
Birds are useful to man by their feeding on the insects, larvæ, and
caterpillars which infest cultivated crops. Without their aid,
agriculture would become impossible. In former times it was a favourite
doctrine with the agriculturist that the _Passerina_ were the real
destroyers of his crops, and a war of extermination was declared against
them; but the observations of more enlightened persons have demonstrated
that the chief food of most of these consists of insects, and the havoc
among them has consequently been stayed; still much ignorance, and its
concomitant, cruelty, exist on this point. Elsewhere, those interested
soon discovered that the destruction of small birds led to formidable
increase in the numbers of voracious insects--that these lively and
joyous creatures, which float in the air and twitter on the bough, are
sent us more for good than evil, and that if some of them make the crops
pay a tax, they repay it tenfold by keeping down the excess of more
destructive ravagers.
While the smaller birds have proved essentially beneficial to man, some
of the larger birds exhibit similar tendencies. The Wading Bird clears
the earth of serpents and other unclean and venomous animals. The
Vultures and Storks throw themselves in flocks on corrupt carrion, and
divest the soil of all putrefying objects: thus, in concert with
insects, birds are the scavengers of the earth, lending their aid to
make it a fit residence for man; in fact, are constituted by nature
guardians of the public health.
In former days Falconry afforded a stately and picturesque sport to the
great, in which lords and noble dames assisted. This pastime still
exists in some parts of England and some portions of the East,
especially in Persia, where the Falcon is trained to chase the Gazelle
and small ruminants; while in China and Japan the Cormorant and Pelican
are taught to fish the rivers for their masters. From very ancient
times, the Carrier Pigeon was the bearer of messages now transmitted
along the electric wires with lightning speed.
Nor do these benefits comprise all the claims of birds to the gratitude
of man. In tropical America the Agami, _Trophia crepitans_, or Trumpet
Bird of Guiana, is domesticated, and so docile in its habits, that it is
employed to watch the flocks, which it does with the fidelity and
intelligence of a Dog. "The Agami," says M. Monocour, "is not only tamed
easily, but becomes attached to its benefactor with all the fondness and
fidelity of a Dog. When bred in the house, it loads the master with
caresses, and follows all his motions, but is easily offended." It is
bold and obstinate, and will attack Cats and Dogs, fighting a tough
battle with one of the latter, however considerable his size. In Cayenne
the denizens of the poultry-yard are confided to its care; it leads them
to their pasture, prevents them from straying to a dangerous distance,
and brings them home in the evening, just as a trained shepherd's Dog
will do the flocks committed to his care, and it manifests its delight
by cries of joy when its master vouchsafes a caress in return for its
faithful service. The Kamichi, which belongs, like the Agami, to the
same order, possesses similar characteristic intelligence. Like the
former, it is sociable and susceptible of education, and becomes a
useful auxiliary to the inhabitants of South America.
After these brief remarks on the organisation and habits of birds, we
proceed to describe the more remarkable species, arranged according to a
simple and comprehensive order of classification, placing before the
reader the various orders of the class AVES, in the ascending scale
which has been adopted in our previous works.
AVES--BIRDS.
Warm-blooded, vertebrated, biped animals. _Pectoral limbs_, fore-arms or
wings organised for flight; feathery _integument_; red blood;
_respiration_ and _circulation_ double; _lungs_ fixed and perforated.
I. NATATORES, OR PALMIPEDES.
Swimming birds, having the toes united by a membrane; legs placed behind
the equilibrium; the body covered with a thick coat of down beneath the
feathers. They include the following orders and families:--
I. _Brevipennes_, Ostriches, Cassowaries, the Penguins, Auks,
Guillemots, and Grebes.
II. _Longipennes_, including the Terns, Gulls, Mews, Petrel, and
Albatross.
III. _Totipalmates_, the Pelicans, Gannets, Cormorants, Frigate
Bird, Tropic Bird.
IV. _Lamellirostres_, the Ducks, Geese, Swans, Flamingos.
II. GRALLATORES.
Wading birds, having the legs long and naked from the tibia downwards.
I. _Macrodactyli_, Crakes, Coots, Rails, Screamers.
II. _Cultrirostres_, Boatbills, Cranes, Herons, Ibis, Storks,
Spoonbills.
III. _Longirostres_, Avocets, Snipes, Ruffs, Turnstones,
Sandpipers, Godwit, Curlews, Gambets.
IV. _Pressirostres_, Oyster Catchers, Thicknee Plovers, Lapwings,
Bustards, Coursers.
III. RASORES.
Scratching birds. Feet with strong, obtuse, scratching claws; mandible
vaulted; nostrils pierced at the base, covered by a cartilaginous scale.
I. _Gallinaceæ_ (Polygamous), Pea-fowl, Partridge, Pheasant, Quail,
Grouse, Pentados, Turkey, Curassow.
