FOOTNOTE:
[6] Proceedings of the Zoological Society.
CURIOSITIES OF BATS.
THESE harmless and interesting little animals have not only furnished objects of superstitious dread to the ignorant, but have proved to the poet and the painter a fertile source of images of gloom and terror. The strange combination of character of beast and bird, which they were believed to possess, is supposed to have given to Virgil the idea of the Harpies.
Aristotle says but little about the Bat; and Pliny is considered to have placed it among the Birds, none of which, he observes, with the exception of the Bat, have teeth. Again, he notices it as the only winged animal that suckles its young, and remarks on its embracing its two little ones, and flying about with them. In this arrangement he was followed by the older of the more modern naturalists. Belon, doubtingly, places it at the end of the Night-birds; and the Bat, Attaleph (bird of darkness), was one of the unclean animals of the Hebrews; and in Deuteronomy xxv. 18, it is placed among the forbidden birds.
Even up to a late period Bats were considered as forming a link between quadrupeds and birds. The common language of our own ancestors, however, indicates a much nearer approach to the truth in the notions entertained by the people than can be found in the lucubrations of the learned. The words rere-mouse and flitter-mouse, the old English names for the Bat—the former derived from the Anglo-Saxon "aræan," to raise, or rear up, and mus; the latter from the Belgic, signifying "flying or flittering mouse,"—show that in their minds these animals were always associated with the idea of quadrupeds. The first of these terms is still used in English heraldry; though it may have ceased to belong to the language of the country. "The word flitter-mouse," says Mr. Bell, "sometimes corrupted into flintymouse, is the common term for the Bat in some parts of the kingdom, particularly in that part of the county of Kent in which the language, as well as the aspect and names of the inhabitants, retain more of the Saxon character than will be found, perhaps, in any other part of England.
Ben Jonson has—
"Once a Bat, and ever a Bat! a rere-mouse,
And bird o'twilight, he has broken thrice.
. . .
Come, I will see the flicker-mouse, my fly."
Play.—New Inn.
The same author uses flitter-mouse also:—
"And giddy flitter-mice, with leather wings."
Sad Shepherd.
Calmet describes the Bat as an animal having the body of a mouse and the wings of a bird; but he erroneously adds, "It never grows tame."
Some persons are surprised at Bats being classed by naturalists, not with birds, but quadrupeds. They have, in fact, no other claim to be considered as birds than that of their being able to suspend and move themselves in the air, like some species of fish, but to a greater degree. They suckle their young, are covered with hair, and have no wings, but arms and lengthened fingers or toes furnished with a membrane, by which they are enabled to fly.
Sir Charles Bell, in his valuable treatise on the "Hand," considers the skeleton of the Bat as one of the best examples of the moulding of the bones of the extremity to correspond with the condition of the animal. Contemplating this extraordinary application of the bones of the extremity, and comparing them with those of the wing of a bird, we might say that this is an awkward attempt—"a failure." But, before giving expression to such an opinion, we must understand the objects required in this construction. It is not a wing intended merely for flight, but one which, while it raises the animal, is capable of receiving a new sensation, or sensations, in that exquisite degree, so as almost to constitute a new sense. On the fine web of the Bat's wing nerves are distributed, which enable it to avoid objects in its flight during the night, when both eyes and ears fail. Could the wing of a bird, covered with feathers, do this? Here, then, we have another example of the necessity of taking every circumstance into consideration before we presume to criticise the ways of nature. It is a lesson of humility. In this animal the bones are light and delicate; and whilst they are all marvellously extended, the phalanges of the fingers are elongated so as hardly to be recognised, obviously for the purpose of sustaining a membranous web, and to form a wing.
In 1839 there was received at the Surrey Zoological Gardens, from Sumatra, a specimen of the Vampire Bat. This was a young male; the body was black, and the membranous wing, in appearance, resembled fine black kid. He was rarely seen at the bottom of his cage, but suspended himself from the roof or bars of the cage, head downwards, his wings wrapped round his body; when spread, these wings extended nearly two feet. Although this specimen was the Vampire Bat to which so many bloodthirsty feats have been attributed, his appearance was by no means ferocious; he was active, yet docile, and the only peculiarity to favour belief in his blood-sucking propensity was his long pointed tongue. The species has popularly been accused of destroying, not only the large mammiferous animals, but also men, when asleep, by sucking their blood. "The truth," says Cuvier, in his "Regne Animal," "appears to be, that the Vampire inflicts only small wounds, which may, probably, become inflammatory and gangrenous from the influence of climate." In this habit, however, may have originated the celebrated Vampire superstition. Lord Byron, in his beautiful poem of "The Giaour," thus symbolises the tortures that await the "false infidel:"—
"First, on earth as Vampire sent,
My corse shall from its tomb be rent;
Then ghastly haunt thy native place,
And suck the blood of all thy race;
There, from thy daughter, sister, wife,
At midnight drain the stream of life;
Yet loathe the banquet which perforce
Must feed thy livid living corse.
Thy victims, ere they yet expire,
Shall know the demon for their sire,
As cursing thee, thou cursing them,
Thy flowers are withered on the stem.
But one that for thy crime must fall,
The youngest, most beloved of all,
Shall bless thee with a father's name—
That word shall wrap thy heart in flame!
Yet must thou end thy task, and mark
Her cheek's last tinge, her eye's last spark,
And the last glassy glance must view
Which freezes o'er its lifeless blue;
Then with unhallowed hand shall tear
The tresses of her yellow hair,
Of which in life a lock, when shorn,
Affection's fondest pledge was worn,
But now is borne away by thee,
Memorial of thine agony!
