may be permitted to run tame, without appre- | our business to work, to bring it by degrees to hending any dangerous consequences. They sel- greater precision; to mark out the differences of dom stray far from home; they return of them- form, and thus give the clearest notions that selves to the sty; and do not quarrel among each words can easily convey. The known animal is other, except when they happen to be fed in a kind of rude sketch of the figure we want to common. At such times they have an angry exhibit; from which by degrees we fashion out kind of growl, much stronger and harsher than the shape of the creature we desire should be that of a hog; but they are seldom heard to known; as a statuary seldom begins his work scream as the former; only now and then, when till the rude outline of the figure is given by frighted or irritated, they have an abrupt angry some other hand. In this manner, I have placed manner of blowing, like the boar. the capibara among the hog kind,1 merely because it is more like a hog than any other animal commonly known; and yet, more closely examined, it will be found to differ in some of the most obvious particulars. The capibara resembles a hog of about two years old, in the shape of its body, and the coarseness and colour of its hair. Like the hog, it has a thick short neck, and a rounded bristly back; like the hog, it is fond of the water and marshy places, brings forth many at a time, and like it feeds upon animal and vegetable food. But when examined more nearly, the differences are many and obvious; the head is longer, the eyes are The peccary, though like the hog in so many various respects, is, nevertheless, a very distinct race, and will not mix, nor produce an intermediate breed. The European hog has been transplanted into America, and suffered to run wild among the woods; it is often seen to herd among a drove of peccaries, but never to breed from them. They may therefore be considered as two distinct creatures: the hog is the larger and the more useful animal; the peccary, more feeble and local; the hog subsists in most parts of the world, and in almost every climate; the peccary is a native of the warmer regions, and cannot subsist in ours without shelter and assist-larger, and the snout, instead of being rounded, ance. It is more than probable, however, that we could readily propagate the breed of this quadruped; and that, in two or three generations, it might be familiarized to our climate; but as it is inferior to the hog in every respect, so it would be needless to admit a new domestic, whose services are better supplied in the old.1 CHAP. III. THE CAPIBARA, OR CABIAL THERE are some quadrupeds so entirely different from any that we are acquainted with, that it is hard to find a well known animal to which to resemble them. In this case we must be content to place them near such as they most approach in form and habits, so that the reader may at once have some idea of the creature's shape or disposition, although perhaps an inadequate and a very confused one. Upon that confused idea, however, it will be 1 The distinctions between this animal and the hog, though not drawn from external appearance, are decided. The head is indeed shorter, the snout proportionally longer, and the tail so flat and so concealed among the bristles of its skin, that it has been said to be without one; but what chiefly distinguishes it, not only from the hog, but from all other animals, is a large gland immediately under the skin on the middle of the loins. When taken young, they may be domesticated like the hog. One which was in the possession of Mr. Pidcock, of Exeter Change, was so perfectly tame as to be allowed the range of one of the principal apartments in the menagerie. It is a native of South America, and is sometimes described under the name of the Mexican hog. -ED. as in the hog, is split like that of a rabbit or hare, and furnished with thick strong whiskers; the mouth is not so wide, the number and the form of the teeth are different, for it is without tusks; like the peccary, it wants a tail; and, unlike to all others of this kind, instead of a cloven hoof, it is in a manner web-footed, and thus entirely fitted for swimming, and living in the water. The hoofs before are divided into four parts, and those behind into three; between the divisions there is a prolongation of the skin, so that the foot, when spread in swimming, can beat a greater surface of water. As its feet are thus made for the water, so it is seen to delight entirely in that element; and some naturalists have called it the water-hog for that reason. It is a native of South America, and is chiefly seen frequenting the borders of lakes and rivers, like the otter. It seizes the fish, upon which it preys, with its hoofs and teeth, and carries them to the edge of the lake to devour them at its ease. It lives also upon fruits, corn, and sugar-canes. As its legs are long and broad, it is often seen sitting up like a dog that is taught to beg. Its cry more nearly resembles the braying of an ass, than the grunting of a hog. It seldom goes out, except at night, and that always in company. It never ventures far from the sides of the river or the lake in which it preys; for as it runs ill, because of the length of its feet and the shortness of its legs, so its only place of safety is the water, into which it immediately plunges when pursued, and keeps so long at the bottom 1 The capibara is now removed into the genus Cavia, or cavy tribe, to which it undoubtedly belongs, as it has all the essential characters of a cavy. It is surprising that Linnæus should have been at a loss in this respect.