Part 15

The red deer, the typical representative of the family Cervidæ, is the largest and handsomest European member of that group, although it attains its maximum development in point of bodily size and massiveness of antlers only in eastern Europe and south-western Asia. As in most members of the deer tribe inhabiting temperate countries, there is considerable seasonal difference in the colour of the coat, and the fawns differ remarkably in this respect from their parents. There are also distinctions in colour between the various local races of the species. The ordinary name refers to the fact that in summer a more or less distinct rufous colour prevails on the upper-parts. Here it may be remarked that deer do not in most cases present that marked contrast between the upper and the lower surfaces of the body so characteristic of gazelles and many other members of the antelope group. And the reason for this is not difficult to explain. As mentioned in the text accompanying the plate of that species, the white under-parts of the gazelle are for the purpose of counteracting the dark shadow thrown by the body when standing in full sunlight, and thus to render the animal inconspicuous. Deer, on the other hand, are in the main nocturnal and forest-dwelling creatures, and this type of protective colouring would therefore be useless in their case. The chital, or Indian spotted deer, is, however, much less nocturnal than most species, and also feeds to a great extent in the open; and it is interesting to notice that, in accordance with such habits, this species is white-bellied.

Notable features in the red deer are the shortness of the tail, and the straw-coloured patch on the buttocks in which that brief appendage is included; the same features recurring in its near relative the wapiti. As in all similar cases among ruminants, the light rump-patch serves as a guide to the members of a herd; the place of this being taken in certain other species, such as the fallow deer and the American white-tailed deer, by the pure white under surface of the tail, which is raised when the animals are running.

The antlers of the stag are characterised by the number and regular arrangement of the tines; and more especially, in their fullest development, by the duplication of the first, or brow, tine, and the cup-like arrangement of the terminal snags.

Two features indicate that the red deer is what naturalists term a highly specialised animal. These are, firstly, the shortness of the tail, and, secondly, the white-spotted coat of the fawn, so utterly different from that of the adults of the typical western representative of the species. In the race inhabiting the Caucasus yellowish spots are, however, frequently observable in the coats of full-grown hinds, while similar spots may be developed in adult stags of the North African race,--the so-called Barbary deer. These features clearly indicate that the red deer is descended from a species which was fully spotted at all ages.

The range of the red deer includes, with the exception of the far north, practically the whole of Europe, as well as Asia Minor and part of Persia. From many parts of western Europe these splendid animals have, however, been exterminated; and in the British Isles they survive in a wild state only in Devon and Somerset, the highlands and isles of Scotland, and parts of Ireland. The red deer of the Caspian district and the neighbouring countries, commonly known (from its Persian name) as the maral, is a much larger and also a greyer animal, with heavier antlers, than its west European representative. The latter have been split up into several local races, which need not, however, be particularised in this place.

The food of the red deer varies considerably according to the time of year, and comprises grass and other herbage, corn, leaves and boughs, bark, acorns, chestnuts, funguses, lichens, and moss. In autumn, when living near cultivated ground, deer will dig up with their hoofs, potatoes, artichokes, and other edible roots.

The pairing-time commences early in September, and continues till the middle of October; and at this season, when they utter the well-known bellowing or roaring, the stags not only fight fiercely among themselves for the mastery of the herd, but are highly dangerous to human beings. At no time very amiable, the stags at this season are little better than incarnate fiends. Soon after the breeding-season the antlers are shed, to be replaced by new growths, covered at first with soft velvety skin, the following spring.

At the end of May or early in June the hind seeks a sequestered situation amid covert in which to give birth to her fawn. The fawns, of which there may occasionally be twins, are extremely helpless at birth, but in a short time gain sufficient strength to run by the side of their mothers.

THE BEAVER

(Castor fiber)

The beaver enjoys the distinction of being the only warm-blooded quadruped that is in the habit of making really noticeable modifications in the appearance of the earth’s surface. Many quadrupeds, such as foxes, ant-bears, rabbits, and rats and mice burrow holes in the ground, while the mole marks the course of its subterranean tunnels by throwing up heaps of earth at intervals. But although such excavations and hillocks, when sufficiently numerous, may to a slight degree affect the appearance of a meadow, they are nothing in comparison to the changes brought in a valley by a colony of beavers. By throwing a dam across its course, these industrious rodents will convert a narrow stream into a wide sheet of stagnant water, which in the course of time may become silted up so as to form a broad and level “beaver-meadow,” where there was originally a rocky valley. In or near their dams beavers likewise construct dwellings of mud and clay, known in America as “lodges,” for their own accommodation.

But this is by no means all beavers accomplish in the way of “public works,” for, by means of the single pair of powerful chisel-like teeth in the fore part of each jaw and the powerful muscles by which the jaws themselves are worked, these animals, which are about the size of an ordinary spaniel, are enabled to fell trees of considerable size, which are used in the construction of their dams.

Beavers are the sole living representatives of a family of rodents allied on the one hand to squirrels and dormice, and on the other to rats and mice. Two structural peculiarities are very characteristic of these rodents. In the first place, one of the toes of the fore-foot is provided with a double claw, which may be used in dressing the beautiful, long brown fur; a similar structure occurring in the smaller rodent known as the Arctic lemming (Dicrostonyx torquatus). Secondly, there is the remarkable flattened, scaly tail, which almost looks as though it did not belong to the animal, although in reality, except for its superior size, it is not much more abnormal than the scaly cylindrical tail of the rat. Several myths attach to the beaver’s tail; it was said, for instance, to be employed as a trowel for plastering down the mud used in building the dams and lodges, although its real use is to act as a rudder in swimming, more especially when its owner is transporting the trunk of a felled tree. When entering the water, or when engaged in playing therein, the beaver frequently makes a resounding “smack” by striking the surface with its tail.

