THE RODENT ANIMALS
The group of the rodents is the largest of all the tribes of mammals,
for it contains more than a thousand different animals. Indeed, nearly
one third of all the mammals in the world belong to this very important
division.
TEETH OF THE GNAWERS
The word rodent signifies gnawing, and is given to these creatures
because their front teeth are specially formed for the purpose of
gnawing hard substances. You know, of course, how long and sharp the
front teeth of a rat or a mouse are, and how easily these animals can
nibble their way through a stout piece of board. Well, all the rodent
animals have these teeth formed in just the same way. And when we come
to examine them we find that they are beautifully suited to their
purpose.
You would think that as they are so constantly in use, these teeth would
quickly be worn down to the gums, wouldn't you? Ours would, if we
employed them in the same way. But then, in the rodent animals, these
teeth never stop growing, so that as fast as they are worn from above
they are pushed up again from below.
Sometimes this fact leads to a very singular result. It happens now and
then that a rodent animal meets with an accident and breaks off one of
its front teeth. Now these teeth, remember, cannot be used unless they
have one another to work against, just as the blades of a pair of
scissors cannot be used unless they have one another to cut against. So,
you see, when one tooth is broken short off, the opposite tooth in the
other jaw becomes useless. It has nothing to work against. So it is no
longer worn away from above. But of course it still goes on growing.
So before very long it projects in front of the other teeth. Still it
continues to grow, and in course of time its natural curve brings it
round in a semicircle, with the point toward the face. And at last, if
it is a lower tooth, it pierces first the flesh of the forehead and then
the skull beneath it, and enters the brain and kills the animal; while,
if it happens to be an upper tooth, the point curls round under the chin
and at length prevents the poor creature from opening its mouth, so that
it dies miserably of starvation! It seems impossible, doesn't it? Yet in
museums there are skeletons of hares and rabbits which have been killed
in this singular way by one of their own front teeth.
HOW THE TEETH ARE KEPT SHARP
One would think that the edges of the teeth, at any rate, must soon be
worn away. Nature has guarded against this danger by making these teeth
of two different substances. The face of the tooth is made of a very
thin plate of hard enamel, the rest of the tooth of much softer bone.
During use, of course, the soft bone is worn away very much faster than
the hard enamel, and so the sharp, cutting edge is preserved.
It is interesting to find that we make our chisels in a very similar
way. The blade is not a solid piece of steel, of the same quality
throughout; it consists of steel of two different qualities. The face of
the tool is a very thin plate of extremely hard steel, but the rest is
of much softer metal. And as it is with the rodent's tooth, so it is
with the chisel. The soft metal is worn away during use much faster than
the hard, so that the edge is not destroyed.
Only two pairs of front teeth are developed in the rodent animals, and
as the "eye" teeth are wanting there is always a gap in each jaw between
these and the grinders.
THE COMMON SQUIRREL
First on our list of rodent animals comes the common red squirrel, which
of course you know by sight very well. There are very few parts of the
country where we may not see it frisking and gamboling among the
branches of the trees, or sitting upright on its hind quarters and
nibbling away at a nut, which is delicately held between its front paws.
It skips up the trunk of a tree quite as easily as it runs along the
ground. That is because its sharp little claws enter the bark, and give
it a firm foothold. And it scarcely ever falls from a branch because its
big bushy tail acts as a kind of balancing-pole, like that of a man
walking upon a tight rope; and by stretching it straight out behind its
body, and turning it a little bit to one side or a little bit to the
other, the animal can nearly always manage to save itself from a tumble.
Even if it does fall, however, it does not hurt itself, for the skin of
the lower part of the body is very loose, and it is fastened for a
little distance along the inner surface of each leg. So, when the animal
falls from a height, it merely stretches out its limbs at right angles
to its body--stretching out the loose skin, of course, with them--and so
turns itself into a kind of open umbrella, just like the parachutes
which are often sent down from balloons. And instead of tumbling
headlong to the ground and being killed by the fall, it is buoyed up by
the air and floats down comparatively slowly, so that it is not hurt in
the least.
The squirrel feeds on nuts, acorns, beechnuts, bark, buds, and the young
shoots of certain trees. But it is also very fond of fir-cones, which it
nibbles right down to the core; and sometimes it will eat bird's eggs.
In fact, this squirrel is, in the United States, one of the most dreaded
foes of nesting birds, and they often attack it and chase it away from
their homes. Early in the autumn it always lays up a store of
provisions, hiding them away in a hole in a tree, or more often in
several holes. Then, when a warmer day than usual rouses it from its
long winter sleep, it goes off to its hoard and enjoys a hearty meal.
