is composed approach very closely to the Deer; there is, however,
considerable variety in their mode of life. They inhabit almost every
description of country; the sandy desert, the open plain, the thicket,
the forest, the mountain, and the precipice, being, each in its turn, the
favourite haunt of the different races; but, with the exception of a few
species, they do not advance much beyond the limits of the tropics. The
smaller ones usually prefer a solitary life, but the larger, for the most
part, congregate together in herds, which are generally few in number.
In their manners they exhibit much of that cautious vigilance and easily
startled timidity, combined with a certain degree of occasional boldness
and not a little curiosity, which are the natural consequences of their
wild and unrestricted habits, of their trivial means of defence against
the numerous enemies to whose attacks they are exposed, and of the
unequalled fleetness of their speed. In some this latter quality consists
of a continued and uniform gallop, which in others is interrupted at
every third or fourth stroke by a long and generally a lofty bound,
producing a beautiful effect by its constant and rapid recurrence.
The Indian Antelope, of which the specimen in the Tower constitutes
a remarkable and highly interesting variety, is not only one of the
most beautiful, but also the most celebrated species of the group. It
occupies the place of Capricorn in the Indian Zodiac, and is consecrated
to the service of Chandra or the Moon. In size and form it closely
resembles the Gazelle of the Arabs, the well known emblem of maiden
beauty, typified, according to the poets, in the elastic lightness of its
bound, the graceful symmetry of its figure, and the soft lustre of its
full and hazel eye. From this truly elegant creature our Antelope is,
however, essentially distinguished by several striking characters. Its
horns, which are peculiar to the male, are spirally twisted, and form,
when fully grown, three complete turns; they are closely approximated
to each other at the base, but diverge considerably as they proceed
upwards. They occasionally attain a length of nearly two feet, and are
surrounded throughout by elevated and close-set rings. The two horns
taken together have frequently been compared to the branches of a double
lyre. The extremity of the nose is bare, forming a small and moist
muzzle; the sub-orbital openings are larger and more distinct than in
almost any other species; and the ears are pointed and of moderate size.
The natural colours vary with the age of the animal, but correspond in
general pretty closely with those of the common deer. They may be shortly
described as fawn above and whitish beneath, becoming deeper with age,
and lighter in the females than in the males. The occasional stripes of
a lighter or darker colour, which are generally visible on various parts
of the body, can scarcely be considered as occurring with sufficient
regularity to allow of their being described as characteristic of the
species.
But for these shades of colour, or for any other, we should look in
vain in the animal of the Tower Menagerie, which, in consequence of a
particular conformation, not unfrequent in some species of animals, and
occasionally met with even in the human race, is perfectly and purely
white. In order to explain this phenomenon, which is one of the most
curious, but at the same time one of the most simple in physiology, it
is necessary to observe that there exists beneath the epidermis, or
outer covering of the skin, both in man and animals, a peculiar membrane
of very fine and delicate texture, which is scarcely visible in the
European but sufficiently obvious in the Negro, termed by anatomists the
rete mucosum. In this net-work is secreted, from the extremities of the
minute vessels which terminate upon its surface, a mucous substance which
varies in colour according to the complexion of the individual, of the
varieties in which it is the immediate cause; and from the substance thus
secreted the colouring matter of the hairs and of the iris is derived.
The pure whiteness then of the covering of the animal in question, and
of all those which exhibit a similar variation from their natural tinge,
is attributable solely to the absence of this secretion from whatever
cause. It is always accompanied, as in the present instance, by a redness
of the eyes, arising from the blood-vessels of the iris being exposed
to view in consequence of the want of the usual coating formed by this
secretion, by which they are naturally protected from the too great
influence of the light. In the human race the individuals who are thus
afflicted, characterized by the dull whiteness of their skins, the deep
redness of their eyes, and their colourless, or, as it is generally
termed, flaxen, hair, are called Albinos. They are generally timid in
disposition, languid in character, and weak both in mind and body. The
same original conformation, for it is always born with the individual and
never acquired in after life, although sometimes prolonged beyond its
limits in the shape of an hereditary legacy, is common to many animals.
