Tih 200,
[Fourtu Sertzs |
BY THE
REV] THEODORE WOODs Tak S.
Hilitie Marti
LONDON:
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,
NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS, W,C.;
43 QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C.
BRIGHTON: 129 Norru Srreer.
New York: E. & J. B. YOUNG & Co.
1895
LONDON
ENGRAVED AND PRINTED BY EDMUND EVANS
RACQUET CT., FLEET ST., E.C.
(COUN 178 IN IS.
—— ns
GHAR ARS Resl
FLAMINGOS . 5 ; : :
GHAR Age Ras
BUSTARDS—THE GREAT AND THE LITTLE BUSTARDS . : ; .
CHAPTER IIL.
HERONS—THE HERON, THE BITTERN, AND THE EGRET
CHAPTER IV.
STORKS—THE STORK AND THE ADJUTANT
CHAPTER V.
THE ADJUTANT AND THE MARABOU. : , s : o
CHAPTER VI.
CRANES—THE COMMON, CROWNED, AND DEMOISELLE CRANES .
CHAPTER VII.
IBISES—THE SCARLET, SACRED, AND GLOSSY IBISES.
CHAPTER VIII.
PELICANS , ; : , :
CHAPTER IX.
PELICANS—(continued) . : , : :
CHAPTER X.
BOWER BIRDS—THE SATIN, SPOTTED, AND GARDENING BOWER BIRDS
CHAPTER XI.
PHEASANTS—THE GOLDEN, SILVER, PEACOCK, AND IMPEYAN PHEASANTS
CHAPTER XII.
PEA-FOWL
“CHAPTER XII.
CORMORANTS AND DARTERS
CHAPTER XIV.
THE PARROT HOUSE—THE RED AND BLUE MACAW, AND THE KAKA PARROT
CHAPTER XV.
THE PARROT HOUSE—THE SULPHUR-CRESTED COCKATOO, AND THE SHINING
AND GROUND PARROQUETS
CHAPTER XVL
GUILLEMOTS AND GANNETS.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE BRUSH TURKEY . : A : :
CHAPTER XVIII.
GEESE—THE CAPE BARRON GOOSE, THE BERNICLE GOOSE, AND THE BEAN GOOSE
CHAPTER XIX.
THE ALBATROS . : 5 , . :
CHAPTER XxX.
SWANS—THE WHITE SWAN, THE BLACK SWAN, AND THE BLACK-NECKED SWAN
CHAPTER XXI.
DIVERS AND GREBES—THE GREAT NORTHERN DIVER, THE GREAT CRESTED
GREBE, AND THE DABCHICK .
CHAPTER XXII.
SEA GULLS—THE GREAT BLACK-BACKED, BLACK-HEADED, AND SCISSOR-BILL
GULLS 3 : : , : : , 3 : :
15
17
19
bo
ve
Nv
GL
49
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXIII.
DUCKS—THE MANDARIN ee THE COMMON Seas AND THE EIDER
THE
THE
THE
THE
THE
THE
THE
THE
THE
THE
piers)
THE
THE
THE
THE
THE
THE
THE
THE
THE
THE
THE
DUCK
CHAPTER XXIV,
PUFFIN, THE RAZOR-BILL, AND THE TERNS
: CHAPTER XXV.
REPTILE HOUSE—CROCODILES . ;
GEUAPASLalN XXVI.
REPTILE HOUSE (continued)—CROCODILES AND ALLIGATORS
CHAPTER XXVII.
REPTILE HOUSE (continued) —TORTOISES
CHAPTER XXVIII.
REPTILE HOUSE (continued)—TURTLES
Clee EIR XXIX.
REPTILE HOUSE (continued) —MONITVORS AND TEGUEXINS
CHAPTER XXX.
REPTILE HOUSE (continued)—IGUANAS
CHAPTER XXXL.
REPTILE HOUSE (continued) —SKINKS .
CHAPTER XXXIL
REPTILE HOUSE (continued)—GECKOS .
CHAPTER XXXII,
REPTILE HOUSE (continued )—CHAMELEUONS
CHAPTER XXXIV.
REPTILE HOUSE (continued)—TOADS :
CHAPTER XXXV,
REPTILE HOUSE (continued) —F¥ ROGS
CHAPTER XXXVL
REPTILE HOUSE (continued) —SALAMANDIERS
CHAPTER XXXVII.
