Chapter L: THE RAZORBILL OR AUK (Alca torda) 100 (2)

Against the intense cold of its Arctic home the white bear is well protected by its long and dense coat, as well as by the thick layer of fat underlying the skin. By means of the hairy covering of the soles of the feet--which in other bears are naked--the animal is enabled to obtain a firm foothold on the ice; upon which, as well as on land, it is a swift and long-winded runner. As special adaptations in the bodily form to swimming and diving, may be mentioned the thin, compressed body, the long neck, the small ears, and the long pointed head, which offer the least possible resistance to progression in water. The strong limbs, with broad paws and webs between the toes, form efficient oars when swimming; while the oily nature of the fur keeps the water off the body. The white bear is, in fact, as admirably adapted to a life among the Arctic ice as is the lion to the deserts of Africa; and both animals may be regarded as the absolute rulers of their respective domains.

In the pursuit of its prey the polar bear displays great craft and ingenuity. When it spies a seal sleeping by a hole in the ice, or on the edge of an ice-floe, if it succeeds in approaching undetected, it glides swiftly and silently into the water, swims a certain distance under the surface, and then rises to observe the situation of its victim. In this manner, by alternate dives and risings, it progresses till within a short distance, when it makes a final dive, to rise near the sleeping seal, which it generally manages to capture. In summer these bears are almost complete vegetarians, subsisting on grass, berries, lichens, moss, and sea-weed. At other seasons their chief food consists of the flesh of seals, walruses, and the smaller cetaceans, such as the white whale and the so-called blackfish. In some districts they capture fish of various kinds, and more especially salmon. In addition to the above, numbers of the smaller polar mammals, such as the Arctic lemming, are caught and eaten; while the young and eggs of various sea-birds, especially auks and guillemots, also form a portion of the diet.

White bears are seldom seen in numbers except where the carcases of whales have been left to rot by the whalers; and generally these animals go about in pairs, accompanied by one or two cubs, which the female will defend with her life.

Only when driven by hunger will the white bear venture to attack human beings. Sealers, who were formerly much afraid of them, nowadays attack the bears armed only with lances, and kill large numbers.

In the far north white bears disappear for the most part during the long Arctic winter, and it is believed that many hibernate, especially as they have occasionally been found in holes. In the winter lair the female gives birth to her tiny, short-haired, and blind cubs, which are usually one or two in number, although triplets occasionally occur.

THE MANDRILL

(_Maimon mormon_)

The mandrill is a highly specialised and at the same time extremely hideous West African representative of the dog-faced baboons, nearly all of which are confined to Africa south of the Sahara, although one species is a native of southern Arabia. All these baboons have the long straight muzzles from which the group derives its name, and all except the subject of the accompanying Plate are more or less uniformly coloured animals, with, in most cases, comparatively long tails. The mandrill and its ally and compatriot the drill are, however, distinguished from all their relatives by the reduction of the tail to a mere stump; while old males of the former are further characterised by the presence of large fluted swellings on the sides of the muzzle and the brilliant colouring of these and the other bare parts in this region, while a nearly equal brilliancy is developed in the naked patches on the rump.

To the female mandrill, who, as shown in the Plate, lacks the nasal swellings and brilliant hues of her lord and master, this style of decoration may, and probably does, appear beautiful, but to ourselves it is simply hideous and repulsive, as are the manners and ways of this monstrous ape. The nature of the colouring of the old males is sufficiently indicated in the coloured Plate; but it may be mentioned that the scarlet area on the muzzle has the appearance of vermilion sealing-wax, while the ultramarine of the lateral swellings is suffused in the flutings with shades of violet, more especially when the animal is under the influence of excitement. Indeed, when in this condition, all the colours are intensified and heightened.

In size the male mandrill may be compared to a short-bodied mastiff, while in strength and ferocity it has few equals, so that it is rightly dreaded by all the natives of West Africa. The female is a much smaller and much less powerful animal.