Wet with thine one best blood shall drip
Thy gnashing tooth and haggard lip;
Then stalking to thy sullen grave,
Go, and with Gouls and Afrits rave;
Till there in horror shrink away
From spectre more accursed than they!"
In a note, the noble poet tells us:—"The Vampire superstition is still general in the Levant." Honest Tournefort tells a long story, which Mr. Southey, in the notes on "Thalaba," quotes, about these Vardoulacha, as he calls them. "I recollect a whole family being terrified by the screams of a child, which they imagined must proceed from such a visitation. The Greeks never mention the word without horror."
Bishop Heber describes the Vampire Bat of India as a very harmless creature, entirely different from the formidable idea entertained of it in England. "It only eats fruit and vegetables; indeed, its teeth are not indicative of carnivorous habits; and from blood it turns away when offered to it. During the daytime it is, of course, inert; but at night it is lively, affectionate, and playful, knows its keeper, but has no objection to the approach and touch of others."
Mr. Westerton, the traveller, when speaking, in his "Wanderings," of the Vampire of South America, says:—"There are two species in Demerara, both of which suck living animals; one is rather larger than the common Bats, the other measures above two feet from wing to wing, extended. So gently does this nocturnal surgeon draw the blood, that instead of being roused, the patient is lulled into a profound sleep." The large Vampire sucks men, commonly attacking the toes; the smaller seems to confine itself chiefly to birds.
Captain Stedman, who states that he was bitten by a Bat, thus describes the operation:—"Knowing by instinct that the person they intend to attack is in a sound slumber, they generally alight near the feet, where, while the creature continues fanning with its enormous wings, which keeps one cool, he bites a piece out of the tip of the great toe, so very small indeed that the head of a pin would scarcely be received into the wound, which is, consequently, not painful; yet through this orifice he continues to suck the blood until he is obliged to disgorge. He then begins again, and thus continues sucking and disgorging until he is scarcely able to fly; and the sufferer has been often known to sleep from time into eternity. Having applied tobacco-ashes as the best remedy, and washed the gore from myself and my hammock, I observed several small heaps of congealed blood all round the place where I had lain upon the ground, on examining which the surgeon judged that I had lost at least twelve or fourteen ounces during the night."
Lesson, in 1827, says:—"The single American species of Bat is celebrated by the fables with which they have accompanied its history. That Bats suck the blood of animals as well as the juices of succulent fruits zoologists are agreed. The rough tongue of one genus was, I suppose, to be employed for abrading the skin, to enable the animal to suck the part abraded; but zoologists are now agreed that the supposition is groundless. It is more than probable that the celebrated Vampire superstition and the blood-sucking qualities attributed to the Bat have some connection with each other."
Bat-fowling is mentioned by Shakspeare. This is the mode of taking Bats in the night-time, while they are at roost, upon perches, trees, or hedges. They light torches or straw, and then beat the bushes, upon which the Bats, flying to the flames, are caught, either with nets or otherwise.
Bat-fowling, or Bat-folding, is effected by the use of a net, called a trammel-net, and is practised at night. The net should be made of the strongest and finest twine, and extended between two poles about ten feet high, tapering to a point at the top, and meeting at the top of the net. The larger ends are to be held by the persons who take the management of the net, and who, by stretching out the arms, keep the net extended to the utmost, opposite the hedge in which the Bats or birds are supposed to be. Another of the party carries a lantern upon a pole at a short distance behind the centre of the net. One or two others place themselves on the opposite side of the hedge, and by beating it with sticks disturb the Bats or birds, which, being alarmed, fly towards the light, but are interrupted in their flight by the net which is immediately folded upon them, often fifteen or twenty in number. This sport cannot be followed with much success except when the night is very dark, or until very late in the autumn, when the trees, having lost their leaves, the Bats or birds are driven for shelter to the hollies, yews, hayricks, &c.
We remember reading, in the "Philosophical Magazine," in 1836, a curious account of the habits of a long-eared Bat, a living specimen of which was given to the children of Mr. De Carle Sowerby, the naturalist. "We constructed," says Mr. Sowerby, "a cage for him, by covering a box with gauze, and making a round hole in the side, fitted with a phial cork. When he was awake, we fed him with flies, introduced through this hole, and thus kept him for several weeks. The animal soon became familiar, and immediately a fly was presented alive at the hole, he would run or fly from any part of the cage, and seize it in our fingers; but a dead or quiet fly he would never touch. At other times, dozens of flies and grasshoppers were left in his cage, and, waking him by their noise, he dexterously caught them as they hopped or flew about, but uniformly disregarded them while they were at rest. The cockroach, hard beetles, and caterpillars he refused.
"As we became still more familiar, our new friend was invited to join in our evening amusements, to which he contributed his full share by flitting round the room, at times settling upon our persons, and permitting us to handle and caress him. He announced his being awake by a shrill chirp, which was more acute than that of the cricket. Now was the proper time for feeding him. I before stated that he only took his food alive. It was observed that not only was motion necessary, but that generally some noise on the part of the fly was required to induce him to accept it; and this fact was soon discovered by the children, who were entertained by his taking flies from their fingers as he flew by them, before he was bold enough to settle upon their hands to devour his victims. They quickly improved upon this discovery, and, by imitating the booming of a bee, induced the Bat, directed by the sound, to settle upon their faces, wrapping his wings round their lips, and searching for the expected fly. We observed that, if he took a fly while on the wing, he frequently settled to masticate it; and, when he had been flying about a long time, he would rest upon a curtain, pricking his ears, and turning his head in all directions, when, if a fly were made to buzz, or the sound imitated, he would proceed directly to the spot, even on the opposite side of the room, guided, it would appear, entirely by the ear. Sometimes he took his victim in his mouth, even though it was not flying; at other times he inclosed it in his wings, with which he formed a kind of bag-net. This was his general plan when in his cage, or when the fly was held in our fingers, or between our lips."
