Chapter V: THE BIOLOGICAL TYPE. In some ways the most important scientific (21)

On the fourth day we hunted in the Keskender forest, a few miles from the banks of the Danube. As we left the forests on the river banks, we had to traverse a great plain bounded in the far distance by a chain of hills. Our route lay through well-cultivated fields belonging to the large estate of Bellye--a model of good management--and we made rapid progress on swift horses. Here and there marshy meadows, with pools and ditches, a little thicket, large farm-buildings surrounded by gnarled oaks, a hamlet, a village, but for the most part treeless fields; this was the character of the district through which we hastened. Larks innumerable rose singing from the fields; dainty water-wagtails tripped about the roads; shrikes and corn-buntings sat on every wayside hedge; brooding jackdaws and starlings bustled and clamoured about their nests in the crowns of the oaks; above the ponds ospreys were wheeling on the outlook for fish, and graceful terns skimmed along in zigzag flight; the lapwing busied itself in the marshes. Apart from these, we observed very few birds. Even the Keskender wood, a well-kept forest, which we reached after two hours’ riding, was poor in species, notwithstanding its varied character. There, however, were the nests of spotted-eagles and ospreys, short-toed eagles and common buzzards, falcons, owls, and, above all, black storks in surprising numbers, and our expedition was therefore successful beyond all expectation. And yet the foresters, who, in anticipation of the Crown Prince’s visit, had, only a few days before, searched the woods and noted the position of the various eyries on a hastily constructed map, did not know of nearly all the birds of prey and black storks nesting in the forest. “It is like Paradise here,” remarked the Crown Prince Rudolf, and these words accurately described the relations between men and animals in Hungary. Like the Oriental, the Hungarian is happily not possessed by the mania for killing which has caused the extreme shyness of the animals, and the painfully evident poverty of animal life in Western Europe; he does not grudge a home even to the bird of prey which settles on his land, and he does not make constant and cruel raids on the animal world, which lives and moves about him. Not even the low self-interest which at present prompts covetous feather-dealers to make yearly expeditions to the marshes of the lower Danube, and which sacrifices hundreds of thousands of happy and interesting bird-lives for the sake of their feathers, has had power to move the Magyar from his good old customs. It may be that indifference to the animal life around him has something to do with his hospitality; but the hospitality is there, and it has not yet given place to a thirst for persecution. Animals, and especially birds, remain quite confidently in the neighbourhood of men; they go about their own affairs quite unconcerned as to what men may be doing. The eagle has his eyrie by the roadside, the raven nests among the trees in the field, the black or wood stork is hardly more shy than the sacred house-stork; the deer does not rise from his lair when a carriage passes within rifle-range. Verily, it is like Paradise.

But we found a state of paradise elsewhere than in the Keskender forest. After we had roamed through the forest in many directions, and had visited more than twenty eyries of buzzards and ospreys and black storks, and had refreshed and strengthened ourselves with an excellent breakfast provided for us, and still more with the delicious wine of the district, we set out on our return journey to the ship, urged to haste by threatening thunder-clouds, but still hunting and collecting as time and opportunity allowed. Our route was different from that which we had followed in coming to the forest; it was a good high-road connecting a number of villages. We passed through several of those, and again the road led us between houses. There was nothing remarkable about the buildings, but the people were stranger than my fancy could have pictured. The population of Dalyok consists almost solely of _Schokazen_ or Catholic Servians, who migrated from the Balkan Peninsula, or were brought thither by the Turks, during the period of the Turkish supremacy. They are handsome, slender people these Schokazen, the men tall and strong, the women at least equal to the men, extremely well built and apparently rather pretty. We could form a definite opinion with regard to their figures, but, as far as their faces were concerned, we had to depend to some extent on our own imagination. For the Schokaz women wear a style of dress which will hardly be found elsewhere within the boundaries of Europe at the present day: a dress which our princely patron, happy as usual in his descriptions, called mythological. When I say that head and face were almost entirely enveloped in quaintly yet not unpicturesquely wound and knotted cloths, and that the skirt was replaced by two gaily-coloured apron-like pieces of cloth, not connected with each other, I may leave the rest to the most lively imagination without fearing that it will be likely to exceed the actual state of things. For my own part I was reminded of a camp of Arab nomad herdsmen which I had once seen in the primitive forests of Central Africa.