These pretty little animals generally go about in pairs, and the little
ones are brought up in a warm cosy nest made of leaves and moss. It is
placed either in the fork of a lofty branch or in a hole high up in a
tree-trunk, and it is so perfectly made that rain never soaks through
it, and the wind never blows it away.
THE GRAY SQUIRREL
"This," says Mr. Hornaday, "is the most prominent squirrel of Southern
Canada, New England, and the Eastern and Southern States southward to
Florida. It ranges westward to Minnesota, Kansas, and Texas. Above, its
color is clean iron-gray, which in southern specimens is mixed with dull
yellow. The lower surface is white, varying to yellowish brown. Usually
it nests in hollow trees, but when crowded for room builds an open nest
of green leaves, or strippings of cedar bark made into a round ball. The
young are usually five in number. The gray squirrel frequently consents
to live in city parks, and becomes quite tame. It spends much of its
time upon the ground, searching for nuts, roots, or anything which can
be eaten."
Here is a good place to repeat some other words of Mr. Hornaday's.
"There is no other animal of equal size," he says, "that can add so much
of life and cheerfulness to a hardwood forest or a meadow as a good
healthy squirrel. _Why is it_ that American men and boys kill them
so eagerly?... Surely no true sportsman or right-minded boy can find any
real 'sport' in 'potting' squirrels out of the tree-tops." And we might
add that too often the desire to kill leads men and boys to destroy
other kinds of innocent animals, instead of treating them as friends to
be enjoyed, and whose right to live is just as good as that of human
beings. Kindness toward harmless animals helps to make us kinder to each
other.
FLYING SQUIRRELS
So-called flying squirrels are found in some parts of the world; but
like the colugo, of which we have told already, they do not really fly.
They merely skim from one tree to another by spreading out the very
loose skin of the sides of the body and then leaping into the air. In
this way they can travel for perhaps two or three hundred feet. But as a
rule they merely spring from branch to branch, just like the common
squirrel.
The largest and perhaps best known of these squirrels is the taguan,
which is found in India and Siam, and is about two feet in length, not
including the tail. It is fairly abundant, but is not very often seen,
for all day long it is fast asleep in a hole in some tree, only coming
out of its retreat after sunset.
Several species of flying squirrels are found in North America, and
often make their homes in garrets.
GROUND-SQUIRRELS
There are several squirrels that live upon the ground, and do not climb
trees at all. The most famous of these is the chipmunk, or chipping
squirrel, which is very common in many parts of North America. It is
called chipmunk because, when it is excited or alarmed, it utters a
sharp little cry like the word "chip-r-r-r," over and over again.
This is an extremely pretty little animal, its fur being brownish gray
on the back and orange brown on the forehead and hind quarters, while a
broad black stripe runs along the back, and a yellowish-white stripe
edged with black along each side. The throat and lower part of the body
are white.
The chipmunk lives in burrows which it digs in the ground, and very
wonderful little burrows they are, seldom less than eight or nine feet
long, with a large sleeping-chamber at the end, filled with moss and
grass and dry leaves. Then on either side of the main burrow are several
shorter ones which are used as larders, and in which large stores of
provisions are packed away. From one chipmunk's nest have been taken
nearly a peck of acorns, together with about a quart of beechnuts, two
quarts of buckwheat, a few grains of corn, and a quantity of
grass-seeds! Only three squirrels were found in this burrow; so that
they were in no danger of starving during the winter, were they?
The beechnuts have very sharp points, and the chipmunk bites these
carefully off before it attempts to pack the nuts away in its mouth. It
carries four nuts to its burrow at a time, putting one into each of its
odd cheek-pouches, which are very much like those of certain monkeys,
and one into the mouth itself, while the fourth is held between the
teeth.
The chipmunk is a very active little creature, and its quick, jerky
movements as it darts in and out among the herbage have often been
compared to those of the wren.
PRAIRIE-DOGS
The prairie-dog, which is so called because it lives on the prairies of
North America, and utters an odd little yelping cry which is something
like the bark of a very small dog, has several other names as well, for
sometimes it is known as the prairie-marmot, and sometimes as the
wishtonwish. It is quite a small animal, being seldom more than twelve
inches in length without counting the tail, and is reddish brown or
brownish gray above, and yellowish or brownish white beneath. The tail
is about four inches long.
