Quadrupeds: or, outlines of a popular history of the class mammalia; with a particular notice of those mentioned in Scripture.

  • Religious Tract Society
Date:
1840
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Quadrupeds: or, outlines of a popular history of the class mammalia; with a particular notice of those mentioned in Scripture. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    59/176 (page 45)
    CARNIVORA.] OTTER-DOMESTIC the river, listless and desponding, who suffered me to kill her on the spot, without making any attempt to escape. On skinning her, I found she was quite wasted away from sorrow for the loss of her young. Another time I saw, at some distance from me, an old female Otter, sleeping by the side of a young one about a year old. As soon as the mother perceived us, she awakened the young one, and enticed him to betake him¬ self to the river; but as he did not take the hint, and seemed inclined to prolong his sleep, she took him up in her fore-paws, and plunged him into the water.” To the above extract we cannot forbear adding the following from, the late Bishop Heber “June 27. We passed, to my surprise, a row of no less than nine or ten large and very beau- -tiful Otters, tethered, with straw collars and long strings, to bamboo stakes on the bank. Some were swimming about at the full extent of their strings, or lying half in and half out of the wa¬ ter; others were rolling themselves in the sun on the sandy bank, uttering a shrill whistling noise, as if in play. I Avas told that most of the fishermen in this neighbourhood kept one or more of these animals, who were almost as tame as dogs, and of great use in fishing; sometimes driving the shoals into the nets, sometimes bring¬ ing out the larger fish with their teeth. I was much pleased and interested with the sight. It has always been a fancy of mine, that the poor creatures whom we waste and persecute to death, for no cause but the gratification of our cruelty, might, by reasonable treatment, be made the sources of abundant amusement and advantage to us. The simple Hindoo shows here a better taste and judgment than half the otter-hunting and badger-baiting gentry of England.” We here close the first sub-division of the digiti- grade section of the Carnassiers, a department y'et requiring much elucidation. The retiring and distrustful nature of the animals, and the remote and almost inaccessible localities which most frequent, prevent us from becoming so in¬ timately acquainted with the minutiae of their habits and instincts as to be able to assign to each any peculiar or exclusive qualities, save such as are common to the whole. StiU we see enough both to interest and instruct us, and may glean facts to be added to the multitudinous proofs of the care and wisdom of our God. We now arrive at the second subdivision of the Digitigrades, the characteristics of the dentition of which consist in there being two fla’t tubercu¬ lous teeth on each side, behind the carnivorous of the upper jaw, this latter being itself furnished with a large protuberance. The first genus under this subdivision is that of the Dog tribe, {Canis.) The following are its characters. Three false molars above, four below; behind each carnivorous two tuberculous teeth, the first of which in the upper jaw is large and strong; the carnivorous tooth of the lower jaw has its posterior part also tuberculous. The canine teeth are strong, conical, pointed, and curved slightly backwards; the incisors are six above and below. The toes are five on the fore legs, and four on the posterior, to which a small rudimentary claw is sometimes superadded. The DOG—PARIAH DOG. genus Canis includes the dog, the wolf, the jackal, and the fox, between which there sub¬ sists a close similarity, both in anatomical con¬ formation and external characters. Notwith¬ standing their appetite is decidedly carnivorous, they not only do not refuse, but in some cases are partial to a meal of vegetable aliment. Dogs will feed freely on farinaceous vegetables ; and the fox has been celebrated for his love of the fruit of the vine, to which there is an allusion in the Song of Solomon, chap. ii. ver. 15, where, however, the Avord fox may be understood to mean the jackal, this being the animal most pro¬ bably indicated. The old fable of the “ Fox and the Grapes,” known to every child, has no doubt arisen from a knowledge of the animal’s propen¬ sities. Still, however, the main dependence of this race of animals is the produce of the chase, or carrion which accident throws in their way, and for the discovery of which their acute sense of smell is expressly adapted. Their strength, especially about the jaws, is very great; their appetite is ravenous, but they can endure hunger and fatigue well; with plenty before them they gorge to repletion, and hide or bury the re¬ mainder for a future day. The habits of all, with the exception of the dog, are principally nocturnal; yet in the fox alone the pupil of the eye contracts in a linear manner; in the rest it is circular. The first animal which claims our notice is the Domestic Dog, (Canis familia?-is.) The Dog has been from time immemorial the friend and companion of man; yet its original stock stiU remains a matter of doubt and uncertainty, since, excepting the wolf and the jackal, we know of no wild beast of the forest to which we can refer, with any thing like probabilit}^ as its primeval ancestor ; nor is it less difficult to say, whether the endless breeds which are now found in every part of the Avorld are all the descendants of one and the same stock, or of different but allied species : as far as we can learn from the relics of history, the race has ever been, as now, varied in its breeds and qualifications. It is true that several sorts of wild Dogs exist both in India and Africa ;* but it is impossible to say whether these are of the original stock, or themselves sprung from individuals which, at some former time, have deserted into the woods, in a country where game abounds; and there shifting for themselves, became the ancestors of a numerous race. The young, we belicA^e, require no pains to domesticate ; and such is certainly the case as it respects the Pariah Dogs of India, a sort of half domesticated breed, (and half domesticated only because they have no stated owners,) which roam about the towns and villages, where they fulfil the office of scavengers, devouring the offal of the markets, and clearing the streets of refuse. Dogs similar to the Pariah race are found universally throughout the East, Turkey, and the whole of the Levant, and appear to have conti¬ nued there from the utmost antiquity. Tolerated for their public utility, and associating in packs, * The late Bishop Heber informs us that, upon the authority of the Khausa peasants, near the frontiers of China, the tiger is often killed and torn to pieces by large packs of these Dogs, AA'hich possess a very fine scent.