The famous dog Master M'Grath was for many years the fastest dog in the world; but in making comparisons, it should be remembered that the English hare is not so swift a runner as our Western jack rabbit, or hare.
The greyhound, running by sight alone, shows remarkable intelligence in following the game, leaping into the air, as we have seen, looking sharply about, and using its intelligence in a marvelous way. When a hare is caught, he is killed instantly and tossed into the air, the other dogs recognizing the winner's rights, and rarely making an attempt to touch the game after the death.
Besides being shapely and beautiful, the greyhound has both courage and affection. It will run down a deer or wolf as quickly as a hare, and is ferocious in its anger with a large foe. My dogs are remarkably affectionate and intelligent, extremely sensitive to kindness or rebuke. The moment the house is open in the morning, Mouse, if not forbidden, rushes upstairs, pushes open my door, and greets me as if we had been separated for months. Then she will dart into my dressing-room, and reappear with a shoe, or a legging, if she can find it, and present it to me, wagging her tail, and saying plainly: "Come, it's time to be up; a fine day for a run!"
No charge of cruelty can be brought against coursing in the open country, where the animal is faithfully followed. In shooting rabbits and hares they will often escape badly wounded; but death by the hounds is instantaneous, and the farmer is relieved of a relentless pest.
MINGO'S FIFTH HAND.
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MY acquaintance with Mingo was purely accidental. I was standing, one day, by the house of a large Newfoundland dog that was evidently much taken up by a number of lusty puppies, when I noticed a slender, snakelike object gradually slip out of a neighboring doghouse, and insert its tip into the door of the first doghouse. The shaggy mother within blinked quite peacefully, and one of the puppies galloped clumsily toward the intruder, and immediately the object coiled around the leg of the puppy in a gentle, friendly manner, and began to pull him toward the door. The little dog protested, after the manner of his kind; but the visitor was persistent, and slowly the puppy was dragged out of his own house, across the foot of space between, and, after some little scuffling, disappeared in the other house. A moment later a kitten stopped before the doorway of the second doghouse, and out came the long, insinuating object again, and before the kitten could object, even had she been so disposed, one of her hind legs was encircled, and she, like the puppy, moved toward the doorway, dragged along tail first.
Ordinarily a cat would have been thrown into great excitement by such treatment, but not this one. She uttered a single plaintive "meow!" which, understanding something of the cat language, I considered more a sound of passive acquiescence than anything else. My eyes, soon again reverting to the opening, encountered a pair of great brown ones, pathetic and mournful to a degree, peering from beneath shaggy gray eyebrows.
For a moment the eyes looked at me; then, seeing that I was friendly, the head to which they belonged came out, and there rose before me the owner of the mysterious serpentine object—a monkey so tall and slender, so completely given over to arms and tail, that I could only compare it to a gigantic spider coming out of its den. It stood up, reaching one long, attenuated arm almost to my shoulder, and then I perceived that it held under the other the puppy, whose blue eyes blinked at me in amazement. Another step, and out came the kitten, the monkey's marvelous tail, which was like a fifth hand, still clasped firmly about her leg. Upon leaving his house, Mingo assumed a perfectly upright position, holding one hand over his head; and then, occasionally dropping to all fours, he crossed the little grassplot, and easily swung himself into a tree. His long tail stretched out to its full length, and by it he actually lifted the kitten until, when four or more feet from the ground, she scrambled at the limb and aided herself up. Mingo finally settled himself comfortably on a bough with the puppy, which he held closely in his arms. This, I found, was an almost daily occurrence. Sometimes the heavy puppy would be lifted off the ground by the tail-like hand, and then dropped; but as a rule he was carefully tended.
Mingo belonged to a tribe known as Coaita, and came from the valley of the Amazon, so famous for its tree-top monkeys, and also for being the only country in which the ring-tailed monkey is found. Mingo's fifth hand, or tail, was so deft and cunning in all its movements that one wondered whether somewhere there was not an eye or two concealed in the coarse hairs to enable it to find its way about. It was always at the right place at the right time. It was tipped with what appeared to be a finger, but was far more sensitive than any finger.
When Mingo climbed a tree, the fifth hand was invariably caught on a higher limb, so that when he lost his hold, as he sometimes did, with his hands and feet, he swung in safety by the tail. Very often, as he sat with his hands over his head, his face bowed, and his mournful eyes peering out with a far-away expression, the tail that had been wound about the limb would suddenly drop to the ground, and some passing animal would be seized and lifted aloft before it could realize what was happening. The tail was frequently employed to inspect crevices in its owner's house, and it could pick up small objects with the greatest ease. When approached, Mingo would often extend his tail and grasp one's finger with it in a most confiding manner.
INSECT HYPNOTIZERS.