In monkish times beaver-tail was considered to partake more of the nature of fish than flesh, and was consequently allowed to be eaten on fast days. This was, however, in the days when beavers were still abundant in all the great rivers of Europe, from most of which they have now been all but exterminated for the sake of their valuable fur, and likewise for the odoriferous secretion known as castoreum, which was formerly much used both in medicine and in perfumery. When the last beaver was killed in the British Isles is unknown, but the species still survived in Wales when the old chronicles were written; and we have testimony as to its former existence in England not only in the shape of skulls, teeth, and bones dug up from time to time in the peat of the fens and other superficial deposits, but also in place-names such as Beverley, in Yorkshire.

Considerable colonies of beavers still exist, by the aid of special protection, in certain parts of Scandinavia, while a few are taken from time to time in the Rhone, but from the Rhine, and even the Vistula, they seem to have completely disappeared. In eastern Russia they probably still survive locally, as they doubtless do over a large part of Siberia, although our information on this point is very defective. Indeed the southern range of the beaver in central Asia seems to be still unknown, although it is certain that the species never existed in Kashmir or the Himalaya.

Of late years it has been suggested that each of the great European river-systems possessed a special race of beavers of its own; but the evidence adduced in favour of this opinion is at present insufficient. Speaking broadly, the beaver may be regarded as a circumpolar animal; although its American representative has been separated, on account of a comparatively small difference in the shape of the bones covering the cavity of the nose, as a distinct species, under the name of Castor canadensis. Unfortunately, the Canadian beaver has been almost as much persecuted as its European relative, and has been exterminated from many districts.

Beavers, it need scarcely be mentioned, are thoroughly aquatic rodents, which feed on vegetable substances, and have their entrances to their habitations under water. They remain active all the winter, when they swim beneath the ice. In Europe beavers have given up constructing lodges, and live in burrows.

THE MARMOT

(Arctomys marmotta)

The marmot of the Alps is the typical representative of a large assemblage of burrowing rodents near akin to squirrels; the head-quarters of the group being in central Asia. By rights, of course, the name belongs exclusively to the typical species, but as it has been extended to include all the members of the group, the former is now distinguished as the Alpine marmot. Marmotte, it appears, is the Savoyard name of this rodent, which in the Engadine is designated marmotella, while its German designation is murmeltier.

The typical marmot is confined to Europe, and mainly to the high ranges of the Alps, Pyrenees, and Carpathians. In eastern Europe and western Asia it is replaced by the bobac (Arctomys bobac); and in central Asia there are a number of species, of which several are considerably larger and more brightly coloured than the Alpine animal; none is found to the south of the main range of the Himalaya, and the group is represented elsewhere only by the so-called woodchuck (A. monax) of North America, which attains a length of about 24 inches.

The general colour and appearance of the Alpine marmot are well shown in the Plate; and it will suffice to direct attention to the shortness of the ears as a feature connected with burrowing habits. In one Himalayan species the tail is considerably longer. In the Alps marmots dwell high up among bare rocks, above the zone of vegetation, where not even goats venture, and where it frequently snows for six weeks together in winter. In such desolate situations these hardy rodents make their home in the little islands of rocks between the glaciers. Himalayan marmots, on the other hand, live at an elevation where a considerable amount of vegetable growth flourishes in summer; their burrows being frequently excavated beneath clumps of wild rhubarb.

As summer resorts, Alpine marmots select situations with a southerly, easterly, or westerly aspect on the mountain slopes, and here they construct their summer dwellings, which are designed to afford them shelter in bad weather and to serve as a refuge from danger. In autumn they dig deeper into the sides of the mountains to construct their winter burrows and chambers, which have to afford accommodation for the entire family, whose number generally ranges between five and fifteen individuals. The burrow terminates in a large chamber, which is filled with soft, short hay. As early as August these rodents begin to collect grass, which is spread out on the hillsides to dry, and then carried into the burrows.

The entrance to the burrow is only just wide enough to admit the owners, and at the commencement of the winter-sleep is blocked with earth, stones, clay, grass, and hay. When this work is completed, the whole family falls into a death-like sleep lasting from six to eight months; in this torpid condition, well protected from the intense cold, they remain till awakened to new life by the warmth of returning spring.

Marmots feed upon a number of different kinds of Alpine plants, as well as on the fresh or dried grass found in the neighbourhood of their burrows. When eating, they sit up on their hind-legs and hold the food in their mouths after the manner of squirrels; and the herbage they consume is so full of sap, that they seldom require to drink. The same upright position is assumed when they first come out of their burrows, in order that they may see whether all is safe; if danger threatens, they utter a shrill whistle and disappear with marvellous rapidity into the depths of the burrow. Frequently they take up their position on some large rock in the neighbourhood of the burrow, on which they can either sit up and survey the prospect, or bask in the warmth of the summer sun.

Their extraordinary wariness and the rapidity with which they disappear from view are due to their numerous enemies, among which man, foxes, and eagles and other birds-of-prey are the chief. It requires only the shadow of an eagle’s wings to make them utter their piercing, whistling scream and vanish into the holes, from which they do not reappear for some time. As a rule, they only remain above ground while the sun is shining, and they keep entirely below during bad weather, so that they are regarded by the peasants as weather-prophets.

To the Savoyards and other Alpine peasantry the marmot is a valuable animal; its flesh being much esteemed as food, when it has been freed from a certain disagreeable odour by smoking. The fat is regarded as a remedy for many diseases; and a freshly removed marmot skin is considered wonderfully efficacious in cases of rheumatism. Marmots are caught either by trapping or by digging them out of their burrows. Years ago Savoyard organmen used frequently to be accompanied by a marmot or two.

THE HAMSTER