Part 44

And now, “A herd of some two hundred wild individuals derived from the northern herd is preserved in the Yellowstone National Park; and it is believed that some five hundred of the race, known as Wood-Bison, exist in British territory; but with these exceptions this magnificent species is exterminated”.

A vivid account of the buffalo’s habits and of its rapid tragic extermination will be found in Mr. Grinell’s essay “In Buffalo Days” in American Big-Game Hunting (Boone and Crockett Club), edited by Th. Roosevelt and G. B. Grinell, Edinburgh, 1893.

See also Hornaday, The Extirpation of the American Bison, 1889, and a monograph by J. A. Allen, “The American Bisons, Living and Extinct”: Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard, vol. iv., 1876.

Note 19: p. 102.--Fighting-ruffs.

The ruff (Machetes pugnax) is in many ways a most interesting bird. Thus, there is the rapid change of plumage, as the result of which the male acquires his characteristic frill or ruff before the breeding season. The indefatigable pugnacity of the males, the efficacy of their shield, their assiduous polygamous courtship, their subsequent carelessness as to the fate of the reeve and her young, and their extraordinary “polymorphism”, are very remarkable. While the individual peculiarities of plumage are very marked, each ruff is true season after season to its own idiosyncrasy. Visitors to the National Museum of Natural History in London will remember a beautiful case of ruffs in the Entrance Hall.

Note 20: p. 103.--Sky-goat.

Bleating of snipe. There has been much discussion as to the origin of the peculiar drumming or bleating sound made by the snipe, to which it owes its Scotch name of “heather-bleater”, but many at least agree with Brehm.

Note 21: p. 106.--Sand-grouse.

Sand-grouse (Pterocles and Syrrhaptes), a group of birds quite distinct from the grouse. One species, Syrrhaptes paradoxus, “ranging from Northern China across Central Asia to the confines of Europe”, has shown a tendency to extensive migration, visiting Britain, for instance, in 1859, 1863, 1872, 1876, and abundantly in 1888. For a concise account of these irregular invasions see Newton’s Dictionary of Birds.

Note 22: p. 107.--Yurt.

According to Radloff “jurte” or “yurt” is a general name for a more or less transportable rough hut made of stakes, felt, bark, and the like, varying slightly in construction in different districts. The ring to which Brehm here refers is probably that through which the upper ends of the converging stakes are thrust.

Note 23: p. 109.--The Jerboa.

The rodent here referred to is the Kirghiz jerboa (Alactaga decumana). What Brehm says as to its eating eggs and young birds is confirmed by others.

Note 24: p. 115.--The Sand-grouse or Steppe-grouse.

Pallas’s Sand-grouse (Syrrhaptes paradoxus), see note 21.

Note 25: p. 115--Ancestry of the horse.

See Sir W. H. Flower’s little book on The Horse (Modern Science Series). The kulan or kiang is rather a wild ass than a wild horse, and the balance of evidence in favour of regarding the Tarpan as in the line of ancestry is greater than Brehm indicates. Flower suggests that Przewalski’s horse, discovered some years ago in Central Asia, and looked upon as a distinct species, may be a hybrid between the kiang and the tarpan.

Note 26: p. 116.--Ancestors of the cat and the goat.

It is very generally believed that our domestic cat is descended from the sacred Egyptian or Caffre cat (Felis caffra). See St. George Mivart’s monograph on the cat. Similarly, the breeds of domestic goat are often referred to the Pasang or Capra ægagrus, found in Crete, Asia Minor, Persia, &c. See a vivid essay by Buxton in his Short Stalks, entitled “The Father of all the Goats”.

Note 27: p. 116.--Wild camels.

An interesting note on wild camels in Spain--a strayed herd--is to be found in Wild Spain by Chapman and Buck. St. George Littledale has recently discussed (Proc. Zoological Society, 1894) the question whether the camels of Lob-nor, on the slope of Altyn Tag, are remains of a wild stock or strayed. No wild dromedaries are known, and the same is probably true of camels.

THE FORESTS AND SPORT OF SIBERIA.

See also--

W. Radloff, Aus Sibirien, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1884.

A. Th. von Middendorf, Voyage dans l’extrême Nord et dams l’est de la Sibérie (St. Petersburg, 1848).

Note 28: p. 123.--The Life of the Forest.

With Brehm’s description of this minor forest, the reader should compare that which Stanley gives of “The Great Central African Forest” (chap. xxiii. of 2nd vol. of In Darkest Africa). He computes the size of the main mass at 321,057 square miles. A few sentences from his description may be quoted.

“Imagine the whole of France and the Iberian peninsula closely packed with trees varying from 20 to 180 feet high, whose crowns of foliage interlace and prevent any view of sky and sun, and each tree from a few inches to four feet in diameter. Then from tree to tree run cables from two inches to fifteen inches in diameter, up and down in loops and festoons and W’s and badly-formed M’s; fold them round the trees in great tight coils, until they have run up the entire height like endless anacondas; let them flower and leaf luxuriantly, and mix up above with the foliage of the trees to hide the sun, then from the highest branches let fall the ends of the cables reaching near to the ground by hundreds with frayed extremities, for these represent the air roots of the epiphytes; let slender cords hang down also in tassels with open threadwork at the ends. Work others through and through as confusedly as possible, and pendent from branch to branch--with absolute disregard of material, and at every fork and on every horizontal branch plant cabbage-like lichens of the largest kind, and broad spear-leaved plants--these would represent the elephant-eared plant--and orchids and clusters of vegetable marvels, and a drapery of delicate ferns which abound. Now cover tree, branch, twig, and creeper with a thick moss like a green fur.”