1. The =Pine Marten= (_Mustela martes_). Body up to twenty inches, tail
up to ten inches long; fur brown, with yellowish wool-hairs; a yellow
patch on the throat. Is found in thick woods, where it destroys small
birds and squirrels; it also kills much poultry and game.
2. The =Beech=, or =Stone Marten= (_Mustela foina_). About as large as
the preceding species; greyish-brown fur, with whitish wool-hairs; a
white patch in the throat; chiefly occurs in the immediate neighbourhood
of human dwellings, in barns, wood-stacks, etc.; kills a great deal of
poultry, sometimes also wild birds, mice, and game.
3. The =Polecat= (_Putorius fœtidus_). Shining brownish black, with
yellow wool-hairs; somewhat smaller than the stone marten; in
particular, the tail is shorter and its hair is not so long as in the
two preceding species. In the summer it lives in the open country, in
hollow trees, or in the burrows of foxes and rabbits; in winter it
settles down near human dwellings, where it lives in wood and under
heaps of brushwood, haylofts, etc. In summer it may do more good by
destroying numerous field-voles, water-rats, etc., than harm by
devouring those singing birds which are favourable to agriculture; but
in winter its undesirable visits to the fowl-house and dove-cot effect
much injury. It kills the birds and devours the eggs, sucking without
smashing them. In winter, too, it is very harmful to beehives, being
fond of honey.
[Illustration:
FIG. 15.—The Pine Marten (_Mustela martes_).
]
The =Ferret= (_Putorius furo_) is undoubtedly a short-legged variety of
the common polecat, usually white in colour, and, when that is the case,
red-eyed.
4. The =Stoat=, or =Ermine= (_Putorius erminea_). Body twelve inches,
tail about three and a half inches long; slender; the body is scarcely
broader than the head; tail longer than in the next species; summer fur,
cinnamon brown above, white below; tail, cinnamon brown with black tip;
winter fur quite white, but the end of the tail remains black. Mostly in
fields, in the neighbourhood of plantations or woods; always abundant
among sandhills, owing to the rabbits living there. The stoat usually
follows its prey at night, stealing upon mice, rats, rabbits, hares, and
song-birds; it is also sometimes very destructive in dove-cots and
hen-houses. It must, however, be stated that the stoat is on the whole
more useful than harmful.
5. The =Weasel= (_Putorius vulgaris_). Smaller than the stoat; head
larger and thicker than the extremely slender, almost snake-like, trunk;
legs short. The weasel is a very sharp little animal, and can easily
pass along mouse-holes. Summer and winter coats alike—back brown, belly
white. Its food chiefly consists of field-voles, also of rats and
water-rats, young hares and rabbits, birds building near the ground, and
also their eggs, which the weasel, by holding under its chin, manages to
carry to its home; occasionally also lizards, blindworms, snakes, and
frogs. The weasel does some damage in fowl-houses and dove-cots, and is
also destructive to game. This, however, does not outweigh its very
great use, since it is above all an untiring vole-catcher. When in any
region the field-voles have multiplied excessively, an immigration of
weasels takes place from surrounding parts. In years when there is a
plague of voles the usual breeding time in spring is followed by another
later on. A very large number of weasels may be found in a vole-infected
district, and they thin out the mischievous rodents in a surprising
manner. Nor are the weasels less useful in summer than in winter. They
even follow under the snow the voles which winter in the country, and
the slaughter effected at this period must exert a great influence on
the following season, when these animals recommence their injurious
work, and a pair of them that have survived the winter may perhaps
produce two hundred others before the end of the summer.
6. The =Mink= (_Putorius lutreola_) is as large as a polecat, and may
be regarded as a sort of link between it and the others. Leg and ears
short; skin smooth-haired, brown both on the back and the belly; chin,
lips, and a small patch on the neck, white; tail about one-third the
length of the body. In well-watered regions on the banks of rivers,
lakes, and ponds. Eats water-rats, water-birds, frogs, salamanders,
fish, crayfish, water-insects, water-snails, and aquatic bivalves.
Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pomerania, Brandenburg, Silesia.
7. The =Otter= (_Lutra vulgaris_). Body flattened; legs short, with
webbed toes; snout rounded; ears short, and can be closed by a fold of
skin; tail flat, and pointed at its tip. Length of the body,
twenty-eight to thirty-two inches; of the tail, fourteen to sixteen
inches. Skin smooth-haired, shining dark brown above and below. Found on
the banks of lakes, pools, ponds, rivers, brooks, etc., where fish is
plentiful. It catches water-rats, ducks and geese, as well as their
young, wild water-birds, frogs, fish, crayfish, water-insects.
Especially destructive to fish.