Perhaps the most familiar instances among these are the white mice, the
white rabbits, and the white pigeons, which are known to every one. But
it has also been occasionally seen in many other species, as monkeys,
squirrels, moles, pigs, and even cows and horses, and, to come a little
closer to our present subject, in goats and deer. Not even that massive
and stupendous beast the Elephant is exempted from its influence. It can
hardly be necessary to recall to the reader the title on which the ruler
of millions of not uncivilized Asiatics, the Burmese monarch, prides
himself more than on any other, inasmuch as it is the emblem of power and
prosperity, that of Lord of the White Elephant; a title, which, while it
demonstrates the fact of the existence of this deviation in the Elephant
as well as in other animals, proves also the extreme rarity of its
occurrence. It has moreover been noticed in many species of birds.
The present species of Antelope is spread over the whole of the Peninsula
of Hindoostan and a part of Persia; but it is questionable whether it has
been found in Africa, as is commonly asserted. They are said to bound
with apparent ease over a distance of from twenty-five to thirty feet,
and mounting to the height of ten or twelve. It is consequently useless
to attempt to chase them in the common mode with hounds; and their
pursuit is restricted to the higher nobility, who employ for the purpose
either hawks, who pounce upon their quarry and detain it until the dogs
can come up, or Chetahs, who attack them by surprise in the manner before
described.
The elegant Albino now in the Tower was brought from Bombay by Captain
Dalrymple of the Vansittart, and remained for a considerable time at
Sand Pit Gate, where it was an especial favourite with his Majesty, as
well on account of the gentleness of its disposition, as for its rarity
and beauty. It bears its confinement in the Menagerie with perfect
resignation, and is remarkable for the mildness and tranquillity of its
deportment.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
THE AFRICAN SHEEP.
_OVIS ARIES._ LINN.--Var. _GUINEENSIS._
In characterizing the present genus, were we to look solely at the
animal such as we have it daily before our eyes, the distinction between
it and all the other Ruminants is too striking to be for a moment
mistaken. But the insensible gradations which connect this familiar
denizen of our downs and pastures with the untamed native of the desert
and the precipice, and the close affinity which subsists between the
latter and the goats, render it almost impossible to isolate them by
any satisfactory characters. On the present occasion we shall content
ourselves with observing that the sheep may generally be distinguished by
the direction of their horns, by the elevation of their profile, and by
their want of beard: characters neither essential nor infallible, but the
best that can be offered.
The variety figured over leaf is in one of the many intermediate stages
between unreclaimed barbarism and complete domestication. It is an
awkward looking creature, high on the legs, narrow in the loins, and
covered with a rough and shaggy coat. The back and sides are nearly
black; the shoulders reddish brown; and the posterior part of the body,
the haunches, the hind legs, and the tail, white; as are also the ears,
which are rather large, the nose, and a spot over each eye. The horns,
although the specimen is a male, are remarkably small, and enclose the
ears within their curve. If the ears are freed from their confinement,
the animal becomes very uneasy, and never rests until he has succeeded
in replacing them, which he cannot accomplish without considerable
difficulty. He was presented to the Menagerie by Lord Liverpool about six
years ago, and is extremely mild in his temper.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
THE GREAT SEA-EAGLE.
_HALIAETOS OSSIFRAGUS._ SAV.
THE GOLDEN EAGLE.
_AQUILA CHRYSAETOS._ SAV.
Having in the preceding article terminated the series of Mammiferous
Quadrupeds at present existing in the Tower Menagerie, we must next
direct our attention to the illustration of the Birds, a Class which,
although fully entitled to the second place in the arrangement of the
Animal Kingdom, is separated by a wide and almost unoccupied interval
from that which unquestionably claims the foremost rank.
