Part 47

Compare works cited in that article: M. H. K. Lichtenstein, Reise im südlichen Africa (Berlin, 1812); Fursch and Hartlaub, Vögel Ost Afrikas; De Mosenthal and Harting, Ostrich and Ostrich Farming; also, Mrs. Martin, Home Life on an Ostrich Farm.

Note 50: p. 193.--Primaries and Secondaries.

Primary feathers are the longer quill-feathers of the wing, and are borne by the ‘hand’ of the bird; the secondaries are the quill-feathers higher up, borne by the ulna of the arm.

THE PRIMEVAL FORESTS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.

Note 51: p. 220.--Hornbills.

Members of the family Bucerotidæ, including some 60 species whose generic arrangement is uncertain. Of their habits Prof. Newton says: “They breed in holes of trees, laying large white eggs, and when the hen begins to sit, the cock plasters up the entrance with mud or clay, leaving only a small window, through which she receives the food he brings her during her voluntary imprisonment”. He notes Mr. Bartlett’s discovery, confirmed by others, that the hornbills cast out at intervals the lining of their gizzard in the form of a bag, which is filled with the fruit that the bird has been eating, and asks whether “these castings are really intended to form the hen-bird’s food during her confinement”.

Note 52: p. 221.--Umber- or Umbre-bird.

This bird, whose name refers to the earthy-brown colour, is the Hammer-head or Scopus umbretta of ornithologists. Of the nest, Prof. Newton says that “it is occasionally some six feet in diameter, a mass of sticks, roots, grass, and rushes compactly piled together, with a flat-topped roof, the interior being neatly lined with clay, and a hole of entrance and exit”. It may be of interest to compare its nest with that of the South American Oven-birds (Furnarius, &c.).

Note 53: p. 221.--Doves beside falcons.

Those interested in the facts of nature which suggest the danger of exaggerating the Darwinian idea of the struggle for existence should consult two articles by Kropotkine, entitled “Mutual Aid Among Animals”, in the Nineteenth Century, 1889. Kropotkine cites from Dr. Coues, an American ornithologist, an observation in regard to some little cliff swallows which nested quite near the home of a prairie falcon. “The little peaceful birds had no fear of their rapacious neighbour; they did not let it even approach to their colony. They immediately surrounded it and chased it, so that it had to make off at once.”

Note 54: p. 223.--And they know that this is so.

Brehm suggests here and elsewhere what it would be difficult to prove, that animals which have unconsciously acquired protective colouring, and which instinctively crouch or lie still instead of trying to escape by flight, are aware of their adaptation to concealment. There seem to be but few cases which give countenance to this supposition.

Note 55: p. 227.--Crocodile Bird.

This is usually regarded as Pluvianus or Hyas ægyptius--one of the “plovers” in the wide sense. Professor Newton observes, however, in a note to the article “Plover” in his Dictionary of Birds that there is not perfect unanimity on the matter, as some have supposed that the “crocodile bird” was a lapwing--Hoplopterus spinosus. But the elder Geoffroy St. Hilaire and Brehm, who both saw the bird enter the reptile’s mouth, regarded it as Pluvianus ægyptius.

Dr. Leith Adams notes (1870) that the crocodile is now rarely seen below Beni Hassan, and is evidently receding everywhere below the second cataract. Both Herodotus and Strabo speak of its domestication, and it is tamed at the present day by certain religious sects in India. On the lower Nile it is shy and difficult even to shoot.

“A sail, or the smoke and noise of a steamboat, suffice to warn the crocodiles basking on the sand-banks, or their common companions, the black-headed and spur-winged plovers (Pluvianus ægyptius and Hoplopterus spinosus), which are frequently seen perched on their backs, and always prepared to give timely warning of approaching danger, just as the Father of History noticed them 2300 years ago, and, strange to say, his well-known story is current among the modern Egyptians, who, as usual, have put a tail to the narrative. They say, that in addition to its office of leech-catcher to the crocodile, it occasionally does happen that the zic-zac--so called from its note of alarm--in searching for the leeches, finds its way into the reptile’s mouth when the latter is basking on a sand-bank, where it lies generally with the jaws wide apart. Now this is possible and likely enough, but the captain of our boat added, that occasionally the crocodile falls asleep, when the jaws suddenly fall, and the zic-zac is shut up in the mouth, when it immediately prods the crocodile with its horny spurs, as if refreshing the memory of his reptilian majesty, who opens his jaws and sets his favourite leech-catcher at liberty” (Leith Adams).

MIGRATIONS OF MAMMALS.

Note 56: p. 237.--Rats.

The brown rat (Mus decumanus) is much stronger than the black rat (Mus rattus), and gains an easy victory. The rivalry between the two species is one of the examples Darwin gives of his generalization that the struggle for existence is most severe between allied forms, and there seems no doubt that the brown rat has often ousted and will even devour the black rat. The latter is now rare in Britain. It should be noted, however, (1) that the two species are said sometimes to live together on board ship, (2) that cases have been recorded where the black rat returned and defeated its conquerors, and (3) that the black rat keeps more about houses, stables, and barns, is therefore more readily exterminated by man, whose efforts were doubtless increased when a second species appeared on the scene. The case is of some importance in connection with the generalization referred to above.

