1. CANIS ANTARCTICUS.
PLATE IV.
Antarctic Wolf, _Pennant_, History of Quadrupeds, vol. i. p. 257. sp.
165.
Canis Antarcticus, _Shaw_, Gen. Zool. vol. i. pt. 2. p. 331.
——, _Desm._ Mamm. p. 199.
_C. suprà sordidè fulvescenti-brunneus, pilis ad apicem nigris;
lateribus, corporeque subtùs, sordidè flavescenti-fuscis; capite,
auribusque extùs, fusco nigroque adspersis; artubus
flavescenti-fulvis; labiis, gulâ, abdomine imo, femoribusque intùs,
sordidè albis; caudâ ad basin concolore cum corpore, deìn nigrâ,
apice albo._
DESCRIPTION.—This animal is considerably larger than the common fox,
(_Canis Vulpes_, Auct.) and stouter in its proportions, and, in
fact, appears to be intermediate between the ordinary foxes and
the wolves. The tail is much smaller and less bushy than in the
former animals. The contour of the head is wolf-like; the legs,
however, are shorter than in the true wolves; and the tail is
white at the apex, a character common in the foxes.
The fur of the Antarctic Fox is moderately long, and the under fur is
not very abundant, especially as compared with that of the C.
_magellanicus_. This under fur is of a pale brown colour; the
apical portion of each hair is yellowish; the longer hairs are
black at the apex, brown at the base, and annulated with white
towards the apex. In many of these hairs the subapical pale ring
is wanting. On the chest and belly the hairs are of a pale dirty
yellow colour, gray-white at the base, and black at the apex. On
the hinder part of the belly the hairs are almost of an uniform
dirty white. The space around the angle of the mouth, the upper
lip, and the whole of the throat, are white. The chin is
brown-white, or brownish. The basal half of the tail is of the
same colour as the body, and the hairs are of the same texture; on
the apical half of the tail they are of a harsher or less woolly
nature, of a black colour at the apex, and brownish at the base;
those at the extreme point are totally white. The legs are almost
of an uniform fulvous colour; the feet are of a somewhat paler
hue; the hairs on the under side of the hinder feet are brownish,
and the external and posterior parts of the tibiæ are suffused
with the same tint. The hairs on the head are grizzled with black
and fulvous; the former of these colours is somewhat conspicuous,
excepting in the region of the eyes, where the fulvous or
yellowish tint prevails. The muzzle is scarcely of so dark a hue
as the crown of the head. The ears are furnished internally with
long white hairs, externally the hairs are yellowish, with their
apices black; the latter colour is more conspicuous towards the
tip of the ear. The sides of the neck near the ear are of a rich
fulvous hue.
In. Lines.
Length from nose to root of tail 36 0
from tip of nose to ear 7 3
of tail (hair included) 13 0
of ear 2 9
Height of body at shoulders 15 0
Habitat, Falkland Islands.
Three specimens of this animal were brought to England by Capt. FitzRoy;
from one of which, the above drawing and description has been made. The
earliest notice I can find of this animal is by Pernety,[6] during
Bougainville’s voyage, which was undertaken in 1764, for the purpose of
colonizing these islands. The strange familiarity of its manner seems to
have excited the fears of some of the seamen in Commodore Byron’s voyage
(in 1765) in rather a ludicrous manner. Byron says that seals were not
the only dangerous animals that they found, “for the master having been
sent out one day to sound the coast upon the south shore, reported at
his return that four creatures of great fierceness, resembling wolves,
ran up to their bellies in the water to attack the people in his boat,
and that as they happened to have no fire-arms with them, they had
immediately put the boat off in deep water.” Byron adds that, “When any
of these creatures got sight of our people, though at ever so great a
distance, they ran directly at them; and no less than five of them were
killed this day. They were always called wolves by the ship’s company,
but, except in their size, and the shape of the tail, I think they bore
a greater resemblance to a fox. They are as big as a middle-sized
mastiff, and their fangs are remarkably long and sharp. There are great
numbers of them upon this coast, though it is not perhaps easy to guess
how they first came hither; for these islands are at least one hundred
leagues distant from the main. They burrow in the ground like a fox, and
we have frequently seen pieces of seals which they have mangled, and the
skins of penguins lie scattered about the mouths of their holes. To get
rid of these creatures, our people set fire to the grass, so that the
country was in a blaze as far as the eye could reach, for several days,
and we could see them running in great numbers to seek other quarters.”
