keeping close, at last the elk or the rein-deer | only happens in summer; for in the winter all happens to pass that way, it at once darts upon that remains is to attack the beaver's house, as them, sticks its claws between their shoulders, at that time it never stirs from home. This atand remains there unalterably firm. It is in tack, however, seldom succeeds; for the beaver vain that the large frighted animal increases its has a covert way bored under the ice, and the speed, or threatens with its branching horns; glutton has only the trouble and disappointment the glutton having taken possession of its post, of sacking an empty town. nothing can drive it off; its enormous prey drives rapidly along among the thickest woods, rubs itself against the largest trees, and tears down the branches with its expanded horns; but still its insatiable foe sticks behind, eating its neck and digging its passage to the great bloodvessels that lie in that part. Travellers who wander through those deserts, often see pieces of the glutton's skin sticking to the trees, against which it was rubbed by the deer. But the animal's voracity is greater than its feelings, and it never seizes without bringing down its prey. When, therefore, the deer, wounded and feeble with the loss of blood, falls, the glutton is seen to make up for its former abstinence by its present voracity. As it is not possessed of a feast of this kind every day, it resolves to lay in a store to serve it for a good while to come. It is, indeed, amazing how much one of these animals can eat at a time! That which was seen by Mr. Klein, although without exercise or air, although taken from its native climate, and enjoying but an indifferent state of health, was yet seen to eat thirteen pounds of flesh every day, and yet remain unsatisfied. We may, therefore, easily conceive how much more it must devour at once, after a long fast, of a food of its own procuring, and in the climate most natural to its constitution. We are told, accordingly, that from being a lank, thin animal, which it naturally is, it then gorges in such quantities, that its belly is distended, and its whole figure seems to alter. Thus voraciously it continues eating, till, incapable of any other animal function, it lies totally torpid by the animal it has killed; and in this situation continues for two or three days. In this loathsome and helpless state, it finds its chief protection from its horrid smell, which few animals care to come near;23 so that it continues eating and sleeping till its prey be devoured, bones and all, and then it mounts a tree, in quest of another adventure. The glutton, like many others of the weasel kind, seems to prefer the most putrid flesh to that newly killed; and such is the voraciousness of this hateful creature, that, if its swiftness and strength were equal to its rapacity, it would thin the forest of every other living creature. But, fortunately, it is so slow, that there is scarcely a quadruped that cannot escape it, except the beaver. This, therefore, it very frequently pursues upon land; but the beaver generally makes good its retreat by taking to the water, where the glutton has no chance to succeed. This pursuit 28 Linnæi Systema, p. 67. A life of necessity generally produces a good fertile invention. The glutton, continually pressed by the call of appetite, and having neither swiftness nor activity to satisfy it, is obliged to make up by stratagem the defects of nature. It is often seen to examine the traps and the snares laid for other animals, in order to anticipate the fowlers. It is said to practise a thousand arts to procure its prey, to steal upon the retreats of the rein-deer, the flesh of which animal it loves in preference to all others; to lie in wait for such animals as have been maimed by the hunters; to pursue the isatis while it is hunting for itself; and when that animal has run down its prey, to come in and seize upon the whole, and sometimes to devour even its poor provider: and when these pursuits fail, even to dig up the graves, and fall upon the bodies interred there, devouring them bones and all. For these reasons, the natives of the countries where the glutton inhabits hold it in utter detestation, and usually term it the vulture of quadrupeds. And yet it is extraordinary enough, that being so very obnoxious to man it does not seem to fear him. We are told by Gmelin of one of these coming up boldly and calmly where there were several persons at work, without testifying the smallest apprehension, or attempting to run, until it had received several blows, that at last totally disabled it. In all probability it came among them seeking its prey; and, having been used to attack animals of inferior strength, it had no idea of a force superior to its own. The glutton, like all the rest of its kind, is a solitary animal, and is never seen in company except with its female, with which it couples in the midst of winter. The latter goes with young about four months, and brings forth two or