Part 8

Savage as a wild cat is a proverbial expression; and although in attitudes of repose, like the one selected for the coloured Plate, the ferocity of look may temporarily disappear, there are few animals fiercer or more bloodthirsty than Felis catus. Indeed, a wild cat brought to bay or caught in a trap is a perfect fiend incarnate.

The wild cat and the lynx are the only feline Carnivora indigenous at the present day to central and northern Europe; and of these two the lynx has long since disappeared from the British Isles, and has become very scarce throughout the greater part of the Continent, but is still common in Scandinavia and Russia. The wild cat, on the other hand, survives in most European countries, and is far from uncommon in the Alps and many parts of France and Germany, although in Great Britain its sole remaining refuges are among the highlands of Scotland, and even there it has been suggested that many of the so-called wild cats are hybrids, or domesticated cats run wild. Eastward, the range of the wild cat extends at least as far as the Altai, where its representative has a larger and more woolly coat than the typical western race.

In Africa the place of the European wild cat is taken by a closely allied but somewhat less strongly striped species known as Felis ocreata, of which the northern race was protected and held sacred by the ancient Egyptians in Bubastis and other cities. That the European and the African wild cats have given rise to the domesticated cats of the greater part of the Old World may be considered certain, although there is some difference of opinion as to the respective shares taken by the two wild species in the production of the tame breeds. Among the ordinary house-cats of western Europe, the type coming nearest to the wild ancestor is the one with black transverse stripes on a grey ground. The true tabby, on the other hand, that is to say the type in which the dark markings take the form of broad longitudinal or obliquely longitudinal bands arrayed in a ring-like or spiral manner on the flanks, is unlike either of the two wild cats, and it has been suggested that it may have had a totally distinct ancestry.

By choice the wild cat, which for most of the year lives alone, frequents large, thick, and sequestered pine-forests, where it selects rocky situations as affording the best hiding-places. In addition to clefts in the rocks, it chooses, however, for its lair the burrows of the fox or the badger, or holes in large tree-trunks, while it will sometimes make its abode in thick bushes.

In regard to food, the wild cat preys chiefly upon rats, mice, and small birds, but it also kills larger animals, such as pheasants, hares, rabbits, and squirrels, while it occasionally ventures to attack the fawns of roe-deer and red deer, springing on their backs, and tearing open the arteries of the neck. There is an old monkish Latin line that “catus amat pisces, sed non vult tingere plantas” (the cat loves fish, but does not like to wet its feet); but this applies only to the domesticated breed, for when dwelling near streams or lakes the wild cat will capture both fishes and water-fowl. Like many other animals, it will often kill more than it can devour, as if from the very love of slaughter.

The male and female live together only during the pairing-season, and while the kittens are unable to look after themselves. At other times each individual has its own particular haunt, from which, however, it makes long excursions into the surrounding forest or the neighbouring plains; such foraging expeditions often lasting for days together. In winter it frequently deserts the forest to take up its abode in old uninhabited buildings or other safe places of refuge.

In some sheltered situation the female gives birth in spring to five or six kittens, very similar to those of domesticated cats, and likewise born blind.

When captured, wild cats, whether old or young, are impossible to tame; and it is for this reason that the species is so seldom seen in menageries. As already mentioned, it has been suggested that many of the cats found wild in Scotland are hybrids between the wild species and the tame breed, but there is no evidence that such interbreeding takes place; and such of these animals as are not true wild cats seem to be individuals of the domesticated breed which have reverted to the wild state, and have thereby assumed to some extent the characters of the ancestral type.

THE RED KANGAROO

(Macropus rufus)

Little wonder that when Captain Cook and his companions first beheld kangaroos bounding over the plains of Australia they were overwhelmed with astonishment, and regarded them as the most extraordinary animals in the world. They are, indeed, unlike any other creatures, and form the supreme development of the terrestrial and herbivorous section of the marsupial type, being admirably adapted to their environment, and occupying in Australia the place held in other countries by cattle, sheep, antelopes, deer, and hares. For there are kangaroos of all sizes, ranging from the gigantic species, with its 6 foot stature, forming the subject of the present notice, down to the diminutive kangaroo-rats, no larger than rabbits.

That kangaroos, like all marsupials, bring forth their young in an exceedingly imperfect and helpless condition, it is almost unnecessary to mention; as is the fact that the females carry them in the pouch not only till they are able to take care of themselves, but, on occasion, till a much later period. Not that it is to be assumed from this that the young of all marsupials are carried in the maternal pouch; this being in some cases undeveloped, and the offspring in such instances merely clinging for a time to their mothers’ nipples.

For a long time it was generally considered that marsupials were survivors of the ancestral stock which gave rise to the ordinary, and so-called placental, mammals; but this is now known to be a mistaken view, and marsupials and placentals are evidently divergent branches from a common ancestral stock. In Australia marsupials have developed almost as many different modifications as have the placentals in other parts of the world; and at first sight there seem few external characters in common to such diverse types as the leaping, bipedal, herbivorous kangaroo, and the cursorial and carnivorous Tasmanian wolf. When, however, the two animals are observed more closely, we may note a curious resemblance in the form of their heads, and, above all, by the great, thick tail, passing almost imperceptibly into the body; both these features proclaiming their comparatively near relationship and descent from a common ancestor.

