Mrs. R. Lee

“ A massive form, arched skull, deep lower jaw, strong legs and neck, semi-hanging ears, truncated tail, and frequent presence of a fifth toe, distinguish the noble Mastiff. They are silent, phlegmatic dogs, conscious of their own strength, seem to consider themselves more as companions than servants, are resolute, and face danger with the utmost self-possession. A cold region, such as the highest ranges of Central Asia, is best adapted to their perfect development, and yet their only wild type is met with in Africa. ”

“ We expected every minute to see one or more of them torn to pieces; and yet in their position, one lying under the lion's paw, and the others scrambling towards us, we dared not fire. Fortunately, however, the lion, after steadily surveying us, turned calmly away, drove off the hounds with his heels, as if they had been rats, and bounded over the adjoining thicket like a cat, clearing bushes twelve or fifteen feet high, as if they had been tufts of grass. ”

“ Watch the ape or monkey with which you come into closer contact; does he pick up a blade of grass, he will examine it with as much attention as if he were determining the value of a precious stone. Do you put food before him, he tucks it into his mouth as fast as possible, and when his cheek pouches are so full that they cannot hold any more, he looks at you as if he seriously asked your approval of his laying up stores for the future. ”

“ The keepers of the garden had not risen; but the dogs were on the alert, and surrounded Martin, jumping and barking, half in play, and half in earnest. This roused the men, who, rushing out to see what was the matter, beheld the bear in the midst of the canine troop, his tongue lolling out of his mouth, and an expression of fun and enjoyment in his countenance, which was indescribable. Never was the malignant scowl, so often noticed in bears, from pulling the nictating membrane, or third eyelid half over the eye, seen in poor Martin's face ”

“ At all events, the hermit elephant is particularly fierce and mischievous; and it becomes a matter of policy, or even necessity, to catch him. The Indians hunt him down, accompanied by two trained female elephants, who draw near to him as if unconscious of his presence, and begin to eat the surrounding food as a matter of course. If he join them, they lavish their caresses upon him, and while he is returning their blandishments, the hunters creep softly to his feet, and having tied them together, fasten him to a tree, or let him go loose, with merely the shackles round all his legs. ”

“ They will sit hour after hour watching at the mouth of a hole, and after seizing their prey, bring it to their favourites in the house to show their prowess, and strut about with a great air of self-satisfaction. They generally have a great dislike to water; but they have been known to surmount this when they could catch a fish, for which species of food they have a great preference. The accusation that they play with you one minute, and scratch you the next, is too true: the change is not an act of treachery, but arises from excitement. ”

“ The lioness has no mane; is smaller, and more slender in her proportions than the male; she carries her head even with the line of her back, and wants the majestic courage of the lion, but she is more agile. Her temper is more irritable, and Mr. Gordon Cumming says:—"She is more dangerous before she has been a mother; yet every vestige of tameness or docility vanishes when she is a mother, and she is then in a constant state of excitement, getting into the most violent fury if any one should attempt to touch her cubs." ”

“ Horses will not stand in his presence with any steadiness; and the elephant is restless when in his vicinity. This sagacious animal often manages to shake him off; and if he have taken hold of his trunk, he tramples on him with his fore-feet and so destroys him. If he cannot dislodge him from his body, he lies down upon him, and attempts to kill him by rolling his ponderous weight upon him. Seldom, however, is the tiger the aggressor, unless he be driven to it by hunger, or maddened by pain and despair, and then he struggles till he dies. ”

“ The howling monkeys of South America, who make the forests resound at night, or before a coming storm, with their hideous choruses, and whose hollow and enlarged tongue bone, and expanded lower jaw enable them to utter those melancholy and startling cries, are larger and fatter than many others in the same country, and are constantly sought for as food. ”

“ In half an hour the monkey got up, as if he were just awake, yawned, stretched himself, and took another position a few yards off, where he pretended to play with his tail, occasionally looking over his shoulder at the coveted delicacies. At length the shop-man gave signs of activity, and the bandar was on the alert; the man went to his back room, the bandar cleared the street at one bound, and in an instant stuffed his pouches full of the delicious morsels. ”

