and veins, and from its interior surface the horn is secreted. The horn is, in fact, bony matter, having a much denser consistency than the bones of the limbs. The velvet grows with wonderful rapidity, and on account of the great volume of blood which is forced into it, is extremely hot to the touch. It is also amply supplied with nerves, so that it is extremely sensitive. Here is another beautiful provision of nature. If the velvet be injured the growth of the horn is hindered, and therefore the stag is warned by the sense of pain not to strike its budding horn against any hard substance. Consequently, as long as the velvet is on the horns, the animal can be approached with safety. In fact, it is in very much the same condition as a lobster which has lately cast its shell and is only clad with soft integument. About September the horns have attained their full development, and must be freed from the velvet. This is done in a very simple manner. The horns having reached Mountain Stonebucks. their complete form, no more bony matter is needed for them, and it is accordingly deposited at the base, where it forms a thick, bony ring, called technically the "burr." As the burr increases in size, it encircles the blood vessels and gradually diminishes their diameter, until at last it cuts off the supply of blood altogether. bleeding velvet hanging in strips from the horns. Before the burr has done its work, the What a wonderful chemistry is that of velvet would bleed copiously if it were nature, which from mere grass-blades can wounded. Now, however, the supply of extract sufficient bony matter, not only for blood being stopped, the velvet begins to the skeleton, but for the weighty antlers! shrink and become dry, and can be rubbed In the great Irish elk, now only known in off against the trees. At this period, a stag a fossil state, the horns actually weighed is anything but a pleasing object, the still more than the whole of the skeleton, and and useless ancestry is a well-known fact. Even that the camel must at one period have wandered the country at will is certain, though the epoch of its freedom is far beyond history. Few animals have undergone a more complete change of character and habits than the ass of the present day as it is seen in Europe. We are, and often with good reason, accustomed to look upon it as a down-trodden, broken-spirited slave, unworthy to serve the rich, and by a sort of pre scription belonging to the costermonger and his class. There is little to remind us of its ancestry, and to tell us that it is descended from the wild ass (Asinus hemippus), a creature whose name is proverbial for speed, cunning, and love of liberty. Canon Tristram well points out that in the original Hebrew, Ishmael is spoken of as a "wild-ass man," whose hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him. The same translation is given in the Revised Version. No metaphor could be more forcible even at the present day. The animal is spread over a considerable portion of the earth's surface, some varieties living in the plains, while others, as in the illustration, prefer the lofty mountains. These animals are by some authors considered as distinct species, but I believe that the very slight differences of structure by which they are distinguished can be accounted for by influence of the localities in which they live. The untameable character of the wild ass is forcibly expressed in the Book of Job. "Who hath sent out the wild ass free? "Or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass? "Whose house I have made the wilderness, "And the salt land his dwelling-place. "He scorneth the tumult of the city, "Neither heareth he the shouting of the driver. "The range of the mountains is his pasture, "And he searcheth after every green thing." xxxix. 5-8. Again, in Jer. ii. 24, "Thou art a swift dromedary traversing the ass is proverbial, and the other is its her ways, a wild ass used to the wilderness, exceeding cunning. that snuffeth up the wind in her desire; in her occasion who will turn her away?" Both these quotations are from the Revised Version. Even at the present time the chase of the wild ass is a favourite sport with those who can afford it, and to kill one of these wild, active, and wary animals is a feat that covers the successful huntsman with glory; and now and then a very young animal has been captured, but is of no use for the service of man. The black stripes which run along the spine and across the shoulders are wellmarked in this creature, but reach their full development in the zebra of the plains. In Burchell's zebra, the stripes only occupy the upper portion of the limbs, instead of reaching to the pasterns, and in the quagga they do not touch the limbs at all, and only extend as far as the flanks. In the domesticated ass we find only two traits of character which remind us of its wild ancestry. One is the survival of its untameableness in the obstinacy for which It is well known that if a number of horses and an ass be confined in a field, and they make their escape, the ass is sure to be the liberator. Indeed, scarcely any fastening, except a lock, will baffle an ass that wants to open a gate. When well and tenderly treated (but not spoiled), the ass becomes quite a pleasant companion, affectionate, intellectual, and displays none of the obstinacy which is the only refuge of its ill-used relative. The CLOSELY allied to the celebrated chinchilla are two natives of America, one inhabiting the north and the other the south. one is called the Prairie Dog (Spermophilus ludovicianus), and the other the Viscacha (Spermophilus viscacha). These creatures are almost identical in appearance and habits, and therefore need not be separately described. They gather together like rabbits, each having its own burrow. Their colonies are often of great extent, and in them the earth is so honeycombed with burrows, that it is not safe to ride through them except upon a horse which is to the manner born. The strangest part of their economy is, that the burrows are not only tenanted by the legitimate owners, but by an odd little long-legged owl (Athene, or Speyotyto cunicularia), as well as by rattlesnakes. The snake is evidently an intruder, not to say usurper, but that the owl and prairie dog live together on friendly terms, there is abundant evidence. Prairie Dogs. The "dog towns," as these colonies are popularly called, are of very great extent, and present a most singular aspect. It is not easy to approach them without being detected, but a telescope will do much to annihilate distance. At the mouth of each burrow there is a mound composed of the excavated earth, and on the tops of these mounds the prairie dog loves to sit upright, scanning the horizon, and keeping a sharp look out for danger. If it should take alarm, it gives a short dissyllabic bark, sounding like the word "Wen -cho," with a strong accent on the second syllable. In one moment the whole of the animals have disappeared, having plunged head foremost into their burrows. Presently they begin to poke their noses out of their burrows, and if they find that there is no need for fear, they gradually resume their former positions. Although the animal is a rodent it has gained the name of dog from its barking cry. I have often heard the bark and watched the creatures engaged in burrowing. Mrs. Montagu Turnbull had some years ago several prairie dogs. She had a large and deep pit sunk in the ground and lined with boards, so that the animals could not escape. The pit was then nearly filled with earth, so that the prairie dogs lived practically the same life which they would have led in their own country. When unmolested, the prairie dogs increase as fast as the rabbit does, as is shown by the following extract from an American newspaper: "The prairie dog is a standing menace against the future prosperity of the grazing districts of the State. Draw a line from the Red River south of Colorado, and you mark the front of the greatest immigration army ever dreamed of by man. From this line westwards, for two hundred and fifty miles, every square mile is infested by these devouring pests. They thickly inhabit a section of the country two hundred miles long, and two hundred and fifty wide. "The advent of the white man has but increased their numbers, as man has destroyed the wolves, badgers, rattlesnakes, panthers, and other animals in summer and the grass roots in winter, and the which prey upon the prairie-dogs. They eat the grass consequence is, that what was but a few years ago the finest grazing region in America is fast becoming a verdureless desert. It is no exaggeration to say that £2,000,000 does not exceed the value of the grass annually consumed by the prairie-dogs in north-west Texas." A REGULAR BAD UN. BY THE REV. FREDERICK LANGBRIDGE, M.A., AUTHOR OF "SENT BACK BY THE ANGELS," ETC. A regular bad un, As ever you see. And look at it now! And scrubbing the tiles, ma'am, It ain't worth your whiles, ma'am, His toes through his shoes! We ought to be Jews. Whatever's unlawful- The things as he'll drink. Was him and his ball. And spoiling the lad, ma'am, Hear that, if you please! |