The mandrill, which is one of the shyest of all apes, inhabits the rocky parts of mountain forests in the Gold Coast, Guinea, and the adjacent districts of West Africa. Its food consists of fruits, bulbous plants, grass, and various other herbage, birds’ eggs, and all small animals that it can capture.

When captured young, the mandrill is sufficiently amiable, and for a time it remains tame and amenable; but, in the case of males at any rate, in the course of a few years its naturally evil disposition asserts itself, and it soon becomes one of the most vicious and disgusting brutes in creation. Indeed, there is not a good word to be said in its favour. In confinement the rage of the old males is something frightful, and it takes but little to excite them to this frenzied condition, when they shake the bars of their cages, and endeavour to rush upon the objects of their aversion. Little wonder that the West Coast natives dread the mandrill more than they do the lion.

Information is still required as to the habits of the mandrill in a state of nature; and it does not appear to be known whether these apes associate in large droves, after the manner of the ordinary dog-faced baboons, or whether they go about in pairs.

Here it may be mentioned that the name mandrill apparently signifies a man-like baboon, although there is little approximating to the human type in either the physiognomy or the general appearance of this hideous creature; the name drill being an old English word, of which one signification denotes an ape or baboon. By the Germans the mandrill is known as the forest-devil, which is perhaps a more appropriate designation; while by one of the older English naturalists it was termed the rib-faced ape, in allusion to the fluted, melon-shaped swellings on the sides of the muzzle.

The drill (_M. leucophæus_), which is likewise West African, but appears to have a more extensive range in that part of the continent, is a smaller animal than the mandrill, with only small swellings on the face of the old male, which is uniformly black. The bare patches on the rump are, however, bright red; but the tail, which is carried bent forwards over the rump in a similar manner, is hairy on all sides, instead of having its lower surface bare, as in the mandrill. The limbs, moreover, are longer and more slender than in the mandrill; and in fact in all these particulars the drill tends to form in some degree a connecting link between the former and more ordinary baboons.

THE WOLF

(_Canis lupus_)

As the lion or the tiger forms the supreme development of the feline stock, so the wolf constitutes the culminating branch of the canine line. Each of these animals represents indeed the acme of perfection of which its particular type is capable; but in regard to specialisation the members of the cat tribe stand on a much higher plane than those of the dog family. In the cats we find the face much shortened and rounded, the number of cheek-teeth reduced both at the front and the back of the series, the pair of cutting-teeth in each jaw consisting almost entirely of scissor-like blades, and the claws retractile and protected by large horny sheaths.

In the dog tribe, on the other hand, the long face and numerous cheek-teeth of the more primitive extinct Carnivora are retained, the pair of cutting-teeth are by no means wholly blade, and the claws are non-retractile and devoid of sheaths.

Equally marked differences in the matter of habits are likewise characteristic of the two groups. Cats, as a rule, hunt their prey singly or in couples, stalking it stealthily by the aid of sight, and then making a sudden rush or spring upon the victim. Most members of the _Canidæ_, on the contrary, associate in large packs, which hunt their victims by scent, and pull them down by their combined strength.

Apart from the brown bear, which is of a less active and less carnivorous disposition, the wolf is the largest member of the Carnivora which has been indigenous to central and northern Europe during the historic period; and it plays in the folk-lore of that portion of the continent a part very similar to that taken by the tiger in the legends and mythology of the natives of India. The superstition of the “werwolf” and the familiar story of _Little Red Ridinghood_ bear striking testimony to the prominent position held by the wolf in folk-lore.

