Richard Lydekker

“ Muntjacs are solitary animals, even two being rarely seen together. They are fond of hilly ground covered with forests, in the dense thickets of which they pass most of their time, only coming to the skirts of the woods at morning and evening to graze. They carry the head and neck low and the hind-quarters high, their action in running being peculiar and not elegant, somewhat resembling the pace of a sheep. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In habits the fox is to a great extent solitary, and its home is usually a burrow, which may be excavated by its own labour, but is more often the usurped or deserted tenement of a badger or a rabbit. Foxes will, however, often take up their residence in woods, or even in water-meadows with large tussocks of grass, remaining concealed during the day and issuing forth on marauding expeditions at night. Rabbits, hares, domesticated poultry, game-birds, and, when these run short, rats, mice and even insects, form the chief diet of the fox. ”

“ It then leaps into the air and alights upon its four feet, but instantaneously erecting itself, it makes another spring, and so on in such rapid succession as to appear as if rather flying than running. ”

“ On catching sight of its enemy, man, the wolverine before finally determining on flight, is said to sit on its haunches, and, in order to get a clearer view of the danger, shade its eyes with one of its fore-paws. When pressed for food it becomes fearless, and has been known to come on board an ice-bound vessel, and in presence of the crew seize a can of meat. The glutton is valuable for its fur, which, when several skins are sewn together, forms elegant hearth and carriage rugs. ”

“ A moment's reflection will show the absurdity of such a supposition; for no surface-dwelling animal could possibly support the enormous pressure existing at great depths, which would crush in the body-cavities. Evidence of this is afforded by the fact that when fishes are brought to the surface from great depths their bodies are practically broken to pieces by the removal of the normal pressure, while their scales start from the skin and the eyes from their sockets. The absolute darkness prevailing at great depths would be another bar to pelagic animals descending to the ocean abysses. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In consequence of this freedom and choice of “station,” each species or individual takes possession of a kind of territory of its own; the elk skulking singly amid the thick foliage of the deciduous forests, while the bison prefer the open clearings, with the adjacent covert for retirement, and the wapiti favour the pine-forest. Roebuck, on the other hand, are to be met with, either singly or in pairs, in almost all parts of the forest. ”

“ That the fauna of the ocean, apart from the influence of temperature, would be much more uniform, and therefore less susceptible of being divided into zoological provinces, or regions, will be apparent from a glance at the map of the world on Mercator's projection, in which the fact that the three great oceans the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Indian are in free communication with one another in the southern hemisphere is clearly brought out. ”

“ The delicate rufous fawn of the upper-parts accords with the yellow tint of the rocks or sand amid which these beautiful creatures spend most of their time; while, when the animal is standing in the full glare of an Eastern sun, the white of the under surface counteracts the effect of the dark shade thrown by the body, and thus, even at comparatively short distances, makes for more or less complete invisibility. ”

“ The animal most difficult to come across in the park is the Siberian roebuck; but we were luckily enabled to obtain one glimpse of a fine old buck quietly feeding in thick covert, although he was unfortunately frightened away by a fox-terrier before we could get a full view. The one glimpse was, however, sufficient to show that the summer coat of this species is lighter-coloured than that of the European roebuck, being yellowish fawn in place of rufous. Whether, however, the white rump-patch is developed at this season I was unable to see. ”

“ GALAGO, the Senegal name of the long-tailed African representatives of the lemur-like Primates, which has been adopted as their technical designation. Till recently the galagos have been included in the family Lemuridae; but this is restricted to the lemurs of Madagascar, and they are now classed with the lorises and pottos in the family Nycticebidae, of which they form the section Galaginae, characterized by the great elongation of the upper portion of the feet (tarsus) and the power of folding the large ears. ”

“ 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. ”

“ INSECTIVORA, an order of non-volant placental mammals of small size, with a dentition adapted to an insect-diet. In nearly all cases these creatures are nocturnal, and the majority are terrestrial, many burrowing in the ground, although a few are arboreal and others aquatic. They have plantigrade or partially plantigrade feet, that is to say, they apply the whole or the greater portion of the soles to the ground when walking; and there are generally five toes, each terminating in a claw, and the first never being opposable to the others in either the fore or hind limb. ”

“ His lions, elephants, zebras, and antelopes are so real that we feel we are gazing at them on the plains of East Africa. The landscapes are simple but intense; sunlight is there, and the trees and grass are just those that grow in the habitat of these species. Kuhnert has, as it were, got inside the very skin of African life, and draws you insensibly within the charmed circle.”
In a gallery his works at once arrest attention by their vigorous realism. There is life within the frame of whatever he paints. ”

“ A warmer day than usual restores it to temporary activity, and then it supplies itself with food from its autumn hoard, again becoming torpid till roused by the advent of spring. The young are generally four in number, and are produced twice a year. They are born blind, but in a marvellously short period are able to cater for themselves; and their hibernation begins later in the season than with the adults. The fur of the dormouse is tawny above and paler beneath, with a white patch on the throat. ”

“ LIVING amid eternal ice and snow, the polar bear, which is equalled in bodily size only by some of the huge brown bears of Alaska and Kamchatka, evidently owes its white, or in some instances pale cream-coloured, coat to its surroundings; this white livery, like that of the polar hare, being worn throughout the year. The species is always alluded to simply as the polar bear, although its full title should be the north polar bear; the Antarctic, so far as we know at present, having no land mammals. ”