LABORATORY OF ORNITHOLOGY LIBRARY ane YF ye faliicia ela e CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Laboratory of Ornithology w 159 Sapsucker Woods Road f aa Cornell University = Ithaca, New York 14850 DATE DUE GAYLORD PRINTED INU.S.A THE AMERICAN NATURAL HISTORY “The concise and precise phraseology of science, admirable though it be for the use of those who have been trained to employ it, is to others not only mis- leading, but it may be repulsive.’’—G. BROWN GOODE. “The highest type of scientific writing is that which sets forth useful scientific facts, in language which is interesting, and easily understood by the mill- ions who read.’’—L. A. MANN. apt Painted by Cart Runatius. THE AMERICAN MOOSE, IN NEW BRUNSWICK. THE AMERICAN NATURAL HISTORY A FOUNDATION OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER ANIMALS OF NORTH AMERICA BY WILLIAM T. HORNADAY DIRECTOR OF THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK; AUTHOR OF “TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE,” ETC. ILLUSTRATED BY 227 ORIGINAL DRAWINGS BY BEARD, RUNGIUS, SAWYER, AND OTHERS, 116 PHOTOGRAPHS, CHIEFLY BY SANBORN, KELLER, AND UNDERWOOD, AND NUMEROUS CHARTS AND MAPS CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS NEW YORK viec222es se MCM VI COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY WILLIAM T. HORNADAY Published, April, 1904 SPECIAL NOTICE The publishers hereby give warning that the unauthorized use of illustrations, charts, or maps from this book is expressly forbidden. PREFACE By natural inclination, every child is interested in animals. Whenever a grown person is not so interested, it is positive proof that the natural instincts of childhood either have been turned aside, or stifled by lack of opportunity to live and grow. The love for animals is, I believe, even more universal than the love for music. Whenever I try to sum up the amount of living interest, and also genuine delight, that is yielded by even a very modest acquaintance with the higher forms of life, ‘I would that my tongue could utter the thoughts that arise in me!’”’ It seems a pity that so many appreciative persons should lose so much of life through lack of acquaintance with about three hundred important and well-chosen species of animals. In these days of struggle and stress for Place and Power, and in these nights of insomnia and nerves, there are few side issues more restful or more pleasantly diverting to a tired brain than an active interest in some branch of natural history. A hunt for the life history of a fine animal species is next in restfulness to a real hunt, over the fields and far away, with all cares and worries left behind. The foregoing is for the eyes of adult readers. Argument is not necessary to con- vince young people that a mighty host of interesting things awaits every one who sets foot in the field of Nature. To-day, the all-absorbing question is—how can Nature be made available to the young? This book is one of my two answers to that question; and it is particularly addressed to teachers and parents. It is intended to be a plain, practical, common-sense answer, presented in a systematic and scientific way. The author assumes that fifteen years of earnest thought, and conferences with scores of teachers on the subject of natural history teaching in American public schools, may fairly entitle him to a hearing. Briefly stated, the situation to-day is as follows: The scientific ‘‘zoology”’ is suitable only for students in the higher colleges and universities. Between it and the ‘‘nature study” books of the grammar schools there exists a chasm that is wide and deep. The “nature studies” of some of our city schools are good for young pupils, from ten to fourteen years of age; but they are insufficient for those between fourteen years and university age. Students in the highest grammar-school grades, the high schools, normal schools, academies and small colleges are so inadequately equipped for the study of natural history that fully ninety-five per cent. of them, including also the great mass of students from the higher colleges and universities, enter active life ignorant of even the most important forms of the wild life of our own country! If this statement can be disproved, the author will be delighted to withdraw it, and apologize. While the ‘“‘nature-study” teaching of the present day is acceptable and commend- able for very young pupils, tending to arouse their interest and prepare their minds for more serious work, its sphere is strictly limited, and it is a mistake to carry it too far. Valuable Vv vi PREFACE and permanent results in the study of animal life cannot be achieved by turning in the class-room a kaleidoscope filled with a chaotic mass of birds, butterflies, flowers, frogs and trees. Object-teaching is excellent, if rightly conducted. But the object can easily become a fetich; and all fetich-worship is dangerous to its devotees. Twenty-five years hence, some of the courses of study of the year 1903 will be regarded as educational curi- osities. Even the finest lobster or grasshopper should not be held so close to the eye that it obscures all the remainder of the animal kingdom. There is no royal road to a real acquaintance with living animals. Entertaining and truthful story-books about quadrupeds and birds are excellent in their way, but they do not, and cannot, go down to bed-rock, and lay foundations on which the pupil can build for aye. It has been decreed by Nature that he who will not work shall not know her. There is no process by which the secrets of Nature can be placed automatically in a giddy mind. The author maintains in this volume, and also out of it, that System is the only master- key by which the doors of Animate Nature can be unlocked. Even with boys and girls fifteen years of age, the foundations of natural history classification must not be ignored! Let them but begin right, and the structure is bound to rise. But beware of all chaotic qumbles of unrelated facts! This volume is intended as builder’s “‘filling’’ in the chasm that now exists between the technical ‘‘zoology’’ of the college and the ‘‘nature-study”’ lessons of the common schools. To-day, I am certain that many nature-study teachers dislike their work solely because they lack suitable sources of information. Surely it is unnecessary to suggest to any intelligent and sincere teacher that it is possible to utilize only a portion of this book, by selecting the subjects best adapted to each particular class, and passing over the others. Among the writers of manuals of zoology, it is now customary to begin with the lowest and least interesting forms of life, and work upward toward the highest. That will answer for the advanced student—if he chooses to have it so; but for middle- gerade students and readers at home it is decidedly wrong. All elementary lessons in natural history should begin with Nature’s most important facts, and first bring forward her most interesting animals. To begin with the grasshopper, and struggle through a hundred dreary pages of anatomy and low forms of life, before reaching a creature of personality and intelligence, is too much for the patience of any active school-boy who wishes ‘‘to know about animals.” Anatomy is necessary to the advanced student; but in a book for schools and the general reader, it is easily carried too far. As with human beings, the first thing to be learned about an animal is its place in Nature, and after that, its personality. It is only the scientific specialist who wishes to know first about its mandibular symphysis, the geography of its sutures, and the size of its auditory bullae. As the reader will observe, I have striven to accomplish two ends: (1) to make clear each animal’s place in the great system of Nature, and (2) to introduce the animal in such a manner as to enable the reader to become personally acquainted with it. The subjects chosen for introduction are not confined to any one section of our country, but represent all North America, and even lands beyond. For the purpose of avoiding wide gaps, several important foreign animals have been included. At this point I wish to record a grateful acknowledgment to Mr. Andrew Carnegie, for PREFACE vil his interest in the author’s plans for introducing the study of natural history in schools, and for encouragement at a time when it was most needed. The manuscripts and proofs relating to mammals have been read, criticised and corrected by Dr. T. 8. Palmer, Assistant Chief of the Biological Survey, Washington, D.C. Through Dr. Palmer’s advice, the author’s old-fashioned preferences on certain points of nomenclature were abandoned, and the names of orders, families, genera and species were brought down to date. It is due to him that in our nomenclature we are in reality a trifle in advance of the times rather than behind them. Similar valuable service has been rendered the section on Birds by Mr. C. William Beebe, Curator of Birds, and those on the Reptiles and Amphibians were read and cor- rected by Mr. Raymond L. Ditmars, Curator of Reptiles, in the New York Zoological Park. The portion treating of Fishes received critical attention from Mr. Charles H. Townsend, Director of the New York Aquarium, but in fairness to him it must be stated that he is in no way responsible for the author’s arrangement of the Orders of Fishes. To each of the gentlemen named above I offer a most grateful acknowledgment for timely and valuable services, and desire to assure the reader that for any shortcomings that may appear in the finished book, they are not in the least responsible. In the text of this work I have endeavored to give due credit for the noteworthy facts quoted from other authors. Practically the only instances wherein this has not always been possible are those involving the geographic ranges of species, wherein com- binations of authorities are the rule rather than the exception. To cover all possible omissions, I desire to mention here the names of the authors from whom I have derived many facts, but chiefly regarding distribution, and I gratefully acknowledge indebtedness to Mr. D. G. Elliot’s ‘Synopsis of the Mammals of North America and the Adjacent Seas’’; to the many papers on our Mammalia by Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Dr. T. 8. Palmer, and Mr. Vernon Bailey; to Mrs. Florence Merriam Bailey’s ‘‘ Birds of the Western United States.” Mr. Frank M. Chapman’s “Birds of Eastern North America,” Dr. A. Kk. Fisher’s “Hawks and Owls,’ and Mrs. Mabel Osgood Wright’s “‘Birderaft’’; to Dr. Leonhard Stejneger’s ‘‘Poisonous Snakes of North America’”’; Prof. E. D. Cope’s “‘Crocodilians, Lizards and Snakes of North America,” and Dr. H. Gadow’s ‘“‘Amphibia and Reptiles” ; to Dr. David 8. Jordan and Dr. Barton W. Evermann’s “Fishes of North and Middle America,” and ‘‘American Food and Game Fishes,” and to Mr. Richard Lydekker’s “Royal Natural History.” Naturally, I have drawn freely upon the zoological knowledge that has been accu- mulated in the New York Zoological Park during its existence. A final word must be added regarding the illustrations. Probably no other author ever had a more tempting opportunity for completely filling a volume with photographs -of animals. But, while I am an ardent admirer of the best results in animal photography, and a diligent user of them, I also recognize the limitations of the camera. The demands of a zoological illustration are inexorable; and all too often the camera ignores some of them. A perfect zoological portrait of an animal must possess clear and distinct outlines, showing a side view, and perfect details. A picture sans feet, tail, ears, eyes or legs, is not a portrait; and a ball of fur, even though photographed, is not neces- sarily an animal. Very often, also, the most perfect photograph of a spiritless animal in captivity utterly fails to convey a just and adequate impression of the species as it is seen at its best, on its native heath. vill PREFACE Because of the limitations of the camera, several thousand dollars have been ex- pended upon the beautiful drawings by Messrs. J. Carter Beard, Carl Rungius, Edmund J. Sawyer and a few other artists, which adorn as well as illustrate this work. In addition to these, about one hundred and sixteen particularly excellent photographs have been made, of specially selected subjects, by Messrs. Elwin R. Sanborn, Ernest F. Keller, W. Lyman Underwood, R. J. Beck, and a few other experts in animal photography. With but very few exceptions, the illustrations which appear in this book have been made expressly for it, and now appear for the first time. The author is indebted for the loan of several from the publications of the New York Zoological Society. Now that the last page save the preface has been set up, locked fast and turned into a plate of cold metal, the hour for regret has struck. I know that my proof-reading has not been perfect, and that various errors may be found by those who watch for them. In view of the patient and even tireless efforts and the generous expenditures which Messrs. Charles Scribner’s Sons have bestowed upon this volume, the author deeply regrets that his own share of the work is not as perfect as theirs. For the reader’s sake, also, he wishes that he could have done better. Wisgetem el Brprorp Park, New York City. CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION . f 5 : 3 ‘ é , 3 . : : : 3 CSI BOOK I—MAMMALS CHAPTER I.—ORDERS OF MAMMALS . : : ' " : ° = : a 3 CHAPTER II.—ORDER OF APES AND MONKEYS : : ; . PRIMATES 7 Page | Nnw Worm Monkeys. . . . . 14 ANTHROPOID APES . , , . 7 | Famity oF MarMOsETs . : : . . 16 OLtp Worip MonKEyYs AND Baecone ‘ . 13 | SuBorpDER oF LEMURS . 7 A : seals CHAPTER III.—ORDER OF FLESH-EATING MAMMALS : . . . FERAE 18 Cat Faminy . , : : 3 z . 18 ; Bear Faminy ; be Be Doa Faminy . f : . : . 22 | Fuuu List or THE Baars OF one ore Norru AMERICAN Rexns ; ‘ : ee 4 ICA : : ‘ : ‘ F ‘ EoO SmaLu Fur-Brarers ‘ : A : . 27 | Raccoon Famity . : A ‘ . 41 CHAPTER IV.—ORDER OF SEALS AND SEA-LIONS . me PINNIPEDIA 43 Sra-Lion Famity . 5 ; : . 44 | Seat Faminy 5 : : : : Oe: Review or Fur SEAL Finore ‘ : . 48 | Watrus Famity . : : : . 53 CHAPTER V.—ORDER OF MOLES AND SHREWS ‘ ‘ . INSECTIVORA 56 Mote FamiLy : , s : ‘ . 57 | Sarew Famity A . - é ; aS: CHAPTER VI.—ORDER OF BATS tars : 5 : C . CHIROPTERA 59 Famity or Lrar-Nosep Bats ‘ ; . 62 | Famity or Fatsre VAMPIRES : 3 . 65 Famity or Fret-Tartep Bats é S . 63 | Famity or HorsEsHoE Bats ; , . 66 Famity oF Common Bats : " : . 64 | Faminy or Fruit-Eatine Bats. : . 66 CHAPTER VII.—ORDER OF GNAWING ANIMALS : . GLIRES or RODENTS 68 SQuirreL FamILy . ‘ : s . 68 | Jumpinc Mouse Famity : - § = 2 SEWELLEL FAMILY , . , A . 80 | PockEeT GopHER FAMILy 4 ‘ : . 93 Beaver FamMiLy . 2 R i . 80 | PorcuPINE FaAmILy . 3 % P . 94 Famity or Mick AaNnpD Hane : ; . 83 | Prka FamiLy . : : : : . 95 TyrricaL NortH AMERICAN MICE AND ae 84 | Hare anp RasBsit ane % ; 5 oD Curerk-PoucH Mice anp Rats y ; . 91 CHAPTER VIII.—ORDER OF HOOFED ANIMALS : ‘ ‘ : UNGULATA 99 CATTLE AND SHEEP FAMILY . ; : . 99 | MeasuREMENTS oF LarcEe Carrpou ANTLERS 138 MEASUREMENTS OF MounTAIN SHEEP Horns 112 | Peccary FAMILY . : 2 ; : . 143 Pronc-Hornep ANTELOPE FAMILY : . 115 | Taprr Famity 3 ; F , - . 144 Deer Famity ; ; ; ; . . 118 x CONTENTS Page CHAPTER IX.—ORDER OF WHALES AND PORPOISES rs . 5 . CETE 14 Page | Sperm WHALE FAMILY . : ; 5 . 14 Famity or BALEEN WHALES . 6 . 147 | DotpHIn aND PoRPoIsE FAMILY Z CHAPTER X.—ORDER OF SEA-COWS 3 : . , ‘ 3 2 SIRENIA 1 Famity or MAaNaTEES . ; a : . 153 | Faminty or THE RHYTINA : y 4 . 154 Famity or Ducones . . . : . 154 CHAPTER XI.—ORDER OF TOOTHLESS MAMMALS . é 5 . EDENTATA 156 ARMADILLO FaMILy : ; - . 156 | StorH FamiLy : , : 5 : . 159 Famity or Ant-Eaters : . : . 158 CHAPTER XII.—ORDER OF DIGGERS , j 5 - ‘ . EFFODIENTIA 161 PaNnGouin FamMIty . : : : : . 161 | Aarp-Vark FamiLy ‘i i E : . 162 CHAPTER XIII.—ORDER OF POUCHED MAMMALS , 5 . MARSUPIALIA 1¢ Kancaroo FamiLy S 5 5 . 164 | Opossum FamiLy CHAPTER XIV.—ORDER OF EGG-LAYING MAMMALS , - MONOTREMATA 167 Ducxk-Bitt Faminy : F 5 : . 167 | Ecutpna Faminy . 3 is c ; . 168 BOOK II—BIRDS CHAPTER XV.—INTRODUCTION TO THE BIRD-WORLD . : : ‘ Q . 171 DECREASE IN BirpD LIFE F c ; . 171 | OrpERs or Livine Birps . : fs 7 L75) CHAPTER XVI.—ORDER OF PERCHERS AND SINGERS 2 2 . PASSERES 179 TurusH FAMILY . , 5 ‘ : . 181 | Waxwine Famity . . ‘ . , . 192 KINGLET FAMILY . , 7 , . . 183 | SwaLttow Faminy . A : : 5 . 193 NutuatcH AND TiTMousE FaMILy . . 184 | Tanacer Faminty . z 3 S : . 194 TrREE-CREEPER FAMILY . * ; i . 185 | Fincu anp Sparrow FaMiLy F : - 195 WRENS AND Cat-Birps 5 _ 4 . 186 | Buackpirp FAMILY : : ° . . 199 Dipper FAMILY : . 3 = - . 187 | Crow FaMILy ‘ 4 i é ‘ . 202 WARBLER FAMILY . : : : : . 188 | Hornep Lark FaMILy . 3 : A . 206 Vireo FaMILy : . . : : . 191 | FuycatcHer FAMILY ; : : é . 206 SuHrike FAMILY r : : : 5 . 191 CHAPTER XVII.—ORDER OF ODD FAMILIES : : a . MACROCHIRES 207 GOATSUCKER FAMILY 5 , 7 F *, 207 | Hummine-Birp Famity . : f ‘ . 208 Swirt FamiLy ‘ 7 . , : . 208 1 CHAPTER XVIII.—ORDER OF WOODPECKERS ‘ : : : 5 . PICI 210 CHAPTER XIX.—ORDER OF CUCKOOS AND KINGFISHERS 5 . COCCYGES 214 Cuckoo FaMiLy . a , ; ‘ . 214 | Kinerisuer Famity f : ‘ 3 mead) CHAPTER XX.—ORDER OF PARROTS AND MACAWS : j . PSITTACI 216 CONTENTS xi Page “HAPTER XXI.—_ORDER OF BIRDS OF PREY . . : 6 - RAPTORES 218 i Page RN-OWL FaMILy y 3 : 3 . 218 | Hawks anp EaGLEs ; . 5 : 220) ‘NED-OwL Famity . 3 z , . 220 | VuLTurE FaMILy . . , : ‘ . 232 CHAPTER XXII.—ORDER OF PIGEONS AND DOVES O G . COLUMBAE 237 CHAPTER XXIII.—ORDER OF UPLAND GAME-BIRDS . : . GALLINAE 241 Grouse FaMILy . : : : . 242 | Pueasant FaMILy : ; ; : . 250 CHAPTER XXIV.—ORDER OF SHORE-BIRDS ; . : ‘ . LIMICOLAE 251 CHAPTER XXV.—ORDER OF CRANES, RAILS, AND COOTS . PALUDICOLAE 255 CRANE FaMILy re . 2 . 255 | Famity or Rats . : ‘ : F . 257 CHAPTER XXVI.—ORDER OF HERONS, STORKS, AND IBISES HERODIONES 259 "BRON FAMILY : 5 3 e ; . 259 | Ipts Famity . . ; ; . : . 263 *RK FAMILy 3 * : ; : . 263 | SPooNBILL FAMILY z : : : . 264 CHAPTER XXVII—ORDER OF FLAMINGOES : : : ODONTOGLOSSAE 266 CHAPTER XXVIII.—-ORDER OF DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS . ANATIDAE 267 OrvrERS OF SwIMMING Birps : 6 . 267 | AN Oxssecr Lesson 1n Birp Protection . 276 CHAPTER XXIX.—ORDER OF FULLY WEB-FOOTED BIRDS STEGANOPODES 284 PELICAN FAMILY . § : ‘ ; . 284 | GANNET FAMILY . . , : 5 . 288 CoRMORANT FAMILY 3 ; 5 5 . 287 | Man-o’-WarR-BirD FAMILY . : , . 290 Darter FAMILY . A ‘ : : . 287 CHAPTER XXX.—ORDER OF TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS . - TUBINARES 292 ALBATROSS FAMILY a F 5 ‘ . 292 | FupMar Famity . 5 e , Gi . 294 CHAPTER XXXI.—ORDER OF LONG-WINGED SWIMMERS . . LONGIPENNES 296 GuLLs AND TERNS : 5 5 5 . 296 | Skua AND JAEGER FAMILY . ; Fi . 299 SKIMMER FAMILY . i < % 6 . 298 CHAPTER XXXII—ORDER OF WEAK-WINGED DIVING BIRDS PYGOPODES 300 GREBE FAMILY j ' i , : . 300 | CrirF-DWELLERS OF THE SEA : . . 302 Loon FAaMILy : : ‘ : : . 301 CHAPTER XXXIII.—ORDER OF FLIGHTLESS DIVERS 3 p . IMPENNES 307 CHAPTER XXXIV.—ORDER OF WINGLESS LAND BIRDS : 4 RATITAE 309 BOOK ITI—REPTILES CHAPTER XXXV.—INTRODUCTION TO THE CLASS OF REPTILES ae . 313 Orvers oF Livinc REPTILES . 5 F - : : ; : 3 3 A . 314 xii CONTENTS Page CHAPTER XXXVI.—ORDER OF CROCODILES AND ALLIGATORS CROCODILIA 317 Page | CrocopiLe FaMILy : : . 319 SYNOPSIS OF THE CROCODILIANS . ; . 317 | AMERICAN SPECIES OF Gaecometas : . 320 CHAPTER XXXVII—ORDER OF TORTOISES, TERRAPINS, AND TURTLES CHELONIA 323 SYNOPSIS OF THE ORDER OF TORTOISES AND | SNAPPING TERRAPINS ; ; ; Fi . 328 TURTLES i : : : : : . 324 | Sort-SHELLED “TURTLES”. : . 329 TorToIsE FAMILY . : : : ; . 324 HARD-SHELLED SEA TURTLES , 5 . 330 Mup-TERRAPIN FAMILy . ; . : . 326 | LEATHERY-SHELLED SEA TURTLES . : . 331 SMOOTH-SHELLED TERRAPINS . : : . 326 | CHAPTER XXXVIII.—ORDER OF LIZARDS . 2 : , LACERTILIA 333 CHAPTER XXXIX.—ORDER OF SERPENTS . j $ : : : OPHIDIA 337 GENERAL CHARACTERS OF SERPENTS i . 337 | HARMLESS SNAKES OF THE UNITED StTaTEs . 343 Foop oF SERPENTS . i ; . 338 | Poisonous SNAKES OF NorTH AMERICA . 347 PopuLaR QUESTIONS AND ‘icone: 339 | Specigs oF RATTLESNAKES . : 5 . 349 LARGEST SPECIES OF SERPENTS. : . 340 | SNAKE POISONS, AND THEIR TREATMENT . . 353 BOOK IV—AMPHIBIANS CHAPTER XL.—INTRODUCTION TO THE CLASS OF AMPHIBIANS . : F . 309 GENERAL CHARACTERS OF AMPHIBIANS . . 359 | Brrp’s-EyE VIEW OF THE AMPHIBIANS . . 360 CHAPTER XLI.—ORDER OF FROGS AND TOADS 5 fi B ECAUDATA 361 FamILy OF WaTER FROGS : : é . 362 | Toap FamiLy 3 3 ' 5 ; . 364 TreEe-FroGc FaMILy 3 3 : : . 363 | ToNGUELESs FRoGs ‘ : : : . 364 CHAPTER XLII.—ORDER OF TAILED AMPHIBIANS . : 5 5 URODELA 366 FaMILY OF SALAMANDERS 3 : ; . 366 | FREE-GILLED SALAMANDERS . i : . 370 NewtTs, or TRITONS : : é : . 368 | Two-LeGGED SALAMANDERS . 5 . 370 FAMILY OF AMPHIUMAS . : i" , . 369 | OrppR oF Worm-LIKE rcenertee esi BOOK V—FISHES CHAPTER XLIII.—INTRODUCTION TO THE CLASS OF FISHES 5 : ; oe FisHery INDUSTRIES AND FisH PROPAGATION 376 THE OrpDERS OF LivING FISHES . 7 . 378 DISTRIBUTION OF Eacs AND Live Fisx. . 377 | CHAPTER XLIV.—ORDER OF THE CONNECTING-LINK FISHES SIRENOIDEI 380 CHAPTER XLV.—ORDER OF THE SPINY-FINNED FISHES . ACANTHOPTERI 382 BassES AND SUNFISHES : . ‘ . 382 | MiscELLANEOUS SPINY-FINNED FIsHES . 388 Sea-Bass FamIny . 5 ; 3 . 385 | SNAPPER FAMILY . . 391 Percu AND PIKE-PERCH Renta : F . 386 | Opp FIsHEs OF THE one Ree Cae 392 CHAPTER XLVI.—ORDER OF PIKES . ; : : ; : . HAEPLOMI 394 CONTENTS xill Page CHAPTER XLVII—ORDER OF TROUT AND SALMON . si ISOSPONDYLI ne Page SALMON FaMILy . : : : = . 396 | NortH AMERICAN TrouT : . ; . 397 SuBDIVISION OF NorTH AMERICAN TROUTS AND THE SALMON GrouP : : , . . 400 CHARRS ; : ‘ : : : . 397 | AMERICAN SALMON : : : ‘ . 400 CHAPTER XLVIII.—ORDER OF FLYING-FISHES : . SYNENTOGNATHI 409 CHAPTER XLIX.—ORDER OF SOLID-JAW FISHES . . . PLECTOGNATHI 410 CHAPTER L.—ORDER OF SUCKERS AND MINNOWS : PLECTOSPONDYLI 412 CHAPTER LI.—ORDER OF HALF-GILLED FISHES : : . HEMIBRANCHII 415 CHAPTER LII—ORDER OF CATFISHES ; : A é NEMATOGNATHI 416 CHAPTER LIII.—ORDER OF FLAT-FISHES . 5 : ; HETEROSOMATA 418 CHAPTER LIV.—ORDER OF FOOT-FISHES . : : - 5 PEDICULATI 420 CHAPTER LV.—ORDER OF EELS . : 7 cs : : 5 APODES 421 CHAPTER LVI.—ORDER OF PIPE-FISHES AND SEA-HORSES . LOPHOBRANCHI 423 CHAPTER LVII—ORDER OF THE DOGFISH : 3 . HALECOMORPHI 424 CHAPTER LVIII.—ORDER OF GAR-FISHES, OR GANOIDS . . GINGLYMODI 425 CHAPTER LIX.—ORDER OF STURGEONS . : , . . GLANIOSTOMI 427 CHAPTER LX.—ORDER OF THE PADDLE-FISH . 3 s . SELACHOSTOMI 429 CHAPTER LXI.—ORDER OF THE CHIMERAS : i , CHIMAEROIDEI 431 CHAPTER LXII—ORDER OF SHARKS . 5 ; 5 5 : : . SQUALI 432 CHAPTER LXIII.—ORDER OF RAYS AND SKATES . 3 ° : . RAIAE 434 CHAPTER LXIV.—LOWEST CLASSES OF VERTEBRATES . ¢ 4 5 : . 437 LAMPREYS ‘ z F 3 ‘ ; . 437 | LANCELETS . : . : 7 : . 438 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE PAGE Albatross, Black-Footed ..........20000005- 293 _ Canvas-Back Duck.............0sccceesees 275 Alli patorsirg asec terse xe eeotere entrees eee as Sl Gime Careinalioaracrs se teceers cr iaree terri lentes svetslereets 198 Alligator skull Folger ae semecce sc cteeec 318 Caribou, Woodland ................. esse eee 133 Anaconda), Yellow: o.as <1 cs once saeric eee 341 Carp, German Scaled..................----- 413 ‘Anpel Phishwrme rr cccrstiicctsecrettemteranent osc, \@assowary, Ceram. a2. s a crieiccsiese crs aie lus sie eee 309 An clereer nec errr rien ti iiciecraerr err AD Ole CAt-Birdiraetiea tenements chit cunt ai iietet heart. 187 Amt-Hater Greater creiirie ciirece rae U5 Seep Chickadee meta ccvac:oe siaciene bis crs ciehensysioreyeye ones 184 Antelope, Prong-Horned ................... 116 Chipmunk, Hasterns 5250.62 hese coeees see 72 Antlers of Alaskan Moose .................- 142 Chipmunk, Western .....................-- 73 Antlers? Do Elk Shed Their—4 figures...... 119 Chimpanzee, A Dressed-Up................. 10 Antlers of Greenland Caribou—2 figures...... 135 Chimpanzee, Young Female................. 9 Antlers of Kenai Caribou................... 134° Chimera, (Spotted! <0. 6.45... 5.¢5ceenesee: 431 Armadillos, Three-Banded and Six-Banded.... 157 Coach-Whip Snake ......................-. 345 Auklet, Rhinoceros. ............0.2000c000: AO. Monch wessondsges peuccesuoonienoniens pov 234 Axolotl, Two Lives of the.................. SOM CODLOm SNAKC wants reitaae errs oeecries letras 369 COOt i acon meron uinemians oases ames de case 258 Baboon, Dead Gelada.................-.... 14 Copperhead Snake....................005. 352 BAG Or resp cegse sare teveotisres sien hery sskarel ote setae ates BP) KCl suokonsoenancsacaoaaoncodnbedac 289 Bass BlackiSearm came nae ean oenee es SS OME COV Olena itera ic insta tehoreterierstr 23 Bassi Oalicoss vnc we oer coke ee se eae s 383 Crane, Whooping .........5....s+eceeeseee= 256 BasstiStripedieniracsdace aos ccmie ae 386, Creeper eBbrownu eras ceiiad ect tac niin ee 186 Bass, Small-Mouthed Black. ................ 3830 eCrocodile;Hlonidavmascac dace clrerae 321 Bat ebonnetediayorrirscicrree ceva eras 63 Crocodile, Skull of Indian................... 318 Bat, Bornean Naked ...............00ee 000s 59 Crocodile, Skull of Florida.................. 318 Bat, California Leaf-Nosed ................. 62 Crocodile, Skull of Orinoco.................. 318 Bat, Flower-Nosed........-.-0-:00:2ssse000 62) (Cross-billAmericam=..- ssc ccs eee esirene 195 Ba tsyy bor (bata peer rrcysr el ereiarere siyesle lates 67 Cuckoo, Yellow-Billed ..................... 214 Bat, Hammer-Headed...............-...... 66 IBatahed @amrnass tras sree eee eae 65 Deer, Mule, in the Bad-Lands .............. 125 Bear, Alaskan Brown..................5--- 33 Deer, Mule, with Antlers in Velvet........... 127 Bear, American Black ............---+00055 39 Deer, White-Tailed........................ 128 BearmGlaciersaqncrtstater ert mycket as 40 Deer, White-Tailed, “Freak” antlers of .... 131 Bear, Grizzly, at Home..................... 38 Deer, Young White-Tailed ................. 130 Bears Polaraceyernscteroniee pacer eee renee Rapine 360 (Devile Bishi ian rerarcccrericntarses ses a es ee tine 436 Beavers okulliotge ammenities sera: 82 Dicrostonyx. hudsonius, Skin of ............... 85 Beavers, American, and their Work ......... 81 Dipodomys merriami, Skin of................ 85 IBitternseAMmericanmnate merry erro ta ar 2022) eDopfishe seria. resis errr vce 424 Black#Ducks Headiiofime..ssscedse sees e oc 269) Dolphin; Common'2 4.2. saacae se cleneee 151 Blackbird, Red-Winged.................... 200! Dove, Mourning 3 .2...0.- 0c. -ses-csewnes 239 Blitefishietec actcriterdete teeter cwreesitste teed heer 387 Blucbindsrrner iter: cad anict ai orreeiats csr ngs} WHEY RSH! 6g eben oecosdoooadouoauuGoDmancK 170 SMG ad AY secteccients atone’ aveteycneaskenanbyerevaiae sooner 204 sHelMlectrickacven ces nesn ersten yearele aiecrele elater 421 BoaiConstrictoraseseree since carrer aersieers 340 Egret, Great White..................00000. 262 BobolinkwniSpringyya.--. 0-4-2) es a. I SeeebiderwAmertcanes ray ae cite aero nee 277 IBOD=Wihl teres cece ananerapeve cea eins cied cen s tee 242 Wider, King, Head of ............00.ccce0es 279 BOX= Mishtegy aris eiissren rae cetisa eee eaeleaw eet 374 Hider, Spectacled, Head of ................. 279 Buffalo, American Bison, or...............-. LOM SHI PAmericalssacnime once ae telsiereterele 121 Buffle-Head Duck..................000005- 275 Elk, Winter Home of the .................. 123 Bullhead, Common...............-020ee00s 416 Evotomys gapperi, Skinof ................00. 85 XV Xvi LIST PAGE Her-de-Wancemenmer trina eer ee eee 353 Ferret, Black-Footed ..............-0+0000- 29 Fins of a Typical Fish (Black Grunt).......... 376 ishleneirs sree cee cwean cree ae wereseeee coe eRe 28 IH lamin gO paneer aa me cera tsis eee 266 Elying-Pish,Common)...2.:.:-.22220-:s2:-- 409 IHOXEATCLIC ey eames ae Pe oe ee Seg 26 Box Blackior Silvera as ace ashe aes ee 25 HOxMGIaye ee cence os eee ere Di Hoxaed wae turn eke a eine eee 25 ro geo pardier crate ceietn cies bers erate cette 362 GadwallPatieadtotmesaasace tence erin e209 Gana Pik Clears tenet cy ve niey ae Ser ener Rai ae come 425 Garter-Snake, Common..................-.- 345 Gavial SS kullio ieee eon ee eran ee 318 GilagMonstersnercessrten eee ere ee OD) Glass Snake sys crete essettee nee areca ig: aoe ead 336 Goat, Rocky Mountain .................... 113 Golden-Eye Duck, Head of ................. 269 Goldfinch, American ....................-.- 196 Goosen Canad aiaererr ee enor ee eee 280 Gopher;Red*Pocketica. asses eee eae 94 Gorilll averse reer ae erin eter ease eee 6 Grackle@bunpletatis sci tac tees te eer 202 Grose, Ohivwk...5sseteccdungmousomacseusc 245 Grouse, Eastern Ruffed .................... 244 (Grouse pbinnated merece ae eer eee 246 (CARUSO SPIE Gaon nbean mons one eekeeeasoade 247 Grosbeak, Rose-Breasted ..................- 199 Gull ilerrin gees err iery- oer tater 297 alibnits Commons .tces asec cyewsee ee ase 418 Dare Polaris ces cesccors iets acre eaer sere ene cities 97 L'aresd Drain @asgevces eee icesss essere ey eestor eee ee were 97 FEL EAN Copa V ea VilI) Oca penevoreg sm trruet sett aonsaensues repeat ease 97 Harlequin Duck, Head of................... 269 Haven of Refuge for Ducks ................ 276 Hawk Coopersiae vanadate cr ae ae 231 Hawk, Sharp-Shinned ..................... 230 awiksis PALL OWere nematic meni es 227 Heron Greatebliicnse -cscserece ste eee ee oe 260 Heron, Little Green ................2..205- 261 Hog-NosediSnaketryasceree crn letecr 347 Horned Lizard; Horned ‘“Toad”’............ 336 Horns of Asiatic and American Mountain Sheepeee ere rr re 114 Humming-Bird, Ruby-Throated............. 209 TL BISWWiILeR ese eicc cei leretceacke cee eee sme OS: louana, Common. s.cees cesses acs eens OS Iguanas, Marine, on Narborough Island...... 332 ido Water eater rp eaeneree reo Peer noncancer 19 Minotisherwmseltedierrte i mcaeretetren acer pre terier ne 215 EGE UC oocceodunvehucogpueg soodacuns 343 OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Kkinglet, Ruby-Crowned.............++0---- 184 Kite, Swallow-Tailed ..................+... 232 MarkeuMicado warren ae rarer Per enone 200 lemmings Eludsoni Bayon ever etaa ereerere eet 86 Memuralutiediaas eee nett ater re eae 17 Tizard’ Blue-Dailledieeey sees ee eter 334 TESQOTIS gays eee see sale execu ears niente aha oe ekere Pie eee ee 301 ung= ish ei. cect cunaretucrd een 380 [Ey acke JEEh nity Ben MIAL AM aka Ub ak oes GR HS 22 Toynx Canadair arccler me real cee ere 22 MackerelS'S panishimerscesste tae tei saree there 388 Magpie, American ae ere arr ere 203 MallardsDuck ye) oon onan eee 268 Manatee, HMlorid aryase tae eee 155 Man=-o7=War. Birdsscnec acces soe etre 290 Marten’ ic. eesc: cictacvor cram eee ect eee ee eet ae 28 Martine Purplebeemermnees tester tae ent 193 Marmoset.:COmmomnanaensie: cerita ener 16 MassasaugaiSnakes. 7.0.5 eee eerie oto De Master ofthe iiraileiiines. 2 eee ae 109 Menobranchus, or Mud-Puppy .............. 370 Menopoma, or Hellbender.................. 368 Merganser, American, Head of.............. 279 Merganser, Head of Hooded ................ 279 Merganser, Red-Breasted................... 278 Microdipodops megacephalus, Skin of. ......... 85 Microtus pennsyl anicus, Skin of.............- 85 Mink tcestaeeccireet otal ieeaysteleach orien tere erent mene 28 Moccasin miWiateremer ise iee terete eae em Fe Mockine=Birdiaewecn steerer eee 188 Mole, Digging Muscles of a.................. 57 MoleiCommonrer cn eee eee 57 Mole, Fore Foot of Star-Nosed............... 58 Mole, Nose of Star-Nosed................... 58 Molex Star=Nosed iene ane cee 57 Monkey, Black-Faced Spider ............... 15 Monkeys Dianay ne. se ee ee eee 13 Monkey, Japanese Red-Faced............... 13 Monkey, White-Throated Sapajou........... 14 Moose in New Brunswick............ Frontispiece Mouse Hieldiencs ace sce treater ees S6 Mouse Jumpin oye cree ees eee ie dean 93 Mouse, Le Conte’s Harvest (lower figure)... .. 90 Mouse Molec sere scotiercva snare oictonene acne nena 90 Mouses Rice=Hieldiis serciew crretereneieeitiee ee 89 Mouse, Red-Backed ....................... 87 Mouse, Typical Pocket ..................... 92 Mouse, White-Footed (upper figure) .......... 90 Mullet Silverneeaseanne cer tee ae ee een OU) Murres@ commoners aie eee ene 301 NOSE SoA creodennrcesooscasoacpoosas AOL Musk-Ox, Wild Herd of .................... 106 Musk-Ox, Young Female................... 104 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE IN ar W halle arcenerersos enter alas ems aiiaes oper eae Ronan 152 Neotoma floridana, Skin of ...............0.- 85 (Ni ehith alot wane tot aaee we er etre ae cons 207 Nutcracker, Clarke’s ..........-....2.-..+.- 205 Nuthatch, White-Breasted ................. 185 OCElO ty penta mentcneneae tae ee ag eeerer yn etna 21 Old Squaw Duck, Head of ................. 269 Onychomys leucogaster, Skin of.............-. 85 Opossum, Murine, and Young .............. 166 Opossum, Virginia a2... acc. occ e ees 165 Orang-Utan, Female and Young ............ 11 Orang-Utans “Fight in the Tree-Tops”....... 10 OniolevandeNesteercrmere ene tence 201 Oryzomys palustris, Skin of ...........0000005 85 @spreyevA MeriCaMern fo pce ie en acne 226 O theremin cn em aes erent Sees tate ere 28 Chall [Seivikis oan cmdunncaee aoe auomnnoes sae CD Owl Barred terrae tey ee eee rie seer eee aerate 220 Owl, Great Horned 2.025. 0.505 cee eee wee 223 Owl, Screech Owl S Snowy acer ees eae ene 22 Owl, Young Great-Horned.................. 223 Owl Young) Screechis. css sera s hanes ae 222 Rad dilesHislereretere vet merit ira rae tere eet 429 Paddle-Fish, Under View of................. 429 Pangolin, Rolled Up....................... 161 Parrakeet, Carolina...............2.00 00 0e- 216 Partridge, California Mountain .............. 242 Partridge, California Valley................. 243 ipeccany «Collared. cece ci eee ese ene oe 144 Pelican, California Brown................--- 285 Pelicans, Florida Brown, on Pelican Island ... 284 Pelican, Great White....................0-- 286 Remeuln Mmperoreyayse ere secretes ere 306 Perchsaviello wing stony: een eee ree aire eter 383 Perognathus fasciatus, Skin of............... 85 Peromyscus leucopus, Skin of................ 85 Perodipus richardsoni, Skin of............... 85 iPetrely Stormysseer creel aee poms cier crete 04 Phenacomys orophilus, Skin of............... 85 Pickereli@hamieeccerc serene een c ae ae Ace 386 Pigeon, Band-Tailed ....................... 288 Pike-Perchs Yellow 22.22 2 oe oe onsets 386 Pin=tail a clematis eters ote ueone cosets =. 272 Pine (Snakex epee ose cae nse a ee eye eine 344 Pipes Wish Gneatwet rrr cece yer a 423 IMA OU 5 anedeoddabasnsoneensete nose docoe 167 Plover Mild eermeerrraceeiececicr eters ralciersnat 251 lumace ofjayBird Werssee ese sales oe eee 180 Porcupine, Canada ................0020005- 95 Porcupine rtishimarn reat net se errs t 374 JORIS Dus oes gomons one nocaonenmy oe 76 Prairie="“Dog’’ Burrow .2 4252045602 104-4 78 xvii PAGE Rtarnnigans Wallowa emus: ceca a seine 249 PutineiCommonpescce cere ee ee 304 Puthin a Rutted meyers eevee tact rete cece 304 Ruttersbishteceee errr ie ee ett eee Aa 374 Puma, or “‘Mountain Lion” ................. 20 Python, Reticulated ............--.++-+-2-+ 33% Rabbits Cotton=Raileaenreny ter ee cere ee ae 97 ie Rab Dita Chaamrer tet rncmete erie ete irr 97 FRAC COO ERR te een er Cerne eee ern 41 Ra Vin grin arene petro ae eee mene heen OD dy Rabe @ottonimee reer eee etree tee eae 89 RatablloridaswWood!wenercran crise ene 88 Rat Kancaroo ws aoasee en sae eee 91 Rate Kiam Caro yacwer sees cheers case es 92 Rattlesnake, Banded, yellow phase.......... 351 Rattlesnake, Banded, dark phase ........... 351 Rattlesnake, Diamond..................4.. 350 Rattlesnake; Prairie ....< 23s: cas ese es 351 Haye eee es cvcyaia eecraretaenmtnces seem eneten ter ateeneer 436 Redhead SD uckserrvry arent eer peresnen tars 274 Reithrodontomys leconti, Skin of............... 85 Ring-Necked Duck, Head of................. 269 UO Lin peeeettee nen oe un en aes eR ee oe 181 Ruddy Dueck} Headioity s: c2c sca 2 apacey aie eiene 279 SAMO nGUINM at eeee pert tace eet ye ay seus 401 palmonySebagOnn we sania cee ayeaeeects 404 Sand=Piperaweasheacesauecisee cee eee 253 Satiwihisliverae va crsrececeoses ctertene eaenteset casmctsne et rte eees 435 Scaup Duck, Head of...................... 269 Scoter, Head of American .................. 269 Scoter) Head ‘ofSurfis ese ns. donee see ke 269 ea EOrseimeenceen Stren wees Hees een merece 423 SealtHarboreen ascent ee cere ein cine 44 Seal welarp parr e ta seek ete cacy erties arenes 51 Seal, Head of Hooded ..................... 53 Seal eRibbomeercrrtreteas arse cre es eae 52 Seals, Fur, on ‘‘ Hauling Grounds”’.......... 49 Sea-Lions, California ....................... 44 Sea-Lionystellerispeacc css eens ners 44 Sea-lionm Stellems reve rier ere re eee 46 ShadaiCommongeentesem cet eer ene 407 Shark, Hammer-Head .2. 605-2 5.00. ..00000 432 Sharle-Mackerelo 7.0 .ascicsdsscc sce se nee ane 432 harks Raye ae ccpacies eas cie cies sous ener renee 434 Sheep, Black Mountain .................... 111 Sheep, Head of White, front view ............ 110 Sheep, Head of White, side view............. 110 Sheep, White Mountain .................... 111 ShovellersDuckwmnpen a cer eet 271 Shrew Commontarerrveticrcenaee et rete 58 Shrew; Short-Latleds....i- ane» 4e55 ser ani 58 phrikem Loggerheadtcmtactersre eyecare 191 Sigmodon hispidus, Skin of ..............4.. 85 Xvili PAGE Siren Salamander, or Mud-“‘Eel”............. 371 Skeleton of an American Bison .............. 100 Skeleton of a Bird of Prey.................-. 219 Skeleton ofaTurtle .................00.005 323 Skeletons of Man and Gorilla ................ 8 Skeleton of Pale Bat....................000. 60 skunkiCommony) scsi cee eee eee 31 SkunkaS potted messes eeee nrieee eels 31 DSlothywo-Toedtenacccecaischier ae: 160 Snake-Dird tte eer erent errs 287 SHappervRedmerarse errr ae ees 391 SnipenViilsonseerr ae eee eee ee eee 253 Snow-Bunting:... oases aec 2 inate ore cee 196 Sparrow, White-Throated .................. 197 Spermophile|Say’s\ sm es- cee sccee se ee ee ee: 73 Spermophile, Thirteen-Lined ................ 74 Spermophile, Richardson’s.................- 75 Spoonbill, Roseate ................0...000- 265 Squirrel, Eastern Red ..................0005 71 Squirrel wulying sere eee ee 80 Squirrel Grayaaecee ere sae erate eee eee 69 Squirrel, Southern Fox ..................... 70 Steller’s Duck, Head of..................... 279 Stickleback, Two-Spined.................... 415 Sturgeon; Make jac. aanctist ae cece eee 427 Sueker;@ommon'. cs ooo. ae ene eee 412 SunfishsCommoniesceeiess+ a cleccne ce sere. 383 Swallows arnieeseteveteciie eri eines 195 Swallow, Cliff,and Nest.................... 194 Swanelrumpetens.ts1t oe eae runes 282 Swordfishwewec mses ease ene wa oe oni 392 Synaptomys coopert, Skin of ................. 85 Tadpole to Frog, From...............-...00- 361 Tails of American Deer..................... 129 Tamandua Ant-Hater...................0005 158 ManarersScarletaasssc secre eee 195 PATPOM Corstens soles eins ouka eee ees ae 406 Teal, Blue-Winged ......................5. 270 Teal, Head of Green-Winged................. 269 MernyCommoneye tee eee eren ian 297 Merrapin, Alligatorie sn .aelrle eee series 328 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS MAPS AND CHARTS PAGE Map of North America ........ Third page of cover Landscape Chart of the Orders of Living Mam- MAIS Ysa easy as hieiterss we Mae as renee a che 5 Map of Annual Migration of the Fur Seal Herd . 48 Chart of the Hare and Rabbit Family ....... 97 Range of the Musk Ox..................00. 105 PAGE Tortoise; (BOxr wejrerey-secesere terre tesarer ers eave aileloee 325 Tree-Duck, Head of Fulvus...............-6- 269 Tree-Frog, Northern.............---.2++00+ 363 (Prigger-Wishicmcre era erie eet tert 374 Trout, Brook cue ace ere ecto 399 TroutsRainbowe seen eee eee one 398 Ta Ss ok castes ecco otar ey tes steehore ks Lgemenntegeeeeel eee 389 Turkey; Virginia Wild’... ee rae 250 “Turtle;?)Musksetn.cag aoe oeraneeetae praer 326 ‘Lurtley2 ‘Painted sya.eoee emer mci cee 327 “Turtle,” Soft-Shelled ..................--- 329 Turtle, Zs Wood Meera tet ot irre etrterteaiste 328 Vireo; Red-Eyedj.- sae orm se ieee tein 190 Vole, Northwestern ..............---eeeeeee 87 Vultures Californias --cieecieeeeecr rine 233 Vulture, Young California. .................. 234 Wallabay, ROCK Sencar ieree ete cyeleterortaee ens 164 Walrus) Pacificn anc cece ei renee 44 WialrusPaciicnsem test cere ee eee 54 Walrus, Young Atlantic ................000. 55 Warbler, Yellowis-n as ee aeste one rae 189 Water-Snake, Red-Bellied .................. 346 Waxwing, Bohemians seers 193 Whales Attacked by Killers. ................ 150 Wihale® Bow-Headpn semester 147 Widgeon, Head of American................. 269 WO KCIERY Gon gondnaonuogcenonoepocoodoctd 22 Wolverine | oo cre ee SS ee 30 Woodcock, American ................000005 252 Woodcock ontNesttan oars sae eerie 252 IW oodchuckseenma autre mereninee 79 Wiood=Duchey frre ceracraciet rae leeiche reer ae 273 Woodpecker, Downy................000000 213 Woodpecker, Golden-Winged ............... 211 Woodpecker, Red-Headed .................. 212 \yicovore MOTHS Goo con dooouacodohooseanoanas 182 IW ROD ce cis cosestareve os alae eeteiare ayers tenceenere ere eee 187 Zapus hudsonius, Skin of...........000eeeeee 85 PAGE Distribution of Mountain Sheep in North ATM OTICAE, trags vie era setenreh ernie ene eee 108 Distribution of the Prong-Horned Antelope ... 117 Distribution of the Moose in North America ... 141 Landscape Chart of the Orders of North Amer- ICANUBITdgi qe sarees Maa etter rere tere 177 INTRODUCTION THE GROUND-PLANS OF NATURE Science is a collection of facts concerning natural objects or phenomena, arranged in good order, and made useful. Natural Science is the study of Nature’s works and forces, and embraces all things not made by man. Among its grand divisions may be mentioned natural history, chemistry, and physics. Natural History is the study of Nature’s common objects; but by most persons, this name is applied only to the study of animal life. Natural history treats of three great kingdoms—the animal, vegetable, and mineral. . The Animal Kingdom embraces not only all the living creatures which now inhabit the earth, but also those which have died, become extinct, and left only their buried remains, called fossils. Of the animal kingdom, three great groups of subjects may be recognized, as follows: MAN, the study of whom is called............. 0.0. cee cece cette eens AN-THRO-POL’0-GY THE LOWER ANIMALS, the study of which is called....................... Zo-0u’0-Gy EXTINCT, or FOSSIL ANIMALS, the study of which is called................ PA-LE-ON-TOL’0-GY In strict reality, Paleontology is only a branch of Zoology, for the two are inseparably dove- tailed together. The living animals of to-day are the standards by which the paleontologist studies and determines those of the past. This diagram illustrates the relations which the grand divisions of Natural History bear toward each other: KINGDOMS. SCIENCEs. An-thro-pol’o-gy ANiMalistn ceciae cre see oon saree cine: Gerster elaens + Zo-ol’o-gy ( Pa-le-on-tol’o-gy NATURAL HISTORY 3 B (in a broad sense). Viemeta ble sine steers casita waters tee coe ot/a-ny Mineral: VpSe ue, ( Min-er-al’o-gy In its broadest sense, Natural History includes Chemistry and Physics; but as that term is now commonly used, it is intended to refer only to the life histories of living creatures. An Animal is a living creature belonging to the animal kingdom; but this word is commonly, though incorrectly, used to designate mammals alone. The animals of the world are so vast in number, and so varied in form, that these lessons will treat only of the higher forms of life, known as Ver’te-brates. A Vertebrate is an animal having (usually) a bony skeleton, and a spinal column, or back- bone, composed of a series of bones called ver’te-brae. This division of life is called a Branch. The Branch Ver-te-bra’ta is divided into seven grand divisions, called Classes; which are known as Mam’mals, Birds, Reptiles, Am-phib'ians, Fishes, My’zonts, and Lance'lets. 1Two other Classes, Enteropneusts and Tunicates, are, by some modern zoologists, regarded as Vertebrates. These low forms, however, lack a complete backbone, or notochord, and are therefore omitted. xix xx INTRODUCTION A Mammal is a warm-blooded creature, that brings forth its young alive, and nourishes it with milk from its own body. All land mammals, save a few species, are covered with hair; and all sustain life by breathing air with the aid of lungs. Except man, the mammals which live upon land are also called quad’ru-peds. A Quad’ru-ped is a mammal which possesses four feet, or, having two hands and two feet, like the apes, yet walks upon all-fours. Man is a bi’ped, or two-footed animal. Land mammals generally are quad’rupeds, or four- footed, and monkeys are quad-ru’ma-nous, or four-handed. The term quadrumana is often applied to apes and monkeys because the long great-toe on the hind foot makes the foot quite hand-like in its grasping power. A Bird is a warm-blooded animal, which comes from an egg that usually is laid and hatched by the parent. It breathes air, is covered with feathers, usually is provided with wings, and all save a few species can fly. A Reptile is a cold-blooded, egg-laying animal, usually covered with scales or a bony shell. All have lungs and breathe air, but some are able to live in water so comfortably they are called am-phib'i-ous. An Am-phib’i-an is a member of the Class of animals which forms a connecting link between reptiles and fishes. Some breathe air, and live alternately on land and in water, like frogs. Others have gills, and live in water all their lives. A few are capable of developing either gills or lungs, according to the presence or absence of water, like the wonderful Ax-o-lotl’ of Mexico. A Fish is a cold-blooded animal, possessing gills, fins, and (usually) scales. All save a very few species live permanently in water. The exceptions are certain fishes in the East Indies which for short intervals hop about on land, or even climb rocks or trees! GRAND DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL WORLD BRANCHES. CLASSES. Mammals Birds Reptiles WGI Ur Gor aneaian oc conaronondonighemnoGonmab dodsndd 4.304 Amphibians Fishes Myzonts Lancelets Insects :—Body in segments, reproduce by a complete change in form. Crus-ta’ce-ans (Crabs, Lobsters, etc.):—Skeleton external; gill-breathing, chiefly aquatic. cere Mol'lusks (“‘ Shell-Fish’’) :—Soft-bodied, usually covered by a hard, limy shell. WORLD. \ Worms:—True worms, and other forms not fitting in elsewhere. Star-Fishes :—Salt-water animals, with star-like structure. Corals :—Minute, salt-water animals, which build up solid masses of their limy skeletons. Jelly-Fishes :—Disk-shaped, jelly-like sea animals, with no hard parts. Sponges :—Stationary aquatic animals, which look like plants; skeletons of tough, fibrous cells. Pro-to-zo’ans:—Lowest forms of life, beginning with the single cell; mostly microscopic. HOW ANIMALS ARE CLASSIFIED In order to know and appreciate even a small proportion of the world’s animals, their correct arrangement into groups is as necessary as a systematic arrangement of the books in a vast library. By their forms and characters, animals are divided into natural groups and subdivisions, and in INTRODUCTION XXi order that we may understand their proper relationships, and their places in Nature, we must learn and remember the general principles of animal classification. Without this foundation knowl- edge, a clear view of the splendid domain of animal life is impossible, and the life histories of our living creatures will be but a jumble of disconnected facts, of very slight practical use. When properly simplified, the classification of the principal groups of our vertebrate animals is as easily learned and remembered as the leading facts of geography. Once learned, each animal observed thereafter can be located in the group to which it belongs, and its place in Nature under- stood. This helps toward exact knowledge of its anatomy and habits. No-men’ela-ture is the naming of animals, and the groups to which they belong. The object of popular nomenclature, or naming, is to make the place and character of an animal clearly and correctly understood by the greatest possible number of people. » Scientific nomenclature relates to the use of technical names, in Latin or Greek, in which the general student is not often interested. Whenever through frequent or frivolous changes of scientific names, or by the giving of too great a number of them, our knowledge of animals becomes confused and uncertain, scientific classification defeats its own object, and becomes worse than useless. The observance by technical writers of the fatal rule of priority, by which the most obscure names often are exalted at the expense of more appropriate names in universal use, is rapidly debasing the legitimate value of Latin names generally, and creating wide-spread uncertainty and confusion. Latin words are used for most scientific names, because Latin is the universal language of scien- tific men, the world over; and Latin names are used by all educated nations without change in form. In the development of animal classification, the various classes of animals are subdivided into groups which gradually grow smaller, until at last each species is named and placed, thus: Classes are divided into Orders: Orders ‘‘ He “Families: Families “ Bs ““ Genera (singular = genus): Genera “ a “Species (singular = species) : Species ‘ ii “* Tndividuals. As an example, take the Puma, or Mountain “ Lion.” Its Order is FE’RAE, the wild beasts. “Family is Fe’li-dae, the Cats. Genus is Fe’lis, the true Cats. Species is concolor, gray. Scientific name, therefore, is Felis concolor. All these groups are divided into subdivisions, such as suborders, subfamilies, subgenera, and even subspecies; but in the writer’s opinion there is very little excuse for their creation, or for their continued existence, and the student will do well to let them alone—until he feels the need for them. A tau’to-nym is a scientific name in which the name of the genus is repeated as the name of the species. Thus, some authors write the Latin name of the American Bison as Bison bison; and the Anhinga is Anhinga anhinga. In America, the tautonym habit is merely another step toward the complete demoralization of zoological nomenclature. A tri-no/mial is a name in three sections, applied to a subspecies; such as Felis concolor oregonensis. By scientific authors, species are frequently divided into subspecies, or races, because in widely separated localities, animals of the same parent stock sometimes are so influenced by differences in climate, food, and surroundings that they assume different colors, or grow larger or smaller than the type. But, no matter how much individuals may differ in size and color, if it is possible to bring together a collection of specimens which will show all stages of variation from the type to Xxli INTRODUCTION the extremes, then the specimens all belong to the same species. Thus, in passing from New York to Ohio, specimens of the Gray Squirrel show all shades of variation, from the typical gray to black; but all belong to the same species, called in Latin, Sci-w’rus car-o-li-nen’ sis. A Species is an assemblage of individual animals which in at least one respect are distinctly different from all others, and whose peculiarities are so well marked and so constant that they can be distinguished from all others without the aid of locality labels. When a new kind of animal is found, adult specimens of which are distinctly different from those of all known species, an average specimen is taken as a type, and it is described, and christened by its describer. Every species should be distinguishable by external characters; and any animal which requires to be killed and dissected before it can be named, is of no practical value as an independent form. To secure recognition among zoologists, it is important that the first description of a new species should appear in a regular publication of some scientific society, or in a scientific journal. In case the creature has not already been described, and the proposed species has just claims to stand alone, this name is entitled to stand, by right of priority, or first christening. Many times it happens that through ignorance of what has been done by others, or by errors in judgment, a new name is bestowed upon an animal or plant that has already been named. Some- times, also, it is found that the name bestowed has already been used for some other animal. A name applied to an animal or plant already named is called a syn’o-nym. In scientific books, synonyms sometimes are printed in a list under the correct name, followed by the names of their respective authors. A zoological synonym always stands for a published error, and scientific authors should be chary of describing as “new” any species which are likely to prove mere synonyms. The type of any species is a carefully selected specimen which in size and color may fairly be considered the standard, or average, for that species. Among zoologists, this term is applied to the identical skin, or other specimen, described by its discoverer. Because of the many scientific names that are erroneously bestowed upon animals, the name of the author who is responsible for a name is usually printed, in abbreviated form, immediately after the name itself, thus: Popular name. Scientific name. Authority. Coyote. Canis latrans. Say. A parenthesis enclosing a Latin name and the name of its author is a sign that the name has been changed somewhat from the form originally chosen and put forth by the author of the species. Taken as a whole, this name means (1) that the “popular” name of the animal is Coy’ote; (2) that its scientific name (Latin) is Canis (=dog) la’trans (=barking); and (3) that it was first cor- rectly described and named in print by a man named Say. If we consult our books, we will find that Thomas Say was a Philadelphia naturalist, and his description of this animal appeared in “Long’s Expedition to the Rocky Mountains,” published in 1823, Vol. I, page 168. Whenever the name of an animal has been so long in use that it has become familiar to millions of people, any attempt to change it tends to create confusion. A slightly incorrect name in universal use is often better than the confusion and doubt inseparable from attempting a change. Thus, the American buffalo, considered in connection with the world’s bovine animals generally, is really a bison; and the prairie-“ dog” is really a prairie marmot; but since nearly all the inhabitants of America know these animals by their incorrect names, and any effort to force a universal change would be quite fruitless, it would be unwise to attempt it. It is very important to the student that the names of the various Orders of vertebrate animals should be learned and remembered; for they are the keys with which to unlock and reveal all systematic knowledge of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fishes. THE INTELLIGENCE OF ANIMALS: A WARNING During the past two years, so many persons have requested my views regarding the mental capacity of animals, that I feel impelled to enter here a brief statement, coupled with a warning. Unfortunately, it cannot be written otherwise than in the first person. INTRODUCTION xxiii While I have no desire to exploit my personal experiences among wild creatures, it is at least fair to state, for the benefit of the millions to whom the writer is unknown, that of wild creatures in their haunts, and also in captivity, he has seen as much as most men of his tastes. The tendency of the present is to idealize the higher animals, to ascribe to them intelligence and reasoning powers which they do not possess, and in some instances to “observe” wonderful manifestations that take place chiefly in the imagination of the beholder. For example, to a ruffed grouse, having mingled blood and mud on a broken leg, is ascribed a deliberate and well-considered attempt at “surgery,” and the intentional making of a clay jacket, re-enforced with pieces of grass. To my mind, all such “observations” as the above are too absurd for serious consideration; and when put forth for the information of the young, they are harmful. There exists to-day a tendency to ascribe to wild animals a full measure of human intelligence. But wild creatures must not be taken too seriously. With all their “schools” in the woods, they are not yet as intelligent as human beings; and the strain that is being put upon them by some of their exponents is much too great. With the most honest intentions, a naturalist may so com- pletely overestimate and misinterpret the actions of animals as to reach very ridiculous conclusions. Judging from all that I have seen and heard of wild creatures of many kinds, from apes to centipedes, both in captivity and out, I believe that practically all their actions are based upon natural, inborn instinct—nearly all of it in the line of self-preservation, and the exceptions are due to the natural tendency to imitate leaders. Of hereditary knowledge—another name for instinct, some animals have an abundance. Of special knowledge, acquired by systematic reasoning from premise to conclusion, most animals have very little, and very few ever exhibit powers of ratioci- nation. It is not true that young animals know things only as their parents teach them. The assertion that all young birds must be “‘taught”’ to fly, or run, or swim, or catch insects, is ridiculous, and not even worthy of discussion. It is just as natural for a one-week-old lion cub to spit, and claw at a human hand, as it is for it to breathe and suck. There are no deer in a captive herd so insanely wild and fearful of keepers as the fawns. No; even the higher animals are not yet as wise as human beings. In matters involving intel- ligence, such as in the treatment of wounds, or disease, below the higher Primates there is not more than one out of every hundred which has sense enough to comprehend a relief measure, or which will not fight the surgeon to the utmost. Some apes do indeed learn to be doctored; but there are many which never grasp the idea, and fight until they die. Of mammals generally, not more than one out of every hundred will permit a bandage to remain on a broken leg when they have the power to tear it off. “Animal surgery,” indeed! In the matter of disposition, wild mammals and birds are no more angelic than human beings. In every family, in every herd, and in every cage, from tigers to doves, the strong bully and oppress the weak, and drive them to the wall. Of all quadrupeds, deer are the greatest fools, wolves are the meanest, apes the most cunning, bears the most consistent and open-minded, and elephants the most. intellectual. Of birds, the parrots and cockatoos are the most philosophic, the cranes are the most domi- neering, the darters are the most treacherous, the gallinaceous birds have the least common-sense, and the swimming birds are by far the quickest to recognize protection, and accept it. The virtues of the higher animals have been extolled unduly, and their intelligence has been magnified about ten diameters. The meannesses and cruelties of wild animals toward each other form a long series of chapters which have not yet been written, and which no lover of animals cares to write. I can see no possible objection to the writing of good fiction stories in which animals are the characters and the actors throughout. I love a good story, and I enjoy a wild-animal hero, even when the entire plot and all its characters are imaginary. To such there can be no objection, so long as the reader knows that fiction is fiction! But the realms of fact and fiction are very distinct, and the boundary should be maintained, openly and visibly. In books for children, espe- XX1V INTRODUCTION cially, fantastic imaginings should not be offered as serious facts; but such stories as “‘ Raggylugg,” “Redruff,” and “Krag,” by Mr. Ernest T. Seton, deserve to live forever. ‘‘Mooswa”’ is a fictiox. story of animals that is one of the best of its kind. The most marvellous doings of wild animals are to be found in books and newspapers. Only in books do porcupines roll down steep hills in order to gather dead leaves upon their quills, and thereby be able to do more wonderful things. Only in books do kingfishers catch fish, carry them a mile or less, and place them in a brook in order to give their nestlings object lessons in ichthyology, and in the gentle art of angling. You or I may spend years in the forests and fields, observing and collecting wild creatures, and see only a very few acts of the wild folk which we can call wonderful. But then, somehow, our animals rarely have been as large, or as well educated, as those of some other cbservers. Try all questions of animal action and intelligence with the touchstone of common-sense. Be not startled by the “discovery” that apes and monkeys have “‘language”’; for their vocabulary is not half so varied and extensive as that of barn-yard fowls, whose language many of us know very well. Take no stock in the systematic and prolonged ‘“‘duels” of wild animals who meet and fight to the death, under Marquis of Queensberry rules. A fight between two wild animals is usually a very brief event,—so say reliable men who have seen them in the wilds,—and unless there is an accidental death-lock of antlers, the vanquished party usually shows his heels long before he is seriously wounded. Animal psychology is a most interesting study, and its pursuit is now engaging the serious attention of scientific men. If the general public could know the plain and simple basis on which they are proceeding, this warning against the idealization of animals would hardly be necessary. Men of science who study the minds of animals do not idealize their subjects, or ascribe to them super- human intelligence; nor are they always on the alert to ascribe to every simple action some astound- ingly intelligent and far-fetched motive. In the study of animal intelligence, the legitimate Truth is sufficiently wonderful to satisfy, all save those who crave the sensational, regardless of facts. RULES FOR MEASURING MAMMALS, HORNS, ETC. The increasing amount of attention that is being paid to the measurements and weights of animals renders necessary the adoption of a uniform system, in order that species and individuals may be compared on a2 fair basis. To promote this end the following rules are offered: Smart MAMMALS GENERALLY 1. Record all measurements in feet and inches, and leave the metric scale for those who prefer a foreign system. 2. Measurements of skins are of very slight value; therefore, always measure a specimen before skinning it. 3. Lay every mammal on its side, pull the head straight forward, and measure from the tip of the nose to the point where the tail joins the body. This is the “ Length of head and body.” 4. From the last-mentioned point, measure to the end of the tail vertebrae, not the hair, for “Tength of tail.”” If the tail-tuft is important, measure it separately. 5. Weigh large examples of species that are larger than rats and mice; and in each case, weigh the whole of the specimen. LarceE MamMMALs 1. The “Height at the shoulder” is the most important measurement. To obtain this, hold the uppermost foreleg as nearly as possible in the position it occupied when supporting the animal. Do not measure from the “point of the hoof’’; for that means nothing. Hold the hoof with its bottom parallel with the body, as when the animal stood upon it; erect there a stick to mark the INTRODUCTION XXV bottom line, and another to mark the top of shoulders, at the skin. The distance between the two perpendiculars, in a straight line, will be the true height of the animal. Do not follow any curves. 2. The “Length of head and body’? must be obtained in a straight line between root of tail and end of nose, with the head drawn straight forward, and not following any curves. The “Length of tail”’ is from its base to the end of the vertebrae. 3. The “Girth” is the tight circumference of the animal immediately behind the forelegs. 4. The “Depth of the body” is the distance in a straight line from the top of the shoulders to the brisket, or lower line of the breast, immediately behind the foreleg. To artists, sculptors, and taxidermists, this is a very important measurement. 5. The “Circumference of the neck” is taken half way between the ears and shoulders, close to the skin. 6. The “Length from head of femur to head of humerus” is also a highly valuable figure for artists, and it is easily taken by feeling through the skin for the high points of those joints. 7. Weigh an animal before it is ‘dressed’; but if the dressed weight of a deer is known, a close approximation to its live weight can be obtained by the aid of the rule given on page 124. ANTLERS AND Horns 1. The “Length on outer curve’ is obtained by starting the tape line at the base of the horn, at its lowest point on the face, and following the curves or windings of the horn, quite to the tip. In horns that are deeply ringed, such as those of the large African antelopes, the tape must not be pressed into the hollows between the ridges. 2. The “Greatest spread” is taken from outside to outside of the antlers where they spread widest! This should not be taken inside the horns, for that does not represent the real width of the horns, any more than interior measurements would represent the spread of a tree. 3. The “ Distance between tips” needs no explanation. 4. The “Circumference at base” should, for all bovines, sheep, goats, ibex, and deer, be taken in a circle around the largest. diameter of the horns. The tape should not follow the meanderings of the end of a sheep’s horn. With the antlers of all members of the Deer Family, the circumfer- ence should be measured immediately above the burr. 5. “Width of palmation” of moose and caribou should always be measured where the pal mation is widest. 6. A “Point” on an antler is any pointed projection of : ufficient length that a watch can hang upon it without falling off. 7. The “Weight of horns” must state whether it be with “entire skull,” or “with skull-piece ” only. 8. Shed antlers that have been set artificially on a manufactured skull, or frame, are not entitled to measurement for ‘‘spread’’; but where a skull has been sawn in two lengthwise by a clean cut, and bolted together again without alteration of the sawn surfaces, it is entitled to measurement for “spread” and “distance between tips.” BOOK I MAMMALS CHAPTER I THE ORDERS OF MAMMALS The living mammals of the world, as distinguished from those which are extinct, or fossil, may be divided into thirteen grand divisions, called Orders. The order is the foundation of mamma- lian arrangement. Without adequate knowledge of these divisions, a clear understanding of the relationships of mammals is quite impossible. It is customary with technical writers to begin with the lowest forms of life, and toil upward toward the highest; but it is very discouraging to the young student to find the most interesting forms the farthest away. Frequently the most interesting animals are never reached! For many reasons, it is best that the general student should study first the forms that are most important, and also most interesting, and thus make sure of them. We therefore begin our studies of the animal kingdom with the highest forms, and adopt the latest names that have come into use amongst zoologists. While the great majority of the examples cited will be North American, a few from other con- tinents will be introduced to complete the chain of important facts. THE ORDERS OF LIVING MAMMALS. ORDER. PRONUNCIATION. MEANING. EXAMPLES. PRIMATES psec er iPTiMOlZianerir aera First order ...... Man ; apes and monkeys. Frrag, or Carnivora....Fe’re ............. Sane te . t Cats, dogs, bears, weasels, PINNIPEDIA ........... Pin-ni-pe’dia........ Fin-footed ...... Sea-lions, seals, walrus. INSECTIVORAQ ee qeeeiaoe In-sec-tiv’o-rah....... Insect-eaters.....Moles and shrews. CHIROPTERA ........... Ki-rop’ter-ah ........ Wing-handed. ...Bats and flying-“ foxes.” GuirsEs, or Rodentia... .Gli’/rez.............. Gnawers........ Hares, gophers, rats, squirrels, LUNN GU TEAD AN ener ersetersye teere Un-gu-la’/tah......... Hooied’y..)22.--- Cattle, deer, sheep, swine, tapirs. (ETE Tse5 eerie oe SEibO tryna) arenes ate iWibalestecrere sen: Whales, porpoises, dolphins. SUREN TAR errata St-reNe-@ 6. eee Sea-cows........ Manatee and dugong. ISP GOGN 5 opavecanote E-den-ta/ta .......... Toothless ....... Armadillos, sloths and ant-eaters. EFFODIENTIA .......... Ef-fo-de-en/shia ...... Diggersie ssa. Pangolin and aardvark. MARSUPIALIA.......... Mar-su-pi-a’'li-a ..... Pouched........ Opossum, kangaroo. MOoNOTREMATA......... Mon-o-trem’a-ta...... Single duct...... Platypus and echidna. EXPLANATION OF THE CHART OF THE ORDERS OF MAMMALS. To the beginner in Natural History studies, the Order is the master-key to classification. This Chart is based on the well-known fact that in the pursuit of a difficult study, any scheme which properly and truthfully appeals to the eye is an aid both to the understanding and the mem- ory. It shows the relative importance of the various Orders of Mammals, but nof their relative sizes, based on the number of species in each, as has been done later on with the birds. If number of species were given precedence over economic importance, the Order Glires would dominate, and the Order Ungulata would appear small and insignificant. It is impossible to construct a diagram which will show correctly the relations which the various Orders bear toward each other, anatomically. This is because some Orders are characterized by their teeth, some by their feet, or hands; others by their wings, and two by their mode of producing their young. It will be noted that: The Primates, of the tree-tops, have the highest position. The Cete, which in some respects are the lowest of the Mammalia, occupy the lowest position. The Bats are shown in mid-air, and the Insectivores appear under ground, where they live out their lives. The Seals and Sea-Lions appear both on the shore and in the sea, and the Sirenians are located in an estuary. The Ferae, Glires and Ungulata spread throughout the whole visible earth, covering forest and plain, sea, pond and stream, from the sea to the most distant mountains. The Monotremates, or egg-laying mammals, are quite apart from all other land mammals, and appear low down, near the home of the ducks, as shown on the bird chart. The space allotted to this strange Order has been made egg-shaped, to suggest the leading characteristic of its members. CHAPTER II THE ORDER OF APES AND MONKEYS PRIMATES This Order includes all creatures with hands, and hand-like feet. With the exception of the Japanese red-faced monkey, the tscheli monkey of China, and two or three other Chinese species, all its members inhabit the tropics, far below the frost line. It is on or near the Equator that the lower Primates reach their highest development, and the great apes approach nearest to man. Let it not be supposed, however, that the chain of evolution from the aye-aye to the gorilla is complete; for the gap between the gibbons and the monkeys is much greater than that between the gorilla and man. All men, even savages, are specially interested in apes and monkeys, because they are the high- est of the lower animals, and stand nearest to man. There is no human being of sound mind to whom their human-likeness does not appeal. For this reason, we will introduce here several species which are not found in the New World, for the reason that without them our Foundation for the Mammalia would be incomplete. Although tropical America contains a very respectable number of species of monkeys, they are, as a whole, both structurally and mentally, far lower than the monkeys and baboons of the Old World. Structurally they are weak, in spirit they are timid and cowardly, and intel- lectually they are dull to the point of stupidity. With the exception of the sapajous, they are in general so ill fitted to survive that if they are on exhibition it is a difficult matter to keep any of them alive in captivity much longer than one year. If not exhibited, they survive longer. On the other hand, very many of the monkeys and baboons of the Old World have developed first-class fighting powers, and pugnacious tem- pers. They have dangerous canine teeth, wide- spreading jaws, strong muscles, and keen wits for either attack or defence. The Lemuroids, however, the lowest of the Primates, are as mild- mannered and harmless as rabbits. With Ethnology, the study of the races of Mankind, we have here nothing to do. That subject is so interesting, and so vast in its ex- tent, that nothing less than an entire volume can adequately set it forth. The grand divisions of the Primates in general are as shown below. FAMILIES. EXAMPLES. Man, HOM-IN'I-DAE. iH i. Gorilla, Gorilla gorilla. NTHROPOID ripe Chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes. APES, eT gid Orang-Utan, Simia satyrus. Gibbon, Hylobates leuciscus. wa 8 Japanese Red- Pee eee CER-CO-PI-THE'-) Faced Monkey, Macacus speciosus. = SUB-ORDER 7} Bun ae J CEDAE. . - ) Diana Monkey, Cercopithecus diana. = ANTHERS = : Gelada Baboon, Theropithecus gelada. ee White-Throated . Sapajou, Cebus hypoleucus. 2 Pee eee tompt-pas. Black Spider- = e Monkey, Ateles ater. a Howlers, Alouatta. ° CAL-LI-THRICT- [{ Marmo- Marmosens, | “Da ae easier aac Lemurs, LE-MUR-DAE. . Ruffed Lemur, Lemur varius. LEMU- TARSIER, TAR-SII-DAE. .. Tarsier, Tarsius tarsius. ROIDEA: DAU -BEN-TON-) . AYE-AYE, i V-I-DAE. j Aye-Aye, Daubentonia. 7 ( ( ( ( t t 8 ORDERS OF MAMMALS—APES AND MONKEYS The Apes.—The three great man-like (or an’thro-poid) apes— gorilla, chimpanzee and orang-utan—are so much like human beings that, to most persons, they are the most won- derful of all living creatures below man. Their points of resemblance to man are so many and so striking that they are a source of wonder even to savages. By permission of J. F. G. UMLAuFF. SKELETONS OF 1, cervical vertebrae, 2, collar bone, , humerus, , sternum, Sie , ribs, }, rib cartilages, 7, dorsal vertebrae, go , lumbar vertebrae, , pelvis, 10, radius, 11, ulna, AND GORILLA. 12, carpals. 13, metacarpals, 14, phalanges, 15, cavity of pelvis, 16, sacrum, 17, femur, 18, patella, 19, fibula, 20, tibia, 21, tarsals, 22, metatarsals, 23, phalanges. As will be observed from a comparison of the skeletons of man and gorilla, below the skull their parallelism is remarkably close. Both in kind and in number the bones are the same, and they differ only in their pro- portions. The hands and feet of the gorilla are designed for a life that is half terrestrial and half arboreal, while those of man are for life on the ground. The long thumb and great toe of the gorilla are far superior to those members in the chim- panzee and orang-utan. The widest differences between man and the gorilla are in their skulls. In the gorilla, the high forehead and intellectual faculties so characteristic in man are totally wanting, indicating a very low order of intelligence. The long and powerful canine teeth are alone sufficient to proclaim the savage wild beast. To many persons it seems strange that notwithstanding the seemingly wide dif- ferences between the various races of men, all mankind be referable to a single species. In spite of the vast differences in intellect between the native Australian—not yet out of the stone age—and a Caucasian philosopher, both belong to Homo sapiens, and between them there is not even a sub- specific difference. Even if the great apes could talk as well as the Veddahs of Ceylon, whose vocabu- lary consists of about two hundred words, their anatomical differences from the genus Homo would separate them quite as widely as they now are. To segregate a species requires a structural difference that is con- stant. The Gorilla! is the largest, the ugliest, the most fierce in temper, and by reason of its shorter arms and longer legs, it is really the nearest to man. It is the only ape that walks erect without being taught, and that spends a considerable por- tion of its life upon the ground. In bulk it is larger than an average man, and its 1 Go-ril'la gorilla. GORILLA AND CHIMPANZEE 9 arms and chest are of enormous proportions.! The countenance of the Gorilla is very ugly and repulsive, and the shape of its skull is much farther from that of man than are those of the chimpanzee and orang-utan. Its skin is black, and the hair of full-grown specimens is grizzly gray. The Gorilla inhabits only a very small area in West Africa, directly on the equator, between the Gaboon and Congo Rivers, and extending only two hundred miles back from the coast. It is very shy, and so difficult to approach in those dark and tangled forests that very few white men ever have seen one wild. One of the most remarkable specimens ever secured was the huge old male killed and photo- graphed by Mr. H. Paschen, a German trader, near Tsonu Town, German Cameroon country, two hundred and forty miles north of the equa- tor, in 1901. This animal, photographed in the flesh, with three natives beside it for compari- son, to show its immense size, was shot in a tree, without difficulty or danger. It measured 66 inches in height, its chest, arms and shoul- ders were of gigantic proportions, and its weight was estimated at 500 pounds. Twelve men were required to carry it from the jungle to the village, where it was photographed. On account of the sullen, sulky disposition of the Gorilla in captivity, only one of the four or five young specimens that have been brought to Europe has lived longer than about eighteen months. They sulk, often refuse food, will not exercise, and die of indigestion. Up to this date (1903) only one live Gorilla, and that a tiny infant, has ever landed in the United States; and it lived only five days after arrival. Show- men sometimes label a baboon “Gorilla,” or “Lion-Slayer,” and it is well to remember that the Gorilla has no tail whatever. The Chimpanzee’ is about one-third smaller than the gorilla. Its brain, face, ears and hands are more man-like than those of any other ape, and its large brain and keen mind render it in thought and habit much more man-like than the 1The average man of the Anglo-Saxon race is 5 feet 6 inches in height and weighs 160 pounds. 2 Pan troglodytes. Described in most books under the untenable and more unwieldy name of Anthro- popithecus troglodytes. This animal has been de- scribed under nine different generic names, but Pan is the oldest one available and the best. gorilla. It is an animal of bright and cheerful disposition, though subject to sudden fits of bad temper, and having a good memory, it is easily taught. Young Chimpanzees are affectionate and child-like, but when large and strong, the males are usually dangerous, and not to be trusted. Some individuals have displayed re- markable intelligence. ‘‘Sally,” of the London Zoological Gardens, could count correctly up to five, whenever bidden, and hand out the correct number of straws. After several years of observation of living Chimpanzees and orang-utans, in daily com- parison, I am convinced that the only substantial psychological differences between the two species are (1) that the temperament of the Chimpanzee N. Y. Zoological Park. YOUNG FEMALE CHIMPANZEE. is of the nervous type, and its mind is more alert and prompt in action than that of the orang, while on the other hand (2) the temperament of the orang is sanguine, its disposition is more serene, and while its mind may be somewhat less showy on exhibition, its capacity is quite equal to that of the Chimpanzee. The greater quickness of the Chimpanzee, both in thought and action, renders it on the whole the best show animal in public performances. Many persons consider the Chimpanzee supe- rior in intelligence to the orang-utan, but thus far the only real difference appears to be that the By permission of Epwarps Bros. A DRESSED-UP CHIMPANZEE. mind of the former is more alert, and acts more quickly than that of the orang. In walking, the Chimpanzee does not place the palms of its hands flat upon the ground, but bends its fingers at the middle joint, and walks upon its knuckles. It does not, as so often asserted on hearsay evidence, build a hut or a roof of branches under which to sleep. Its home is the heavy forest region of equatorial Africa, from the Atlantic ocean to Lake Tanganyika. Like the gorilla, its skin is black, and when young its hair also, but when fully grown its hair is dark iron- gray. This animal can at one glance be dis- tinguished from the orang-utan by the greater size of its ears, and its black color. The Orang-Utan (from two pure Malay words, “orang” = man, and “utan” = jungle) is also about two-thirds the size of the gorilla, and is easily recognized by its brick-red hair, brown skin and small ears. The largest speci- men on record stood 4 feet 6 inches in height from heel to head, measured 42 inches around the chest, and between finger tips stretched 8 feet. The old males develop a strange, flat ex- pansion of the cheek, called “cheek callosities,” ORDERS OF MAMMALS—APES AND MONKEYS 13 inches across; but in young animals this is seldom developed. The hand is 114 inches long, the foot 134 inches, but the width of each across the palm is only 3} inches. The weight of a large, full-grown male Orang is about 250 pounds. The black gorilla and chimpanzee both in- habit the land of black men; the brown Orang- Utan lives only in Borneo and Sumatra, the land of the brown-skinned Malay. The latter prefers the belt of level, swampy forest near the coast, lives wholly in the tree-tops, and rarely descends to the earth except for water. Orangs travel by swinging underneath the large branches with their long, muscular arms. Because of their great weight, they cannot leap from tree to tree, as monkeys do, but they swing with wonderful rapidity and precision. They eat all kinds of wild fruit, fleshy leaves, and the shoots of the screw pine. In proper hands, young Orang-Utans are very susceptible to training. In 1901 the New York . B. Hupson. Drawn by A FIGHT IN THE TREE-TOPS. Old male Orang-Utans, with cheek callosities. fees APES, BABOONS; CLIRESor RO DE N TIA» THE GNAWERS ee UNCULATA HOOFED Lp Ae al ; heirs bay ENDENTATA THE OOTHLESS ONE Tolga SLOTHS AnD lf) EFF NT-EATERS: ae emt HE DICCERS REM i ENGOLIN gt : Copyright, 1903, by W. T. Hornapay. LANDSCAPE CHART OF THE ORDERS OF LIVING MAMMALS. PE Pe ee me GORILLA. By permission of J. F. G. UMLAUFF. Shot and photographed at Tsonu Town, West Africa, by H. Pascupn, 1901 — ~~ Pps FEMALE ORANG-UTAN AND YOUNG. Drawn from specimens living in the New York Zoological Park, by A. G. Dorine. 12 ORDERS OF MAMMALS—APES AND MONKEYS Zoological Park contained four Orangs, all of which were easily taught to wear clothes, sit in chairs at table, eat with fork and spoon, drink from cups and bottles, and perform many other human-like actions without nervousness, in the presence of two thousand visitors. Each of the Orangs learned its part in about two weeks’ training, and at the dinner-table acted with gravity and decorum. ‘Rajah,’ the senior member of the quartette, never once suffered from stage fright, or lost his nerve during a pub- lic performance. In captivity, young Orang-Utans are as af- fectionate as human children, and very fond of their human friends. In the jungles of Borneo the full-grown males often fight savagely by biting each other’s faces, and by biting off fingers and toes. At night the Orang makes a nest to sleep upon, by breaking off leafy branches, and laying them cross-wise in the forked top of a sapling. On this huge nest-like bed it lies flat upon its back, grasps a branch firmly in each hand and foot, and is rocked to sleep by the cradle-like swaying of the tree-top. Unless attacked at close quarters, in their for- est homes, none of the great apes is dangerous to man. All of them flee quickly from the dreaded presence of Man, the Destroyer. They never fight with clubs, but when attacked at close quarters they bite, just as do human roughs. When enraged, the gorilla does beat its breast with its fists, just as Du Chaillu said; and it does this even in captivity. “The Missing Link.’’—For thirty years at least, Science has been seeking in the earth for fossil remains of some creature literally standing between man and the great apes, but at present unknown. In 1879, Mr. A. H. Everett made for the Zoological Society of London a thorough examination of the deposits on the floors of some of the caverns of Borneo. To-day, some natural- ists are straying toward the lemurs in search of the parent stem of man’s ancestral tree. Vain quest! The gap between Man and Lemur is too great to be bridged in this world. A coincidence between skull bones is a long way from man- likeness. Place upon the shoulders of a gorilla the head of a chimpanzee, and we would have—what? The Missing Link, no less,—a hairy, speechless man! The man-apes we have. Let those who seek the undiscovered ape-man search the Ter- tiary deposits of the fertile uplands that lie between the gloomy equatorial forests of the black apes and the Bushmen of South Africa: for there, if anywhere, will the Missing Link be found. The Gibbons.—From the three huge, coarse- ly-formed and unwieldy man-like apes described above, the line of descent drops abruptly and far. Their nearest relatives are the Gibbons—creat- ures of small size, marked delicacy of form, no weight or strength to speak of, but of marvellous agility in the tree-tops. Their heads are small and round, their teeth are weak, and their faces are like those of very tiny old men. Their arms and hands are of great length in proportion to their body size, yet so very slender are their muscles that a live Gibbon seems like a hairy skin drawn over a skeleton. The largest specimen I measured in Borneo had the follow- ing remarkable dimensions: head and body, 19 inches; extent of outstretched arms and hands, 5 feet 1 inch; entire reach of arms and legs, 5 feet 1 inch; hand, 64 inches long by 1 inch wide; weight, 10} pounds. Of Gibbons there are about six species, and they inhabit Borneo, Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, Burmah and Siam. With the Gray Gibbon,! of Borneo, I am well acquainted; and after the three great man-like apes, it is to me the most wonderful of anthropoids. They are very timid, the shyest of all Primates that I ever hunted, and wonderfully successful in eluding the hunter. Nevertheless, so strong is their affection for their young, I have seen a whole troop that had made good its escape, return at the call of an infant Gibbon in trouble, and all reckless of their own safety come down within twenty feet of their deadly enemy. Very few other mammals will do this. The most wonderful habit of the Gibbon is its flight down hill when pursued. Of course it never dreams of descending to the earth, but in the half-open hill forests of Borneo I have seen these creatures go downward through the tree- tops, in a straight course, leaping incredible dis- tances, catching with their hands, swinging un- der, catching with their feet, turning again, and so on by a series of revolutions, almost as fast as the flight of a bird. 1 Hy-lo-ba’tes leu-cis’cus. at OLD WORLD MONKEYS 13 The Siamang,' of Sumatra, is the largest and rarest of the Gibbons. It is jet black, all over, face as well as fur, and it has a throat pouch which is distended to astounding proportions when it utters its peculiar, piercing cry. This species is as rare in captivity as the gorilla, and the only specimen seen alive in the New World up to 1903 was exhibited at the New York Zoo- logical Park in that year. OLD-WORLD MONKEYS AND BABOONS. Cercopithecidae. Typical Old-World Monkeys.—Asia, Africa and the islands of the Malay Archipelago con- tain a great number of species of monkeys. The most northern is the sturdy Japanese Red- Faced Monkey, with no tail to speak of. It is ae SanBorn, Photo., N. Y. Zoological Park. JAPANESE RED-FACED MONKEY. Note the narrow space between the nostrils. clothed with long, shaggy hair, and those in the New York Zoological Park live outdoors all winter, and gallop about in the snow without 1 Sym-pha-lan’gus syn-dac’ty-lus. catching cold. Their tempers are quite as warm as their blood. From Japan, monkey-land extends southward through China, and southern Asia generally, the DIANA MONKEY. Malay islands almost to Australia, and through- out the whole of Africa except its great deserts, to the extreme south. Of all these Old-World species, none have prehensile (grasping) tails, like many American species. Many of them are beautifully colored, however, and the markings of some are quite fan- tastic. The Diana Monkey, of West Africa, is elaborately marked with black, white, gray and brown, and it is one of the most beautiful of all monkeys. An old-world monkey can nearly always be recognized by the very narrow space between the nostrils. Short-Tailed Monkeys.—It must not be supposed that because the tail of a monkey is so short as to be scarcely visible, the wearer is therefore a true ape. There are several baboon- like animals with tails exceedingly short and in- significant, but which are far removed from the true apes. Some of these are called apes, but they are all much lower in the scale. Of these, the most important are: The Black “‘Ape”’ of Celebes; The Barbary “Ape” of Gibraltar and North Africa; The Pig-Tailed Ma-caque’ (pronounced Ma- cak’) of the East Indies, east of Ceylon, and The Japanese Red-Faced Monkey. The Baboons.—In nearly every portion of Africa abounding in rocky hills covered with scanty vegetation may be found Baboons,— fierce of aspect, domineering in temper, strong of limb, and sometimes very ugly in eountenance. 14 N. Y. Zoological Park. DEAD GELADA BABOON. Note the lion-like aspect. Their noses are long and dog-like. They live on the ground, travel in troops of ten to twenty individuals, and rob grain-fields with great bold- ness. It is asserted by African explorers that even hungry lions prefer to let them alone. The canine teeth of an adult Baboon are so long and sharp that they are dangerous weapons. Without exception, Baboons are the most fierce-tempered animals of all the Primates, not even excepting the great apes, which never fight when they can run away. All told there are about sixteen species of Ba- boons, all of which are found in Africa outside of the dark forests of the equatorial regions. The great Gelada Baboon,! of Abyssinia, is one of the most remarkable of all animals. It is like a small lion, with a Baboon’s feet and hands; but its wonderful grimaces are peculiar to itself. A Baboon of average size stands 24 inches in height at the shoulders, and weighs about 45 pounds. The majority of the species are of a yellowish color, mixed with brown. The Man- drill is known everywhere by its brilliant blue and scarlet muzzle, and yellow chin beard. 1 The-ro-pith'e-cus ge-la’da. ORDERS OF MAMMALS—APES AND MONKEYS NEW-WORLD MONKEYS. All the monkeys of the New World are marked by the wide space between the nostril openings, and nearly all the larger species possess prehen- sile, or grasping, tails that are as useful as a fifth arm and hand. Most of the species which do not have prehensile tails are quite small. Of the clinging-tailed monkeys there are three im- portant groups, which are represented in North America. They are the Sapajous, the Spider Monkeys and Howlers. The American monkey most frequently seen in captivity is the White-Throated Sapajou! WHITE-THROATED SAPAJOU. Note the wide space between the nostrils. (sap’a-jew) or Cap/u-chin, called by animal dealers and showmen, the ‘“Ring-Tail.”’ This monkey is a kind-spirited and affectionate little creature, and rarely gives way to bad temper. 1Ce'bus hy-po-leu’cus. AM ran nave SPIDER, OWL AND SQUIRREL MONKEYS 15 It has a wrinkled and care-worn face, as if bur- dened with sorrows—which most captive mon- keys certainly are! Its forehead, throat and shoulder-points are white, and the remainder of the body is either gray, brown or jet black. The Sapajous inhabit Central America and northern South America. About two hundred specimens are brought to New York every year, BLACK-FACED SPIDER MONKEY. At’e-les a’ter. where they are sold by dealers at prices ranging from $10 to $15 each. The Spider Monkeys' may easily be recog- nized by their very long, slender legs and tails, and small, round heads. In color they are usu- ally either black or gray, and rarely reddish brown. As they swing on their way through life, always using their prehensile tails to cling or to swing by, they have a very uncanny look, and it is no wonder that they are called “Spider” monkeys. They can come as near tying them- selves into knots as living mammals ever can. 1 At’e-les. When fully grown, they are much larger than the sapajous, but are weak, unable to fight, and therefore timid. In a cage containing several species of monkeys, they are always the greatest cowards, and often are heard shrieking from fright at imaginary terrors. They are dainty feeders, and very difficult to keep in health in captivity. Four species are found north of Panama. The Mexican Spider Monkey oc- curs up to Lat. 23°, and is the most northern monkey on this continent. The Owl Monkeys.