To commence then with the Eagles, which form a prominent group of the
Rapacious Order, and are universally regarded as the most majestic, as
well as the most powerful, of birds. In common with the whole Order,
they are remarkable for the strong incurvation of their bill and talons,
the latter of which are four in number on each of the feet, and are
moved by means of a thick and strong muscular apparatus, which gives
to the grasp of the larger species that extreme tenacity by which they
are distinguished, enabling them to seize and carry off fish and birds,
and even quadrupeds of moderate size. This innate propensity to rapine,
derived from their peculiar conformation which renders them essentially
flesh-eaters, indicates at once the analogical relationship borne by the
Rapacious Birds to the Carnivorous Quadrupeds; and the high degree to
which it is carried by the Eagles, their vast powers of flight, their
towering majesty, their irresistible might, their uniform preference of
living victims and rejection of the offal, render them superior to all
other birds, in the same proportion as the Lion is allowed to take the
lead among mammiferous quadrupeds.
The Eagles, properly so called, are characterized by a head covered with
plumage and flattened above; eyes large, lateral, and deep-seated; a
bill of great strength, arched and hooked at its extremity alone, and
furnished at its base with a naked membrane, called the cere, in which
the openings of the nostrils are situated; the wings broad and powerful;
the tarsus, or that joint of each leg which is immediately above the
toes, strong, short, and covered with feathers down to the very base; the
toes thick and naked, three of them pointing forwards, and the fourth
constantly directed backwards; and the talons of great power and strongly
curved. The Golden Eagle, which occupies the right hand in the cut, is
frequently three feet and a half in length from the extremity of the
beak to that of the tail. His general colour is blackish brown both above
and below, assuming on the legs a grayish or sometimes a reddish tinge.
His beak is bluish black, covered at the base by a yellow cere; and
his toes, which are also yellow, terminate in strong black talons, the
posterior one of which frequently attains an enormous length. He is met
with throughout the Old Continent, and more especially within the limits
of the temperate zone, building his aiery, which he shares with a single
female, in the clefts of the loftiest rock, or among the topmost branches
of the alpine forest. From this retreat he towers aloft in search of his
prey, which he pursues by sight alone, subsisting principally on other
birds and on the smaller quadrupeds, which he carries off in his powerful
clutch. When his hunger is extreme he sometimes pounces upon the larger
animals; but in such circumstances he is compelled to content himself
with sucking their blood upon the spot, and with stripping off portions
of their flesh, on which to satiate his appetite at home. Instances have
been known of his attaining in captivity to an age of more than a hundred
years.
The principal distinguishing mark of the group which has been separated
under the name of the Sea-Eagles, consists in the plumage of the tarsus,
which in the latter extends only half way down, the lower part being
consequently left entirely bare. The species figured on the left, at the
head of this article, is commonly more than three feet in length, and
the expansion of his wings measures seven or eight feet. His bill is
usually of a bluish black colour towards the extremity, and yellow at
the base. His general hue is blackish brown, deeper above than beneath,
and relieved on the breast and under parts by numerous white spots. The
larger feathers of his wings are nearly black; but those of the tail are
not so deeply tinged. The naked portion of the legs, as also the toes,
are covered with bright yellow scales; and the talons are of a bright
black.
The Great Sea-Eagle is a native of the Northern Hemisphere, in the colder
regions of which he appears to be most at home. He builds his nest in
similar situations with the last, but prefers the neighbourhood of the
sea, or of lakes and rivers, over which he is frequently to be seen,
especially in the morning and towards nightfall, hovering in quest of
prey, and pouncing down upon the fish which rise to the surface, or even
diving after those which are visible beneath. These form his principal
sustenance; but he seldom suffers flesh or fowl to escape him if they
chance to fall in his way. His flight is less rapid and less lofty than
that of the Golden Eagle; and he neither perceives his prey at such a
distance, nor pursues it with such pertinacity.
The noble birds which illustrate the present article were presents from
the Marchioness of Londonderry.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
THE BEARDED GRIFFIN.
_GYPAETOS BARBATUS._ STORR.
