68. _The COMMON PORCUPINE_ (Hystrix cristata) _is a quadruped, the upper
parts of which are covered with quills or spines six or seven inches in
length, each variegated with black and white rings; and its head has a
crest of smaller spines._
_This animal, which is common in exhibitions of wild beasts in this
country, and is about two feet in length, is found wild in Spain and
Italy, as well as in several parts of Africa, Asia, and America._
In America porcupines are hunted chiefly on account of their _quills_,
which are applied by the Indians to many useful purposes. The women dye
them of several beautiful colours, split them into slips, and weave them
into bags, belts, baskets, and other articles, the neatness and elegance of
which would not disgrace more enlightened artists. The _flesh_ of the
porcupine is said to be excellent eating, and, at the Cape of Good Hope, is
frequently introduced at the tables even of the principal families.
It was formerly believed that these animals, when attacked, had a means of
defending themselves by forcibly darting their quills at the aggressor; but
this opinion has been fully refuted. Their principal mode of defence is by
throwing themselves on one side, and erecting their spines against the
assailant. They live in dens under the ground, and are chiefly in motion
during the night, in search of fruit, roots, and other vegetables, which
constitute their principal food. Though apparently heavy and inactive
animals, they are able to climb even to the tops of the highest trees, with
great facility.
69. _The BEAVER_ (Castor fiber, Fig. 25.) _is a quadruped, with smooth,
glossy, and chesnut-coloured hair; and a flat, oval, and naked tail,
marked into scaly divisions, somewhat like the skin of a fish._
_These animals inhabit the banks of rivers and lakes in woody and
unfrequented parts of the north of Europe, Asia, and America: their
general length is betwixt two and three feet._
In ancient times the beaver is supposed to have been found wild in this
country, and its _skin_ was so valuable as to constitute the chief and most
valuable fur which the island produced. The _hair_ is of two kinds, of
which the upper is long and thick; and the lower, or that immediately next
to the skin, is of dark brown colour, short, close-set, and as soft as
down. In commerce a distinction is made betwixt fresh, dry, and fat beaver'
skins. Of these the first are obtained from animals that are killed in the
winter; the second sort from those taken during the summer; and the third
or fat sort are such as have been carried, for some time, on the bodies of
the American Indians, who, as it were, tan the skins with their perspirable
matter. It is the fur of the first sort which is chiefly manufactured into
hats; but the fat skins are esteemed the most valuable in consequence of
the long hairs having been worn off, and the fine downy fur being left
perfectly free from them. Each full-grown beaver yields about twenty-four
ounces of fur. This, besides hats, is wrought into gloves, caps, stockings,
and other articles of dress. The _skin_ of the beaver, as leather, serves
for saddles, the upper leathers of shoes, gloves, the covering of trunks,
&c. The Russians sell great numbers of these skins to the Chinese, but,
probably, the greatest traffic in them is from North America. We may form
some idea of the numbers which are exported from that country, when it is
stated that more than 50,000 skins have been vended by the Hudson's Bay
Company at one sale; and that, in the year 1798, no fewer than 106,000
beavers' skins were collected in Canada, and exported thence into Europe
and to China.
Besides their fur these animals furnish a valuable substance, which is
known by the name of _castor_[1] or _castoreum_, and is contained in two
little bags, called the inguinal glands, each about the size of a hen's
egg. This substance is of a brownish oily consistence, has a disagreeable,
narcotic smell, and a bitterish, acrid, and nauseous taste. The castor
which is imported from Russia is generally esteemed the most valuable;
though in many cases that from Hudson's Bay has been found nearly if not
fully equal to it. Castor has been long celebrated as a remedy in
hysterical complaints; and has been frequently used with advantage in
languid habits and constitutions.
The American Indians are partial to the _flesh_ of the beaver, and they use
its _teeth_ for the cutting, hollowing, and polishing of wood; they also
clothe themselves in beavers' _skins_, and, in winter, wear them with the
hair next to their bodies as a defence against the cold.
Beavers are only found in the most retired situations, always in the
immediate neighbourhood of water, and generally in extensive communities.
70. _The CHINCHILLA_ (Muslaniger) _is a small quadruped of the rat tribe,
which has a beautifully soft grey fur._
The _fur_ of this animal, which is a native of some parts of South America,
was formerly used by the Peruvians, as a fine kind of wool, and was spun
and woven into stuffs of extremely delicate texture, to which they attached
great value. Of late years, however, the manufacture of it has been much
neglected. As a fur, the skin of the chinchilla is much in request in this
country, in consequence of its having become a fashionable trimming for
ladies' dresses, and a favourite article for muffs.