Note 57: p. 240.--Migrations of Reindeer.

Of the reindeer in Spitzbergen, Nordenskiöld writes:--“During the summer it betakes itself to the grassy plains in the ice-free valleys of the island; in the late autumn it withdraws--according to the walrus-hunter’s statements--to the sea-coast, in order to eat the seaweed that is thrown up on the beach. In winter it goes back to the lichen-clad mountain heights in the interior of the country, where it appears to thrive exceedingly well, though the cold during winter must be excessively severe; for when the reindeer in spring return to the coast they are still very fat, but some weeks afterwards, when the snow has frozen on the surface, and a crust of ice makes it difficult for them to get at the mountain sides, they become so poor as to be scarcely eatable. In summer, however, they speedily eat themselves back into condition, and in autumn they are so fat that they would certainly take prizes at an exhibition of fat cattle.”

Wrangel describes migrations of thousands of reindeer in Eastern Siberia moving from the mountains to the forests, where they winter. He mentions his guide’s assertion that each body is led by a female of large size.

Perhaps we may take the liberty of quoting, with a tribute of admiration, Mr. F. Marion Crawford’s eloquent description of a wild rush of reindeer from the inland country to the shore. We confess to incredulity in regard to the reindeer’s longing to drink of the Polar Sea, but the splendid vividness of the description may excuse some slight inaccuracy.

“In the distant northern plains, a hundred miles from the sea, in the midst of the Laplander’s village, a young reindeer raises his broad muzzle to the north wind, and stares at the limitless distance while a man may count a hundred. He grows restless from that moment, but he is yet alone. The next day a dozen of the herd look up from the cropping of the moss, sniffing the breeze. Then the Laps nod to one another and the camp grows daily more unquiet. At times the whole herd of young deer stand at gaze, as it were, breathing hard through wide nostrils, then jostling each other and stamping the soft ground. They grow unruly, and it is hard to harness them in the light sledge. As the days pass, the Laps watch them more and more closely, well knowing what will happen sooner or later, and then at last, in the northern twilight, the great herd begins to move. The impulse is simultaneous, irresistible, their heads are all turned in one direction. They move slowly at first, biting still, here and there, at the rich moss. Presently the slow step becomes a trot, they crowd closely together, while the Laps hasten to gather up their last unpacked possessions--their cooking utensils and their wooden gods. The great herd break together from a trot to a gallop, from a gallop to a breakneck race, the distant thunder of their united tread reaches the camp during a few minutes, and they are gone to drink of the Polar Sea. The Laps follow after them, dragging painfully their laden sledges in the broad track left by the thousands of galloping beasts--a day’s journey, and they are yet far from the sea, and the trail is yet broad. On the second day it grows narrower, and there are stains of blood to be seen; far on the distant plain before them their sharp eyes distinguish in the direct line a dark motionless object, another, and another. The race has grown more desperate and more wild as the stampede neared the sea. The weaker reindeer have been thrown down and trampled to death by their stronger fellows. A thousand sharp hoofs have crushed and cut through hide and flesh and bone. Ever swifter and more terrible in their motion, the ruthless herd has raced onward, careless of the slain, careless of food, careless of any drink but the sharp salt water ahead of them. And when at last the Laplanders reach the shore their deer are once more quietly grazing, once more tame and docile, once more ready to drag the sledge whithersoever they are guided. Once in his life the reindeer must taste of the sea in one long, satisfying draught, and if he is hindered he perishes. Neither man nor beast dare stand before him in the hundred miles of his arrow-like path.”--A Cigarette-Maker’s Romance, vol. ii. pp. 23-25.

Note 58: p. 241.--Migrations of Bisons.

In regard to the migration of the bison or buffalo, Mr. G. B. Grinnell writes:--“It was once thought that the buffalo performed annually extensive migrations, and it was even said that those which spent the summer on the banks of the Saskatchewan wintered in Texas. There is no reason for believing this to have been true. Undoubtedly there were slight general movements north and south, and east and west, at certain seasons of the year; but many of the accounts of these movements are entirely misleading, because grossly exaggerated. In one portion of the northern country I know that there was a decided east-and-west seasonal migration, the herds tending in spring away from the mountains, while in the autumn they worked back again, seeking shelter in the rough, broken country of the foot-hills from the cold west winds of the winter.”--American Big-Game Hunting (Boone and Crockett Club), edited by Theodore Roosevelt and George Bird Grinnell, Edin., 1893.

Note 59: p. 250.--Migrations of Seals.

Much interesting information as to the migrations and habits of seals will be found in J. A. Allen’s History of North American Pinnipedia. The eared fur-seals (Otaria) and others travel periodically to the breeding-places or “rookeries”, where they spend a considerable time, but it should be noted that our common seal (Phoca vitulina) does not make seasonal migrations.