In the great prairie-lands which lie to the east of the Rocky Mountains,
this quaint little animal is exceedingly plentiful. It lives in
underground burrows, and the earth which it digs out in making them is
always piled up just outside the entrance in the form of a mound about
two feet high, on the top of which it likes to sit upright, squatting on
its hind quarters as a dog does when "begging." At the slightest alarm
it utters its queer little yelping cry, throws a sort of
half-somersault, and dives into its burrow, to reappear a few minutes
later when it thinks the danger has passed away.
A large number of prairie-dogs always live together, like rabbits in a
warren, and sometimes the prairie, as far as one can see, is dotted all
over with their mounds. Usually the animals are steadily moving
eastward. They increase as ranching and farming spread over the plains;
for the cultivation of hay and grain and the destruction of their
natural enemies favor them. In parts of Texas and northward they are so
destructive that united means of destroying them by poison have been
adopted.
It was formerly thought that prairie-dogs took in lodgers, so to speak,
for small owls, known as burrowing owls, are often found in their
tunnels, together with rattlesnakes; and it was supposed that all three
lived peaceably together. But now we know that this is not the case, for
the owls are nearly always found in deserted burrows, while the
rattlesnakes undoubtedly enter the homes of the prairie-dogs for the
purpose of feeding upon their young.
MARMOTS
Not unlike a rather big prairie-dog is the common marmot, which is found
in considerable numbers in the mountainous parts of Northern Europe and
America. Here it is named whistler or siffleur. More familiarly known is
the American woodchuck, or groundhog, which burrows deeply in the fields
of almost every farm in the country. These marmots are famous for their
winter sleep. During the summer months they are very active and busy.
From about the middle of autumn till the beginning of spring, however,
they are fast asleep in their burrows, not waking up at all for at least
six months! Before entering upon this long slumber they pack their
sleeping-chamber full of dry grass, and in these warm beds survive the
winter by the slow absorption of their fat, so that when they come out
they are very lean.
Another kind of marmot, called the bobac, is found both in Northern
Europe and in Asia. It is sometimes eaten as food, but is most difficult
to kill, for unless it is actually shot dead as it sits it will nearly
always contrive to get back into its burrow. And if the animals are
startled by the report of a gun they all disappear underground, and will
not be seen again for several hours.
BEAVERS
One of the most interesting of all the rodent animals is the beaver,
which is found in the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and America. It
spends a great part of its life in the water, and no doubt you have
heard of the wonderful dams which it makes in order to prevent the
rivers from drying up during the summer months.
When the animals want to construct one of these dams, the first thing
they do is to fell a number of trees which stand near the banks of the
river. They do this by gnawing through the stems quite close to the
ground, and they are able easily to cut through trunks ten or even
twelve inches in diameter. Most likely one of the trees falls across the
stream. In that case they leave it as it is. Then they strip off the
bark from the others, and cut up both the trunks and the larger branches
into logs about four or five feet long. These logs they arrange most
carefully in position, piling them upon one another, and keeping them in
their places by heaping stones and mud upon them. They also fill up all
the gaps between them with mud, and so hard do they work that by the
time the dam is finished it is often two hundred yards long, fifteen or
even twenty feet thick at the bottom, and six or eight feet high. And
when the river runs swiftly, they are clever enough to make their dam in
the form of a curve, so that it may be better able to resist the force
of the current.
This dam causes the river to swell out into a broad shallow pool, and in
districts where beavers are plentiful the whole course of a stream is
sometimes converted into a series of pools, made in this curious manner.
After a time peat is formed round the edges, and gradually spreads, and
then the marshy ground round the pool is called a beaver-meadow.
But beavers do not only make dams. They construct what are called lodges
as well, to serve as dwelling-places. These are made by piling up a
number of logs, mingled with clods of earth, stones, and clay, and
digging out the soil from underneath so as to form a sort of hut. These
lodges are oven-shaped, and are from twelve to twenty feet in diameter,
the inside chamber being about seven feet wide. So, you see, they have
very thick walls. And they are generally entered by at least two
underground passages, all of which open in the river-bank below the
surface of the water, so that the animals can go straight from their
lodge into the river without showing themselves above ground at all.
Inside each lodge is a bed of soft warm grasses and woodchips, on which
the animals sleep; and it is even said by some hunters that each beaver
has his own bed! At any rate, several animals of various ages live
together in each lodge. Then near the lodge these wonderful creatures
make a ditch or hole, which is so deep that even in the hardest winter
the water in it never freezes quite to the bottom; and in this deep
place they pile up a great quantity of logs and branches, so that in
winter they may have as much bark as they require to eat.