REPTILE HOUSE (continued) — SNAKES .
CHAPTER XXXVILL
REPTILE HOUSE (continued)—SNAKES
CHAPTER XXXIX.
REPTILE HOUSE (continued)—THE PUFF ADDER AND THE HORNED VIPER.
CHAPTER XL.
REPTILE HOUSE (continued) —THE COBRA AND THE HAJE .
CHAPTER XLI.
REPTILE HOUSE (continued)—RAYYLESNAKES .
CHAPTER XLII.
REPTILE HOUSE (continued)—VHE WATER VIPER AND THE COPPERHEAD
GTAP Ay sexe eile
REPTILE HOUSE (continued) —THE HOG-NOSED SNAKE AND THE BLACK VIPER
CHAPTER XLIV.
REPTILE HOUSE (continued) —PYTHONS
CHAPTER XLV.
REPTILE HOUSE (continued)-—-BOA CONSTRICTORS
PAGE
51
53
57
59
61
63
65
67
69
71
73
77.
79
8r
85
87
89
gI
93
95
FLAMINGOS. 5
CHAPTER I.
FLAMINGOS.
S we come away from the Bears’ Pit, and
pass along the Terrace Wall opposite
the Monkey House, we find the Water-fowls’
Lawn upon our right hand. There are a
their stilt-like legs, and straighten out their
long, slender necks, we can see that they
are not very much less than six feet in
height.
And they are such handsome birds,
good many odd-looking birds in this enclo-
sure ; but the very first upon which our eyes |
rest are sure to be the Flamingos.
For they are such big birds, in the first
place—almost as tall, if not so stoutly built,
as the emus. When they stand upright on
too, with their beautiful scarlet plumage,
their pure white bodies, and the black quill-
feathers of their wings. Let us stand and
watch them for a little while.
How oddly they twist and curl their long
necks about. One would really think, at
times, that they were trying to tie them into
knots! A few yards away from us one of
these strange birds is preening its feathers,
and we see that it can reach with its long
curved beak to every part of its body. Now
it gets up, and wades into the water; and
suddenly it stoops down its head, thrusts it
under the surface, and seems to be searching
very busily for something at the bottom.
This is the way in which the flamingo
feeds. If we could see down to the bottom
of the water we should notice that the upper
THE ZOO.
wishes to feed are too big to pass, and so are
left behind in the mouth and swallowed.
When a flock of flamingos are feeding
in their native marshes, or on the borders
of a river, they always stand in a long line,
at each end of which is posted a sentinel.
This bird is not allowed to eat with the rest,
but has to keep watch, looking out carefully
for the approach of danger while its mates
are busy with their meal. If an enemy
should draw near, the bird on guard gives
the alarm, and all the flamingos rise quickly
part of its beak was resting upon the mud,
so that the head is really upside down. What
is the bird looking for? Why, for all sorts
of tiny creatures which live in shallow water,
and which it sifts out of the mud in just the
same way as a duck. If you look at the
flamingo’s beak you will see that a number
of grooves run all along the edges. The
custom of the bird is to take a mouthful of
mud and water, close its beak, and then
force out the water through these grooves.
The mud, of course, is washed out with it,
but the little creatures upon which the bird
into the air and fly away. Those who
have seen them flying say that they form a
most beautiful sight, for at every beat of their
wings one sees the bright scarlet plumage for
a moment against the mass of snow-white
bodies.
Sometimes these handsome birds fly about
in immense flocks, which cannot number less
than many thousands. Just before the nest-
ing season a vast flight of flamingos always
cross the Red Sea, on their way from Egypt _
to Arabia ; and it is said that this flight is
often more than a mile in length !
FLAMINGOS. 7
One would think that the long legs of
the flamingo must get very much in its
way while it is sitting upon its eggs; but
it makes its nest in such a curious manner
that this is not the case at all. Instead of
building like other birds, or laying its eggs
in a hole in the ground, it makes a hillock
of mud, about two or three feet high, which
quickly dries and hardens in the sun. In
the top of this the bird scoops out a
hollow, in which it places its five white eggs ;
and as it sits upon them its long legs are
stretched out behind its body, and hang in
the air.