At dusk, under pouring rain, we reached our comfortable vessel. Rain fell the following morning also, the whole day was gloomy, and our expedition was proportionately disappointing. All this impelled us to continue our journey, though we look back gratefully on those pleasant days on the Bellye estate, and though it would have been well worth while to have observed and collected there a few days longer. With warm and well-earned words of praise the Crown Prince bade farewell to the officials on the archducal estate; one glance more at the woods which had offered us so much, and our swift little vessel steams down the Danube again. After a few hours we reach Draueck, the mouth of the river Drau, which thenceforward seems to determine the direction of the Danube bed. One of the grandest river pictures I have ever seen presented itself to our gaze. A vast sheet of water spread out before us; towards the south it is bounded by smiling hills, on all the other sides by forests, such as we had already seen. Neither the course of the main stream nor the bed of its tributary could be made out; the whole enormous sheet of water was like an inclosed lake whose banks were only visible at the chain of hills above mentioned; for through the green vistas of the forest one saw more water, thickets, and reed-beds, these last covering the great marsh of Hullo, which stretches out in apparently endless extent. Giant tree-trunks, carried down by both streams, and only partly submerged, assumed the most fantastic shapes; it seemed as if fabled creatures of the primitive world reared their scaly bodies above the dark flood. For the “blonde” Danube looked dark, almost black, as we sped through the Draueck. Grayish-black and dark-blue thunder-clouds hung in the heavens, apparently also amidst the hundred-toned green of the forests, and over the unvarying faded yellow of the reed-beds; flashes of lightning illumined the whole picture vividly; the rain splashed down; the thunder rolled; the wind howled through the tops of the tall old trees, lashed up the surface of the water, and crowned the dark crests of the waves with gray-white foam; but away in the south-east the sun had broken through the dark clouds, edged them with purple and gold, illumined them so that the black shadows grew yet blacker, and shone brightly down on the smiling hills, which lead up to a mountain range far away on the horizon. Below and beyond us lay hamlets and villages, but, where we were, at most a cone-shaped, reed-covered fisher-hut broke the primeval character of the magnificent scene, which, in its wildness and in the weird effect of the momentary flashes of light, was sublime beyond description.

The scarcity of birds was striking, as indeed was the desolateness of the whole sheet of water. Not a gull floated over the mirror of the Danube, not a tern winged its zigzag flight up and down; at most a few drakes rose from the river. Now and then a common heron, a flight of night-herons, an erne, and a few kites, hooded crows and ravens, perhaps also a flock of lapwings, and the list of birds which one usually sees is exhausted.

From the following day onwards we hunted and explored a wonderful district. The blue mountains, upon which lay bright, golden sunlight during the thunder-storm of the previous day, are the heights of Fruskagora, a wooded hill range of the most delightful kind. Count Rudolf Chotek had prepared everything for the fitting reception of our Prince, and thus we enjoyed several days which can never be forgotten. From the village of Čerewič, on the upper side of which our vessel lay, we drove daily through the gorges, climbed the heights on foot or on horseback, to return homewards each evening delighted and invigorated. The golden May-tide refreshed heart and soul, and our host’s untiring attention, complaisance, courtesy, and kindness went far to make the days passed at Fruskagora the pleasantest and most valuable part of our whole journey.

It was a charming district, about which we roamed every day. Around the village was a range of fields; beyond these a girdle of vineyards which reach to the very edge of the forest; in the valleys and gorges between them the innumerable fruit trees were laden with fragrant blossom, which brightened the whole landscape; on the banks, beside the road which usually led through the valleys, there was a dense growth of bushes, and the refreshing charm of the wealth of blossom was enhanced by the murmuring brooks and trickling runlets of water. From the first heights we reached the view was surprisingly beautiful. In the foreground lay the picturesque village of Čerewič; then the broad Danube, with its meadow-forests on the opposite shore; behind these stretched the boundless Hungarian plain, exhibiting to the spectator its fields and meadows, woods and marshes, villages and market towns in an unsteady, changeful light, which gave them a peculiar charm; in the east lay the stronghold of Peterwardein. Larks rose singing from the fields; the nightingale poured forth its tuneful lay from the bushes; the cheery song of the rock-thrush rang down from the vineyards; and two species of vulture and three kinds of eagle were describing great circles high in the air.

When we had gone a little farther we lost sight of river, villages, and fields, and entered one of the secluded forest-valleys. The sides of the mountain rise precipitously from it, and, like the ridges and slopes, they are densely wooded, though the trees are not very tall. Oaks and limes, elms and maples predominate in some places, copper-beeches and hornbeams in others; thick, low bushes, which shelter many a pair of nightingales, are scattered about the outskirts of the forest. No magnificent far-reaching views reward the traveller who climbs to the highest ridge to see Hungary lying to the north, and Servia to the south; but the mysterious darkness of the forest soothes soul and sense. From the main ridge, which is at most 3000 feet in height, many chains branch off on either side almost at right angles, and have a fine effect from whatever side one looks at them. Among them are valleys or enclosed basins whose steep walls make transport of felled wood impossible, and which therefore display all the natural luxuriance of forest growth. Gigantic beeches, with straight trunks smooth up to the spreading crown, rise from amid mouldering leaves in which the huntsman sinks to the knee; gnarled oaks raise their rugged heads into the air as if to invite the birds of prey to nest there; dome-like limes form such a close roof of leaves, that only a much-broken reflection of the sun’s rays trembles on the ground. In addition to the nightingale, which is everywhere abundant, the songsters of this forest are the song-thrush and blackbird, golden oriole and red-breast, chaffinch and wood-wren; the cuckoo calls its spring greeting from hill to hill; black and green woodpeckers, nut-hatches and titmice, ring-doves and stock-doves may be heard in all directions.