Beavers are capital swimmers, for the toes of their hinder feet are
joined together with webbing, and make excellent oars, while the broad,
flat tail is very useful as a rudder. They are very much hunted, for
their fur is valuable, while they also secrete a curious substance known
as castor, or castoreum, which is used in medicine. So in some parts of
North America these animals are strictly preserved, and only a certain
number may be killed every third year.
[Illustration: TYPES OF RODENTS
1. European Hamster. 2. East Indian Striped Squirrel.
3. Woodchuck; Marmot. 4. South American Capybara.
5. South American Vizcacha. 6. Beaver.]
THE DORMOUSE
Everybody knows what a sleepy little creature the dormouse is. Very
often it may actually be picked up and handled without waking! It sleeps
all day long, and hibernates from the middle of October till the
beginning of April as well, so that it fully deserves its name of
dormouse, or sleep-mouse. It is found in Europe and Asia, and sometimes
in Africa.
In Germany it is called the Haselmaus, or hazel-mouse, because it is so
fond of hazelnuts. It eats these just as the squirrel does, holding them
in its fore paws as it sits upright on its hind quarters. But it also
feeds upon acorns, beechnuts, hips and haws, and corn when it can get
it.
Dormice always make two nests during the year, one being used during the
summer, and the other during the winter. They are very warm and cosy
little retreats, about six inches in diameter, and are made of grass,
leaves, and moss. Sometimes numbers of the summer's nests are found in
thick bushes, or among the low herbage at the bottom of a hedge, perhaps
with the dormice fast asleep in them. But the winter nests are generally
more carefully hidden, so that it is not very easy to find them even
when the leaves are off the bushes.
Before it goes into hibernation in the autumn, the dormouse becomes very
fat. But it does not sleep right through the winter without taking any
food, for on very mild days it wakes up for an hour or two, and eats one
of the nuts or acorns which it has carefully stored away in its nest.
JERBOAS
The jerboa is an extremely curious animal, and if you were to see it in
the sandy deserts of the Old World, where it is found, you would be very
likely to mistake it for a small bird. For it has very short fore legs,
which it tucks up against its breast in such a way that they can hardly
be seen, and very long hind ones, on which it hops about in a very
bird-like manner. But you would soon notice that it has a long tail,
rather like that of a mouse, but which has a tuft of hairs at the tip.
When it is leaping about it stretches this tail out behind it, and seems
to find it of very great use in keeping its balance.
Jerboas are very common in Egypt and other parts of North Africa, and
live in burrows which they dig in the sandy soil. In order to enable
them to obtain a firm foothold on the slippery sand, the soles of their
feet are covered with long hairs, which also prevent them from being
scorched by contact with the heated ground. But as a rule they do not
come out of their burrows until the evening, when the sun is not so
powerful as it is during the middle of the day. They feed upon grasses
and dry shrubs; but how they find enough to eat in the desert places in
which they live is rather hard to understand.
Many different kinds of jerboas are known. The best known, the common
jerboa, is about as big as a small rat, and has a tail about eight
inches long. In color it is so much like the sand that from a few yards
away it is almost impossible to see it, even when it is skipping about.
THE HAMSTER
This is a queer little rodent which is found very plentifully in
Germany, and also in many districts between that country and Siberia. It
is a rather stoutly built animal, and measures nearly a foot in length
including the tail, which is about two inches long. In color it is
generally light brownish yellow above and black beneath, with a black
stripe on the forehead, a yellow patch on the back, and white feet. But
hamsters are by no means all alike, and some are entirely black, some
pied, and some entirely white.
You remember how dormice make summer and winter nests. In the same way,
European hamsters make summer and winter burrows. The summer burrow is
quite a small one, not more than a foot or two deep, with a small
sleeping-chamber at the bottom. But the winter one is very much larger,
for it is not only six feet long at least, with quite a big
sleeping-chamber, but there are from one to five side chambers as well,
which are used as granaries. In these the animal stores up vast
quantities of grain, peas, and beans, as many as sixty pounds of corn
having been taken from the burrow of a single hamster, and a
hundredweight of beans from that of another. About the middle of October
it stops up the entrances to its home, and passes into a state of
hibernation, in which it remains till the beginning of March. For about
a month longer it still remains in its burrow, feeding on its stores and
provisions, till early in April it resumes its active life, and returns
to its summer habitation.