A number of flamingos always build to-
gether, and the nest-hillocks are sometimes
placed so close together that it is not very
easy to pass between them.
In a wild state, flamingos are never seen
| very far from water, and are most abundant
in the large salt marshes near the sea. They
are found in many hot countries, but are
perhaps most plentiful in Africa. Early in
the spring large flocks fly over from that
continent to the south of Europe, where
they remain during the heat of the summer ;,
and in October or November they return.
About eight different kinds are known, two
or three of which are always to be seen in
the Gardens.
8 THE ZOO.
Cuaprer II.
EUSTARDS.
Tue GREAT AND THE LITTLE BUSTARDS.
N the Water-fowls’ Lawn, besides the
flamingos, we shall generally see
some birds which are not water-fowl at
all, but which are well worth stopping to
They are very wary, too; so wary, that it
is most difficult to capture or shoot them.
Those who hunt the bustard are obliged to
make use of all kinds of tricks in order to
look at for a short time.
the Bustards.
As we may easily see by looking at their
stout legs, and the feet with the three great
toes all set in front, these are running birds,
like the ostrich and the emus. Very swift of
foot indeed they are, and when once they
Among these are
are alarmed it is hardly possible to overtake |
them.
Sometimes they hide themselves
| approach it.
| in a cart filled with corn or vegetables, with
a hole left here and there through which they
can take aim. Sometimes they dress them-
| selves up like labourers, and pretend to be
| busy in the fields, drawing nearer and nearer
to the birds by degrees, until they are close
enough to fire. Or they dig a pit in the
| ground, and put one of their number in it
THE GREAT AND THE LITTLE BUSTARDS.
to lie in wait, while the others drive the
bustards towards him. And with all these
precautions they often fail to obtain a
shot.
Even while sleeping at night bustards can-
not be taken by surprise; for they always
gather together in small flocks, over which
two old birds are appointed to keep guard.
These birds watch all through the night ; and
their sight is so keen that they can detect the
approach of an enemy long before he is near
enough to do them any harm.
Although they can run with such speed,
bustards are not at all swift of wing, and
very seldom take to flight unless they are
obliged to do so. As they are such heavy
birds, they cannot rise at once, but have to
“take a run†first, and then spring into the
air, just as a man does if he wishes to leap
over a wall or a gate.
9
We shall always find an example or two
of the Great Bustard in the Gardens. This
bird was once very common in England, and
large flocks used to roam over the marshes
and fens, and in such waste places as Salis-
bury Plain. But by degrees they were killed
down, until now, in this country, a bustard
is a very rare sight indeed. In times of
hard frost, however, some of these fine birds
nearly always fly over from the Continent,
and a few winters ago, when the frost was
very severe, and lasted for many weeks, quite
a number were kiiled in different parts of the
country.
‘The male bustard is very much larger than
his mate, and measures about three feet six
inches in length. from the tip of his beak to
the end of his tail. When he spreads his
wings, they measure nearly eight feet from
tip to tip. On his neck, spreading out on
THE
IO
either side, are a number of stiff, slender
feathers, which from a little distance look
very much like a moustache ; and he has a
large pouch in his throat, in which he is said
to carry water to his mate while she is sitting
upon her eggs.
When the little bustards are hatched out, |
| mate.
the mother is obliged to take very great care
of them, for they are very good to eat, and
are looked upon by foxes, eagles, kites, and
hawks as a great dainty. Until they are old
enough to take care of themselves she feeds
them upon grasshoppers and other small
insects ; and they are very fond of ants’ eggs.
Tue Little Bustard is sometimes found
in England, but only, as a rule, when the
weather is very cold indeed. This bird is
much smaller than the great bustard, for,
ZOO.
instead of being as large as a turkey, it is
rather less than a pheasant. We may know
the cock, in the nesting season, by the white
ring round his neck, and the broad white
band a little beneath it ; but during the rest
of the year, strange to say, he puts off this
colouring, and becomes very much like his
‘The little bustard does not seem to be
quite so wary a bird as that about which
we have just been reading, and is said not
to be afraid of a man on horseback. The
hunters sometimes kill it by riding round
and round it in a circle, and drawing gradu-
ally nearer as they do so. Meanwhile the
bird, seeing that they do not come straight
up to it, fancies that it is not discovered,
and does not try to run away until it is
too late to escape.