—Next to the spider monkeys is found a group often represented in captivity, the members of which are distin- guished by their small size, their round heads, very large, owl-like eyes, and long, hairy tails, which are not prehensile. As their staring eyes suggest, these creatures are of nocturnal habits, and in daylight hours are as inactive and un- interesting as opossums. Because of this, they make rather uninteresting pets; but being good- tempered creatures, they are frequently kept. They are sometimes called Do-rou-cou'lis. They are found from Central America to southern Brazil. The Squirrel Monkeys of northern South America and Central America are next in order, and in activity and general liveliness of habit they make up for all that the owl monkeys lack. They are the most active of all the small Amer- ican monkeys, and so nervous and unmanage- able they are unfit for captive life elsewhere than in cages. The Common Squirrel Mon- key,! sometimes, though erroneously, called the Teetee, is a trim little yellow fellow, with a very long cranium, close-haired head, and a very long tail, which it gracefully curls up over its own shoulders whenever it sits down. This species comes from the Guianas and Vene- zuela, and is very common in captivity. On board ship a Squirrel Monkey of my ac- quaintance once furnished constant entertain- ment and amusement. Its favorite food was big, fat cockroaches, contributed by the sailors from their collection in the forecastle. Each morning a sailor would bring a jacket, and shake it over a clear space on the deck. As the cock- roach shower struck the deck, the agile little monkey dashed at the insects like a terrier at rats, cramming them into his mouth as fast as 1 Sai-mi’ri sci-u’re-a. 16 ORDERS possible, and meanwhile seizing and holding in his hands as many more of the struggling insects as his absurd little paws could grasp. This creature is a skilful climber, and it is the only mammal I ever saw which could exert suffi- cient lateral pressure with its hands and feet to en- able it to climb with ease a perfectly smooth, right- angled corner of wood to a height of six feet. This particular animal was so fond of its owner that it loudly and vociferously refused to sleep elsewhere than in his bunk, cuddled against his feet. With its piercing cries it controlled the situation as effectually as any spoiled child. The Saki Monkeys, of tropical South Amer- ica east of the Andes, are of medium size, mostly black and shaggy-haired, and sometimes pos- sessed of a long, black chin beard. They are always marked by their big, heavily-haired tails, which are long, but not prehensile. They are often mistaken for howling monkeys. They are difficult to keep alive, seldom live to reach the United States, and for this reason are likely to remain but little known. The most remark- able species is the Black Saki,’ two specimens of which were placed on exhibition in the New York Zoological Park in 1903. The Uakari, or Yarkee, Monkeys, of which there are three species, all found in Brazil, have the shortest tails to be found amongst American monkeys. The Bald Yarkee” of the Upper Amazon is an excellent imitation of the Japanese red-faced monkey, having not only the same stubby tail, and long, shaggy hair, but also a red face! Unfortunately this species is one of the rarest in all America. The Howlers are rarely seen in captivity, because it seems almost an impossibility for man to find food which they will eat, and which agrees with them. Between the two sides of the lower jaw, the Howler possesses a large sound-box of cartilage —a development of the hyoid bone—which gives to the creature’s voice a deep resonance, of a very unusual character. These monkeys de- light to indulge in vocal concerts, and the deep roar of their unearthly voices can be distinguished at a distance of a mile or more. In all there are six species of Howling Mon- keys. Occasionally young specimens of the Golden Howler are brought from Venezuela 1 Pi-the'cia sa-tan’as. 2 U-a-ka’ri-a cal’va. OF MAMMALS—APES AND MONKEYS and Guiana to New York, but in confinement their digestive organs are easily disturbed, and they seldom, if ever, live to reach maturity. THE FAMILY OF MARMOSETS. Callathricidae. Lowest in the scale of all the American mon- keys, and in fact next to the lemurs, we find a collection of small and odd-looking creatures, some of which are so strangely formed that it often is necessary to state that they belong to the Order of Apes and Monkeys. This is the Family of Marmosets, the members of which are dis- tributed variously from southern Mexico to southern Brazil. They are frequently found in the stores of animal dealers, and by ladies who have abundant time for their care are often 4 Photo. by JENNEss RicHanpson. COMMON MARMOSET. prized as household pets. But they are very delicate, and do not long endure the strain of being on public exhibition. varies from $3.50 to $8. Without exception these are all very small, Their market price MARMOSETS AND LEMURS aL delicately-formed creatures, with hairless faces, eyes that are large and bright, and long tails. Their hair is long, abundant and silky, and in some species it stands up on the top of the head like a white ruff. As these frail little creatures perch motionless in their cages, and focus their brown eyes upon the visitor, they seem more like little toys than living animals of Man’s own Order. They are really very odd, picturesque and interesting. The Pinche Marmoset’ is a good repre- sentative of this group. It comes from the United States of Colombia, is about as large as a small chipmunk, and can be recognized any- where by the jaunty bonnet of white hair which stands stiffly erect on the top of its head. Of marmosets there are altogether about twen- ty-one species. The best-known are the Com- mon Marmoset,” with a fan of white hairs standing stiffly erect above each ear, and the Silky Marmoset,? which is half buried in a mop of long, silky, yellowish hair. THE SUBORDER OF LEMURS. Lemuroidea. On the great island of Madagascar there are no fewer than thirty species of lemurs, many of them very beautiful creatures, all very kind- spirited and inoffensive, and so numerous that some travellers have declared that “every bush has its lemur.” And yet, in America, these creatures are about as little known as if they inhabited Mars instead of Madagascar. During the first six months following the opening of the Primates’ House in the Zoological Park, at least twenty educated and intelligent young men asked how to spell the word “lemur.”’ The lemurs, tarsiers and aye-aye constitute the lowest grand division of the Ape-and-Mon- key Order—Primates. Their low position is due chiefly to their long, fox-like muzzles, and their teeth, which are not monkey-like. Their hands and feet, however, define their position. The Ruffed, or Black-and-White Lemur ?* is the handsomest and most conspicuous animal in this strange group. It is the size of a large house cat, its tail is very long, and the creature is abundantly clothed with long, soft, silky-fine fur, jet black and pure white. 2 Mi'das ros-a’/li-a. 1 Mi’das aed’i-pus. 4 Le’mur va’ri-us. 3 Cal’/li-thrix jac’ chus. SanBorn, Photo., N. Y. Zoological Park. THE RUFFED LEMUR. Although lemurs have large eyes, and are supposed to be night-prowlers, they are fairly active in the daytime, and are not at all dis- turbed by daylight. They are charming pets, very affectionate, easily kept, and even with twenty in one large cage they do not quarrel, as monkeys are so prone to do. Keeping Monkeys in Captivity.—Large monkeys need large cages, with means to climb and swing. Fine hay should cover the floor. Cages should always stand three feet above the floor of a room, and while the ventilation should be good, there should be freedom from draughts. The temperature should be 75°, kept as even as possible. Food: boiled rice or tapioca, baked or boiled potatoes, ripe bananas or apples; a little raw meat, finely chopped; dried or parched sweet corn that is easily chewed; a little stale bread; occasionally, a small raw onion. Per- mit no teasing; feed regularly, water frequently, and keep cages clean. When monkeys become ill, carefully ascertain their trouble, then treat them the same as one would sick children. CHAPTER III THE ORDER OF FLESH-EATING MAMMALS FERAB, OR CARNIVORA North America contains a fine array of animals belonging to the Order Fe’rae,' numbering about ninety species north of Mexico, not counting subspecies. They are divided into the follow- ing groups: FAMILIES. Tue Cats Tue Docs ORDER ; FERAE Tue MarTENS Tue Bears Tue Raccoons . THE CAT FAMILY. Felidae. In the order of their size, the five largest cat- like animals of North America are the following: Jaguar, Puma, Canada Lynx, Red Lynx, and Ocelot. Of the Cat Family, the Jaguar? (pronounced Jag’ you-ar) is not only the largest, but also the handsomest species in America. Of yellow-and- black Cats it stands next in size to the tiger, but in form it is not so finely proportioned as the leopard. It is of massive build, throughout, and its head is very large for the height and length of the animal. Its tail, however, is dispropor- tionately short. This creature has a golden-yellow coat, marked on the back and sides by large, irregular hollow islands of black, called rosettes—quite different from the smaller and more solid black spots of the leopard. Between these rosettes run the narrow lines of yellow ground-color, like the streets of an oriental city on a map. The legs, head and under-parts are marked with solid black spots. An animal of this species can always be 1 From Latin fe-rus, meaning a wild beast. This is a much older name than Carnivora, which here- tofore has been generally applied to this group. * Felis on'ca. 18 APPROXIMATE NUM- BER OF SPECIES NORTH OF MEXICO. FE’LI-DAE 8 Species CA'NI-DAE =e Oe MUS-TE'LI-DAE Gee UR’SI-DAE : S12 PRO-CY-ON’I-DAE . 32 oe recognized by its large rosettes, large head, heavy build, and short tail. The Jaguar, which in Mexico and South Amer- ica is called ‘‘el Tigre” (tee’gree), is found as far north as southern Texas, and from that region southward to the limit of tropical forests in South America. A female specimen which once lived in the New York Zoological Park, measured 48 inches in length of head and body, its tail was 20 inches long, it stood 24 inches high at the shoulders, and weighed 120 pounds. The big and burly male which murdered the female above mentioned is fully one-fourth taller, and larger in every way. In killing pigs, cattle, horses, deer and other wild animals, the Jaguar is a fierce, powerful and dangerous beast; but, like all other wild creat- ures, it is afraid of man. It is my belief that the strength of the jaws of the Jaguar is greater in proportion to its size than that of any other member of the Cat Family. Of this power we once witnessed in the Zoological Park a tragic illustration. A full-grown female Jaguar was purchased as a cage-mate for a large and powerful male, named ‘Lopez,’ from the interior of Paraguay. After two days’ prelim- inary introduction through their cage-fronts, the two animals were placed together. No sooner had the female entered the cage of Lopez JAGUAR AND PUMA 19 than he rushed upon her, seized her neck between his jaws, and by a square bite crushed two of the neck vertebrae, and killed her instantly—as quickly as if her head had been cut off with an axe. Drawn by J. CarTER BEARD. adventures with Pumas have been written and printed, but in reality this animal is less to be dreaded than a savage dog. It appears to be true, however, that it occasionally follows be- lated hunters or travellers, out of curiosity. It JAGUAR. The Puma, also called Mountain ‘‘Lion’’ and Cougar,! is the most widely-known cat ani- mal of North America. It is found in all the great western mountain ranges of the United States, in many tracts of ‘“bad-lands” in Wyom- ing and Montana, British Columbia, and in the Adirondacks and Florida. Southward it ranges over table-lands and through tropical forests, all the way to Patagonia. In the United States it is most abundant, and also most accessible, in Routt Co., Colorado, where it is easily found by dogs, chased into low trees, and shot without danger. In this manner Mr. John B. Goff has killed nearly three hundred Pumas, “only two of which fought courageously.” Hundreds of thrilling stories of (imaginary) 1 Fe'lis con’co-lor, and other species and races re- cently described. is now a well-established fact that prowling Pumas do sometimes scream, in a manner cal- culated to inspire terror, just as caterwauling cats frequently do. I have heard Pumas scream precisely like terrified women or boys, but they always flee from man when the way is open. The Puma is a thin-bodied, flat-sided animal, tall for its weight, and of a brownish drab color. It has a beautiful face, and is a handsome creat- ure. Of all the large cats of the world, it is by far the best climber. A large specimen is from 7 to 8 feet in total length, from nose to tail tip, and weighs about 225 pounds. The Puma makes its den among rocks, in “wash-out” holes, or in very thick brush or for- ests, and preys upon every living creature that can be killed and eaten, except man. In settled regions they frequently destroy much young 20 ORDERS OF MAMMALS—FLESH-EATERS stock. Throughout the Rocky Mountains, it is a dangerous enemy of the mountain sheep and mule deer. In the “bad-lands” of Montana I once saw a mule deer killed which had on its neck a twelve-inch scar, a torn ear, and the beam of are not possessed by any other animal. But no two Ocelots are ever marked exactly alike. This animal is the size of a cocker spaniel, and being a good climber, when in its native forests it spends much of its time on the lower e. ae | ve Q From a photograph. PUMA, OR MOUNTAIN one antler broken off half-way up. Apparently these injuries were received in an encounter with a Puma, and a fall over a cut bank, which evidently released the deer from its savage as- sailant. The young of the Puma vary in number from two to five, and are spotted. Living specimens vary in value from $30 to $75, according to age and size. At first glance the Ocelot, or Tiger-Cat,' seems to be a small leopard with a pale-yellow body-color. Its legs are spotted, but instead of having spots on its body, its back and sides are marked with irregular stripes and bands of black which run lengthwise. It may be instantly recognized by its horizontal stripes, for the like 1 Felis pard-a'lis, See page 42. By permission of Outdoor Life Magazine. = GLONis branches of trees, watching for prey. It feeds chiefly upon small quadrupeds and birds. The following are the dimensions of an average speci- men: Height, 13 inches; head and body, 30 inches; tail, 15 inches; weight, 36 pounds. It is frequently taken in southern Texas—its north- ern limit—and its range is about the same as that of the jaguar. In the New York Zoological Park it has been kept out-doors all winter, and has bred and reared young very successfully. Like most small yellow cats, Ocelots are usually bad-tempered. The value of a living specimen is about $30. The Lynxes of North America form a very distinct group of short-tailed, heavily-furred, tree-climbing cats, the members of which are spread throughout nearly all portions of the con- TREE-CLIMBING CATS 21 tinent north of Mexico, which are yet sufficiently wild to shelter them from man. They inhabit with equal facility forests, mountains, canyons, Drawn by J. Carter BEarp. CANADA LYNX. sage-brush plains, and even deserts. They prey chiefly upon rabbits and hares, grouse, prairie- “dogs,” ground squirrels, and any other living creatures, except porcupines, which they can catch and kill. They are not courageous, or disposed to fight except when cornered, and so far as voluntarily attacking human beings is concerned, Lynxes are no more dangerous than rabbits. In North America the genus Lynx is repre- sented by two well-marked types. The Canada Lynx! is a heavily-furred, short- bodied, long-legged bob-tailed wild cat of a pep- per-and-salt gray color, standing about 18 inches high at the shoulders. It is readily recognized by the long pencil of stiff, black hair rising from the tip of each ear, and its huge, hairy paws. Its big eyes and long side whiskers give it a really terrifying countenance, particularly when it snarls. To the lone hunter who camps in the dark and gloomy forests inhabited by this creat- ure, it seems a very dangerous animal; but in reality it is not so. Those who have hunted it say it is not courageous, and at close quarters is easily killed with a stick. It is a good climber, swims well, but on land runs rather poorly, with a galloping gait. Although found in a few local- ities in the northern United States, its real home is in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and the 1 Lynx can-a-den’sis. Northwest, up to Latitude 60°. A good aver- age-sized male specimen collected by Professor Dyche in British Columbia measured as follows: Height, 174 inches; head and body length, 32 inches; tail, 5 inches; girth, 174 inches. The weight of a full-grown specimen is 22 pounds, and the young are two innumber. This species is rarely seen in captivity, and is al- ways desired by zoological parks and gardens. Living specimens are worth from $10 to $40 each. The Bay Lynx? is also called the Red Lynx, Wild Cat or Bob Cat, according to the locality in which it is found. Owing to variations in its color, and in some other characters, several sub- species have been described, but these are too closely related to the type to be set forth sepa- rately here. This species is marked by the ab- sence of the long ear-pencil of the Canada lynx (although sometimes a small pencil is present), by the small feet and the warm brown tone in the color of the fur. Western specimens are, sometimes so strongly marked with round black spots that we feel im- pelled to recognize the “Spotted Lynx” as a dis- tinct species; but when we find others from the Atlantic coast also spotted, besides others of the standard reddish gray, we are compelled to refer all of them to the species of the Bay Lynx. In the Atlantic states, the standard color for this E. R. Sansorn, Photo., N. Y. Zoological Park. THE OCELOT. animal is a mixture of rusty red, gray and black- ish brown, with the red so prevalent as to have given a name to the creature. In the West, the > pynz ru’fus. 22 ORDERS OF MAMMALS—FLESH-EATERS spotted coat is more common, and occasionally the spots are strongly marked all over the animal. The face of the Bay Lynx is really very beauti- Photo. and copyright by W. L. UnpErwoop, 1902. BAY LYNX. ful, and when not too fat from overfeeding in captivity, the body is lithe and graceful. When kept in large cages in the open air and sunlight, sheltered from storms, and not overfed, this ani- mal is easily kept in fine condition. In artificially heated buildings they do not thrive. This species is found in nearly all the states east of the Mississippi which contain large areas of rough forests, but are most numerous in Maine, the Carolinas, Florida, Virginia and Tennessee. In the “‘bad-lands” and mountains of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Texas they are really numerous, and feed luxuriously on the cotton- tail rabbits that are now so abundant in that re- gion. Varieties of this species extend westward to the Pacific coast states. East of the Missis- sippi River, an average of about twenty speci- mens are caught alive each year, and offered for sale. Their value when caught is $10 each, and the supply exceeds the demand. By measurement the Red Lynx is fully as large as the Canada lynx. The largest speci- men that ever came into my hands (on Pryor Creek, Montana) measured in length of head and body 31 inches, tail 7 inches, height at shoulder 18 inches, and weighed 18 pounds. The largest of nine specimens killed by Mr. Roosevelt’s party in Routt Co., Colorado, in 1901, weighed 39 pounds. One killed near Asheville, North Caro- lina, in 1900, is reported to have weighed 51 pounds. No lynxes are found in the lowlands of the tropics, or in South America. THE DOG FAMILY. Canidae. Of all the wild creatures of North America, none are more despicable than wolves. There is no depth of meanness, treachery or cruelty to which they do not cheerfully descend. They are the only animals on earth which make a regular practice of killing and devouring their wounded companions, and eating their own dead. I once knew a male wolf to kill and half devour his fe- male cage-mate, with whom he had lived a year. In captivity, no matter how well yarded, well fed or comfortable, a wolf will watch and coax for hours to induce a neighbor in the next cage to thrust through tail or paw, so that he may instantly seize and chew it off, without mercy. But in the face of foes capable of defence, even gray wolves are rank cowards, and unless cor- nered in a den, will not even stop to fight for their own cubs. GRAY WOLF. The Gray Wolf, or Timber Wolf,! is really a formidable animal, but in its dealings with men, 1 Ca’nis oc-ci-den-tal’is, GRAY WOLF AND COYOTE 23 it has learned to fear the deadly rifle, the poison pot, and the trap. Storms, cold and fatigue af- fect it but little, and its powerful teeth, strong jaws and wide gape enable it to bite with great cutting power. In fighting with dogs, every well-aimed snap means either a deep wound or a piece of flesh bitten out. The type of this species is a strong, robust ani- mal, cunning and merciless. Its winter coat is long, shaggy and coarse-haired. Its standard color is mixed black and white, but it varies greatly, and unaccountably. In Florida it is often black, in Texas reddish brown, and in the far North it varies from black to white. Al- though in some localities it is called the Timber Wolf, it is equally at home on the treeless prairies of the West, in the dark, evergreen forests of British Columbia, and on the desolate barren grounds of Arctic America. Although once very abundant on the great plains, the coming of the cattle ranch and sheep- herder provoked against the Gray Wolf and coyote a relentless war of extermination, which still is being waged. Several states in the cat- tle country of the great plains offer cash boun- ties on wolf scalps ranging from $2 to $10, and large sums of money have been paid out for them. In Montana the number of wolves has so greatly diminished that in the course of a month in the saddle in 1901, in wild country, no Gray Wolves were seen, and only four coyotes. Wolves have now become so scarce that the oc- cupation of the professional ‘“‘wolfer” is almost gone. Nevertheless, even on the cattle plains, the Gray Wolf is very far from being extinct; and as long as the “‘ bad-lands” remain, with their thousands of wash-out holes, and tens of thou- sands of rabbits, the gray marauder will remain. In the far North, above the Arctic Circle, and in the land of the musk-ox, in 1899, Mr. C. J. Jones and his companion were so beset by packs of huge and fierce White Wolves, seeking to devour their five living musk-ox calves, that for over forty-eight hours they fought them continuously at short range, killing a wolf at every shot. The young of the Gray Wolf are usually five in number, and are born early in May. At first they are of a sooty brown color, and are dis- tinguishable from coyote puppies by the large size of the head. One which was examined when four days old measured 94+ 3 inches, and weighed 16 ounces. When twenty days old, it was 15+ 4 inches, and weighed 44 pounds. The cry of the Gray Wolf is a prolonged, deep- chested howl, corresponding with B-flat below middle C, not broken into a bark, like the ery of the coyote. When seen at home, the Gray Wolf can readily be distinguished from the coy- ote, even at a distance, by the way it carries its tail,—pointing above the horizon. Gray Wolves hunt in packs, often in relays, and successfully pull down deer, antelope, and wounded animals of all sizes. In the cattle country their specialty is the destruction of calves and colts. Except in the far North, they know well what firearms are, and are very care- ful to keep out of rifle-shot. N. Y. Zoological Park. COYOTE. To-day the range of the Gray Wolf embraces the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountain re- gion from Mexico to the northern limit of land. Lockwood and Brainard found tracks of a Gray Wolf at Latitude 83° 24’. In Alaska, animals of this species grow larger than in the United States, and frequently are white instead of gray. A fairly large Gray Wolf is 483 + 15} inches long, stands 26 inches high at the shoulders, and hasa girth measurement of 294 inches. (L. L. Dyche.) The Coyote, or Prairie Wolf,! is about one- third smaller than the gray wolf, but in form and color the two species look very much alike. It carries its tail low—humbly—as befits a cow- 1Ca’nis la’trans, and related forms. 24 ardly animal. It is not dangerous to man, and never was, and is bold only in the persistence with which it hangs upon the outskirts of civiliza- tion, and prowls around ranches in quest of food. The delicacy of the Coyote’s judgment in keep- ing always beyond fair gun-shot is truly wonder- ful. If he is not a mind-reader, his actions belie him. Twice in Montana, each time for two weeks, have I tried my utmost to shoot a Coyote; but during those periods not one would offer more than a running shot at three hundred yards or more. Twice, however,—and immediately after the above,—when riding quite unarmed, have Coyotes sat down beside the trail, waited for me to approach within forty yards, then yawned in a bored manner, and slowly trotted off. It is my belief that those animals knew per- fectly well my inability to shoot. The food of Coyotes consists chiefly of prairie-‘ dogs,” ground-squirrels, sage grouse, hares and rabbits. The largest animals ever killed by them are deer and prong-horned ante- lope. From the ranchman they steal poultry, pigs, lambs and sheep. They ‘‘den” in ‘“wash- outs,” or deep holes in the cut banks of ravines, GENUS. ENGLISH NAME, Red Fox, . Cross Fox, . Black Fox, Red Fox e Group: | Plains Fox, . B Kadiak Fox, . ba GENUS Newfoundland Fox, 5 Vulpes. Swift Fox, .. . ea Large-Eared Fox, . z 2 Arctic, or Blue Fox, id Se Hall Island Fox, Sie) =e a Gray Fox, ue a a Florida Gray Fox, Gray Fox ¥ Scott’s Gray Fox, . 2 Group: ; GENUS Texas Gray Fox, . Urocyon. Coast Gray Fox, Townsend’s Gray Fox, . ee ORDERS OF MAMMALS—FLESH-EATERS and rear from five to seven puppies every May. The cry of the Coyote is a dog-like yelping, half howl and half bark; whereas, the call of the gray wolf is a prolonged and steady deep-bass howl. As far as they can be heard, these wolves can be distinguished by their cries, and to those who have camped on the plains, or in the wild and weird ‘‘bad-lands” of the great West, the high-pitched, staccato cry of the Coyote as he announces the coming dawn, is associated with memories of vast stretches of open country, mag- nificent distances, fragrant sage-brush and free- dom. The specific name of means “barking,” of its peculiar dog-like cry. “ this animal (latrans) and was bestowed on account The Coyote ranges from the latitude of the City of Mexico northward through the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain region to Alberta. my best Montana specimen in length, and 20? inches in The size of was 372? + 16 inches height at shoulders. Coyotes vary in color from the typical pepper- and-salt gray to yellowish gray, the latter being found in the Southwest. black specimens occur. ‘ LATIN NAME. Vulpes fulvus (Desma- rest). Vulpes fulvus decussatus (Desmarest). Vulpes fulvus argentatus (Shaw). Vulpes macrourus (Baird). Vulpes harrimani(Merrian.). Vulpes deletrix (Bangs). Vulpes velox (Say). Vulpes macrotis (Merriam). Vulpes lagopus (Linnaeus). Vulpes hallensis (Merriam). Urocyon cinereoargenteus (Schreber). Urocyon cinereoargenteus floridanus (Rhoads). Urocyon cinereoargenteus scottia (Mearns). Urocyon cinereoargenteus texensis (Mearns). Urocyon cinereoargenteus californicus (Mearns). Urocyon cinereoargenteus townsendi (Merriam). At rare intervals, LOCALITY, Virginia to Alaska. New York to Man- itoba. Northwest Terri- tory, Alaska. Great Plains. Kadiak I., Alaska. Newfoundland. The Great Plains. Southern California. Polar regions of both hemispheres. Hall Island, Bering Sea. Southeastern States. Florida. New Mexico to Southern Califor- nia. Texas. Southern California, Northern California. THE RED FOX, AND VARIETIES 25 The Red Fox.'—Of the many handsome and valuable species of foxes inhabiting North America, our wise old friend, the Red Fox, is the one most widely distributed, and the best Sansorn, Photo., N. Y. Zoological Park. RED FOX. known. Between the southern Alleghenies and Point Barrow it appears in coats of many dif- ferent shades, but everywhere it is recognizable by the prevailing yellowish-red color from which it derives its name. It is palest in the desert regions, where shade is scarce, and brightest in the forest regions and Alaska, where the bleaching power of the sun is not so great. The largest and finest skins come from Alaska. The range of the Red Fox is very wide. From North Carolina and Tennessee it extends through the whole northeastern United States, westward to Montana and northward to the limit of trees. It is the most common fox in Alaska, wherever there are trees. It is so cunning, and so well able to take care of itself, even in populous coun- tries, that it refuses to be exterminated. The length of an average specimen is 24 + 13 inches; height, 13 inches. There is little pleasure to be derived from foxes kept in captivity as pets. They are very nervous, easily frightened, and, as a rule, are totally lacking in all the sentiments which re- semble affection. Nevertheless, we have seen, and also owned, Red Foxes that were tame, and trustworthy when handled. The Cross Fox is really a color phase of the red fox, marked by black legs and under parts, a dark-colored cross on the shoulders, steel-gray body and head, and a big black tail with a snow- 1Vul' pes ful’vus. white tip. There is a reddish patch behind the fore-leg, and another on the side of the neck. In my opinion a really typical Cross Fox is the handsomest fox in the world, far more beautiful than the much-sought “silver fox.” Some day it will attract the appreciation it deserves, and be sought accordingly. It stands between the red and the black foxes, and grades into both. It is found in Manitoba, Alberta, British Columbia, and Alaska, and occasionally in Idaho and Utah. The Black Fox, commonly called the “Sil- ver Gray” Fox (although there is no silvery color about it, save its tail-tip), enjoys the distinction of having the highest price on his head that is offered for any fur-bearer. In March, 1900, a single skin of this animal sold at auction in London for $2,784; and it is not at all uncom- mon for extra fine skins to sell in this country at from $600 to $1,200. They are worth so much as furs for the very wealthy that zoological gardens cannot afford to purchase live speci- mens for exhibition. Their exhibition value is far below their fur value. Like the cross fox, this is only a color phase of the typical red fox, but commercially the two forms are so distinct, and so sharply defined in dollars and cents, that they demand separate notice. Drawn by J. CarTerR Bearp. BLACK, OR “ SILVER ”’ FOX. A subspecies of the Red Fox. With the exception of its snow-white tail-tip, and a few scattering white hairs on the top of the hind quarters, a typical Black Fox is jet black. This form inhabits the same localities as the cross fox, and is much given to mixing with it, which causes many variations from their 26 ORDERS OF MAMMALS—FLESH-EATERS standard colors toward the typical red fox. Both these animals are somewhat larger than the typical red fox found in New England. On account of the great value of the fur of the Black Fox, many persons have desired to establish farms for breeding it in confinement, and several attempts in that direction have al- ready been made. Thus far, however, none of them have proved successful. In Alaska, on the blue-fox farms, the Black Foxes are such dainty feeders that they will not eat the corn bread and fish which so well meet the wants of the other species, but require live game for food. Neither will they enter box traps, or permit themselves to be caught in any way other than in steel traps, which of course seriously injure them. The Swift Fox, or Kit Fox,! is the smallest and daintiest of all our foxes. Its color is a beautiful silver-gray, with a tinge of yellow. It is strictly an inhabitant of the Great Plains region from the Rio Grande to the Saskatchewan, but owing to the readiness with which it eats poisoned meat that has been put out for wolves, it has already become very scarce. In spite of its name, it does not run with remarkable swift- ness. The Arctic Fox.°—This creature of the polar world is a striking example of climatic influence on a species, and also of the danger that lies ARCTIC FOX. in describing a species from a single specimen, In the far North, the Arctic Fox is snow-white all the year round. Farther south it is white in winter, but in summer is bluish-brown. In the southern part of its range, the Aleutian 1 Vul’ pes ve'lox. * Vul'pes la-go' pus. Archipelago for example, except for an occa- sional white individual, it is dark all the year round, and is known only as the Blue Fox. At first it may seem difficult to believe that these two widely-different extremes are only color- phases of the same species; but it is quite true. The dark-colored animal is not even accorded subspecific rank. The Arctic-Blue Fox is a simple-minded creat- ure, of sanguine temperament, easily trapped and handled, and ever ready to adopt the prepared food of civilization. In its white phase, the finest skins sell in London at $12 each. In its blue-brown coat, it has a very comical counte- nance, characterized by much hair, close-cropped ears, and a total absence of beauty; but its fur, when taken in season, is worth in the Lon- don market from $25 to $50 per skin. On various islands along the Alaska coast, especially in the Aleutian Archipelago, about forty commercial companies are engaged in breeding Blue Foxes for their fur, some of them with satisfactory success. The foxes are fed daily, on cooked corn meal and dried fish. They come up to be fed, and when the time comes to handle and sort them previous to killing the annual allotment, they greatly facilitate matters by the readiness with which they enter box traps. In the New York Zoological Park, three pairs of Blue Foxes that were received in 1902 from Alaska have taken kindly to captivity. The great decrease in the annual supply of good fur has caused many persons to hope that fox-breed- ing may be developed into a remunerative in- dustry. Except in Alaska, no successful ex- periments in that line have been made, and it is quite desirable that fox-breeding in the United States should be taken up under state or national auspices, and wrought out to a successful issue. There is good reason to hope and believe that it might be developed into an important industry. The Gray Fox! is the fox of the South, but it ranges northward far into the home of the red fox. It is noticeably smaller than the latter, pepper-and-salt gray above, and rusty-brown underneath, with a red patch on the side of its neck. For a fox it is very agile, and when hard pressed by dogs it can climb small trees up to a height of twenty feet or more. ' U-ro-cy'on cin-e’re-o-ar-gen’te-us. THE SMALL FUR-BEARERS a7 The five subspecies of the gray fox extend throughout the southern United States from Florida to California. Besides the foxes already mentioned, several other species and races are recognized. SanBorn, Photo., N. Y. Zoological Park. GRAY FOX. THE SMALL FUR-BEARERS. Mustelidae. A majority of the valuable fur-bearing ani- mals of North America are found in a group of flesh-eaters known as the Marten Family. It contains about fifty full species, and its con- spicuous types are the following: These four types are Otter; marked by long, slen- Mink; der bodies, very short Weasel; legs, flattened heads, THE Marten; and general activity MARTEN on foot. FAMILY: \ Wolverine; the greatest glutton Mustelidae. and pest in this Family. Skunk; aggressive and destructive pests; valuable fur-bearers. Badger; a fat-bodied, inert and practically harmless burrower. The great demand for fur, both for ornament and use, has brought about the systematic de- struction of all fur-bearing animals. Many spe- cies that once were numerous have now become very rare. Formerly the wearers of fur ac- cepted nothing less desirable than beaver, otter, mink and marten. To-day, the fur of the skunk, raccoon, fox, lynx, black bear and even the de- spised rabbit are in active demand, for garments and for trimmings. The Otter! is as fond of water as a seal, and quite as much at home in fresh water as on land. Its regular food consists of fish, in the capture of which it is very expert. It has webbed feet, a thick, pointed tail distinctly flattened for use in swimming, and it is clothed with a thick coat of very fine, dark brown fur. Strange to say, when fairly treated, the Otter is a good- tempered animal, tames easily when caught young, and makes an interesting pet. In a public park, one Otter is worth more to the public than twenty beavers. In the days when they were numerous, and less persecuted than now, it was no uncommon thing for a party of Otters to select a steep and slippery river-bank, and slide down it repeatedly, as small boys slide down hill on sleds, except that each slide of the Otter always ended in a plunge into the water. The Otter of North America still is found oc- casionally in Florida and the Carolinas, the Ca- nadian provinces, in a few localities in the Rocky Mountain region, and from British Columbia to central Alaska. Outside of Alaska, its fur is taken so rarely that it has ceased to be regarded as an article of commerce. Its value alive for exhibition purposes is from $10 to $30. The length of a large northern Otter, head and body, is 27 inches and tail 16 inches. The Otter builds no house, but lives in a bank burrow, usually under the spreading roots of some large tree growing near the water. The young are usually two in number. The Sea Otter,” one of the most valuable of all fur-bearing animals, is literally a child of the ocean surges and the surf-beaten rocks of the rugged north Pacific coast. It is born at sea, on a bed of kelp, and literally “rocked in the cradle of the deep.” It was formerly found from California to the Aleutian Islands, but is now very rare except in certain parts of Alaska. Here its pursuit is strictly limited by law to the natives, to whom it is vitally important, and a white man may not kill a Sea Otter except under penalty of a fine of $500. 1 Lu’tra can-a-den’sis, 2 La/tax lu’tris. a9 a ORDERS OF MAMMALS—FLESH-EATERS The fur of this creature is extremely valuable. Otter usually is quite dangerous, but to the In March, 1900, the finest skin in the London natives of the Alaskan Peninsula, this creature market sold for $1,344. A full-grown specimen is far more important than the fur seal. For- 1. OTTER. 3. MARTEN. 2. FISHER. 4. MINK. measures from 34 to 4 feet in length (head merly between five thousand and six thousand and body) and has a tail 11 inches long. Its — skins, worth from $100 to $500 each, were taken fur is very dense and fine, and in color isa shim- annually, and formed practically the sole de- mering, lustrous black. The pursuit of the Sea pendence of the natives along nearly 2,000 miles Nera MINK, FERRET, AND WEASEL 29 of coast line. But with the introduction of fire- arms, and the sealing schooners, the Sea Otter has been almost exterminated. The few indi- viduals that remain are widely scattered, and are the wildest and wariest of all wild creatures. The Mink? is much smaller than the otter, yellowish brown or dark brown in color, and while it prefers to live along the banks of streams, it is not an aquatic animal like the otter. When possible, it feeds chiefly upon birds, because they are easily caught and killed, and when opportunity offers, it is a wanton murderer. It also preys upon small mammals and fish, whenever it can procure them. In the Beaver Pond of the New York Zoological Park a murderous Mink once killed six wild geese in one night, and another slaughtered ten herring gulls. A full-grown Mink looks very much like a large weasel, having a long, slender body and very short legs. The Mink is by no means as rare as the otter, and even to-day is found scattered throughout nearly the whole of North America, as far as the limit of trees. The round, hairy tail, choco- late-brown or yellowish-brown color and smaller size of this animal quickly distinguish it from all other animals of its Family. The body of a full- grown specimen is about as thick as the wrist of a medium-sized man. The length of the head and body is 19 inches, tail 7 inches. The Black-Footed Ferret,’ of Kansas, Colo- rado, Wyoming and Montana, is to many per- sons who live in its home country, an enigma. In 1849 this pretty creature was described and illustrated by Audubon and Bachman, after ’ which it totally disappeared, and remained a mystery until it was re-discovered in 1886. In its home it is often called the Prairie-‘‘ Dog ”’ Hunter, because its specialty is the killing of prairie-“dogs;”” and it is nearly always found in the towns of that jolly little animal. It can be recognized at a glance by its black feet, brown legs and black tail-tip, and the cream-yellow color of its head and body. Next to the skin, the fur is white, and there is a broad black or dark-brown patch across the nose, including both eyes. Its length of head and body is 19 inches, tail 4 inches. Regarding its habits and life history, much re- 1 Lu-tre-o'la vi’son, and related species. * Pu-to’ri-us nig'ri-pes. mains to be ascertained by the young natural- ists who live in the country it inhabits. The Weasel, of which many species and races have been described, is the smallest animal in the marten family.2 Its legs are very short and far apart, and its body is no thicker than a BLACK-FOOTED FERRET. man s thumb, but it is of such great length that the animal is positively snake-like in its propor- tions. In life it is very odd to see the front legs walk to and fro quite independently of the hind quarters. Fifteen full species have been de- scribed, several of them being very much alike. The Common Weasel, or Ermine’ is brown in summer, and white in winter. The Weasel is one of the most courageous and aggressive of all animals. It kills rabbits, grouse, chickens and ducks of ten or twelve times its own size, and often kills ten times as many chickens as it can eat, purely to gratify its murderous disposition. It is as savage as a tiger, but on farms it often does good service in destroying rats and field-mice. Weasels are so small their fur has little value, but the time is coming when it will eagerly be sought and used. 'The Least Weasel (Putorius rixzosus),.which is found from the Saskatchewan to Alaska, is said to be the smallest carnivore in the world. ? Pu-to'ri-us er-min'e-a. 30 ORDERS OF SE Set Se The Marten* looks very much like a young red fox, and in size it is about as heavy as an ordinary domestic cat. Its head and body length is 17 inches, and its tail 7 inches. The body is brownish yellow, the legs are two or three shades darker, and it has three kinds of hair. It loves timber, and spends much of its time in trees. It is rarely found in open country, and is most abundant on rugged and rocky for- est-covered mountains. The Marten is not a poultry-killer, nor a wan- in America. It isa bold, active tree-climber, an industrious hunter, an aggressive fighter, and as a stealer of baits it is almost as great a nui- sance to trappers as the hated wolverine. With this animal, ‘‘all’s fish that cometh to net,” and with equal relish it devours dead fish, rab- bits, squirrels, chipmunks, ground birds, snakes, toads and frogs. Occasionally it murders its own cousin, the pine marten, and even feeds upon the Canada porcupine. The Fisher is at home in the swamps or the THE WOLVERINE. ton murderer of more game than he can eat, but he lives*by honest hunting of wild game. His food consists of small rodents, birds, eggs, or even an occasional reptile. In the United States this animal is now rare, for its fur has always been highly prized. It is often called the Pine Marten. The Fisher, or Pennant’s Marten,’ is one of the largest members of the Marten Family ' Mus-te'la americana. * Mus-te’la pen’nant-t. rocky mountain-sides of northern New York, and in the forest regions of North America generally from Maine and southern Labrador to the Pacific coast. Northward it ranges to Great Slave Lake and the Yukon River. In color it varies from glossy black to dark brown, with occasional gray, or grayish white, on head and neck, chin, chest and abdomen. Its aver- age length is 23 + 14 inches. The young vary in numbers from two to three. THE WOLVERINE AND SKUNK 31 The Wolverine, or Carcajou,! is one of the most remarkable animals in North America. It is about the size of a full-grown bull-dog, has a ravenous appetite, great strength, a fierce tem- per, and the combined cunning of many genera- tions of criminals. It is the greatest thief amongst animals, and is such a greedy feeder that it is known to many asthe Glutton. It will follow a trapper’s “line” of marten traps, for miles, destroy every animal it finds in them, COMMON SKUNK. devour baits, and sometimes steal the traps also. It breaks open caches, raids cabins, and sys- tematically destroys everything it encounters. It is the only animal living which maliciously and deliberately destroys property, and soils food which it can neither eat nor carry away. It steals articles which it cannot possibly use, and more than once has been known to strip a cabin of nearly its entire contents. In form this animal resembles a cross between a badger and a bear. In Wyoming it is called 1Guw'lo lus’cus. the Skunk-Bear, and in Washington the Indians call it the Mountain Devil. It inhabits the northern Cascades and the Rocky Mountain region of the United States as far south as Great Salt Lake, and the whole of arctic and subarctic America to the northern limit of trees. It is especially abundant on the Kuskowim River, Alaska. Its length is 32 x 10 inches. The Skunks form a large group, widely dis- tributed, but all the species, however much they LITTLE SPOTTED SKUNK. differ in size or color, are arranged in three genera. The Common Skunk,! of which nine spesies are recognized, is very well known, chiefly be- cause of its powerful odor, its wide distribution, and its very conspicuous jet-black color, divided on the back by one or two broad bands of white. This type of skunk is practically confined to the United States and Mexico, and is most abundant in the North. The very offensive fluid which constitutes its defence against all 1 Meph’i-tis. 32 ORDERS OF MAMMALS—FLESH EATERS enemies, is contained in two glands situated near the base of the tail, and can be thrown several feet. Its odor is so offensive and so stifling that neither man nor beast can long endure it. The Skunk is a bold marauder, and destruc- tive to poultry, but nevertheless of value as a destroyer of white grubs and other noxious in- sects. Owing to the disappearance of the otter, beaver, mink and marten, the fur of the Skunk has become valuable, and is now very exten- sively used, the white portions being first dyed black. The Little Spotted Skunks ! are found chiefly in our southern states, and can immediately be recognized by the alternating bands of black and white which extend lengthwise along the body. Of these there are about a dozen species, but some of them are very much alike. They range from the Gulf coast north to West Virginia and Kansas, but on the Pacific slope they are found in Washington, Oregon, Cali- fornia and Utah. The Badger Skunks®* resemble the common Skunks in size, but may be readily distinguished by the broad white stripe on the back, and the powerful claws on the fore feet. As indicated by their name, they are more badger-like than THE BADGER. the other skunks, and are expert diggers. They are the only skunks which occur in South Amer- ica, and their range extends from the Straits of Magellan northward along the west coast, through Central America and Mexico into south- ern Texas and Arizona. The Badger is an animal of strange form, its body being very broad and flat, and its legs very ’ Spi'lo-gale. * Co-ne-pa'tus. short. In size it stands midway between the common skunk and the wolverine. It has a sav- age and sullen disposition, and as a pet is one of the worst imaginable. It lives in burrows, and feeds on ground squirrels, prairie-“dogs,” and ground game of every description. Often Bad- gers will be found living in deserts where it would seem an impossibility for any carnivorous animal to find a supply of food. Its home is the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains and westward there- of to the Pacific coast, from Mexico to Manitoba. and Alaska. THE BEAR FAMILY. Ursidae. That nearly all young people, the whole world over, are greatly interested in bears, is no cause for wonder. Under proper conditions, young bears are the most merry-hearted wild animals that come into captivity, not even excepting monkeys, and in some respects the most inter- esting. Of all wild animals kept in zoological parks, there are none that more fully repay the care bestowed upon them, and excepting apes. and monkeys, none that furnish more amusement. With plenty of sun-lit space in which to romp and play, good bathing pools, and no stone walls to depress their spirits, 7f not fed by vis- ttors, bears are more playful and mirth-pro- voking than most monkeys. If immured in gloomy “‘bear-pits,”’ or confined in small cages, their spirits are correspondingly depressed. They are then like unhappy prisoners, rather than care-free wild creatures. If tantalized with bits of food, they quarrel and fight, and their tempers become savage and dangerous. Contrary to general belief, a bear is naturally cheerful and good-tempered. Elk, deer, buffalo, elephants and large cats often attack their keep- ers, but bears that have been properly reared in captivity seldom do so. The bear dens of the New York Zoological Park, contained (in 1903) thirty-four bears, of eleven different species, living in peace and harmony, in nine paved yards. Fully one-half of their waking hours are spent in romping, wrestling, boxing and swimming, and ill-temper is rarely shown. The keepers go amongst these bears with only brooms for defence, and the great brutes are hustled about and driven to and fro ‘Yflopuappuu snsiZQ Yuasaidas 07 padataq pue ‘eYseTY “Ja[U] Yoo Jo pay oy} ieou wo ‘uVad NMOUM NVUSVIV ‘auvag uaLuvg ‘¢ Aq ‘HIV [eoIso[ooZ YOK MON OY} Ul ‘ajt] Woy UMBIC, 4 ORDERS oo as if they were so many sheep. At the same time, any visitor who is so unwise as to thrust a hand between the bars within reach of the jaws of any of the inmates is certain to be very se- verely bitten,—in playfulness rather than rage! In their rough play these bears continually bite each other, without inflicting injury; and they do not appreciate the difference be- tween a tender human hand and a tough, hairy paw. Never offer a finger to a carnivorous animal, unless you really wish to have it bitten off. And do not feed pea-nuts, candy, peaches, or tobacco to animals in captivity. If you wish to kill any of them, a gun is far more respectable, and also more merciful. Structure and Habits of Bears.