-ED. that the hunter can have no hopes of taking it there. The capibara, even in a state of wildness, is of a gentle nature, and, when taken young, is easily tamed. It comes and goes at command, and even shows an attachment to its keeper. Its flesh is said to be fat and tender, but from the nature of its food it has a fishy taste, like that of all those which are bred in the water. Its head, however, is said to be excellent; and in this it resembles the beaver, whose fore-parts taste like flesh, and the hinder like the fish it feeds on. CHAP. IV. THE BABYROUESSA, OR INDIAN HOG. is too strong not to suppose them of the same nature. The upper teeth, when they leave the socket, immediately pierce the upper lip of the animal, and grow as if they immediately went from its cheek. The tusks in both jaws are of a very fine ivory, smoother and whiter than that of the elephant, but not so hard or serviceable.1 These enormous tusks give this animal a very formidable appearance; and yet it is thought to be much less dangerous than the wild boar.2 Like animals of the hog kind they go together in a body, and are often seen in company with the wild boar, with which, however, they are never known to engender. They have a very strong scent, which discovers them to the hounds; and when pursued they growl dreadfully, often turning back upon the dogs, and wounding them with the tusks of the lower jaw, for those of the upper are rather an obstruction than a defence. They run much swifter than the boar, and have a more exquisite scent, winding the men and the dogs at a great distance. When hunted closely, they generally plunge themselves into the sea, where they swim with great swiftness and facility, diving and rising again at pleasure; and in this manner they most frequently escape their pursuers. Although fierce and terrible when when unmolested. They are easily tamed, and their flesh is good to be eaten; but it is said to putrefy in a very short time. They have a way of reposing themselves different from most other animals of the larger kind; which is by hitching one of their upper tusks on the branch of a tree, and then suffering their whole body to swing down at ease. Thus suspended from a tooth, they continue the whole night quite secure, and out of the reach of such animals as hunt them for prey. THE Babyrouessa is still more remote from the hog kind than the capibara; and yet most travellers who have described this animal, do not scruple to call it the hog of Borneo, which is an island in the East Indies, where it is principally to be found. Probably this animal's figure, upon the whole, most resembles that of the hog kind, and may have induced them to rank it among the number; however, when they come to its de-offended, yet they are peaceable and harmless scription, they represent it as having neither the hair, the bristles, the head, the stature, nor the tail, of a hog. Its legs, we are told, are longer, its snout shorter, its body more slender, and somewhat resembling that of a stag; its hair is finer, of a gray colour, rather resembling wool than bristles, and its tail also tufted with the same. From these varieties, therefore, it can scarcely be called a hog; and yet in this class we must be content to rank it, until its form and nature come to be better known. What we at present principally distinguish it by, are four enormous tusks, that grow out of the jaws; the two largest from the upper, and the two smallest from the under. The jaw-bones of this extraordinary animal are found to be very thick and strong, from whence those monstrous tusks are seen to proceed that distinguish it from all other quadrupeds whatsoever. The two that go from the lower jaw are not above a foot long, but those of the upper are above half a yard; as in the boar, they bend circularly, and the two lower stand in the jaw as they are seen to do in that animal; but the two upper rise from the upper jaw rather like horns than teeth; and, bending upwards and backwards, sometimes have their points directed to the animal's eyes, and are often fatal by growing into them. Were it not that the babyrouessa has two such large teeth underneath, we might easily suppose the two upper to be horns; and, in fact, their sockets are directed upwards; for which reason Dr. Grew was of that opinion: but as the teeth of both jaws are of the same consistence, and as they both grow out of sockets in the same manner, the analogy between both The babyrouessa, though by its teeth and tusks it seems fitted for a state of hostility, and probably is carnivorous, yet, nevertheless, seems chiefly to live upon vegetables and the leaves of trees. It seldom seeks to break into gardens, like the boar, in order to pillage the more succulent productions of human industry, but lives remote from mankind, content with coarser fare and security. It has been said, that it was only to be found in the island of Borneo; but this is 1 The singular tusks of the babyrouessa have been very pointedly noticed by Paley, in his Natural Theology,' as an instance of an extraordinary structure having an unexpected use. "It has two bent teeth more than half a yard long, growing upwards, and (which is the singularity) from the upper jaw. These instruments are not wanted for offence, that from the under jaw and resembling those of the comservice being provided for, by two tusks issuing mon boar; nor does the animal use them for defence. They might seem therefore to be both a superfluity and incumbrance. But observe the event: the ani ma sleeps standing; and, in order to support its head, hooks its upper jaws upon the branches of the trees."