“The habits of these animals remain nearly the same to the present day,
although their numbers have been greatly decreased by the singular
facility with which they are destroyed. I was assured by several of the
Spanish countrymen, who are employed in hunting the cattle which have
run wild on these islands, that they have repeatedly killed them by
means of a knife held in one hand, and a piece of meat to tempt them to
approach, in the other. They range over the whole island, but perhaps
are most numerous near the coast; in the inland parts they must subsist
almost exclusively on the upland geese, (_Anser leucopterus_,) which,
from fear of them, like the eider-ducks of Iceland, build only on the
small outlying islets. These wolves do not go in packs; they wander
about by day, but more commonly in the evening; they burrow holes; are
generally very silent, excepting during the breeding season, when they
utter cries, which were described to me as resembling those of the
_Canis Azaræ_. Spaniards and half-caste Indians, from several districts
of the southern portions of South America, have visited these islands,
and they all declare that the wolf is not found on the mainland; the
sealers likewise say it does not occur on Georgia, Sandwich Land, or the
other islands in the Antarctic ocean. I entertain, therefore, no doubt,
that the _Canis antarcticus_ is peculiar to this archipelago. It is
found both on East and West Falkland, as might have been inferred from
the accounts given by Bougainville and Byron, who visited different
islands;—I state this particularly, because the contrary has been
asserted. I was assured by Mr. Low, an intelligent sealer, who has long
frequented these islands, that the wolves of West Falkland are
invariably smaller and of a redder colour than those from the Eastern
island; and this account was corroborated by the officers of the
Adventure, employed in surveying the archipelago. Mr. Gray, of the
British Museum, had the kindness to compare in my presence the specimens
deposited there by Captain Fitzroy, but he could not detect any
essential difference between them. The number of these animals during
the last fifty years must have been greatly reduced; already they are
entirely banished from that half of East Falkland which lies East of the
head of St. Salvador Bay and Berkeley Sound; and it cannot, I think, be
doubted, that as these islands are now becoming colonized, before the
paper is decayed on which this animal has been figured, it will be
ranked amongst those species which have perished from the face of the
earth.”—D.
2. CANIS MAGELLANICUS.
PLATE V.
Canis Magellanicus, _Gray_, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of
London, part iv. 1836, p. 88.
Vulpes Magellanica, _Gray_, Magazine of Natural History, New Series,
1837, vol. i. p. 578.
_C. suprà albo nigroque variegatus; lateribus fulvescente fuscoque
lavatis; capite fusco-flavo et albescente adsperso; rostro supernè
obscuriore; auribus, artubusque extùs flavescenti-rufis; corpore
subtùs sordidè flavescenti-albo; pectore fulvo lavato; mento
fuscescente; caudâ fulvescenti-fuscâ, pilis ad apicem nigris, subtùs
pallidiore; plagâ supernè prope basin caudæ, hujusque apice nigris._
DESCRIPTION.—This species is considerably larger than the European
fox; its form is more bulky, the limbs are shorter and stouter in
proportion, the ears are smaller and the tail is more bushy. The
fur is long, thick, and loose. The under fur is very long,
abundant, and of a woolly texture. The back is mottled with black
and white, the former of these colours being predominant; the
hairs on this part are gray at the base, there is then a
considerable space of a pale, or whitish brown colour; next
follows a broad white ring, beyond which the hairs are black. On
the sides of the body the hairs are coloured in the same way,
excepting that the white portion is more extended, and is followed
by a rich yellow-brown, shaded into black as it approaches the
apex of each hair. Hence the general hue of the sides of the body
is paler than that of the back, the brown and white tints being
the more conspicuous. The hairs of the head are annulated with
white, and fulvous, and are black at the tip; the two former
colours are most conspicuous. The chin is brownish. The lower part
of the cheeks, the throat, and the under parts of the body, are of
a dirty yellowish white colour, inclining to buff in certain
parts, especially on the lower part of the neck and chest. The
limbs are of a rich deep fulvous, or yellowish rust colour
externally; the feet and inner sides of the legs are of a paler
hue. On the hinder legs externally, above the heel, is a patch of
bright rust colour; such is also the colour of the ears
externally, and likewise of that portion of the neck behind the
ears. Internally the ears are furnished with long yellowish white
hairs. The tail is long and very bushy; at its base the hairs are
rusty white, towards the middle they are of a paleish rust colour,
and at the apex they are black; there is also a black patch on the
upper part towards the base. The hairs of the tail beneath are
almost entirely of an uniform rusty white colour, those on the
upper side are all tipped with black.
In. Lines.
Length from nose to root of tail 31 0
to base of ear 6 9
of tail (hair included) 17 0
of ear 2 0
Height of body at the shoulders 14 6