—Bears are plantigrade, or flat-footed, animals, with long claws that are not retractile. They live on the ground, and eat all kinds of food, from green grass to elk steaks. A few species only are able to climb trees. In their food habits they are om-niv’o-rous, and devour almost everything they can chew, except wood and foliage. The bears of the Alaskan coast eat great quantities of marsh grass, and berries, but salmon is their regular food. All bears eat succulent roots, insect larvae, honey, frogs and also reptiles, fish, and every other kind of flesh they can ob- tain. In captivity they thrive best on a variety of food consisting of stale bread, raw meat, cooked meat, rice, raw fish, boiled potatoes, raw carrots, and fruit. In the temperate zone, where the snow falls to a depth of a foot or more, bears are unable to procure food in winter, and pass that season in a sort of sleep, or hibernation. With its stomach and intestines empty, or nearly so, a bear enters its den in December, curls up, and with some of the functions of Nature en- tirely suspended, sleeps until spring! In reality, the creature lives upon the fat that has been se- creted under its skin and elsewhere during the summer days of good living. Ordinarily, bears in captivity that are supplied with daily food, do not. hibernate in winter, but one cinnamon bear which I knew personally, at Mandan, North Dakota, dug a hole in the prairie, entered it on December 17, and did not reappear until March 14, of the following year. In the tropics, bears never hibernate. OF MAMMALS—FLESH-EATERS Naturally, the dens of hibernating bears are of several kinds, accordng to conditions. In the Adirondacks, of New York, the black bear often chooses the base of a hollow tree, or digs a cavity under the roots of a tree. In the “ bad- lands” of the West, bears easily find warm and comfortable dens in the wash-out holes of rugged ravines. In the mountains, amongst rocks, small caves are easily found. In Wash- ington, “Grizzly”? Adams caught ‘ Lady Wash- ington” and “Ben Franklin” in a deep den that had been dug by their mother in a steep hillside. All the world over, two bear cubs usually con- stitute a litter. In America, they are usually born in January, and at birth are ridiculously small, almost hairless, and as helpless as newly- born mice. Although they grow rapidly during the first year, they are seven years in reaching full maturity. In captivity bears seldom breed and rear their young, chiefly because of the lack of satisfactory seclusion for the female. Mr. Arthur B. Baker, who has recently inquired into the habits of the American black bear in cap- tivity, states that “at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, are two specimens which regularly hibernate, and also a pair, born in 1888, which, with the ex- ception of three years, have had cubs each Jan- uary (21st to 27th) up to 1903, all of which were raised, excepting a few which met death by ac- cident.” Bears have bred in captivity in the zoological] gardens and parks of Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Washington and New York, but few of the cubs have been reared. The dimensions of a Russian brown bear cub—a species that is an excellent understudy of our silver-tip grizzly, and but slightly inferior in size—was when two days old as follows: Length, head and body, 9} inches, tail, $ inch; height, 5 inches, circumference of chest, 63 inches; hind foot 1 inches by {% inch; weight 15 ounces. This cub was born on January 17. All American bears, except the polar, show great, changes in the color of their pelage at dif- ferent seasons of the year. In the late summer the new pelage is darkest, but by the following spring, the old coat has grown so much lighter in color that the wearer seems like a different individual. The shedding period is from May 1 to August 1. GROUPS OF North American Bears.—Leaving out of count the subspecies, and the species of which we know little or nothing, the world contains fourteen well-marked types of bears. Of these, eight inhabit Asia and Europe, four are found in North America, one is found all around the north pole, and one in South America. From both the Old World and North America, quite a number of additional species and subspecies have been described; but it must be remembered that at present we are dealing only with con- spicuous types. Owing to puzzling variations in color, claws and skulls, and the great difficulty of bringing together several hundred adult skins with skulls, it is at present impossible to state precisely how many different kinds of bears inhabit this con- tinent, or how they are related. In the near future, however, many existing questions will be settled; and until then the wisest course for the student and the general reader is to accept only well-known facts, and wait with patience for more. The bears of North America constitute four distinct groups, as follows: Polar Bear, of the far North. White. Very large. NORTH AMERICAN BEARS 8) Big Brown Bears, of Alaska. Light brown. Very large. Grizzly Bears, Mexico to Alaska. Gray or brown. Medium to very large. Black Bears, North America generally from Mexico to Alaska. Black or brown. Medium size, and large. To most persons, the second group of this series 1s quite new, and for several reasons its members are of unusual interest. The Polar Bear. The Polar Bear stands alone in its genus. It is the king of the frozen North, and its robe is pure white, all the year round. It inhabits the coasts of the Arctic Ocean, all around the pole, and wanders over the arctic islands and the great ice-fields almost as far north as man has ever gone. Nansen saw its tracks at Lati- tude 84°,—its farthest north. As a rule, the Polar Bear follows the edge of the great ice-pack, for the sake of the seals and walruses which move with it, north in summer, and south in winter. He seldom travels more than a day’s journey inland on any shore. His food consists chiefly of seals, walruses, fish and dead whales; at times of vegetable matter. FULL LIST OF THE BEARS OF NORTH AMERICA. Corrected to December 1, 1908. Polar Bear, Kodiak Bear, . The Big Yakutat Bear, Brown Peninsula Bear, . B Merriam’s Bear, pers. Kidder’s Bear, Sitka Bear, Silver-Tip Grizzly, The Sonora Grizzly, . . Grizzly Alaskan Grizzly, Bears. Barren-Ground ) Grizzly,. . ..) Black Bear, . Labrador Bear, . The Louisiana Bear,. . Black Everglade Bear, . Bears Glacier Bear, . . Queen Charlotte Bear, . Thalarctos maritimus (Phipps), . Ursus middendor ffi Been : Ursus dalli (Merriam), a Ursus dalli gyas (Merriam), . : Ursus merriami (Allen), . Ursus kiddert (Merriam), . Ursus sitkensis (Merriam), Ursus horribilis( Ord), Ursus horribilis henmiaeus (Baird), Ursus horribilis alascensis (Merr). . ; Ursus richardsoni (Swainson), . Ursus americanus (Pallas), . Ursus americanus sornborgert(Bangs) Labrador. Ursus luteolus (Griffith), . Ursus floridanus (Merriam), Ursus emmonsi (Dall), Arctic regions generally. Kodiak Island, Alaska. Yakutat Bay, Alaska. Pavlof Bay, Alaska. Portage Bay, Alaska. Chinitna Bay, Alaska. Alaska coast, near Sitka, Wyoming to Alaska. S-W. New Mexico. Norton Sound, Alaska. | Great Slave Lake and ; Barren Grounds. North America. Louisiana and Texas. Florida. St. Elias Alps, Yakutat Bay, Alaska. ; Ursus carlottae (Osgood), . . . eat Charlotte Islands, British Columbia. 36 ORDERS OF MAMMALS—FLESH-EATERS In 1874, when Mr. Henry W. Elliott and Lieu- tenant Maynard visited St. Matthew Island, a lonely bit of treeless land in the northern portion of Bering Sea, they found upon it between 250 and 300 Polar Bears! The animals were basking in the warm sunshine, shedding their winter coats, and growing fat on the roots of the plants and mosses that grew there. On one occasion twenty bears were in sight simultaneously. The bears literally overran the island, grazing and E. R. Sansorn, Photo, N. Y. Zoological Park. POLAR BEAR. rooting about like hogs on a common. They showed no disposition to fight, but always ran when approached. The Polar Bear is a tall animal, with long legs, flat sides, and paws that are very wide and flat. The largest specimen in the New York Zoological Park is 503 inches in height, 7 feet 2 inches in length, and weighs about 800 pounds. When standing erect on his hind legs, the end of his nose is 8 feet 8 inches from the ground. If prop- erly and comfortably caged, and provided with a swimming pool five feet deep, Polar Bears in the temperate zone do not suffer from the heat of summer, and can endure hot weather fully as well as our black bears. Of course they require shade in summer; but it is not necessary to put ice in their pool to cool the water. The power of this active, warm-blooded animal to resist cold is one of the wonders of Nature. With the temperature many degrees below zero, the Polar Bear cheerfully leaps into the Arctic Ocean, amid the broken ice, and swims for hours. Of all bears, it is the best swimmer, and it dives with great ease. Thanks to the limitations im- posed by the Frost King on hunting in the arctic regions, it is not very probable that the Polar Bear ever will be exterminated by man. The Big Brown Bears. In 1896 the specimens collected by the United States Biological Survey, at Washington, re- vealed to Dr. C. Hart Merriam the presence in Alaska of two or three species and subspecies of huge brown bears, totally different in char- acter from all the American bears previously known. These bears range from Sitka around to the extremity of the Alaskan Peninsula, Kadiak Island, and inland for unknown dis- tances. They are marked by their light brown color, high shoulders, massive heads of great breadth, short, thick claws, and shaggy pelage. In their high shoulders, they resemble the griz- zly bear, but otherwise differ from them in many ways. Of these bears, Dr. Merriam has pub- lished preliminary descriptions of four new spe- cies and one subspecies, but additional collec- tions and information may possibly result in the consolidation of some of these. It is sufficient for our purpose to-set forth only the species which seems most sharply defined, and which may be considered representative of the whole group. The Kodiak Bear,! of Kodiak Island, and probably also of the Alaskan Peninsula and the mainland for some distance eastward, is not only the largest of all living bears, but also the largest carnivorous animal in the world. Several skins of immense size, and skulls 19 inches in length, have been collected. The largest specimen ever killed and measured by a naturalist was a female killed at Chinitna Bay, by Mr. James H. Kid- der, which had a shoulder height of 51 inches. A very large flat skin measured at Kodiak by Mr. J. A. Loring, was 93 feet long by 104 feet wide across the fore legs. Immediately after shedding, the new coat of the Kodiak Bear is dark-brown, like that of a grizzly, but it soon changes to a beautiful golden- brown tint. In March and April, the old coat is of a golden-yellow color, and really very beauti- ful. The full coat is long, thick and shaggy, and 'Ur'sus mid'den-dorf-fi. THE GRIZZLY BEARS 37 except when shedding is in full progress, the animal makes a very imposing appearance. This species is recognized by its uniform brown or golden color, its high shoulders, broad and mas- sive head, flat forehead, short, square nose, and a drop in the upper line of the head in front of the eyes. Mr. Kidder states that the bears on Kodiak Island are uniformly colored over the body and legs, but those on the mainland are darker on the legs than on the body. The Kodiak Bear catches and devours great numbers of salmon, which are so abundant in many Alaskan streams that it can throw them out with its paws. It also eats quantities of the rank marsh grass which grows along many sal- mon streams where they flow through alluvial plains before discharging into the sea. It inhab- its the most rugged mountains, and is seldom killed save when it leaves the shelter of the tim- ber and comes into the open river valleys and bay heads to feast on freshly-caught salmon, with tender grass for dessert. Just how far eastward this bear ranges on the mainland, remains to be determined; but I be- lieve it will be found as far as the Copper River. The big animal found in the Yukon valley, and commonly called the “Red Bear,’”’ undoubtedly belongs to the group of big brown bears, and in all probability is the same as the Kodiak Bear. The illustration shown on page 33 is a portrait of a fine Alaskan brown bear living in the New York Zoological Park, which came from the country between Cook Inlet and the Copper River. Inasmuch as all the descriptions of the species composing the brown bear group have been based chiefly upon skulls, the exact identity of our specimens can not be determined while they are alive. In the month of September its entire pelage is of the uniform dark-brown color characteristic of the bears of Kodiak Island at the season when the majority of them are killed, but later on the pelage of the body becomes lighter than that on the legs. The Grizzly Bears. The Grizzly Bear.'—Of all the bears of the world, this species is certainly one of the most celebrated. During the days of muzzle-loading rifles, its name and fame inspired terror through- 1 Ur'sus hor-ri'bi-lis. out the mountains and foot-hills of the wild western domain which constituted its home. For many years it held the old-fashioned Ken- tucky rifle of the pioneer in profound contempt, and frequently when it was used to annoy him, the user met a tragic fate. I believe that Grizz- lies have killed and maimed a larger number of hunters than all other bears of the world com- bined. Down to the advent of the breech-loader, the Grizzly was a bold, aggressive and highly dan- gerous animal. When attacked, he would charge his enemies with great ferocity, striking terrible blows with paws that were like sledge- hammers armed with huge hooks of steel. The combined swiftness and strength with which any large bear can strike must be seen or felt to be fully appreciated. I have made many observations on the temper of the Grizzly Bear, and am convinced that nat- urally the disposition of this reputedly savage creature is rather peaceful and good-natured. At the same time, however, no animal is more prompt to resent an affront or injury, or punish an offender. The Grizzly temper is defensive, not aggressive; and unless the animal is cornered, or thinks he ts cornered, he always flees from man. Either in captivity or freedom, the Grizzly re- sponds to fair treatment as well as any well- armed wild animal ever does, and far better than any other species with which I am personally acquainted. In the Yellowstone Park, where for several years past all bears have been fully protected, both the Grizzly and black bears now live in close touch with man, without breaking faith with him. Although they frequently visit the hotels, and steal food from the wagons and camps of tourists, I believe no bear has yet broken faith with the Government by molesting either his human neighbors or domestic animals! This fact speaks volumes for the moral character of our bears.! The Grizzly is an animal of commanding ap- pearance, and amongst other wild beasts it 'Since the above was written, the truce of the Yellowstone Park has been broken. Two horses belonging to a party of tourists have been killed by bears, and the aggressiveness of the latter has be- come so serious that it will be necessary for the government to take measures which will teach them to keep their place. 38 ORDERS OF MAMMALS—FLESH-EATERS acknowledges no superior. A small Grizzly cub which we once set free in a mixed company of five or six bears of other species, all of which were larger than he, boldly stalked into the centre of the group, with an air of conscious superiority and courage that was both characteristic and amusing. It was the other bears who were frightened, not he! Specimens of this species are readily recog- very gray. The huge brown Grizzly of southern California, now very rare, has been described as a species distinct from the Rocky Moun- tain Silver-Tip. I once measured the dry skin of one of these animals, which was 9 feet 4 inches in length, and 10 feet 3 inches wide across the shoulders, between the ends of the front claws. So far as I am aware, the largest Grizzly Bear A GRIZZLY BEAR AT HOME. Photographed in the mountains of western Wyoming, by F. C. Wolcott. The bear was enticed by a bait to within thirty feet of the camera, and taken by flashlight. nized by their high shoulders, powerful pro- portions, grizzly-gray hair, and long curved claws. The standard color (in winter) is brown next to the skin, the extremities of the hair being tipped with silvery gray, from which has come the common name of “Silver-Tip.” From Mexico and southern California to the Yukon valley, especially along the main ranges of the Rocky Mountains, the Grizzly shows about six different shades of color, from brown to sil- ever actually weighed was one that lived and died in the Lincoln Park menagerie, Chicago, and was weighed by Mr. G. O. Shields. Its weight was 1,153 pounds; yet when alive, west- ern hunters who saw it frankly admitted that it was larger than bears killed by them which they “estimated” at 1,800 pounds! Thus far the Rocky Mountains have not produced a wild Grizzly actually weighing over 800 pounds, and the average weight of the adult Grizzlies killed THE in the United States during the last fifteen years has been between 500 and 600 pounds. In all parts of the United States save the Yel- lowstone Park and the Clearwater Mountains of Idaho, the Grizzly is now a rare animal, and so difficult to find that it is almost useless to seek it this side of British Columbia. Like other large mammals of this continent, the long-range, high-power rifles leave them absolutely no chance BLACK BEARS 39 but is quite unable to climb trees. Like all other bears, he eats nearly everything he can chew, and is very partial to berries, and fruit of all kinds. The Black Bears. The Black Bear! is the best known bear in North America. It is found in nearly all the mountains and great tracts of forest between Photo. by IE. R. Sansorn, N. Y. Zoological Park. AMERICAN BLACK BEAR From northern Wisconsin. for their lives, and in a short time none will exist in the United States outside of the Yellowstone Park and the zoological gardens. In the wilds of Alaska, they may survive for perhaps a quarter of a century longer. Unfortunately, the Griz- zly loves to roam over treeless mountains, on which his huge bulk makes him conspicuous for miles, and invites the attacks of hisenemies. He loves water, swims well, and is a great traveller, Florida and Alaska, and from Nova Scotia to the Pacific coast. During the past twenty years it has been seen or killed in forty states of the United States, in Mexico, Alaska, and eleven of the British provinces. Its farthest south is the mountains of Costa Rica. Its standard color is jet black, all over, except the nose, which is dirty white or light brown. A 1 Ur'sus a-mer-i-can’us. 40 ORDERS OF MAMMALS—FLESH-EATERS very confusing fact about the Black Bear is the frequency with which it runs into brown or cinnamon colors. Sometimes black and brown cubs have been found in the same litter. Very curiously, however, this color is found only in the Rocky Mountains, and farther west. In its brown phase, this animal is called the Cinnamon round on the hind quarters, low at the shoulders, and also by the fact that in walking it usually carries its head low. It is a smaller animal, and its claws are short and well adapted to tree-climb- ing. It conceals itself from its enemies much more successfully than the grizzly, and therefore still survives in such places as the forests of the GLACIER BEAR. Drawn from a specimen in the United States National Museum. Bear, and in the Rocky Mountain regions and Alaska, brown specimens are almost as numerous as black. Sometimes it is difficult to believe that both kinds belong to the same species, but this seems to be a fact. Some grizzlies are very dark brown, but thev are never inky black, like the true Black Bear. The latter differs in form from the grizzly in being highest in the middle of the back, very Adirondacks, the Catskills, in West Virginia, and the swamps of the southern states. When properly treated, small Black Bears are good-tempered and playful in captivity; and some are easily tamed, and taught to perform tricks. Cubs are very interesting when small, but by the time they are a year old, they become so strong and troublesome, as well as dangerous, that private owners nearly always are heartily RACCOON AND BASSARISK 41 glad to get rid of them. Never buy a Black Bear cub in the belief that it can be kept for amuse- ment and resold at a profit; but if thine enemy offend thee, present him with a Black Bear cub. The Black Bear is a timid animal, and always runs when observed by man. It is a good climb- er, runs quite swiftly when pursued, but in a rough and tumble fight it bawls, roars, and coughs. The Glacier Bear,' found on the glaciers around Yakutat Bay, near Mt. St. Elias, Alaska, is one of the recent discoveries in the Northwest, but it is so clearly distinct as to merit special notice. Thus far no living specimens have found their way into zoological parks or gardens, and the only mounted skin on exhibition is in the United States National Museum. It is exactly reproduced in the accompanying illustration. The species is known to-day only by the single specimen referred to, and a few flat skins. As mounted it is only 24 inches in height at the shoulders, and is beyond question the smallest species of bear in America. Its color is a peculiar bluish gray, on all parts save the muzzle from the eyes forward, which is dark brown or black. The hair is long, very thick, woolly in texture, and stands out straight all over the body. The rarity of this animal in collections, and the long delay in its discovery, are due to the rough, in- hospitable and dangerous character of the coun- try in which it lives. THE RACCOON FAMILY. Procyonidae. The Raccoon,” placed next to the bears, is also plantigrade in its manner of walking. It is a cheerfully persistent animal, and no amount of hunting discourages it, or drives it away from its favorite haunts. It is at home in the tim- bered regions of the southern and eastern United States, especially where there are swamps,—for the Raccoon loves to play in water. Inthe West it ranges from Arizona to British Columbia. Its favorite dwelling-place is a hollow tree, and its yearly family consists of five or six young. In its appetite, it is as omnivorous as any bear, and eats everything that it can chew,—from live rabbits down to green corn,—fish, flesh, or fowl. The only point on which the Raccoon is particu- 1 Ur'’sus em’mous-t. 2 Pro'cy-on lo’tor and related species. lar, regarding its food, is in soaking it in water before eating it. Excepting the cacomistle or “civet cat”’ of the Southwest, this is the only animal in the Photo. and copyright, 1902, by W. L. UNpERWoop. THE RACCOON. United States which has black and gray rings around its tail. A live “’Coon” makes one of the most satisfactory carnivorous pets that a boy can keep in confinement. The Cacomistle, ‘‘Civet Cat,’’ or Bassarisk! is a strange little creature like a small pine mar- ten with a long, bushy tail, and many common names. It is spread over so wide an area of our country that its personality should be better known. It inhabits Mexico and the southwest- ern United States from Texas to California and north to southern Oregon. These are the names by which it is called and miscalled: in Mexico, Cacomiz'tli, or in English Ca-co-mis‘tle; in Texas, Texas Civet Cat, and Cat Squirrel ; in California, Mountain Cat and Ring-Tailed Cat ; in Arkansas, Raccoon Fox ; by various scientific authors from Audubon to Allen, Civet Cat, Ring-Tailed Bassa- ris, and Northern Civet Cat. Now, as to the facts regarding this pretty little creature, it is not a “cat” of any kind, and there is about it not a trace of “civet.” Dr. Coues proposed Bassarisk as a name that 1 Bas-sa-ris'cus as-tu’tus and related species. 42 ORDERS OF MAMMALS—FLESH-EATERS was appropriate, and entitled to use. Let it be so called henceforth, and the misnomers rele- gated to obscurity, where they belong. Its original Mexican name is so ill adapted to our wants it never will be generally used. The Bassarisk is, after the true raccoon, the only animal in the United States possessed of a long, bushy tail with alternating black and white rings around it. It climbs trees, and nests in hollow branches like a squirrel; it scratches and bites, and catches rats, mice and small birds like a cat; and it has a many-sided appetite, like a raccoon. Its length of head and body is 16 inches, tail about the same, and its general color is a brownish gray. It is a night prowler, and often makes its home in outbuildings and deserted ranch houses. In California it is oc- casionally kept in captivity by the miners, and is said to make a very attractive and interesting pet. CHAPTER IV THE ORDER OF SEALS AND SEA-LIONS PINNIPEDIA Some students may feel that it is useless for land dwellers to try to become acquainted, at long range, with sea animals. Toward many sea animals, this feeling is justified; but it should not be entertained toward the bold and hardy fin-footed children of the surf. The seals and sea-lions of our shores are well worth know- ing. From the warm and luxurious shore of south- ern California to Oregon’s storm-beaten Tilla- mook Roek, and on up to the inhospitable, rock- bound edge of western Alaska, you will find at intervals, where Nature has done some of her grandest work in shore-building, colonies of bold and hardy sea-lions. On the Pribilof Islands lives the most valuable of all the fur-bearing animals of the world, the fur-“‘seal,”’ which has contributed millions of dollars to our national treasury, and more than repaid the whole price of Alaska. On the low shores and adjacent ice floes of the North Atlantic live the seal herds that annually yield an immense store of valuable oil, and fur- nish employment for thousands of Newfoundland sailors and sealers. The reader may rest assured that even though his home be in the centre of the Great Plains, the North American seals and sea-lions are well worth knowing; for, sooner or later, travel surely will bring him into visual contact with many of them, either in museums, zoological gardens, or alive in their haunts. Let us, then, lay the foundation for a profitable acquaintance with them. By some writers, these animals are classed with the Ferae, because they eat flesh; but to associate in the same Order such widely different 43 creatures as sea-lions and cats seems incongru- ous, if not incorrect. The Order Pinnipedia! contains three groups of sea-faring animals, distributed widely through the ocean waters of the world, and in some in- stances, in fresh water, also. They are the Sea- Lions, Seals and Walruses. A Sea-Lion has a long, supple neck, and long, triangular front flippers that have neither hair nor claws, but are simply living paddles. Their hind limbs are web-toed flippers. They have very small, sharp-pointed ears, carry their heads high, and all are lively, active animals, both in swimming and in climbing rocks. The males of some species grow to enormous size, and have faces so lion-like in appearance that this resem- blance has given the group its popular name, —Sea-Lion. A Seal is a short-necked, fat-bodied, low-lying, clumsy animal, not nearly so active on land nor so intelligent as a Sea-Lion. Its front flippers are short, square-ended, fully covered with hair, and provided with claws. They have no ex- ternal ears of skin and cartilage. Their hair is short, close, and stiff, and of no value as fur save to the Eskimo, to whom every Seal is a Godsend, and utilized in a great variety of ways. A Walrus is a sea mammal of great size, formed somewhat like a Sea-Lion, and it is the clumsiest living creature that ever comes upon land. It has two long ivory tusks that grow downward from the upper jaw, a very thick skin which lies in deep folds, no hair worth men- tioning, and a very dull brain. The following are the groups and species which every American should know : 1 Pin-ni-pe’di-a means “‘ fin-footed.”” ORDERS 44 PACIFIC WALRUS, STELLER’S SEA-LION, OF MAMMALS—SEALS AND SEA-LIONS eS HARBOR SEAL. On the same scale. FAMILIES. O-TA-RI'I-DAE,. . § | Sra-Lions, ORDER PENNIES cg PHO'CI-DAE PEDIA. EALS, . - re : WALRUSES, OD-O-BEN'I-DAE, . j THE SEA-LION FAMILY. The California Sea-Lion,? or Barking Sea- Lion, is the most familiar representative of the first group, for the reason that this species is easiest to catch alive, and keep in captivity. In zoological gardens and travelling shows, this is the animal which cries out so frequently, and with ear-piercing clearness and volume, “ How- woo! Hook! Hoook! Hook!” It inhabits nearly the entire coast of California, the Farallone Islands, the famous Cliff House rocks, and the Lower California peninsula. Full-grown males are about 7 feet in length, weigh about 450 pounds, and all are of a uniform dark-brown color. An adult female which died in the Zoo- logical Park weighed 112 pounds and measured: length of head and body, 564 inches, tail, 2} inches, total length from nose to end of hind flip- pers, 704 inches, girth, 314 inches. These creatures are very active in the water, and can climb rocks, 1The most important of these species will be found well described and commented upon in Mr. Henry W. Elliott’s interesting volume entitled “Our Arctic Province.” (Charles Scribner’s Sons.) ? Zal’o-phus cal-t-for-ni-an'us. EXAMPLES DESCRIBED.! Zalophus californianus. Eumetopias stellerv. Callotaria ursina. California Sea-Lion, . Steller’s Sea-Lion, Fur “ Seal,’’ Phoca foetida. Phoca vitulina. Phoca groenlandica. Cystophora cristata. Histriophoca fasciaia. Ringed Seal, Harbor Seal, Harp Seal, . Hooded Seal, Ribbon Seal, Odobenus obesus. Odobenus rosmarus. Pacific Walrus, Atlantic Walrus, . Ketter, Photo., N. Y. Zoological Park. CALIFORNIA SEA-LION. and even high cliffs, with surprising agility. When frightened, Captain Scammon says they will leap from a height of sixty feet into the sea. The hair of this animal is very short, coarse, and of no value. The California Sea-Lions rarely eat fish, but live chiefly upon squids, shell-fish FOOD OF and crabs. For reasons known only to them- selves, they swallow many round pebbles, from one to two inches in diameter. We once took 16 pounds (half a pailful) from the stomach of a medium-sized specimen. In captivity all kinds of seals and Sea-Lions live contentedly in fresh water. The value of a living California Sea-Lion in New York City is about $150. This species possesses great intelligence, and quite recently several specimens have been trained to go through a show per- formance which is really wonderful, including a most remarkable act in which 4 Sea-Lion suc- cessfully balances a large ball on the point of its nose. An important incident in the life history of the California Sea-Lion furnishes a good illustra- tion of the folly of condemning a wild species to destruction on insufficient evidence. For several years the fishermen of San Fran- cisco complained that the Sea-Lions of the Cali- fornia coast devoured such enormous quantities of salmon and other fish that they were seriously affecting the available supply ; besides which, they caused great damage to nets and impounded fish. They demanded that the Sea-Lions be destroyed, and finally convinced the state authorities that their contentions were well founded. It was decided that the animals should be de- stroyed, by systematic shooting, down to a com- paratively small number; and the slaughter was duly ordered. Men were engaged to do the work, in a business-like way, and an official re- quest for permission to kill on the light-house reservations of the government was granted. But there were certain naturalists who doubted the entire accuracy of the charges made against the Sea-Lions, and asked for proof in detail. When no evidence of a specific and convincing nature was brought forward, they requested that the slaughter proposed on the Farallone Islands, and other light-house reservations, be deferred, pending a careful inquiry; and this was done. However, where the state authorities had full power to act, the killing proceeded in a few lo- calities. It happened that during the killing of California Sea-Lions on the shore of Monterey Bay, and vicinity, Professor L. L. Dyche, of the University of Kansas, arrived on the scene to pursue studies in marine life. He examined the SEA-LIONS 45 stomachs of twenty Sea-Lions which were washed ashore, and of five more which he killed for the purpose of mounting their skins. Every stomach examined contained the remains of squids and devil-fish (Octopus), one or both; and both of which are among the fisherman’s ene- mies! Not one of the twenty-five stomachs which he carefully examined and reported wpon contained any portion of a scaled fish. In 1901, the United States Fish Commission conducted a systematic investigation of the food habits of the Sea-Lions of the Pacific coast and the report of Messrs. Rutter, Snodgrass and Starks appears in the Report of the Fish Commissioner for 1902. At six points on the coast of California, the investigators killed a total of twenty-four specimens of the California Sea-Lion, and eighteen of the Steller Sea-Lions. The report says: “Of thirteen California Sea-Lions whose stom- achs contained food, five had eaten fish and eleven had eaten squid. The quantity of fish was inconsiderable, seventeen small fishes being the maximum, while the remains of one hundred to three hundred squid were found in each of five stomachs. “All the thirteen Steller Sea-Lions whose stomachs contained food had eaten fish, and five had eaten squid, or octopus. The number of squid eaten was small, six being the maximum number in one Sea-Lion, while the quantity of fish was large, at least thirty-five pounds being taken from one stomach.” The detailed report of the kinds of fishes con- sumed as food by these animals reveals an as- sortment of very little value, and not one salmon or shad. Professor Dyche’s discovery—that the California Sea-Lion feeds almost exclusively upon squid—was fully confirmed, for the twenty- four animals killed contained only three rock- fish, two hake, twenty-four ‘‘small fish’”’ and one chimera,—but over eleven hundred squid! The stomachs of the Steller’s Sea-Lions contained fourteen rock-fish, two perch, thirty clupeoid fish, seventeen “large fishes of 12 to 18 inches,” and a few skates, sharks and squids. “The testimony of the fishermen was so con- tradictory it is of no value. One man claims that the Sea-Lions are becoming more numerous and destructive every year, while another claims that they are rapidly becoming 46 ORDERS OF MAMMALS— exterminated.” There was “practically no com- plaint”’ of fish destruction “at the time of the investigation. Sea-Lions were scarcely ever seen in the vicinity of the salmon nets during 1901.” At the mouth of the Columbia River, ‘the fishermen were unanimous in their denunciation of the Sea-Lions.”” ‘The shallow water and the large number of salmon make that point a favor- ite feeding ground, and there is no doubt that the Sea-Lions are doing much damage there.”” “It SEALS AND SEA-LIONS the strength of general opinions; for a supposed enemy may, on careful investigation, prove to be a friend. Steller’s Sea-Lion,' the largest Sea-Lion in the world, inhabits a few isolated spots on the Pacific coast, from Santa Cruz, California to Ber- ing Strait. Large male specimens attain an average length of 10 to 11 feet, stand 6 feet high, and attain a weight estimated by competent ob- servers at 1,400 pounds. The full-grown male STELLER’S SEA-LION. appears that the Sea-Lions are doing very little damage anywhere excepting at the mouth of the Columbia River.” (Report, page 117.) A summary of the results of the investigation establishes three facts: 1. The California Sea-Lion is not guilty of -destroying fish to any great extent, and deserves protection, not death. 2. Steller’s Sea-Lion eats miscellaneous fish; but on the coast of California does nothing to merit destruction. At the mouth of the Co- lumbia it is destructive, and there deserves to be kept in check. 3. Wild animals never should be destroyed on has a girth of 8 to 9 feet, a lion-like head, coarse neck hair 4 inches long, and canine teeth like a grizzly bear, which are much used in fighting. The full-grown females are from 8 to 9 feet long, weigh from 400 to 500 pounds and are more finely formed. The hair is coarse, and the ani- mal is now of practically no commercial value, save for its oil. This species is readily distin- guished from the California sea-lion by its far greater size, its hoarse voice, the very large neck, and the long, coarse neck hair of the males. In its habits, this great Sea Lion is very pe- culiar. Amongst themselves the old males 1 Fu-me-to’ pi-as stel’ler-i. THE FUR SEAL fight fiercely, and with their big canine teeth inflict upon each other many severe skin wounds. I have seen specimens whose necks bore scores of large scars. In the presence of man, however, they are timid, and easily frightened. This giant among Sea-Lions is found on the coast of California, in small numbers only, at Point Ano Neuvo, near Santa Cruz, at Puris- sima, the Farallone Islands, Point Reyes, and Point Arena. On the coast of Oregon it is found about the mouth of the Columbia and Tillamook Head. The agents of the United States Fish Commission, reporting observations made in 1901, stated that “probably half of the Sea-Lions of California (of both species) are found at the Farallone Islands, and it seems doubtful whether the total number on the coast amounts to five thousand.” A large colony of Steller’s Sea- Lions inhabits Bogoslof Island, Alaska, living almost in the shadow of that celebrated volcano. In October, 1903, the New York Zoological Society’s agents succeeded, after many fruitless efforts, in capturing six young specimens in the sea off San Miguel Island, California, and safely transporting them to New York, where the ex- periment of keeping this species in captivity is now being tried in the Zoological Park. The Fur Seal,’ which yields the beautiful and costly fur so highly prized for ladies’ gar- ments, is not a true seal, but a sea-bear or sea- lion, quite similar in form, size and general hab- its to the California species already described. It is found on the Pribilof or Seal Islands, in Bering Sea, where during the Russian occupa- tion it was twice nearly exterminated for its fur; on Copper and Robben Islands, off the coast of Siberia; and in the open sea from the Pribilof Islands southeastward to the thirty-fifth parallel, thence northward along the coast, back to the Seal Islands. The size of the Fur Seal has been carefully ob- served by Mr. Henry W. Elliott, and recorded as follows: Maes At birth (June 20) Length 12 to 14 in. AND i At six months, ae ed. a Femates. ‘ At one year, Be os At two years, 45 . MALES At three years, e 52 us ONLY. At six years, ene as At 8 to 20 years, 75. tol80 47 The Fur Seal has two kinds of hair. Its outer coat is long, stiff, coarse, and gray in color. In preparing skins for market, all this is plucked out and thrown away, leaving only the fine, soft, brown under fur, which before manufacture is dyed a rich, blackish-brown color. Fur Seal gar- ments vary in price from $200 to $700. The Fur Seal has strange and interesting habits. It spends about two-thirds of each year far at sea, making a circuit of 6,000 miles in the open ocean without touching land. For some strange reason, the herd in American waters has chosen the two Pribilof Islands, St. Paul and St. George, as the only spots in our waters whereon they are willing to land and rear their young. To these favorite breeding-places, on these islands known as “hauling-grounds,” the Fur Seal millions were wont to repair in the early summer of each year, to rear their young. The returning herd begins to arrive between May 1 and 15, the breeding season is over by September 15, and by the end of November all the Seals are gone on their great winter cruise southward into warmer waters. By a long series of inqui- ries the winter cruise of the herd has been mapped out by Dr. D. 8. Jordan and his associates, and is shown on the next page. On the breeding grounds, each large and hard- fighting old male gathers round him a harem of from six to ten females, fights off all rivals, young or old, and elects himself the head of an imposing family. The three-year-old male Seals—called “bachelors ’—were killed for their fur, to the number of about 100,000 each year. The fe- males bear only one “pup” annually, immedi- ately after landing in May. The mother Seals leave their young, go to sea in search of food, remain several days perhaps, or even a fortnight, then return and go straight to their own respective offspring. It was the killing of the mothers at sea that produced an enormous falling-off in the number available each year. The persistent slaughter of mothers Girth 10 in. Weight 6 to 74 Ibs. cl 25 ce “cl 39 ce “ce 95 be cc 39 “ce (74 30 ib ce 58 “cc ce 36 cc 66 87 “e “cc 64 “ce 6b 9280 cc “70 to 75 in. £400 to 500 lbs. 1 Cal-lo-ta’ri-a ur-si’na. 48 will exterminate any species of animal, no matter how numerous. The accompanying map graphically illustrates the remarkable sea-going habits of the Pribilof Fur Seal herd after the close of the breeding season, and during the intensely cold and fear- ORDERS OF MAMMALS— SEALS AND SEA-LIONS Commercial Company, for twenty years, the ex- clusive right to kill each year on the Pribilof Islands, 100,000 young male Fur Seals, receiving therefor, annually, the sum of $317,500. 1872.—The Alaska Commercial Company began to expend $100,000 in cash, chiefly in London, in making the wearing of sealskin BRITISH, oR WRN z ee Le s Ld > e 160: 165 o fashionable. This effort was entirely suc- alk ere 7g. cessful. “ eS 1873.—After a careful survey of the Ss Pribilof Islands, and an elaborate com- putation of the number of Fur Seals then inhabiting them, Mr. Henry W. Elliott, a special agent of the Treasury Department, announced the total number of Seals to be 3,193,420. He says: “No language can express adequately your sensations 50 when you first stroll over the outskirts of any one of those great breeding grounds of the Fur Seal on St. Paul’sIsland. . . . =]____ PARIS AWARD Indeed, while I pause to think of this sub- ANNUAL WINTER MIGRATION OF THE FUR SEAL fully windy winters that annually render life on the Seal islands a serious task. The combined political and commercial im- portance of the Fur Seal demands a brief summary of the most important facts of its rise to favor, its decline, and finally its fall. The end, how- ever, is not yet; but it looms very near. REVIEW OF FUR SEAL HISTORY. For the. past seventeen years, the Fur Seal has been to the United States, England and Canada a source of well-nigh constant anxiety, contention, and at times irritation. Inasmuch as the fate of that animal is still pending, it seems desirable to set forth the most important facts in its case, in chronological order. The history of the Fur Seal since our acquisition of Alaska is divided into two periods, one of revenue, and one of contention. The Period of Revenue. 1867.—When Alaska became a United States possession, by purchase from Russia at a cost of $7,200,000, the fur of the Fur Seal was almost unknown to fashion, and outside of Russia was neither used nor particularly desired. 1870.—The United States leased to the Alaska HERD. ject, I am fairly rendered dumb by the vivid spectacle which rises promptly to my view. It is a vast camp of parading squadrons which file and deploy over slopes from the summit of a lofty hill a mile down to where it ends on the south shore. Upon that area before my eyes, this day and date of which I have spoken, were the forms of not less than three-fourths of a million seals, mov- ing in one solid mass from sleep to frolicsome gambols, backward, forward, over, around until the whole mind is so confused and charmed by the vastness of mighty hosts that it refuses to analyze any further.” (“Our Arctic Province,” p. 313.) Some observers estimated the number of Seals at a figure higher than Mr. Elliott’s. Others have recently contended that it must have been less. 1880.