The wolf, which is in fact the ancestor of many domesticated breeds of dogs, is the largest representative of the _Canidæ_, although the typical wolf of northern Europe is much exceeded in point of size by those of certain other countries, the largest of all being the huge black wolf (_Canis lupus pambasileus_) of Alaska, which is almost as tall as an ordinary bear, and has a head of enormous proportions. Although many modern naturalists divide it into distinct species, the wolf has a circumpolar distribution, and in Asia ranges as far south as the Himalaya and the north-western frontier of India. From Great Britain, Denmark, and Holland the wolf has long since disappeared, and it has likewise been exterminated in northern and central Germany. But wolves still remain in Spain, in the districts of France adjacent to Germany, and in Poland and Russia, as well as in other parts of eastern Europe, while they are abundant throughout central and northern Asia. In the colder parts of their habitat, as in Tibet, where a black phase is common, these fierce Carnivora develop a thick under-coat of fur. With such an extensive range in the Old World, it would be only natural to expect that wolves should present considerable local variation in colour and size; and as a matter of fact this is actually the case, although the various local races are still imperfectly known.

In North America the species is represented by the grey, or timber, wolf (_C. lupus occidentalis_), as well as by the aforesaid black Alaskan race. As regards colour, the ordinary American wolf is dark grey, becoming almost black on the back, with dusky patches on the shoulders and hips; but there is also a more rufous phase. The coyote, or prairie-wolf, is a distinct species, _C. latrans_.

In Europe the favourite haunts of the wolf are wild and retired situations both in the plains and mountains; during spring and summer wolves go about for the most part singly or in pairs, but in winter they collect in parties or large packs, and when driven to desperation by hunger are the terror of the peasantry or the traveller, not only in Russia but even in some districts of France and Germany.

The food of the wolf includes all animals that it can capture and overpower, as well as carrion, and even vegetable substances. Large game and domesticated animals form its chief victims, but in cases of necessity, rats, mice, frogs, and even cockchafers are not disdained. In pursuit of their prey wolves are practically untiring. The female gives birth during the spring, in some sequestered situation in the forest, to from three to nine cubs, which she nurses and tends with wonderful affection and care.

THE WILD CAT

(_Felis catus_)

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

(_Botaurus stellaris_)

Before drainage and cultivation had driven away so many of the marsh-haunting birds, the boom of the bittern was a familiar sound to the dwellers in the fens of Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, and this handsome bird regularly nested not only in those districts, but in the Norfolk Broads, as well as in many other counties possessing situations suitable to its habits. Indeed nests were taken now and then up to the middle of last century, and even later; but at the present day the bittern is nothing more than a casual visitor to the British Islands, in fact, so rare have its visits become, that they are generally considered worthy of special record.

A near relative of the heron, the bittern does not expose itself in the open after the fashion of that species, but skulks amid the shelter of reeds and flags, where its presence is made known only by the ordinary raven-like croak, or the loud booming of the male in the breeding-season. From this habit the bittern derives its German name of _rohrdommel_; and with such surroundings its mottled plumage of light and dark brown mingled with black is designed to harmonise, as is also in all probability the greenish hue of its long, spear-like beak, so admirably adapted to seize and hold the unwary fish or frog that may come within striking distance.

As this resemblance between the plumage of the bittern and its inanimate surroundings is sufficiently apparent from the accompanying Plate, it will be unnecessary to attempt any description of its colouring. It is, however, important to mention that the bird appears to be in the habit of increasing the protective power of its mottled livery, by assuming, probably under the influence of alarm, a statuesque position amid the reeds, with the body held as erect as possible, the neck stretched to its fullest extent, and the head and beak pointing skywards. In this posture it is stated, by those who have had the good fortune to see it, to be almost invisible amid the upright brown stems of reeds and bulrushes.

The range of the bittern is very extensive, including the whole of temperate Europe, northern Africa, and the greater portion of Asia lying between the Himalaya and the Arctic Circle, as well as north-western India and Burma. In South Africa its place is taken by another species, a third kind inhabits Australia, New Caledonia, and New Zealand, while a fourth is a native of North and Central America, and a fifth is indigenous to tropical South America. The distribution of the group is thus almost cosmopolitan, if we except most of the tropical zone of the Old World; and all the five species are closely related.