THE HERON, THE BITTERN, AND THE EGRET. IL
CuHaptTer JII.
HERONS.
Tue HERON, THE BITTERN, AND THE EGRET.
Ne may always be quite sure of finding
some Herons in the Gardens; and
we cannot do better than stop for a little
while in order to
look at them.
What odd-looking
birds they are, with
their sharp, strong
beaks and their long,
slender legs! One
of them is standing
just opposite to us.
He has hisheadsunk
between his shoul-
ders, just as though
he had no neck at
all, and one leg is
tucked up under-
neathhisbody. How
still he is! And yet
how closely he seems
tobe watching every- 7,.,
thing that is going *
on around him !
That is the way in
which he stands
when he is watching
for prey. He feeds
chiefly upon fishes ;
and, when he feels
hungry, he wades out
into some pool or
stream, and there stands patiently waiting until |
a fish comes swimming by. You would hardly
notice him, even if you were quite near, for
he always likes to take up his post under the |
shelter of a bush, or an overhanging bank ;
and he really stands almost as still as if he
had been turned into stone.
The fish never seem to see him at all. He
does not move until they are close beside him; | eyes with their powerful beaks.
and then he strikes at them with his beak so
suddenly and so quickly, that they have no
time to swim away.
Sometimes he catches
an eel, which gives
him a great deal of’
trouble ; for it wrig-
gles and twists about
so much that he can-
not swallow it. So
he takes it to the
bank, and dashes it
over and over again
upon the ground un-
til it is dead.
The beak of the
heron is so strong
_— and sharp that it can
~ deal a really terrible
blow; and when the
bird fights, it always
strikes at the eyes of
its adversary. Once
a tame heron was put
into a large cage, in
which five owls were
living. The bird
quarrelled with these
during the night, and
when morning came
it was found that it
had blinded four of
them, and had also
pecked out one of the eyes of the fifth.
Herons, indeed, seem always to be rather
quarrelsome birds. About four years ago, a
very curious sight was seen in Wimbledon
Park. A pair of swans were quietly swimming
upon the lake, when no less than seven
herons flew down, and began to attack them.
Over and over again they struck at the swans’
But the
rr
TO
12
swans beat them back with their wings, and,
after a hard struggle, succeeded in driving
them away.
Have you ever seen a heron in the air?
You may always know it by the way in which
it carries its long legs stretched out straight
behind it, while its neck is stretched out
straight in front. It flies well, however,
though it looks so awkward, and often travels
for quite a long distance in search of food.
Herons .@
never live
very far away
from water.
If possible,
they always
like to build
in the high
trees upon a
small island,
so that they
can fly down
and hunt for
fish without 2%
going farfrom “7
theirnests. A -
number of
herons al-
ways build
together, and
sometimes
one may see
fifty or sixty
nests in quite
a small clump
of trees. The
nest is made
of stout twigs, lined with hair and grass and
wool, and is often as much as a yard across.
When it is quite finished, the mother bird
lays in it four or five pretty sea-green eggs,
In olden days another kind of heron, called
the Bittern, was very common in England.
But now it is hardly ever seen. It is very
Mit AO O)!
like the heron in its habits, but hunts for fish
by night instead of by day. It has a most
peculiar cry, so loud and deep that it has
been likened to the bellowing of a bull.
This, however, is only heard during the nest-
ing season; and at other times the bird utters
a hoarse “ caak, caak,†very much like that of
the heron.
A very beautiful heron, called the Egret,
lives in the
great swamps
of North and
South Ame-
rica. This
handsome
bird is pure,
snowy white.
When itis
about three
years old, a
great train of
loose feathers
grows from
its shoulders,
are
much used
for making
feather-brush-
es, for dusting
furniture. But
the birds are
so wary that
it is notatall .
easy to approach them, and the feathers,
therefore, are sold at a very high price.
Sometimes, in a lady’s hat or bonnet, you
may see a delicate tuft of feathers, which
are called “osprey.†They do not come
from the true osprey at all, however, but are
part of the plumage of this beautiful white
egret.
THES LOR KG AND Lies
ADFUTANT. 13
CuHaPrer IV.
STORKS.
THe STORK AND THE ADJUTANT.