The Bearded Griffin takes an intermediate station between the Eagles
and the Vultures, with the former of which it agrees more closely in
general appearance and external form, and with the latter in internal
structure and habits. The principal point in which it differs from them
both consists in the tuft of bristly hairs which take their origin partly
from the cere that covers the base of the beak, and partly from the under
mandible, and are directed outwards and downwards in such a manner as
to give rise to that appearance from which the bird has received his
epithet of Bearded. His beak is strongly arched at the extremity, and
is remarkable for its great vertical thickness, more especially at the
point where the curvature commences. His head, flat like that of the
Eagle, is covered with short feathers, which are of a dirty white; and
his eyes are nearly on the same plane with the surface of his head. The
general tint of his plumage is blackish brown above and grayish fawn
beneath, and his legs are feathered with the latter colour down to the
very toes, which are long and grayish. His claws are of moderate length
and curved; but the force of his clutch is far inferior to that of the
Eagles.
The Bearded Griffin is the largest European bird of prey, and builds its
aiery among the loftiest precipices of nearly all the alpine chains of
the Old Continent. Here it displays the tyranny, but not the courage, of
the Eagle, attacking such living animals only as are likely to fall an
easy prey, and gorging in troops with all the rapacity of Vultures upon
the most corrupted carrion.
The individual figured is a fine specimen, but is not yet in perfect
plumage.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
THE GRIFFON VULTURE.
_VULTUR FULVUS._ LINN.
If the Eagles are considered as bearing a close analogy to the more
noble and perfect among the Carnivorous Quadrupeds, such as the Lion and
the Tiger, which live in solitary grandeur and attack none but living
victims, the Vultures may, with equal propriety, be regarded as the
representatives of the Jackal, the Wolf, the Hyæna, and other inferior
animals of that Order, which hunt in packs and prey upon carrion. Endowed
like these animals with an extreme fineness of scent, they are attracted
by the smell of dead, and more especially of putrid, carcases, at an
immense and almost incredible distance; and usually assemble in vast
numbers to glut themselves upon the disgusting banquet on the field
of recent battle, or wherever the work of carnage has been carried
to any great extent. Under such circumstances, however horrible that
propensity may appear which leads them to prey upon the unburied corpses,
they unquestionably fulfil a wise provision of nature by removing from
the surface of the earth a mass of corruption and putridity which in
the warmer climates where they abound would otherwise taint the very
atmosphere, and might possibly give rise to diseases still more fatal
in their effects than the malignant passions of man himself, from which
the destruction sprung. But although such a scene affords the greatest
scope for the indulgence of their depraved appetites, and consequently
congregates them together in the largest numbers, it is happily of rare
occurrence, and their usual subsistence is derived from the bodies of
dead animals. To these they are attracted by the smell, and frequently in
flocks so numerous as actually to cover and conceal the object of their
attack, from which they tear away large gobbets, and swallow them entire
and with insatiable avidity, never ceasing while yet a morsel remains.
It is only when hard pressed by hunger that they venture to attack a
living creature; and their ravages of this kind are always confined to
the peaceful and timid denizens of the poultry-yard. They never carry off
their victims in their talons, but uniformly devour them upon the spot;
and even that portion of their prey which they transport to their young
is first swallowed, and afterwards disgorged in the nest.