In Europe at the present day bitterns are still common in Spain, Holland, many parts of France and Germany, and the swamps of the Danube and Volga. It should be added that in Africa, India, and Burma the species occurs only in winter, being to some extent migratory in its habits.

These shy birds associate in pairs, but in migration time collect in parties previous to setting out on their travels. The nest, which is built of reeds and flags, and lined with grass, is well concealed among the brake in which the pair have taken up their residence, and may be a floating structure. The eggs, which are from three to five in number and greenish blue in colour, are incubated solely by the hen, who is supplied with food by her mate. The chicks remain in the nest until fully fledged, and display extraordinary cleverness in making their way among the reeds.

Little comes amiss to the bittern in the way of food, so long as it is of an animal nature; and its appetite is so great, that it is on the hunt for prey from sunrise till sunset. Water-rats, field-mice, birds of all kinds, fish, especially those inhabiting muddy water, snakes, lizards, leeches, worms, and insects and their larvæ are alike devoured by these voracious birds.

The usual cry of the bittern is, as already mentioned, a hoarse, raven-like croak; and it is only during the breeding-season that the male utters the resounding boom, which has been compared to the bellowing of a bull, and on a still night may be heard at a distance of a mile or more. How this wonderful sound is produced is not yet definitely known.

A wounded bittern is most dangerous to approach, as it will strike with unerring aim at the eye of the gunner who approaches to seize it; and the formidable beak is likewise employed, and generally with success, to repel the attack of any fox bold enough to approach its owner.

It should be added that during the hot summer of 1911 a pair of bitterns bred in the old Norfolk haunts of the species.

THE KAFIR CROWNED CRANE

(_Balearica chrysopelargus_)

The crowned cranes of Africa, of which there are three species, constituting by themselves an exclusively African genus, are some of the handsomest members of a beautiful and stately group of birds; the fan-like array of bristly feathers on the head, which constitutes the so-called “crown,” conferring on these cranes a regal appearance which is lacking in their smooth-headed relatives.

Of the three species, one (_Balearica pavonina_) is a native of north-eastern Africa, ranging southwards into West and Equatorial Africa; the second, forming the subject of the accompanying Plate and sometimes known as _B. regulorum_ instead of by the designation here used, is a southern bird, ranging from the Cape to the Zambesi and Loanza valleys; while the third (_B. gibbericeps_) hails from East Africa.

As regards the distinctive features of these three cranes, the northern species is greenish black above and dark grey below, with most of the feathers of the sharply pointed lanceolate type; the neck is delicate pearl-grey; the secondary quills are chestnut, and the wing-coverts partly white and yellow; the twisted bristly feathers forming the crown are yellow and white with black tips; a bare area on each side of the face is white above and pink below; and black down clothes the throat. This species has a very small wattle on the throat; but in the Kafir crane this wattle, as shown in the Plate, is much larger and mainly red in colour. The southern species is further characterised by the greyer tone of the plumage of the upper-parts, and the white cheek-patch, with only a margin of crimson above. In the East African _B. gibbericeps_ this cheek-patch becomes much larger than in either of the other two species, extending backwards nearly to the nape of the neck.

The carriage of these handsome, well-built birds is upright; while their gait, when they are walking with measured steps, is calm and stately. These birds can, however, run with great speed, so fast indeed that a man can keep up with them only with difficulty. The flight is heavy and slow, with powerful, measured strokes of the wings, and the neck and legs stretched out. The crest, or crown, is at the same time depressed. When in flight, a party of cranes always arrange themselves in wedge-shaped form in order to cleave their passage through the air with the least possible resistance; a very powerful bird taking up the position at the apex of the triangle. As in all cranes, the cry is very loud and resounding; its piercing, trumpet-like notes being due to the complicated structure of the windpipe, which is arranged in coils, and consists of more than three hundred bony rings.