-ED. 2 Buffon, vol. xxv. p. 179. a mistake, as it is well known in many other parts both of Asia and Africa, as at the Celebes, at Estrila, Senegal, and Madagascar.* Such are the animals of the hog kind, which are not distinctly known; and even all these, as we see, have been but imperfectly examined or described. There are some others of which we have still more imperfect notices; such as the warree, a hog of the Isthmus of Darien, described by Wafer, with large tusks, small ears, and bristles like a coarse fur all over the body. This, however, may be the European hog, which has run wild in that part of the new world, as no other traveller has taken notice of the same. The Canary boar seems different from other 4 Anderson's Natural History of Greenland. animals of this kind, by the largeness of its tusks; and, as is judged from the skeleton, by the aperture of its nostrils, and the number of its grinders. I cannot conclude this account of those animals that are thus furnished with enormous tusks, without observing that there is a strong consent between these and the parts of generation. When castrated, it is well known that the tusks grow much smaller, and are scarcely seen to appear without the lips; but what is still more remarkable is, that in a boar, if the tusks by any accident or design be broken away, the animal abates of its fierceness and venery, and it produces nearly the same effect upon its constitution as if castration had actually taken place. 5 Lisle's Husbandry, vol. ii. p. 329. BOOK V. CARNIVOROUS ANIMALS. CHAP. I. ANIMALS OF THE CAT KIND. We have hitherto been describing a class of peaceful and harmless animals, that serve as the instruments of man's happiness, or, at least, that do not openly oppose him. We come now to a bloody and unrelenting tribe, that disdain to own his power, and carry on unceasing hostilities against him. All the class of the cat kind are chiefly distinguished by their sharp and formidable claws, which they can hide and extend at pleasure.1 They lead a solitary ravenous life, neither uniting for their mutual defence, like vegetable feeders, nor for their mutual support, like those of the dog kind. The whole of this cruel and ferocious tribe seek their food alone; and except at certain seasons, are even enemies to each other. The dog, the wolf, and the bear, are sometimes known to live upon vegetable or farinaceous food; but all of the cat kind, such as the lion, the tiger, the leopard, and the ounce, devour nothing but flesh, and starve upon any other provision. They are, in general, fierce, rapacious, subtle, and cruel, unfit for society among each other, 1 The quadrupeds of this family are distinguished by having six front teeth, the intermediate ones of which are equal; the grinders are three on each side in each jaw; the tongue is furnished with rough prickles pointing backwards; and the claws are sheathed and retractile, except in the lion, which has them retractile, but not sheathed. | and incapable of adding to human happiness. However, it is probable that even the fiercest could be rendered domestic, if man thought the conquest worth the trouble. Lions have been yoked to the chariots of conquerors, and tigers have been taught to tend those herds which they are known at present to destroy; but these services are not sufficient to recompense for the trouble of their keeping; so that, ceasing to be useful, they continue to be noxious, and become rebellious subjects, because not taken under equal protection with the rest of the brute creation. Other tribes of animals are classed with difficulty; have often but few points of resemblance; and, though alike in form, have different dispositions, and different appetites. But all those of the cat kind, although differing in size, or in colour, are yet nearly allied to each other; being equally fierce, rapacious, and artful; and he that has seen one has seen all. In other creatures there are many changes wrought by human assiduity; the dog, the hog, or the sheep, are altered in their natures and forms, just as the necessities or the caprice of mankind have found fitting; but all of this kind are inflexible in their forms, and wear the print of their natural wildness strong upon them. The dogs or cows vary in different countries, but lions or tigers are still found the same; the very colour is nearly alike in all; and the slightest alterations are sufficient to make a difference in the kinds, and to give the animal a different denomination. The cat kind are not less remarkable for the sharpness and strength of their claws, which they thrust forth from their sheath when they seize into execution; when the opportunity offers, it at once seizes upon whatever it finds, flies off with it, and continues at a distance till it supposes its offence forgotten. The cat has only the appearance of attachment; and it may easily be perceived by its timid approaches, and side-long looks, that it either dreads its master, or distrusts his kindness; different from the dog, whose caresses are sincere, the