—‘‘ Pelagic sealing”’ means the killing of Fur Seals, male or female, in the open sea, by means of guns or spears. It is an exceedingly wasteful and destructive method, but it had been going on in a quiet way for many years. On land, only male Seals are killed. In the sea, about four females were killed to every male taken, and the pups on shore were left to starve. In 1880, the total number of Seals taken at sea in Bering Sea was only 8,418; but from that time on, the killing increased rapidly, and be- came fearfully destructive. “INJ IWOY} 1OJ poyply AprepnSor o1aM sve yons ‘s[vos ,, Jofayorq ,, SuNOA Oa} o1v PuNoisos0] oy} UT —_,,, WAVY, SIY JO SIaquau ayy Aq popuNosns ‘aTeU PTO ue Jo 4} St oNSY yerWWa9 sSIVT OUT, “SANVISIT WOTIATNd ( SANNOUD ONITOVHA ,, UIGHL NO Sivas Hod “GUVA ET UMILAV) “(AQ UMTICL 50 ORDERS OF MAMMALS—SEALS AND SEA-LIONS 1882.—Up to this time, the great Seal herd of Bering Sea was in a state of equilibrium, and yielded on the islands its annual quota of 100,000 “bachelor” Seals without sensible variation. The number killed at sea in 1882 was 15,551. The Period of Contention. 1886.—The catch of Seals at sea rose to 28,- 494. Of the large fleet of vessels then hunt- ing Seals in Bering Sea, a number were seized by the United States government vessels which were guarding the Islands. These were chiefly Canadian schooners, but some were American. 1887.—The pelagic sealing fleet was increas- ing each year. The United States began negotia- tions with six foreign governments with a view to securing co-operation in saving the Seals from the extermination which threatened them at the hands of the “ poachers.”’ 1890.—The lease of the Alaska Commercial Company terminated, and the North American Commercial Company bid successfully for the new lease of the Seal-taking privilege on the Pribilof Islands. According to the calculations of Mr. Elliott, the Seals on the Islands now numbered 959,455. Except four years, from 1871 to 1889, over 100,000 male Seals had been taken annually, on the Islands, and paid for. The total revenue derived by our govern- ment during that twenty-year period was $6,- 350,000. In 1890, the Seals killed and secured at sea numbered 40,814, while the number killed and lost was unknown. 1891.—An agreement called a modus vivendi (or way of living in peace) was made between England and the United States, for three years, designed to close Bering Sea to pelagic sealing pending the result of the Paris Tribunal. Prac- tically, it amounted to nothing. 1893.—The case of the pelagic sealers was tried before the Paris Tribunal, and through the ineffective management of our case, we lost on practically all our contentions. The pelagic sealers emerged from the contest with full license to kill Seals at sea everywhere outside a sixty- mile radius of the Pribilof Islands. Because Japan, China and Russia were not parties to the Tribunal, the people of those nations were not bound by the award which keeps American, Canadian and English sealing vessels sixty miles away from the Seal islands! 1894.—In this year 61,838 Seals were killed at sea and secured, while an unknown number were killed and lost. 1895.—Mr. J. B. Crowley (Member of Congress in 1903), as a special agent of the Treasury De- partment, assisted in counting the dead bodies of about 30,000 Fur Seal “pups,” on the Seal islands, which had starved that year by reason of the killing of their mothers while at sea in search of fish. (Congressional Record.) There were 56,291 Seals killed at sea, by the eighty-one vessels engaged in pelagic sealing. On land the number killed was, by order of the government, reduced to 14,846. From 1890 to the end of 1895 (six years) the cost to the United States Government of its efforts to patrol the waters of Bering Sea, with war vessels and revenue cutters, and protect—as far as possible—the Seal herd from complete annihilation, was $1,410,721. Besides this, the government expended $227,163 on its Treasury Agents, and $473,000 was paid by the decision of the Paris Tribunal, as ‘‘damages,” to the men who stole our Seals, and were caught in the act! 1897.—The number of dead pups counted on the breeding grounds, by Mr. Frederic A. Lucas and others, was 21,750, and in October the number of seals remaining alive of our herd was estimated at 343,746. (D. 8. Jordan. “Re- port Fur Seal Investigation,’’ 1896-97, p. 100.) 1898.—By a law passed December 29, 1897, all citizens of the United States were absolutely prohibited from killing or capturing Fur Seals at sea anywhere in Bering Sea, the Sea of Ok- hotsk, or anywhere north of the 35th parallel of north latitude. The ownership of any Fur Seal skins taken in those waters was also prohibited, under severe penalties. All skins from female Seals, either raw or dressed, were also excluded from our markets. From that date (December 29, 1897), pelagic sealing ceased to be an American industry. It is now for England and Japan to say whether or not it shall continue until all the mothers are slaughtered, and all the pups starved to death. 1903.—The situation of the Fur Seal has grown desperate, and its fate is wavering in the balance. The number now alive is about 200,000. While Americans cannot now engage in pelagic sealing under our flag, and no Canadians may inside the sixty-mile limit, dozens of well-equipped sealing IMPENDING FATEH vessels are sent out from Yokohama, and other ports in Japan, under the Japanese flag, which hunt seals within three miles of the Pribilof Isl- ands! Canadian Sealers still hunt outside the protected zone, and kill many seals, annually. Up to this date, our government has done everything in its power to prevent the extermi- nation of the Fur Seal, and afford it a just meas- ure of protection. England fears that she can go no farther without giving grave offence to Drawn by J. CARTER BEARD. THE OF THE FUR SEAL 51 of him who can take it. Patriotism, and the desire for the greatest good of the greatest num- ber, does not enter into their calculations. The American or Canadian pelagic sealer claims that the open sea is his, and he cares only for the $10 or $15 that each raw skin is worth. England cannot reasonably be expected to quarrel with Canada because of our desire to perpetuate our Seal herd, and derive from it a revenue of a mill- ion dollars a year,—which is the sum which the HARP SEAL. Young and old specimens, showing changes in pelage at different periods. Canada. But in England, about $2,000,000 of capital are invested in the business of dyeing and dressing Fur Seal skins, and this work em- ploys—or did employ—between two thousand and three thousand operatives. It has always been impossible for Seal skins to be satisfactorily dyed and dressed in America. The insurmountable obstacle to the protec- tion of the Fur Seal is its fatal habit of going to sea, far from its hauling grounds, coupled with the belief of a large number of Canadians and Americans that a Seal at sea is the lawful prize Fur Seals would yield to-day, but for the slaugh- . ter of 1,000,000 females at sea, and the murder or starvation of 1,000,000 pups, at sea and on shore. Just what events will make up the next and possibly the final chapter in the life history of this interesting and valuable species, it is at pres- ent impossible to foretell. Judging by the past, and the indications of the present, the Alaskan Fur Seal is doomed to practical annihilation, but not total extinction. Let us hope, however, that even yet the statesmen of the United States. England, Canada and Japan will join in the 52 ORDERS enactment and enforcement of a humane measure of protection which really will protect. THE SEAL FAMILY. Phocidae. The Little Ringed Seal! is the Seal of the Farthest North, and the friend of the northern Eskimo all round the pole. It is the smallest North American species, and looks very much OF MAMMALS—SEALS AND SEA-LIONS bear, with two small cubs, was closely following up the seals as they worked north through the ice pack. The Common Harbor Seal,’ of both our ocean coasts, is a good representative of the Seal Fam- ily, chiefly because it is the species most frequent- ly seen. It ascends rivers far above tidal influ- ence, and has been taken in Lake Champlain. In the Columbia River a closely related species = f ! THE RIBBON SEAL. like the common harbor seal. It goes as far north as it can find breathing-holes. Nansen found it on May 31, at 82° 21’, or within 460 miles of the pole, living in the narrow lanes of water that were then forming in the great polar ice pack. It was a Bearded Seal,’ however, which, on June 22, afforded the brave explorers a good supply of food when men and dogs were almost starved. And, true to its nature, an old polar 1 Pho'ca foe'ti-da, 2 Er-i-gnath'us bar-ba’tus. has been taken above The Dalles, 200 miles from the sea. The Harp Seal? is not only one of the hand- somest of all Seals, but it is also the species most valuable to man. It is found on both sides of North America, but always in cold waters. In the year 1900, five sealing steamers of New- foundland took nearly 100,000 seals, mostly Harps, on the coast of Labrador and northward 1 Pho'ca vit-u-li’na. * Pho’ca green-land’ic-a, THE WALRUS FAMILY 53 thereof, and the value of the catch was over a quarter of a million dollars. This species passes through several strongly marked changes of pelage and color. The baby is covered from nose to flipper-tips with a thick coat of long, woolly hair of snowy white- ness. This, when shed at six months after birth, is replaced by a coat of bluish gray hair, with light trimmings. On reaching adult age, in its fifth year, this animal is very strikingly marked by black or dark-brown patches grouped together on the sides and back, on a white or yellowish ground-color apparently in the shape of a harp. This Seal is also called the Saddle-Back, and Greenland Seal. The Hooded Seal’ of the North Atlantic is a large species, often attaining 8 feet in length. The old males are distinguished by the possession of a flexible bag of skin on top of the nose, which is capable of being inflated with air until it forms a lofty and remarkable excrescence on the creat- ure’s face. This sac is sometimes 10 inches long and 6 inches high. The color of this Seal is dark bluish-gray, marked with irregular light spots. It once came as far south as New Jersey. The Ribbon Seal, or Harlequin Seal, in its color pattern is the most remarkable of all living Pinnipeds, and there are many persons who con- sider it the most beautiful member of its Order. On a smooth ground-color, either of blackish- brown or yellowish-gray, Nature has sportively arranged several yards of broad, yellowish-white ribbon. One strip goes around the neck, and ties under the throat. From a point low down on the breast, another starts upward, curves gracefully over the shoulder, drops down in front of the pel- vis, where it comes together, then turns and crosses over the body. In many specimens the uniformity of the width of the ribbon is remark- ably well maintained. This Seal is from 4 to 6 feet in length. Its home is on the eastern shore of Bering Sea, and in the fresh waters of Lake Iliamna, in the upper end of the Alaskan Peninsula. THE WALRUS FAMILY. Odobenidae. Of all living monsters that ever move upon land, the Pacific Walrus? is one of the most 1 Cys-toph’o-ra cris-ta’ta. 1 His-tri-o-pho'ca fas-ci-a'ta. * O-do-ben'us o-be'sus. wonderful. A full-grown male is a living moun- tain of heaving flesh, wrinkled, furrowed and seamed, ugly as a satyr, and as strange in habits as In appearance. Its form is that of a sea-lion with a neck enor- mously thickened. Its upper jaw is provided with two long, strong tusks of ivory, and its skin is almost destitute of hair. A full-grown male measures from 10 to 12 feet in length from nose to tail, the top of its head is about 5 feet from HEAD OF HOODED SEAL. the ground, the girth of its neck is from 12 to 14 feet, and it weighs from 1,800 to 2,000 pounds. Its skin varies from half an inch to two inches in thickness; it is of a dirty yellow color, and lies on a mass of fat which often is six inches thick. The largest pair of tusks known to the author measure 244 inches in exposed length, and are in the British Museum. The Pacific Walrus eats more or less of aquatic- plant food, but its principal food is shell-fish and crustaceans. These it digs up from the muddy bottoms of the broad, shallow bays along the coast, crushes between its powerful jaws, and swallows in great quantities, shells and all! Crabs and shrimps form a pleasing variety, and for salad it devours the bulbous roots and tender stalks of marine plants which in summer grow in its home waters. In former times, the Pacific Walrus existed in great herds on the coast of Alaska, from the north shore of the Alaskan Peninsula northward . through Bering Strait, and thence eastward as far as Point Barrow. There the herds encoun- tered the edge of the great permanent ice-pack, and could go no farther. In winter the Walrus 54 ORDERS OF MAMMALS—SEALS AND SEA-LIONS ' herds float about on the ice-fields, retreating southward as the edge of the ice advances. In the open sea, the sleeping posture of the Walrus is floating bolt upright in the water. He grunts and bellows, and many times vessels have been warned off dangerous, fog-hidden rocks by the Walrus lying upon them. On land the Walrus is the most clumsy and In 1900, steamers bearing gold-miners to Cape Nome passed through herds of Walrus in Bering Sea, and many of the animals were killed, waste- fully and wantonly, by passengers firing from the decks, with no possibility of securing a single victim. As elsewhere, the instinct of man in the far north is to slay and slay, and preserve no living thing. THE PACIFIC WALRUS. An old male of the largest size. helpless of all land animals, and is easily ap- proached and killed. In the water, it becomes a danger to be avoided, on account of its proneness to wreck small boats. A full-grown Walrus has never been seen in captivity. Two or three very young specimens have reached Europe, and in September, 1902, Commander Robert E. Peary brought one to New York for the Zoological Park, where it was exhibited until it died. Drawn from a mounted specimen in the United States National Museum. The Walrus has been hunted so diligently for its oil that to-day very few remain, and the na- tives who once depended solely upon this animal for food, fuel, lights, boats, dog harness, and leather for all purposes now are on the verge of starvation, and are really kept alive by public bounty. Previous to our purchase of Alaska, about 10,000 Walrus were killed annually by the Eskimo, and utilized. In the long, hard winter THE ATLANTIC WALRUS 55 of 1879-80, when the sea was frozen all around St. Lawrence Island, for many miles in every direction, the Walrus herds were forced to re- YOUNG ATLANTIC WALRUS. Captured by Commander R. E. Prary, and exhibited in the New York Zoological Park. main so far away that all the inhabitants of the Island, save one small settlement, died of starva- tion. The Atlantic Walrus! is of about the same 1 Q-do-ben’us ros-ma’rus. length as the Pacific species, but it has a shorter and much smaller neck. Its tusks, also, are much smaller. It is still found in considerable numbers in Smith’s Sound, and is quite abundant north of Franz Joseph Land, where Nansen pho- tographed and killed many. Its most northerly latitude is 82°. A specimen killed by Comman- der Robert E. Peary was 9 feet in length, and weighed 1,569 pounds. The skin alone weighed 220 pounds. Professor L. L. Dyche has kindly furnished the measurements of the largest male Walrus out of eighteen taken by him on the coast of northern Greenland: Length (straight line), end of nose to end of body, 129 inches. Tail, exposed, none. Length of rear flippers, 26 inches. Girth of animal when suspended by the neck, 129 inches. Exposed length of tusk, 19 inches. Circumference of tusk at base, 8} inches. The largest cow Walrus measured 116 inches in length, 113 in girth, exposed tusk, 102 inches. CHAPTER V THE ORDER OF MOLES AND SHREWS INSECTIVORA In the dark and cold embrace of Mother Earth, away from the cheering sunlight, and the heauti- ful upper world that we enjoy, there dwells a group of mammals so strange, and yet so useful to man, that they excite our admiration for the wise purpose which developed and placed them there. Pass not unthinkingly the moles and shrews, for they have been most cunningly de- signed to serve a definite and important purpose in the economy of Nature. In farming countries, the top soil of the earth is a vast incubator for the development of de- structive insect larvae. In soil that is rich and productive, “grub-worms,” ‘ cut-worms,”’ and “wire-worms” abound; and in regular rotation they greedily devour the seeds, roots and leaves of growing crops. But for the enemies which keep them in check, there would be a hungry grub for every sprouting seed. And how can man wage war successfully against insect life in the soil? Impossible. To meet this difficult proposition, we need a vigor- ous living creature with a nose like a gimlet, sharp-pointed teeth, soft fur, feet specially de- signed for digging, and eyes so small that to them sunlight is an unnecessary luxury. Such animals are found in the moles and shrews, of the Order In-sec-tiv’o-ra, humble but faithful workers in man’s interest. Neither the horse nor the ox is more diligent in our service than are these toilers of the soil. Yet what is their reward? In his mole-like blindness, man frequently dis- covers things that are not true. Often a per- fectly honest farmer concludes that a mole is eating his seed corn in the ground, or the vegeta- bles in the garden; and straightway the mole is killed. His accuser has found a runway following up a row of newly-planted corn, and when the seed fails to sprout, the mole is accused of having eaten it! In all such cases, the mole is a victim of cir- cumstantial evidence, and suffers through the lack of counsel to cross-examine the witnesses for the prosecution. Did anyone ever find much vegetable food in a mole’s stomach? Not often. Did anyone ever see a mole eat vegetable food? Probably not. A mole placed in a box and sup- plied with vegetable food alone soon starves to death. Moles do not eat seed corn, or garden vegetables; but they do visit corn-hills to eat the grubs that come to devour the corn. Every young naturalist must learn early what constitutes direct evidence. Far too long have the mole and shrew been convicted and slain on circumstantial evidence. Meadow mice some- times attack seed corn by utilizing the run- ways that have been made by moles in reaching the corn-hills to secure the grubs that attack the seeds; and almost invariably the testimony is that the moles have done the damage. In France the value of the mole is recognized by law, and the killing of one is punishable by a fine of five francs. The shrews and moles not only find their food underground, but live the entire cycle of their lives in subterranean darkness. Moles seek their food by digging tunnels in ground that is loose and dry, the roof being raised into a ridge which in smooth lawns is an annoying disfigurement. Gardeners are apt to forget that they always work where insect larvae are thickest, and the need for their help is most urgent. The tunnel- makers are driven from lawns by persistently trampling down their runways. The Order Insectivora is represented in the United States by two Families, the members of which are easily recognized by the following well-marked characters: The Moles have pointed heads; extremely large spade-like front feet, that always are held with the outer edge up; no neck; the front legs are exceedingly short; there is no external ear, and no external eye; the body is short, thick and clumsy, and the tail is hairless. The Shrews have pointed heads, but small, 56 THE MOLE FAMILY 57 t ae Zp Dorr Beard. 1. COMMON MOLE. 2. STAR-NOSED MOLE. rat-like feet; there:is a very small eye, an ex- ternal ear, and a distinct neck. ‘The body is rather slender, and as a whole, the animal looks much like a short-tailed mouse. THE MOLE FAMILY. Talpidae. This Family contains twelve full species, all quite interesting. Their skins and skulls have been studied closely, but our information re- garding their habits is very meagre. As a rule, moles are larger than shrews. The largest of all is an Oregon species, which measures 7 inches in length of head and body, and tail 14 inches,— an unusual size for a mole. On all moles the fur is fine, thick, very soft and velvety, and faultlessly smooth and clean. All these creatures love sandy soil, which they can easily burrow. The Common Mole! is known to the ma- jority of country dwellers by its upheaved tunnels on the surface of the ground. In ap- pearance the animal is a flattened, oblong ball of fine, soft, shimmering gray fur, 6} inches long, ' Sca’lops a-quat't-cus. to which the naked, little pink-white tail—which looks like a small angle-worm—adds 1? inches. Its nose projects half an inch beyond its mouth, and on the end it feels as hard as if it contained a bone. It terminates in a broad, flattened point, shaped quite like a rock-drill. The fore foot is three-quarters of an inch wide, but less than an inch in length, including the claws, which measure half an inch. In your hand, a Mole is a wriggling, restless creature. Place it upon ground that is not packed hard, and in about one second it has found a suitable spot for an opening. Its nose sinks into the earth as if it were a brad-awl, with a combined pushing and boring motion, and in three seconds your Mole’s head is no longer in sight. Up comes the powerful right foot, sliding close along the side of his head, edgewise and palm outward, to the end of the nose. The living chisel cuts the earth vertically, and then, with a quick motion it pries the earth sidewise from its nose. Instantly the left foot does the same thing on the other side, while the brad-awl nose goes right on boring. In ten seconds, by the watch, the Mole’s body has entirely disappeared, and in three minutes our Mole will tunnel a foot, unless interrupted. When skinned for dissection, it is found that the eye is merely a small, dark speck under the skin, suitable only to distinguish light from dark- ness. The eye-ball is about, the size of a pin- head. The arm and forearm is a big, hard bun- dle of tough muscles and powerful tendons, shaped like an Indian club, of enormous size in proportion to the creature’s body. DIGGING MUSCLES OF A MOLE. The Mole is a wonderful example of energy and power. Desiring to observe their methods of working when undisturbed, I once placed one in a five-acre clover-field, at 11 o’clock a.m. During the first seven hours it had tunneled twenty-three feet, in a zig-zag line. During the next seventeen hours it dug thirty-five feet, and 58 ORDERS OF MAMMALS—MOLES AND SHREWS during the next hour, ten feet more. The total work consisted of sixty-eight feet of main line, and thirty-six and a half feet of branches, mak- ing in all one hundred and four and a half feet. An observing farmer-boy, named Lawrence eu Xi! i 2. Left forefoot. 1, End of nose. STAR-NOSED MOLE. Miller, once gave me a clear and intelligent description of a Mole’s burrow which he uncov- ered and observed closely. It was a dome- shaped hole, two feet below the surface of the ground, reached from above by a hole that ran down slanting into its top. The burrow was a foot wide at the bottom, where three small gal- leries ran off about six inches, in different direc- tions. Near the top of the chamber was a sort of shelf, supporting a bed of soft material, and on this lay a Mole. The young are usually two in number. Besides the Common Mole, of the Eastern United States generally, we have the Prairie or Silver Mole of the prairie regions of the Mis- sissippi Valley; the Hairy-Tailed Mole of the Eastern United States, and the Oregon Mole of the Pacific slope. The Star-Nosed Mole, of the northeastern United States and Canada, is quickly recognized by the remarkable star-like appendage of eighteen ray-like points, with four more between them, on the end of its nose. THE SHREW FAMILY. Soricidae. North of Mexico, this Family contains about thirty-five full species, distributed throughout nearly every portion of North America south of a line drawn from the mouth of the Mackenzie River to Labrador. With most cheerful in- difference, they inhabit mountains, plains, swamp lands and sandy sea-coasts, hot countries and cold. Everywhere, however, their noses are long and sharp, their eyes and ears minute, and the colors of all species are very sober, ranging from dull gray to brown, and ending in black. There are two species which are so widely dis- tributed they may well be taken as types of the entire thirty-five. The Common Shrew’ is found on the Atlan- tic coast, from New England northwestward to Alaska, and southward through the Appalachian Mountains to Tennessee and North Carolina. Its color is brown above, and dull gray under- neath; head and body, 3? inches long, tail, 13 inches. The ground plan of its skull is a perfect triangle spreading thirty-five degrees, and is very flat. Although very soft and fine, its fur is not so velvety as that of amole. This creat- ure is very small, and quite mouse-like in ap- pearance. Unlike the mole, Shrews occasionally emerge from their burrows, and wander about near their entrances. But they are exceedingly shy, and although they are frequently thrown out by the spade or plough, they are very rarely seen moving about. Above ground they are very helpless, and being unable to run rapidly, they try in a feeble way to hide. When taken in the hand, the musky odor they emit is rather disa- greeable. The Short-Tailed Shrew? is another type worthy of special mention. It is readily recog- nized by its very short tail, only 1 inch in length, while its head and body measure 4 inches. Its color is smoky brown above, and dull gray underneath, and in size it is the largest SHORT-TAILED SHREW. 1. COMMON SHREW. ae of the Shrews. It is found from the eastern edge of the Great Plains to the Atlantic coast, and is one of the largest members of the Shrew Family. 1 So’rex per-son-a’tus. ? Bla-ri’na bre-vi-cau’da. CHAPTER VI THE ORDER OF BATS CHIROPTERA The strange wing-handed, flying mammals composing this Order exhibit differences in form that are fairly bewildering. They range all the way from the beautiful to the fantastic and the hideous, and some of them are well worthy of study. members of the Bat Order as a whole are almost as little known as the whales and porpoises of the deep sea. Our lack of acquaintance with bats is due chiefly to their nocturnal habits, and the consequent difficulty in observing them. To-day, bats are so little known that there are Drawn by J. CARTER BEARD. From a specimen in the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences. BORNEAN NAKED BAT. The young are carried in two dorsal pouches, from one of which, under the left elbow, a small head protrudes. The great majority of bats are useful to man in destroying the insects which, without the aid of the birds and beasts, very soon would over- whelm him. The harmful species are those which destroy fruit, and a few which suck the blood of domestic animals. Owing to certain natural conditions, the perhaps a million persons who only know that they fly at night, and are “awful things to get into your hair.” I have seen thousands of bats, flying in many different places, but never yet saw one alight upon a woman’s hair; and I believe they are no more given to doing so than are humming-birds. 59 60 ORDERS From the bats of the United States, there is nothing to fear, for their claws and teeth are pitifully weak. One cross old “bumble-bee,”’ angrily bumbling, is more dangerous to a peace- ful community than all the bats of our country taken together. In some portions of South America, however, the vampire bats cause seri- ous trouble. Keen-eyed boys and girls all over the world should know that little is known concerning SKELETON OF PALE BAT. Antrozous pallidus. the habits of bats, and much remains to be found out. These creatures are therefore excellent subjects for original investigation. The Order of Bats as a whole contains about four hundred and fifty species, but it is safe to say that three-fourths of them are known only by their dry skins and skulls, and that their habits are quite unknown. The questions are,— why do bats live? Upon what do they feed? Are they useful to man, or injurious? What are their friends and their enemies? Do they migrate, and at what times? Where do they nest, or take shelter; and what are the facts about their young? What parasites and dis- eases have they? Although the bat is a true mammal, it is al- most as wide a departure from the ordinary, four-legged, land-going type as is a whale or manatee. Its hand reveals an extreme degree of what is called “specialization.” For a mam- mal, the arms are of great length. The bones of the fingers are enormously extended, and con- nected with hairless skin as flexible as india rubber, to form a wing for flight. This wing membrane is extended on up the arm to the body and the legs, and is continued between OF MAMMALS—BATS the legs and tail, where it forms a supporting parachute in flight. The thumb of a bat is very short and free; and its nail is developed as a hooked claw, by the aid of which the creature can comfortably climb about or support itself. The favorite position of a bat at rest is hanging by its feet, head down- ward. To be ‘“‘as blind as a bat” is not to be blind at all, but rather to possess powers of vision that are uncommonly good in semi-darkness, or at night, and fairly good even in the broad light of day. When disturbed at midday, all the bats I have ever seen alive (perhaps twenty species in all) have flown away to places of se- curity as briskly and successfully as so many swallows. The eyes of all night-flying bats are small, jet black, and look like tiny black beads, but those of the day-flying fruit-bats are very much larger in proportion. The teeth of bats of different species show wide variation. In nearly all of the four hun- dred and fifty species, the canine teeth are as strongly developed as in the cat, and in some bats their proportions are really formidable. A careless examination of a bat’s skull might easily lead one to believe that it belonged to a carnivorous animal. But the molar teeth will always tell the true story. The insect-eating bats, which far outnumber all others, have cheek-teeth which terminate in sharp points, and are specially designed for cut- ting to pieces the hard parts of hard-shelled in- sects. The fruit-bats, however, have molars of a very different sort, with rather smooth crowns, for crushing instead of cutting. The blood-sucking vampire bats of South America have very large canine teeth with sharp, cutting edges, and even the molar teeth are formed with scissor edges, very much like the teeth of cats. The teeth and skulls of bats exhibit many in- teresting and even extraordinary variations, but it is impossible to enumerate them here. The accompanying figures show the characters of two species found in the United States. As previously remarked, very little is known regarding the habits of bats, chiefly because their nocturnal habits make it very difficult to find them, or to observe them. We know that in winter some of our species live in caves, in a semi-dormant condition. Dr. C. H. Eigenmann HABITS says, of the thousands that inhabit Mammoth Cave, “‘ they fly readily if disturbed in summer, but in winter they hang apparently dead. If disturbed, a few respiratory movements may be seen, and they may utter a few squeaks, when they again remain apparently lifeless. If knocked from the roof some of them fall to the bottom of the cave and flap about, others fly away. I have seen them leave a cave in mid- winter, after being disturbed, but fly no further than a hundred yards, then turn and enter the cave again.” In central Montana, where there are no trees, I once found a large colony of bats inhabiting a cave that a subterranean stream had washed under the prairie. In Arizona there is a cave which is said to contain “a million” bats. Once while hunting elephants in the Malay Peninsula, the attention of my companion and myself was arrested by a strange, pungent odor which filled the air. Upon investigating the cause of it, we discovered a large cave of a very interesting character, inhabited by thousands of bats, and floored with a layer of bat guano a foot or more in depth, representing the accumulation of a century. In warm countries, bats inhabit hollow trees. But do they inhabit such homes, and actually hibernate in them in winter, in the temperate zone? On this point, direct evidence is desirable. Dr. C. Hart Merriam has proved that some bats of the North American temperate zone do mi- OF BATS 61 grate, as birds do, going south in winter and re- turning in spring. The conditions of wild life in the temperate zone are rather unfavorable to the development of large bats, and for this reason none of the bats of the United States are of large size or com- manding importance. The large fruit-bats, or “flying foxes,’”’ can exist only where they can procure a good supply of fruit all the year round; and for this reason they are mainly confined to the tropics. During our northern winter, a true vampire bat could indeed prey upon the blood of domestic animals; but in zero weather, the naked wings of such a creature would freeze stiff in a very few moments. The large vampire bat of India, for some reason called the “false’’ vam- pire (Meg-a-der’ma ly’ra), which devours small frogs, fishes, small birds, and even bats smaller than itself, could live in our southern and southwestern states, but it would be impos- sible for it to go far north of the frost line. All bats inhabiting the colder regions of the temperate zone, within the snow limit, must either hibernate in winter, without food, or migrate. Owing to the great number of species of bats, and of the many groups into which they have been divided, it is desirable to mention here only a few examples with which every intelligent person should be acquainted. The bats have been divided by Nature into two Suborders, and six Families, as follows : THE ORDER OF BATS SUBORDERS. Insect-Eating Bats: M1i-cro-chi-rop’- ter-a. FreeE-TAILep Bats, Common Bats, Fase VAMPIRES, HorsesHoe Bats, Fruit-Eating Bats: Meg-a-chi-rop’- ter-a. ORDER CHIROPTERA. Fiy1nc Foxgs, . FAMILIES. Lrar-Nosep Bats, . EXAMPLES. Leaf-Nosed Bat. Blainville’s Bat. Javelin Bat. Great Vampire. § Bonneted Bat. (Naked Bat. ( Red Bat. VES-PER-TIL-I-ON'I-DAE. + Gray Bat. / Big-Eared Bat. False Vampire. PHYL-LOS-TO-MAT'I-DAE . EM-BAL-LO-NU'RI-DAE, . MEG-A-DER-MAT'I-DAE, . RHI-NO-LOPH'I-DAE, . { Flying Fox. PTER-O-POD'I-DAE, . . Hammer-Headed Bat. 62 ORDERS OF THE FAMILY OF LEAF-NOSED BATS. Phyllostomatidae. The members of this Family bear on their noses thin leaves of naked skin that stand erect behind, or partly around, the nostrils. These wonderful nose-leaves are pear-shaped, heart- shaped, wedge-like, and of many other forms. The ears are large, or very large; the wing mem- CALIFORNIA LEAF-NOSED BAT. (After Harrison Allen.) brane reaches down to the foot; the tail is long, and sometimes extends a short distance beyond the interfemoral membrane. On the whole, the bats of this Family form an astonishing exhibit of facial oddities. All save a few species are confined to South America. The California Leaf-Nosed Bat! may be taken as a very modest example, because it bears what is really a very simple form of nose-leaf. It is found in southern California and Mexico, and its pelage is very light-colored. The most remarkable of all bat faces is that of a small, brown-colored West Indian species known as Blainville’s Bat.?__ As a sport of Nat- ure it stands fairly unrivalled, and shows what is possible in the fashioning of skin into orna- mental forms. The ears are large and of most fantastic form, the chin is bedecked with a high- ly convoluted bib of skin, and the eyes and nos- trils are almost lost amid the leaves and tuber- cles which cover the muzzle. As a whole, the appearance of the face of this bat suggests a high- ly complicated flower, like a double pansy. The skull is only five-eighths of an inch in length. 1 Q-top'ter-us cal-i-for’ni-cus. 2 Mor’moops blain’vill-w. MAMMALS—BATS This species is quite uncommon, and practically nothing is known of its habits. In fashioning the noses and ears of bats, Nat- ure has done some very odd and curious work. The flowers of orchids are not more oddly fash- ioned than the heads and faces of some species. Let it not be supposed, however, that these queer facial appendages and long ears of the leaf-nosed bats are purely ornamental. Dr. George E. Dobson, one of the greatest authori- ties on bats, has pointed out two very curious facts. (1) The bats with small ears and no nose- leaves fly most in the early twilight; and many, such as the fruit-bats, fly in the daytime. (2) The long-eared and leaf-nosed bats prefer dark- ness, and seek their food only at night. Let us see if we can find a reason for this. A cruel investigator of the eighteenth century, named Spallanzani, once destroyed the eye- sight of several bats, then suspended many silken threads from the ceiling of a room, and liberated the creatures. Although totally blind, the bats flew to and fro between the threads, without once striking them, and were equally successful in avoiding branches of trees that were intro- duced. It now seems certain that some bats possess 4 sixth sense, of which at present we know nothing, by which they are able to fly in total darkness, and avoid even the smallest obstruc- tions. It seems quite probable that the long ears and nose-leaves of the night-going bats aid their owners in guiding their flight; but the precise manner in which it is done remains to be dis- covered. The True Vam- pire Bats.— By this name we seek to distinguish the bats which actual- ly suck the blood of living creatures, from the so-called vampires which live on fruit. In South America there are five spe- cies of true vam- BLAINVILLE’S FLOWER-NOSED pires, three of which are known BAT. as the javelin (After Peters.) VAMPIRE BATS 63 bats, the others as the short-nosed vampires. The centre of abundance of these creatures ap- pears to be the valleys of the Amazon and the Rio Negro, and the adjacent regions; but one of the species ranges all the way from Chile to Mexico. Of the true vampires, the Javelin Bat! is the one which is most aggressive, and most dreaded. It bites horses and cattle, usually on the shoulders, neck or hindquarters, and makes a wound in the skin of sufficient depth to cause blood to flow freely, even after the bat has flown away. Naturally, an animal that is thus preyed upon soon grows thin in flesh, and becomes visibly weakened. On the island of Mucina, in the delta of the Amazon, the serious injuries in- flicted by the Javelin Bats upon domestic animals have long been known. But where true vampires are abundant, they do not confine their attacks to domestic animals. Human beings are occasionally called upon to pay blood tribute to the small wing-handed demons of the air. Men are bitten at night, when asleep, usually either upon the nose, or the feet. With its sharp-edged teeth, the creat- ure makes a very small round hole in the skin, and by means of mouth suction which must be quite powerful, the blood is soon flowing freely. Fortunately, blood-poisoning is not an attendant evil of the Vampire’s bite, and the wound seldom becomes painful. The common Javelin Bat measures a little less than 4 inches in length of head and body, and in color is reddish brown. All the other true vampires are smaller, and all are practically tailless, the parachute membrane stretching between the legs, quite down to the feet, without the support of tail vertebrae. Naturally, these creatures are widely known; for any bat which lives upon warm blood, always drawn from a liv- ing fountain, is bound to acquire wide notoriety and a very evil reputation. The skull of a Jave- lin Bat, seen in profile, looks very much like the skull of a miniature wolf. In order to illustrate once more how easily a harmless animal can acquire an evil reputa- 1 Phyl-los’to-ma, has-ta’tum. Promops californicus. tion, and further emphasize the necessity of tak- ing direct evidence before pronouncing a verdict, we introduce a 28-inch bat from South America, most unjustly called the Great Vampire,” but not really belonging to the genus of blood-suck- ers. Mr. H. W. Bates, the “Naturalist on the Amazon,” lived for a time where this species was quite abundant, and of it he wrote in his book as follows: “Nothing in animal physiognomy can be more hideous than the countenance of this creat- ure when viewed from the front; the large, leathery ears standing out from the sides and top of the head; the erect, spear-shaped appendage ({nose-leaf] on the tip of the nose, the grin, and the BONNETED BAT. (After Harrison Allen.) glistening black eye, all combining to make up a figure that reminds one of some mocking imp in a fable. [The very savage-looking canine teeth might well have been mentioned, also.] No wonder that imaginative people have in- ferred diabolical instincts on the part of so ugly an animal. The Vampire, however, is the most harmless of all bats.” Mr. Bates opened the stomachs of a number of specimens, and found that “they had been feeding chiefly on fruits,” and wild fruits, at that, obtained by honest hunting in the depths of the forest. Moral: Never make an affidavit on the food habits of wild animals without first examining the stomachs of several specimens. THE FAMILY OF FREE-TAILED BATS. Emballonuridae. The bats belonging to this Family have no nose-leaves, and the tail is partly free from the *Vam-py’rus spec'trum. 64 ORDERS OF MAMMALS—BATS membrane between the legs, either rising from its upper surface, or projecting beyond its end. The muzzle is rather blunt, and the nostrils open beyond the upper lip. The Bonneted Bat,! of California and Mexico, is one of the largest of our species of free-tailed bats. Above the shoulders it looks like a rat wearing a poke bonnet. Its head-and-body length is 2% inches, tail 14, total length of ear, 12 inches. One-half the tail is free. The Naked Bat,” of Borneo, Java and Suma- tra, is one of the most remarkable species of the entire Order of Bats, and in some respects 1s the widest departure from the typical bat. In the interior mountains of Sarawak, Borneo, I once secured ten fine specimens, and to me they are as wonderful to-day as when handled for the first time. As its name implies, this bat is practically destitute of hair, the only hair noticeable be- ing a few stiff, black bristles on the neck, and a little microscopic fuzz on the breast and hind- quarters. The skin is thick and leathery, lying in numerous creases and folds, and on the living animal it is very elastic. There is no nose-leaf, and the lips are very thick and fleshy. The tail is free of parachute membrane for two-thirds of its length, and is quite like the tail of a mole. On the joint at the base of the thumb there is a large, callous tubercle, which indicates that this bat is much given to crawling about on “all fours,”’ on rocks and tree-trunks. Around the neck, the skin lies in two thick folds, and in these, directly under the chin, is situated a deep gland or sac which secretes a gummy substance with an odor both strong and disagreeable. Clearly, like the scent-gland of the skunk, it is for defence. The most wonderful feature of the Naked Bat is yet to be noticed. On seeing this species for the first time, one’s first thought is, how do the young bats cling to the parents during flight? Nature, ever wise and provident, has answered this question by placing under each arm of this bat a deep, wide pocket of rubber-like skin, in which the young are carried until they are able to fly! The mouth of this pocket is on a line between the elbow and the knee, and it 1 Pro'mops cal-i-for’ni-cus. 2 Cnei-ro-me'les tor-qua’tus, extends upward and backward, over the en- tire shoulder, quite to the back-bone, where the two sacs are separated by a thin partition of skin. The pouch is 1} inches deep, and in its lower portion, against the ribs, is located the mammary gland. On the whole, this is the most wonderful infant-pouch possessed by any living creature, not even excepting that of the marsupials, which is much more simple. My largest specimen of this bat had a head- and-body length of 54 inches, tail 2 inches long, and a wing expanse of 22 inches. In the skin were many curious folds. The face of the Naked Bat is coarse and ugly, and the body is quite devoid of grace and beauty; but ere one has time to scoff at such homeliness, the creature seems to say,—‘‘Study me; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made!” This bat lives upon fruit and vegetation, and nests in hollow trees, rock crevices, or in holes in the earth. The illustration on page 59 was drawn from one of my Bornean specimens. THE FAMILY OF COMMON Vespertilionidae. BATS. These are the bats that are most widely known, and also the most numerous. Dr. E. L. Troues- sart recognizes more than 200 species. They range over all portions of the world that are habitable by small bats. The distinguishing characters of the members of this Family are chiefly negative. There are no nose-leaves, the nostril openings are simple, and the tail is not produced to any extent be- yond the interfemoral membrane. All the bats of the United States are of small or medium size, and the majority of them belong to this Family. Along the Atlantic coast, they are so common that nearly every person living beyond the confines of the great cities is per- sonally acquainted with at least one species. The commonest is the beautiful little Red Bat* which appears in the early twilight, gliding on swift yet noiseless wings up and down the shaded streets and roads, and occasionally making a friendly diversion into an open window, or through your veranda, partly for business pur- poses, and partly as an evidence of friendly re- gard. 5 Las-i-w’rus bo-re-al’is. BATS OF THE UNITED In midsummer, sharp eyes sometimes find this bat hanging close in amongst the leaves of a chestnut tree, its delicate fur as red as the brightest iron-rust. Touch it ever so gently and whisk! it is off as swiftly as a swallow, to seek another and a better hiding-place. From sunset until it grows quite dark, it is very busy, and constantly on the wing. The THE RED BAT. Red Bat is a swift flyer, and much more of an aerial gymnast than any bird I know. In its flight it can turn abruptly with marvellous pre- cision, and to me it is a constant source of won- der that it can fly so rapidly, turn and double so quickly, and dart in all possible directions without striking something. Almost any bird attempting to fly over the course of a Red Bat, and at the same speed, would probably come to grief in a very short time. The only mistake that Red Bats are prone to make is in flying into houses through open windows, and instantly forgetting the location of the means of escape. Once in a room, the bat flies slowly, and frequently is so bewildered by the sudden change from semi-darkness to light that it strikes a wall, and falls to the floor. Al- though many persons are nervous about bats, I have noticed that whenever one flies in, some STATES 65 kind-hearted and sensible person generally cries out, “Don’t kill it!” While crossing the Atlantic quite recently, a British Long-Eared Bat was found on board the steamer, thirty miles from the nearest land, clinging to the rail, wet and weary. At that time there was no breeze from the land. When taken into the library, its wet fur soon dried, and it began to fly to and fro. In a short time the room was well filled with passengers, who watched the exhibition with great interest. When caught and held for close examination, it did not squeak shrilly and protest as the red bat usually does. After having served as a useful object lesson for a large number of young people, our strange visitor was brought safely to New York harbor, and liberated. The Gray Bat! is one of the largest and handsomest species inhabiting the northeastern United States and Canada. It is also found throughout the middle West from Ohio to Cali- fornia, and from Manitoba to New Mexico. This is a species well worth looking for. It has small ears, a head-and-body length of 3 inches, tail 2 inches, and it is readily distinguished by its dark brown hair tipped with silvery white. The Big-Eared Bat? of the south Atlantic states has ears of incredible height and width for a creature so small. In comparison with the size of the wearer, these ears are the largest worn by any American mammal. They are one-half as long as the entire head and body, being 14 inches in height and nearly 1 inch wide, while the head and body measure only 24 inches. THE FAMILY OF FALSE VAMPIRES. Megadermatidae. This Family is absent from America, but is mentioned here to fill what otherwise would be a gap. The members of one genus, Megaderina, are noted for their carnivorous habits. The most noteworthy species is well worthy of men- tion. The ‘False’? Vampire Bat, of India and beyond, bears a name which is quite mislead- ing; for in its habits, this creature is far from being a “false” Vampire. It devours frogs, small fishes, bats smaller than itself, and even 1 At-a-la’pha cin’e-re-a. 2 Co-ry-norhi’nus ma-cro’tis. 66 ORDERS OF small birds. It has very large ears, an elaborate nose-leaf, a head-and-body length of 3 inches and a wing expanse of 16 inches. THE FAMILY OF HORSESHOE BATS. Rhinolophidae. This Family contains thirty species of small bats, all of which are restricted to the Old World. THE FAMILY OF FRUIT-EATING BATS. Pteropodidae. The members of this Family are bats of very large size, with fox-like heads, dense and abun- dant pelage, large eyes, and free tails when tails are present. They are quite diurnal in their habits, and feed almost exclusively upon fruit. They inhabit India, Ceylon, the Malay Archi- pelago and eastern Australia, and are almost the only bats that find their way into captivity for exhibition purposes. They are very socia- ble in their habits, and live in colonies of from five to fifty individuals. The Flying ‘‘Fox.’’' The largest of the bats which we occasionally see darting through the gloaming with irregular, jerky flight, are about as large as purple martens,—tiny creatures, weak, and quite incapable of offence. In the Kast Indies, however, and also Australia, there are bats of enormous size. These are known as Fruit Bats, or Flying ‘‘Foxes.’