The food of these cranes consists chiefly of various kinds of grain and other seeds, among which those of durrha or Kafir millet form the largest portion. The seed-spikes of grass, buds of trees, and fruits, as well as a certain proportion of insects, are, however, also devoured by these birds.

Very curious are the attitudes assumed by these handsome birds, especially when they are surprised or under the influence of excitement. On such occasions they place themselves in wonderful postures, bending their bodies up and down, spreading out their wings, and then joining their fellows in a dance, during which they often spring a yard high in the air, while all the time their feet are alternately lifted and put down in regular rhythm.

The daily life of the crowned crane displays great uniformity. At sunrise the whole flock flies out into the veldt, where its members search for food at least a couple of hours; then they proceed to the water to drink, and spend the day in digesting their morning’s meal. Their favourite resort for the day is a sandbank far out in a river, where they can stand and preen their feathers or doze without fear of interruption. At evening the flock returns to its sleeping-quarters in the forest.

All the graceful habits of these cranes can be studied in Europe, where the birds flourish in confinement, if given sufficient room. In captivity they soon learn to associate with the human beings and animals with whom they are brought into contact, and are specially keen in discriminating between those who treat them well and those who dislike their companionship. These cranes are also to be met with in every Kafir village, while they are likewise frequently tamed by the European settlers in both South and East Africa.

In Europe the group is represented by the ordinary grey crane (_Grus cinerea_) and the elegant demoiselle crane (_G. virgo_), both of which lack the crests of their crowned relatives.

It will be observed that in this notice the name “Kafir” is spelt with one _f_; this being the proper orthography, as the word is the Arabic “Kafir,” an unbeliever, this being exemplified in the name “Kafiristan,” the land of infidels.

THE SILVER GULL

(_Larus argentatus_)

In its adult plumage, with the snow-white head, neck, and under-parts, the delicate French grey back and wings, and the white-spotted black tips to the larger flight-feathers, the silver gull, or herring-gull, as it is more commonly called, is one of the most beautiful members of a lovely tribe of birds. Indeed, whether swimming calmly on the surface of the sea, or skimming over the crests of the waves borne on their long and powerful pinions, and every now and then plunging into the water to seize a fish or some floating morsel of food, gulls in general are some of the most elegant and graceful of all birds, their delicate colouring, in which grey and white, relieved to a greater or less extent by black or chocolate, generally predominate, thus giving a refinement to their whole appearance which is wanting in many birds of brilliant plumage. Were it not that their cries, their tempers, and their habits are by no means angelic, gulls might well have been selected as emblems of the angels.

The white and pale grey plumage, replaced in a few species by a wholly white or cream-coloured livery, is, however, developed only in the adults; birds of the year having the back and wings thickly mottled with brown and dark grey, and the tail black, while the head and neck are wholly brown; the beak, moreover, in the species forming the subject of the Plate, being black instead of orange. From this we learn that gulls are descended from birds with relatively dark plumage, which may perhaps have been dwellers on the land; and if this be so, these beautiful birds evidently acquired their present type of colouring only when they took to a life on the ocean wave. In any case, the pale livery of the adult gull must be regarded as a special adaptation to its mode of life; such a garb being the one which harmonises best with the foam-flecked waves of the waste of waters.

The herring-gull closely resembles in colouring the common gull (_Larus canus_), and like that species is abundant on the British coasts, or, for that matter, on the Thames at London Bridge or the ornamental water in St. James’s Park in winter. It is, however, a much larger bird, attaining a length of about 22 inches in the case of adult males.

This species, moreover, is much less intolerant of heat than the common gull; and while the former is compelled to wing its way to the more northern coasts for the breeding-season, the herring-gull, like the kittiwake, nests by scores on the southern coast of England, wherever conditions suitable to its habits exist. The kittiwake, it may be mentioned, differs from other gulls by the absence of the hind-toe, and is therefore referred to a genus by itself, under the appropriate name of _Rissa tridactyla_. The only other species likely to be confounded in the summer plumage, when the black-headed species have donned their chocolate or black caps, is the greater white-winged gull (_L. hyperboreus_), which differs by the paler tone of the plumage generally and more especially by the feature to which it owes its name.