II. _Columbaceæ_ (Monogamous), Pigeons, Gouravinago.
IV. CANTORES.
Singing birds. Legs short and slender, three toes before and one behind.
In this order, according to Professor Owen, the brain attains its
greatest proportionate size, and the organs of the voice their greatest
complexity.
I. _Dentirostres_, Shrikes, Wrens, Wagtails, Thrushes, Warblers,
Manakins.
II. _Conirostres_, Birds of Paradise, Crows, Tits, Starlings,
Buntings, Larks, Finches, Grosbeaks.
III. _Tenuirostres_, Nuthatch, Creeper, Sunboard.
IV. _Fissirostres_, Swallows, Martins.
V. VOLITORES.
Birds moving solely by flight. Skeleton light and buoyant; head large;
keel deep (entire on the Humming-bird); wings powerful, in some long
and pointed; legs small and weak. The order includes--
I. _Cypselidæ_, Swifts.
II. _Trochilidæ_, Humming-birds.
III. _Caprimulgidæ_, Night-jar.
IV. _Trogonidæ_, Trogons.
V. _Prionitidæ_, Momots or Motmots.
VI. _Meropidæ_, Bee-eaters.
VII. _Galbulidæ_, Jacmar.
VIII. _Coraciadæ_, Rollers.
IX. _Capitonidæ_, Puff-bird.
X. _Alcedinidæ_, King-fishers.
XI. _Bucerotidæ_, Hornbills.
VI. SCANSORES.
Climbing birds, with opposing toes in pairs, two behind and two
before. The order includes--
I. _Ramphastidæ_, Toucans.
II. _Bucconidæ_, Barbets.
III. _Cuculidæ_, Cuckoos.
IV. _Picidæ_, Woodpeckers.
V. _Musophagidæ_, Plantain-eaters.
VI. _Coliidæ_, Colys.
VII. _Psittacidæ_, Parrots.
VII. RAPTORES.
Rapacious birds, with strong, curved, pointed, and sharp-edged
beak; legs short and robust, three toes before and one behind,
armed with strong, crooked talons. The order includes--
I. _Nocturnes_, Owls.
II. _Diurnes_, Eagles, Vultures, Hawks.
CHAPTER I.
THE NATATORES, OR SWIMMING BIRDS.
The Natatores are obviously devoted, by their organisation, to an
aquatic life. Their constant haunts are found on the great rivers and
lakes, or on the coast. They are chiefly characterised by the form of
their feet. The toes are united by marginal membranes in the Coots and
Water-rails, or in others by the extension of webs between and uniting
the toes, of a soft membrane slightly lobed; hence the name of
_Palmipedes_, or web-footed, usually applied to them. These broad
palmate feet, acting at the end of a long lever, strike the water with
great force when fully expanded, being favoured by their backward
position. When the bird recovers its stroke, the toes are relaxed in
their forward movement, preparatory to another effort; thus progression
through the water is obtained.
Some of the swimming birds in their flight are feeble and slow; others
are incapable of even rising from the water, being only furnished with
rudimentary wings. Again, there are species which possess extraordinary
powers of traversing the air, their well-developed wings enabling them
to pass through space with wonderful rapidity. The Albatross is met with
on the high seas at a vast distance from the shore. Others, as the
Petrels, seem to revel in storms and tempests, mingling their wild cry
with that of the storm-tossed waves. The sailors, who look anxiously to
windward at the dark horizon, where the clouds are surcharged with
torrents of rain ready to burst on the ship, are assured of the
approaching tempest by the circling flight of the white-winged
Albatross, as it is seen through the obscure and threatening mist.
The whole order of Natatores swim and dive without saturation, their
plumage being anointed by an oily liquid furnished by certain glands in
their skin, which renders them impervious to moisture. This immunity
from the effect of water is further assisted by the disposition and
structure of their feathers, which, being smooth and three-cornered,
with the barbules closely interlaced, cause the water to glide off their
polished surface; while the down beneath the feathers of which we have
spoken protects their bodies from the cold, maintaining their natural
heat, and enabling them to resist the cold of the most rigorous winter.
The Natatores are numerous both in species and individuals, having their
habitat in all countries. According to Prince Charles Bonaparte, one of
the most eminent of European naturalists, those which frequent the
sea-shore alone constitute one-fourteenth part of all the birds on the
globe, and the number of species he reckons at nine thousand four
hundred. They feed on vegetables, insects, mollusks, and fishes. They
seek the coast in the breeding season, where they build their nests on
the sand, or in nooks and crannies of the rocks, or on the margin of
lakes and rivers.