These peculiarities of habit, by which the Vultures are strikingly
contrasted not merely with the Eagles, but even with the smallest of
the Falcon tribe, are the necessary result of their organisation. Their
beak, it is true, is like that of the Eagles strongly curved at the
point alone, and they also possess all the technical characters of the
Rapacious Order; but their talons are far inferior, both in size and in
the degree of their curvature, and they are consequently unable to grasp
their prey with sufficient force to transport it through the air. Their
diminished power of flight renders them incapable of soaring upwards
to search abroad with piercing eye for the objects of their rapacity;
and they are therefore left dependent upon the acute sensibility of
their nostrils, which amply supplies the deficiency. Of the external
characters which they exhibit the most remarkable is derived from the
want of plumage on the head and neck, which are covered in the greater
number of the species by nothing more than a sort of down or by short and
smooth hairs. The object of this provision appears to be to enable them
to bury as it were their heads in the carrion on which they feed, without
exposing their plumage to be soiled by the filth which it might otherwise
contract. Their eyes are placed on a level with their cheeks; their heads
are rounded above; they have most frequently a ruff of considerable
extent round the lower part of their necks; and their legs are usually
bare of feathers and covered with large scales. Their very attitudes
offer the most perfect contrast to those of the Eagles; the latter
constantly maintaining a bold upright posture, with their wings closely
pressed to their sides, and their tails elevated, while the Vultures on
the contrary are always seen bending forwards in a crouching position,
with their wings depressed and separated from their bodies, and their
tails trailing upon the ground.
The Griffon Vulture is equal in size to the larger species of Eagle;
his head and neck are covered with short white down, and the latter is
ornamented at its base with an extensive ruff of long feathers of a
clear and brilliant white. The plumage of the body is reddish gray; the
quill-feathers of the wings and tail are of a blackish brown; and the
beak and claws are nearly black. He is a native of the greater part of
Europe and of Asia, and inhabits during the summer the more elevated
regions of the two continents, building his nest in the rocks and among
inaccessible precipices. In the winter he is said to migrate to warmer
and more temperate climes. His habits are precisely those of the rest of
the group to which he belongs.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
THE SECRETARY BIRD.
_GYPOGERANUS SERPENTARIUS._ ILLIG.
The singular conformation of this bird, so different in many respects
from that of the Order to which both in its leading characters and in
its habits it obviously belongs, rendered it for a long time one of the
torments of ornithologists, who puzzled themselves in vain to assign it a
definitive place in the system, and could not agree even with regard to
the grand division of the class to which it ought to be referred. Thus M.
Temminck was at one time inclined to refer it to the Gallinaceous Order;
and M. Vieillot, after repeatedly changing his mind upon the subject,
at last arranged it among the Waders, with which it has absolutely
nothing in common except the length of its legs. It appears, however,
to be now almost universally admitted that its closest affinity is with
the Vultures, with which it agrees in the most essential particulars
of its organization, and from which it differs chiefly in certain
external characters alone, which unquestionably give to it an aspect
exceedingly distinct, but are not of themselves of sufficient importance
to authorize its removal to a distant part of the classification. It
constitutes in fact one of those mixed and aberrant forms by means of
which the arbitrary divisions of natural objects established by man
are so frequently assimilated to each other in the most beautiful, and
occasionally in the most unexpected, manner.
The principal generic characters of the Secretary consist in the form
of his beak, which is shorter than the head, thick, and curved nearly
from the very base, where it is covered with a cere; in the long and
unequal feathers which take their origin from the back of his head, and
are susceptible of elevation and depression; in the naked skin which
surrounds his eye, and which is shaded by a series of hairs in the form
of an eyebrow; in the great length and slenderness of his tarsi, which
form his most striking characteristic in an Order remarkable for a
structure exactly the reverse; and in the shortness of his toes, which
are terminated by blunted talons of little comparative size or curvature.
The only known species measures upwards of three feet in length. Its
plumage, when in a perfect state, is for the most part of a bluish gray,
with a shade of reddish brown on the wings, the large quill-feathers of
which are black. The throat and breast are nearly white, and the rest
of the under surface of the body offers a mixture of black, red, and
white, the plumage of the legs being of a bright black, intermingled
with scarcely perceptible brownish rays. The plumes of the crest which
ornaments the back of the head, and from the supposed resemblance of
which to the pens frequently stuck behind the ears of clerks and other
writers the name of Secretary was given to the bird, are destitute of
barbs at the base, but spread out as they advance, and are coloured
with a mixture of black and gray. Each of the wings is armed with three
rounded bony projections, with which, as well as with his feet, the bird
attacks and destroys his prey.