Animal Life of the British Isles

Part 1

Transcriber's Note: [=o] represents a macron over the letter o. Spelling has been harmonized. CONTENTS categories have been inserted in text.

THE WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND SERIES

ANIMAL LIFE OF THE BRITISH ISLES

ANIMAL LIFE OF THE BRITISH ISLES

A POCKET GUIDE TO THE MAMMALS, REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS OF WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND

BY EDWARD STEP, F.L.S.

AUTHOR OF "WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND TREES" "WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND BLOSSOMS," ETC., ETC.

WITH 111 PLATES FROM PHOTOGRAPHS INCLUDING 48 IN COLOUR BY W. J. STOKOE

LONDON FREDERICK WARNE & CO. LTD. AND NEW YORK 1921

"The lusty life of wood and underwood, . . . . . . . . The tawny Squirrel vaulting through the boughs, The Deer, the high-back'd Polecat, the Wild Boar, The burrowing Badger."

TENNYSON, The Foresters.

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

PREFACE

It is unnecessary to say much by way of Preface to the present volume, the series of popular handbooks of which it forms part being so widely known to Nature-lovers. The same methods of treatment that were followed in the previous volumes have been pursued here, though the smaller number of species falling within its scope has allowed a fuller consideration of each.

With the exception of the birds (dealt with in Mr. Coward's companion volumes), all the terrestrial animals endowed with a bony framework are included. There are, indeed, a few other native mammals that might have been described; but as they are restricted to the sea it was felt to be undesirable to include their life-histories in the "Wayside and Woodland Series."

The Author and Publishers desire to express their thanks to the undermentioned naturalist photographers who have contributed their admirable work for reproduction, viz.: Mr. Douglas English, F.Z.S., for Plates 1, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 20, 23, 25, 26, 27, 37 to 41, 46, 47, 48, 50, 53 to 62, 65, 66, 69, 70, 71, 75, 84, 89, 90, 93, 96, 97, 98, 101, 103, 104, 105, and the lower photograph on Plate 109. To Mr. Oxley Grabham for Plates 3, 4, 7, 8, 21, 24, 28, 30, 32, 43, 49, 52, 63, 85, 94, 95, and 107. Mr. Riley Fortune for Plates 16, 19, 33, 45, 51, 77 to 80, 82, and 88. Mr. Charles Reid for Plates 2, 34, 35, 42, 64, 73, 76, and 83. Mr. Stanley C. Johnson, B.A., for Plates 92, 99, 100, 106, 108, 110, 111, and the upper subject on Plate 109. Mr. E. W. Taylor for Plates 18, 86, and 91.

The Author's own contribution consists of Plates 9, 13, 22, 29, 31, 36, 44, 67, 68, 72, 74, and 87.

The appearance of 48 of these photographs in the natural colours is due to the skilful work of Mr. W. J. Stokoe.

CONTENTS PAGE

PREFACE v

INTRODUCTORY 1

INSECT-EATERS: MOLE, SHREWS, AND HEDGEHOG 9

FLYING MAMMALS: BATS 30

FLESH-EATERS: FOX, BADGER, OTTER, WEASELS, MARTENS, AND WILD CAT 52

GNAWING ANIMALS: RABBIT, HARES, DORMOUSE, VOLES, MICE, RATS, AND SQUIRRELS 78

HOOFED ANIMALS: RED DEER, FALLOW DEER, AND ROE DEER 124

LIZARDS AND SLOW-WORM 136

SNAKES 146

Part 2

AMPHIBIOUS ANIMALS: FROGS, TOADS, AND NEWTS 157

CLASSIFIED INDEX TO ORDERS, GENERA, AND SPECIES 179

GENERAL INDEX 181

INTRODUCTORY

Apart from the birds and the fishes, the vertebrates or backboned animals of the British Islands constitute a very select group. Within the historical period several former notable members of that company have ceased to be represented in the freedom of nature in this country, and their forms can be studied only in museums and zoological gardens. Although we have to regret the absence from our list of the Beaver and the Wild Boar, the Ure-ox and the Short-horned Wild Ox, the Brown Bear and the savage Wolf, there are still sufficient of our vertebrates left to give a zest to the observations of the rambler in the woodlands, over the mountains and along the quiet waysides and streams of our country.