In the spring the sea-birds assemble in large flocks, pair off, and
proceed to deposit their eggs in nests constructed generally without
skill, but always lined or carpeted with a fine down, which forms a soft
warm bed for the embryo progeny. Certain localities are frequented by
preference, which are occupied by innumerable flocks in the breeding
season, all of which seem to live together in perfect harmony. Some
of the families of the Natatores are valuable additions to the
poultry-yard. Ducks and Geese furnish delicate and nourishing food for
man; the Swan is gracefully ornamental on our lakes and ponds. The down
of all the aquatic birds is of immense value to the commerce of northern
countries. The eggs are good to eat, and in many countries the
inhabitants consume them in great quantities. Nor does their usefulness
end here. _Guano_, so eagerly sought for by the farmer, is the excrement
of aquatic fowls--the accumulation of ages, until, in the South Pacific
Ocean, it has formed whole islands, some of them being covered with this
valuable agricultural assistant to the depth of ninety or a hundred
yards. Nor is this so marvellous, if it is considered that twenty-five
or thirty thousand sea-birds sleep in these islets night after night,
and that each of them will yield half a pound of guano daily. Our lands
receive valuable assistance to fertility from this unrivalled material,
which owes its power to the ammoniacal salts, phosphate of lime, and
fragments of feathers of which it is composed.
The order of Natatores, or Palmipedes, consists of four families:--1.
_Brevipennes_, or Divers; 2. _Longipennes_, or Skimmers; 3.
_Totipalmates_, or _Pelicanidæ_; 4. _Lamellirostres_, including Geese,
Ducks, Swans, and Flamingos.
THE DIVERS (_Brevipennes_).
Penguins, _Aptenodytes_; Auks, _Alca_; Grebes and Divers, _Colymbus_;
Guillemots, _Uria_.
The birds which constitute this family of the Natatores are
characterised by wings so thin and short as to be totally useless for
the purposes of ærial locomotion. They are also called _Brachypteres_,
from the Greek compound +brachys+, short, and +ptera+, winged. These
are all habitual divers and indefatigable swimmers, using their wings
as fish do their fins. To raise these after making the down-stroke
requires a considerably greater effort than a bird of flight makes in
raising its wings in the air, for which reason the second pectoral
muscle in this and other diving birds has an unusually large
development to give further strength. Their plumage is smooth and
silky, and impervious to water from its oily nature. They live chiefly
on the sea, coming ashore in the breeding season.
The Divers, _Colymbus_, are distinguished from other Brachypteres by
their beak being longer than the head, straight, robust, and nearly
cylindrical, slightly compressed on the sides, acute, the upper mandible
longer than the lower; their toes, in place of being each furnished with
marginal membranes, have the three united by a single membrane; their
feet being placed far backward and on the same perpendicular line with
the tibia--an arrangement very unfavourable for walking, compelling the
birds to take a vertical position, rendering their movements on land
both painful and difficult.
They are, however, intrepid swimmers, and they dive with such alertness
that it requires a quick eye and hand to shoot them. They are
inhabitants of northern seas; there they build their nests in some
solitary islet or desert promontory, where they lay two eggs, oblong in
shape, and more or less shaded of an Isabella white. Fish, particularly
the herring, form their principal food; crustaceans and marine
vegetables are also eaten by them. Their flesh is tough and leathery,
and tastes disagreeable. In the winter they migrate to temperate
countries, where they frequent the rivers and lakes, returning to the
northern regions when the ice has broken up.
There are three species described: the Great Northern Diver, _Colymbus
glacialis_; the Arctic Diver; and the Imber Diver. But there is
considerable doubt on this subject, the young of _C. glacialis_ of the
first and second year being so unlike the parent birds as to have been
long supposed a distinct species.
THE GREAT NORTHERN DIVER (_Colymbus glacialis_).
ENGLISH SYNONYMS.--Northern Diver: Montagu, Selby. Speckled Diver, Ember
Goose: Gunner. Ring-necked Loon.
LATIN SYNONYMS.--_Colymbus glacialis_: Linn., Adult, Latham, Jenyns,
Brien. _Colymbus Immer_: Young, Linn., Latham.
FRENCH SYNONYM.--_Plongeon Imbrim_: Temminck.
[Illustration: Fig. 80.--Great Northern Divers (_Colymbus glacialis_).]