cat is assiduous rather for its own pleasure than to please; and often gains confidence only to abuse it. The form of its body, and its temperament, correspond with its disposition; active, cleanly, delicate, and voluptuous, it loves its ease, and seeks the softest cushions to lie on. "Many of its habits, however, are rather the consequences of its formation than the result of any perverseness in its disposition; it is timid and mistrustful, because its body is weak, and its skin tender; a blow hurts it infinitely more than it does a dog, whose hide is thick, and body muscular; the long fur in which the cat is clothed entirely disguises its shape, which, if seen naked, is long, feeble, and slender; it is not to be wondered, therefore, that it appears much more fearful of chastisement than the dog, and often flies even when no correction is intended. Being also a native of the warmer climates, as will be shown hereafter, it chooses the softest bed to lie on, which is always the warmest." their prey, than for the shortness of their snout, | concealing its intentions till it can put them the roundness of their head, and the large whiskers which grow on the upper lip. Their teeth also, which amount to the number of thirty, are very formidable, but rather calculated for tearing their prey than for chewing it: for this reason they feed but slowly; and while they eat, generally continue growling, to deter others from taking a share. In the dog kind, the chief power lies in the under jaw, which is long, and furnished with muscles of amazing strength; but in these the greatest force lies in the claws, which are extended with great ease, and their gripe is so tenacious that nothing can open it. The hinder parts in all these animals are much weaker than those before; and they seem less made for strength than agility. Nor are they endued with the swiftness of most other animals; but generally owe their subsistence rather to catching their prey by surprise than by hunting it fairly down. They all seize it with a bound, at the same time expressing their fierce pleasure with a roar; and their first grasp generally disables the captive from all further resistance. With all these qualifications for slaughter, they, nevertheless, seem timid and cowardly, and seldom make an attack, like those of the dog kind, at a disadvantage: on the contrary, they fly when the force against them is superior, or even equal to their own; and the lion himself will not venture to make a second attempt, where he has once been repulsed with success. For this reason, in countries that are tolerably inhabited, the lion is so cowardly, that he is often scared away by the cries of women and children. The cat goes with young fifty-six days, and seldom brings forth above five or six at a time. The female usually hides the place of her retreat from the male, who is often found to devour her kittens. She feeds them for some weeks with her milk, and whatever small animals she can take by surprise, accustoming them betimes to rapine. Before they are a year old, they are fit to engender; the female seeks the male with cries; nor is their copulation performed without great pain, from the narrowness of the passage in the female. They live to about the age of ten years; and during that period they are extremely vivacious, suffering to be worried a long time before they die. The cat, which is the smallest animal of this kind, is the only one that has been taken under human protection, and may be considered as a faithless friend, brought to oppose a still more insidious enemy.? It is, in fact, the only animal of this tribe whose services can more than recompense the trouble of their education, and whose strength is not sufficient to make its anger formidable. The lion, or the tiger, may easily be tamed, and rendered subservient to human command; but even in their humblest and most familiar moments, they are still dangerous; since their strength is such, that the smallest fit of anger or caprice may have dreadful consequences. But the cat, though easily offended, and often capricious in her resentments, is not endowed with powers sufficient to do any great mischief. Of all animals, when young, there is none more prettily playful than the kitten; but it seems to lose this disposition as it grows old, and the innate treachery of its kind is then seen to pre-away. It is true, that we are told of the Greek vail. From being naturally ravenous, education teaches it to disguise its appetites, and to watch the favourable moment of plunder; supple, insinuating, and artful, it has learned the arts of 2 This description is nearly translated from Mr. Buffon: what I have added is marked with inverted commas. The young kittens are very playful and amusing; but their sport soon turns into malice, and they, from the beginning, show a disposition to cruelty; they often look wistfully towards the cage, sit sentinels at the mouth of a mouse-hole, and in a short time become more expert hunters than if they had received the instructions of art. Indeed, their disposition is so incapable of constraint, that all instruction would be but thrown monks of the isle of Cyprus teaching cats to hunt the serpents with which the island is infested: but this may be natural to the animal itself, and they might have fallen upon such a pursuit without any instruction. Whatever animal is much weaker than themselves, is to them an indiscriminate object of