71. _The GREY SQUIRREL_ (Sciurus cinereus) _is a quadruped about the size
of a rabbit, which has the upper parts of its body grey, and the under
parts white. It is found in America, and in some countries of the north
of Europe._
The _skins_ of these animals are sometimes used as a fur for the lining of
winter garments, and are frequently imported into England, but they are not
of much value. As, however, they are very tough, they are tanned and
employed in America for many of the purposes of leather, but particularly
for the making of ladies' shoes. The Laplanders, in winter, annually make
war upon the troops of grey squirrels which are found in some parts of
their country. This they do chiefly for the sake of their skins, which they
make up into bundles of about forty each. But no merchandize is more liable
to deception than this. The purchaser receives them without examination,
the skins are packed with the fur inward, and all the bundles are sold at
the same price.
In several of the plantations of North America these animals, from their
immense numbers, and the devastations they commit, are greatly injurious to
the inhabitants. Rewards for their destruction are consequently given; and,
in Pennsylvania alone, more than 600,000 of them have, in some years, been
destroyed.
The grey squirrels reside chiefly in trees, but lay up stores of provision,
for winter, in holes which they dig in the ground. They are extremely agile
animals, and run about among the branches with as much facility and
security as upon the ground.
72. _The BLACK SQUIRREL_ (Sciurus niger) _is a small black quadruped of
the squirrel tribe, which is not uncommon in North America and New
Spain._
The finest furs which the Iroquois Indians possess are those of _black
squirrels_. These they make into robes and garments, which they sell at a
price as high as seven or eight pistoles each.
73. _The COMMON HARE_ (Lepus timidus, Fig. 26) _is distinguishable from
all other animals of its tribe by the ears being tipped with black, and
longer than the head; the hind-legs being half as long as the body, and
the tail short._
_It is found in every quarter of the world except Africa._
Notwithstanding the great estimation in which the _flesh_ of the hare is
now held as food, it was absolutely forbidden by the Druids; and was
abhorred by the Britons for many centuries after the abolition of that
order. At the present day it is not eaten by the inhabitants of many
eastern nations. It is prohibited by the Mahometans and Jews; and the
Copts, who have adopted many of the Jewish customs, refrain from it. The
ancient Romans, however, considered it so great a delicacy for the table,
that Martial styles the hare, in this view, the first of quadrupeds.
The _fur_ of the hare forms an important article in the manufacture of
hats, and vast quantities of hares' skins are, for this purpose, annually
brought from Russia and Siberia. This is the chief use which we make of
them; but, in some parts of the Continent, the fur is spun and woven into a
kind of cloth. The inhabitants of Dalecarlia, a province of Sweden, set a
peculiar value upon such cloth, from an opinion that it is itself so
attractive to fleas as to preserve the wearer from their attacks! The
Romans spun the fur both of the hare and rabbit into cloth; but Pliny says
that such cloth was neither soft nor durable.
In the extreme northern countries, where the frosts of winter are intense,
and where snow lies upon the ground for many successive months, all the
hares, at the approach of that season, change their coat, and, instead of
retaining a coloured fur, become perfectly white.
The chase of the hare is, at this day, a popular amusement in most parts of
England; and four or five centuries ago it was so much followed, that even
ladies had hunting parties by themselves, in which they rode astride upon
the saddle.
It is sometimes difficult to ascertain the excellence of hares for the
table, but the following directions may be of use. When newly killed the
body will be stiff, and the flesh of pale colour; but when a hare has been
some time killed the body becomes limber, and the flesh gradually turns
black. A young hare may be known from an old one, after it is dead, by the
bones of the knee joint. If, on thrusting the thumb-nail against this
joint, the bones are somewhat separate, the hare is young; if there be no
space, it is old; and the greater the separation, the younger the animal
may be considered. The under jaw of a young hare may easily be broken, and
the ears easily torn; the cleft also of the lip is narrow, and the claws
smooth and sharp. In an old hare the cleft of the lip spreads very much,
the claws are blunt and rugged, and the ears dry and tough. Hares may be
kept better if they are not opened for four or five days after they are
killed; and they are considered in the best state for the table when the
colour of the flesh is beginning to turn.
So numerous are these animals in some parts of England, where attention is
paid to preserving the breed, that they become greatly injurious to the
crops of all the neighbouring farmers. They feed upon green corn, clover,
and other useful vegetables; and frequently commit much damage in young
plantations, by eating the bark from the trees. Some years ago a gentleman
in Suffolk found it necessary to destroy the hares near some new
plantations, and 1082 were ascertained to have been killed.