The herring-gull is a wide-ranging species, met with on both sides of the North Atlantic, extending eastwards to the White Sea, and in winter as far south as the Black and Caspian Seas and the Mediterranean. In America herring-gulls visit in summer the inhospitable coasts of Labrador and Greenland, but in winter wander south to the genial climate of the West Indies and Central America, where, in all probability, they cross the continent to join a closely allied gull inhabiting the Pacific. In Europe the southern breeding range of this handsome species seems to be formed by the northern coasts of France.

Herring-gulls, where conditions are favourable, may be found nesting on the coasts of the British Isles from the south of England to the Orkneys and the Shetlands, as well as in Ireland, where they are the most common and most widely spread members of their tribe in the breeding-season. Sometimes only a few gulls nest in company, but in other situations large colonies collect for breeding purposes; and it is noteworthy that the breeding sites are always in the neighbourhood of the shore and generally on tall cliffs.

Another noteworthy feature of the herring-gull is that the adult livery is not assumed till the fourth year, in consequence of which an unusually large number of birds in the speckled dress are always in evidence.

THE GREAT HORNED OWL

(_Bubo ignavus_)

The great horned, or eagle, owl, the largest European representative of the nocturnal birds-of-prey, is the typical member of a group characterised by the relatively small size of the apertures of the ears, which are not closed by covers, and likewise by the more or less imperfect development of the disc-like ring of feathers round the eye, which forms such a conspicuous feature in ordinary owls. The so-called horns are, it need scarcely be mentioned, tufts of long, somewhat hair-like feathers growing from the neighbourhood of the ears. These ear-tufts are common to the so-called long-eared owls, which are, however, all birds of smaller size, with larger ear-openings, protected by special covers, and complete discs of feathers round the eyes.

The general appearance of this magnificent bird when in an attitude of repose, the colour and markings of the plumage of the head, breast, and under-parts, and the great, staring, red-ringed eyes are admirably shown in the illustration. When, however, the bird is enraged, the body is depressed and the plumage ruffled out, while the wings are half-spread, thus increasing its size and producing a formidable appearance probably sufficient to overawe a number of would-be assailants other than man. In length this unmistakable bird measures as much as 27 inches, so that it is equal in point of size to a small eagle.

The eagle-owl ranges over the greater portion of Europe, as well as northern Africa, and much, if not the whole, of northern and central Asia; and the species breeds as far north as Lapland and as far south as Gibraltar and Greece. It is true that the eagle-owls inhabiting the country to the east of the Ural Mountains have been regarded as a distinct species, under the name of _B. sibiricus_, while the name of _B. turcomanus_ has been proposed for those from the deserts of south-western Siberia, Turkestan, and Tibet; but these and others from Asia north of the Himalaya are so closely allied to the European bird that they are best regarded in the light of local races of that species.

On the other hand, the American eagle-owl (_B. virginianus_) is a perfectly distinct species, with a range extending over the whole of North America, although this bird has likewise been split up into a number of nominal species. Eagle-owls of various species are also known from tropical South America, the whole of Africa, Arabia, India, China, and Japan, so that with the exception of the Malay countries and Australasia, the group has a practically world-wide range.

To the British Isles the great horned owl--the _grand duc_ of the French and the _uhu_ of the Germans--is, nowadays at any rate, merely an occasional straggler, and then only to the northern parts of the kingdom, most, if not all of the specimens that have from time to time been taken in England being birds that have escaped from captivity. There is, however, a report that these splendid owls once inhabited the Orkneys.