? Some of those shot by the author in Ceylon had wings which spread forty inches. On one occasion I found the top of a small tree, about fifty feet high, filled with these ani- mals. They hung head downward from the upper branches, in places so thickly as to crowd each other,—quarrelling, squealing shrilly, and climbing about. To see nearly a hundred bats of such huge size hanging in one tree-top, quite at home in the broad glare of a tropical after- noon sun, was a strange and impressive sight. I had been asked to procure and preserve for American museums six dozen specimens of that species, and when after long observation I finally fired into the bunch, the black and brown cloud of giant bats that rose in the air, and slowly 1 Pter'o-pus ed’wards-t. MAMMALS—BATS flapped away, was one of the most grewsome sights I ever saw in animal life. Of all creatures that fly, none are so thoroughly uncanny when outlined against the sky as the big, black-winged, half-naked Flying “Fox.” They suggest de- mons and calamities. The Flying ‘‘ Fox” derives its name from the resemblance of its head to that of a very small fox. It feeds wholly upon fruit, and when it inhabits well-settled districts it is cordially dis- liked by every person who owns a fruit-tree. In some portions of Australia, these creatures have done great damage to fruit, and energetic meas- ures, such as the explosion of dynamite among them, have been resorted to for their destruc- tion. Some of the fruit-growers of California are so apprehensive of this creature, and so fearful that it might *be “introduced,” they have se- cured the passage of a law, by which the im- portation of the Flying “Fox” is prohibited so rigidly that not one specimen can be imported, even for exhibition in a zoological garden. As a matter of fact, this fear of the presence of the Flying ‘“‘ Fox’’ in the United States is quite as groundless as the old fear of being quill-shot by Canada porcupines. It certainly would be very difficult to introduce that species, and keep it from being exterminated, except possibly in some of our insular possessions. In the Flying “Fox” Family is found another re- markable variation in bat physiognomy, the Hammer-Head- ed Bat,° a species discovered in the land of the gorilla, by Du Chaillu. The head of the animal is of large propor- tions as compared with the body, and the muzzle is enormously enlarged. In general outline, the head in profile is much like the head of amoose. This is quite a large bat, its wing expanse being 28 inches. 2 Hp-o-moph’o-rus, HAMMER-HEADED BAT. (After Joseph Wolf.) Corks Beart Ae FRUIT-EATING BATS, OR FLYING “ FOXES. CHAPTER VII THE ORDER OF GNAWING ANIMALS GLIRES, OR RODENTS The Order of Gnawing Animals contains a great many species, and to persons who have not studied it with some attention, it is a chaotic jumble of living creatures. This unsatisfactory con- dition is entirely unnecessary. A few hours’ diligent study—under helpful conditions—will give any intelligent person a fair knowledge of the subdivisions of this Order, and an acquaintance with a sufficient number of examples so that each strange North American rodent met with can be referred to its proper Family. The first step is to learn the names of the Families, which are as follows: FAMILIES. SQUIRREL Famity, fom] s Coun SEWELLEL Famity, wn A iS Braver Famity, : et 6 Mouse AND Rar Famity, 52 = Poucuep Mouse anv Rat Eee Rs Sa Jumpine Mouse Famity, [on] = 2 Pocket GopHER Famity, a iz PorcuPINE Famity, Es: (alas Pika, or “ Corer Hare’ Famiy, . ° Hare anp Rapsir Famity, THE SQUIRREL FAMILY. In order to avoid recognizing a large number of Families for animals that are closely related, zoologists have agreed that the Squirrel Family shall contain the marmots, and a number of other animals that are closely related to squir- rels. To make this point clear, observe this diagram: 5 Tree Squirrels, Sczurus. 5 Ss sacieaai Rock Squirrels, Tamias, etc. aa ’ | Ground Squirrels, Citellus. med «sce ” 5 ( Prairie-“ Dogs,”” Cynomys. Bea aS, ) Woodchucks, Marmota. ge g FiyInG SQUIRRELS, Sciuropterus. All these creatures appeal strongly to persons who live in the country, or visit city parks. Go anywhere in the temperate zone, and you will find some of them, ready to greet you, and APPROXIMATE NUMBER OF FULL SPECIES. SCI-U'RI-DAE, about 72 Species. AP-LO-DONT'I-DAE, 4 a CAS-TOR'I-DAE, el oa MUR’'I-DAE, Sia “ DI-POD'I-DAE, . Aas ZA-POD'I-DAE, . Oe GE-O-MY'I-DAE, oe E-RETH-I-ZONT-I-DAE, Pr ef O-CHO-TON’I-DAE, Ga aie LE-POR'I-DAE, 30.0“ 371° make friends with you if you choose. You have but to use your eyes, and you will see them. In the East you have the gray squirrel and chipmunk; in the Mississippi Valley the fox squirrel; on the Great Plains, the ground-squir- rels and prairie-“ dogs ”’ ; in the West the Douglas squirrel, and a bewildering array of chipmunks and ground squirrels. He who fails to learn their names, and make friends with them, loses much pleasure. The members of the Squirrel Family are so widely distributed, and have grown so accus- tomed to man and his ways, that there are few persons who have not seen at least two or three wild species in their haunts. Their lives are full of incident and interest, and to the young nat- uralist, animal artist or sculptor, they are usually the most available of all wild animal subjects. A very attractive book might be written 1 The subspecies recorded number about 260 ! 68 THE GROUPS OF SQUIRRELS 69 about the many beattiful and interesting spe- cies of squirrels that are found throughout North America, the number of which is surpris- ingly great. The total number of species and subspecies described is as follows. In Mexico and Central America, species, about 25, subspecies, about 18, total 43; in the United States and Canada, species, about 60, subspecies, about 67. The total for North America is about 170 species and geographic races. Many of these, however, resemble each other so closely that their differences are too slight for our consideration; and there may be a number that are not entitled to stand as in- dependent forms. Nature has divided the many species of North graveyard. There is no other animal of equal size that can add so much of life and cheerful- ness 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 the flesh of their little bodies is not needed as food. It has a taste so ‘‘gamey”’ and rank that to many persons it is decidedly unpalatable. Americans are the only white men on earth who eat squir- rels, An Englishman would as readily eat a rat! Possibly their flesh was necessary to the hardy but hungry pioneers of the early days; but to- day we have no excuse for shooting any squir- rels, save the quarrelsome red squirrel. Surely no true sportsman or right-minded boy can Photographed by E. R. Sansorn, N. Y. Zoological Park. GRAY SQUIRREL. American squirrels into three easily remem- bered groups, as follows: Tree Squirrels, which live in the tree-tops. Example: Eastern Gray Squirrel. Rock Squirrels, which live in rocks, fences and among the roots of large trees. Example: the Common Chipmunk. Ground Squirrels, of prairie countries, which burrow deeply in the earth. Example: the Striped Spermophile. In each of these three groups there are sev- eral important types which must be noticed. The Tree-Squirrel Group. A patch of timber or a wood lot without squir- rels always conveys an impression of lonesome solitude and something gone,—like a country find any real “sport” in “potting” squirrels out of the tree-tops. Take the common gray squirrel, for example. It is one of the most beautiful and graceful of our native mammals. It is perfectly harmless, and as soon as it learns that it is protected, it be- comes so tame as to be a delightful companion on the farm. Thousands of American farmers would fight, were it necessary, to save their squirrels from slaughter. Except the red squir- rel, all tree squirrels should be protected, both by public sentiment and by law. Excepting the chickarees, the squirrels which live in the tree-tops are considerably larger than those of other groups, and their tails are much longer. Their characteristic colors are gray, rusty-brown, yellow and black; and as a rule 70 ORDERS OF MAMMALS—GNAWING ANIMALS they are devoid of spots or stripes. They are very strong and active climbers, and keen of eye and ear. The Gray Squirrel’ is chosen as the lead- ing type because it represents an average size, the most frequent color, and is widely distributed. This is the most prominent squirrel of southern Canada, New England, and the eastern and Ce cP,2o7 cL SOUTHERN FOX SQUIRREL. 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. 1 Sci-u'rus car-o-li-nen’sis. 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. A very large specimen measures 94 + 8} inches. Northern specimens are larger, and have longer and finer fur than those of the southern states. The California Gray Squirrel? is the Pacific coast counterpart of the eastern gray squirrel, except that it is larger, and its colors are brighter. Its color above is bluish gray and black, and underneath it is pure white. It is the largest squirrel in the far West, its maxi- mum length being 12 + 10 inches. Its home extends from the state of Washington to south- ern California, and it is in every way a worthy product of that fertile and healthful region. The Fox Squirrels.—We have now reached two important species, to which the student must give close attention in order to avoid con- fusing them with each other, and with the gray squirrel. The southern species will be presented first, because it has two points by which it can be recognized at a glance. The Southern Fox Squirrel® is the only Squirrel in America which has a pure white nose and white ears. No matter how much the re- mainder of the animal may vary in color from the standard, in adult specimens the white nose and ears are constant. Typical specimens of this species are colored as follows: top of head, black; upper surface, blackish brown; lower surface, lighter brown; tail, dark brown, margined with black. Variations occur, of every shade from the above to jet black all over the body, head and tail; but the ears and nose still are white. This animal measures 13 + 12 inches. Its home is east of the Alleghanies from Virginia to Florida, and westward along the Gulf Coast to Louisiana. On the map its range looks like an arm bent around the range of the next species. The Northern Fox Squirrel,! or Cat Squirrel, is smaller than the southern species (12 + 11 inches), but very much like it in color, save that its nose and ears never are white. The standard color is rusty brown, washed with black on the upper surface, and bright brown underneath. 2 Sci-u’rus gris’e-us. *Sci-u’rus ni’ger. 4S, lu-do-vi-ci-an’us. THE TREE SQUIRRELS 71 Variations.—This squirrel is the most variable in color of all our species, and in fifty specimens it may be difficult, or even impossible, to find two exactly alike. Often it has.a beautiful gray coat, and looks like a genuine gray squirrel with a brown back and head. Often it is dark gray above, and black on the legs and under surface,—a strange combination of colors,—and occasionally a pure white specimen is found. This species inhabits the Mississippi Valley from the Alleghanies to Arkansas, weste 1 Lowa, and northward to Michigan and New York. In captivity it seems to be more hardy in winter than the gray squirrel. In the New York Zoo- logical Park it blithely runs about in the snow when the latter takes pains to avoid it. Often the Northern Fox Squirrel will be out when none of the other occupants of the Rodents’ cages are visible. It seems to me, however, that the Fox Squirrels are not as nimble on foot, or as active and daring in the tree-tops, as the gray squirrels. The Red Squirrel, or Chickaree,‘ repre- sents a large group of species containing the smaller of the tree squirrels. Its length is 73 + 54 inches, weight 74 ounces. What it lacks in size it makes up in courage and activity. In New York and New England, it often drives all the gray squirrels out of any grove which they have undertaken to inhabit as tenants in common. Many observers believe the habits of the Red Squirrel to be so bad that the species deserves to be exterminated; but to this we are not pre- pared to agree. The complete destruction of any species of mammal or bird is a doubtful experiment, and never should be entered upon without most careful investigation. In its normal colors, this little animal is readily recognized by its brown upper surface and outer surface of its legs, and its white under parts. It must be remembered, however, that it undergoes important seasonal changes in pelage,—from winter coat to summer coat, and the reverse ,— and sometimes its standard colors are greatly changed. Its legs are long and thin in proportion to the size of its body, and its form is not as graceful 1 Sci-w’rus hud-son'i-cus. EASTERN RED SQUIRREL. as that of the gray or fox squirrels. It is readily recognized by its markings, and the fact that it is the smallest of our northern tree squirrels. Three species and fifteen subspecies of Red Squirrels are recognized, and their combined ranges cover about two-thirds of North America, from Alaska and Labrador to North Carolina and southern Arizona. In California and Oregon this group is repre- sented by the sprightly and interesting Douglas Squirrel,’ showing a mixture of colors,—dark gray, yellowish, and black. This is the most familiar squirrel of the great coast forests, in which it uses the sides of the giant spruces and redwoods as play-grounds. In Colorado and Utah occurs the third full species, known as Fremont’s Squirrel,®? which is colored gray, yellowish brown and white, much mixed. Of the forty-three species and races of squir- rels inhabiting Mexico and Central America, the most conspicuous is the Red-Bellied Squirrel.' Its upper surface is pale grizzled gray, and its under parts bright rusty red. It inhabits the forests of eastern Mexico, ascending the high mountains to an elevation of 8,000 feet. The largest squirrel in the world is the great Malabar Squirrel’ of southwestern India, which is yellowish brown above, reddish brown or black below, and measures, head and body, 17 2 Sci-w'rus doug'las-t. *° S. fre-mont'i. 48. ery-thro-gas’ter. —® Sci-w'rus mal-a-bar’i-cus. 72 ' ORDERS OF MAMMALS—GNAWING ANIMALS inches, tail, 144 inches, and it weighs 44 pounds. The most beautiful squirrel in the world is Prevost’s Squirrel! of the Malay Peninsula, a species about the size of a small gray squirrel. Its colors form a beautiful pattern of gray, brown, black, white and buff. Rock Squirrels, or Chipmunks. Next below the tree squirrels comes a large group of small squirrels which live on the ground, EASTERN CHIPMUNK. preferably amongst rocks, in which they find refuge from their enemies. In the absence of rocks, they live along fences, where any exist; but their favorite nesting-places are in hollow trees which can be entered directly from the ground. These little creatures are about one-third the size of large tree squirrels, and inasmuch as their small size renders them secure from the deadly attentions of man, they have become the most tame and confiding of all the wild mammals of civilization. They are graceful in form, beauti- ful in color-markings, and exceedingly pert and 1Sci-u’rus pre-vost’t, quick in their movements. When fully pro- tected, as they are in some public parks, they become so tame and confiding that they dart about on the walks in search of food, and often allow persons to pass within three feet of them. For convenience and clearness, we shall des- ignate all the chipmunks as Rock Squirrels, because of their well-known preference for rocks, whenever any are available. It is a mistake to call these animals “ ground squirrels.” That name does not properly apply to them, but belongs to the next group. The Eastern Chipmunk? is widely known, and will serve admirably as the key to the group. When you walk in the country, almost anywhere in the eastern states, this pretty little creature darts in front of you like a flash of brown light, and says, “Chip, chip, chip, chip!”’ most glee- fully. If you stop to observe him, he pauses and looks at you very intently, wide-eyed and with ears erect, and save for the quick heaving of his tiny sides, remains as motionless as a stuffed squirrel. To him, every fence is a fortress. Whether it be of stone or wood, the Chipmunk knows its best runs when danger threatens, and carries in his active little brain a complete check-list of burrows and hiding-places. When pursued by dog, boy or wild animal, he darts swiftly along the top or the lower rails of his stockade, until he reaches a satisfactory hiding-place, when a flash of brown fur shoots into it, and he is seen no more. When hard pressed, Chipmunks frequently climb tree-trunks up to the lower branches, but such situations are very dangerous for them, because they are so seriously exposed to attack. Next to the birds of prey, the weasel, mink and fox are their worst enemies. The weasel is the worst of all, because it follows them into the remotest recesses of their burrows, and kills every inhabitant without mercy. Although the Chipmunk burrows in the ground below the frost line, and has roomy cheek- pouches in which it carries astonishingly large quantities of grain and small nuts, it is more nearly related to the tree squirrels than to the true ground squirrels. In the autumn it stores in its burrow a quantity of grain or nuts, which- ever is most abundant,—a habit which has sug- ?Tam’i-as stri-a’tus. ROCK SQUIRRELS, OR CHIPMUNKS 73 gested its generic name, Tamias, meaning a stew- ard. It does not become dormant, but on the warm, sunny days of winter, when the rocks are free from snow, it hastens above ground to enjoy the light and warmth. The length of an Eastern Chipmunk is 63 + 44 inches. Its ground color is bright reddish brown above, light underneath, and along each side runs a conspicuous yellow-brown stripe between two black stripes. A black stripe runs from the head backward along the centre of the back, almost to the tail. The home of this animal extends from southern Canada and New York to Georgia and Louisiana, and westward to Towa. There are eighteen full species of Chipmunks, several of which are very much alike, distributed throughout nearly the whole of the United States. The greater number are marked by two or more black lines extending along the side, frequently alternating with lines of a yellowish-gray color. It is impossible to mention even the majority of these species without risk of confusing the reader, but it is desirable to note a few important and strongly marked types inhabiting widely separated localities in the United States. The California Chipmunk! is a merry- hearted little elf, particularly pert and beauti- ful. Its high, sharp-pointed ears and harlequin stripes of white give it a very roguish and saucy look. To judge by the lively actions of this little creature, it seems to regard life as a long play- spell. There are many in the Zoological Park, and in some respects they are the most satisfac- tory of all our burrowing rodents. Only the severest weather drives them into their burrows, and in the dead of winter, when a thick blanket of snow keeps all other animals of the Burrowing Rodents’ Quarters snug under ground, the first hour of clear sunshine will see half a dozen of the California Chipmunks above ground, and sun- ning themselves on their logs. Having an abun- dance of room, they enjoy their life in the Park, and are much interested in visitors who notice them. This species could easily and safely be intro- duced in any region suitable for it. Its home is in the San Bernardino and San Jacinto Moun- tains, California, but the limits of its range are yet to be defined. It 1s one of the smallest spe- 1 Hu’tam-i-as spe-ci-o’sus. cies of its genus, its total length being 6 + 3 inches. The Antelope Squirrel? is readily recognized by the broad and conspicuous band of white, which extends along the middle of the side, and its pale buff color. It has the pale colors of a Photo. by E. D. WarrEN. SAY’S SPERMOPHILE. (Callospermophilus lateralis.) WESTERN CHIPMUNK. (Eutamias quadrivit- tatus.) desert animal. It is found in the desert regions of the southwest from western Texas to southern California, and northward to Nevada and Utah. It is larger than the eastern species, and is strikingly different in appearance from all other chipmunks. Ground Squirrels. We have now reached a large group of bur- rowing squirrels which to the farmers west of the Mississippi are of very serious importance, on account of the grain they destroy. All these animals may be known under the name of Sper’- mo-philes. The word Spermophile means “‘seed- lover’; and as this very appropriate general term implies, the animals which bear it feed chiefly upon seeds or grain. No ground squirrel, or spermophile, ever should be called a “gopher,” as is frequently done in the Dakotas and Minnesota. The latter name should be reserved for the clumsy, bur- rowing pocket gophers, of the genera Geomys and Thomomys. Ground squirrels live by preference on prairies, 2 Am-mo-sper-moph'i-lus leu-cu’rus. U4 ORDERS OF MAMMALS—GNAWING ANIMALS and burrow deeply in the ground. They seldom frequent rocks, and seldom climb trees. They are essentially dwellers in open country, where they can range freely, and behold a goodly por- tion of the world about them. [ven fields of standing grain are distasteful to them, and they move to the open country around their borders. Of spermophiles north of Mexico there are thirty-one full species and forty-two subspecies, orraces. Going westward, they are first found in western Indiana and Michigan, from which they spread northwest and southwest throughout the whole western half of the United States, save the timbered areas. They also range into Mex- ico, Canada, and Alaska. They are at home on the rich, rolling prairies of the Dakotas, the level, floor-like plains of Nebraska, the alkali flats of Utah, the hot deserts of Arizona, and the dry valleys and mountain regions of California. They seem to be most numerous in California and the Dakotas, where they do much damage to crops. All the ground squirrels have cheek-pouches, dig deep burrows (unless the earth is too rocky), store quantities of grain in the autumn for win- ter food, and in cold latitudes live all winter in their burrows. If forced to do so, they will live amongst rocks, and it is surprising to note how they can live in situations both high and low, dry and wet. Their favorite food is grain, seeds of every description, green grass, and hay, and their worst habit is digging up seed grain. Some species eat quantities of destructive insects, such as grasshoppers, beetles, cut-worms, and crickets, and in this way partly compensate the farmer for the grain they devour. In fact, from all observations made thus far it seems that in the insect season, insects form a considerable proportion of the daily food supply of these in- dustrious little animals. Not only do they eat all kinds of ground insects, but they also devour mice, and almost any other flesh that comes within their reach, particularly dry meat ad- hering to the bones of large animals which have died near their holes. Ground squirrels are prolific, and bring forth from seven to ten young in each litter. Their enemies are coyotes, foxes, badgers, skunks, hawks and owls. The spermophiles of North America are so wide-spread, so numerous and so important it is necessary that two or three of the leading species should be specially noticed. The Thirteen-Lined, or Leopard Sper- mophile,' is the most familiar and widely dis- tributed species, and although one of the smallest, it is also the most strangely marked. Nature was in a sportive mood when she marked the back and sides of this little creature with seven broad stripes of dark brown, then laid between them six narrow stripes of pale yellow, and finally marked each of the seven brown stripes with a row of large, pale yellow spots. The yellow spots on the brown lines are the first feature of the color scheme to catch the eye, and they distinguish this animal almost as far as it can be seen. Its under parts are pate yellow, and its size is 64 + 34 inches. Do not call this animal the “Striped” Sper- mophile, because that name would apply to sev- eral other species, and be worthless; and do not call it the “Striped Gopher,” because it is not a “gopher” of any kind. The Thirteen-Lined Spermophile inhabits THIRTEEN-LINED SPERMOPHILE. about one-third of the United States, extending from Fort Wayne, Indiana, southwestward to Fort Worth, Texas, and northwestward to the plains of the Saskatchewan. Its western limit is the Rocky Mountains, but nowhere does it live in timbered regions, being strictly a prairie animal. Its burrow is a hole about two inches in diame- ter, which descends quite steeply into the earth until it passes below the frost line (two to three feet), after which it runs off in a more or less horizontal course for ten or fifteen feet farther. If the burrow is an old one, and much used, it is a long and difficult task to dig to the end of it, and few boys undertake it more than once. 1 (i-tel/lus_tri-de’cem-lin-e-a’tus. THE GROUND SQUIRRELS 15 Asin the case of nearly all burrowing rodents of cold latitudes, nature has so adjusted the life of this animal that it survives the long and dreary winter in the strange, half-dead condition called hibernation. To make this possible, the young are born early in the year, and mature early, and during summer and autumn, take on a great quantity of fat. At the approach of winter, it curls up in its burrow for a sleep of from three to four months’ duration. By the investigations of Dr. P. R. Hoy, it has been discovered that in the case of the Thirteen- Lined Spermophile, the action of the heart is reduced from two hundred to only four feeble beats per minute, the temperature is reduced from 105° to 58°, and there is no visible breathing. The circulation of the blood was so feeble that when a limb was amputated, only a few drops of blood slowly oozed from the wound, while the nerves showed no sensitiveness. In fact, the animal was in a condition of suspended anima- tion, as if under the influence of chloroform. In the northern portions of its range, this sper- mophile nibernates from about November 20 to April 1. Franklin’s Spermophile?! looks very much like a slender-bodied, short-tailed tree-squirrel; and very often it is called the Gray Ground Squir- rel. It should not, however, be called the “Gray Gopher,” or “Scrub Gopher,” for both these names are erroneous. It is best to call each animal by a name peculiarly its own, even though the beginning of correct naming involves a little trouble. On an open prairie, especially in spring when the young grass is short, this spermophile is a conspicuous animal, and strongly resembles the gray squirrel of the East. Its upper surface is of a yellowish-gray color marked with fine, wavy, cross-wise lines of black or brown. Its under surface is distinctly gray, and its hair is coarse and stiff. In size it is about 9 + 5 inches. Its home is the central portion of the range of the Thirteen-Lined Spermophile. The western limit follows the eastern boundary of the arid plains northward from southeastern Kansas to the Saskatchewan, Alberta, and from thence south- eastward to southern Wisconsin, eastern Illinois and northern Missouri. Whenever numerous in farming regions, this 1 Ci-tel/lus frank’lin-t. animal is very troublesome, not only in destroying grain in the ground and in the stack, but also in destroying young chickens. They are very vent- uresome in locating permanently near farm- houses and barns, and sometimes they are very destructive in gardens. As an offset to the valu- able farm products destroyed by these creatures, Franklin’s Spermophile destroys great numbers of noxious insects, such as grasshoppers, cater- pillars, beetles, and also field mice. In the RICHARDSON’S SPERMOPHILE. United States Department of Agriculture, twenty- nine stomachs were examined with the following result: animal matter present, 30.3 per cent.; vegetable, 68.5 per cent., and undetermined, 1.2 per cent. Out of the whole twenty-nine stomachs examined, twenty-six contained the remains of insects! Thus the grain consumed by this ani- mal is at least partially paid for by the destruc- tion of insects that prey upon crops; but farmers everywhere are diligent in destroying it with poisoned wheat placed in its burrow. Richardson’s Spermophile,? of northern Montana, North Dakota and the region immedi- ately northward as far as the Saskatchewan, has a short body, short legs, and a short tail, and looks very much like a thin prairie-“ dog.” In color it is like the preceding species, except that its tail is darker; but in size it is a trifle smaller (9 + 3 inches). Its habits are practically identical with those of Franklin’s Spermophile, but if there is any difference, it is more destruc- tive to grain than is the latter, and consumes less insect food. It is fortunate that this species inhabits so small an area of the wheat country of the Northwest. 2 Ci-tel'lus rich’ard-son-1. 76 ORDERS OF MAMMALS—GNAWING ANIMALS Marmots. The group of marmots consists of burrowing rodents which in structure are quite squirrel- like, but are distinguished by their large size and general heaviness of body. As befits their portliness of form, they are not active and lively, like squirrels, but live quietly and unobtrusively. By reason of the good sense they manifest in keeping out of mischief, some of them are tol- erated in farming communities when more ag- gressive rodents would be exterminated. The woodchuck is our most perfect type of Marmot, from which the prairie-‘‘ dog,” or prairie marmot is slightly removed by the pos- session of a large and perfect fifth claw. It is desirable, however, that the latter should be included in the group of marmots. The Prairie-‘‘Dogs.’’ The Prairie-‘‘Dog’’! isa plump and sociable little Rodent, not a Carnivore,—well known to every dweller in the plains region of the great PRATRIE-‘‘ DOGS.” West, and to every trans-continental traveller. His explosive, yapping cry is the most cheerful sound of the western plains. He hates solitude, and always lives in colonies of from 40 to 1,000 individuals. Unlike most other burrowing Ro- dents, the darkness and silence of a burrow easily pall upon his vivacious nature ; therefore he spends the greater portion of his waking hours above ground, visiting his neighbors, and observ- ing what goes on in his small world. 1 Cy-no’mys lu-do-vi-ci-an’us. When no enemies are in sight, he and his fellow- townsmen roam about for short distances from their homes, and feed upon grass blades and stems. At the approach of an enemy,—man, coyote, badger, fox, gray wolf, eagle or hawk,— the sentry cries out sharply, ‘“Skrp! Skip! Skip!” Instantly every ‘‘Dog” halts, motionless and alert. If the sentry again cries “Skip!” each “Dog” scurries to his hole, and poises himself over its wide mouth, in readiness for a dive to subterranean safety. If the danger approaches quite near, the alarm cry resounds shrilly from all sides, stubby tails jerk nervously as if worked by wires, and down goes every Prairie-‘‘ Dog.” Just how far down the burrows go, it is diffi- cult to say, for they probably vary greatly in depth. The mouth of a burrow is a miniature model of a volcano,—a conical mound of bare earth, a foot high and three or four feet in di- ameter, with a four-inch crater in the centre, going down at a slight angle. The crater pre- vents water from running into the burrow. In making a crater the ‘“‘ Dogs”’ press the earth into shape on the inside with their noses. Once when an inmate of the Prairie-“ Dog ”’ Village in the New York Zoological Park incurred the hostility of four of his mates, they drove him into his burrow, filled up the mouth of it with moist earth, and with their noses tamped it down quite hard, the prisoner scolding vigorously mean- while. Prairie-“ Dogs” are easily introduced into al- most any open country where the ground is dry, but they are very difficult to exterminate. Under fair conditions they breed readily in cap- tivity, and usually produce four young at a birth. In 1899, a free colony was established in the New York Zoological Park in the Antelope Range, where it existed for two years, and its saucy members attracted far more attention than those confined in the fenced village. Know- ing that guns and dogs are not allowed in the Park, they often permitted visitors to pass with- in six feet of them. But it proved impos- sible to keep those industrious diggers from spreading far beyond the limits fixed for them, and seriously damaging walks and lawns, so they were finally caught by placing sand in boxes over their burrows, and transferred to the village whose walls of solid masonry go down to bed rock. THE PRAIRIE-“ DOG’’ Some plainsmen claim that these interesting little creatures are able to locate their towns away from streams because they burrow down until they strike water, but Dr. Merriam points out the fact that in some regions they live where the nearest veins of artesian-well water are 1,000 feet below the surface. As a matter of fact they can live without drinking. The Prairie-“ Dog” is at home—where not exterminated by poisoned wheat put into his burrow—from Texas, New Mexico and Arizona northward to the Canadian boundary, and on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains in Utah and Colorado. It is most abundant in Montana, Wyoming and western Kansas. One of the largest Prairie-“‘ Dog” towns yet re- ported begins in Trego County, Kansas, five miles west of the one-hundredth meridian, and extends along the divide north of the Smoky Hill River, practically without a break, to Colo- rado, a total distance of about one hundred miles. This town varies in width from half a mile to five miles, and on the top of the divide the nearest water is believed to be 350 feet below the surface. (Arthur B. Baker.) It is now (1903) reported that because of the wholesale destruction of wolves and foxes, the enormous increase of Prairie-‘‘ Dogs”’ in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Colorado has become a genuine scourge to farmers and cattlemen. The number of “Dogs” in that region is now esti- mated at several millions, and a general cam- paign against them has been begun. The meth- od employed for their destruction is a spoonful of poisoned wheat placed in the mouth of each burrow. Beyond doubt, this will soon reduce their numbers to reasonable limits. When he is not too numerous, I am the friend of the Prairie-“ Dog.” He isas bright and cheer- ful as the day is long, and he enlivens many a dreary landscape, but at the same time he often changes fine, grass-covered cattle ranges into dreary wastes, and causes great losses to cat- tle owners. I hope, however, that he will be tolerated at least to the extent that systematic destruction will stop short of extermination. It is not true that the Prairie-“ Dog” lives in peace and harmony in the same burrow with the rattlesnake and burrowing owl. The snakes would make short work of the young Prairie- “Dogs,” and the latter would quickly kill the 3 ~ owl! It is safe to surmise that when a deadly and quarrelsome rattler invades the home of a Prairie-“ Dog”’ family, the latter speedily seeks a home elsewhere. The burrowing owl is in the habit of taking refuge in abandoned burrows, and nesting in them, to save the labor of dig- ging a burrow for itself. In the Philadelphia Zoological Garden Mr. A. E. Brown once tried the experiment of associating burrowing owls and Prairie-“ Dogs.”’ The owls were immedi- ately killed and torn to pieces by the ‘‘ Dogs.”’ A Prairie-‘*‘ Dog ’’ Burrow. At last a Prairie-‘‘Dog’’ burrow has been completely exposed by digging, and reported upon in full in one of the publications of the Biological Survey. In the “ Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture” for 1901, Dr. C. Hart Merriam publishes a valuable paper on “The Prairie-Dog of the Great Plains,” which contains the following illustrated descrip- tion: “The holes go down for some distance at a very steep angle and then turn at nearly a right angle and continue horizontally, rising some- what toward the end. The nests are in side chambers connecting with the horizontal part of the burrow, and usually, if not always, at a somewhat higher level. (See H in figure.) Recently, at Alma, Nebraska, W. H. Osgood dug out a burrow, of which he made a careful diagram, accompanied by measurements. “In this case the burrow went down nearly vertically to a depth of 143 feet below the surface, when it turned abruptly and became horizontal as shown in the diagram. The horizontal part was 134 feet in length. One-third of the hori- zontal part (the terminal 4 feet, F) and two old nests and passageways (E) were plugged with black earth brought in from the surface layer, which was very different from the light-colored clayey earth in which the greater part of the burrow lay. , “Four or five feet below the entrance was a. diverticulum, or short side passage (G), probably used as a place in which to turn around when the animals come back to take a look at the in- truder before finally disappearing in the bot- toms of their burrows. It is also used, appar- ently, as a resting-place where they bark and scold after retreating from the mouths of the 78 4o burrows. As elsewhere noted, they are often heard barking after they have gone in. “The burrow was opened the day after bi- sulphide of carbon had been used for destroying the animals, and the material carrying the bi- sulphide was found at the bottom of the vertical B: ORDERS OF MAMMALS—GNAWING ANIMALS serve to hold its numbers in check. The most in- veterate of these appear to be the coyote, badger, black-footed ferret and rattlesnake.” The Woodchuck, or Ground-‘‘ Hog,’’’ is tol- erated on the farms of New England because he is wise enough to live on clover and other grass, A. Mound B. Funnel -shaped enlrancetoburrow C. Main passage 42 inch, uvedamreter about 15 te eh ue Ce D. Horizontal passageg 2 feetur length. E. unused nesishlled with carte refuse. F.tlnused part of horizontalpassage filedwltny earth etc ( eZ etlag) ee) G.Wichelarge cnoughtor one pratrie dog H. West of grass (jfench urvdvanreterby Iu |: ches utherght) 7 J. Absorbent'matter carrying biswulhrdlet of carbon. on Hod ale : Tei lira ie cpaaas igen a Ldejuth of horizontal passage, tft finches PRAIRIE-‘‘ DOG”? BURROW. From Dr. C. Hart Merriam, ‘‘ Yearbook,” Department of Agriculture, for 1901. part, just where the horizontal part turns off. Two dead animals were found, one in the hori- zontal part, the other in the nest, as indicated by the letter K in the diagram. “The Prairie-Dog has several natural enemies which, when not interfered with by man, usually and let the vegetable gardens alone. In the East he is the only representative of the marmots. In form he is short and stout, and his flat head and beady, black eyes give him a surly look. He is not lively and cheerful in his habits, like a 1 Mar-mo’ta mo’nax. THE WOODCHUCK 79 prairie-‘‘dog,”’ and it is seldom that anyone speaks well of him. His favorite home is a burrow in a gravelly hillside in a “swamp lot,’ or woods pasture, and while he likes to come out and bask in the warm sunshine, he never ventures far from his front door. In the autumn, instead of storing up vegeta- bles for winter, he takes on a quantity of fat, under his skin. Early in November he blithely goes to sleep in his burrow, and does not waken York to Georgia, and westward to Kansas and South Dakota. A much larger species called the Gray Mar- mot,! or Whistler (22 + 7 inches), is an im- portant northwestern form, strongly marked by its light, grizzly-gray color, with certain dark It is found from the Columbia River northward to about 63° North Latitude and eastward to Hudson Bay. It derives one of its names from the fact that its alarm cry consists of markings. WOODCHUCK. until February 2,—‘‘Ground-Hog day.” Then, —so runs the popular legend,—he emerges, and looks about him. If he sees his shadow, he again retires to his burrow, and sleeps six weeks longer, —which betokens a cold, wintry spring. The eastern Woodchuck is a typical marmot, short-legged, heavy-bodied, flat-headed, and brownish gray in color. The length of its head and body is 14 inches, and of its tail 5 inches. It inhabits the eastern United States from New a shrill whistle, which is repeated by the various members of the colony threatened with danger. The Yellow-Bellied Marmot,’ easily distin- guished by the bright red hair on its under parts, is a southern species, found in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. High up, on the Olym- pic Mountains of western Washington, is found still another species of marmot, as large as the 1 Mar-mo'ta pru-in-o'sus. 2 Mar-mo'ta flav’i-ven-ter. Laboratory of On olog 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Cornell University Ithaca, New York 14850 80 ORDERS OF Whistler, which is yellowish in summer, and bluish-gray in winter. This is called the Olym- pic Marmot. Flying Squirrels. The Flying Squirrel! is a very beautiful little creature, but its strictly nocturnal habits, and strong dislike to daylight, almost rob us of its acquaintance. This is to be regretted, be- cause it is the only native tree-dwelling quad- THE FLYING SQUIRREL. ruped which has been provided by Nature with a parachute, consisting of a thin fold of skin stretched between the fore and hind legs, to partly sustain the animal in a long downward flight. Neither the Flying Squirrel, nor the flying lemur of the East Indies, can actually fly; but they leap from a tree-top, go sailing gently downward and outward, and when near the ground curve upward and are carried by their momentum on an ascending plane to the side of an adjoining tree. Anything like hori- zontal flight is quite out of the question. 1 Sci-u-rop’te-rus vo'lans, MAMMALS—GNAWING ANIMALS The Flying Squirrel is one of the most exqui- site little mammals in North America. Its legs are very delicately formed; its fur is as fine and soft as silk; and when at rest the edge of its fly- ing membrane looks like the edge of a lace ruffle. The head and body (of the eastern species) is about 5 inches long, and the tail 4 inches. These little creatures are quite sociable, and nest in hollow trees, where from five to seven young are born. They come out to play about sunset, and are as sportive as schoolboys playing tag. In cap- tivity they are quite worthless for exhibition, for in the daytime there is nothing to be seen save a small and wholly uninteresting ball of fur. Three species (and nine subspecies) have been described, and their range covers the eastern United States from Canada to Florida, and westward to Louisiana. On the Pacific Coast, they are found from southern California to Alaska, even to the Mackenzie River basin, but they are not found in the desert regions. THE SEWELLEL FAMILY. A plodontidae. The Sewellel,?2, Mountain ‘* Beaver,’’ or Showt?l of the Indians is a strange and little known animal of the Northwest, with which at least every person in that region should be ac- quainted. It is reddish-brown in upper color (sometimes grayish-brown), and looks like a tailless woodchuck. It feeds like a beaver, fights fiercely when cornered, is sociable in habit like the prairie-“ dog,” can climb bushes four feet high, and can burrow and live comfortably either in ground that is low and boggy, or high and dry. Usually it prefers wet ground! A large speci- men weighs 4 pounds, measures about 13 inches in length of head and body, and tail a little more than one inch. Strange to say, this once rare animal has recently been discovered inhabit- ing the grounds of the University of Washing- ton, at Seattle. THE BEAVER FAMILY. Castoridae. The Beaver® easily leads the mammals of the world in mechanical and engineering skill, and also in habits of industry. Being chiefly nocturnal in its habits, it sleeps by day, and after nightfall carries on its work unmolested. 