From these observations Mr. Sowerby concludes that many of the movements of the Bat upon the wing are directed by his exquisite sense of hearing. May not the sensibility of this organ be naturally greater in these animals, whose organs of vision are too susceptible to bear daylight, when those organs, from their nature, would necessarily be of most service?—such as the cat, who hunts by the ear, and the mole, who, feeding in the dark recesses of his subterranean abode, is very sensible of the approach of danger, and expert in avoiding it. In the latter case, large external ears are not required, because sound is well conveyed by solids, and along narrow cavities. In the cases of many Bats, and of owls, the external ears are remarkably developed. Cats combine a quickness of sight with acute hearing. They hunt by the ear, but they follow their prey by the eye. Some Bats are said to feed upon fruits: have they the same delicacy of hearing, feeling, &c., as others?
Mr. Sowerby has further described the singular mode adopted by the long-eared Bat in capturing his prey. The flying apparatus is extended from the hind legs to the tail, forming a large bag or net, not unlike two segments of an umbrella, the legs and tail being the ribs. The Bat, having caught the fly, instead of eating it at once, generally covers it with his body, and, by the aid of his arms, &c., forces it into his bag. He then puts his head down under his body, withdraws the fly from his bag, and leisurely devours it. Mr. Sowerby once saw an unwary bluebottle walk beneath the body of the apparently sleeping Bat into the sensitive bag, in which it was immediately imprisoned. White, of Selborne, speaking of a tame Bat, alludes to the above described action, which he compares to that of a beast of prey, but says nothing respecting the bag. Bell, in his "British Quadrupeds," says that the interfemoral membrane of Bats "is probably intended to act as a sort of rudder, in rapidly changing the course of the animal in the pursuit of its insect food. In a large group of foreign Bats, which feed on fruit or other vegetable substances, as well as in some of carnivorous habits, but whose prey is of a less active character, this part is either wholly wanting or much circumscribed in extent and power." May it not be, asks Mr. Sowerby, that they do not require an entomological bag-net?
The wing of the Bat is commonly spoken of as of leather; that it is an insensible piece of stuff—the leather of a glove or of a lady's shoe; but nothing can be further from the truth. If one were to select an organ of the most exquisite delicacy and sensibility, it would be the Bat's wing. It is anything but leather, and is, perhaps, the most acute organ of touch that can be found.
Bats are supposed to perceive external objects without coming actually in contact with them, because in their rapid and irregular flight, amidst various surrounding bodies, they never fly against them; yet, to some naturalists, it does not appear that the senses of hearing, seeing, or smelling serve them on these occasions, for they avoid any obstacles with equal certainty when the eye, ear, and nose are closed: hence has been ascribed a sixth sense to these animals. The nerves of the wing are large and numerous, and distributed in a minute network between the integuments. The impulse of the air against this part may possibly be so modified by the objects near which the animal passes as to indicate their situation and nature. The Bat tribe fly by means of the fingers of the fore feet, the thumb excepted, being, in these animals, longer than the whole body; and between them is stretched a thin membrane, or web, for flying. It is probable that, in the action of flight, the air, when struck by this wing, or very sensitive hand, impresses a sensation of heat, cold, mobility, and resistance on that organ, which indicates to the animal the existence or absence of obstacles which would interrupt its progress. In this manner blind men discover by their hands, and even by the skin of their faces, the proximity of a wall, door of a house, or side of a street, even without the assistance of touch, and merely by the sensation which the difference in the resistance of the air occasions. Hence they are as little capable of walking on the ground as apes with their hands, or sloths with their hooked claws, which are calculated for climbing.
In a certain kind of Bat, the Nycteris, there exists a power of inflation to such a degree that, when inflated, the animal looks, according to Geoffroy St. Hilaire, like a little balloon fitted with wings, a head, and feet. It is filled with air through the cheek-pouches, which are perforated at the bottom, so as to communicate with the spaces of the skin to be filled. When the Bat wishes to inflate, it draws in its breath, closes its nostrils, and transmits the air through the perforations of the cheek-pouches to the spaces; and the air is prevented from returning by the action of a muscle which closes those openings, and by valves of considerable size on the neck and back.
There was formerly a vulgar opinion that Bats, when down on a flat surface, could not get on the wing again, by rising with great ease from the floor; but White saw a Bat run, with more dispatch than he was aware of, though in a most ridiculous and grotesque manner. The adroitness with which this Bat sheared off the wings of flies, which were always rejected, was very amusing. He did not refuse raw flesh when offered; so that the notion that Bats go down chimneys, and gnaw men's bacon, seems no improbable story.
Mr. George Daniell describes a female Bat, who took her food with an action similar to that of a dog. The animal took considerable pains in cleaning herself, parting the hair on either side, from head to tail, and forming a straight line along the middle of the back. The membrane of the wings was cleaned by forcing the nose through the folds, and thereby expanding them. This Bat fed freely, and at some times voraciously, the quantity exceeding half an ounce, although the weight of the animal itself was not more than ten drams.
