THE JERBOAS, SPRINGHAAS, AND JUMPING-MICE.

The hopping rodents have an immense range, from Southern Europe, through Africa. Arabia, India, and Ceylon, and even in the New World, where the AMERICAN JUMPING-MOUSE is found throughout the northern part of the continent. The latter is only 3 inches long. The true JERBOAS are mainly found in Africa. All these, when excited, move like kangaroos. Their main home is the Central Asian steppe region, but they are found in Egypt, India, Syria, and Arabia. The hind legs are much elongated, the fore legs very small, and the body usually of a sandy colour. The American jumping-mouse, though a very small creature, can cover from 3 to 5 feet at each leap. It inhabits the beech and hard-wood forests. In winter it makes a globular nest about 6 inches under the surface of the ground. IReg^sPark. a forms.HARB J UMpISG fami]y ^^ VISCACHA ^ It is of a near allies. with no tawnyJ, viscacha., formsf colonies TThe It is by* itself, like those of the prairie-dogs. found on the pampas south of the La Plata. brOWIl Colour, becoming almost pUl'6 white below.

Photo by the Duchess of Bedford, Woburn Abbey.

CHAPMAN’S ZEBRAS.

These zebras have for some years been running loose in the park at Woburn Abbey.

UNIV. OF

CALIFORNIA

UNIV. OF

CALIFORNIA

The Rodents, or Gnawing Animals 161

The tail is long, and carried upright as the animal leaps. The head and body are nearly 2 feet long, and the tail 20 inches. It is found both in the plains and mountains of South Africa, where it makes deep burrows, in which several families live. It is mainly nocturnal.

THE OCTODONT FAMILY.

America is the main home of this family of rodents, though there are several representatives in Africa. Their name is due to the fact that they have four molar teeth on each side of the jaw. The best-known species is the COYPU, or of an NUTRIA, South America, aquatic,

Photo by Jf. P. Dando] [Regent's Park, animal. fur-bearing It is very plentiful CHINCHILLA. in the large rivers of that continent,

A small rodent of the Andes, possessing very soft and valuable grey fur. where its fur is a valuable commodity for export. When swimming, the female coypu carries its young on its back. The coypu is usually 20 inches long, with a tail two-thirds of the length of its head and body. The general colour is brown above and brownish yellow below. Coypus live in pairs in holes in the river-banks. In the Chonos Archipelago they frequent the seashore, and burrow near the beach.

The HUTIA, another large octodont, is found in the West Indies. There are two species, far southboth partly arboreal. The TUCO-TUCOS, burrowing octodonts of the pampas and the of the American Continent, are rat-like animals, with large claws and very small eyes and ears.

THE PORCUPINES.

These animals are either tree-climbers or ground-dwellers. The former are found in South America, though one, the CANADIAN PORCUPINE, is found in the North; the latter are European and Asiatic. In Africa they are also common. The Canadian porcupine passes nearly all its life in trees, feeding on the leaves; but it has not a prehensile tail. The COMMON PORCUPINE is abundant in Italy (where it is eaten by man), Greece, Spain, and Africa. It lives in burrows or among rocks. In India a very similar species is found. The head and shoulders of these ground-porcupines are not protected by the larger sharp spines which guard the rest of their bodies. The tree-porcupines of the forests of Central America have long prehensile tails, and are very lightly built. The quills are short, the head rounded, and the appearance very different from that of the European or African species. The common porcupine of Europe and North Africa

tfc So/i] [Sotting Hill.measures about 28 inches in length from the nose Photo ly York to the root of the tail. The head, neck, and AGUTIS. shoulders are covered with short spines and hairs, The agutis are also a South American group, found both in and the shoulders and back by a crest of long the forests and on the plains. 21

spines, varying from 12 to 15 inches in length. The tail also carries spines.

VISCACHAS AND CHINCHILLAS.