8. The =Badger= (_Meles taxus_). Body heavy; legs short, plantigrade;
toes with strong digging claws; snout pointed; canines not very large;
both they and the carnassials much worn in old animals. Tuberculated
molars well developed. The dentition and whole structure of the body
show that the badger is not exclusively a flesh-eater. Length of body,
three feet; weight, 22 to 33 lbs. Fur tolerably long-haired, yellowish
whitey grey, mixed with black. Head with longitudinal stripes of black
and white; tail short, yellowish grey.
The burrow is very large; several passages, the openings of which may be
ninety-seven feet apart, lead to the exterior. The badger only leaves
its dwelling in the evening. It eats mice, birds which nest on the
ground, especially their eggs and young, snakes, frogs, cockchafer
grubs, earthworms, insects; also turnips, carrots, acorns, and sweet
fruits. Although it is both harmful and useful, the latter is more
generally the case. Its digging habits, however, are sometimes
destructive, since it throws up young trees and other plants by the
roots. The badger often sleeps several days in succession during the
winter, although it does not hibernate. Its fat is used up during the
winter.
ORDER: =Insectivora= (INSECT-EATING MAMMALS).
Since the Insectivora feed upon very small animals (insects, worms,
snails), they cannot themselves be large. Only those species (hedgehog)
which feed on small mammals and birds or upon vegetable matter, in
addition to insects, are of medium size. The native species all live on
or in the ground. The snout is extremely slender, and does duty as an
organ of touch. The eyes are usually very badly developed. Incisors
sharp; and the back teeth, which are completely coated with enamel, are
remarkable for their pointed crowns. When the mouth is closed the upper
teeth fit into the spaces between the lower teeth, and _vice versâ_.
Consequently the shutting of the mouth forces the points of all the back
teeth into any insect which happens to be between the jaws. The
Insectivora are plantigrade (p. 22). Here belong the following forms:
the Shrews (_Sorex_), the Mole (_Talpa europæa_) and the Hedgehog
(_Erinaceus europæus_).
[Illustration:
FIG. 16.—Skull of the Mole.
]
The =Shrews= (_Sorex_) are small animals with a superficial resemblance
to mice, with slender soft-haired bodies, small eyes, and tolerably
long, thickly haired tails. Shrews are extremely voracious, eating daily
more than their own weight of food, and destroying an enormous quantity
of subterranean vermin. They live in underground passages, not usually
made by themselves, but dug out by field-voles. They smell strongly of
musk, secreted by two glands in the hinder part of the body.
The blackish brown Shrew-mouse, or =Common Shrew= (_Sorex vulgaris_),
and the =Lesser Shrew= (_Sorex pygmœus_), only about two inches long,
kill, in the cornfields, gardens, or woodland, an enormous quantity of
noxious insects found in the earth, together with their larvæ; also
snails and worms, and sometimes field-voles, and are in the highest
degree serviceable. But the larger (up to 3½ inches long), black =Water
Shrew= (_Sorex fodiens_), although serviceable on land in the same way
as the other kinds, is very injurious to fishing and fish-breeding,
since it devours the small fish and kills the larger ones, eating out
their eyes and brains.
[Illustration:
FIG. 17.—The Common Shrew (_Sorex vulgaris_).
]
The =Mole= (_Talpa europœa_). Body thick, cylindrical. Legs short, fore
legs broad and spade-like, with broad digging claws. Eyes small,
scarcely visible among the fur. No external ears; the auditory opening
can be completely closed by a fold of skin. Shining black fur. The mole
is found in every soil inhabited by insects and earthworms, provided it
is not too stiff, but yet sufficiently coherent to dig passages in,
which will not at once collapse. Its presence is known by the heaps
which it throws up. The nest, however, is always found under a larger
heap, frequently hidden under tree roots, walls, etc., though sometimes
in the open field. It consists in the first place of a nearly round
dwelling-chamber, softly upholstered with vegetable substances; this is
surrounded by a labyrinth of passages. From the nest a passage runs to
the mole’s hunting-ground. The walls of this passage of the labyrinth,
and of the nest, are hard. The wider and subterranean channels, which
the mole digs out when it is simply catching insects in the soil, easily
fall in again, and the animal takes no pains to compact their walls. The
highway to the hunting-ground, in which the animal can progress very
rapidly, can be at once detected, not like the ordinary passages by a
small chain of mole-hills composed of the thrown-up earth, but by a
depression, since in its preparation the earth is laterally compressed
and not thrown out. This tube is shorter or longer according as the
hunting-ground is in the immediate neighbourhood or further off; it may
be 100 or 160 feet long. The mole sleeps in the nest during the time not
employed in seeking for food, and goes three times a day on the hunt for
insects (early morning, midday, and before sunset in the evening).
Having reached the subterranean hunting-ground, it tracks to some
distance the insect larvæ, and worms found in the soil, being aided in
this by its long snout. It daily devours more than its own weight.