We had come here chiefly to hunt the largest European bird of prey, the black vulture, Fruskagora being apparently the northern boundary of its breeding region. The other large European vulture had recently appeared in the district, probably attracted by the unfortunate victims of the Servian war, and both species brooded here protected by the lord of the estate, who was an enthusiastic naturalist. I was already acquainted with both these species of vulture, for I had seen them on former journeys, but it was a great pleasure to me to observe them in their brooding-place, and hear the reports of my fellow-sportsmen and of Count Chotek; for on this expedition also our main desire was to increase our knowledge of animal life. Here again we were able to make a long series of observations, and many aspects of the life of both these giant birds, which had hitherto been obscure to us all, were cleared up and explained by our investigations.

The crested black vulture, whose range of distribution is not confined to the three southern peninsulas of Europe, but extends also through West and Central Asia, to India and China, is resident in Fruskagora, but after the brooding season he frequently makes long expeditions, which bring him regularly to Northern Hungary, and frequently to Moravia, Bohemia, and Silesia. His powerful wings enable him to undertake such expeditions without the slightest difficulty. Unfettered by eggs or helpless young, he flies early in the morning from the tree on which he has passed the night, ascends spirally to a height to which the human eye unaided cannot follow him, then with his incomparably keen, mobile eye, whose focal distance can be rapidly altered, he scans the horizon, detects unfailingly even small carrion, and alights to devour and digest it, or to store it in his crop. After feeding he returns to his accustomed place, or continues his pathless journeying. Not only does he carefully scan the land lying beneath him, perhaps for many square miles, but he keeps watch on the movements of others of his species, or of any large carrion-eating birds, that he may profit by their discoveries. Thus only can we explain the sudden and simultaneous appearance of several, or even many vultures beside a large carcass, even in a region not usually inhabited by these birds. They are guided in their search for prey, not by their sense of smell, which is dull, but by sight. One flies after another when he sees that he has discovered carrion, and his swiftness of flight is so great that he can usually be in time to share the feast, if he sees the finder circling above his booty. Certainly he must lose no time, for it is not for nothing that he and his kin are called “_geier_”; their greed beggars description. Within a few minutes three or four vultures will stow away the carcass of a sheep or a dog in their crops, leaving only the most trifling remains; the meal-time therefore passes with incredible rapidity, and whoever arrives late on the scene is doomed to disappointment.

The country round Fruskagora yields a good deal more to the vultures than an occasional feast of carrion, for in the stomachs of those which we shot and dissected we found remains of souslik and large lizards, which are scarcely likely to have been found dead, but were more probably seized and killed.

On account of the northerly situation of Fruskagora, and the well-ordered state of the surrounding country, which is not very favourable to vultures, the black vultures were still brooding during our visit, though others of the same species, whose haunts were farther south, must undoubtedly have had young birds by that time. The eyries were placed in the tallest trees, and most of them on the uppermost third of the mountain side. Many were quite well known to Count Chotek and his game-keepers, for they had been occupied as a brooding-place by a pair of vultures, possibly the same pair, for at least twenty years, and as they had been added to each year they had assumed very considerable proportions. Others seemed of more recent origin, but all were apparently the work of the vultures themselves. In the oldest and largest of them, a full-grown man could have reclined without his head or feet being seen projecting over the edge.

Under these eyries we sat watching, listening to the life and bustle of the woods, and waiting in the hope of getting a shot at the vultures which our approach had scared away. For four days we went to the splendid woods every morning, and never did we return to our vessel empty-handed. No fewer than eight large vultures, several eagles, and numerous smaller birds fell to our guns, while valuable observations, which fascinated us all, added zest and interest to our sport. But when the last rays of the sun had disappeared, the younger portion of the population assembled about our ship. Violin and bagpipes joined in a wonderful but simple melody, and youths and maidens danced the rhythmically undulating national round dances in honour of their august guest.

After we had hunted successfully on both sides of the Danube, we took leave, on the fifth day after our arrival in Čerewič, of our most devoted host, the lord of the estates, and continued our journey down the river. In three-quarters of an hour we passed Peterwardein, a small, antiquated, but picturesquely situated stronghold, and an hour and a half later, we reached Carlowitz, near which we spent the night. The next morning we reached Kovil, the goal of our journey.