three at a time.25 They burrow in holes as the weasel; and the male and female are generally found together, both equally resolute in! defence of their young. Upon this occasion the boldest dogs are afraid to approach them; they fight obstinately, and bite most cruelly. However, as they are unable to escape by flight, the hunters come to the assistance of the dogs, and easily overpower them. Their flesh, it may readily be supposed, is not fit to be eaten, but the skins amply recompense the hunters for their toil and danger. The fur has the most beautiful lustre that can be imagined, and is preferred before all others except the Siberian fox, or the sable. Among other peculiarities of this animal Linnæus informs us, that it is very difficult to be skinned; but from what cause, whether its abo minable stench, or the skin's tenacity to the near him, when he rolled upon it with extreme deflesh, he has not thought fit to inform us. NOTE. Of the Weasel. Instances are not wanting to prove that the weasel may be brought into complete subjection. Mademoiselle de Laistre, in a letter on this subject, gives a very pleasing account of the education and manners of a weasel which she took under her protection, and which frequently ate from her hand, seemingly more delighted with this manner of feeding than any other. "If I pour," says this lady, "some milk into my hand, it will drink a good deal; but if I do not pay it this compliment it will scarcely take a drop. When satisfied it generally goes to sleep. My chamber is the place of its residence; and I have found a method of dispelling its strong smell by perfumes. By day it sleeps in a quilt, into which it gets by an unsewn place which it had discovered on the edge; during the night, it is kept in a wired box or cage, which it always enters with reluctance, and leaves with pleasure. If it be set at liberty before my time of rising, after a thousand little playful tricks, it gets into my bed, and goes to sleep on my hand or on my bosom. If I am up first, it spends a full half hour in caressing me; playing with my fingers like a little dog, jumping on my head and on my neck, and running round on my arms and body with a lightness and elegance which I never found in any other animal. If I present my hands at the distance of three feet, it jumps into them without ever missing. It shows a great deal of address and cunning in order to compass its ends, and seems to disobey certain prohibitions merely through caprice. During all its actions it seems solicitous to divert, and to be noticed; looking at every jump, and at every turn, to see whether it be observed or not. If no notice be taken of its gambols, it ceases them immediately, and betakes itself to sleep; and when awaked from the soundest sleep, it instantly resumes its gaiety, and frolics about in as sprightly a manner as before. It never shows any ill-humour, unless when confined, or teased too much; in which case it expresses its displeasure by a sort of murmur, very different from that which it utters when pleased. In the midst of twenty people, this little animal distinguishes my voice, seeks me out, and springs over every body to come to me. His play with me is the most lovely and caressing; with his two little paws he pats me on the chin with an air and manner expressive of delight. This and a thousand other preferences, show that his attachment is real. When he sees me dressed to go out, he will not leave me, and it is not without some trouble that I can disengage myself from him; he then hides himself behind a cabinet near the door, and jumps upon me as I pass, with so much celerity, that I often can scarcely perceive him. He seems to resemble a squirrel in vivacity, agility, voice, and his manner of murmuring. During the summer he squeaks and runs all the night long; and since the commencement of the cold weather I have not observed this. Sometimes when the sun shines while he is playing on the bed, he turns and tumbles about, and murmurs for a while. light. One singularity in this charming animal is his curiosity; it being impossible to open a drawer or a box, or even to look at a paper but it will examine it also. If he gets into any place where I am afraid to let him stay, I take a paper or a book, and look attentively at it, when he immediately runs upon my hand, and surveys with an inquisitive air whatever I happen to hold.—I must further observe, that he plays with a young cat and dog, both of some size; getting about their necks and paws without their doing him the least harm." The usual method of taming these creatures is, to stroke them gently over the back; and to threaten, and even to beat them, when they attempt to bite. Aldrovandus observes, that their teeth should be rubbed with garlic, which will take away all their inclination to bite. The motion of these animals consists of unequal leaps; and, on occasion, they have the power of springing some feet from the ground. They are remarkably active, and will run up a wall with such facility, that no place is secure from them. Their bite is generally fatal, as they seize their prey near the head, and fix their teeth into a vital part. The wound is so minute, that the place where the teeth enter is hardly perceptible; but a hare, rabbit, or other small animal, bitten in this manner, is never known to recover. The following story regarding the weasel is told in Selkirkshire.