Wild Animals of North America / Intimate Studies of Big and Little Creatures of the Mammal Kingdom
Copyright, 1918 BY THE National Geographic Society Washington, D. C. Press of Judd & Detweiler, Inc.
In offering this volume of “Wild Animals of North America” to members of the National Geographic Society, the Editor combines the text and illustrations of two entire numbers of the National Geographic Magazine—that of November, 1916, devoted to the Larger Mammals of North America, and that of May, 1918, in which the Smaller Mammals of our continent were described and presented pictorially.
Edward W. Nelson, the author of both articles, is one of the foremost naturalists of our time. For forty years he has been the friend and student of North America’s wild-folk. He has made his home in forest and desert, on mountain side and plain, amid the snows of Alaska and the tropic heat of Central American jungles—wherever Nature’s creatures of infinite variety were to be observed, their habits noted, and their range defined.
In the whole realm of scientists, the Geographic could not have found a writer more admirably equipped for the authorship of a book such as “Wild Animals of North America” than Mr. Nelson, for, in addition to his exceptional scientific training and his standing as Chief of the unique U. S. Biological Survey, he possesses the rare quality of the born writer, able to visualize for the reader the things which he has seen and the experiences which he has undergone in seeing them. Each of his animal biographies, of which there are 119 in this volume, is a cameo brochure—concisely and entertainingly presented, yet never deviating from scientific accuracy.
In Mr. Louis Agassiz Fuertes, the National Geographic Society has secured for Mr. Nelson the same gifted artist collaborator which it provided for Henry W. Henshaw, author of “Common Birds of Town and Country,” “The Warblers,” and “American Game Birds,” all of which were assembled in our “Book of Birds.” In the present instance Mr. Fuertes has produced a natural history gallery of paintings of the Larger and Smaller Mammals of North America which is a notable contribution to wild-animal portraiture, and the reproductions of these works of art are among the most effective and lifelike examples of color printing ever produced in this country.
Edward William Nelson
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INTRODUCTION
INDEX TO WILD ANIMALS OF NORTH AMERICA
The Larger North American Mammals
TRAINS HELD UP BY BUFFALO
ANTELOPES EVERYWHERE
WANTON WASTE OF WILD LIFE
SPECIES COME AND SPECIES GO
VAST NATURAL MUSEUMS OF EXTINCT ANIMAL LIFE
DID MAN LIVE THEN?
CAMELS AND HORSES ORIGINATED IN NORTH AMERICA
FEWER LARGE MAMMALS IN THE TROPICS
DESTROYING THE IRRESTORABLE
SAVING OUR WILD LIFE
CANADA LYNX (Lynx canadensis)
ALASKA RED FOX (Vulpes kenaiensis)
ARCTIC WOLF (Canis tundrarum)
PLAINS COYOTE, OR PRAIRIE WOLF (Canis latrans)
ARIZONA, OR MEARNS, COYOTE (Canis mearnsi)
WHITE, OR ARCTIC, FOX (Alopex lagopus)
PRIBILOF BLUE FOX (Alopex lagopus pribilofensis)
WOLVERINE (Gulo luscus)
PACIFIC WALRUS (Odobenus obesus)
ALASKA FUR SEAL (Callorhinus alascanus)
STELLER SEA-LION (Eumetopias jubata)
NORTHERN SEA-ELEPHANT, OR ELEPHANT SEAL (Mirounga augustirostris)
HARBOR SEAL, OR LEOPARD SEAL (Phoca vitulina)
HARP SEAL, SADDLE-BACK, OR GREENLAND SEAL (Phoca grœnlandica)
POLAR BEAR (Thalarctos maritimus)
GLACIER BEAR (Ursus emmonsi)
FISHER, OR PEKAN (Mustela pennanti)
COLLARED PECCARY, OR MUSKHOG (Pecari angulatus)
STONE MOUNTAIN SHEEP (Ovis stonei)
DALL MOUNTAIN SHEEP (Ovis dalli)
ARIZONA WHITE-TAILED DEER (Odocoileus couesi)
FLORIDA MANATI (Trichechus latirostris)
KILLER WHALE (Orcinus orca)
WHITE WHALE, OR BELUGA (Delphinapterus leucas)
GREENLAND RIGHT WHALE, OR BOWHEAD (Balæna mysticetus)
SPERM WHALE, OR CACHALOT (Physeter macrocephalus)
THE LARGER NORTH AMERICAN MAMMALS
FURRY FRIENDS AND ENEMIES
ANIMALS THAT LEARNED TO “DIG IN”
A DEPARTURE FOR EVERY NEED
STRANGE ADAPTATIONS TO MEET CONDITIONS OF ENVIRONMENT AND COMPETITION
GEOGRAPHY AND COLOR
ANIMAL CHEMISTS CHANGE STARCH INTO WATER
GNAWERS MOST NUMEROUS OF MAMMALS
CASES OF CONCENTRATED FEROCITY
WHY THE SKUNK NEVER HURRIES
GOOD HOUSEKEEPING IN RODENT LAND
THE EBB AND FLOW OF ANTAGONISTIC SPECIES
ANIMALS THAT SEEK SAFETY IN DARKNESS
COUNTLESS BEASTS THAT ROAM THE NIGHT
ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE AKIN TO MAN’S
PEEPS INTO FUR-FOLK HOMES
NEW COATS FOR BOREAS’ COURT
ANIMALS THAT HAVE TO SING
BATS WITH BULLDOG FACES
ANIMALS THAT PUT THEMSELVES IN COLD STORAGE
DEFENSIVE AND OFFENSIVE ANIMAL ALLIANCES
THE CALIFORNIA JACK RABBIT
THE HOUSE MOUSE (Mus musculus)
THE RUSTY FOX SQUIRREL (Sciurus niger rufiventer)
THE KAIBAB SQUIRREL (Sciurus kaibabensis)
THE STAR-NOSED MOLE (Condylura cristata)
THE RED BAT (Nycteris borealis)
THE HOARY BAT (Nycteris cinereus)
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