In the neighbourhood of this large village, and girdled by cultivated fields, there are woods in which the oak predominates, but which have such a dense undergrowth, that notwithstanding the many villages about, the wolves and wild-cats lead a threatening but scarcely threatened existence in them. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that birds of prey of all kinds, especially sea-eagles, imperial eagles, spotted eagles, and booted eagles, “short-toed eagles”, kites, hawks, horned and other owls should have chosen them as a nesting-place, and that they should also harbour all kinds of small birds. Sure of rich booty the Crown Prince and his brother-in-law directed their steps to these woods, while Eugen von Homeyer and I tried our luck up-stream beyond the village, in a marsh which the flood, then at its height, had transformed into a great lake.

A surprisingly rich and varied life reigned in this marsh, though only a very small fraction of the feathered population could be seen, and indeed the tide of migration was still in full flood. Great flocks of black terns flew in almost unbroken succession up the river, sometimes assembling in compact swarms, sometimes distributing themselves over the whole breadth of the flooded Danube; hundreds of glossy or dark ibises wandered up and down the stream, flying in the usual wedge-shaped order towards or away from the neighbouring river Theiss, apparently still in search of suitable nesting-places; purple herons, common herons, and squacco herons strode about fishing in all accessible parts of the great expanse of water; marsh-barriers flew along their accustomed routes carrying long reed-stalks to their nests; ducks, mating a second time because the flood had robbed them of their eggs, rose noisily from the water on the approach of our small flat boat, while grebes and dabchicks dived for safety--in short, every part of the vast expanse was peopled. A forester well acquainted with all the paths through the submerged wood, awaited us in a house which rose above the flood like an island, and acted as our guide through a forest-wilderness which far surpassed all that we had hitherto seen, for the water had added new obstacles to those always present. Brushing past many branches which must usually be high above the ground, often stooping beneath boughs which blocked our way, we attempted to find a route between half or wholly fallen trees, logs, and drift-wood, and to penetrate to the heart of the forest. Brooding mallards, whose nests in the tops of the willows had been spared by the flood, did not rise on our approach, even though we glided by within a yard of them. Eared grebes, which were out on the open water, when they saw us, swam sideways into the green thicket of tree-crowns, chiefly willows, which rose just above the surface; water-wagtails ran from one piece of drift-wood to another; spotted woodpeckers and nut-hatches clung to the tree-trunks close to the water, and searched for food as usual. One picture of bird-life crowded upon another; but all seemed unfamiliar, because altered by the prevailing conditions. To reach a sea-eagle’s eyrie we were obliged to wade a long distance; to visit a raven’s nest we had to make a wide détour. Hunting in the approved fashion was impossible under such circumstances, but our expedition rewarded us richly. To me personally it afforded the pleasure of seeing one of the best of the feathered architects of Europe, the penduline titmouse, at work on its nest, and of observing for the first time its life and habits.[88]

The following day our whole company assembled in one of the woods already mentioned. A Hungarian forester had made preparations for a wolf-drive on a grand scale, but had arranged it so unskilfully that Friend Isegrim succeeded in slipping away unperceived. The unpromising chase was therefore soon abandoned, and the short time which remained to us was devoted to more profitable observation of the bird-life in the forest.

In the course of the same afternoon we left Kovil, reached Peterwardein the same evening, steamed past Fruskagora early in the night, left the vessel once more the following day to hunt in the marsh of Hullo, saw there the noble heron which we had until then sought for in vain, but were obliged to hurry onwards so as not to miss the fast train for Vienna. Gratefully looking back on the days we had spent, and lamenting the swiftness with which they had sped, we steamed rapidly past all the river forests, which had afforded us so much enjoyment, and, with the ardent wish that we might some day return to spend a longer time in it, we took leave of this rich and unique country.

NOTES BY THE EDITOR.

THE BIRD-BERGS OF LAPLAND.

For other pictures of Arctic Natural History the reader may profitably consult the following works:--

Collett, R. _Bird Life in Arctic Norway._ Trans. by A. H. Cocks (London, 1894).

Nordenskiöld, A. E. _The Voyage of the “Vega” Round Asia and Europe_, with a Historical Review of Previous Journeys along the North Coast of the Old World (Trans. by A. Leslie, 2 vols., London, 1881).

Gilder, W. H. _Ice-Pack and Tundra_, an Account of the Search for the _Jeanette_, and a Sledge Journey through Siberia (8vo, London, 1883. Chiefly personal, not scientific).

Hovgaard, A. _Nordenskiöld’s Voyage Round Asia and Europe_, a Popular Account of the North-east Passage of the _Vega_, 1878-80 (Trans. by H. L. Brækstad, 8vo, London, 1882).

Pennant’s _Arctic Zoology_ (1785).

Note 1: p. 38.--_Dense masses of fish._

I have consulted a Scandinavian pisciculturist, who, while not corroborating the occurrence of such vast multitudes, admitted the periodic appearance of dense local swarms, such as are sometimes seen in the lochs in the west of Scotland.

Note 2: p. 45.--_The female eider-duck plucking the male._

The popular story of the male eider being made to furnish down for the nest, after the mother-bird’s supply is exhausted, must, we fear, be regarded as a misstatement. See Newton’s _Dictionary of Birds_ (London, 1893), and other authoritative works on ornithology. Perhaps the story has some basis in the fact that for a short time after the breeding season the males undergo a change of plumage, becoming less decorative and more like the females.