The Kalong Bat of the Javanese is extremely abundant in the lower parts of Java, and uniformly lives in society. The more elevated districts are not visited by it. "Numerous individuals," says Dr. Hornfield, "select a large tree, and, suspending themselves with the claws of their posterior extremities to the naked branches, often in companies of several hundreds, afford to a stranger a very singular spectacle. A species of ficus (fig-tree), resembling the ficus religiosa of India, affords them a very favourite retreat, and the extended branches of one of these are sometimes covered by them. They pass the greater portion of the day in sleep, hanging motionless, ranged in succession, with the head downwards, the membrane contracted about the body, and often in close contact. They have little resemblance to living beings; and, by a person not accustomed to their economy, are readily mistaken for a part of the tree, or for a fruit of uncommon size suspended from its branches."
In general, these societies are silent during the day; but if they are disturbed, or a contention arises among them, they emit sharp, piercing shrieks; and their awkward attempts to extricate themselves, when oppressed by the light of the sun, exhibit a ludicrous spectacle. Soon after sunset they gradually quit their hold, and pursue their nocturnal flight in quest of food. They direct their course by an unerring instinct to the forests, villages, and plantations, attacking and devouring every kind of fruit, from the abundant and useful cocoa-nut, which surrounds the dwellings of the meanest peasantry, to the rare and most delicate productions which are cultivated by princes and chiefs of distinction. Various methods are employed to protect the orchards and gardens. Delicate fruits are secured by a loose net or basket, skilfully constructed of split bamboo, without which precaution little valuable fruit would escape the ravages of the Kalong. There are few situations in the lower part of Java in which this night wanderer is not constantly observed. As soon as the light of the sun has retired, one animal is seen to follow the other at a small but irregular distance, and this accession continues uninterrupted till dark:—
"The night came on apace,
And falling dews bewet around the place;
The bat takes airy rounds, on leathern wings,
And the hoarse owl his woful dirges sings."
"Gay's "Pastoral III."
Bats of the ordinary size are very numerous in Jamaica. They are found in mills and old houses. They do great mischief in gardens, where they eat the green peas, opening the pod over each pea, and removing it very dexterously.
Gilbert White, of Selborne, first noticed a large species of Bat, which he named altivolans, from its manner of feeding high in the air. In the extent of its wings it measured 14-1/2 inches; and it weighed, when entirely full, one ounce and one drachm. It is found in numbers together, so many as 185 having been taken in one night from the eaves of Queens' College, Cambridge. In the Northern Zoological Gallery of the British Museum are representatives of the several species of Bats, all bearing a family resemblance to each other. In England alone there are eighteen known species. Here is the curious leaf-nosed Bat, from Brazil, supposed to excel in the sense of smell; also, the Vampire, or large blood-sucking Bat, from the same country; and the different kinds of fruit-eating Bats, found in America and Australia, and sometimes called flying foxes, on account of their great size. The Bats of temperate climates remain torpid during the winter. Gay has these lines:—
"Where swallows in the winter season keep;
And here the drowsy bat and dormouse sleep."
Young Bats have been taken, when hovering near the ground, by throwing handfuls of sand, but they rarely live in confinement: they often die within a week after their capture. A Bat, taken in Elgin, gave birth to a young one, which was for two days suckled by its parent. Before she reached the age of three days the young bat died, and the parent only survived another day to mourn her loss. Sometimes females, when taken, have young ones clinging to their breast, in the act of sucking; and the female can fly with ease, though two little ones are attached to her, which weigh nearly as much as the parent.
To return to an exaggeration of a famous old traveller. In "Purchas his Pilgrimage," the materials for which he borrowed from above thirteen hundred authors, when speaking of the island of Madura, in the South of India, he says:—"In these partes are Battes as big as Hennes, which the people roast and eat."
THE HEDGEHOG.
OF this animal some strange things are recorded. It is placed by Cuvier at the head of the insect-devouring Mammifera. It is found in Europe, Africa, and India. Its body is covered with strong and sharp prickles, and by the help of a muscle it can contract itself into a ball, and so withdraw its whole underpart, head, belly, and legs, within this thicket of prickles:
"Like Hedgehogs, which
Lie tumbling in my barefoot way, and mount
Their pricks at my foot-fall."
—Shakspeare's "Tempest."
Sir Thomas Browne, in his "Vulgar Errors," has this odd conceit:—"Few have belief to swallow, or hope enough to experience, the collyrium of Albertus; that is, to make one see in the dark: yet thus much, according to his receipts, will the right eye of an Hedgehog, boiled in oil, and preserved in a brazen vessel, effect."
Hedgehog was an old term of reproach; but we have heard a well-set argument compared to a hedgehog—all points.
The food of the Hedgehog, which is a nocturnal animal, consists principally of insects, worms, slugs, and snails. That it will eat vegetables is shown by White of Selborne, who relates how it eats the root of the plantain by boring beneath it, leaving the tuft of leaves untouched.
The Hedgehog is reputed to supply itself with a winter covering of leaves. So far as we are aware, it has not been observed in the act of forming the covering of leaves, though it is supposed to roll itself about till its spines take up a sufficient number, in the same way as it is popularly believed (without proof) to do with apples. Blumenbach states that he was assured, "by three credible witnesses," that Hedgehogs so gather fruit; but Buffon, who kept several Hedgehogs for observation, declares they never practise any such habit.
The voracity of the Hedgehog is very great. A female, with a young one, was placed in a kitchen, having the run of the beetles at night, besides having always bread and milk within their reach. One day, however, the servants heard a mysterious crunching sound in the kitchen, and found, on examination, that nothing was left of the young Hedgehog but the skin and prickles—the mother had devoured her little pig! A Hedgehog has also been known to eat a couple of rabbits which had been confined with it, and killing others; it has likewise been known to kill hares.