“ Their nightly prowling, their quiet, untiring perseverance in pursuit, their skulking disposition, their artful stratagems, all impart a mystery to them which has been heightened by fear, and the natural proneness of man to magnify tales of horror.
Wolves are too suspicious to be often taken in traps; and when pursued they run with their noses almost touching the ground, their eyes glowing like fire, the hair of their head and neck bristled up, their tail drawn close to their legs. ”

“ An exceedingly good shepherd's dog appears to concentrate all his powers in his own immediate vocation; and in this does he exert and exhaust his whole capacity. If he be suddenly awoke, and hurriedly called, he rears himself up to see what sheep are running away, and he is so honourable, that he will lie among pails full of milk, and neither touch them himself, or suffer cat, rat, or any other creature to molest the store. ”

“ I have seen the little creature run furiously at the great animal when gnawing a bone, who instantly turned himself submissively over on his back, with all his legs in the air, whilst Raith, seizing the bone, would make the most absurd and unavailing attempts to bestride the enormous head of his subdued companion, with the most ludicrous affectation of the terrible growling, that might bespeak the loftiest description of dog-indignation. When a dog attacks Bass in the street or road, he runs away rather than quarrel ”

“ If eight or ten hungry wolves should pull down a stallion, the whole herd will revenge him, and almost always destroy the wolves; who, however, generally try to avoid these great battles, and chase a mare or foal separated from the rest, creep up to them, imitating a watchdog, and wagging their tails, spring at the throat of the mare; and then the foal is carried off. Even this will not always succeed, and if the mare give alarm, the wolf is pursued by herd and keeper, and his only chance of escape is to throw himself head-foremost down the steep sides of a ravine. ”

“ Like the ivory hunters, they pick up the fallen tusks of elephants, but not knowing where to deposit them, they carry their burthens about till they themselves drop, and even die from fatigue: that they build huts nearly in the shape of those of men, but live on the outside; and that when one of their children dies, the mother carries it in her arms till it falls to pieces; that one blow of their paw will kill a man, and that nothing can exceed their ferocity. ”

“ Horses have not the least objection to animal food; and it has been often given to them when they have been obliged to perform immense journeys, or to undergo any very great exertion. It, however, excites them very much, and, if not judiciously bestowed, makes them fierce and uncontrollable. Stories are told of poor men, who, when the despots of the East have ordered them to give up their favourite horses, have fed them on flesh, and rendered them so unmanageable, that the tyrants have no longer desired what they once thought a prize. ”

“ The bones of the nose are remarkably thickened and developed into that form which is best adapted to resist a shock—namely, the arch; and by this, not only is the animal able to carry its horn high, but to bear the tremendous resistance with which it meets when it uses that horn. In all but one species the upper lip is prolonged, and capable of such extension that it becomes prehensile; it protrudes this lip, lowers its horn or horns, so as to lean forwards, and rushes at the object of its anger or dislike with almost inconceivable fury. ”

“ The roar of a leopard or lion is most grand, however terrific; but what is called [Pg 183] the laugh of the hyæna, is just like the triumphant exultation of a fierce madman, when he reaches his long-sought victim.
All the natives of the Gold Coast bear witness to the powers of mimicry evinced by the hyæna; they say that he hides himself in the jungle, and imitates the cries of other beasts till he allures them to his side, when he falls upon and devours them. ”

“ Moodie did, for an elephant caught him with his trunk, carried him some distance, threw him down, brought his four feet together and trod and stamped upon him till he was dead. He left the body, then returned to it, knelt down upon, crushed and kneaded it once more; then he seized it with his trunk, bore it to the jungle, and threw it among the bushes.
One of the strongest instincts of the elephant is to try the strength of everything before he ventures upon it, and it is almost impossible to induce him to trust himself upon any surface which is not perfectly firm and steady. ”