Note 3: p. 48.--_Economic value of eider-down._

According to Stejneger, each nest yields about an ounce and a third. From Greenland and Iceland alone, six thousand pounds, or the contents of seventy-two thousand nests, are yearly exported. Nordenskiöld notes that the quantity of eider-down brought from the polar lands to Tromsöe amounted in 1868 to 540 kilogrammes, in 1869 to 963, in 1870 to 882, in 1871 to 630, in 1872 to 306, and that the total annual yield may be probably estimated at three times as much.

Note 4: p. 57.--_Auks._

A graphic description of the King-auks (_Alle alle_), which breed in Spitzbergen, is given by Nordenskiöld in the work above mentioned.

The name auk is oftenest applied only to the razor-bills, but is also used collectively for other members of the family Alcidæ, such as guillemots and puffins.

Note 5: p. 59.--_Altrices and Præcoces._

Altrices or nidicolæ are those birds which are more or less helpless when hatched. They are often blind and naked, and unable to leave the nest. The food-yolk has been mostly or wholly used up before birth, and the young depend on what their parents bring them. Examples are doves, hawks, and passerine birds.

Præcoces or nidifugæ are those birds which are more or less able to run about when hatched. They are born with their eyes open, with a covering of down, and with much of their yolk still unused. Examples are running birds, fowl, gulls, and ducks.

THE TUNDRA AND ITS ANIMAL LIFE.

In addition to Nordenskiöld’s voyage, and other works already cited, the following may be consulted by those who wish to amplify their picture of the Tundra and its life:--

Seebohm. _Siberia in Asia_ (1882).

Jackson, F. G. _The Great Frozen Land_ (Bolshaia Zemelskija Tundra). Narrative of a winter journey across the Tundras and a sojourn among the Samoyedes (ed. from the author’s journal by A. Montefiore, 8vo, London, 1895).

Note 6 and 7: pp. 63 and 71.--_The Tundra._

With Brehm’s picture of the Tundra, it is interesting to compare that given by Mr. Seebohm in his address to the Geographical Section of the British Association at Nottingham, 1893. (_Scottish Geogr. Magazine_, ix. (1893), pp. 505-23, with map.)

“In exposed situations, especially in the higher latitudes, the tundra does really merit its American name of Barren Ground, being little else than gravel beds interspersed with bare patches of peat or clay, and with scarcely a rush or a sedge to break the monotony. In Siberia, at least, this is very exceptional. By far the greater part of the tundra, both east and west of the Ural Mountains, is a gently undulating plain, full of lakes, rivers, swamps, and bogs. The lakes are diversified with patches of green water plants, amongst which ducks and swans float and dive; the little rivers flow between banks of rush and sedge; the swamps are masses of tall rushes and sedges of various species, where phalaropes and ruffs breed, and the bogs are brilliant with the white fluffy seeds of the cotton-grass. The groundwork of all this variegated scenery is more beautiful and varied still--lichens and moss of almost every conceivable colour, from the cream-coloured reindeer-moss to the scarlet-cupped trumpet-moss, interspersed with a brilliant alpine flora, gentians, anemones, saxifrages, and hundreds of plants, each a picture in itself, the tall aconites, both the blue and yellow species, the beautiful cloudberry, with its gay white blossom and amber fruit, the flagrant _Ledum palustre_ and the delicate pink _Andromeda polifolia_. In the sheltered valleys and deep water-courses a few stunted birches, and sometimes large patches of willow scrub, survive the long severe winter, and serve as cover for willow-grouse or ptarmigan. The Lapland bunting and red-throated pipit are everywhere to be seen, and certain favoured places are the breeding grounds of plovers and sandpipers of many species. So far from meriting the name of Barren Ground, the tundra is for the most part a veritable paradise in summer. But it has one almost fatal drawback--it swarms with millions of mosquitoes.”

Note 8: p. 72.--_The Mammoth._

The Mammoth (_Elephas primigenius_) was a near relative of the Indian elephant, if not indeed a variety of the same species. One of its characteristics was a woolly covering of brownish hair, rudimentary traces of which have been found in the Indian species.

It was abundant in Europe before the glacial epoch, and seems to have been especially common in Siberia. Lydekker’s _Royal Natural History_ gives a good account of the finding of the mammoth, and the striking fact is noticed that the imports of fossil ivory into England prove that, within a period of twenty years, over 20,000 mammoths must have been discovered.

As Brehm describes, the carcasses are found frozen in the soil, to all appearance just as the animals died, but the explanation of this is obscure. The particular case to which he alludes was one of the earliest finds--by Adams in 1806. Before Adams reached the carcass, which had been known for some years, the dogs of the yakuts had eaten most of the flesh.