A Hedgehog was placed in one hamper, a wood-pigeon in another, and two starlings in a third; the lid of each hamper was tied down with string, and the hampers were placed in a garden-house, which was fastened in the evening. Next morning the strings to the hampers were found severed, the starlings and wood-pigeon dead and eaten, feathers alone remaining in their hampers, and the Hedgehog alive in the wood-pigeon's hamper. As no other animal could have got into the garden-house it was concluded that the Hedgehog had killed and eaten the birds.
In the "Zoological Journal," vol. ii., is an account by Mr. Broderip of an experiment made by Professor Buckland proving that in captivity at least the Hedgehog will devour snakes; but there is no good reason for supposing that it will not do the same in a state of nature, for frogs, toads, and other reptiles, and mice, have been recorded as its prey. From its fondness for insects it is often placed in the London kitchens to keep down the swarm of cockroaches with which they are infested; and there are generally Hedgehogs on sale at Covent Garden Market for this purpose.
The idle story that the persecuted Hedgehog sucks cows has been thus quaintly refuted:—"In the case of an animal giving suck, the teat is embraced round by the mouth of the young one, so that no air can pass between; a vacuum is made, or the air is exhausted from its throat, by a power in the lungs; nevertheless the pressure of the air remains still upon the outside of the dug of the mother, and by these two causes together the milk is forced in the mouth of the young one. But a Hedgehog has no such mouth as to be able to contain the teat of a cow; therefore any vacuum which is caused in its own throat cannot be communicated to the milk in the dug. And if he is able to procure no other food but what he can get by sucking cows in the night, there is likely to be a vacuum in his stomach too." (New Catalogue of Vulgar Errors. By Stephen Fovargue, A.M., 1786.) Yet, according to Sir William Jardine, the Hedgehog is very fond of eggs; and is consequently very mischievous in the game-preserve and hen-house.
One of the most interesting facts in the natural history of the Hedgehog is that announced in 1831 by M. Lenz, and subsequently confirmed by Professor Buckland: this is, that the most violent poisons have no effect upon it; a fact which renders it of peculiar value in forests, where it appears to destroy a great number of noxious reptiles. M. Lenz says that he had in his house a female Hedgehog, which he kept in a large box, and which soon became very mild and familiar. He often put into the box some adders, which it attacked with avidity, seizing them indifferently by the head, the body, and the tail, and not appearing alarmed or embarrassed when they coiled themselves around its body. On one occasion M. Lenz witnessed a fight between a Hedgehog and a viper. When the Hedgehog came near and smelled the snake, for with these animals the sense of sight is very obtuse, she seized it by the head, and held it fast between her teeth, but without appearing to do it much harm; for having disengaged its head, it assumed a furious and menacing attitude, and, hissing vehemently, inflicted severe bites on the Hedgehog. The animal did not, however, recoil from the bites of the viper, or indeed seem to care much about them. At last, when the reptile was fatigued by its efforts, she again seized it by the head, which she ground beneath her teeth, compressing the fangs and glands of poison, and then devouring every part of the body. M. Lenz says that battles of this sort often occurred in the presence of many persons, and sometimes the Hedgehog received eight or ten wounds on the ears, the snout, and even on the tongue, without seeming to experience any of the ordinary symptoms produced by the venom of the viper. Neither herself nor the young which she was then suckling seemed to suffer from it. This observation agrees with that of Pallas, who assures us that the Hedgehog can eat about a hundred Cantharides (Spanish Flies) without experiencing any of the effects which this insect, taken inwardly, produces on men, dogs, and cats. A German physician, who made the Hedgehog a particular object of study, gave it strong doses of prussic acid, of arsenic, of opium, and of corrosive sublimate, none of which did it any harm. The Hedgehog in its natural state only feeds on pears, apples, and other fruits when it can get nothing it likes better.
The Hedgehog hybernates regularly, and early in the summer brings forth from two to four young ones at a birth, which, at the time of their production, are blind, and have the spines white, soft, and flexible. The nest wherein they are cradled is said to be very artificially constructed, the roof being rain-proof.
The flesh of the Hedgehog, when it has been well fed, is sweet and well flavoured, and is eaten on the Continent in many places. In Britain a few besides gipsies partake of it. The prickly skin appears to have been used by the Romans for hackling hemp.
Gilbert White notes that when the Hedgehog is very young it can draw its skin down over its face, but is not able to contract itself into a ball, as the creature does, for the sake of defence when full grown. The reason, White supposes, is because the curious muscle that enables the Hedgehog to roll itself up into a ball has not then arrived at its full tone and firmness. Hedgehogs conceal themselves for the winter in their warm hybernaculum of leaves and moss; but White could never find that they stored in any winter provision, as some quadrupeds certainly do.
THE HIPPOPOTAMUS IN ENGLAND.
IN the year 1850 there was exhibited in London a living Hippopotamus, for many centuries the only instance of this extraordinary animal being seen in Europe.
There is something irresistibly striking in seeing a living animal, not one of whose species we have before seen, and especially when that animal is a large one, as in the instance before us. We had been wonderstruck at forms of this creature in the old British Museum, where were two finely-preserved specimens. The Rhinoceros alive was, until of late years, very rare in England. In 1834 Mr. Cross paid some 1,500l. for a young Indian one-horned Rhinoceros, this being the only one brought to England for twenty years. He proved attractive, but slightly so in comparison with the expectation of a living Hippopotamus, never witnessed before in this country. The circumstances of his acquisition were as follows:—
The Zoological Society of London had long been anxious to obtain a living Hippopotamus for their menagerie, but without success. An American agent at Alexandria had offered 5,000l. for an animal of this species, but in vain; no speculator could be induced to encounter the risk and labour of an expedition to the White Nile for the purpose of securing the animal. The desire of the Zoological Society was communicated to the Viceroy of Egypt, who saw the difficulty. Hasselquist states it to have been impossible to bring the living animal to Cairo; and the French savans, attached to the expedition to Egypt, who ascended the Nile above Syene, did not meet with one Hippopotamus. Caillaud, however, asserts that he saw forty Hippopotami in the Upper Nile, though their resort lay fifteen hundred miles or more from Cairo. Here they were often shot with rifle-balls, but to take one alive was another matter. However, by command of the Viceroy, the proper parties were sent in search of the animal.