On the plains of La Plata the commonest large rodent is the ViscacHa. It assembles in societies like the prairie-dogs, but is a much larger animal, from 18 inches to 2 feet long. Viscachas always set a sentinel to give warning of danger. They cut every kind of vegetable near and drag them to their holes; they also have a habit of picking up and collecting round the burrows any object which strikes them as curious. Photo by A. S. Rudland d Sons. Articles lost by travellers, even whips or PACA, OR SPOTTED CAVY. boots, may generally be found there. The The pacas are among the larger rodents, found mainly in the northern partof _ yiscacha_ belongs to the chinchilla family, eae ae eta but differs much from the beautiful creature of the high Andes from which chinchilla fur is taken. The Common CuINcuILLA is about 10 inches long, and the SHortT-TAILED CHINCHILLA rather smaller. The exquisite fur is well known. Two other chinchillas are more like hares in appearance. All four creatures are found on the Andes. THE AGUTIS AND Pacas, South America also produces a family of rodents not unlike small pigs, but nearer to the mouse-deer in general appearance; they are called AGutTis. Mainly forest animals, but living also in the plains, they feed on grass, leaves, and plants of all kinds; they are very swift in their movements, and have much the habits of the small South African bucks. The fur is long, olive- or chestnut-coloured, and thick. The Pacas are allied to the agutis, but are stouter; they live either in burrows made by themselves, or in holes in the banks of rivers, or in old tree-roots. The pacas are spotted and rather ornamentally marked; they are found from Ecuador to Brazil and Paraguay.

THE CAVIES.

The Dinomys, a spotted rodent known by one example from Peru, has been thought to form a link between the pacas and the cavies, of which the guinea-pig is the most familiar and the aquatic capybara the largest. The original of our guinea-pig is believed to be the RestLess Cavy, a small rodent common on the plains of La Plata. It is dark blackish, with yellowish-grey and white hairs of the domesticated species; and it is suggested that the original of the present name was “Guiana pig.” This cavy lives in thickets rather than in forests or plains. The Paraconian Cavy is a larger form, about twice the size of our hare. It burrows in the ground, and has a grey coat, with yellowish markings on the sides. It has been acclimatised successfully PAT ae sa) (Notting Hilt, in France and England. ‘The flesh is like that of PAGAS; (OR /BEOTEEDAGAV ARS the rabbit. This photograph, which represents young animals, shows in great perfection the linear arrangement of the stripes.

The Rodents, or Gnawing Animals 103 Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co} (Parson’s Green.

PATAGONIAN CAVY,

This large species of cavy has been acclimatised successfully both in England and in France. group. The Capypara is the largest of all rodents. This species is, in fact, a gigantic water-guinea-pig. It is found in all the great rivers of South America, from the Orinoco to the La Plata. - It swims as well as a water-rat, though it is as large as a small pig. It feeds on reeds, water-plants, and grass. A capital photograph of this animal appears on page 146. Pixas, Hares, AND Rapsits. The last two families of the Rodents have a small pair of rudimentary incisor teeth behind the large ones in the upper jaw. The Prkas, or CALLING-HARES, resemble the marmot tribe in general appearance. Their heads are short, their ears rounded, and, being tailless, they still less resemble the common hare; but their dentition marks them as allied. One species, about 9 inches long, is found in Siberia; and another, only 7 inches long, in the Rocky Mountains. The former has a habit of cutting grass and storing it in small stacks outside its hole for winter use; the Rocky Mountain species carries its hay into its burrows. The Hares are a widely distributed They are found from the north of Scotland (where the grey mountain species turns white in winter) to the south of India, in South Africa, and across the continent of Asia to Japan. Northern Russia, and Ireland; As early as 54 B.c., Cesar, in his account of “Britain, writes that the Common Hare was kept by the ancient Britons as a pet, but not eaten by them. It was protected by the. Normans in the second list, or schedule, of animals reserved for sport. The first list included the Beasts of.the Forest, the second the Beasts of the Chase, of which the hare was one of the first. The word “chase” has here a technical meaning, by which was understood an open park, or preserved area, midway in dignity between a forest and an enclosed park. “Hare parks” were also made, perhaps the most recent being that made at Bushey for the amusement of the sovereign when at Hampton Court Palace. The By permission of Professor Bumpus] The MounTain-HaRE takes the place of the brown species in Scandinavia, it is rather smaller, and has shorter ears and hind legs. (New York. WOOD-HARE. This is one of the forms intermediate between the hares and rabbits.

of the World164 The Living Animals

name is often found surviving elsewhere. At Hokham, the Earl of Leicester's seat in Norfolk, a walled park of 1,500 acres holds almost all the hares on the estate. If these parks and forest laws had not existed at an early date, it is probable that the hare would have become very scarce in this country.

Hares produce their leverets about the middle of April, though in mild seasons they are aborn much earlier. The number of the litter is from two to five. They are placed in small hollow scraped out by the doe hare, but not in a burrow of any kind. still is very highly developed in the hares and The instinct of concealment by remaining until picked up rather than take to flight.rabbits. They will often " squat " on the ground This seems almost a perverted instinct; yet hares often exhibit considerable courage and resource is an instance: A hare was coursed by twowhen escaping from their enemies. The following

Page 39 of 89