The Great Northern Diver is among the mass of those birds which seek
their food on the bosom of the great deep. It is not numerous in British
waters, and can scarcely be called gregarious, although adults
sometimes, and the young more frequently, form small parties of two to
five. A wanderer on the ocean, it not only frequents the margins of the
sea, fishing in the bays and estuaries, but it is also met with many
miles from the shore. Narrow channels, firths, coves, sea-locks, and
sandy bays are, however, its favourite resorts; there it floats, the
body deeply immersed in the water. But though deep in the water, it
moves on steadily and majestically; it overtakes and shoots ahead of all
its more buoyant congeners. But let us watch the actions of a pair of
these children of the ocean, and listen while Mr. McGillivray describes
one of those picturesque scenes in which he delights. "It is now the
end of spring, when the returning warmth gives an increase of animation
to the wandering tribes of the winged inhabitants of the ocean air; but
the Loon makes comparatively little use of his wings, and his great bulk
and robust frame would be ill adapted for the hovering flight of the
Gulls and Petrels. There he comes, followed by his mate, advancing with
marvellous speed. They have rounded the point, and now stop for a moment
to cast a searching glance along the shore, lest an enemy should be
lurking there. Forward they start--the smooth water rippling gently
against their sides. Small effort they seem to make, and yet powerful
must be the stroke of the oars which impel masses so large at so rapid a
rate. Now and again they dip their bills into the water; then the head
and neck. One glides gently under the surface, without plunge or
flutter, and in a few seconds it appears with a fish in his bill, which,
with upstretched head and neck, it swallows. The other having also
dived, appears with a fish, larger, and less easily managed. She beats
it about in her bill, plashing the water, and seems unable to adapt it
to the capacity of her gullet; but at length, after much striving, she
masters it, and continues her search. Backwards and forwards, over the
clear sand of the shallow bay, they glide in their quiet way, and now
they have both dived with their heads towards us. One rises close to the
sea-weed, and so near to us, that we might almost count the spots on his
back. The other, in emerging, has perceived us, and somehow communicates
the discovery to her mate. They swim about for a short while with
erected necks, then sink into the water, their heads disappearing last;
and when we see them again, they are three hundred yards distant,
standing out to sea, with half-submerged bodies." "If shot at and not
wounded," continues this most picturesque of writers on Natural History,
"it never flies off, but dips into the water and rises at a great
distance, and unless shot dead, there is little chance of procuring it,
for its tenacity of life is great, and its speed far exceeds that of a
four-oared boat."
The great American naturalist, Audubon, has left a most interesting
account of this bird in his "Ornithological Biography." After describing
the various Transatlantic localities in which he has studied its
economy, he describes its nest. "One that I saw," he says, "after the
young had left it, on Lake Cayuga, was almost afloat, and rudely
attached to the rushes, more than forty yards from the land, though its
base was laid on the bottom, the water being only eight or nine inches
deep. Others I examined in Labrador were placed on dry land, several
yards from the water, and raised to the height of nearly a foot above
the decayed moss on which they rested. The nest, however placed, is
bulky, and formed of withered grasses and herbaceous plants found in the
neighbourhood. The true nest, which is from a foot to fifteen inches in
diameter, is raised to the height of seven or eight inches. Of the many
nests I have examined, more contained three than two eggs, and I am
confident that the former number most frequently occurs."
Of this handsome bird Sir John Richardson remarks, contrary to the
generally-received notion, that it is seldom seen either in the Arctic
Sea or Hudson's Bay, but that it abounds in all the inland lakes. It is
rarely found on land, being ill fitted for walking, but admirably
adapted to aquatic habits, swimming with great swiftness and for
considerable distances under water; and when it does come up, seldom
exposing more than its neck. It flies heavily, but rather swiftly, and
in a circle round those who have disturbed it in its haunts; its loud
and melancholy cry resembling the howling of the Wolf, or the distant
scream of a man in distress. When the Loon calls frequently, it is
supposed to portend a storm. In the bad weather preceding the advent of
winter on the smaller northern American lakes, previous to migration,
their wild, weird note is so unnatural, that both the Indians and
settlers ascribe to it supernatural powers.
The Imbrine Diver, _L'Imbrim_ of Buffon, is also a fine bird of blackish
plumage shaded with white, the belly and a ring round the neck being
also white. The head is of a changeable black and green colour. When it
has young, in place of diving under water, as its ordinary habit is when
threatened, it boldly attacks its enemies with its beak. Its skin serves
the Greenlanders as clothing. It inhabits the Arctic seas of both
hemispheres, is abundant about the Hebrides, in Norway, in Sweden, and
even on the coast of Scotland. Its appearance on the French coast is
very irregular, and only after great storms.
The Arctic Diver, _C. arcticus_, has the beak and throat black; summit
of the head ashy grey; the breast and the sides of the neck white, with
black spots; the back and rump black; the coverts of the wings with
white spots, and all the lower parts pure white. The bird, though rare
in England and France, is very common in the North of Europe. It is
found on the lakes of Siberia, of Iceland, in Greenland and Hudson's
Bay, and sometimes in the Orkney Islands. The women of Lapland make
bonnets with its skin dressed without removing the feathers; but in
Norway it is considered an act of impiety to destroy it, as the
different cries which it utters are said to prognosticate fine weather
or rain.
THE BLACK-THROATED DIVER (_Colymbus arcticus_).
ENGLISH SYNONYMS.--Black-throated Loon, Black-throated Diver: Montagu,
Selby.
LATIN SYNONYMS.--_Colymbus arcticus_: Linn., Latham, Temminck, Jenyns,
Yarrell, Bonaparte.
FRENCH SYNONYMS.--_Plongeon Lumme_: Temminck. _Plongeon Arctique_:
Cuvier.