74. _The ALPINE HARE_ (Lepus Alpinus) _is a Siberian animal, destitute of
tail, of tawny colour, with rounded, brown ears, and brown feet._
Amongst the mountains of Siberia alpine hares are very numerous. They live
in burrows or holes under ground, and store up, beneath the shelter of
trees or rocks, large ricks of dried grass and other vegetables for their
winter's subsistence. These collections are anxiously sought after by
persons engaged in the hunting of sables (55); and, in many instances, they
are the means of preserving their horses from perishing by famine. Some of
the adjacent peasantry also search them out as food for their horses and
cattle. The _skins_ of the alpine hares supply one of the articles of
commerce betwixt the Russians and Chinese.
75. _The RABBIT_ (Lepus cuniculus) _is a British quadruped belonging to
the same tribe as the hare; and is principally distinguishable from that
animal by its proportionally shorter ears, and by the hind legs being
only one-third of the length of the body._
_The colour of the wild rabbit is dusky brown above, and paler or whitish
on the under parts. In the domestic rabbit the colour is various, white,
grey, black, or black and white._
_These animals inhabit nearly all the warmer parts of Europe, as well as
several of the temperate countries of Asia and Africa._
There are farms in many parts of England, particularly in Lincolnshire,
Norfolk, and Cambridgeshire, where the breeding of rabbits is rendered an
extremely advantageous pursuit. The most desirable situations are those in
which the soil is loose and sandy, and where the ground rises, in different
parts into low hills. Such lands can be more profitably employed as
rabbit-warrens than any others, from the greater facility with which the
animals are able to form their burrows in the earth, and the less liability
they have to be flooded, by the falling of heavy rains.
In a commercial view rabbits are animals of much greater importance than
hares; because, from their habit of living in greater numbers together,
they can be better attended to and managed; and also because they multiply
much more rapidly than hares. Their fecundity, indeed, is truly
astonishing. They breed several times in the year, and generally produce
seven or eight young ones at a birth; and it has been calculated that, if
the progeny from a single pair could, without interruption, proceed in the
same ratio for four or five years, the whole stock would, even in that
short period, amount to more than one million.
The particular uses of the rabbit are nearly the same as those of the hare
(73). The _fur_ is a principal substance employed in the composition of
hats; and such parts of it as are unfit for this purpose may advantageously
be adopted for the stuffing of beds and bolsters. Rabbits' skins are also
sometimes used as a cheap and warm-trimming for female dress; and the
_skins_ themselves, after the hair has been stripped from them, are boiled
down, and made into size or glue. The _flesh_, though, like that of the
hare, forbidden to the Jews and Mahometans, is a very delicate and
palatable food. We are informed by Pliny, the Roman naturalist, that the
ancients had a favourite dish which was made of sucking leverets or rabbits
unpaunched. The modes of ascertaining the quality of rabbits as food are
nearly the same as those which have been mentioned respecting the hare.
It is customary, in most warrens, to use ferrets (56) in the catching of
these animals. The ferrets are muzzled and put into the burrows; and, by
pursuing the rabbits under ground, they alarm and drive them into nets that
are placed over the outlets, in open and extensive grounds other modes are
adopted. These, as we are informed by Mr. Daniel, in his work on Rural
Sports, are by implements called fold-nets, spring-nets, and a kind of trap
called tipes. The _fold-nets_ are set, about midnight, between the burrows
and the feeding grounds; the rabbits being driven into them with dogs, and
kept enclosed in the folds till morning. The _spring-net_ is generally laid
round a haystack, or some other object of inducement for rabbits to collect
in numbers. The _tipe_ consists of a large pit or cistern, covered with a
floor. This has, near its centre, a small trap-door nicely balanced, into
which the rabbits are led by a narrow road or _meuse_. It was customary
formerly to set this kind of trap near a hay-stack; but, since turnips are
now grown as food for these animals in an enclosure in the interior of the
warren, it is placed within the wall of this enclosure. For a night or two
the rabbits are suffered to go through the meuse and over the trap, that
they may be familiarized to the place where the turnips are grown. After
that the trap-door is unbarred, and immense numbers fall in. On emptying
the cistern, the fat rabbits are selected and killed, and the others are
turned out upon the turnips to improve. Five or six hundred couples have
not unfrequently been taken in one night by this contrivance; and once, in
the Driffield warrens, as many as fifteen hundred couples were caught.
Many persons breed rabbits in a _tame_ or _domestic state_. The _skins_ of
these are useful; but, for food, the wild animals are greatly preferable.
Care should, at all times, be taken to keep them clean; and, during the
breeding season, the males and females must be kept apart. The best food
for tame rabbits is the shortest and sweetest hay that can be had; and one
load of this will serve two hundred couples for a year.