-"A group of haymakers, while busy at their work on Chapelhope meadow, at the upper end of St. Mary's Loch (or rather of the Loch of the Lowes, which is separated from it by a narrow neck of land), saw an eagle rising above the steep mountains that enclose the narrow valley. The eagle himself was, indeed, no unusual sight; but there is something so imposing and majestic in the flight of this noble bird, while he soars upwards in spiral circles, that it fascinates the attention of most people. But the spectators were soon aware of something peculiar in the flight of the bird they were observing. He used his wings violently; and his strokes were often repeated, as if he had been alarmed and hurried by unusual agitation; and they noticed, at the same time, that he wheeled in circles that seemed constantly decreasing, while his ascent was proportionally rapid. The now idle haymakers drew together in close consultation on the singular case, and continued to keep their eyes on the seemingly distressed eagle, until he was nearly out of sight, rising still higher and higher into the air. In a short while, however, they were all convinced that he was again seeking the earth, evidently not as he ascended, in spiral curves; it was like something falling, and with great rapidity. But, as he approached the ground, they clearly saw that he was tumbling in his fall like a shot bird; the convulsive fluttering of his powerful wing's stopping the descent but very little, until he fell at a small distance from the men and boys of the party, who had naturally ran forward, highly excited by the strange occurrence. A large black-tailed weasel or stoat ran from the body as they came near, turned with the usual nonchalance and impudence of the tribe, stood up upon its hind legs, crossed its fore paws over its nose, and surveyed its enemies a moment or two (as they often do when no dog is near), and bounded into a saugh bush. The king of the air was dead; and, what was more surprising, he was covered with his own blood; and, upon further examination, they found his throat cut, and the stoat has been suspected as the regicide unto this day." This singular story, says a correspondent in the Magazine of Natural History, I always "From his delight in drinking milk out of my hand, into which I pour a very little at a time, and his custom of sipping the little drops and edges of the fluid, it seems probable that he drinks dew in the same manner. He very seldom drinks water, and then only for the want of milk; and with great | caution, seeming only to refresh his tongue once or twice, and to be even afraid of that fluid. During the hot weather it rained a good deal; presented to him some rain-water in a dish, and endeavoured to make him go into it, but could not succeed. In general, the motion of his wings is hardly perceptible; an impetus is given, but the stroke is far between, and he seems then wetted a piece of linen cloth in it, and put it impelled by soine invisible power, I looked upon as too good to be true, until lately a to be convinced that it had sprung upon one of the friend mentioned the following fact which came under birds, which had flown away with it. As he is a his own observation:-A light snow covered the person of uncommonly acute observation, sound ground; and he, having walked out to an adjoining judgment, and strong sense, I have the utmost conhill to meet with one of his shepherds, fell in with fidence in the correctness of his judgment regarding the track of one of these weasels, which is easily to this curious circumstance. The conclusion is, that be distinguished from that of the smaller species, by the stoat knew quite well what it was about, and the larger footprint and length of the spring, among would keep its hold until it came to the ground the snow. He followed the track for some time, for again, under similar circumstances with the eagle. his amusement, along the side of the hill, until he The matchless agility and comparative strength of came to the marks where a pair of grouse had been this bold little creature would enable it to save itself sitting, when he lost all traces of the weasel, and during the fall; before which took place, it had procould follow it no farther. As there was no appear-bably, as in the former strange instance, destroyed ance of a hole he was much surprised; and paying the life of its more harmless prey. close attention to the track of the animal, he came BOOK VI. ANIMALS OF THE HARE KIND. СНАР. І. INTRODUCTION. HAVING described in the last chapter a tribe of minute, fierce, rapacious animals, I come now to a race of minute animals of a more