destruction. Birds, young rab bits, hares, rats, and mice, bats, moles, toads, and frogs, are all equally pursued; though not, perhaps, equally acceptable. The mouse seems to be their favourite game; and, although the cat has the sense of smelling in but a mean degree, it, nevertheless, knows those holes in which its prey resides. I have seen one of them patiently watch a whole day until the mouse appeared, and continue quite motionless until it came within reach, and then seized it with a jump. Of all the marks by which the cat discovers its natural malignity, that of playing and sporting with its little captive, before killing it outright, is the most flagrant. and of ill smells. It loves to keep in the sun, to get near the fire, and to rub itself against those who carry perfumes. It is excessively fond of some plants, such as valerian, marum, and cat-mint: against these it rubs, smells them at a distance, and, at last, if they be planted in a garden, wears them out. This animal eats slowly, and with difficulty, as its teeth are rather made for tearing, than chewing its aliments. For this reason it loves the most tender food, particularly fish, which it eats as well boiled as raw. Its sleeping is very light: and it often seems to sleep, the better to deceive its prey. When the cat walks it treads very softly, and without the least noise; and as to the necessities of nature, it is cleanly to the last degree. Its fur also is usually sleek and glossy; and, for this reason, the hair is easily electrified; ! sending forth shining sparks, if rubbed in the dark. "The wild cat breeds with the tame; and, therefore, the latter may be considered only as a variety of the former; however, they differ in some particulars; the cat, in its savage state, is somewhat larger than the house-cat; and its fur The fixed inclination which they discover for this peculiar manner of pursuit, arises from the conformation of their eyes. The pupil in man, and in most other animals, is capable but of a small degree of contraction and of dilatation; it enlarges a little in the dark, and contracts when the light pours in upon it in too great quantities. In the eyes of cats, however, this contraction and dilatation of the pupil is so considerable, that the pupil, which by daylight appears narrow and small like the black of one's nail, by night expands over the whole surface of the eye-being longer, gives it a greater appearance than ball, and, as every one must have seen, their eyes seem on fire. By this peculiar conformation, their eyes see better in darkness than light; and the animal is thus better adapted for spying out and surprising its prey. it really has; its head is bigger, and its face flatter; the teeth and claws much more formidable; its muscles very strong, as being formed for rapine; the tail is of a moderate length, but very thick and flat, marked with alternate bars of black and white, the end always black; the hips and hind part of the lower joints of the leg are! always black; the fur is very soft and fine: the general colour of these animals, in England, is a yellowish white, mixed with a deep gray. These colours, though they appear at first sight confusedly blended together, yet, on a close inspection, will be found to be disposed like the streaks on the skin of the tiger, pointing from the back downwards, rising from a black list, that runs from the head, along the middle of the back, to the tail. This animal is found in our larger woods; and is the most destructive of the carnivorous kinds in this kingdom. It inhabits the most mountainous and woody parts of these is Although the cat is an inhabitant of our houses, yet it cannot properly be called a dependent; although perfectly tame, yet it acknowledges no obedience; on the contrary, it does only just what it thinks fit, and no art can control any of its inclinations. In general, it is but half tamed; and has its attachments rather to the place in which it resides, than to the inhabitant. If the inhabitant quits the house, the cat still remains; and if carried elsewhere, seems for a while bewildered with its new situation. It must take time to become acquainted with the holes and retreats in which its prey resides, with all the little labyrinths through which they often make good an escape. The cat is particularly fearful of water, of cold, lands, living mostly in trees, and feeding only by 3 3 At Treddibbet mill, on the river Lowley, near Launceston, a huge brindled tom cat, according to the miller's account, would not only lie in ambush for trouts, and pounce upon them whilst playing about on the shallows, but would actually dive like an otter, under the covers and banks, and seize upon his prey with his claws and teeth.-At Caverton Mill, in Roxburghshire, a beautiful spot upon the Kale water, there was a favourite cat, domesticated in the dwelling-house, which stood at two or three hundred yards from the mill. When the mill work ceased, the water was, as usual, stopped at the damhead; and the dam below, consequently ran gradually more shallow, often leaving trout, which had ascended when it was full, to struggle back with difficulty to the parent stream; and so well acquainted had puss become with this circumstance, and so fond was she of fish, that the moment she heard the noise night. It often happens, that the females of the tame kind go into the woods to seek mates among of the mill-clapper cease, she used to scamper off to |