During summer the mole digs its passages near the surface, since larvæ
and worms are then found in the uppermost layer of earth. In winter,
when these withdraw into the depths of the soil, it digs much deeper
channels. It does not fall into a winter-sleep. The young (three to
seven) are born in May, June, or July. The mole never gnaws plants. It
does service, sometimes very great, by eating many wireworms, grubs,
snail embryos, earth caterpillars, mole-crickets, and other
earth-inhabiting insects, as well as their larvæ. It also willingly eats
earthworms, but whether this does good is not definitely known. But
under certain conditions it may also do harm, rooting up plants as it
makes its heaps. Grass and grain suffer little, if at all, by this;
other plants more; while young flax-plants perish if their roots are
loosened. Mole-hills in hayfields and cornfields are a nuisance at
harvest time. Moles are not to be endured in the neighbourhood of dams,
since their borings may become the immediate cause of flooding. Trapping
may usefully be resorted to in cases where moles are harmful.
The =Hedgehog=, or =Hedgepig= (_Erinaceus europæus_). When danger
threatens it rolls itself into a ball covered all over with prickles,
and is in this way secured from the attacks of most enemies. The
hedgehog goes on the hunt in the evening; while during the day it sleeps
in its hiding-place, situated in such places as the side of a ditch,
hedges, or under heaps of brushwood. It preys more particularly on
field-voles, sometimes also on eggs and small birds (chickens
occasionally), lizards, grass-snakes, adders (by the bites of which it
is unaffected), frogs, cockchafers and their larvæ, field snails,
earthworms, and similar small deer; now and then on fallen fruit and
juicy plant roots.
ORDER: =Cheiroptera= (BATS).
[Illustration:
FIG. 18.—Skeleton of a Bat.
]
All Bats, except a few tropical genera, feed on insects, and possess
teeth like those of the preceding order of Mammals (p. 30). The leading
feature is the characteristic modification of the fore limbs into a
flying apparatus. The bones of the fore arm (Fig. 18, _u, r_), the
metacarpels (_mc_), and the phalanges (except in the case of the thumb,
which possesses a sharp claw (_p_)) are of great length; and between the
long fingers, between the fore and hind limbs, and, last of all, between
the two hind limbs there is an elastic membrane, serving both for flight
and touch. Sight ill developed, since the bat is a nocturnal animal; a
delicate sense of touch has its seat not only in the flying-membrane,
but also in the skin of the ears, which are often very large, and in the
membranous flaps which, in a few genera (the “leaf-nosed” bats), occur
on the nose and lips. As is well known, bats sleep in the day; and they
also hibernate in chimneys, hollow trees, ruins, and other similar
places of concealment.
They principally devour night-flying moths, and spiders; and, since they
use a great quantity of nourishment, are of great service, since the
caterpillars of many of the species they destroy are very injurious to
agriculture or forestry. About nine species live in Britain, but there
is no use in enumerating them here.
ORDER: =Rodentia= (GNAWING MAMMALS).
[Illustration:
FIG. 19.—Skull of Squirrel.
]
Two long incisors (Fig. 19), the crowns of which are continually being
worn down, while a corresponding growth takes place at the root-end.
These incisors are used for gnawing, in which process the lower jaw is
rapidly moved backwards and forwards. Gnawing wears down these teeth
less in front than behind, owing to the presence of a thick layer of
enamel in the former position. Their crowns, therefore, maintain a
chisel-edge. That the incisors never stop growing is clearly seen when
the usual wearing down does not take place, as, _e.g._, when the lower
jaw is placed obliquely under the upper jaw, or when a tooth is absent
in one jaw, under which circumstances the corresponding incisor in the
other jaw is not worn down. In such a case the incisors continue to
grow, ultimately curving upwards or downwards, and becoming tusk-like
structures (Fig. 20). The Rodents have no canines. In those Rodents
which feed both on animal and vegetable food (the “Omnivora,” _e.g._
squirrel, common mouse, brown rat, etc.), the crowns of the back teeth
are completely covered with enamel; in the purely vegetable feeders
(“Herbivora,” _e.g._ hare, rabbit), they are compound teeth (p. 22). In
most Rodents the hind feet are longer than the fore, giving a springing
gait. Eyes large. Many forms have “cheek-pouches,” in which the food
they obtain can be stored up for some time. When the pouches are full, a
muscle contracts by which their ends are drawn backwards; they are
emptied by the animal pressing them with its fore feet. The majority of
Rodents are small, they are at most of medium size (hare). The majority
of the species have great powers of reproduction, by which the injurious
kinds are sometimes rendered a very great pest. The British forms
injurious to agriculture principally belong to the families of hares,
mice, and voles. The squirrel (_Sciurus vulgaris_), and the dormice
(especially _Myoxus avellanarius_) are solely of importance in forestry.