In August, 1849, the hunters having reached the island of Fobaysch, on the White Nile, about 2,000 miles above Cairo, shot a large female Hippopotamus in full chase up the river. The wounded creature turned aside and made towards some bushes on the island bank, but sank dead in the effort. The hunters, however, kept on towards the bushes, when a young Hippopotamus, supposed to have been recently brought forth, not much bigger than a new-born calf, but stouter and lower, rushed down the bank of the river, was secured by a boatman and lifted into the boat. The captors started with their charge down the Nile. The food of their young animal was their next anxiety; he liked neither fish, flesh, fruit, nor grass. The boat next stopped at a village; their cows were seized and milked, and the young charge lapped up the produce. A good milch cow was taken on board, and with this supply the Hippopotamus reached Cairo. The colour of his skin at this time was a dull reddish brown. He was shown to the Pasha in due form; the present created intense wonder and interest in Cairo; gaping crowds filled its narrow sandy streets, and a whale at London-bridge would scarcely excite half so much curiosity.
It being thought safer for the animal to winter in Cairo than to proceed forthwith on his journey, the Consul had duly prepared to receive the young stranger, for whom he had engaged a sort of nurse. Hamet Safi Cannana. An apartment was allotted to the Hippopotamus in the court-yard of the Consul's house, leading to a warm or tepid bath. His milk-diet, however, became a troublesome affair, for the new comer never drank less than from twenty to thirty quarts daily.
By the next mail after the arrival of the Hippopotamus, the Consul despatched the glad tidings to the Zoological Society. The animal was shipped at Alexandria, in the Ripon steamer. On the main deck was built a house, from which were steps down into an iron tank in the hold, containing 400 gallons of water, as a bath: it was filled with fresh water every other day.
Early in May, the Hippopotamus was conveyed in the canal-boat, with Hamet Safi Cannana, to Alexandria, where the debarkation was witnessed by 10,000 spectators. The animal bore the voyage well. He lived exclusively on milk, of which he consumed daily about forty pints, yielded by the cows taken on board. He was very tame, and, like a faithful dog, followed his Arab attendant Hamet, who was seldom away more than five minutes without being summoned to return by a loud grunt. Hamet slept in a berth with the Hippopotamus. On May 25 they were landed at Southampton, and sent by railway to London. On arriving at the Zoological Society's Gardens, Hamet walked first out of the transport van, with a bag of dates over his shoulder, and the Hippopotamus trotted after him. Next morning he greatly enjoyed the bath which had been prepared for him. Although scarcely twelve months old, his massive proportions indicated the enormous power to be developed in his maturer growth; while the grotesque expression of his physiognomy far exceeded all that could be imagined from the stuffed specimens in museums, and the figures which had hitherto been published from the reminiscences of travellers.
Among the earliest visitors was Professor Owen, who first saw the Hippopotamus lying on its side in the straw, with its head resting against the chair in which sat the swarthy attendant. It now and then grunted softly, and, lazily opening its thick, smooth eyelids, leered at its keeper with a singular protruding movement of the eyeball from the prominent socket, showing an unusual proportion of the white. The retraction of the eyeball was accompanied by a simultaneous rolling obliquely downwards, or inwards, or forwards. The young animal, then ten months' old, was seven feet long, and six and a-half in girth at the middle of the barrel-shaped trunk, supported, clear of the ground, on very short and thick legs, each terminated by four spreading hoofs, the two middle ones being the largest, and answering to those in the hog. The naked hide, covering the broad back and sides, was of a dark, india-rubber colour, with numerous fine wrinkles crossing each other, but disposed almost transversely. The beast had just left its bath, when a glistening secretion gave the hide, in the sunshine, a very peculiar aspect. When the animal was younger, the secretion had a reddish colour, and the whole surface of the hide became painted over with it every time he quitted his bath.
The ears, which were very short, conical, and fringed with hairs, it moved about with much vivacity. The skin around them was of a light reddish-brown colour, and almost flesh-coloured round the eyelids, which defended the prominent eyes, which had a few short hairs on the margin of the upper lid. The colour of the iris was of a dark brown. The nostrils, situated on prominences, which the animal had the power of raising on the upper part of the broad and massive muzzle, were short oblique slits, guarded by two valves, which were opened and closed spontaneously, like the eyelids. The movements of these apertures were most conspicuous when the beast was in the bath.
The wide mouth was chiefly remarkable for the upward curve of its angles towards the eyes, giving a quaintly comic expression to the massive countenance. The short and small milk-tusks projected a little, and the minute incisors appeared to be sunk in pits of the thick gums; but the animal would not permit any close examination of the teeth, withdrawing his head from the attempt, and then threatening to bite. The muzzle was beset with short bristles, split into tufts or pencils of hairs; and fine and short hairs were scattered all over the back and sides. The tail was not long, rather flattened and tapering to an obtuse point.
We may here observe that, at certain moments, the whole aspect of the head suggested to one the idea of what may have been the semblance of some of the gigantic extinct Batrachians (as sirens), the relics of a former world, whose fossil bones in the galleries of Palæontology in the British Museum excite our special wonder.