harmless and gentle kind, that, without being enemies to any, are preyed upon by all. As Nature has fitted the former for hostility, so it has entirely formed the latter for evasion; and as the one kind subsist by their courage and activity, so the other find safety from their swiftness and their fears. The hare is the swiftest animal in the world for the time it continues; and few quadrupeds can overtake even the rabbit, when it has but a short way to run. To this class also we may add the squirrel, somewhat resembling the hare and rabbit in its form and nature, and equally pretty, inoffensive, and pleasing.1 If we were methodically to distinguish animals of the hare kind from all others, we might say that they have but two cutting teeth above and two below, that they are covered with a soft downy fur, and that they have a bushy tail. The combination of these marks might perhaps distinguish them tolerably well; whether from the rat, the beaver, the otter, or any other most nearly approaching in form. But, as I have declined all method that rather tends to embarrass history than enlighten it, I am contented to class these animals together for no very precise reason, but because I find a general resemblance between them in their natural habits, and in the shape of 1 The animals of this family have two front teeth in each jaw; those in the upper jaw are doubled, having two smaller ones standing behind the others: they feed entirely on vegetables, are very small, and run by a kind of leaping: they have five toes on the fore-feet, and four on the hinder.-ED. their heads and body. I call a squirrel an animal of the hare kind, because it is something like a hare. I call the paca of the same kind, merely because it is more like a rabbit than any other animal I know of. In short, it is fit to erect some particular standard in the imagination of the reader, to refer him to some animal that he knows, in order to direct him in conceiving the figure of such as he does not know. Still, however, he should be apprized that his knowledge will be defective without an examination of each particular species; and that saying an animal is of this or that particular kind is but a very trifling part of its history. Animals of the hare kind, like all others that feed entirely upon vegetables, are inoffensive and timorous. As Nature furnishes them with a most abundant supply, they have not that rapacity after food remarkable in such as are often stinted in their provision. They are extremely active and amazingly swift, to which they chiefly owe their protection; for being the prey of every voracious animal, they are incessantly pursued. The hare, the rabbit, and the squirrel, are placed by Pyerius, in his Treatise of Ruminating Animals, among the number of those that chew the cud; but how far this may be true, I will not pretend to determine. Certain it is that their lips continually move whether sleeping or waking. Nevertheless they chew their meat very much before they swallow it, and for that reason I should suppose it does not want a second mastication. All these animals use their forepaws like hands; they are remarkably salacious, and are furnished by Nature with more ample powers than most others for the business of propagation. They are so very prolific, that were they not thinned by the constant depredations made upon them by most other animals, they would quickly overrun the earth. THE HARE. Of all these the hare is the largest, the most persecuted, and the most timorous; all its muscles are formed for swiftness; and all its senses seem only given to direct its flight. It has very large prominent eyes, placed backwards in its head, so that it can almost see behind it as it runs. These are never wholly closed; but as the animal is continually upon the watch, it sleeps with them open. The ears are still more remarkable for their size; they are moveable, and capable of being directed to every quarter; so that the smallest sounds are readily received, and the animal's motions directed accordingly. The murcles of the body are very strong, and without fat, so that it may be said to carry no superfluous burden of flesh about it; the hinder feet are longer than the fore, which still adds to the rapidity of its motions; and almost all animals that are remarkable for their speed, except the horse, are formed in the same manner. An animal so well formed for a life of escape, might be supposed to enjoy a state of tolerable security; but as every rapacious creature is its enemy, it but very seldom lives out its natural term. Dogs of all kinds pursue it by instinct, and follow the hare more eagerly than any other animal. The cat and the weasel kinds are continually lying in ambush, and practising all their little arts to seize it; birds of prey are still more dangerous enemies, as against them no swiftness can avail, nor retreat secure; but man, an enemy far more powerful than all, prefers its flesh to that of other animals, and destroys greater numbers than all the rest. Thus pursued