Smaller and more slender than the Great Northern Diver, this species
retains many of its characteristic habits. It floats deep in the water,
and when alarmed swims at surprising speed, with outstretched neck and
rapid beat of the wings, and little more than its head above the
surface. It flies high and in a direct course with great rapidity. Mr.
Selby describes an ineffectual pursuit of a pair on Loch Shin, in
Sutherlandshire, which was long persevered in. In this case submersion
frequently took place, which continued for nearly two minutes at a time,
and they generally reappeared at nearly a quarter of a mile distant from
the spot at which they went down. In no instance did he ever see them
attempt to escape by taking wing. "I may observe," says this acute
ornithologist, "that a visible track from the water to the nest was made
by the female, whose progress on land is effected by shuffling along
upon her belly, propelled from behind by her legs." When swimming, they
are in the constant habit of dipping their bill in the water with a
graceful motion of the head and neck.
The eggs, of which there are two, sometimes three in the same nest, are
of a very elongated oval form, three inches in length, two inches in
their greatest girth, and of a brownish olive sprinkled with black or
dark-brown spots, and are larger at one end than at the other.
THE RED-THROATED DIVER (_Colymbus septentrionalis_).
ENGLISH SYNONYMS.--Red-throated Loon, Red-throated Diver: Montagu,
Selby, Yarrell. Speckled Diver: Montagu.
LATIN SYNONYMS.--_C. septentrionalis_: Linn., Latham, Jenyns, Bonaparte,
Temminck. _C. borealis_, _Siviatus_, and _stellatus_: Latham.
FRENCH SYNONYMS.--_Plongeon Col Marin, ou à Gorge Rouge_: Temminck.
The Red-throated Diver is smaller than either of the preceding, the
plumage is dense and firm, the wings of moderate length, the tail
rounded and firm.
From the beginning of October to the middle of May these birds are
constantly found on our northern coasts, and on the rivers and estuaries
with which they abound. When on a long journey, they keep at a great
height, moving rapidly in a direct course with outstretched wings. On
these occasions they exceed the speed of most of their congeners. With
their long outstretched necks and snow-white breasts, from their
comparatively short wings, they present a curious and novel sight. When
swimming they are extremely vigilant, and permit nothing to approach
them. On the appearance of a boat they glide as it were out of sight
under the water, without noise or flutter, and thence pursue their way
with great rapidity, using wings as well as feet to propel themselves.
THE PENGUINS (_Aptenodytes_)
Belong exclusively to cold countries. They rarely quit the vicinity of
land, yet only take to the shore in the breeding season, or when driven
by squalls and storms from their favourite element. On shore they are
compelled to sit erect. They carry the head very high and the neck
stretched out, while their short winglets are advanced like two
diminutive arms. When they sit perched in flocks on some lofty
projecting rock they might be mistaken at a distance for a line of
soldiers.
[Illustration: Fig. 81.--Penguin (_Aptenodytes_).]
At certain periods of the year the Penguins assemble on the beach as if
they preconcertedly met for deliberation. These assemblies last for a
day or two, and are conducted with an obvious degree of solemnity. When
the meeting results in a decision, they proceed to work with great
activity. Upon a ledge of rock, sufficiently level and of the necessary
size, they trace a square with one of its sides parallel and overlooking
the edge of the water, which is left open for the egress of the colony.
Then with their beaks they proceed to collect all the stones in the
neighbourhood, which they heap up outside the lines marked out, to serve
them as a wall, to shelter them from the prevailing winds. During the
night these openings are guarded by sentinels. They afterwards divide
the enclosure into smaller squares, each large enough to receive a
certain number of nests, with a passage between each square. No
architect could arrange the plan in a more regular manner.
What is most singular is that the Albatross, a bird essentially aërial,
and adapted for flight, associates at this period with these half fish,
half birds, the Penguins; so that the nest of an Albatross may be seen
next the nest of a Penguin, and the whole colony, so differently
constituted, appear to live on the best terms of intimacy. Each keeps to
its own nest, and if by chance there is a complaint, it is that some
Penguin (probably the king Penguin, for he is generally the greatest
thief) has robbed the nest of his neighbour, the Albatross.
Other sea-birds come to partake of the hospitality of the little
republic. With the permission of the masters of the coterie they build
their nests in the vacancies that occur in the squares.
The female Penguin lays but one egg, which she only abandons until
hatched for a few instants, the male taking her place while she seeks
her food. The Penguins are so numerous in the Antarctic seas that a
hundred thousand eggs have been collected by the crew of one vessel.
The Manchots (Fig. 82) have been described by most of the French
naturalists as a distinct species, but there is little doubt of their
being only a variety of the Aptenodytes. They abound in the southern
seas. Their short, stunted wings, which quite incapacitate them from
flying, are reduced to a flat and very short stump, totally destitute of
feathers, being covered with a soft down, having something of the
appearance of hair, which might be taken for scales. Like the Penguin,
the Manchots are excellent swimmers and incomparable divers, and their
coating of down is so dense that it even resists a bullet; it is
consequently difficult to shoot them.