After lying about an hour, now and then raising its head, and swivelling its eyeballs towards the keeper, or playfully opening its huge mouth, and threatening to bite the leg of the chair on which the keeper sat, the Hippopotamus rose, and walked very slowly about its room, and then uttered a loud and short harsh snort four or five times in quick succession, reminding one of the snort of a horse, and ending with an explosive sound, like a bark. The keeper understood the language—the animal desired to return to its bath.
The Hippopotamus carried its head rather depressed, reminding one of a large prize hog, but with a breadth of muzzle and other features peculiarly its own. The keeper opened the door leading into a paddock, and walked thence to the bath, the Hippopotamus following, like a dog, close to his heels. On arriving at the bath-room, the animal descended with some deliberation the flight of low steps leading into the water, stooped and drank a little, dipped his head under, and then plunged forwards. The creature seemed inspired with new life and activity. Sinking to the bottom of the bath, and moving about submerged for a while, it suddenly rose with a bound almost bodily out of the water. Splashing back, it commenced swimming and plunging about, rolling from side to side, taking in mouthfuls of water and spirting them out again, raising every now and then its huge and grotesque head, and biting the woodwork of the margin of the bath. The broad rounded back of the animal being now chiefly in view, it seemed a much larger object than when out of the water.
After half an hour spent in this amusement, the Hippopotamus quitted the water at the call of its keeper, and followed him back to the sleeping-room, which was well bedded with straw, and where a stuffed sack was provided for its pillow, of which the animal, having a very short neck, thicker than the head, availed itself when it slept. When awake, it was very impatient of any absence of its favourite attendant. It would rise on its hind legs, and threaten to break down the wooden fence, by butting and pushing against it in a way very significant of its great muscular force. The animal appeared to be in perfect health, and breathed, when at rest, slowly and regularly, from three to four times in a minute. Its food was now a kind of porridge, of milk and maize-meat, it being more than half weaned from milk diet. Its appetite had been in no respect diminished by the confinement and inconvenience of the sea voyage, or by change of climate. All observers appear to have agreed that, to see the Hippopotamus rightly, is to see him in the water. There his activity is only surpassed by that of the otter or the seal. Such was one of the opportunities afforded to zoologists for "studying this most remarkable and interesting African mammal, of which no living specimen had been seen in Europe since the period when Hippopotami were last exhibited by the third Gordian in the amphitheatre of imperial Rome." [7]
It is now time to glance at the general economy of the Hippopotamus, as he is seen in his native rivers and wilds. In early days, as his Roman name imports, it was usual to consider him as a species of horse, inhabiting rivers and marshy grounds, and, in a more especial manner, the denizen of the Nile. The genus is placed by Linnæus among his belluæ, between equus and sus. The skeleton approaches that of the ox and of the hog, but it presents differences from that of any other animal.
The Hippopotamus is found not only in the Nile, but in the rivers of southern Africa. In the former stream of marvels, Hasselquist relates that "the oftener the River Horse goes on shore, the better hope have the Egyptians of a sufficient swelling or increase of the Nile." Again, they say that the River Horse is an inveterate enemy to the crocodile, and kills it whenever he meets it; adding that he does much damage to the Egyptians in those places he frequents. He goes on shore, and, in a short space of time, destroys an entire field of corn or clover, not leaving the least verdure, for he is very voracious.
Yet neither of these stories is so marvellous as that which a sailor related to Dampier, the old traveller:—"I have seen," says the mariner, "one of these animals open its jaws, and, seizing a boat between its teeth, at one bite sink it to the bottom. I have seen it, on another occasion, place itself under one of our boats, and, rising under it, overset it with six men who were in it, but who, however, happily received no other injury."
Professor Smith and Captain Tuckey, in exploring the Congo River, in South Africa, saw in a beautiful sandy cove, at the opening of a creek, behind a long projecting point, an immense number of Hippopotami; and in the evening a number of alligators were also seen there; an association hardly consistent with the hostility related by Hasselquist.
Captain Tuckey observed Hippopotami with their heads above the water, "snorting in the air." In another part of his narrative he says:—"Many Hippopotami were visible close to our tents at Condo Yanga. No use firing at these animals in the water; the only way is to wait till they come on shore to feed at night."
Le Vaillant had an opportunity of watching the progress of a Hippopotamus under water at Great River, which contained many of these animals. On all sides he could hear them bellow and blow. Anxious to observe them, he mounted on the top of an elevated rock which advanced into the river, and he saw one walking at the bottom of the water. Le Vaillant killed it at the moment when it came to the surface to breathe. It was a very old female, and many people, in their surprise, and to express its size, called it the Grandmother of the River.
The traveller Lander tells us that, on the Niger. Hippopotami are termed water-elephants. One stormy night, as they were sailing up this unexplored current, they fell in with great numbers of Hippopotami, who came plashing, snorting, and plunging all round the canoe. Thinking to frighten them off, the travellers fired a shot or two at them, but the noise only called up from the water and out of the fens about as many more Hippopotami, and they were more closely beset than before. Lander's people, who had never, in all their lives, been exposed to such formidable beasts, trembled with fear, and absolutely wept aloud; whilst peals of thunder rattled over their heads, and the most vivid lightning showed the terrifying scene. Hippopotami frequently upset canoes in the river. When the Landers fired, every one of them came to the surface of the water, and pursued them over to the north bank. A second firing was followed by a loud roaring noise. However, the Hippopotami did the travellers no kind of mischief whatever.
Captain Gordon, when among the Bakalahari, in South Africa, bagged no fewer than fifteen first-rate Hippopotami; the greater number of them being bulls.