and persecuted on every side, the race would long since have been totally extirpated, did it not find a resource in its amazing fertility. be considered as a double organ, one side of which may be filled while the other remains empty. Thus these animals may be seen to couple at every period of their pregnancy, and even while they are bringing forth young, laying the foundation of another brood. The young of these animals are brought forth with their eyes open, and the dam suckles them for twenty days, after which they leave her, and seek out for themselves. From this we observe, that the education these animals receive is but trifling, and the family connexion but of short duration. In the rapacious kinds the dam leads her young forth for months together; teaches them the arts of rapine; and, although she wants milk to supply them, yet keeps them under her care until they are able to hunt for themselves. But a long connexion of this kind would be very unnecessary as well as dangerous to the timid animals we are describing; their food is easily procured; and their associations, instead of protection, would only expose them to their pursuers. They seldom, however, separate far from each other, or from the place where they were produced; but make each a form at some distance, having a predilection rather for the place than each other's society. They feed during the night rather than by day, choosing the more tender blades of grass, and quenching their thirst with the dew. They live also upon roots, leaves, fruits, and corn, and prefer such plants as are furnished with a milky juice. They also strip the bark of trees during the winter, there being scarcely any that they will not feed on, except the lime or the alder. They are particularly fond of birch, pinks, and parsley. When they are kept tame, they are fed with lettuce and other garden herbs; but the flesh of such as are thus brought up is always indifferent. They sleep or repose in their forms by day, and may be said to live only by night. It is then that they go forth to feed and couple. They do not pair, however, but in the rutting season, which begins in February; the male pursues and discovers the female by the sagacity of its nose. They are then seen by moonlight, playing, skip motion, the slightest breeze, the falling of a leaf, is sufficient to disturb their revels; they instantly fly off, and each takes a separate way. The hare multiplies exceedingly; it is in a state of engendering at a few months old; the female goes with young but thirty days, and generally brings forth three or four at a time.2 As soon as they have produced their young, they are again ready for conception, and thus do not lose any time in continuing the breed. But they are in another respect fitted in an extraordinary man-ping, and pursuing each other; but the least ner for multiplying their kind; for the female, from the conformation of her womb, is often seen to bring forth, and yet to continue pregnant at the same time; or, in other words, to have young ones of different ages in her womb together. Other animals never receive the male when pregnant, but bring forth their young at once. But it is frequently different with the hare; the female often, though already impregnated, admitting the male, and thus receiving a second impregnation. The reason of this extraordinary circumstance is, that the womb in these animals is divided in such a manner that it may 2 Buffon, vol. xiii. p. 12. As their limbs are made for running, they easily outstrip all other animals in the beginning; and could they preserve their speed, it would be impossible to overtake them; but as they exhaust their strength at their first efforts, and double back to the place they were started from, they are more easily taken than the fox, which is a much slower animal than they. As their hind legs are longer than the fore, they always choose to run up hill, by which the speed of their pursuers is diminished, while theirs remains | to furze bushes, and to leap from one to another, the same. Their motions are also without any noise, as they have the sole of the foot furnished with hair; and they seem the only animals that have hair on the inside of their mouths. They seldom live above seven or eight years at the utmost; they come to their full perfection in a year; and this multiplied by seven, as in other animals, gives the extent of their lives.5 It is said, however, that the females live longer than the males; of this Mr. Buffon makes a doubt; but I am assured that it is so. They pass their lives, in our climate, in solitude and silence; and they seldom are heard to cry, except when they are seized or wounded. Their voice is not so sharp as the note of some other animals, but more nearly approaching that of the squalling of a child. They are not so wild as their dispositions and their habits seem to indicate; but are of a complying nature, and easily susceptible of a kind of education. They are easily tamed. They even become fond and caressing, but they