“ The dog, however, seems rather to enjoy the operation, and, showing no symptoms of displeasure, the monkey continues her search; and when she sees a flea, catches it in the most active manner, looks at it for a moment, and then eats it with great relish. Having exhausted the game on the poodle, she jumps on the back of the blood-hound, and having looked into her face to see how she will bear it, begins a new search, but, finding nothing, goes off for a game at romps with the Newfoundland dog. ”

“ Of the voracity of pigs, there are many stories, all more or less disagreeable; and none more so than when they have killed and partially eaten children, and utterly devoured their young keepers. Such stories have been too well authenticated to be doubted; but they are exceptions to the general history of the animal. It is much more pleasing to refer to the life, death, and burial of poor Jean, who was saved out of a litter of six (born on board ship) from the butcher's knife. She was brought up as a pet, and suffered to run about deck, among sheep and goats. ”

“ The tongue, lips and palate have a bluish tint, the eyes are small, and piercing; an odour resembling both musk and violets exudes from the skin, especially that part which covers the convex forehead, and which may be smelt at a distance of a hundred yards. Their flesh is much esteemed, they live in thickets near swamps, come out at night to eat the bark of young trees, lichens, and young shoots, carry their head low, are never completely tamed, detest the common bull, and their only attachment to human beings is bestowed on their keepers. ”

“ Cumming still lives to tell his own tales; and no one can hear or read his words without seeing that he has one of those ardent spirits which loves danger for the sake of danger, and that his indomitable courage and hardihood, from his early years, when he killed the deer on his father's domains, prepared him to be what he now is, the most successful of all men in his warfare with wild animals. ”

“ Some persons profess to think that the Rodents called Rats are beautiful animals; and I presume that, prejudice apart, the sleek skin, the sharp head, the long, slender tail, and the keen look of their bright black eyes, ought to be attractions; but those who have been annoyed with these animals as I have been, can scarcely regard them with anything but dislike. Overspreading the whole world as they do, it is no wonder, where they are not vigorously checked, and where food is abundant, their numbers should amount to something frightful. ”

“ Like the sheep, there are so many breeds of oxen in this country, that the plan of my work cannot embrace them. They are a most important item in the riches of England; and few are insensible to the merits of our cheese and roast beef. We are not exactly on the same terms with our oxen as the Swiss are with theirs, with whom they form a part of the family, and where they are adorned with gay trappings and expensive bells; but our cows are familiar friends, coming when they are called, of themselves returning to the farm at milking time, and evincing great affection. ”

“ In our human impatience we are apt to think the progress we so much desire, comes slowly; but could such an idea be now entertained?
A curious propensity in the Indian elephant has been repeatedly noticed. I mean the separation of a male elephant from all his companions, in order to lead a solitary existence. I am rather of opinion with some of the natives, that he has been turned away by them for his own misdeeds; but I know not if this will equally apply to the raccoon, the only other animal, I believe, concerning whom the same habit is recorded. ”

“ Not many years ago, they were objects of mystery, and those who travelled to collect the curiosities of nature, were ordered to ascertain their attributes, almost their existence, the tails alone having reached Europe.
Buffaloes are heavier and clumsier animals than the ox, and are covered with coarser hair; they are very wild and savage, rush upon the tiger, crush, and trample him to death. They delight in those steaming marshes which are pestilential to other beings, and wallow in stagnant water. ”

“ If he kill a man, he stands over him for some time, trampling on him with his hoofs, crushing him with his knees, mangling him with his horns, and stripping off his skin with his rough and prickly tongue. He goes away and returns again and again, as if he could not sufficiently glut his vengeance.
"A party of boers had gone out to hunt a herd of buffaloes which were grazing on a piece of marshy ground. ”

“ There are some young ones who listen with entranced ears to the deeds of their forefathers, and amidst the toil of the dark counting-house, wish that such times could come for them. They never will come again; railroads have been invented, men's minds have been diverted into other channels; and fox-hunting, with its concomitant evils and its attendant pleasures, is gradually disappearing from fox-hunting England. ”