2 Ap-lo-don’ti-a ru’fa. * Cas’tor can-a-den’sis. ‘OpBUL SEM SUIMIP SIT] OUT] oY} 4B a1aM AY} se PET TBIGOJOOZ, YOR MON oY} JO puog TWATa oy} UT syIOM asoy} Jo suoonpoidad youxe ose ‘puod ayy Jo afppru ay} ut syous Jo asnoy pur ‘urep ou, “MYUOM UYWTHL GNV SYMAVAd NVOINANV 82 ORDERS OF It is seldom that anyone sees a live Beaver in its haunts during the middle of the day, but it is possible to do so during the hour before sunset. In public zoological gardens and parks, the per- sistence and success of this animal in avoiding observation is very disappointing to visitors, and exasperating to directors and keepers. This is the largest gnawing animal in North America. A huge specimen caught in Maine, in 1900, weighed a trifle over 50 pounds. A large one in the New York Zoological Park is 31 inches long, has a tail 12 inches long and weighs 44 pounds. The American Beaver is still found in a few localities,—but in very small numbers,—from the Rio Grande in Texas throughout the Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada and Cascade Moun- tain regions northward to the limit of trees, and southeastward through Canada to northern New England. The number now remaining in Col- orado has been estimated at one thousand. The Beaver’s efforts are directed toward its own preservation and comfort. It builds ex- tensive dams of mud, grass and sticks, in order to create ponds in which it can hide from its enemies, maintain a safe refuge close by the wood on which it feeds, and have an under-water door- way to its house or burrow. More than this, the pond serves as a refrigerator, in the bottom of which the animal stores its supplies of food- wood for winter use, when the surface is frozen for a long period. Sometimes when food-wood on a beaver pond becomes scarce, the animals dig canals into places where fresh supplies can be cut, and floated down to the pond. These canals are usually about two feet wide. A Beaver is readily recognized by its very flat, hairless and scaly tail, which beyond the hair of the body is about 9 inches long by 4 inches wide. The tail is never used as a trowel in building dams, but only as a propeller in swimming. Dam-building is done in two ways. With his front feet the animal digs up soft mud, holds the mass with his fore legs against his breast, and swims with it tothe dam. There he deposits it where it is most needed, and pats it down with his front feet. To strengthen the structure, he brings sticks four or five feet long, and one or two inches in diameter, from which he has eaten the bark. These he usually lays upon the dam, MAMMALS—GNAWING ANIMALS crosswise or nearly so, and fills between them with mud. When Beavers have to build a dam exceed- ing fifty feet in length, to flood low ground, they usually lay it out with a curve up-stream. The dam built by the Beavers in the New York Zoo- logical Park is about forty feet long, and three feet high, and quite sharply curved up-stream. In most localities inhabited by Beavers, the banks of the streams are so low that the animals cannot burrow into them, and consequently they build houses for themselves. The ordinary Beaver house is a huge pile of neatly trimmed six-foot poles, with all spaces between the sticks plastered full of mud. The one in the Zoological Park is about fifteen feet in diameter, and five feet high, with a central chamber above high- water-mark, and its only entrance is well under water. If a beaver house is attacked, the occu- pants immediately seek refuge in deep water. SKULL OF BEAVER, A TYPICAL RODENT. The trees which furnish bark most prized by the Beaver as food are the poplar, cottonwood, willow, birch, elm, box-elder and aspen. The bark of the oak, hickory, or ash is not eaten. The Beaver’s front teeth (incisors) are very strong and sharp, and the muscles of the jaw are massive and powerful. It is no uncommon thing for a Beaver to fell a tree a foot in diameter in order to get at its branches. It is said by some observers that large trees are made to fall as the Beavers prefer to have them,—toward their pond. In felling a tree, they first remove the bark from a circle a foot in width, Just above WILD MICE the spur roots, standing on their hind legs while they work. Then, with their huge, chisel-like incisors they cut out chips, circling round the trunk all the while, until only the heart of the trunk remains, and the tree falls. THE FAMILY OF MICE AND RATS. Muridae. When their groups and relationships are fairly understood, the wild mice and rats will be found quite interesting. They are so widely distrib- uted it is very desirable that country-dwellers should know something about them, and ap- preciate their good points as well as their bad ones. A moderate effort, properly aided and encouraged, will give anyone a fair conception of the grand divisions of this great group; and there the general student can stop, if he so elects. In approaching this assemblage of North American mammals, the first thought is that its members are difficult to deal with. In some respects they are, but they are by no means as difficult as might be supposed. Like many other new subjects, they yield to a little old-fashioned study. Itis not necessary for the general student to enter into the study of a large number of spe- cies. Lay the foundation first by becoming ac- quainted with each genus, and one typical species. Observe the following injunctions: 1. Treat this bit of study with serious atten- tion. 2. Learn first the names of the Families, and the approximate size of each Family. 3. Next learn by rote, in regular order, the common names of the typical examples given. 4. Learn some of the distinguishing characters of each example. 5. Study the comparative sizes of the various types. 6. Finally, in determining the name of a strange species, do not feel that you must name it tnstantly, or be disgraced! Take time to think over it, and to “look it up.” Snap judgments on small creatures have a most annoying habit of proving to be wrong. It is a wise judge who knows when to hand down a decision. In order to make the genera of North American rats and mice clear to the student, I have pro- cured from Dr. C. Hart Merriam, the highest AND RATS 83 living authority on these creatures, a fine, per- fect, adult specimen of the best known (or most typical) species of each genus. Figures of these skins are here reproduced to show their relative sizes, and a life-like illustration of each of these types is also given. In the text, the most strik- ing distinguishing characters are printed in italics. With these aids to the text, it should be possi- ble for a clear-headed, keen-eyed student to refer any adult North American rat or mouse to its proper genus. But beware of young specimens! Often they are so puzzling that Solomon himself ould not place them with any degree of certainty. In determining the species of mice and rats, mammalogists depend largely upon the charac- ters of the teeth; but that is a subject too intri- cate for the general student. The table on page 84 shows the various Fam- ilies of rats and mice, the North American gen- era, and the typical species of each. It is not necessary for young students to memorize the Latin names of the genera and species; but those who become specially interested in natural his- tory will very soon desire to know them. The Muskrat, which received its name from its very pronounced musky odor, is the largest native representative of the Mouse and Rat Family. It is readily recognized by its flat, hairless tail, carried on its edge. It is of large size, measuring about 21 inches in length. It is of aggressive habit, an admirable diver and swimmer, an industrious and intelligent house- builder, and the only native rat whose fur is val- uable. It is found from Labrador and New- foundland to Alaska, and southward to Arizona and Louisiana. It is very shrewd in preserving its own life, and even in the large forest parks of New York City, it refuses to be exterminated. When three bogs in the New York Zoological Park were dug out and converted into ponds, the wild Muskrats in the Bronx River found them as soon as they were completed, immediately took possession of them, and there they stil] remain. Being very destructive to lily bulbs, and most other aquatic plants, their presence in ornamental ponds is very objectionable. Muskrats are rarely, if ever, found away from ponds or good-sized streams. They are quite as much at home in the water as beavers, and their 1 Fiber zibethicus. 84 ORDERS OF MAMMALS—GNAWING ANIMALS TYPICAL NORTH AMERICAN MICE AND RATS (north of Mexico). APPROXIMATE COMMON NAME OF SCIENTIFIC NAME. NUMBER OF FULL SUB- GENUS. GENUS. TYPE SPECIES. SPECIES. SPECIES. Muskrat, . Fiber, . zt-beth’i-cus, 4 3 Lemming, . . . . 1. Di-crost’o-nyzx, hud-so'ni-us, 3 5 Lemming Mouse,. . 2. Syn-ap’to-mys, . coop’ er-t, 8 1 Field Mouse, . . . 3. Mi-crot’us (Ar-vic'- o-la), penn-syl-van'i-cus, 48 18 MOUSE Red-Backed Mouse, . 4. H-vot’o-mys, . gap’ per-1, pals 5 AND RAT / Vole, ..... . 5. Phe-nac’o-mys, . o-ro’phi-lus, as FAMILY. Wood Rat, 6. Ne-o-to’ma, . flor-i-dan’a, mela 19 (Mfu’ri-dae.) Harvest Mouse, 7. Reith-ro-don’to-mys, le-cont't, . LO) 6 Rice-Field Mouse, . 8. O-ryz’o-mys, . pa-lus'tris, . 2 3 Cotton Rat, . . . . 9. Sig’mo-don, . his’pi-dus, . eS 5 White-Footed Mouse, 10. Per-o-mys’cus, leu-co’pus, . . 42 27 Grasshopper Mouse,. 11. O-ny-cho’mys, lew'co-gas-ter, . 6 6 Domestic Rat, . Mus, ; nor-veg'1-cus, 4 oe Subfamily of tl se ( ete Rts eS | 12. Per-og-na’thus, . Jas-ci-a’tus, . . 26 15 FAMILY OF ae i 13. Mi-cro-dip'o-dops, . meg-a-ceph’/a-lus, . 1 (Species small.) 1 MICE AND Subfamily of tt RATS. Sublamuy of the c 7 ae oe . (Het-e-ro-my'i- | Kangaroo Rats, § 1a. Di-pod g mys, ae am-t, - Oo 8 dae.) (Species larger.) (15. Per-o-di’ pus, rich’ard-son-t,. . 9 1 JUMPING eae Jumping Mouse, . 16. Za’pus, hud-so’ni-us, . 10 10 =! 1, re Te aaa (Za-pod’i-dae.) 256 145 habits are strictly aquatic. The tail furnishes the motive power for swimming. The feet are small, and but very slightly webbed, and the body is completely covered with soft, brown fur an inch or more in length, which is much sought by furriers. When taken at the best season, plucked, dressed and dyed a rich brown-black, it is known to the trade as “ French seal.” Muskrats that inhabit streams with high banks do not trouble themselves to build houses, but merely burrow into the banks. In rivers and ponds with low margins, however, they gather coarse grass, reeds and mud, and build dome- shaped houses, about five feet in diameter, which rise from two to four feet above the water. All such houses are entered below the surface of the water, so far down that ice does not close their doors, and within there is a floor raised well above the water, on which the inmates eat their food, and sleep. When too many captive Muskrats are kept in the same enclosure, say twelve in a fenced pool thirty feet square, they fight viciously, and not only kill each other, but sometimes partly de- vour one of the victims. Although often dis- puted, it is nevertheless a fact that they eat flesh on very slight provocation. They are very un- satisfactory animals to keep in captivity, no mat- ter what the conditions may be. The Hudson Bay Lemming! is worthy of special notice, because it is the most widely- distributed and noteworthy rat-like animal of the far North. It is strictly a mammal of the, cold northland, and like many other arctic ani- mals, its winter coat is pure white, and its fur is dense and warm. Among the west Alaskan Eskimo, skins are very common, and the children delight in using them for doll clothes. (Charles H. Townsend.) This animal is about the size of a large mole, 1 Dicrostonyx hudsonius. Sutpuodsar109 ayy qsuruse ‘esud 0 “SHIOUdS 'TVOICAL dO SNIMS AG CULVULSOTH ‘SLVH ANV SOUN AAILVN dO SAITMNVA GILL Ido olf} Wo puNoy aq TILAK SUatVads BAOGE at] JO SoUTLU OYTVUAIDS OT], 5 . aeppode7 ssnon ontangg DTWAL ASNOK-ONTAIILL 031004-3 HOW 01314 LIHM Ol “404 8 sa S110 roe : Sec! HOW 030V8-034 : meet “Be 86 ORDERS OF MAMMALS—GNAWING ANIMALS thick-bodied, short-legged, and sharp-nosed. The ears are extremely short, and quite hidden in the fur; the legs are short, the feet rat-like, and the tail ts so very short that it also is half hidden by the fur. The fur is long, fluffy and fine; brown, brownish-gray, or mottled in sum- mer, but snow-white in winter. The length of the head and body is 4 to 5 inches, and of the tail, 4 inch. The Lemming is found from Latitude 56° northward to the whole arctic coast; in Labra- dor, Greenland, the arctic islands, and on as far north as man has ever gone on land. It prefers Its ears are very small, and do not rise above the Jur on the head. The type species, known as Cooper’s Lemming Mouse,! is only two-fijths the size of the Hudson Bay Lemming. It inhabits the northeastern United States, from Massa- chusetts to Minnesota, and southward to North Carolina, Tennessee, Indiana and Iowa. Its color above is yellowish-brown washed with black, with bluish-gray or whitish underparts. Length, 3} to 4 inches; tail, inch. Other spe- cies of Lemming Mice inhabit Canada, Labra- dor, New Hampshire, Washington, Kansas and Alaska. HUDSON BAY LEMMING, Winter and summer pelage. open, dry, moss-covered uplands, and is not found in timbered regions. Often a district of acceptable ground is covered with a wide-spread- ing network of runways, just below the surface. Mr. C. H. Townsend, who has kept them in cap- tivity, says they are kind-spirited and sociable little creatures, fond of attention, and much given to standing up and hopping about on their hind legs. In summer they store up supplies of vegetable food in their runways for use in winter. The Lemming Mouse, or False Lemming, is interesting chiefly because it is a connecting link between the true lemmings and the mice. FIELD MOUSE. The Field Mouse, or Meadow Mouse,? stands as a murine monument to scientific en- deavor. Since 1798, the genus of this group— long known as Ar-vic’o-la—has been described under twenty-four different names, and the type species has received nineteen names besides its own! But, through a century of misnaming in Latin, its original English name, Meadow Mouse, has stood unchanged! The trouble with this genus seems to have been due to exaggerating the importance of triv- ial characters, molar teeth and claws. Externally 1 Synaptomys coopert. 2 Microtus pennsylvanicus. FIELD MICE its species and varieties are so much alike that very few of them can be distinguished from the general mass. The typical Field Mouse is a short-eared, short- tailed, thick-set little animal. It averages 44 inches long, with a tail 14 inches long. Its color above is reddish-brown, while beneath it is whitish-gray. It is found from the Atlantic coast to the Da- kotas, feeding on roots and grasses. In severe winters, when the ground remains frozen for a long period, Field Mice are some- times forced to feed on bark, and frequently kill GAPPER’S RED-BACKED MOUSE. young fruit trees by barking them near the sur- face of the snow. When shocks of corn are avail- able these mice live high, literally, feeding well, and being well housed at the same time. In husking shock corn in winter, many a nestful of Field Mice have we helped to turn out into the cold world; but the amount of grain they con- sumed was so insignificant we never grudged them their food. Taken as a whole, the Field Mice of various species inhabit nearly the whole of North Amer- joa north of Mexico and the Gulf, even to the remote islands of Bering Sea. I do not know of a state or province from’ which they have not been recorded. AND VOLES 84 The Red-Backed Mouse! is, in form, very much like the meadow mouse, but in size it is smaller, and in habit it is quite different. It prefers to live in cool, damp woods and timbered regions, varying all the way from dark swamps and valleys to timbered mountain-tops; but it is seldom found in open country. They are found from Ontario, New England and New Jersey westward to California, and northward through Canada and Alaska, sixteen species and five subspecies. They are all very much alike, rather slender, and more graceful in form than the field mice, and the majority NORTHWESTERN VOLE. are reddish-brown above and grayish under- neath. The species most common in the east- ern United States, often called Gapper’s Field Mouse, is found westward to the Rocky Moun- tains. It is 3} inches in length of head and body, tail, 13 inches. In scientific lists of the mammals of North America, Red-Backed Mice are sometimes called Red-Backed “ Voles.”’ The Voles of the genus Phe-nac’o-mys, are small brown mice, mostly of recent discovery, about the size of the red-backed mouse, in color 1 Until recently this species has been considered identical with Evotomys rutilus of the Old World, and has been so called. Now, however, our species is considered quite distinct, and is called EL. gappert. 88 ORDERS OF usually dark brown mixed with black. Seven species are known, extending in range from Labrador westward to Oregon, Washington and northern British Columbia, and also down to Colorado. None are found in the eastern half of the United States. There is no special mark by which it is easy to distinguish them from their nearest relatives, the red-backed mice. The species most widely distributed, and best known, is the Northwestern Vole,' the largest member of this group,—a grayish-brown creature, with feet and all under parts white, or nearly so. It inhabits Alberta, British Colum- bia, Idaho, Wyoming, Washington and south central Oregon. Length of head and body, 4 inches, tail, 13 inches. In mental capacity the Wood Rat, Pack Rat, Trading Rat or Bushy-Tailed Rat ®* is the most wonderful member of the whole Rat-and-Mouse Family, at least in North America. The true stories of its pranks are almost beyond belief. Seemingly its chief object in life is to play prac- tical jokes on mankind; and any rat which mani-_ fests a spirit of toleration toward man surely is entitled to specia: consideration. The typical Wood Rat is a large-sized, big- eyed, large-eared and rather handsome creature, FLORIDA WOOD RAT. without the mean, vicious look of a common rat, with fine yellowish-gray fur, white feet, and white under parts. In some species, the tail is cov- ered with long hair, and by this fact alone it is possible to distinguish many members of the genus. The Wood Rats are distributed very 1 Phenacomys orophilus. * Neotoma. MAMMALS—GNAWING ANIMALS generally throughout the southern and western part of the United States, and are also found in British Columbia and Mexico. Frequently their presence is indicated by the huge, mound-like nests, from two to three feet high, which they build of twigs, grass, leaves and bark. These animals are nocturnal in their habits, and their nest-building and other work is done at night. The most remarkable thing about them is their habit of entering houses and playing practical jokes upon the inmates. A pair of Wood Rats that I knew by reputation at Oak Lodge, in Florida, first carried a lot of water- melon seeds from the ground floor upstairs, and hid them under a pillow. Then they took from the kitchen a tablespoonful of cucumber seeds, and placed them in the pocket of a vest which hung upstairs on a nail. In one night they re- moved from a box eighty-five pieces of bee-hive fixtures, and hid them in another box, and on the following night they deposited in the first box about two quarts of corn and oats. Western frontiersmen, and others who live in the land of the Wood Rat, relate stories innu- merable of the absurd but industrious doings of these strange creatures. In general they are rather harmless. One of the best known spe- cies is the Florida Wood Rat.° It belongs to the round-tailed group and does not have the hairy, squirrel-like tail of some of the western wood rats. Its upper color is tan mixed with brown, feet and under parts white. The length of the head and body is 83 inches, tail 62 inches. Distribution: the southern states from the Car- olinas to Texas. The Little Harvest Mouse looks so much like a small house mouse, 24 + 2 inches long, that only an expert can readily recognize it at first sight. The ten or more species are scattered throughout the southern, southwest- ern and Pacifie states, but none of them are found in northeastern North America. The usual color is gray-brown above, and lighter underneath, and the best known example is Le Conte’s Harvest Mouse‘ of the south Atlantic states, from Virginia to Florida. The Rice-Field Mouse® should have been called a rat, for it is 5 inches long, with a five- inch tail. It is strictly a southern animal, in- * Neotoma floridana, * Reithrodontomys lecontti. > Oryzomys palustris. WILD RATS habiting the wet rice-fields and swamps of ‘the Gulf states from Texas up to southern New Jersey, its northern limit. It has a long head, a sharp nose, a shapely body, prominent ears, and a long tail. Its color above is bleached brown, but its under surface is grayish, or dull white. This mouse is partial to the vicinity of water, especially the banks of rice-fields. It swims and dives well, and sometimes builds its nest and rears its young in interlaced marsh grass, over water, and far from dry ground. The Cotton Rat, or Marsh Rat,’ is a species AND MICE 89 homa, New Mexico, Arizona, and Mexico; and wherever found their destructiveness causes them to be cordially disliked. The White-Footed Mouse, or Deer Mouse,” is well worthy of acquaintance. It is distributed over nearly the whole of upper North America, ex- cept the arctic islands, and the Barren Grounds. On account of the changes it has undergone, chiefly in color shades, and length of tail, natural- ists now recognize in the United States and Can- ada about seventy species and subspecies! But the student need not be discouraged by this fact. RICE-FIELD MOUSE. which any country may well be without. It is small for a rat, but courageous, vicious in tem- per and voracious in appetite. It is fond of flesh, and when several are caged together, the stronger ones do not scruple to kill and eat weaker rats of their own kind. In length it is the size of a large chipmunk, 6 + 4 inches. The upper surface of the body and head, and outside of the legs, are dark mottled yellowish-brown, the under surface and inside of legs dull white, or brownish- gray. Cotton Rats are found from North Caro- lina to southern Florida, and also in Texas, Okla- l Sigmodon hispidus. COTTON RAT. Every White-Footed Mouse can be recognized by the clean white or light gray color on the under half of its body, head, tail and inner surfaces of the legs, its white feet, and its long tail. The color of the back is usually gray, or brown, or a mixt- ure of the two. Of all the small mice of North America, I con- sider this the most beautiful, and one of the most interesting. In the eastern states, where small quadrupeds and birds are numerous, it attracts little attention, but on the western plains, and in the desert regions, where animal life is very * Peromyscus leucopus. 90 ORDERS OF MAMMALS—GNAWING ANIMALS scarce (and rapidly becoming more so!) these pretty little creatures seem much more worthy of notice. I have many times found them nest- ing in cavernous and ill-smelling buffalo car- casses, and in the brain cavity or between the jaws of buffalo skulls from which the skin had not been removed by the hide-hunters. In some places I have lain awake at night to hate mice, for cause, and wish them all dead, by all manner of violent deaths; but on a bleak and wind-shaven Montana plain where the bleach- ing skulls of thousands of slaughtered buffalo lie elled over smoothly-shaven prairie divides miles away from all proper shelter. In the West, how- ever, they are found most frequently in the brush and timber of stream valleys, where the rank weeds and grasses produce seed on which they feed. In the eastern United States they are found in nearly all agricultural regions. They are active climbers, possess a wide range of in- telligence, and nest in all sorts of places, from ground burrows up to hollows in trees twenty feet from the ground. Of all mice, they are probably the most active climbers, and in fleeing 1. WHITE-FOOTED MOUSE. staring heavenward in mute protest against man’s inhumanity, an agile White-Footed Mouse, scurrying out of its warm nest of buffalo-hair between the jaws of a buffalo skull, appeals not in vain for my sympathy and protection. Out on the Great Plains the world always seems large enough to contain us both. The great buffalo range of 1883 is now so barren of wild life that to-day even wild mice are objects of interest. From the buffalo to the White-Footed Mouse the time has been less than twenty years. Many times in their wanderings from one buffalo carcass to another, these mice have trav- 2. LE CONTE’S HARVEST MOUSE. MOLE MOUSE. from a disturbed home the mother often carries her brood of young clinging to her body. Their food is seeds, small nuts and acorns, grain, and dried meat when available. Once in the wilds of Montana, we hauled some old logs to camp, for fire-wood. When one was cut up, we found in it a nest, made ‘chiefly of feathers, containing five White-Footed Mice, snugly housed in the hollow. Packed close against the nest was a pint and a.half of fine, clean seed, like radish seed, from some weed of the Pulse Family. While the food-store was be- ing examined, and finally deposited in a pile upon the open ground, near the tent door, the five CHEEK-POUCH MICE AND RATS 91 mice escaped into the sage-brush. Near by stood an old-fashioned buggy. Next morning, when the photographer lifted the cushion of his buggy-seat, and opened the top of the shallow box underneath, the five mice, with their heads together in a droll-looking group, looked out at him in surprise and curiosity, with- out attempting to run away. But very soon it became our turn to be surprised. We found that those industrious little creatures had gathered up every particle of their nest, and every seed of their winter store, and carried all of it up into the seat of that buggy! The nest had been carefully re-made, and the seed placed closed by, as before. Considering the number of journeys that must have been necessary to carry all those materials over the ground, and climb up to the buggy-seat, the industry and agility of the mice were amazing. By way of experiment, we again removed the nest, and while the mice once more took to the sage-brush, we collected all the seed, and poured it in a pile upon the ground, as before. During the following night, those indomitable little creat- ures again carried nest and seed back into the buggy-seat, just as before. Then we gathered up the entire family of mice with their nest and seed, and transported them to New York. The Grasshopper Mouse,’ originally de- scribed by Audubon and Bachman as the Mis- souri Mouse, and often called the Mole Mouse, is mentioned in order to caution western observ- ers against confusing it with the preceding species. In some respects it strongly resembles the white- footed mouse, being all white underneath, in- cluding its legs. It can readily be distinguished by its large fore claws and its short, stumpy tail, which is only about one-third as long as the head and body. Its upper surface is brownish-gray. Its fur is very fine and soft, and hence it is some- times called the Mole Mouse. Its length, head and body, is 44 inches, tail, 1} inches. CHEEK-POUCH MICE AND RATS. Heteromyidae. This is strictly a Family of the West and South- west, its members being found only west of Ar- kansas, Iowa and Minnesota. It does not contain the pocket gophers. Many of its twenty-six spe- 1 Onychomys leucogaster. cies are desert dwellers, even inhabiting Death Valley, California. All its members are distin- guished from other North American animals (except the jumping mouse and pocket gopher) by the presence of a large and very serviceable hair-lined pouch in the skin of each cheek. Barring the two exceptions noted, this char- acter alone is sufficient for the recognition of any American member of this Family. As clearly shown in the full-page diagram, this family may be divided into two Subfamilies, an arrangement which is very convenient and helpful. The first we must call the Pocket Mouse Subfamily and its leading genus (Per -og-na’thus) contains twenty- six full species, and fifteen sub- species. All are distinguished by the following characters: head large; body slender and graceful; hind legs long, and fitted for jumping; tail long; large external cheek pouches, hairy inside, and not connected with the interior of the mouth; hair smooth and compact, sometimes intermingled with spines. These mice are quick and active in movement, and some species leap with considerable power. Since 1839 the Typical Pocket Mouse’ has been described again and again, but none of its describers have taken the trouble to give it an English name! Hereafter, let us call it by the name given above, because it is the type of its genus. It inhabits Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas. Its color above is sandy-yellowish, lined with black; underneath, white; and these two color areas are divided low down along the side by a lengthwise band of pale yellow. Length, 3 + 23 inches. The Kangaroo Rat * Subfamily, of fifteen full species, is fitly represented by an elf-like creat- ure which is one of the most beautiful and at- KANGAROO RAT. Showing the very large cheek- pouches. 2 Perognathus fasciatus. 3 Typical species, Perodipus richardsoni of west- ern Kansas, Oklahoma and Indian Territory. 92 ORDERS OF tractive of all our native rats. In the dry and sterile regions of the great Southwest, from the Indian Territory to Arizona and California, where seemingly the deserts produce nothing but sand, cacti, yuccas and sage-brush, these pert little creatures hold forth. Apparently they are both fire-proof and water-proof, for no amount of heat affects them, and the absence of water does not seem to depress their spirits in the least. Like most mice and rats, they are nocturnal. Some of the species build for them- selves large mounds of dirt and gravel, from one to three feet high and five to ten feet in diameter, which are honeycombed with burrows 1. AND 2, KANGAROO RAT. 3. TYPICAL POCKET MOUSE. and runways. These dwellings are often in- habited by rattlesnakes and lizards, and doubt- less the Kangaroo Rat is an important item of food in the diet of the desert rattler. The Kangaroo Rat is very unlike the mem- bers of the Mouse-and-Rat Family; and in tem- per no creature could be more unlike the domes- tic rat. Unlike most mice and rats, they do not bite when handled, but they are so delicate that they do not live long in captivity, unless tended with extreme care and intelligence. They stand high on their hind legs, like pigmy kangaroos, and hop about with their front paws tucked up close under the chin, almost hidden by their fur. The tail is very long, has a showy tuft of long hair on the end, and is used by the animal in MAMMALS—GNAWING ANIMALS balancing itself when in motion. The fur is soft, silky, rather long, and of a tawny-brown color above. Length of head and body, 44 inches, tail, 5} inches. The cheek-pouches are large, and are of great use in carrying sand out of bur- rows. JUMPING MOUSE FAMILY. Zapodidae. The Jumping Mouse! is one of the most remarkable of all our small animals. In form it is a slender-bodied mouse, with an exceedingly long tail, kangaroo-like hind legs, and cheek-pouches. Its average length of head and body is about 3 inches, and tail 5 inches. In color it is dark reddish-brown above, white underneath, with smooth compact hair. Although no larger than a house mouse, it can jump from eight to ten feet. When a farmer boy is hauling in sheaves of wheat, and a small animal suddenly makes a tremendous flying leap from the bottom of the shock, he may know that he has disturbed a Jumping Mouse, and the chances are that he cannot capture it by hand. In these long jumps —perhaps the longest on record for an animal of equal size—the tail is as necessary as a stick is to asky-rocket, to enable the little creature to pre- serve its balance, and go straight ahead. If the tail is cut off, the Jumping Mouse turns over and over in the air, and perhaps lands upon its back. The Jumping Mouse is quite nocturnal in its habits, and is seldom seen in the daytime. It feeds on seeds and grain, and while it devours great quantities of weed seeds, it inflicts upon the farmer no damage worthy of mention. In the autumn it stores in the ground quantities of food for winter use, but despite this fact, under certain conditions it becomes so thoroughly dor- mant in winter that it seems to be quite lifeless. It is found throughout the northern United States and Canada, in wooded regions, from New York to California, and as far north as Lake Nushagak, Alaska. Opinions Regarding Rats and Rat-like Animals. The largest rat-like animal in America is the Coy’pu Rat,” of Central and South America, which stands 9 inches high at the shoulders, at- tains a length of 19 inches head and body, tail, 'Zapus hudsonius, 7 My-o-cas'-tor coy'pus. JUMPING MOUSE AND POCKET GOPHER 93 13 inches, and weighs 8 pounds. It is a water- loving animal, almost as much so as the musk- rat, and its thick, brown fur is valuable. Under proper conditions it is easily kept in captivity. The smallest rodent in America is the Least Pocket Mouse,! of the Rocky Mountain region, which has a total length of head and body, 1% inches; tail, 23 inches. The best swimmer of all rat-like animals is the Muskrat.” The best climber is the Tree Rat,? of southern India. The handsomest rat or mouse in the New World is the Kangaroo Rat, of the southwestern United States, figured on the opposite page. The most humorous of all rat-like animals is the Trading Rat, described on page 89, which delights in playing practical jokes upon its hu- man neighbors. The meanest of all rodents is the brown-coated Domestic Rat, the pest of civilization every- where, which was sent to man as a perpetual punishment for his crimes against harmless wild creatures all over the world. THE POCKET GOPHER FAMILY. Geomytdae. The Red Pocket Gopher' is the most im- portant representative of a large Family of bur- rowing rodents which does great damage to the crops and lands of American farmers. When- ever you see a brown-coated burrowing animal, the length of a small rat, but twice as thick, with a big pouch in the skin of each cheek, a swinish appetite, a set of long claws like burglar’s tools on each fore foot and a most villanous countenance and temper, you may know that it is a Pocket Gopher. The pockets in his cheeks are to enable him to carry extra large quantities of stolen potatoes and seeds. When once you have learned the true character and habits of this creature, you will, without being asked, care- fully refrain from calling any ground-squirrel a “Gopher.” Most wild animals have some redeeming qual- ities, but this cannot make good a claim to one. Gophers are not only thieves and robbers, but they are so ill-tempered that they even hate each other, and the old ones usually are found living 1 Per-og-nath’us fla’vus. ? Fi’ber zi-beth'i-cus. 3 Mus ru-fes’cens, 4 Ge’o-mys bur-sa’ri-us. alone. When two captives are placed together, they usually fight fiercely until one is killed. Their teeth and front claws are very powerful, and working together they do great damage, in many different ways. Asa Family, Pocket Gophers inhabit the whole United States west of Indiana and the lower Mississippi, and also a large part of Alabama, "7 JUMPING MOUSE. Georgia and Florida. Three genera and about thirty-three species are recognized, and while some are smaller than others, and some are gray or black instead of brown, their appetites and habits are all equally objectionable. They spoil meadows by throwing up innumerable hillocks of loose earth; they devour great quantities of vegetable crops, and also corn and small grain; they eat the roots of young fruit-trees of nearly all kinds, and they destroy canals and irrigating ditches by honeycombing their banks. With incisor teeth that in sharpness and strength are like steel chisels, a Gopher can pare off all the roots from a young tree quite as neatly as a man pares potatoes. Our type species, the Red Pocket Gopher ‘‘is,”’ says Mr. Vernon Bailey, “of much greater eco- nomic importance than all the other species combined, for the reason that its home is in the fertile prairie region of the Mississippi valley,” 94 ORDERS embracing Iowa,—which is its centre of distri- bution,—Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minne- sota, and the eastern parts of the Dakotas, Ne- braska and Kansas. Its length is about 73 + 3 inches. The young are either two or three in number, and there is only one litter each year. The enemies of the Gopher are the weasel and the gopher snake.! Because of the damage done by Gophers, farmers generally wage war upon them with traps, strychnine, and poisoned grain. In Iowa, Minnesota and other states, many thousands of dollars have been paid out by county treasurers in bounties on Gopher scalps and tails. No animal in the West is more uni- versally disliked, nor more diligently destroyed. My acquaintance with the Gopher Family be- gan when I was a farmer boy, in Iowa, the storm centre of Ge’o-mys bur-sa’ri-us. Having RED POCKET GOPHER. trapped a few, I made the mistake of supposing that I knew more about the habits of those creat- ures than did my elders, who had not. In an evil moment, I announced that any strong boy could catch a Gopher by digging it out of its burrow, and my large brother offered me twenty- five cents if I could prove that claim within a week, That evening, with mattock and spade, I re- paired to my father’s corn-field, into which strange Gophers were rapidly migrating and set- tling; and finding a fresh hole with the owner in- side, I began to dig. My shepherd dog, Rover, assisted me all he could, chiefly by keeping me company, but also by digging when I rested. We dug into the twilight, and later on we dug into the night; but the Gopher kept well ahead of us. Whenever we paused to listen, we could ! Pituophis. OF MAMMALS—GNAWING ANIMALS hear him digging hard, and to our dismay we found that he knew a thing or two about getting on in the world. With the descent of black dark- ness, our hopes of overtaking that Gopher de- scended also; and then pride, not hope of re- ward, was all that spurred us on. Would we have to give up beaten, by an ugly, pig-eyed old Gopher? When for about the thirtieth time I paused to wipe the accumulation of perspiration and prai- rie loam from my brow, Rover suddenly rushed off into the darkness. In the corn-rows thirty yards away, he seized something, shook it vig- orously, and a moment later came trotting back to me, carrying in his mouth a large Gopher! The beast had been migrating into the corn-field, and Rover simply caught him on the fly. Digging operations ceased abruptly at that point. Thanking Rover for his timely assistance, I accepted his contribution, and we marched home together. When I exhibited to my brother the Gopher that we had secured “by digging,” he was profoundly surprised, but promptly paid the money. Rover looked on smilingly, and said not a word; but we both knew then that in catch- ing Gophers, steel traps are better than spades. THE PORCUPINE FAMILY. Erethizontidae. The Porcupine is at home either in tree-tops or on the ground, but it is always a slow-moving and dull-witted animal. It is easily captured or killed by man, but not so readily overcome by wild animals. In the woods, it loves to prowl around camps, and eat every scrap of leather or greasy board that it can find. It is fond of the bark of hemlock, beech and cottonwood, and often a Porcupine will remain in a good tree until he entirely strips it of its bark. The Canada Porcupine,’ which is black, with a gray-tipped storm-coat, is found in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and thence northward and northwestward to Fort Churchill on Hudson Bay. The West and North- west is the home of another species, known as the Yellow-Haired Porcupine.® Large specimens weigh from 25 to 30 pounds. The flesh is not palatable to white men, but is eaten by Indians. The Canada Porcupine never should be called 2 Hr-e-thi’zon dor-sa’tus. 3B. ep-i-van’thus. PORCUPINES AND RABBITS 95 a “Hedgehog,” because the latter is not a gnaw- ing animal, but a small, weak, insect-eater, which does not inhabit America. ) White Sheep, Ovis dalli. ( Black Sheep, Ovis stonet. \ Goat: . Mountain Goat, Oreamnos montanus. ORDER ANTELOPE FAmILy, i Prong-Horned Ante- ; a UNGULATA. | 0" ANTILOCAPRI- Scat lope, Antilocapra americana. Hoorep DAE: ANIMALS \ ape Elk, or Wapiti, Cervus canadensis. (Of North Horn White-Tailed Deer, Odocoileus virginianus. America only). a s _) Mule Deer, Odocoileus hemionus. Deer Fatty, PS-\ Black-Tailed Deer, Odocotleus columbianus. or CERVIDAE: Flat Barren-Ground Tied Caribou, Rangifer arcticus. Gree Woodland Caribou, Rangifer caribou. \ ‘PS -{ Moose, Alces americanus. Peccary Famity, | Collared Peccary, Tayassu tajacu. or TAYASSUIDAE: ) : Tapir Famrvy, | Dow’s Tapir, Tapirus dowt. or TAPIRIDAE: THE CATTLE AND SHEEP FAMILY. musk-ox, mountain sheep, ibex, and wild goats. eee There are about fifty species in all, scattered 0 v1-dae. over all continents save South America and General Characters.—The Cattle Family Australia. All the members of this Family have of the world contains a grand array of large ani- divided hoofs, and simple horns (i.e., not branch- mals, such as the wild cattle, bison, buffalo, ing) consisting of a hollow sheath growing over 99 100 ORDERS a pointed core of very porous bone. The horns grow until the animal reaches old age, and are never shed. If knocked off by accident, the new horn material presently covers the horn core, but never succeeds in forming a perfect weapon like the original. Such a growth is called a “crumpled” horn. The members of this Family eat vegetable food, preferably grass and herbage, and have no upper front teeth. The American Buffalo. The American Bison or Buffalo.'—Because of its great size, imposing appearance, former OF MAMMALS—HOOFED ANIMALS complete extinction, by appropriating $15,000 for the purpose of purchasing and establishing under fence in the Yellowstone Park, a herd of captive Buffaloes. This undertaking has very wisely and appropriately been placed in charge of the Department of Agriculture. At this date (1903) there are about 634 wild Buffaloes alive, of which about 600 inhabit a desolate and inhospitable region southwest of Great Slave Lake. In 1890, the Yellowstone Park herd contained about three hundred head; but through inadequate protection, and killing done by unprincipled poachers in quest of Dorsal, ~ Vertebrae, 13 Occipital Horn Core’, aia Ne Frontal _ oy .@ Bone ~~ Me Wy AS Sa Nasat_ AW .Sup. Maxillary Scapula ii Hf Shoulder Joint Wi ’ i Inferior Maxillary Humerus Elbow Joint _] Ulna and Radius - ~ - Carpus, or Knee Joint _ _ — — Metacarpal or Cannon Bone bs Lumbar Vert., 6 Ilium \ ' Sacrum, 5) Hip Joint: Acetubulum Calcaneum WN Tarsus, or vs Hock Joint Trapezium Metatarsal Sesamoids ~ Pastern Median Phalanx Ze és u "h ~-—\- Coffin Bone SKELETON OF AN ADULT MALE AMERICAN BISON. abundance and value to mankind, this is the most celebrated of all American hoofed animals. Its practical extermination in a wild state is now a source of universal regret. In 1902, Congress took the first step toward its preservation from 1A true “ Buffalo” is an animal with no hump on its shoulders; and is found only in Africa and Asia. Our animal, having a high hump, is really a bison ; but inasmuch as it is known to seventy-three mil- lions of Americans as the ‘“ Buffalo,” it would be quite useless to attempt to bring about a universal change in its popular name. There is but one living species. heads to sell, to-day less than thirty buffaloes remain! The weakness of the efforts to pro- tect that herd is a national disgrace. Through lack of sufficient laws and patrol service the poachers were permitted to rob the American people of a wild herd which no expenditure of money ever can replace. There were in captivity, in March, 1903, 1,119 pure-bred Buffaloes, and the number is slowly increasing. Of these, the majority are in large private game preserves, and every zoological THE BUFFALO park and garden contains as many head as it can properly accommodate. It is useless to give a list of these animals, because owners and fig- ures are constantly changing. The Buffalo breeds readily in captivity, and is easily cared for. The majority of captive animals are reasonably tractable, but occasion- ally an individual becomes savage and danger- ous, and requires either solitary confinement or 101 contains one hundred and twenty-eight head of pure-blood animals, and the number is steadily increasing. The largest herd on public exhibition is that of the New York Zoological Park, which in 1903 contained thirty-four head of pure-breed animals representing all ages, presented by the Hon. William C. Whitney from his October Mountain preserve. The value of a full-grown Buffalo cow in New ik eA AM eee E. R. Sansorn, Photo. AMERICAN BISON, OR BUFFALO. An adult male, ‘‘ Apache,” of the Whitney herd. Photographed in the New York Zoological Park, near the end of the shedding season. shooting. The best place in which to exhibit a savage Buffalo is a museum. Full-grown males must be watched closely for signs of per- manent ill temper, and a savage Buffalo should be treated the same as a tiger. Frequently the first serious sign of danger in a Buffalo is the murder of a weaker member of the herd. The largest herd in a fenced game preserve is that of Blue Mountain Park, in New Hamp- shire, established by the late Austin Corbin. It York is from $400 to $500, and an adult bull is worth about $100 less. Exceptionally fine mounted heads are worth from $300 to $500. The Buffalo was first seen by white men in Anahuac, the Aztec capital of Mexico, in 1521, when Cortez and his men paid their first visit to the menagerie of King Montezuma. In its wild state it was first seen in southern Texas, in 1530, by a ship-wrecked Spanish sailor. The Buffalo once roamed over fully one-third of the 102 ORDERS OF entire continent of North America, and its num- bers far exceeded those of any other large mam- mal of recent times. Not only did it inhabit the plains of the West, but also the hilly hard-wood forests of the Ap- palachian region, the northern plains of Mexico, the “Great American Desert,” the Rocky Moun- tain parks on the continental divide to an eleva- tion of 11,000 feet, and the bleak and barren plains of western Canada, up to the land of the musk-ox. From north to south it ranged 3,600 miles, and from east to west about 2,000 miles. The centre of abundance of the Buffalo was the Great Plains lying between the Rocky Moun- tains and the Mississippi valley. When the herds assembled there, they covered the earth seemingly as with one vast, brown buffalo-robe. It is safe to say that no man ever saw in one day a greater panorama of animal life than that unrolled before Colonel R. I. Dodge, in May, 1871, when he drove for twenty-five miles along the Arkansas River, through an unbroken herd of Buffaloes. By my calculation, he actually saw on that memorable day nearly half a million head. It was the great southern herd, on its annual spring migration northward, and it must have contained a total of about three and one- half million animals. At that date, the northern herd contained about one and one-half millions. In those days, mighty hosts of Buffaloes fre- quently stopped or derailed railway trains, and obstructed the progress of boats on the Mis- souri and Yellowstone rivers. In 1869, the general herd was divided, by the completion of the Union Pacific Railway, into a “northern herd” and ‘‘southern herd.” The latter was savagely attacked by hide hunters in the autumn of 1871, and by 1875, with the ex- ception of three very small bunches, it had been annihilated. In 1880, the completion of the Northern Pacific Railway led to a grand attack upon the northern herd. In October, 1883, the last thousand head were killed in southwestern Dakota, by Sitting Bull and about a thousand Indians from the Standing Rock agency, leaving only the Yellow- stone Park bunch of two hundred head, a band of forty in Custer County, Montana, and the Great Slave Lake herd of about five hundred head. The largest Buffalo ever measured by a nat- MAMMALS—HOOFED ANIMALS uralist is the old bull which was shot (by the author) on December 6, 1886, in Montana, and which now stands as the most prominent figure in the mounted group in the United States Na- tional Museum. A very good picture of him adorns the ten-dollar bill of our national currency. His dimensions in the flesh were as follows: Ft. In. Height at shoulders................. 