ERE are some of the Storks, of which
there are always several to be seen in
the Gardens.
These, like the
herons, all _ be-
long to the great
family of the
Wading Birds.
You may always
know a Wading
Bird when you
see it, by its long,
stiltlike legs.
For all these birds
feed upon fish,
frogs, tadpoles,
water-snails, and
other small crea-
tures which livein
pools or streams ;
and so, of course,
they must be able
to wade into the
water in order to
catch them. And
their long legs en-
able them to do
this without wet-
ting their bodies. PEG
You will notice, too, that they always have
very long and strong beaks, with which to
seize their victims.
To us who live in England it would seem
very strange indeed to see storks walking
about in our streets, and building their great,
untidy nests on the roofs of our houses.
But in many countries this is a very common
sight indeed, and no one is at all surprised at
it. In Holland, for example, numbers of
wild storks are to be seen in every town.
over from their warm winter home in Africa ;
and they stay until the cool autumn days
warn them to fly away
southward again.
Those who live
in the towns are
always very glad
to see them, for
they know that
the hungry birds
will eat all the
refuse of the
streets. If this
refusewerenot de-
stroyed, it would
quickly decay,
and poison the
air, and perhaps
give rise to dread-
ful diseases.
Then, again,
storks are very
fond of eating
frogs. Now in
Holland, where
there are a great
many dykes and
ditches, frogs
would soon be-
: come far tooplen-
tiful if they were not destroyed in some way.
But the storks devour so many that their
numbers are always kept down ; so that these
great, long-legged birds make themselves very
useful in two different ways.
Another dainty of which the stork is
very fond is an eel; and it may often be
seen searching for one in the mud at the
bottom of a pond. When it catches one
it wades to shore, and then bangs it upon
the ground, over and over again, until it
They appear early in the spring. having flown | is dead.
14 THE
Once upon a time, storks were very
common in England. The country was very
marshy then, and the birds could find plenty
of fish, and frogs, and tadpoles. But now
that so much of the fen and marsh land has
been drained, they
hardly evervisit us; and
one is only seen now
and then.
Some people, how-
ever, keep them as
pets, and let them run
loose in their gardens,
where they destroy
great numbers of snails
and slugs, and other
mischievous creatures.
I once knew a lady
who had two tame
storks. They were
allowed to run about
just as they pleased ;
and their great amuse-
ment was to chase the
cats which often came
into the garden. As
soon as a cat appeared,
the storks ran at it as
fast as their long legs
would carry them ; and
then the cat, frightened
almost out of its wits,
would clamber up into
the nearest tree, and
stay there until some-
one came out to drive
the storks away.
Yet the stork is not
really a fierce bird, in spite of its long, sharp
bill. It never seems to fight with other
birds, as the heron does; and it will even
allow itself to be picked up without using its
beak.
The nest of the stork is only a bundle of
sticks and reeds, heaped clumsily together,
ZOO.
with just a slight hollow in the middle in
which the eggs can rest. The young ones
are most comical little creatures, like little
balls of fluffy down, with long necks and
very long beaks.
Now let us look for
a moment or two at
the Adjutant, which is
a kind of big stork
with a huge beak, and
a long neck with
scarcely any feathers
upon it. It comes from
India.
Why, its beak is even
bigger than that of the
stork! Yes; and the
bird has been known
to seize a cat with it,
and swallow it at one
mouthful! A fowl,
too, is easily swallowed,
and the butchers and
poultry-keepers in
the towns where the
adjutant lives have to
be very careful that
the bird does not
snatch up their goods
as it walks along the
streets.
The adjutant is very
‘fond of the sunshine,
and stands in a very
odd position in order
to enjoy it. First it
hangs down its long
neck, until the tip of
its beak nearly touches the ground, and then
it spreads its great wings straight out from its
body. If we happen to visit the Zoo on a
very hot summer’s day, we shall very likely
see the bird in this’ strange attitude. And
we shall notice that it stands almost as still
as if it were carved out of stone.
THE ADYUTANT AND THE MARABOU. 15
CHAPTER V.
THE ADJUTANT AND THE MARABOU.
I HAVE not yet told you nearly all there |
is to tell about the Adjutant, which is |
really one of the most curious and interesting |
birds in the Gardens.