Of course hamsters are terribly destructive in cultivated land, and
large numbers are destroyed every year. In one district alone nearly a
hundred thousand have been killed in a single season, while an enormous
quantity of grain was recovered from their tunnels.
WATER-VOLES
If you walk along the bank of a stream in some European country, you may
often hear a splash, and see a brownish animal about eight inches long
swimming away through the water. This is a water-vole, often called
water-rat, although it belongs to quite a different family from that of
the true rats. And if one looks down the side of the bank he will see
its burrow, which generally runs into the ground for some little
distance.
Water-voles are usually supposed to be mischievous; but during the
greater part of the year they feed only on water-plants, being specially
fond of the sweet pith of the wild flags. In winter, however, when food
of this kind is scarce, they will nibble away the bark of small
trees and shrubs, and sometimes do a good deal of damage in osier-beds,
while they will also visit cultivated fields in order to feed on
vegetables.
The water-vole is a very good swimmer, although its toes are not webbed,
and its fur is so close and so glossy that it throws off the water just
like the feathers on a duck's back.
A near relation of the water-vole is the field-vole, or field-mouse,
also called meadow-mouse, which is found very commonly in most parts of
Europe, and also in North and South America. It is about as big as an
ordinary mouse, and is grayish brown in color, which becomes rather
paler on the lower parts of the body.
This animal is found chiefly in meadows, where it makes long runs
beneath the grass, and also burrows into the ground. It is always
plentiful, and sometimes appears in such vast numbers that it can only
be described as a plague.
The muskrat, which is one of the most widely distributed and important
of American fur-bearing animals, is really a a sort of big aquatic vole.
LEMMINGS
Still more mischievous, in Norway and Sweden, are the odd little rodents
known as lemmings, which make their appearance from time to time
literally in millions. They always seem to come down from the mountains,
and when once they have begun their journey nothing will stop them. If
they come to a river they swim across it; if to a house, they climb over
it; if to a stack of corn or hay, they eat their way through it. Large
numbers of wolves, foxes, weasels, stoats, hawks, and owls soon discover
the swarm, and kill off the animals in thousands; but still the great
army moves steadily on, leaving the country perfectly bare behind it,
until it reaches the sea. And then those behind push on those in front,
till almost the whole vast host perish in the waves.
These great migrations take place, as a rule, about once in seven years,
and no one seems to know quite where the lemmings come from, or why they
travel in this singular manner.
These strange little animals do not seem to know what fear is, for if a
passer-by happens to meet one of them it will never turn aside, but will
sit up and yelp defiantly at him, while if a dog goes up and examines
it, the chances are that it will try to bite his nose!
In color the European lemming is blackish brown above and yellowish
white below, while its length is about six inches.
Various kinds of rodents known as lemmings are found in North America.
The Hudson Bay lemming has a thick, warm fur. Eskimo children use
lemming-skins to make clothes for their dolls.
RATS
The brown rat and the black rat, of course, are only too common
everywhere. They seem to have come in the first place from Asia, and
have spread to almost all parts of the world. For almost every ship that
sails the sea is infested with rats, some of which are nearly certain to
make their way ashore at every port at which she touches.
Rats are rather formidable animals, for besides being very savage, a
number of them will often combine together in order to attack a common
foe. We have known a large cat, for example, to be so severely wounded
by rats, that after lying in great pain for two or three days it
actually died of its injuries. Rats are very bloodthirsty creatures, for
if one of their own number is caught in a trap, they will tear it in
pieces and devour it. They will enter fowl-houses at night, and kill the
birds as they roost upon their perches, while if they can find their way
into a rabbit-hutch they will even destroy the rabbits.
In barns and farmyards rats are very mischievous, and corn-stacks are
often infested by them. How often they get into houses you know too
well! But on the other hand, they often do a great deal of good, by
devouring substances which would otherwise decay and poison the air; so
that they are not altogether without their uses, as people annoyed by
them are too apt to suppose.
Rats generally have three broods of little ones in the course of the
year, and as there are from eight to fourteen in each brood, you can
easily understand how it is that these animals multiply so rapidly.
MICE
Still more plentiful, and almost as mischievous, is the common mouse,
which is found both in town and country. And this, too, seems to have
been in the first place a native of Asia, and to have since spread to
almost all parts of the world.
There is no need, of course, to describe its appearance, and most of us
are familiar with its habits. So we will pass on at once to one of its
near relations which is not quite so well known, namely, the long-tailed
field-mouse.