In 1828, there was brought to England the head of a Hippopotamus, with all the flesh about it, in high preservation. The animal was harpooned while in combat with a crocodile in a lake in the interior of Africa. The head measured nearly four feet in length, and eight feet in circumference; the jaws opened two feet, and the cutting teeth, of which it had four in each jaw, were above a foot long, and four inches in circumference.
The utility of this vast pachydermatous, or thick-skinned animal, to man is considerable. That he can be destructive has already been shown in his clearance of the cultivated banks of rivers. The enormous ripping, chisel-like teeth of the lower jaw fit him for uprooting. The ancient Egyptians held the animal as an emblem of power, though this may have arisen from his reputed destruction of the crocodile. The flesh is much esteemed for food, both among the natives and colonists of South Africa. The blood of the animal is said to have been used by the old Indian painters in mixing their colours. The skin is extensively employed for making whips.
But there is no part of the Hippopotamus more in request than the great canine teeth, the ivory of which is so highly valued by dentists for making artificial teeth, on account of its keeping its colour better than any other kind. This superiority was not unknown to the ancients Pausanias mentions the statue of Dindymene, whose face was formed of the teeth of Hippopotami, instead of elephants' ivory. The canine teeth are imported in great numbers into England, and sell at a very high price. From the closeness of the ivory, the weight of the teeth, a part only of which is available for the artificial purpose above mentioned, is great in proportion to its bulk; and the article has fetched about thirty shillings per pound.
The ancient history of the Hippopotamus is extremely curious, and we have many representations of him in coins, in sculpture, and in paintings, which prove, beyond question, that the artists, as well as the writers, had a distinct knowledge of what they intended to represent.
The earliest notice which occurs in any author, and which has been considered by many to be a description of the Hippopotamus, is the celebrated account in the fortieth and forty-first chapter of the Book of Job of Behemoth and Leviathan. Many learned men have contended that "Behemoth" really means "Elephant," and thus the Zurich version of the Bible translates the Hebrew by "Elephas."
In the edition of the English Bible, printed by Robert Barker, in 1615, for King James I., and since considered as the authorised version, the word "Behemoth" is preserved in the text, and the following annotation is added:—"This beast is thought to bee the Elephant, or some other which is unknowen." Bochart, Ludolph, and some others, have contended warmly in favour of the Hippopotamus. Cuvier thinks, that though this animal is probably intended, yet that the description is too vague for any one to hold a certain opinion on the subject. The theory started by Bochart, and in the main supported by Cuvier, is generally supposed the real one. The description in the Book of Job, though doubtless vague, and in the highest degree poetical, has yet sufficient marks to render the identification perfectly easy, while there are certain peculiarities mentioned, which even a poetical imagination could hardly apply to the Elephant. Thus, when it is said of him, "He lieth under the shady trees, in the desert of the reed and fens; ... the willows of the brook compass him round about," this would seem to be the description of an animal which frequented the water much more than Elephants are accustomed to do. Again, in the fuller description of "Leviathan," in the forty-first chapter, we think it is quite clear that a water animal is intended, though what is there stated might be held to apply to the crocodile as well as the Hippopotamus; both are animals remarkable for extreme toughness of skin, and both are almost equally difficult to kill or to take alive.
Of profane authors, Herodotus is the first who notices this animal, but his account is far from accurate: the size he states as large as the biggest ox. That the animal was sacred, in some parts at least, appears from Herodotus, who says:—"Those which are found in the district of Paprennis are sacred, but in other parts of Egypt they are not considered in the same light." Aristotle makes it no bigger than an ass; Diodorus, an elephant; Pliny ascribes to it the tail and teeth of a boar, adding, that helmets and bucklers are made of the skin. Hippopotami figured in the triumphal processions of the Roman conquerors on their return home. M. Scaurus exhibited five crocodiles and an Hippopotamus; and Augustus one in his triumph over Cleopatra. Antoninus exhibited Hippopotami, with lions and other animals; Commodus no less than five, some of which he slew with his own hand. Heliogabalus, and the third Gordian, also exhibited Hippopotami.
The Hippopotamus of the London Zoological Society was joined by his mate, the more juvenile "Adhela," in 1853. Two Hippopotami have lately been born in Europe; one in the Garden of Plants, at Paris, in 1858; and another in the Zoological Gardens at Amsterdam, in 1866.
With regard to the alleged disappearance of the Hippopotamus from Lower Egypt, Cuvier remarks, that the French savans attached to the Expedition to Egypt, who ascended the Nile above Syene, did not meet with one.
In some of the rivers of Liberia, and other parts, perhaps, of Western Africa, a second species of Hippopotamus exists, and is proved to be a very distinct animal.
We have yet to glance at the Hippopotami of a former world. Many species are recognised in the fossil remains of Europe and Asia as formerly existing in England and in France. Cuvier detected bones of the Hippopotamus among the fossil wealth of the Great Kirkdale Cavern in Yorkshire, in 1821. They have also been found in France, and especially in the Sewatick Hills in India.
In the Museum of the London Zoological Society are two skulls of Hippopotami—one fossil. This measures two feet three inches, and allowing for skin and lip, two feet six inches. Now, as the head is about one-fifth the length of the body, without the tail, the full-grown animal would be little, if any, short of fifteen feet from nose to tail—a size worthy the description of the Behemoth.
We may here add, that Burckhardt, in his "Travels in Nubia," describes the voice of the Hippopotamus as a hard and heavy sound, like the creaking or groaning of a large wooden door. This noise, he says, is made when the animal raises his huge head out of the water, and when he retires into it again.