Eagle-owls thrive well and breed freely in captivity; years ago a number were kept, for instance, at Arundel Castle, but these, although long regarded as European birds, were eventually proved to belong to the North American species. Captive specimens have served to demonstrate in some degree the great age to which these owls will live; a female brought from Norway in 1827 having survived for seventy-five years in an English aviary, and having produced during the last thirty years of her captivity no less than ninety offspring.

From its large size, powerful beak and claws, and fierce disposition, the eagle-owl, which is mainly nocturnal in its habits, is a terrible foe to the smaller animals, preying largely upon rats, mice, moles, birds, and frogs, while it also attacks and devours larger game, such as roe-deer fawns, hares, rabbits, hazel-hens, ducks, and geese. Its haunts are thick forests, especially those in which tints of rufous grey and black prevail; and in such situations the mottled, warm-coloured tints of its plumage harmonise both with the bark of the tree-trunks and the weathered surface of the rocks and cliffs. At even, with noiseless wings, the eagle-owl issues from its perch to sweep over the plains in search of prey; or, rising high in the air, utters its loud screech, and awakes the slumbering birds, which flutter from their roosts to meet their fate by the relentless talons and beak of the nocturnal marauder.

The huge nest is generally built in trees, on cliffs, or in old buildings, but the two or three eggs may be laid in holes on the bare ground. The eggs are brooded by the female, who is fed during incubation by her partner.

THE FLAMINGO

(_Phœnicopterus roseus_)

Flamingoes, of which there are several species, present us with one of the most striking instances of adaptation to a particular mode of life to be met with in the animal kingdom, more especially as the main feature in this adaptation is developed in its full perfection only when the bird is mature and takes to a special diet. In common with other waders, the adult flamingo has an enormously long neck and legs, and is thereby enabled to procure its food from depths inaccessible to most other birds, although it is frequently content to search for food in the shallows. Its distinctive structural peculiarity is, however, the sharp downward flexure of the extremity of the beak, and more especially that of the lower half. Such a beak appears at the first glance quite unsuited for groping up food from the mud of marshes and lagoons which form the favourite haunts of these stately birds; but while thus engaged, flamingoes turn their heads the wrong way up, when the beak at once becomes a most efficient ladle, admirably adapted for collecting and holding the small spiral univalve molluscs of the genus _Cerithium_ which in many districts form their chief food.

In the young flamingo, whose diet is of a different nature, the beak is more or less normal in form.

Flamingoes, with certain relationships to the storks, appear to have most affinity with ducks, geese, and swans; and it is curious to note how like are the head and neck of a flamingo, if the beak were but straightened out, to those of a swan, the resemblance extending in some cases even to the colour of the beak,--red or orange at the base and black at the tip.

White and scarlet, or crimson--the Easter colours--are the colours of the flamingo, but the relative proportions of these vary according to the species. The European flamingo--the subject of the Plate--whose range extends from central Europe to the Canaries and the Cape Verd Islands, and thence all over Africa, and eastwards to Lake Baikal, India, and Ceylon, has, for instance, the greater part of the plumage white or pinkish white with scarlet wing-coverts and black quills, red legs, and the beak pink at the base and black at the tip. Much more gorgeous is the tropical American _P. ruber_, ranging as far south as Para and the Galapagos Islands, in which the general colour of the plumage is light vermilion, with brighter wing-coverts, the base of beak being yellow and the legs red. To the south of central Peru, in Uruguay, and perhaps in Brazil this species is replaced by _P. chilensis_, distinguished by the legs being grey with red joints, while the black of the beak extends upwards above the bend. In all the foregoing species a hind-toe is present, but this is lacking in two other South American species, namely, _P. (Phœnicoparrus) andinus_, the largest member of the family, of the Chilian and Bolivian Andes and Argentina, and _P. (P.) jamesi_, of southern Peru and Chile, in both of which the beak is yellow at the base and red in the middle, while the legs are yellow in the former and red in the latter. Lastly, there is _P. (Phœniconaias) minor_, of Africa, Madagascar, and India, which in general appearance much resembles the European species.