Everything about these birds indicates their adaptation to an aquatic
life. Their feet are placed at the extremity of the body--an arrangement
that renders them awkward and heavy when ashore; where, in short, they
only come to lay and hatch their eggs. They begin to assemble in great
numbers at the commencement of October. Their nests are a very simple
construction; for they content themselves with digging in the sand a
hole deep enough to contain two eggs--but more often one than two.
[Illustration: Fig. 82.--The Manchot (_A. Patachonica_).]
In spite of the limited number of eggs, the quantity of these birds
found in the south of Patagonia is something prodigious. When sailors
land in these high latitudes they take or kill as many as they choose.
Sir John Narborough says, speaking of those at the Falkland Islands,
that "when the sailors walked among the feathered population to provide
themselves with eggs, they were regarded with sidelong glances." In many
places the shores were covered with these birds, and three hundred have
been taken within an hour; for generally they make no effort to escape,
but stand quietly by while their companions are being knocked down with
sticks.
In another islet, in the Straits of Magellan, Captain Drake's crew
killed more than three thousand in one day. These facts are not
exaggerated. This island, when visited by these navigators, was, so to
speak, virgin; and the birds had succeeded each other from generation to
generation in incalculable numbers, hitherto free from molestation.
The Penguins have no fear of man. Mr. Darwin pleasantly relates his
encounter with one of these birds on the Falkland Islands. "One day," he
says, "having placed myself between a Penguin (_A. demersa_) and the
water, I was much amused by the action of the bird. It was a brave
bird, and, till reaching the sea, it regularly fought and drove me
backwards. Nothing less than heavy blows would have stopped him. Every
inch gained he kept firmly, standing close before me firm, erect, and
determined, all the time rolling his head from side to side in a very
odd manner, as if the powers of vision only lay in the anterior and
basal part of each eye." This bird, Mr. Darwin states, is called the
Jackass Penguin, from this habit, when on shore, of throwing its head
backwards, and of making a loud strange noise very like the braying of
an ass.
They defend themselves vigorously with their beaks when an attempt is
made to lay hands upon them; and when pursued, they will pretend to
retreat, and return immediately, throwing themselves upon their
assailant. "At other times they will look at you askance," says
Pernetty, "the head inclined first on one side, then on the other, as if
they were mocking you." They hold themselves upright on their feet, the
body erect, in a perpendicular line with the head. In this attitude they
might be taken for a party of choristers with white surplices and black
gowns. Their cry strikingly resembles the braying of an ass. Navigators
passing these islands of the southern seas might suppose that they were
densely inhabited, for the loud roaring voices of these birds produce a
noise equal to that of a crowd on a fête day. The flesh is most
unpalatable, but it is frequently the only resource of ships' crews who
find themselves short of provisions in these inhospitable regions. As to
the eggs of most of the Palmipedes, they are said to be excellent.
THE GREBES.
The Grebes (_Podiceps_) have the head small, the neck somewhat
elongated, the legs attached to the abdomen, the tail rudimentary, the
tarsi compressed, the anterior toes united at their base by a membrane
slightly lobed in its contracted extent. These birds live principally on
the sea, but they inhabit fresh water by preference, feeding on small
fishes, worms, mollusks, insects, and the products of aquatic
vegetation. While they dive and swim admirably, they also fly with
vigorous wing when pursued; but they rarely ascend into the air unless
they are alarmed, or under migrating impulse, which disperses them among
the interior lakes in the autumn, and compels them to select a
favourable breeding-place in the spring.
The nest of the Grebe is usually placed in a tuft of rushes, on the edge
of the water. It is composed exteriorly of large grassy plants roughly
interlaced, and the interior is lined with soft broken grasses
delicately arranged. The eggs vary from three to seven. On shore they
cannot walk at all, but creep, so to speak; for they must hold
themselves nearly upright, supported on the croup, the toes and the
tarsi being extended laterally. But ungraceful as they are on shore, so
much greater is their elegance on the water. They are covered with a
close warm down--so close and so lustrous, that muffs of a silvery white
are made of the down-covered skins of their breast, which are impervious
to water.
M. Noury, Director of the Museum of Natural History at Elboeuf, who has
carefully studied the habits of the Grebes, relates of the Castanean
Grebe, _P. cornutus_, that its nest is a perfect raft, which floats upon
the surface of our ponds and lakes. It is a mass of thick stems of
aquatic herbs closely woven together; and as these materials contain a
considerable quantity of air in their numerous cells, and from
disengaging various gases besides in decomposing, these aëriform
supporters render the nest lighter than the water. In this improvised
ship, and upon this humid bed, the female Grebe silently sits upon and
hatches her progeny. But if anything unforeseen disturbs her security,
this wild bird plunges one foot into the water, which she employs as an
oar to transport her dwelling from the threatened danger.