A HUGE wasp with a metallic-blue body was flying about, and the observers, with whom it was a familiar object, had said that it was a thorough hypnotizer; too thorough, indeed, as its victims, while they did not die at once, rarely recovered the full possession of their faculties. The insect hypnotist was a giant among its kind—a powerful, showy creature that flew around in circles, now near the ground, then rising as though to take an observation, then settling down and walking about rapidly, its antennae and wings vibrating with suppressed energy and emotion.
The wasp was evidently hunting for something, and suddenly pounced upon a brown object among the rocks. Investigation showed it to be a large and ugly spider, that faced the wasp, holding up its fore legs in a menacing attitude of defense. The wasp remained motionless for a moment, like a cat about to spring, only the vibrating antennae telling of life; then it suddenly rose, and with a quick circle dashed at the spider from behind. The latter was too quick for it, whirling as though on a pivot, presenting its ugly fangs to the invader, that now stood upon a stone, apparently undecided. The spider, while a huge, hairy fellow with tremendous mandibles, was evidently cornered, recognizing an enemy not to be disregarded, and crouched low, keeping its head ever in the direction of its watchful foe. Suddenly the wasp darted away, making a circle of twenty or thirty feet—evidently a feint, as it quickly turned, and, like an arrow, shot back behind the spider, dropping down upon it like a tiger. The tarantula was taken unawares, but turned and grappled its enemy with extraordinary fierceness. The two rolled over and over among the pebbles; then the legs of the spider relaxed, its struggles ceased, and the wasp, seizing it firmly, opened its wings and attempted to fly away. The burden proved too heavy, and was dropped; yet again and again the wasp dashed at the spider and endeavored to lift it. I now interfered, and gently drove away the excited wasp, which alighted upon a stone near by, and watched the subsequent proceedings apparently with interest.
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The spider was completely hypnotized, if I may use the term to imply paralysis; while a few seconds before it was a picture of vigor, it was now, to all intents and purposes, dead. Having covered the insect with a leaf, I again retired, whereupon the wasp at once advanced, and, apparently puzzled, began a search for its victim. After a careful examination of every nook and cranny, the wasp found the spider, and again attempted to drag it away. Failing in this, the wasp stopped, made an excavation, buried its prey, and then flew away.
The spider was taken from its grave and an attempt made to restore it to life; its legs were manipulated, and cold water was thrown upon it; but the only response was a faint movement of the great hairy legs.
The wasp did not, it is true, employ the well-known and accepted methods of the hypnotist. It was not a mere waving of antennae; but as the wasp pounced upon the terrified spider it pierced it with its long, slender sting, the subtle poison at once paralyzing it, producing a condition in which the victim would live a long time in what is known as a state of coma.
The insects which have this power of benumbing others are many, but the exact process by which they produce the singular condition is unknown. In some instances the object is to obtain food, but in the majority the insect desires to secure food for its future young; having paralyzed the body of its victim, the attacking insect introduces its eggs, which remain until the young appear, to devour the host.
The intuition of some of these insects is marvelous, as they are able in some mysterious manner to discover the exact location of a grub which is developing, snugly stowed away in the fruit or branch of a tree. There is no exterior evidence of the presence of the concealed victim, but the insect discovers it readily, and with unerring aim sends its ovipositor down through the bark, penetrates the animal, and deposits in it one or more eggs. The unfortunate grub is perhaps benumbed and its faculties arrested, not being injured in any way, so that it is slowly consumed by the young as they issue from the eggs.
Certain ants may be said to hypnotize seeds. Thus seeds planted in the ground either decay from too much moisture, or sprout; yet certain ants, known as harvesters, are able so to treat certain seeds that their power of sprouting is arrested. They have received their name from the fact that they store away seeds in cells beneath the ground for future use. These seeds lie in damp chambers favorable to their growth and development, but the intelligent creatures which have placed them there have literally hypnotized them—in other words, have arrested all their functions of development, so that they lie dormant for an indefinite length of time, to be used as the ants desire.
It might seem that there is margin for mistake in this; but careful experiments have been made which show that if the ants are removed from such a nest, or prevented from reaching the seeds, the latter soon sprout, proving beyond question that the intelligent creatures have some method of holding the seeds in check.
THE GAMES OF ANIMALS.
ONE warm, sultry afternoon, as I lay upon a great ledge of rock that boldly fronted the sea on the Maine coast, watching the white sails creeping by, I heard a curious sound in my immediate vicinity, and soon became the silent witness of what is certainly one of the most interesting phases of animal life, namely, their games, about which but little has been written, and, from the nature of the case, very little is known. To become familiar with the sports and methods of amusement of animals, we must come upon them accidentally or by stealth. I have no doubt that upon the afternoon in question, from the liberties they took with me, my strange playfellows thought me fast asleep, or fancied that I was an old figurehead washed ashore.