5 «8 Length of head and body, to root of Cae eee eee ten eee ee 10 2 Depthiotichestaen meme eee eee 3 10 Girth, behind forelegs... ............ 8 4 Circumference of muzzle, behind nos- Grilgeas nee ene eane mein are eres 2 2 Length of tail vertebrae............... iL 48} Length of hair on shoulders .......... 64 BO TES ME HORAN csc e st 1 4 eo chini beard ayer wae 114 Estimated weight..........:...- 2,100 pounds. The shoulder height of wild Buffaloes of vari- ous ages, and both sexes, as taken by me on the Montana buffalo range, are as follows: Ft. In. Male calf, 4 months old.............. Be 3 Ss LODELYCATLOld earn aee eee ener eee 3°85 SS SLWOLVCATS Olesen nero enn ears A ae? “ five years old (average size)........ 5 6 Female, three yearsold.............. 4 5 so selchtuyearsiol dines rerernns 4 10 The Buffalo begins to shed its faded and weath- er-beaten winter coat of hair in March, and dur- ing April, May and June it presents a forlorn ap- pearance. The old hair hangs to the body like fluttering rags, and at last, when it finally dis- appears, the body is almost bare. At this time the flies are very troublesome. By October, the new coat is of good length and color, and in November and December, it is at its finest. The animal is then warmly clad for the worst storms of winter, and the shaggy head is so well pro- tected that the animal faces all storms instead of drifting before them. A bull Buffalo in per- fect pelage is an animal of really majestic pres- ence, and is far more imposing in appearance than many animals of larger bulk, but less hair. The calves are born in May and June, and at first are of a brick-red color. This coat is shed in October, except in calves born late in the sea- son. The flesh of the Buffalo so closely resembles domestic beef of the same age and quality that it THE BUFFALO is impossible for any one to distinguish a differ- ence. The future of the Buffalo depends solely upon the owners of the great private game preserves, such as that of the late Austin Corbin, and Mr. James J. Hill. If the perpetuation of the species depended solely upon the efforts possible in zoo- logical gardens and parks, within twenty-five years the species would become extinct. Even in a range of twenty acres, the largest in any zoo- logical institution, the Buffalo becomes a slug- gish animal, and rapidly deteriorates from the vigorous standard of the wild or semi-wild stock. In the close confinement of a thirty-acre zoologi- cal garden, the loss in physique is still greater. Mr. Arthur E. Brown, Superintendent of the Philadelphia Zoological Garden, and a very close observer, has drawn the writer’s attention to the striking difference in size and back outline be- tween a Buffalo born on a great range, and an- other of the same age born of a line of closely confined ancestors. Interesting as have been the experiments made by Mr. C. J. Jones and others in the cross- breeding of Buffaloes and domestic cattle, it is now quite time that all such experiments should cease. It has been proven conclusively that it is impossible to introduce and maintain a tangible strain of buffalo blood into the mass of western range cattle. This is admitted with great regret, but inasmuch as it is absolutely true, the existing herds of Buffalo should not be further vitiated and degraded by the presence in them of ani- mals of impure blood. In an adult animal, the presence of domestic blood is readily perceived in the lower hump, longer tail, shorter pelage on the head, neck, shoulders and fore legs, and the longer and more slender horns. In the calf under one year of age, it is not always possible for even the best judges to detect a strain of domestic blood. In the year 1900, a male calf was inspected and passed by four men who were with good reason consid- ered qualified judges of the points of Buffaloes; but two years later that animal stood forth un- mistakably as a cross-breed, one-quarter domestic. In judging Buffaloes, the finest animals are those with the greatest height of hump, heaviest and longest pelage in front of the armpit, shortest tails, and horns curving with the shortest radius. If the recent action of the national government 103 toward establishing a herd in the Yellowstone Park is liberally and intelligently sustained by future administrations, it will go far toward per- petuating the species for a century. But it should be conceded at the beginning that the effort can succeed only by giving the animals a great area to roam over at will. In addition to that herd, however, another should immediately be established in the Plains region, in a fenced reservation of not less than 100 square miles, with choice grazing, water and ravine shelters. It is only by such methods that the American people can in a small measure atone for the annihila- tion of the great herds between 1870 and 1885, and the subsequent brutal slaughter by poachers of the Yellowstone Park herd of three hundred head. On March 1, 1903, Dr. Frank Baker com- pleted a count of all the pure-blood captive Buffaloes alive at that date, with the following result: Captive Buffaloes: In the United States................ 969 ink arias ayes ween eae renee 41 Tinslitiroyp C peer ieee erent ern ereer er 109 1,119 Wild Buffaloes (estimated): In the United States.......... 34 lin SOBRE ais Anis o.nino so heren oon 600 634 1,753 The Musk-Ox. The Musk-Ox! is an inhabitant of the frozen North, the land of snow and ice, of howling storms and treeless desolation. In 1901, Com- mander Peary killed a specimen within half a mile of the most northerly point of land in the world,—the northeastern extremity of Greenland. How this animal finds food of any kind during the dark and terrible arctic winter, is yet one of the secrets of Nature. After making all possible allowance for the grass, willow and saxifrage obtainable by pawing through the snow, and on ridge-crests that are swept bare by the blizzards, it is still impossible to explain how the Musk- Ox herds find sufficient food in winter, not only to sustain life, but actually to be well-fed. I gaze upon each living Musk-Ox to be seen 1 O'vi-bos mos-cha’tus. 104 ORDERS in captivity with a feeling of wonder, as if it were a creature from another world. There are times, also, when I wonder whether many of the visit- ors who see them quietly munching their clover hay, appreciate the effort that has been put forth to capture them in the remote and desolate re- gions of the far North, keep them alive, and bring them to civilization for public exhibition. The Musk-Ox is one of the strangest of all our large animals, and its appearance is so odd and striking that when once seen by an observant person it is not easily forgotten. In it one sees an oblong mass of very long and wavy brown hair, 44 feet high by 63 feet long, supported upon YOUNG FEMALE MUSK-OX. In the New York Zoological Park, 1902. very short and post-like legs that are half hidden by the sweeping pelage of the body. The three- inch tail is so very small and short it is quite invisible. There is a blunt and hairy muzzle, round and shining eyes, but the ears are almost invisible. The whole top of the head is covered by a pair of horns enormously flattened at the base, and meeting each other in the centre line of the fore- head. From the meeting point they sweep downward over the edge of the cranium, close to the cheeks, but finally recurve upward before coming to a point, like the waxed mustache of a boulevardier. The iris of the Musk-Ox is of a chocolate brown OF MAMMALS—HOOFED ANIMALS color, the pupils are elongated, and bluish-purple. The lips and tip of the tongue are also bluish- purple. The outer hair is a foot or more in length, and often touches the snow when the animal walks. In the middle of the back is a broad ‘“saddle- mark,” of shorter, dull-gray hair. Next to the body is a woolly coat of very fine, soft, light brown hair, very clean, and so dense that neither cold nor moisture can penetrate it. This is for warmth. The longer and coarser hair that grows through it is the storm-coat, to shed rain and snow. Our first Musk-Ox began to shed its woolly under-coat on April 10. On April 26, it was loose all over the body, and beginning to hang in rags; therefore, for both the comfort and the appearance of the animal, we threw her upon the ground, held her securely, and combed it all out. It was very fine, curly, free from oil, and the entire mass weighed six pounds. Although known for more than a century, the Musk-Ox is one of the last of the large land mam- mals of the world to come into captivity for pub- lic exhibition, and it was not until 1900 that its soft anatomy was studied for the first time. Anatomically, this animal presents a few sheep-like features. By some writers their im- portance has been so much exaggerated that the name ‘‘Musk-Sheep” has been proposed as a substitute for Musk-Ox. But the sheep-like characters are insignificant in comparison with those that are clearly ox-like.! Two species have been described. That of the Barren Grounds of the mainland of North Amer- ica has long been known as Ovibos moschatus. In 1901, the animal of Greenland and northern Grinnell Land was described as Ovibos wardi, the White-Fronted Musk-Ox, because of a band of gray or dirty-white hair, extending across the top of its head. Although this animal is called a Musk-Ox, it has neither the odor nor taste of musk, and its flesh is excellent food. General Greely, Com- mander Peary and many other explorers have feasted on its flesh. In their native desolation, these animals go in herds of from twenty to fifty head, are easily brought to bay by dogs, and under such circumstances they stupidly stand 1See E. Lonnver™ on the Anatomy of the Musk-Ox, in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of Lon- don, 1900. THE MUSK-OX facing their enemies until killed. This habit, so fatal in the presence of man, is all that saves the herds from being exterminated by the hordes of big white wolves which infest the Barren Grounds. General A. W. Greely states that the aver- age weight of ten Musk-Oxen, dressed, was 360 pounds, while the heaviest weighed 432 pounds. This would indicate an average live weight of 404 pounds, and a maximum live weight of 604 pounds. The accompanying map shows the range of 105 Natural History Museum of Stockholm, made important and valuable contributions to the life history of Ovibos wardi. On the barren, rocky hillsides and level upland pastures surrounding Scoresby Sound and Liverpool Bay, from lati- tude 70° to about latitude 74°, the expedition found Musk-Oxen in herds of from three to sixty-seven individuals, until the total number observed amounted to between two hundred and thirty and two hundred and forty. For the first time, this remarkable species was photographed IGQ__4#0 120 100 80 60 4020100 Sa 70 60 50 RANGE OF THE MUSK-OX. Heavy black spots signify actual occurrences. The dotted area indicates the probable range of the genus. The species north of Great Slave Lake is Ovibos moschatus, and that of Greenland and Grant Land is the White-Fronted Musk-Ox, Ovibos wardt. the Musk-Ox, the southern limit of which is 64°. During the last fifteen years whole herds have been killed in the Barren Grounds north of Great Slave and Great Bear Lakes, at Lady Franklin Bay, and on the eastern and northeastern coasts of Greenland. 5 During the year 1899, a Swedish scientific ex- pedition to the east coast of Greenland, under the leadership of Prof. A. G. Nathorst, of the in its wild haunts, by Prof. Nathorst, Mr. Johan- nes Madsen and Mr. E. Nilson, and with very gratifying success. Of these pictures the most perfect is that which shows the leader of the ex- pedition closely approaching a herd. Prof. Nathorst states that to the leeward of a herd, the odor of the animals was noticeable at a distance of 100 metres, but that when a freshly- slain animal is promptly and properly eviscerated, 106 the flesh is free from musky flavors, and very good. One of the most important discoveries of the expedition was the fact that the region visited had once been inhabited by Eskimo, but their kitchen-middens contained no remains of Musk- Ox, from which, and from other evidence, Prof. Nathorst concludes that the presence of that ani- mal on the eastern coast of Greenland is due to ORDERS OF MAMMALS—HOOFED ANIMALS ing Island, on the east coast of Greenland. Both were purchased by the Duke of Bedford. In 1900, thirteen living specimens were capt- ured on the eastern coast of Greenland, between Latitude 70° and 74° and taken alive to Europe. One male in Woburn Park, England, owned by the Duke of Bedford, survived until 1903. Of the specimens mentioned above, the follow- ing were alive in December, 1903: aie rose S2RSS coy = ie Reproduced by permission of A. G. NaTHORST. WILD MUSK-OX HERD AT FRANZ JOSEPH FJORD, E. GREENLAND, 1899. The figure in the foreground is that of Prof. Nathorst. a southward migration along the coast which has taken place since 1823.! A complete count of all the living Musk-Ox specimens that thus far have reached Europe and the United States should be entered here. In 1899, a Swedish expedition carried to Kurope two male specimens captured on Claver- 1See Le Loup polaire et le Boeuf Musque, par A. G. Nathorst, Bulletin de la Société Géographie, Paris, 1901. Photographed by E. Nizson, Lat. 73° 30’. One male in the Copenhagan Zoological Gar- den; One male in the Berlin Zoological Garden; Three in Norrland, Sweden (one male and two females), practically at liberty on pasture closely resembling their Greenland home. Of the other specimens, five died in Antwerp when very small, and three in Sweden, in wild pastures. In March, 1902, the New York Zoological THE MOUNTAIN SHEEP Park received, as a gift from Mr. William C. Whit- ney, a female Musk-Ox twenty-one months old, captured on the Barren Grounds north of Great Bear Lake, about Latitude 69°. This specimen died of acute pneumonia on August 16, 1902. In September, 1902, a very small female Musk- Ox calf, captured by Commander Robert FE. Peary, at Fort Conger (Latitude 81°), was re- ceived in the New York Zoological Park, as a gift from the Peary Arctic Club. It died in October. In 1903 (July) five Musk-Ox calves, one male and four females, arrived at Tromsoe, Norway, from Greenland, and were offered for sale to zoo- logical gardens generally. The first specimen exhibited in the New York Zoological Park, in 1902, was captured in March, 1901, thirty miles from the Arctic Ocean, directly north of Great Bear Lake, by a party of Eskimo hunters and whalers sent by Captain H. H. Bod- fish, from the steam whaler Beluga. Its price, delivered in New York in good health, was $1,600. When two years old it stood 3 feet 2 inches high at the shoulders, and was 4 feet 10 inches in length. Its food was clover hay, raw carrots or potatoes, a little green grass when in season, and occasionally a few apples. The Mountain Sheep. High on the mountain’s frowning crest, Where lines of rugged cliff stand forth, Where Nature bravely bares her breast To snowy whirlwinds from the north; High in the clouds and mountain storms, Where first the autumn snows appear, Where last the breath of springtime warms, —There dwells my gallant mountaineer. And truly he is a gallant mountaineer. Wher- ever found, the mountain sheep is a fine, sturdy animal, keen-eyed, bold, active and strong. It fears no storm, and defies all enemies save man and domestic sheep. From the former it re- ceives bullets, from the latter, disease. Whether its home is the highest crags of the saw-tooth ranges, the boldest rim-rock of the mountain plateaus, or the most rugged ‘“‘bad-lands,” it is always found amid the scenery that is grandest and most inspiring. In summer, its favorite pastures are the tree- less slopes above timber-line, where, on our northern mountains, grasses and wild flowers 107 grow in astonishing profusion. When the raging storms and deep snows of winter drive the elk and deer down into the valleys for shelter and food, the mountain sheep makes no perceptible change in altitude. All the year round, this animal is well fed, and its savory flesh invites constant pursuit by the mountain lion, and by hunters both white and red. The massive, curving horns and hand- some head of the adult ram, taken amid grand mountain scenery, with much difficulty and no little danger, constitute, in my judgment, one of the finest trophies that a true sportsman can win. But it must be clean, and not haunted by the ghosts of slaughtered ewes and lambs! One of the greatest days of my life was that on which I pursued and killed, alone, amid the grandeur of the Shoshone Mountains, my first big mountain ram. It was then that I learned how much a mountain sheep needs to be seen in its native cloudland in order to be fully appre- ciated. It is an animal for which my admira- tion is as boundless as the glories of its moun- tain home. The mountain sheep is a bold and even reck- less climber. It is robust and strong on its legs, yet active withal, and capable of feats of en- durance that really are astonishing. It can- not, and never did, “leap from a height, and alight upon its horns,”—save by some neck- breaking accident. When pursued it can, how- ever, dash down an appalling declivity, touching here and there, and land in safety, when to the observer it seems certain to be dashed to death. The young are born in May or June, above timber-line if possible, among the most danger- ous and inaccessible crags and precipices that the mother can find. Her idea is to have her offspring begin its life in places so steep and dangerous that a very slight effort on its part will suffice to keep it beyond the reach of foes. The lamb’s most dangerous enemy is the eagle, against which the mother successfully guards it. Except the burrhel and aoudad, any adult mountain sheep, from either the Old World or the New, can readily be recognized by its mas- sive, round-curving horns, which, when seen in profile, describe from one-half to three-fourths of acircle, or more. No wild animals other than wud sheep have circling horns. The largest spe- cies of wild sheep are found in Asia, and are 108 ORDERS OF known respectively as the argali, and Marco Polo’s sheep. The horns of the argali are the greatest in size and weight, and those of Marco Polo’s sheep have the widest spread. Six species of mountain sheep are found in MAMMALS—HOOFED ANIMALS has been known for exactly a century, and it is the species which is most widely known in Ameri- ca. Once quite abundant throughout the Rocky Mountains from Mexico to Latitude 60° in north- ern British Columbia, it has been so persistently 9 ° ° o 165 150 135 120° 105 Point Barrow, Cape Bathurst a o| j he, ° 70 : err Fe. 9 fs Lisbugne. e | RZ g e. tree ‘ . \ a oON es "ty, 6 <,, s 4%, Arc ircle “4 1 NO tao = Ne ape et ew Rey % > % a | GREAT BEAR LAKE eo ° D = Forl/Frauklio Great pf Nome’ | Fort No! an 2 . |M ACKEN en Y. up ko ae A SUMichydl, C Coco? Ft.Simpson Seliirk , C % g GREAT SLA 3 LAKE of ene ~ : po aleany, =! eee newer cet Scat cee 60 iF Tliamna L. “of BSAA —_* PA skin : oa Bs Vos VLA : an @ Fert Verniliion ‘Lake \Bristut Bay S. cmouscor SEO) a 4 i me ! e Athabaska disk KAUIAK Ue Bitka ge \.. | AST H AJB ASC PENINSUL, ‘O'pet. 8 3 . We, A Told F | do LN BRITISH 3 165° 1354, KNOWN DISTRIBUTION OF MOUNTAIN SHEEP IN NORTH AMERICA IN 1903. : : : 50Faxcouver The black dots represent actual observations. ISLAND 1. Big-Horn Sheep, (Ovis canadensis). 2. Mexican Sheep, (O. mexicanus). 3. Nelson’s Sheep, (O. nelsont). Cape Blanco / 7: 4. White Sheep, (O. dallz). o 5. Black Sheep, (O. stonet). 0 6. Fannin’s Sheep, (O. fannini). BAN FRANEIGGOR SNE 3 LWA NE : : SN al North America, of which five have been Bent Gone SN NG P e Soe ee owe described since 1883. They are scat- : tered from the northern states of Mexico [39 = 30 3 ; 4 through the Rocky Mountains almost C, St. Eugenio% to the shore of the Arctic Ocean, and : throughout one-half of Alaska, a range \ S te ie 35 120° fully 3,600 miles long. The accompanying 105° map shows actual occurrences of the va- rious species during the past twelve years. Of our six species, four are so interesting they deserve separate notice. The Big-Horn, or Rocky Mountain Sheep,' 10’vis can-a-den'sis. hunted and slain that now it exists only in small bands, in widely-separated localities. In most of our western states and territories, the killing of Mountain Sheep is now prohibited for a term of years, and it is hoped that these laws will be _ § ; ‘UIOP[-SIG: Jo pueq at} Jo tapes] ayy Jo qoadse Suruazearyy pu azis yraid oy? Aq pa for Ducks, e Pigeon, 227 x Red-Shouldered, 230 et Red-Tailed, 229 Sharp-Shinned, 230 Sparrow, 226 Hawk and Eagle F amily, 218, De 25 Hellbender, 360, 368, 369 Hell-Diver (grebe), 300 Heloderma suspectum, 335 INDEX Hemibranchii, Order, 415 Herodiones, Order, 175, 259, 264 Heron Family, 259 fr Great Blue, 2 259 oe Little Blue, 260 EC Little Green, 260 . Snowy, 261 Herring Gull, 296 Hesperornis, 278, 359 Heterodon platyrhinus, 346 Heterosomata, 418 Hill, James J., 103 Hippocampus heptagonus, 423 Hippoglossus hippoglossus, 418 Hirundo erythrogaster, 195 Histrionicus histrionicus, 269, 275 Histriophoca fasciata, 44, 53 Hog, Red River-, 144 © Wart, 143 Holacanthus ciliaris, 387 Holder, C. F., 3889 Homo sapiens, 8 Hoofed Animals, Order of, 99 Hornaday, W. T., 112 Horns, Mountain Sheep, 112 “ Prong-Horned Antelope, 116, 117 Hoy, Dr. P. R., 75 Humming-Birds, 207 “~ Ruby-Throated, 208 Hydrodamalis, 153 Hyla faber, 364 ‘versicolor, 360, 364 Hylobates leuciscus, 7, 12 Hylocichla mustelina, 182 Ibis Family, 263 Ibis, Glossy, 263 “ Searlet, 263 “White, 263 ve Wood, 263 Ictulurus fureatus, 416 se punctatus, 417 Teteria virens, 190 Icterus galbula, 201 Ictiobus eyprinella, 413 Tguana, Common, 333 ue Marine, 3382, 334 Rhinoceros, 334 Impennes, Order, 175, 267, 307 Insectivora, Order, 3, 56 Tonornis martinica, 257 Isospondyli, Order, 396 “ Jackson, Chester E., 288 us Dr. Sheldon, 138 Jaguar, 18 Jaeger, Parasitic, 296, 299 Jaegers and Skuas, 296 Japanese Red-Faced Monkey, 13 Jay, Blue, 203 “Canada, 204 «Pinon, 204 “ Steller’s, 203 Jewfish, 385 Jones, C. J., 23, 103 Jordan, Dr. David 8., 375, 385, 388, 398, 401, 428, 429, 438 Judd, Sylvester D., 192, 195 Jumping Mouse Family, 68 Junco hyemalis, 196 Junco, Slate-Colored, 196 Kangaroo, Boomer, 164 if Gray, 164 cS Old Man, 164 uf Rat, 164 es Red, 164 . Tree, 164 Ikea, 216 IKkenworthy, Dr. C. J., 392 Kidder, James H., 36 Kingbird, 206 Kingfisher, Belted, 215 Kinglets, 179, 183 Kite, Swallow-Tailed, 232 Kiwi, 310 Kogia, 148 Lacertilia, Order, 314, 333 “Lacey Law,” 298 Lagocephalus laevigatus, 410 Lagopus lagopus, 249 ra leucurus, 249 Lamna cornubica, 433 Lamper “‘ Hel,” 422, 437 Lamprey, Brook, 437 a Sea, 437 Lancelets, The, 438 Laridae, 296 Lark, Horned, 179, 206 “Meadow, 200 fe Shore, 206 Larus argentatus, 296 Lasiurus borealis, 64 Latax lutris, 27 Latham, Mrs. C. F., 331, 344, 350 Lay san Island, 294 Leek, S. N., 122 Lemming, S4 “ False, 86 - Hudson Bay, S4 Lemming Mouse, or False Lem- ming, 86 Lemming Mouse, Cooper’s, 86 Lemur varius, 7, 17 Lemurs, 7 if Ruffed, or Black and White, 17 Lemurs, Suborder of, 17 Lepidosiren, 381 Lepidosteus osseus, +25 platystomus, 425 spatula, 425 Lepomis pallidus, 384 Leporidae, 68, 95 Leptocardii, 438 Lepus americanus, 95 arcticus, 96 campestris, 96 sylvaticus, 96 texianus, 96 Light-House Board, 303 Limicolae, Order, 175, 251 Lizard, Blue-Tailed, or Skink, 334 Lizard, Horned, 336 “~~ Ring-Necked or [Kan- garoo, 335 “ a“ “ 444 Lizards, Order of, 333 Longipennes, Order, 175, 267, 296 Lonnberg, E., 104 Loon, or Great Northern Diver, 267, 300 Lophius piscatorius, 420 Lophodytes cuculatus, 279 Lophortyx californicus, 243 Loring, J. Alden, 36, 230 Loxia curvirostra minor, 195 Lucas, Frederic A., 50, 288, 290, 305 Lunda cirrata, 304 Lung-Fish, Australian, 380 Lutianus aya, 391 Lutra canadensis, 27 Lutreola vison, 29 Lynx, Bay or Red, 21 “Canada, 21 Lynxes, 20 Macacus speciosus, 7 Macaw, Blue, 217 «Yellow, 217 MacDougal, Dr. D. T., 144, 215 Mackerel, Horse, 389 fe Spanish, 388 Macrochelys temmincki, 328 Macrochires, Order, 175, 207 Macropus giganteus, 164 o rufus, 164 Madsen, Johannes, 105 Magpie, American, 202 Malacoclemmys palustris, 327 Mammals, Chart of, 4 i Orders of, 3 oe Order of Ege-Layi ing, 167 Mammals, Order of Flesh-Eat- ing, 18 Mammals, Order of Pouched,163 Order of ‘Toothless, 156 Man, 7 Manatee or Sea-Cow, 153 Mandrill, 14 Manis pentadactyla, 161 Man- 0" -War Birds, 284, 290 “Hawk, 291 Manta birostris, 436 Mareca americana, 269 Marmoset, Common, 17 a Pinche, 17 ut Silky, 17 Marmot, 68 o Gray, or Whistler, 79 Yellow-Bellied, 79 Marmota, 68, 76 s flaviv enter, 79 monax, 78 pruinosus, 79 Marsh, Prof. O. C., 278 Marsipobranchii, 437 Marsupialia, Order, 3, 163 Marten Family, 27, 29, 30 Marten, Pennant’s, 30 “Pine, 30 Martin, Bee, 206 «Purple, 193 6c cc INDEX Massasauga, 349, 351 ES Edward’s 349 Maynard, Lieut., 36 McCarthy, Eugene, 405 Meadow- Lark, 200° Western, 201 Megachiroptera, 61 Megaderina, 65 Megaderma lyra, 61 Megaptera nodosa, 148 Megascops asio, 221 Melanerpes erythrocephalus, 211 formicivorus, 212 Meleagris gallopavo, 250 a ocellata, 350 Melospiza fasciata, 197 Menobranchus, 360, 370 Menopoma alleghaniensis, 360, 369 Mephitis, 31 Merganser americanus, 279 ef serrator, 278 Merganser, Hooded, 279 x Red-Breasted 278 Merriam, Dr. C. Hart, 36, 61, 77, 83, 98, 143, 213, 225, 335 Merula migratoria, 181 Metopoceros cornutus, 334 Mice and Rats, Cheek-Pouched, 84, 91 Mice and Rats, Family of, 83 “Typical North American, 84 Microchiroptera, 61 Microdipodops megacephalus, 84, 86 Micropterus doiomieu, 382 salmoides, 383 Microtus (Arvicola) pennsyl- vanicus, 84 Midas aedipus, 17 “« rosalia, 17 Mimus polyglottos, 187 Mink, 27, 29 Minnows, Carp, Order of, 412 Mitchell, H. R., 280 Moceasin, Copper- Bellied, 346 S Water or Cotton- Mouth, 343, 352 Mocking-Bird, 187 Mole, Common, 57 “ Hairy-Tailed, 58 « Marsupial, 163 «Prairie or Silver, 58 “ Star-Nosed, 58 Monotremata, Order, 3, 167 Monitors, 333 Monkey, Black-Faced Spider, 15 Black Saki, 16 Capuchin, 14 Common Squirrel, 15 a Diana, 13 “ Golden Howler, 16 Japanese 13 Monkey, Marmoset, 16 a Mexican Spider, 15 fs Owl, 15 a Saki, 16 and Suckers, Red-Faced, Monkey, Sapajou, 14 Spider, 15 Squirrel, 15 f Teetee, 15 ce Uakari, 16 a Yarkee, 16 Monkeys, New World, 7, 14 re Old World, 7, 13 Short-Tailed, 13 Moose, 99, 118, 122, 139 Alaskan, 142 Monodon monoceros, 152 Moose-Bird, 204 Morehouse, Col. C. P., 389 Mormoops blainvillii, 62 Morris, Dr. Robt. T., 404 “Mother Carey’s Chickens,”’ 295 Mountain ‘“ Beaver,” 80 ne Lion, 19 i Sheep, 99, 107 ee «Alaskan, 142 ts “ Big-Horn, 99, 108, 112 Mountain Sheep, Black, 98, 108, 2 Mountain Sheep, California or Nelson’s, 110 Mountain Sheep, Fannin’s, 108, 112 Mountain Sheep, Marco Polo’s, Mountain Sheep, Mexican, 108, 110, 112 Mountain Sheep, Siar, 112 “« W hite, or Dall’s, 99, 108, 110, 112 Mouse, Cooper's Lemming, 86 “Field, 84, 86 ‘““ Gapper’s Field, 87 Grasshopper, 84, 91 «Harvest, 84 Jumping, 68, 84, 92 «Le Conte’s Harvest, 88 «Little Harvest, 88 Lemming, 84 «Meadow, 86 Missouri or Mole, 91 “Pocket, 84, 91, 93 “ Red-Backed, 84, 87 “~ Rice-Field, 84, 88 « White-Footed, 84, 89 Mouse and Rat Family, 68, 84 i Cheek-Pouched, 84 Moxostoma aureolum, 413 Mud “Eel,” 360, 371 “ Hen, 258 “Puppy, 360, 370 Mugger Crocodile, 317 Mugil brasiliensis, 391 Mullet, White or Silver, 391 Murre, 300, 302 re Brunnich’s, 303 “California, 303 «Common, 303 Murrelets, 302 Museum, British, 341 Muskallunge, 394 Musk-Ox, 99, 103 Muskrat, 84, 93 Mus rufescens, 93 Mustela americana, 30 er pennanti, 30 Mustelidae, 27 Myocastor coypus, 92 Myrmecophaga jubata, 158 Naja bungarus, 338, 348 “ tripudians, 347 Nansen, F., 55, 152 Narwhal, 152 Nathorst, Prof. A. G., 105, 106 Natrix fasciata, 346 Necturus maculatus, 360, 370 Nelson, E. W., 105, 110, 277 Nematognathi, 416 Neotoma floridana, 84, 88 Nettion carolinensis, 269, 271 Newts, 360, 368 “ Crimson-Spotted, 368 Nighthawk, 207 Night- Heron, Black - Crowned, 261 Niles, E. O., 223 Nucifraga columbiana, 204 Numenius longirostris, 253 Nut-Cracker, Clarke’s, 204 Nuthatches, 179, 184 Nyctala acadica, 221 Nyctea nyctea, 224 Nycticorax nycticorax naevius, 261 Ocelot, 20 Ochotona princeps, 95 Odobenus obesus, 44, 53 rs rosmarus, 44, 55 Odocoileus columbianus, 99, 127 hemionus, 99, 126 sitkensis, 128 virginianus, 99, 128 Odontoglossae, Order, 175, 266 Oidemia americana, 269 deglandi, 278 wu perspicillata, 269 Olor buccinator, 283 “ columbianus, 283 Oncorhynchus g gorbuscha, 403 cc 6c keta, 403 a kisutch, 403 a nerka, 403 ce tschawytscha, 403 Onychomys leucogaster, 91 Ophidia, Order, 314 Ophiosurus ventralis, 336 Opossum, Murine, 166 i Virginia, 165 Orang-Utan, 10 Orcinus orca, 149 Orders of Amphibians, 360 es Birds, 175 fs Fishes, 378 Mammals, 3 e Reptiles, 314 Oreamnos montanus, 99, 114 Oreortyx pictus, 243 Oreole, Baltimore, 201 Ornithological Union, American, 264, 267, 291, 298 INDEX Ornithorhynchus anatinus, 167 Orycteropus afer, 161, 162 Oryzomys palustris, 84, 88 Osborn, Prof. Henry F., 134, 156 Osgood, W. H., 77 Osprey, American, 225 Osteolaemus tetraspis, 317 Ostracion quadricornis, 410 “ tricornis, 374 Ostrich, African, 309 a South American, 309 Otocoris alpestris, 206 Otopterus californicus, 62 Otter, 27, 341 «Sea, 27 “Outdoor Life’? (magazine), 127 Ouzel, Water, 187 Ovibos moschatus, 99, 103 « -wardi, 105 Ovi is ammon, 112 canadensis, 99, 112 dalli, 99, 110, 112 fannini, 108 “ mexicanus, 108, 110, 112 “ “nelsoni, 108, 110 “poli, 112 siarensis, 112 « stonei, 99 Owl, Barn, 219 Barred, 220 Burrowing, 224 “Great Gray, 221) “ Great Horned, 222 “Horned Family, 218, 220 “ Long-Eared, 220 “ Monkey-Faced, 219 “ Saw-Whet, 221 Sereech, 221 “ Short-Eared, 220 “Snowy, 224 Oxyechus vocifera, 251 Paddle-Fish, 429 Palmer, Dr. T.8., 98, 143 Paludicolae, Order, 175, 255 Pandion haliaeetus carolinensis, 295 Pangolin, Giant, 161 ce Indian, 161 Pan troglodytes, 7, 9 Parrakeet, Carolina, 216, 217 Parrots and Macaws, Order of, 216 Partridge, Black, 245 ee Mearns’, 243 ss Mountain, 243 a Valley, 243 Parus atricapillus, 184 Paschen, H., 9 Passer domesticus, 197 Passeres, Order, 175, 179 Passerina nivalis, 195 Pasteur Institute, of Lille, 355 Peary, Commander Robt. E., 54, 55, 104, 107, 137, 307 Peccary, Collared, 99, 144 me White-Lipped, 144 Peceary Family, 99, 143 Pediocaetes phasianellus cam- pestris, 247 445 Pelecanus californicus, 286 SS erythrorhynchos, 286 es fuscus, 284 Pelican, Brown, 284 a California Brown, 285, 286 Pelican, Great White, 286 Pelican Island, 285 Penguin, 267, 306, 308 i Black-Footed, 307 ff Emperor, 307 < Pack, 307 Perca flavescens, 386 Perch, Pike-, 387 «Yellow, 386 Perisoreus canadensis, 204 Perodipus richardsoni, 84, 91 Perognathus fasciatus, 84, 91 3 flavus, 93 Peromyscus leucopus, 89 Petrel, 267 “Stormy, 294, 295 Petrochelidon lunifrons, 193 Petromyzon marinus, 437 Phalacrocorax carbo, 287 ce dilophus, 287 ne pelagicus, 287 Phalangers, 163 Phasianus torquatus, 250 Pheasant Family, 241, 250 Pheasant, Golden, 250 oe Ring-Necked, 250 uC Silver, 250 Phenacomys, 87 orophilus, 84, 88 Philohela minor, 252 Phocaena communis, 151 Phoca foetida, 44, 52 «“ groenlandica, 44, 52 « vitulina, 44, 52 Phoenicopterus ruber, 266 Phrynosoma cornutum, 336 Phyllostoma hastatum, 63 Physeter macrocephalus, 148 Pica pica hudsonica, 202 Pici, Order, 175, 210 Pickerel, Chain, 395 Picus pubescens medianus, 212 Pigeons and Doves, Order of ,237 Pigeon, Banded-Tailed, 238 a Passenger, 237 Pika Family, 68, 95 Pike, 394 “ Wall-Eyed, 387 “ “Mr. Warburton, 137 Pike-Perch, Yellow, 387 Pine-Hen, 245 Pinnated Grouse, 245 Pinnipedia, Order, 3, 43, 44 Pipa americana, 364 Pipe-Fishes, Order of, 422 Piranga erythromelas, 194 Pithecia satanas, 16 Pityophis melanoleucus, 344 Platypus or Duck-Bill, 359 Plectognathi, 410 Plectospondyli, 412 Plegadis autumnalis, 263 Plethodon glutinosus, 367 Plover, American Golden, 251 ‘ 446 Plover, Field, 251 “" Kill-Deer, 251 Pocket-Gopher Family, 6 Podilymbus podiceps, 300 Polyodon spathula, 429 Pomatomus saltatrix, 388 Pomoxis annularis, 384 SS sparoides, 383 Pompano, Common, 390 Porcupine, Canada, 94 se Yellow-Haired, 94 Porcupine Family, 68, 94 Porpoise, Common, 151 Porpoises and Whales, Order of, 146 Porzana carolina, 257 Pouched Mouse and Rat Family, 68 Prairie-Chicken, 245 Prairie-‘‘ Dog,” 68, 76 rhe «pamphlet on the, 98 Prairie-“‘Dog”’ Burrow, 77 Prairie-‘‘Dog’’ and Burrowing Owl, 224 Prairie-‘‘Dog”’ Hunter, 29 Prairie Wolf, 23 Primates, 3, 7 Pristis pectinatus, 434 Procellaria glacialis, 307 ue pelagica, 295 Procyon lotor, 41 Progne subis, 193 Promops californicus, 64 Protean, subterranean, 370 Proteus anguineus, 370 Protopterus, 381 Pseudemys rubriventris, 326 Pseudopleuronectes americanus, 418 Psittaci, Order, 175, 216 Ptarmigan, 241, 307 ae White-Tailed, 249 oe Willow, 249 Pteropus edwardsii, 66 Puffin, Common, or ‘Sea Par- rot, ” 304 Puffin, Tufted, 300, 304 Puffins, 267, 300, 302, 303 Puma, 19 Putorius erminea, 29 a nigripes, 29 rixosus, 29 Pygopodes, Order, 175, 267, 300 Python molurus, 340, 342 a reticulatus, 341 Quail, 241 “California Mountain, 243 «Common, 242 «Valley, 243 Querquedula cyanoptera, 271 discors, 270 Quisculus quiscula, 202 Rabbit and Hare Family, 95 Rabbit, Jack, 98 Raccoon Family, 41 Rachianectes glaucus, 148 Raiae, 434 Rail Family, 257 “ INDEX Rail, Sora, 257 “ Virginia, 257 Rallus virginianus, 257 Rana catesbiana, 360, 363 “ clamata, 360, 362 “sylvatica, 360, 363 «virescens, 362 Rangifer arcticus, 99, 135, 136 caribou, 99, 132, 133 granti, 136 groenlandicus, 136 osborni, 134 Ni pearyi, 136, 137 ie stonei, 134 Raptores, Order, 175, 218 Rat and Mouse Family, 68, 83, 84, 91 Rat, Cotton or Marsh, 84, 89 Coypu, 92 “Domestic, 84, 93 sf Kangaroo, 84, 91, 93 “Pack or Trading, 88, 93 “Tree, 93 « Wood, 84, 88 Rats and Rat-like Animals, 92 Ratitae, Order, 175, 309 Rattlesnake, 348 Diamond, or Wa- ter, 349, 350 Rattlesnake, Dog-Faced, 349 2 Edwards’, 349 cn Green, 349 ce Ground, 349 a Horned, 349, 351 ““ 351 Rattlesnake, Pacific, 349 Ss Prairie, 349, 350, Massasauga, 349, 351 Rattlesnake, Texas, 349, 350 Timber or Banded, 349, 350 Rattlesnake, White, 349 Raven, American, 205, 307 Ray, Beaked, 434 “ Devil-Fish, 436 “ Shark-, 434 “Sting, 435 Rays and Skates, Order of, 434 “Recreation” (magazine), 237, 276 Red Horse, 413 Redstart, American, 190 Reed-Bird, 199 Regulus calendula, 183: Reindeer, in Alaska, 138 Reithrodontomys leconti, 84, 88 Remora, 393 Reptile House, 339 Reptiles, Food Consumed by, 339 Reptiles, Introduction to the Class of, 313 Reptiles, Orders of, 314 Poisonous Species of, 315 Rice-Bird, 199 Ring-Tail Monkey, 14 Rhamphobatis ancylostomus, 434 Rhea, 309 Rhinobatis lentiginosus, 434 Rhinodon typicus, 433 Rhytina gigas, 153 Road-Runner, 215 Robin, 181 Roccus lineatus, 385 Rodentia, 3, 68 Rungius, Carl, 143 Rutter, Cloudsley, 401 Rynchops nigra, 298 Sage-Grouse, 247 Saimiri sciurea, 15 Salamanders, Eel- Like, 370 ee Family of, 360 366 Salamander, Free-Gilled, 370 oe Giant, 369 S Siren, or Mud- “Wel,” 371 Salamanders, Spotted, 360, 366, 368 Salamanders, Two-Legged, 370 Salamandridae, 360, 364 Salmo clarkii, 396 gairdneri, 398 “ irideus, 397 ouananiche, 405 “salar, 404 “ sebago, 405 Salmon and Trout, Order of, 396 “Atlantic, 404 “ Blueback or 403 Salmon, Dog, 403 “Family of the, 396 “« Groups of American, 400 «Humpback, 403 Ouananiche, 405 “ ~ Quinnat, 401, 403 “Sebago, 405 Salvelinus fontinalis, 399 Sand- -Piper, Least, 253 Semi- Palmated, Sockeye, 252 San Francisco ‘Evening Bulle- tin,” 417 Sapajou, White-Throated, 14 Sapsucker, Yellow-Bellied, 213 Sarcorhampus gryphus, 236 Sawfish, 434 Scalops ‘aquaticus, 57 Scammon, Capt. C. M., 147, 150 Scaphiopus holbrooki, 360, 364 Sciuridae, 68 Sciuropterus, 68 volans, 80 Sciurus carolinensis, 70 douglasi, 71 ery throgaster, 71 fremonti, 71 griseus, 70 hudsonicus, 71 ludovicianus, 70 malabaricus, 71 niger, 70 prev osti, 72 Scomberomorus maculatus, 388 Scoter, American, 269, 278 Scoter, Surf, 269 “ White-Winged, 278 Scotiaptex nebulosa, 221 Sea-Bass, Black, 385 it Family of the, 385 Sea-Cow, Rhytina, or Arctic, 154 Sea-Cows, Order of, 153 Sea-Horses, Order of, 423 Sea-Lions, California, 44, 46 Steller’s, 44, 46 “Sea-Parrot” (puffin), 304 “Sea-Swallow” (tern), 298 Seal, Bearded, 52 Fur, 48 ee Greenland, 53 “Harbor, 44, 52 “Harp, 44, 52 “Hooded, 44, 53 “Ribbon or Harlequin, 44, 53 Seal, Ringed, 44 “ Saddle-Back, 53 Seal Family, 52 Seals and Sea-Lions, Order of, 43 Seiurus motacilla, 190 “« ~ noveboracensis, 190 Selachostomi, Order, 429 Selous, Percy, killed by mocca- sin, 252 Serpents, Order of, 337 Serum, Anti-venomous, 355 Seton, Ernest T., 134 Setophaga ruticilla, 190 Sewellel, 80 Shad, Common, 407 “Shagreen,” 432 Shark, Basking, 433 Blue, 433 ne Bone, 433 “Great Tiger, 433 « Hammer-Head, 432, 433 “Mackerel, 433 “«« Man-Eater or White, 433 “Thresher, 433 “Tiger, 433 Shark-Ray, 434 Sharks, Order of, 432 Sharp-Tailed Grouse, 247 Shearwaters, 294 Sheep, Big-Horn, 99, 108 “Black, 99, 108, 112 “«« Fannin’s, 108, 112 «« Mexican, 108, 110 “Nelson’s, or California, 108, 110 Sheep, White, 99, 108, 110 Sheep and Cattle Family, 99 Sheldon, Chas., 110, 112 Shields, G. O., 38, 112, 237, 276 Shore-Birds, Order of, 251 Showt’l, 80 Shrew Family, 58 Shrew, Common, 58 “ ~ Short-Tailed, 58 Shrikes, 179, 191 Sialia sialis, 182 Siamang, 13 Sigmodon hispidus, 84, 89 Simia satyrus, 7 Simorhynchus pusillus, 305 Sirenia, Order, 153 INDEX Siren larcetina, 360, 371 Sirens, Family of, 360 Siscowet, 399 Sistrurus catenatus, 349, 351 cs edwardsi, 349 sf miliarius, 349 Sitta carolinensis, 185 Skaus and Jaegers, 296, 299 Skeleton of American Bison, 100 i “ Bald Eagle, 219 sf “ Gorilla, 8 Skimmer, Black, 296, 298 Skink, 334 Skunk, Badger, 31 “Common, 32 “Little Spotted, 32 “Slider” Terrapin, 326 Sloth, Three-Toed, 156 “ Two-Toed, 156 Snake, Black, 344 “Blue, or Green Racer, 344 Snake, Boyle’s, 343 ‘Coach, Whip, or Red Racer, 345 Snake, Copperhead, 347 Corn, Red Racer or Rat, 343 Snake, Fer-de-Lance or Lance- Head, 353 Snake, Garter, 345 Gopher, Black or Indigo, 344 Snake, Harlequin, 347, 353 “~~ Hog-Nosed, 346 “ “ Hoop,” 339 «King, Chain or Thun- der, 343 Snake, Massasauga, 347 “Pine, 344 “Poisons, 353, 354, 355 “Rattle, 347, 348 ““ Red-Bellied Water, 346 “Splendid, 343 “~~ Sonoran Coral, 347, 353 «Water, 346 “ Water-Moccasin, 347 Snake-Bird, 267, 287 Snake-bites, Treatment of, 354, 355 “Snake,” Glass, 339 Snakes, captive, Food of, 339 “Harmless, of the United States, 343 Snakes, oviparous, 338 “Poisonous, of America, 347 Snakes, Viviparous, 338 Snapper, Red, 391 Snow-Bird, 196 Snow-Bunting, 195, 307 Snipe, Wilson’s or Jack, 252 Snyder, Keeper Chas. E., 339, 342 Somateria dresseri, 277 eS spectabilis, 279 Sorex personatus, 58 Spallanzani, Experiments of, 62 Sparrow, English, 197 a Song, 197 ie Tree, 196 North 447 Sparrow, White-Throated, 197 Spatula clypeata, 271 Speotito cunicularia hypogea, 224 Spermophile or Ground Squir- rel, 73,98 Spermophile, Franklin’s, 75 Thirteen-Lined or Leopard, 74 Spermophile, Richardson’s, 75 Sphargis coriacea, 331 Spheniscus demersus, 307 Sphyrapicus varius, 213 Sphyrna zygaena, 433 Spilogale, 32 Spilotes corais couperii, 344 Spizella monticolor, 196 Spoonbill Family, 264 Spoonbill, Roseate, 264 Squali, 430 Squirrel, Antelope, 73 California Gray, 70 ok Douglas’, 71 S Fremont’s, (als a Gray, 70 i Malabar, 71 ss Northern Fox or Cat, 70 Squirrel, Prevost’s, 72 Red, or Chickaree, 71 ff Southern Fox, 70 Squirrel Family, 68 Squirrels, Flying, 68, 80 as Fox, 70 et Ground, 68, 73, 98 Sf Rock, or Chipmunks, 68, 72 Squirrels, Tree, 68 Stake-Driver (bittern), 262 Stearns, Silas, 392 Steganopodes, Order, 175, 267, 284 Stegastoma tigrinum, 433 Stejneger, Dr. Leonhard, 154, 354, 355 Steller, George W., 154 Stephan, Supt. 8. A., 141 Stercorarius parasiticus, 299 Stereolepis gigas, 385 Sterna hirundo, 298 Stickleback, Two-Spined, 415 Sting Ray, or ‘‘ Stingaree,”’ 435, 436 Stizostedion vitreum, 387 Stone, A. J., 143 Stork Family, 259, 263 Strigidae, Family, 218 Strix pratincola, 219 Struthio camelus, 309 Sturgeon, Common, 427 a Lake, 427 ss Short-Nosed, 427 aR Shovel-Nosed, 429 s White, 428 Sturgeons, Order of, 427 as Size records of, 429 Sturnella magna, 200 a neglecta, 201 Sucker, Common Brook or White, 412 Sucker, Red-Horse, 413 448 Suckers, Carp, and Minnows, Order of, 412 Sucking-Fish, 393 Sula bassana, 288 Sun-Fish. Black-Gill or Blue- Gill, 384 Sun-Fish, oun, 384 Swallow, Bank, 194 Barn, 194 cs Chimney, 208 ce Cliff, 194 oe Eave, 193 Wh Tree, 194 ss White-Throated, 208 Swallow Family, 179 Swan, Trumpeter, 283 “Whistling, 283 Swans, Ducks, and Geese, Order of, 267 Swifts, 207 “Chimney, 208 Swimmers, Diving, 267 te Flying, 267 rf Long-Winged, 267, 296 - Swimmers, Order of Tube-Nosed, 267, 291 Swimming-Birds, Orders of, 267 Swordfish, 393 Sylviidae, Family, 179, 183 Sy mphalangus sy ndacty lus, 13 Synaptomys cooperi, 84, 86 Syngnathus acus, 423 Syrnium varium, 220 Tamandua tetradactyla, 159 Tamias, 68 MG striatus, 72 Tanager, Scarlet, 194 Tanagers, 179, 194 Tantalus loculator, 263 Tapir Family, 99, 144 Tapirus dowi, 99 “terrestris, 144 Tarpon, 406 i atlanticus, 406 Tarsier, 7 Tatu novemcinctum, 158 Tayassu albirostre, 144 ue tajacu, 99, 144 Teal, Blue-Winged, 270 “Cinnamon, 271 “ Green-Winged, 269, 271 Teetee, 15 Tern, 267, 296 “Common, 297, 298 Terrapin, Alligator, 328 Diamond- Back, 327 sa Ellachick, 327 ue Painted, 327 a Pine-Barren, 326 cc Pond, 327 ef Red-Bellied or ‘‘Slid- er,” 326 Terrapin, Snapping, 328, 329 Terrapins, Fresh-Water, 324 “ Smooth-Shelled, 326,328 Testudo polyphemus, 325 oe vicina, 324 Tetraonidae, 241, 242 INDEX Tetrodon turgidus, 410 Thalarctos maritimus, 35 Thallassochelys caretta, 330 Theropithecus gelada, 7, 14 Thrasher, Brown, 186 Thrushes, 179, 181 cS Water, 190 Thunder-Pumper (bittern), 262 Thunnus thynnus, 389 Tiger-Cat, 20 Titmouse, Black-Capped, 184 Toads and Frogs, Order of, 361 Toad, American, 360 Me Burrowing, 360, 364 «~~ Common, 364 “Horned, 336 “ Spade-Foot, 360, 364 «Surinam, 364 Tolypeutes tricinctus, 157 Tomistoma schlegeli, 317 Tortoise, Box, 325 se Giant, 324 Ee Gopher, 325 es Pond, 327 Townsend, Chas. H., 84, 86, 138, 276, 292, 376, 399, 414, 429 Trachinotus carolinus, 390 goodei, 391 Tree-Creepers, 179, 185 Tree-Frogs, Family of, 360, 363 Trichechus americanus, 153 o latirostris, 153 e senegalensis, 153 Triton torosus, 368 “ viridescens, 360, 368 Trochilus colubris, 208 Troglodytes aedon, 186 Trouessart, Dr. E. L., 64 Trout, Brook or Speckled, 399 ce Lake or Mackinaw, 398 “Mountain or Black Spot- ted, 396 Trout, Rainbow, 397 “Steelhead or Salmon, 398 Trout and Salmon, Order of, 396 Trygon sabina, 435 Tubinares, Order, 175, 267, 292 Tufts, Le Roy M., 252 Taina, or Tunny, 389 “Club, 389, 390 Turkey ; Ocellated, 250 Wild, 241 Turtle, Green, 330 “" Hard-Shelled Sea-, 330 “Harp or Lyre, 331 Hawksbill or Tortoise- Shell, 330 Turtle, Leather- Backed, 331 Leathery -Shelled Sea-, 331 Turtle, Loggerhead, 330 «Mud, 326 “ ‘Musk or Stink-Pot, 326 «Snapping, 329 “« ~ Soft-Shelled, 329 «Wood, 328 Tympanuchus americanus, 245 Typhlomolge rathbuni, 370 Typtilonectes compressicauda, 360 UG Tyrannus tyrannus, 206 Tyrrell, J. B., 134, 136 Uakaria calva, 16 Underwood, William Lyman, 364 Ungulata, Order, 3, 99 Uria californica, 303 “ lomvia, 303 “ troile, 303 Urocyon californicus, 24 a cinereoargenteus, 24, 26 Urocyon floridanus, 24 a scotti, 24 oe texensis, 24 townsendi, 24 Urodela, Order, 360, 366 Ursidae, 32 U rsus americanus, 35, 39 sornborgeri, cc Ursus carlottae, 35 dalli, 35 “ ““ yas, 35 emmonsi, 35 floridanus, 35 “~~ horribilis, 35, 37 i alascensis, 35 ef oo horriaeus, 35 « kidderi, 35 luteolus, 35 merriami, 35 “~~ middendorffi, 35, 36 richardsoni, 35 “« sitkensis, 35 Vampy rus spectrum, 63 Vega,” “Voyage of the (Norden- skiold’s)) 154 Vv ertebrates, Lowest Classes of, 437 Vespertilionidae, 61, 64 Vireos, 179, 191 Vole, 84, 87, 88 vom Hofe, Edward, 406 Vulture, Black, 234 Ee California, 234 + Common Turkey, 233 Vultures, Family of, 218, 232 Vv ulpes deletrix, 24 fulvus, 24, 25 ng & sient atus, 24 dec sussatus, 24 hallensis, 24 harrimani, 24 lagopus, 24, 26 «macrourus, 24 macrotis, 24 velox, 24, 26 cc “ce Wagtails, 179 Wallabies, 164 Wallihan, A. G., 118, 126 Walrus, 43 se Atlantic, 44, 55 sf Pacific, 44, 53 Wapiti, 99, 118, 121 Warblers, 179, 188 Ward, Henry Ne 156 Warren, E. R., 194, 205 Water-Frogs, Family of, 360 Waxwings, 179, 192 Weasel, Common, 27, 29 “Least, 29 Webster, Frederic S., 426 Weeds Destroyed by Doves, 240 Whale, Bowhead, Greenland or Polar, 147 Whale, California Gray, 148 “ Sulphur-Bottom, 147 Whales, various species, 148 Whales and Porpoises, Order of, 146 Whales, Family of Baleen, 146, 147 Whales, Family of Sperm, 148 Whaling Stations, 148 Whippoorwill, 208 Whiskey-Jack, 204 \ White, Dr. Charles A., 344 Whitefish, Common, 408 Whitney, William C., 101, 107, 126 Widgeon, 269 Wingless Land Birds, Order of, 309 Wolcott, F.C., 38 INDEX Wolf, Gray or Timber, 22 «Prairie, 23 Tasmanian, 163 Wolverine, 27, 31 Wombat, 163 Woodchuck, 68, 76, 78 Woodcock, American, 252 Woodpecker, Ant- -Eating, 212 Downy, 212 ue Golden-W inged, 211 Woodpecker, Hairy, 213 ed-Headed, 211 Woodpeckers, Order of, 210 Wood Thrush, 182 Wren, House, 186 Wrens, 179 Wright, Mrs. Mabel Osgood, 184, 189, 213 “cc Xanthocevhalus xanthocepha- lus, 200 Xiphias gladius, 393 Yellowbird, Summer, 189 Zalophus californianus, 44 Zamelodia ludoviciana, 198 449 Zamenis constrictor, 344 - flagellum, 345 a eS frenatum, 345 Zapodidae, 68, 84, 92 Zapus hudsonius, 84, 92 Zenaidura macroura, 238 Zonotrichia albicollis, 197 Zoological Garden, Antwer P, 106 Zoological Garden, Berlin, 106 Cine innati, 141 Zoological Garden, Copenhagen, 106 Zoological Garden, London, 9, 163 Zoological Garden, Philadelphia, idee lall) Zoological Park, National, 226, Zoological Park, New York, 37, 226, 263, 270, 273, 279, 320, 324, 335, 339, 341, 342, 345 Zoological Society, London, 12, 298, 365 Zoological Society, New York, 171, 281 NORTH AMERICA SCALE OF MILES 100 200 180° Rar Ce / oan ue ISi One, ——frens.ck™ ERS ae SO an ee ee | er ERE v ae a a ea SS