Grebes are inhabitants of the Old and New Continents. Among the European
species may be noticed the Crested Grebe (_Podiceps cristatus_), Fig.
83, about the size of a Duck, ornamented with a double black crest; the
Horned Grebe (_P. cornutus_), provided with two long tufts of feathers,
in form somewhat resembling a horn; the Eared Grebe (_P. auritus_),
distinguished by its beak, the base of which is depressed, while the
point is raised upwards. Among the American species may be mentioned _P.
Carolinensis_ and _P. rubricollis_, killed at the Great Slave Lake,
along with _P. cristatus_ and _P. cornutus_. _P. Chilensis_ and _P.
Americanus_ are natives of the warmer parts of America, of St. Thomas,
St. Domingo, and the Philippines.
THE CRESTED GREBE.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS.--Greater Crested Grebe: Jenyns. Crested Grebe:
Montagu, Selby.
LATIN SYNONYMS.--_Colymbus cristatus_: Linn., Yarrell. _C. urinatur_:
Young, Linn. _Podiceps cristatus_: Latham, Jenyns, Bonaparte, Selby.
FRENCH SYNONYM.--_Grèbe huppé_: Temminck.
[Illustration: Fig. 83.--The Crested Grebe (_Podiceps cristatus_).]
The Crested Grebe is found along our coasts, and in their estuaries, in
limited numbers; but in the splendid lakes of the North American
fur-countries, according to Dr. Richardson, this species is very
abundant. Mr. Audubon says that it returns to the United States from its
northern wanderings about the beginning of September, and proceeds south
as far as Mexico, a few stragglers only remaining on the lower part of
the Ohio, Mississippi, and the neighbouring lakes. "They pass swiftly
through the air," says this enthusiastic naturalist, "at the height of
about a hundred yards, in flocks of from seven and eight to fifty or
more, proceeding in a loose body, and propelling themselves by continual
flappings, their necks and feet stretched out to their full extent. When
about to alight on the water, they glide swiftly downward, with their
wings half closed, producing a sound not unlike that of a Hawk swooping
upon its prey. At this moment their velocity is so great that, on
alighting, they glide forward on the surface of the water for twenty or
thirty yards, leaving a deep furrow in their wake. They are exceedingly
quick-sighted, and frequently elude, by diving, the shot which is aimed
at them."
[Illustration: Fig. 84.--Guillemots (_Uria Troile_).]
The Guillemots (_Uria_), Fig. 84, have the beak long, straight, convex
above, somewhat angular below, a little curved and hollowed at the
extremity of each mandible; the legs are short, compressed, and placed
well behind the body; the three anterior toes are united by the same
membrane; the claws recurved and pointed; no hind toe; the wings are
straight, and the tail short. These birds, when placed on the ground,
raise themselves with great difficulty, owing to the conformation of
their legs. They only come ashore when driven there for shelter by the
storm, or for breeding. For the latter purpose they choose some
precipitous coast where the rocks project in ledges, from which they can
throw themselves into the sea if they are disturbed. Boldly-scarped
cliffs, which rise perpendicularly from the waves, are consequently
their favourite breeding-places. There it is necessary to seek them.
Unfortunately, the demand for the wings and down of the Guillemots has
reached a point which is not unlikely to lead to their extermination.
One London dealer, we are told, has given an order at Ailsa Craig, on
the Clyde, for a thousand sea-birds weekly; and the tacksman of the rock
is so intent on supplying the demand, that he spreads his nets while the
birds are sitting on the newly-hatched young, which are thus left in
thousands to perish from being deprived of a mother's fostering care.
Among the Guillemots, the female lays only one large egg. They feed on
fishes, insects, and crustacea. They principally inhabit northern
regions, visiting our shores and other temperate climates when the ice
has invaded their summer home. In their migratory journeys they must
trust to their wings--which, however, as already observed, are very
short. They are consequently not possessed of long powers of flight, and
skim the surface of the water, rarely rising much above the surface.
Their progress, however, is sharp and rapid, but of short duration. The
Guillemots during winter are frequently seen in immense numbers on
Rock-all Bank and on the banks of Newfoundland. So little are they
alarmed at the approach of a vessel, that should they be directly in her
track, they will only dive to save themselves. These banks are several
hundred miles from land.
The whole race of aquatic birds of which we have spoken, whether Divers,
Penguins, Grebes, or Guillemots, are, in these northern regions, a
valuable resource, where vegetation almost entirely ceases. The poor
people whose lot compels them to live there obtain in their feathers,
skin, oil, and eggs, clothing, food, and light during their long and
gloomy winter. But to obtain what they truly consider a blessing from
heaven, they have to surmount innumerable difficulties, the birds often
building their nests in islets almost unapproachable, or on rocks rising
perpendicularly out of the water. Slung upon seats hung from the summits
of these crags, the courageous islanders suspend themselves, in the
breeding season, to gather and make, so to speak, a harvest of the
sea-fowls' eggs. Some of these men walk along the rocky coast, furnished
with a conical net attached to the end of a pole, which enables them to
secure the birds flying around them, much in the same manner as boys
catch butterflies in the meadows.