Family: =Leporidæ= (_Hares and Rabbits_).
Skull somewhat long. Two small incisors behind the two large upper ones.
Ears long and spoon-shaped. Upper lip cleft. Back teeth with enamel
folds. Here belong the hare (_Lepus timidus_) and rabbit (_Lepus
cuniculus_).
=Hare= (_Lepus timidus_). Ears longer than the head. Eyes yellowish
brown. Fur rusty yellow to grey on the upper side, white on the under
side. The doe litters in an open “form;” the young are born covered with
hair and with open eyes. Mature animals breed four or even five times a
year, producing two to four leverets each time. The hare is injurious to
agriculture, eating cabbages, rape, turnips, clover, vetches, young corn
plants, carrots, and grass. It also eats many weeds. It is, however,
less injurious than the rabbit, for it does not burrow. The damage done
by the hare is also less evident, since this restless, fastidious animal
seldom feeds continuously in the same spot.
[Illustration:
FIG. 20.—Abnormal Tooth in Hare.
]
=Rabbit= (_Lepus cuniculus_). Ears shorter than the head. Eyes dark
brown. Fur yellowish brown to greyish yellow on the upper side, redder
in front. Under fur bluish grey. Shape more compressed. The rabbit
breeds more rapidly than the hare. Five to six times yearly the doe
brings forth four to eight young, which, after six months, can again
reproduce. Dwelling subterranean. Young, blind and hairless at birth. As
the rabbit burrows, it is limited to certain districts, for the soil
must not be too stiff and firm, nor, on the other hand, too light and
incoherent. The rabbit is injurious in the same way as the hare, but the
damage is more obvious (see above); and as a result of its burrowing
habits it does infinitely more damage. Both in sandhills and in alluvial
sandy soil rabbit burrows lead to the blowing away of material only held
together by sand-plants. Kept down by shooting, netting, and ferreting
(p. 27).
Family: =Muridæ= (_Mouse Family_).
The mouse-like animals (the larger species of the family are called
“rats”) closely resemble the representatives of the following family,
but are distinguished from these (the “voles”) by their slender body,
longer legs, a more pointed head with longer always clearly visible
ears, and usually, with the exception of the hamster, by a tail equal in
length to the body. The hind legs are longer than the fore legs, hence
the hopping mode of progression. Three back teeth on each side of each
jaw, possessing a tuberculated crown completely covered with enamel.
[Illustration:
FIG. 21.—The Hamster (_Cricetus frumentarius_).
]
The =Hamster= (_Cricetus frumentarius_).—The Hamster has
cheek-pouches, and a very short, thick, but short-haired tail. It
attains the size of the brown rat. Bright yellowish brown; belly and
legs black. The hamster is found almost exclusively on fertile soil
devoted to cultivation. It appears locally, and then for several years
in great abundance, so that it is often caught in tens or even
hundreds of thousands. Favourite food: wheat, field beans, and peas,
then rye and similar grain; and, last, roots, turnips, young corn
plants. Sometimes, too, the hamster eats animal food—worms, insects,
lizards, small birds, eggs, and mice. As a winter store it usually
only accumulates grain, beans, and peas in its hiding-place, often to
the amount of more than five gallons. A little heap of thrown-out soil
marks on the surface the position of its nest. The entry to this runs
vertically down into the soil. Six to twelve young, twice a year. The
dwellings of the hamster, which are situated in stubble-fields, can
easily be found; and by digging them up, particularly in spring and
late summer, when there are young ones, the number of these
destructive Rodents can be greatly reduced. May be caught in traps.
=Genus Mus= (Mice and Rats) includes Rodents without cheek-pouches, and
with long, scaly, ringed tails. Two large species (“rats”) belong here,
namely—
The common =Black Rat= (_M. rattus_), indigenous to Europe since
pre-historic times, and the stronger, somewhat larger—
=Brown Rat= (_M. decumanus_), with greyish white belly (while the
first-named species is black on the upper and only slightly brighter on
the under side). The brown rat migrated during the first half of the
eighteenth century from Asia into Russia, and about the same time from
Further India to England by means of ships. Since then it has spread all
over Europe and other parts of the world, and in many regions has quite
driven out the black rat. Both kinds of rat eat almost everything, and
are a pest in housekeeping, as well as in agriculture. They feed on
insects, mice, eggs, and chickens, will even bite pieces from the living
bodies of grown poultry and fattening swine, and also devour young geese
and ducks. They eat grain, peas, beans, potatoes, carrots, turnips;
bread, cheese, and similar provisions. Multiply very rapidly. Can be
driven away by clacking-mills, and to a great extent by noise. Caught in
traps.