To observe these mammals, reptiles, and batrachians we must go afoot: the bicycle or the motor-car is of use only to convey us quickly out of town to appropriate localities in the open country. Arrived there, quietness must be the order of the day--the footfall light and the voice lowered in conversation if there are two or more in company. The sitter will see far more than the man who wants to perambulate the entire wood or explore the acreage of moorland. A comfortable seat having been chosen with deliberation for the view it affords of a wood margin, a hillside, or stream curve, according to the habits of the creatures we are hoping to see, the field-glass should be brought into requisition, and every inch of the field of vision carefully and repeatedly scanned. The movement of a grass-blade, the trembling of a fern frond or the rustling of a dead leaf will often indicate the precise spot to be watched. It will be understood that as most of these creatures are more or less nocturnal in their activities, observation must be continued until sometime after dusk at least, in order to be successful.

If the observer is new to this work, he should endeavour, if possible--on the first occasion at least--to get as companion a friend who has already some experience of field-work. A day with such a companion will do more to open his eyes than a whole chapter of printed hints; for it is as true to-day as it was in 1855, when Charles Kingsley wrote in his "Glaucus"--"The greatest difficulty in the way of beginners is (as in most things) to 'learn the art of learning.' They go out, search, find less than they expected, and give the subject up in disappointment. It is good to begin, therefore, if possible by playing the part of 'jackal' to some practised naturalist, who will show the tyro where to look, what to look for, and, moreover, what it is that he has found: often no easy matter to discover." On that last point the "Wayside and Woodland Series" has done much to simplify matters.

Respecting the utility of taking an interest in these fellow inhabitants of our country, one of the intellectual giants of the Victorian Age described Natural History "as the greatest of all sources of that pleasure which is derivable from beauty. I do not pretend," he says, "that natural history knowledge, as such, can increase our sense of the beautiful in natural objects. I do not suppose that the dead soul of Peter Bell, of whom the great poet of nature says--

"'A primrose by the river's brim, A yellow primrose was to him-- And it was nothing more,'

would have been a whit roused from its apathy by the information that the primrose is a Dicotyledonous Exogen with a monopetalous corolla and central placentation. But I advocate natural history knowledge from this point of view, because it would lead us to seek the beauties of natural objects, instead of trusting to chance to force them on our attention. To a person uninstructed in natural history, his country or sea-side stroll is a walk through a gallery filled with wonderful works of art, nine-tenths of which have their faces turned to the wall. Teach him something of natural history, and you place in his hands a catalogue of those which are worth turning round. Surely our innocent pleasures are not so abundant in this life that we can afford to despise this or any other source of them. We should fear being banished for our neglect to that limbo, where the great Florentine tells us are those who during this life 'wept when they might be joyful.'"

Some of the species described have a very limited range in our country at present, the Deer, for example, being restricted as wild animals to-day to the Scottish mountains and glens and the West Country moors, but even these may be studied as tolerably free animals in the New Forest, Epping Forest, and in many parks such as those at Windsor and Richmond, as well as in private domains. To the Deer we must add the Wild Cat, the Pine Marten, and the Alpine Hare as mammals that must be sought in special restricted areas; but most of the others may be reckoned to be met with, sooner rather than later, in our country rambles.

In view of the practice usual in natural histories of arranging the vertebrate animals in a series with the Birds separating the Mammals from the Reptiles, it may at first sight appear incongruous to bring the latter classes together as we have done; but to the present writer the fitness of this arrangement is quite clear. It is widely held that the Mammalia--the highest class of vertebrates, and therefore the most complex of all animals--have been evolved from an extinct group (Theromorpha) of Reptiles, whose remains are found in strata of the Permian and Jurassic Periods. There are, it is true, similar evidences furnished by the rocks showing that the Birds had a reptilian origin; but the Birds did not form an evolutionary stage between the Reptile and the Mammal, but evolved side by side with the latter.

Continue reading Animal Life of the British Isles free in the Wunder reader →