But chasing these graceful swimmers at the foot of their rocky retreat
is mere trifling; the dramatic and dangerous incidents occur at the
summit of the steep, giant cliffs. The intrepid inhabitants of the Feroë
Islands, which are situated to the north of Scotland, between Norway and
Iceland, in the Atlantic Ocean, proceed as follows in the search after
eggs. The fowler begins operations by swarming, as schoolboys call it,
up a pole, which carries him to the first projecting ledge of the rocks.
This point attained, he throws a knotted rope to his companions, who
soon join him on the aërial cliffs. The same manoeuvre is performed,
stage by stage, until they reach the summit. But this is nothing; he has
now to visit the recesses in which the nests are to be found.
[Illustration: Fig. 85.--Catching Birds and gathering Eggs in the Feroë
Islands.]
Upon the edge of the rock a beam is run out horizontally; to this beam a
two-inch rope, which is not less than nine hundred feet in length, is
attached. To the end of this immense line a plank is tied, upon which
the fowler seats himself. This man holds in his hand a light cord for
the purpose of signalling to his companions above. The fowler, thus
seated, descends from cliff to cliff, and from rock to rock; he visits
every nook and cranny in search of plunder, making an ample harvest of
eggs and birds, either taking them by hand, or striking them with the
end of his line. The product of his perilous expedition he places in a
sort of haversack, which he carries slung from the shoulder. When he
wishes to change his place, he gives a preconcerted signal with his
cord, imparting an oscillating motion to it in the direction of that
part of the rock he wishes to visit. When the harvest is deemed
sufficient--when the day's sport is concluded--his companions are
notified, and the fowler is hoisted to the summit of the cliff.
How incredible is the address, and how great the courage, required to
induce a man to let himself be suspended by a slender cord over a
precipice some hundreds of feet in height, and how hazardous, how
frightful the peril! The cord might be cut by chafing against the sharp
rock. What risks he runs on changing his place! It has sometimes
happened to those above to hear one loud heart-rending shriek--the cry
of despair. The men who hold the rope lean forward--they see
nothing--they hear only the great voice of the sea, which drowns all
other sounds as it breaks against the island. They hasten to draw up the
cord--alas! its reduced weight too plainly tells what has happened! The
fowler has been seized with vertigo; or, probably, he has overreached
himself and lost his equilibrium on the slippery stones, and the wave
which roars at the base of this wall of rock has closed over him.
It is such accidents as these which induce the inhabitant of the Feroë
Islands, when he leaves his house on such an expedition, to bid farewell
to his family. Fatal catastrophes, however, are not very frequent. Men
who live in those climates which nature seems to have, as it were,
disinherited, become accustomed to struggle with the elements, and
almost always to triumph over the dangers which surround them. They go
to demand from the abyss food for their wives and children, and the idea
animates and sustains their courage.
THE COMMON GUILLEMOT (_Uria Troile_).
ENGLISH SYNONYMS.--Lesser Guillemot: Montagu. Foolish Guillemot:
Montagu, Selby, Willock, Linn. Marrot, Scout, Sea-Hen, Scuttock: Local.
LATIN SYNONYMS.--_Uria Troile_: McGillivray, Latham, Jenyns, Bonaparte.
_Colymbus Troile_: Latham.
FRENCH SYNONYM.--_Guillemot à capuchon_.
Individuals of this species are to be found dispersed over all our seas,
in small parties or singly, during the interval between the breeding
seasons. In estuaries, bays, and narrows, where herrings or other fry
are abundant, they congregate in vast numbers, along with Auks,
Red-throated Divers, and Gulls of various species. About the end of
April great quantities may be seen flying in strings along the coast
towards their favourite haunts, which are the precipitous cliffs of
Flamborough Head, the Farn Islands, St. Abb's Head, and other well-known
spots on the English and Scottish sea-board. No preparation is made for
the reception of the eggs, which are deposited in hollows of the rocks
and ledges of the cliffs, each female laying a single one, although a
great number are often seen so closely packed together as to be possibly
covered by one bird.
Where the cliffs are lofty and other birds breed with them, the
Guillemot occupies a zone above the Kittiwake and below the Razor-bill.
"It is interesting," writes McGillivray, with the enthusiasm of one who
has tried it, "to visit one of the great breeding-places, to row along
the foot of the cliffs in a boat, or to stand on a near promontory, and
see the multitudes perched on the rocks, or flying out to sea or
returning; or to look out from the summit upon the groups in sight; or
startle from their stations a whole flock by letting down a large stone;
or to descend by some crevice, clinging with fingers and unshod feet to
the little narrow ledges, and creep in among the eggs; or to be let
down, dangling on a rope, half trembling between fear and excitement."