See also Vogt’s _Natural History of Mammals_.

Note 9: p. 73.--_Colour of the Arctic Fox._

On the interesting question of the winter colour-change, Mr. Poulton’s _Colours of Animals_ and Mr. Beddard’s _Animal Coloration_ should be consulted.

Note 10: p. 75.--_Reindeer devouring Lemming._

With reference to Brehm’s statement as to reindeer eating lemming, I may note a report on creditable authority that in the hard winter 1894-5 stags in Aberdeenshire were known to have eaten rabbits.

Note 11: p. 76.--_Migration of the Lemming._

A careful discussion of the strange migratory instinct of the lemming will be found in the late Mr. Romanes’s _Mental Evolution in Animals_.

Note 12: p. 77.--_Food of the Reindeer._

Though the reindeer may eat grasses and aquatic plants, its great resource is the so-called reindeer-moss, which is really a lichen, common on the mountain heights of the interior where the herds pass the winter.

Note 13: p. 80.--_The Phalarope._

Of the Grey Phalarope (_Phalaropus fulicarius_) and the Red-necked Phalarope (_Phalaropus hyperboreus_), both occurring in Britain, Professor Newton says: “A more entrancing sight to the ornithologist can hardly be presented than by either of these species. Their graceful form, their lively coloration, and the confidence with which both are familiarly displayed in their breeding-quarters, can hardly be exaggerated, and it is equally a delightful sight to watch the birds gathering their food in the high--running surf, or, when that is done, peacefully floating outside the breakers.” See also Collett’s _Bird Life in Arctic Norway_.

Note 14: p. 84.--_Sense of smell and touch._

The somewhat mysterious reference which Brehm makes to a sense between smell and touch is thoroughly justifiable. To the senses of many of the lower animals--and even of fishes--it is exceedingly difficult to apply our fairly definite human conceptions of smell, taste, touch, &c.

Note 15: p. 85.--_Mosquitoes._

This general term covers a large number of species belonging to the gnat genus (_Culex_). They are very various in size, and are widely distributed from the Tropics to the Poles. Their larvæ are aquatic, and for their abundance the tundra obviously offers every opportunity.

THE ASIATIC STEPPES AND THEIR FAUNA.

See--

Bovalet, G. _Through the Heart of Asia_ (trans. by C. B. Pitman, 2 vols, London, 1889).

Jackson, F. G. _The Great Frozen Land_, cited above.

Note 16: p. 91.--_Flora of the steppe._

According to Seebohm (_op. cit._), “The cause of the treeless condition of the steppes or prairies has given rise to much controversy. My own experience in Siberia convinced me that the forests were rocky, and the steppes covered with a deep layer of loose earth, and I came to the conclusion that on the rocky ground the roots of the trees were able to establish themselves firmly, so as to defy the strongest gales, which tore them up when they were planted in loose soil. Other travellers have formed other opinions. Some suppose that the prairies were once covered with trees, which have been gradually destroyed by fires. Others suggest that the earth on the treeless plains contains too much salt or too little organic matter to be favourable to the growth of trees. No one, so far as I know, has suggested a climatic explanation of the circumstances. Want of drainage may produce a swamp, and the deficiency of rainfall may cause a desert, both conditions being fatal to forest growth, but no one can mistake either of these treeless districts for a steppe or a prairie.” See also for general description of steppe vegetation Kerner’s _Plant Life_ and Wiesner’s _Biologic der Pflanzen_.

Note 17: p. 97.--_The Quagga._

The true quagga (_Equus quagga_), intermediate between zebras and asses, is no longer known to exist, though it was described by Sir Cornwallis Harris in 1839 as occurring in immense herds. The name quagga is given by the Boers to Burchell’s zebra (_Equus burchelli_).

The same sad fact of approaching extermination must be noted in regard to not a few noble animals, _e.g._ rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and giraffe.

Selous writes in 1893: “To the best of my belief, the great white or square-mouthed rhinoceros (_Rhinoceros simus_), the largest of modern terrestrial mammals after the elephant, will, in the course of the next few years, become absolutely extinct. Yet, twenty years ago, it was a common animal over an enormous extent of country in Central South Africa.

“Never again will the traveller be able to stand upon his wagon-box, and, like Burchell, Andrew Smith, Cornwallis Harris, and Gordon Cumming, scan plains literally darkened by thousands upon thousands of wildebeests, quaggas, Burchell’s zebras, blesboks, hartebeests, and spring-boks.”

Note 18: p. 97.--_The Buffalo._

The American bison or buffalo (_Bos americanus_) is now practically exterminated.

Two sentences from _An Introduction to the Study of Mammals_, by Sir W. H. Flower and Mr. R. Lydekker (London, 1891), put the case in a nutshell.

“The multitudes in which the American bison formerly existed are almost incredible; the prairies being absolutely black with them as far as the eye could reach, the numbers in the herds being reckoned by millions.”