In some respects this animal is very much like the field-vole. But you
can tell it at once by its more pointed muzzle, by its much larger ears,
and, above all, by its very much longer tail. It lives in gardens,
fields, and hedgerows, but often takes shelter in houses and barns
during the winter. But all through the spring, summer, and autumn it
occupies burrows in the ground, and very often it lays up quite large
quantities of provisions in its tunnels for winter use, just as the
hamster does in Germany. It does not always dig these burrows for
itself, however, for very often it will take possession of the deserted
run of a mole, or even of a natural hollow beneath the spreading roots
of a tree.
As a general rule, this little animal is a vegetable-eater only. But
when food is scarce it will kill and devour small animals, and has even
been known to prey upon its own kind.
The pretty little harvest-mouse is the smallest of the European rodents.
A full-grown harvest-mouse is seldom more than four and a half inches
long, of which almost one half is occupied by the tail. And it would
take six of the little creatures to weigh an ounce.
The harvest-mouse is not found, as a rule, near human habitations, but
lives in corn-fields and pastures. But sometimes it is carried home in
sheaves of corn at harvest-time, and in that case it lives in the ricks
during the winter. Generally, however, it spends the winter months fast
asleep in a burrow in the ground. Then, when the warm months of spring
come round, it wakes up, and sets about building a most beautiful little
nest of grasses and leaves, which it always suspends among corn-stalks
or grass-stems at some little height from the ground. This nest is about
as large as a baseball, and the odd thing about it is that you can never
find any entrance! Apparently, when the little builder wishes to go in
and out, it pushes its way between the strips of grass of which the nest
is composed, and then carefully arranges them again in position. And it
is so cleverly built that when eight or nine little mice which are
brought up inside it begin to grow, it stretches to suit their
increasing size, so that their nursery is always just big enough to
contain them.
The harvest-mouse is a capital climber, and runs up and down the
corn-stalks with great activity, even though they bend nearly to the
ground under its weight. The tip of its tail, strange to say, is
prehensile, just like that of a spider-monkey.
PORCUPINES
Of course you know what a porcupine is like, with its coat of long,
bristling spines. Indeed, the word porcupine means spiny pig, and refers
partly to the quill-like spikes, and partly to the odd grunting noise
which the animal utters from time to time.
There are several different kinds of porcupine in the Old World and in
America. The common porcupine is found in the south of Europe, and also
in the northern and western parts of Africa, and grows to a length of
about two feet four inches, not including the tail. The quills are of
two kinds. First of all, there are a number of long, slender spines,
which bend quite easily, and are not of very much use as weapons. But
under these is a close array of very much stiffer ones from five to ten
inches long; and these are very formidable indeed. For they are so
loosely fastened to the skin that when the animal backs upon a foe a
good many of them are sure to be left sticking in its flesh; while,
further, they are made in such a manner that they keep on boring their
way farther and farther in, and in course of time may penetrate a vital
organ, and cause death. Even tigers have sometimes lost their lives
through the quills of a porcupine which they had been trying to kill and
devour. The animal is not at all fond of fighting, however, and never
attacks unless it is provoked.
During the daytime the porcupine is seldom seen, being fast asleep in
its burrow. But soon after sunset it leaves its retreat, and wanders to
long distances in search of the roots, bark, etc., upon which it feeds.
"In the woods, it loves to prowl around camps and eat every scrap of
leather or greasy board it can find."
In North America is found the Canada porcupine, ranging from New England
westward to Ohio and northward to Hudson Bay. Another species in the
West and Northwest is the yellow-haired porcupine. In Mexico, Central
America, and South America are other species known as tree-porcupines.
It has been widely supposed that porcupines shoot their quills, but this
belief has no foundation. When attacked, Mr. Hornaday tells us, its
defence consists in erecting its quills and striking quickly a strong
sidewise blow with the tail, which often drives many quills into its
enemy.
THE CHINCHILLA
This pretty little rodent is famous for its beautiful silky fur, which
is in much request for women's garments. In appearance it is rather like
a large dormouse, with very big rounded ears, and a short, hairy tail.
It is found in Bolivia, Chile, and Peru, and lives high up among the
mountains in burrows in the ground. A large number of the animals always
dwell together, so that their burrows form a kind of large warren, and
they dart up and down the steep rocks with such wonderful speed that it
is almost impossible to follow their movements.
When it is feeding the chinchilla sits upright, like a squirrel, and
conveys the food to its mouth with its fore paws. It lives chiefly upon
roots, and as the districts in which it lives are so wild and barren it
often has to travel for long distances in order to obtain them.