are incapable of attachment to any particular person, and never can be depended upon; for, though taken never so young, they regain their native freedom at the first opportunity. As they have a remarkably good ear, and sit upon their hind legs, and use their fore-paws as hands, they have been taught to beat the drum, to dance to music, and go through the manual exercise. But their natural instincts for their preservation are much more extraordinary than those artificial tricks that are taught them. They make themselves a form, particularly in those places where the colour of the grass most resembles that of their skin; it is open to the south in winter, and to the north in summer. The hare, when it hears the hounds at a distance, flies for some time through a natural impulse, without managing its strength, or consulting any other means but speed for its safety. Having attained some hill or rising ground, and left the dogs so far behind that it no longer hears their cries, it stops, rears on its hinder legs, and at length looks back to see if it has not lost its pursuers. But these, having once fallen upon the scent, pursue slowly and with united skill, and the poor animal soon again hears the fatal tidings of their approach. Sometimes when sore hunted it will start a fresh hare, and squat in the same form; sometimes it will creep under the door of a sheepcot, and hide among the sheep; sometimes it will run among them, and no vigilance can drive it from the flock; some will enter holes like the rabbit, which the hunters call going to vault; some will go up one side of the hedge and come down the other; and it has been known that a hare sorely hunted has got upon the top of a quick-set hedge, and run a good way thereon, by which it has effectually evaded the hounds. It is no unusual thing also for them to betake themselves 5 Buffon, vol. xii. p. 12. by which the dogs are frequently misled. However, the first doubling a hare makes is generally a key to all its future attempts of that kind, the latter being exactly like the former. The young hares tread heavier, and leave a stronger scent than the old, because their limbs are weaker ; and the more this forlorn creature tires, the heavier it treads, and the stronger is the scent it leaves. A buck, or male hare, is known by its choosing to run upon hard highways, feeding farther from the wood-sides, and making its doublings of a greater compass than the female. The male having made a turn or two about its form, frequently leads the hounds five or six miles at a stretch; but the female keeps close by some covert side, turns, crosses, and winds among the bushes like a rabbit, and seldom runs directly forward. In general, however, both male and female regulate their conduct according to the weather. In a moist day they hold by the highways more than at any other time, because the scent is then strongest upon the grass. If they come to the side of a grove or spring, they forbear to enter, but squat down by the side thereof until the hounds have overshot them; and then, turning along their former path, make to their old form, from which they vainly hope for protection. Hares are divided, by the hunters, into mountain and measled hares. The former are more swift, vigorous, and have their flesh better tasted; the latter chiefly frequent the marshes, when hunted keep among low grounds, and their flesh is moist, white, and flabby. When the male and female keep one particular spot, they will not suffer any strange hare to make its form in the 6 An old hare, when hunted by a common hound, seems to regulate her flight from the very first according to the speed of her pursuer. She seems to know from experience, that very rapid flight reach of danger than a more deliberate one whereby would be less certain of carrying her out of the the chase is protracted to a greater length of time, and she can continue the exertion of her strength longer than if she exerted her full speed at first. there are many young shrubs, the contact of her She seems to have observed, that in grounds where body leaves behind her a stronger scent, and one which makes the dogs pursue her with much greater ardour and perseverance than in level plains, over avoids all thickets, and keeps as much as possible which the wind skims but slightly. She therefore upon beaten roads; but when she is pursued by greyhounds, she runs from them as fast as she is able, and seeks for shelter in woods and thickets. Knowing that harriers, even though they do not see her, can follow her track, she often practises an admirable stratagem to deceive them. When she has run on a considerable way in a straight line, she returns a small distance upon the road she has come, in order to render the scent very strong upon this space of the ground; she then makes several long leaps in a side direction, and thereby renders it difficult for the hounds to recover the scent. By this means the hounds are often put at fault, and the hare enabled to get considerably a-head of them.-ED. |