With the completion of the Kansas Branch of the Pacific Railway in 1871, the extraordinarily careless and ruthless slaughter began. In less than ten years bison-shooting ceased to be profitable.

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.”

He goes on to describe the rush of life to fill up each gap--the struggle for existence--the crowding, crushing, and strangling--the death and disease.

“To complete the mental picture of this ruthless forest, the ground should be strewn thickly with half-formed humus of rotting twigs, leaves, branches; every few yards there should be a prostrate giant, a reeking compost of rotten fibres, and departed generations of insects, and colonies of ants, half veiled with masses of vines and shrouded by the leafage of a multitude of baby saplings, lengthy briars and calamus in many fathom lengths, and every mile or so there should be muddy streams, stagnant creeks, and shallow pools, green with duckweed, leaves of lotus and lilies, and a greasy green scum composed of millions of finite growths.”

Note 29: p. 126.--_Appearance of Decay in the Forests._

A closely similar picture is given by Mr. E. N. Buxton in recounting a journey in the Rocky Mountains. He says: “This bane of pack-trains is caused by forest fires, which have burnt out the life of the trees, leaving only gaunt stems and blackened ground, followed by tempests which have whirled these tottering giants in heaps to the ground. In places the stems lie parallel to one another, and piled to the height of many feet as though they had been laid in sheaves. Elsewhere, while some have stood the shock and are still erect, their neighbours lie prone at every conceivable angle to one another, and their branches pierce the air as weathered snags. This ghastly waste, whether brought about by natural causes, or the recklessness of man, will have to be paid for some day, for are we not within measurable distance of the inevitable world-wide timber-famine” (E. N. Buxton, _Short Stalks_, 1893).

See also Rodway’s _In the Guiana Forest_ (London, 1895), and article “Death in the Forest” (_Natural Science_, Sept., 1892).

Note 30: p. 129.--_Taiga._

“A strip of Alpine region, 100-150 miles in breadth, consisting of separate mountain-chains whose peaks rise from 4800-6500 feet above sea-level, and beyond the limits of forest vegetation.” According to Radloff, the name _taiga_ is also generally applied by the Kalmucks to wooded and rocky mountain-land.

Note 31: p. 135.--_Extermination of the Beaver._

Mr. Martin, in his eulogy of the beaver (_Castorologia_, 1892), describes the rapid diminution of numbers in Canada, largely as the result of careless greed, but also through the spread of colonisation. He believes that by the end of the century, none will be found except in museums. Their rarity in Europe is well known.

Note 32: p. 136.--_Export of skins._

Radloff notes, in 1884, that the yearly sale of furs at the Irbitsch fair amounts to between three and four millions of roubles.

Note 33: p. 144.--_Velvet of antlers._

An account of the various ways in which pounded antlers and the vascular velvet were once used in medicine will be found in Prof. W. Marshall’s recent _Arzenei-Kästlein_, Leipzig, 1894.

Note 34: p. 147.--_The Elk._

The elk (_Alces machlis_) is the largest of the land animals of Europe, and is the same as the “moose” of Canada.

Note 35: p. 150.--_Rouble._

This varies from 3_s._ 8_d._ to 3_s._ 10_d._, but is usually reckoned as 4_s._ Of the kopeks, afterwards referred to, a hundred go to the rouble.

Note 36: p. 161.--_Brick Tea._

Broken or powdered tea-leaves mixed with the blood of the sheep or ox, and formed into cakes. Other fragrant leaves are sometimes added.

Note 37: p. 165.--_The Bear rearing her cubs._

I have been unable to find any corroboration of this story as to the she-bear employing her children of a former year as nurses.

THE STEPPES OF INNER AFRICA.

See--

Selous, F. C. _Travel and Adventure in South-East Africa_ (1893).

Solymos, B. (B. E. Falkenberg). _Desert Life: Recollections of an Expedition in the Soudan._ London, 1880.

Foà, E. _Mes grandes Chasses dans l’Afrique Centrale._ Paris, 1895.

Lichtenstein, M. H. K. _Reise im Südlichen Africa._ Berlin, 1812.

G. Schweinfurth. _The Heart of Africa._

J. Thomson. _Through Masai Land._

_Emin Pasha in Central Africa._ Edited by Schweinfurth, Ratzel, Felkin, and Hartlaub. London, 1885.

Also well-known works by Livingstone, Stanley, &c.

Note 38: p. 170.--_Heat in the Desert._

50° Celsius, or Centigrade = 122° Fahrenheit. Temperatures of 121°, 122°, 133° Fahr., and so on, have been repeatedly recorded in the desert. Solymos, in his _Desert Life_, notes 115° Fahr. in the shade as the maximum for his year. He also calls attention to the frost and ice! “Duveyrier registered frost twenty-six times between December and March in the plains of the Central Sahara.” His picture of the desert-well is much less optimistic than Brehm’s.