THE VISCACHA
Closely related to the chinchilla is the viscacha, which is found very
abundantly in the great pampas districts of South America. It generally
lives in little colonies of from twenty to thirty animals, which dig
their burrows close together, and heap up the earth which they scrape
out into one common mound. These burrows are generally dug in the form
of the letter Y, and often a number of them communicate with one another
by means of short passages, so that if the little animals feel in want
of society they can easily go and see their friends.
These colonies are called viscacheras, and in some parts of the
Argentine Republic the plains are closely studded with them as far as
the eye can reach.
Viscachas have a curious way of clearing off all the vegetation that
grows near their burrows, and piling up the refuse in a mound near the
entrance. They will also collect together any hard objects which they
may happen to find, and we are told by Darwin that sometimes quite a
barrow-load of bones, stones, thistle-stalks, and lumps of earth may be
found outside the entrance to a single burrow, and that a traveler who
dropped his watch one evening found it next day by searching the
viscacha-mounds in the neighborhood.
In appearance the viscacha is not unlike a rather small marmot; but the
fur is gray above, with dusky markings, and white below, while the face
is crossed by two black bands, with a broad white stripe between them.
THE AGOUTI
This animal, found in South America and the West Indies, was formerly
very plentiful--in some parts literally swarming. But it did so much
mischief in cultivated ground that it was trapped and shot in immense
numbers, and it has now almost entirely disappeared from many districts
in which it once abounded.
The first point that strikes one on looking at the agouti is the great
length of its hind legs. So long are these limbs, that the animal finds
a good deal of difficulty in running downhill, and often tumbles head
over heels and rolls for several yards before it can recover its
footing. And for the same reason, when it is running at any pace on
level ground, it travels along by a kind of gallop, which is really made
up of a series of leaps.
As the agouti comes out only by night it is a difficult animal to watch,
and it is so wary that it cannot be approached without great caution.
All the time while it is feeding, it keeps on turning its head first to
one side and then to the other, so that it can scarcely ever be taken by
surprise.
If it should be captured, however, it never seems to fight, and has no
idea of using either its sharp teeth or its claws to defend itself. So
sometimes it has been thought that an agouti would make a very nice pet.
Those who have allowed it to run loose in the house, however, have
seldom repeated the experiment, for it will ruin any article of
furniture in a very short time, and will cut its way through the
stoutest door in a few minutes!
When fully grown, the agouti is rather more than eighteen inches long,
and in general color it is olive brown. But the hair of the hinder
quarters, which is very much longer than that of the rest of the body,
is golden brown, while the middle line of the lower part of the body is
almost white.
THE CAPYBARA
Few people, on seeing a capybara for the first time, would take it to be
a rodent. It looks much more like a wild pig, for it has a very heavily
built body, which almost touches the ground as it waddles along, short,
stiff, bristly hair, and great hoof-like feet. Indeed, it is sometimes
called the water-hog. Yet we only have to look at its front teeth to see
that it really is a rodent after all.
The capybara is a native of South America, and is generally found in the
damp, marshy ground near the banks of the larger rivers. It is a good
swimmer, and always makes for the water when alarmed. It is a good
diver, too, and can easily remain below the surface for seven or eight
minutes without requiring to breathe, so that if it can once plunge into
the river it is safe from almost any foe. When fully grown, the capybara
is about four feet long, and weighs nearly one hundred pounds. In fact,
it is the largest of all the rodent animals. In color it is reddish
brown above, and brownish yellow beneath, and it is further remarkable
for having no tail at all.
HARES AND RABBITS
The hares and rabbits, of which our account is taken from "The Life of
Mammals," by Ernest Ingersoll, form a compact family of some sixty
species, scattered in all divisions of the globe except Australasia and
Madagascar; but only one species occurs in South America, and the family
is most numerous in northerly regions, where these animals form an
important food resource for man and beast. All are much alike in the
long, high-haunched hind legs, which give great leaping and dodging
power; tall, erectile ears; divided upper lip; short scut; and grizzled
gray-brown coat, with various specific markings of white and black. The
only exceptional one is the "hispid" hare of Northeastern India, which
has small eyes, bristly short ears, short hind legs, and much the manner
of a rabbit.
The term rabbit has wholly replaced "hare" in America, because the
common small hare of the eastern United States, quickly seen by the
first English settlers, looked to them more like the rabbit they had
known at home than like their bigger hare; and they ignored the
difference in habits as they did so many other facts in their careless
naming of the animals of the New World after those of Europe. It must
always be remembered that the first Pilgrims, Puritans, and southern
"adventurers" were mainly from cities, and knew little of rural things,
to which ignorance, by the way, they owed most of their early
misfortunes in the colonies.