Although flamingoes spend much of their time in wading, they are also good swimmers. Like geese and ducks, they associate in vast flocks, and further evidence of their kinship to that group is afforded by their loss of the power of flight during the height of the moulting season, and likewise by their “gaggling” cries, which are curiously like those of geese.

In the breeding-season flamingoes resort to lakes, salt-lagoons, or the swamps in river-valleys, those of the Guadalquivir being one of their favourite haunts in Europe. Bare shores are an essential element in such breeding-colonies, for it is on these that the birds construct their curious sugar-loaf mud-nests, which have a cup-like depression at the summit for the reception of the one or two eggs, and vary in height from two to fifteen inches according to the depth of the water. The eggs, which are brooded by each sex in turn for a period of fully four weeks, have bluish coloured shells, covered with a rough chalky crust. When incubating, the bird sits with its legs bent beneath the body, although it was long supposed that these hung down on the sides of the nest.

Hundreds or even thousands of flamingoes may congregate in these breeding-colonies; and there are few more beautiful sights in nature than to see a flock of these splendid birds, especially the scarlet American species, rise on the wing and display their full colouring and plumage in the sunlight.

THE NILE CROCODILE

(_Crocodilus niloticus_)

To the ancient Egyptians the timsa, or Nile crocodile, the champsa of Herodotus, was a familiar reptile; but from the lower and middle portion of the Nile, as far up as Thebes, the species has long since been exterminated, although it is still abundant in East and South Africa. Elsewhere it occurs in Madagascar, and still survives, although sparingly, in Syria, more especially in the Zerka (= Crocodile) River near Cæsarea. In Biblical times crocodiles were, however, abundant in the Holy Land; and there is little doubt that the “leviathan” of the Book of Job refers to these noisome reptiles. Till nearly the fifteenth century it also seems that crocodiles lived in Greece and the Isles of the Grecian Archipelago; and at that date a huge crocodile’s skull was jealously preserved and exhibited at Rhodes. It is these ancient south European crocodiles which probably gave rise to the legend of St. George and the Dragon and other myths of a kindred nature.

In popular estimation there is much confusion between crocodiles and alligators; and in India the former are almost invariably called alligators, although there is not a single representative of that group in the whole country. Indeed, alligators are confined to China and America; those of South America, properly known as caimans, differing from the typical Mississippi species by having a bony armour on the under as well as on the upper surface. There are many characters distinguishing crocodiles from alligators; one of the most easily recognised being that the fourth lower tooth of a crocodile bites into a notch on the outer side of the upper jaw, so that its summit is visible when the mouth is closed, whereas in an alligator the corresponding tooth is received into a pit, so that the tip is completely concealed when the reptile shuts its enormous mouth.

True crocodiles, which, with alligators, caimans, and gavials, are the largest of living reptiles, are now represented by about eleven species, whose combined range includes Africa, southern Asia, northern Australia, and tropical America. India possesses two species, the broad-nosed muggar (_Crocodilus palustris_), and the narrow-nosed estuarine crocodile (_C. porosus_); the former of which ranges to Ceylon, Burma, and the Malay Peninsula and Islands, while the latter, which enters salt-water freely, and is sometimes found far out to sea, extends from India, Ceylon, and the south of China to northern Australia and the Solomon and Fiji Islands.

Crocodiles may grow to a length of 18 and probably 20 feet or more, and are powerful creatures, which are the pests of the waters they frequent, seizing and dragging down women and men who come to draw water, and gripping by the nose cattle and other animals which come to drink. A beast thus seized has little chance of escape, no matter what may be its size, as it is taken at a disadvantage and rendered comparatively helpless; but there is a well-authenticated story of a Nile crocodile seizing a rhinoceros by one of the hind-legs just as it was about to leave the river, and eventually dragging the enormous beast, despite its frantic efforts, backwards into deep water, where it was drowned.