Note 39: p. 173.--_The Termites._

Termites or “white ants” are very characteristic, wood-eating insects of tropical Africa and other warm countries. Though not related to the true ants, they have somewhat similar social organizations.

The reader will be rewarded who turns to Prof. Henry Drummond’s _Tropical Africa_, where there is not only a graphic description of the ways of the termites, but an interesting theory of their possible agricultural importance. As they avoid the light, and travel on the trees only under cover of their tunnels of finely-comminuted and cemented earth, they must be continually pulverizing the soil. When rain-storms come this fine dust is washed from the trees, and some of it may go to swell the alluvium of distant valleys. Hence the termite may be, like the earthworm, a soil-maker of considerable importance. Mr. H. A. Bryden, in his _Gun and Camera in Southern Africa_ (London, 1893), writes as follows of the termites: “Our cases, portmanteaus, &c., were arranged round, but not touching the walls. Every article reposed on glass bottles, as the only known protection against the depredations of white ants.... They will eat large holes in a thick tweed coat in one night, and anything softer than metal left to their tender mercies for a night or two is irretrievably ruined.... If the huts are inspected every few days, the tunnels of self-made mortar can be swept away, and the depredator kept at all events to the flooring.... Most housewives have, at least once a year, to institute a crusade against the marauders, dig up the flooring, and attempt to find the queen. If the queen-ant can be successfully located and dug up, the nuisance is ended; the rest of the ants, bereft of their sovereign, at once quit the building, and for a season trouble no more.... In the forests to the north and west the mischief done by these insects is enormous. The tree is attacked, the tunnels are run up along the bole, the wood is pierced and riddled, and the work of destruction is soon completed.”

There is, however, a lack of precise observation as to the extent to which termites attack trees which are altogether sound and living. In great measure they merely hasten and complete a destruction for whose initiation they are not responsible.

Note 40: p. 173.--_Summer Sleep._

Summer-sleep in torrid regions, affecting a few fishes, amphibians, and reptiles, is a phenomenon analogous to hibernation elsewhere, but its physiological explanation is even more obscure.

Note 41: p. 174.--_The Karroo._

Karroo, a general name for the highland steppes of South Africa. See H. A. Bryden’s _Kloof and Karroo_ (1889).

Note 42: p. 178.--Cerastes (_Vipera hasselquistii_).

The horned viper is the most common viper of Northern Africa. It is extremely poisonous. It is of a brownish-white colour with darker markings, and has a scaly spine or horn over each eye. This species is usually supposed to have been Cleopatra’s asp.

Note 43: p. 182. See Note 39.

Note 44: p. 183.--_The mud-fish._

This remarkable animal (_Protopterus_) is one of the Double-breathers or Dipnoi, a member of a small class between Fishes and Amphibians, represented by three genera--_Ceratodus_ in Queensland, _Lepidosiren_ in Brazil, and this _Protopterus_ in Africa. They differ in many ways from other fishes, being physiologically intermediate between Fishes and Amphibians. Hundreds of specimens have been brought within their ‘nests’ from Africa to Europe. Brehm speaks of the complete enclosure of the capsule, but this is now known to communicate with the outer world by a tubular passage through the mud. At the foot of this tube the mud-fish keeps his nostrils. The lung is a specialization of the swim-bladder which is present in most fishes.

Note 45: p. 184.--_The Royal Aspis or Uräus._

The Uräus snake or Aspis is the well-known Egyptian jugglers’ snake (_Naja haje_). It may be over six feet in length, and is very deadly.

Note 46: p. 185.--_Spitting poison._

The poison of a snake is contained in the secretion of a specialized salivary gland. The compression of this venom gland propels the fluid along a duct which leads to the groove or canal of the fang. Infection with the venom only occurs when, by more or less of a bite, the poison is injected into the victim. No spitting of poison is known, nor would it have effect without a wound.

Note 47: p. 186.--_The Gecko._

Figures and a brief description of the gecko’s clinging foot will be found in Semper’s well-known _Animal Life_ (International Science Series, 1881). The clinging power is due to numerous long bristle-like hairs on the sole of the foot. These appear to be modifications of the “casting-hairs” which are used in “skin-casting”.

Note 48: p. 191.--_Dance of Ostrich._

A vivid picture of the Ostrich dance will be found in Prof. Lloyd Morgan’s _Animal Sketches_ (1892).

Note 49: p. 192.--_Ostrich._

Prof. Newton, in his _Dictionary of Birds_, notes that Ostriches, though sometimes assembling in troops of 30-50, commonly live in companies of four or five--one cock and the rest hens. This is especially true at the breeding season. All the hens lay together; the cock broods during the night; the hens take turns during the day, more, it would seem, to guard their common treasure from jackals and small beasts of prey than directly to forward the process of hatching, for that is often left wholly to the sun. Some thirty eggs are laid in the nest, and round it are scattered perhaps as many more, which are said to be used as food for the newly-hatched chicks.

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._