The true rabbit, or cony, differs from its relatives by its small size
(average weight two and a half to three pounds), short ears and hind
legs; but more in its habits, for its young are born naked, blind, and
helpless, and it is comparatively slow-footed. Hence it has been
compelled to become a burrower for the safety of both itself and its
babies, and, as is usual with animals become burrowers, has acquired the
habit of gathering in communities, whose crowded diggings, or warrens,
are labyrinths of subterranean runways. Even this, however, would hardly
suffice to preserve this timid and nearly defenceless race were not
several litters of five to eight young (leverets) produced by each pair
annually to make good the loss from enemies and disease. The original
European wild rabbit is grayish brown, becoming foxy on the neck, but
this rabbit has been domesticated since ancient times, and alterations
of coloring as well as of form have been produced. Ten or more distinct
breeds are recognized by fanciers, some of which, as the lop-eared, the
great Belgian, and the Angora, are far away from the original type.
Their amazing fecundity has caused rabbits to multiply into an almost
uncontrollable pest since they were unwisely introduced into Australia
and New Zealand, where the scarcity of beasts of prey allowed them to
increase without bounds. In a few years, therefore, the whole country
was overrun by millions, which threatened to devour not only all the
crops but every bit of wild herbage; even in Europe, when for any reason
their subjection is neglected, they do great damage to gardens,
orchards, and plantations of young trees.
At present further use is being made of the rabbits by "packing" their
edible flesh in various forms as an article of preserved food, which is
finding a wide market; and probably the pest will be abated in course of
time by natural processes.
Returning to the hares, not much need be said as to particular species.
All dwell either in open grassy country or else among rocks and bushes.
They do not flock, nor make any sort of shelter, but each inhabits a
certain small district, where it makes a smooth resting-place called its
form. To this it will return day after day for a long time unless
frightened; and in such a form the young are born and are left
concealed, when still in the suckling age, under a cover of leaves and
vines, or even fur plucked by the mother from her own loose coat and
felted into a sort of blanket. They seek no better shelter than this in
winter, except that some, as our common little cottontail, will creep
into the mouth of an old skunk's or woodchuck's hole or within a hollow
stump, to seek protection from the "cauld blast." The "jacks" of the
Plains are so well furred that even the soles of their feet are warm
mats of hair; and they are the only small animals able to survive
outside of burrows the intense winter cold and gales of those bleak
uplands. This hardihood is due primarily, of course, to the fact that
hares are able to find nutritious forage all through the winter, and so
keep up their bodily heat.
[Illustration: FOUR TYPES OF CATTLE.
1. American Bison. 2. Hindu Humped Ox.
3. Thibetan Yak. 4. Asiatic Water Buffalo.]
All species have great speed--their principal means of safety--and the
swiftest hounds are hardly able to run them down; while they also have
astonishing skill in suddenly halting and turning, or doubling, by which
they gain a fresh start before their more clumsy pursuers can perceive
what has happened, and change their course. Chasing them with greyhounds
is a regular sport called coursing. Along with this goes extreme
timidity and watchfulness, in which their big ears serve a most useful
purpose, rising to the slightest sound, but dropping out of the way as
the animal makes off in a series of tremendous leaps; and the hare can
make faster time uphill than down, owing to the greater length of the
hind legs--a decided advantage. Knowing these tricks, most of its
enemies resort to counter-strategy--a stealthy approach and quick
rush--and an excellent picture of these wiles, and poor Bunny's efforts
to meet them, may be read in Seton's tale of "Raggylug," and in such
delightful writings as those of Audubon and Bachman, Godman, Kennicott,
Lockwood, Abbott, Robinson, Sharp, Cram, and some others. Even the least
of the tribe, however, is able to make a defense which often completely
disconcerts the foe, and the means are found in its strong hind feet.
In addition to this familiar eastern cottontail we have in the United
States several other species, as the little marsh-hare and the big
water-hare of the Southern States; the large northern varying hare; the
arctic hares; the various long-eared, long-legged "jack rabbits" of the
Plains and Rocky Mountains; and several lesser species, more or less
common on the Pacific coast. The varying hare is so called because, as
is the case with several foreign northern hares, its brown summer coat
when shed as usual on the approach of winter is replaced by one which is
white.