Among the external characteristics of the kangaroo tribe may be noted the somewhat deer-like head, the short fore-limbs, each armed with five toes, and used in progression only when the animal is grazing, and the enormous length and strength of the hind-legs, in which one toe is greatly developed at the expense of the rest, and serves not only to aid in progression, but forms an offensive weapon of great power and effectiveness. In the sitting posture, as represented in the illustration, the body is supported on a tripod formed by the massive tail and the hind-legs; the whole of the lower portion of the latter, corresponding structurally to the human foot, being then applied to the ground. When, however, the animal is leaping, as shown in the background of the picture, the hind part of the foot is raised and the body supported by the toes; the tail thumping on the ground at each leap.

Kangaroos subsist chiefly on grass and leaves, but also eat buds, bark, roots, and fruits. Originally they were to be found all over the habitable parts of Australia and Tasmania, from the coasts inwards, and while most kinds inhabited the plains, others were to be found in the mountains. Nowadays, however, they have for the most part been driven back into the uncultivated lands of the interior, and their numbers have been greatly reduced. All the larger species associate in large bands. True kangaroos of the genus Macropus are also found in New Guinea, while a few of the smaller kinds are natives of the eastern Austro-Malay Islands.

The great red kangaroo, the subject of the illustration, is the largest member of the whole group, and takes its name from the dark rusty red colour of the soft woolly hair of the adult males, that of the females being a delicate bluish grey. Its home is in the rocky districts of South and East Australia.

As this species is kept in most Zoological Gardens, opportunities have been afforded of observing the newly born young. These come into the world after a gestation of only thirty-nine days, when they are only about an inch and a quarter in length, and little more than shapeless lumps of animation. The newborn young is immediately transferred by the mother, by means of her lips, to the pouch, where it is attached by its sucking mouth to a nipple. Here it remains for eight months, after which it returns to the shelter of the pouch, when so disposed, for a considerable time longer: a fresh offspring being often in the pouch at the same time.

THE BLUE ROLLER

(Coracias garrulus)

Among the birds of brilliant plumage which occasionally straggle to the British Isles, one of the most gaudy is the blue roller, so called on account of its roling, or “rolling,” flight. In India this and an allied species are commonly called the blue jay, while in Poland the present bird is locally termed the Polish parrot. The roller has, however, nothing to do with either jays or parrots, but is more nearly related to the king-fishers.

Although the blue roller is practically an unmistakable bird--certainly so far as British species are concerned--it may be well to mention that the head, neck, wing-coverts, and under-parts are bright greenish blue, the back and shoulders cinnamon-brown, the flight-feathers blue at the roots and elsewhere black above and wholly deep blue beneath, the upper tail-coverts deep ultramarine, while the two middle tail-feathers are dirty brown, and the other feathers of the tail sky-blue, with the tips of the outer pair, which are somewhat lengthened, black. In size the bird is rather smaller than a crow.

The normal summer range of the species includes central and southern Europe, and thence extends through central Asia to Kashmir; while in winter it embraces India and the greater part of Africa. Northwards this bird is found as far as Scandinavia, although only occasionally; but its chief haunts in Europe are Spain, Portugal, Greece, Poland, and southern Russia. It makes its annual appearance in Europe towards the end of April, and takes its departure, like the cuckoo, not later than August. In Asia Minor, Persia, Baluchistan, India, and Ceylon it is replaced, except in winter (when both are found together), by the closely allied Coracias indicus. A third species extends from the eastern Himalaya through Burma to Cochin China and Siam, a fourth inhabits Celebes, and quite a number are indigenous to Africa. In Australasia and the New World these birds are unknown.

Avoiding swampy localities and high mountains, the roller resorts to dry open districts with thin forest in which birch abounds, and where hollow oaks or beech are to be found. Here it prefers to dwell at the edge of the forest, where isolated trees grow in the fields and by the roadsides, and command a wide view of the country. In harvest-time it repairs to the sheaves in the cornfields.

The bird is, however, largely insectivorous, and from its perch in some tall tree sallies forth in search of all kinds of insects and other invertebrates as well as young frogs, while it will also eat field-mice. In their season figs afford it a much appreciated feast.

In habits the roller is shy and unsociable, going about in pairs, and generally, but not always, shunning the vicinity of human habitations. Its flight is swift and undulating, and often limited to the passage from one tree-top to another. In fine weather, however, it indulges in the habit of tumbling when on the wing, and performs all kinds of aerial evolutions, sometimes falling from a considerable height almost to the ground; this last performance generally taking place during the pairing-season. At that season, when the males are in the company of the females, the former rise into the air with their characteristic harsh cry of “rak, rak, rak,” and descend again with a rapidly repeated “rak, rak, rak.” When at rest, the cry is a high-pitched, frequently repeated “raker, raker, raker.” It is from these cries that the bird derives its specified name, and likewise its German title of blaurake.

In many parts of Europe the nest is built in the hole of a tree, but in the south is more generally placed in ruins, under the roofs of houses, in clefts in walls, or on cliffs and steep banks, in which deep holes are excavated for its reception. At the proper season it contains from five to six white eggs, which are brooded in turn by the male and female, and this so assiduously that it is often easy to capture the sitting bird with the hands. In laying white eggs, the roller conforms to the general rule of birds which nest in holes. It is, moreover, an uncleanly bird, and when the nest has contained young for some time, it gives out a most disgusting smell, while the young themselves sit in a mass of filth. Strange that such a beautiful bird should have such dirty habits!

As regards its mental powers, the roller is evidently highly developed; but its inherent shyness renders it unsuitable as a cage-bird. In disposition it is, as already mentioned, unsociable, and it will frequently quarrel with other birds and its own fellows. On the other hand, several pairs often nest near together, and its migrations are made in large companies.

THE BITTERN