In the first place,
sad to say, he is by
no means brave.
This seems rather
surprising, for one
would think that so
large and strong a
bird, with such a
long and sharp
beak, would be
afraid of scarcely
any foe. Yet the
adjutant will run
away from even a
little child who
boldly faces him.
In fact, the bird is
like those big,
cowardly boys
whom we some-
times hear about,
and whom we call
by the ugly name
of “bulliesâ€; for
he is always ready
to attack a small
animal, but is quite
sure to run away if
he thinks that he is
likely to be hurt
himself.
But, on the other
hand, he is a very wsefi bird. In India,
the country in which he lives, many of the
towns are not nearly so well kept as those
in our own country. If there is some refuse
to be thrown away, for instance, the people
will often throw it out into the street and
leave it lying there, although there is no one
to gather it up and cart it away.
in search of food.
sight, for its eyes are like telescopes, and
nothing seems to escape its gaze.
Now if
this refuse were to
be left where it is
thrown, some of it
would be sure to
become putrid, and
poison the air, thus
giving rise to many
diseases. But the
adjutant, which
is never interfered
with, and so be-
comes very tame,
is always walking
about in the streets,
ready to snap up
any kind of food
with which it may
meet ; and it does
its work so well
that, very soon
after any offal is
thrown out, it is
almost sure to be
found by one of
these birds, and
devoured.
When an adju-
tant is hungry, it
will often hover
high up in the air,
just as the vulture
does, and scan the
ground beneath it
It has wonderful eye-
In fact,
we may look upon it as one of Mature's
dustmen, whose business it is to remove all
16
LEENA:
decaying substances, and so to keep the
earth, the air, and the water constantly pure.
But the adjutant is very useful in another
way as well, for it is very fond of a snake
for dinner, and knows just how to kill it, if it
should happen to be one of the poisonous
kinds, before it
has time to use
its fangs. Now
poisonous snakes
are very plentiful
in India, and
their bite is so
deadly that they
kill thousands of
human beings
every year. By
devouring them,
therefore, the
adjutant does a
very useful work
indeed, and we
can very well
understand why
it is allowed to
walk about just
where it pleases,
even in the busy
streets of the
towns.
The adjutant
is often kept as
a pet, and soon
becomes very
fond of a master
who treats it
kindly. One
tame adjutant,
however, had to
be carefully watched, for he used to stand by
his master’s chair at table, and snatch the |
food off the plates when he thought no one
was looking at him. And one day, when his
master’s back was turned, he seized a whole
boiled fowl, and swallowed it before it could
be taken away !
Hanging from the lower part of the adju-
tant’s neck we notice a very curious pouch.
This can be filled with air at will. As the bird
grows older the pouch increases in size, until it
reaches a length of sixteen or eighteen inches.
Another very odd-looking bird is the Whale-
| headed Stork.
This is some-
times called the
Shoe Bird, be-
cause its beak,
which is very
large indeed, is
of very much the
shape of a shoe.
It is found in the
great swamps
which border the
river Nile, and
feeds on the
snakes, reptiles,
and fishes which
it -finds in the
pools, or on the
marshy ground
between them.
Sometimes, too,
it will feast upon
the carcass of an
animal which
has fallen into
the water and
been drowned,
tearing the flesh
from the bones
with its great
beak just like a
vulture.
Near theadju-
| tant’s cage is a second, in which we may gene-
| rallysee another large stork-like birdcalledthe
| Marabou. Onits sides grow large tufts of very
beautiful feathers, which are quite as valuable
_as the handsome plumes of the ostrich.
This bird comes from Africa, and is said to
be just as useful in the native villages as the
adjutant is in the towns of India.
THE COMMON, CROWNED, AND DEMOISELLE CRANES. 17
CHaPrer VI.
CRANES.
THE ComMON, CROWNED, AND DEMOISELLE CRANES,
Gute close to the storks are the Cranes,
three or four different kinds of which
are always to be seen
in the Gardens. Of
course we must stop
for a few minutes to
look at these; and
very odd and interest-
ing birds we shall find
them.
If we are very for-
tunate, perhaps we
shall see one of them
dancing. Quite sud-
denly he begins to hop
up and down over and
over again, flapping out
his great wings straight
from either side of his
body, and every now
and then stopping for
a few moments to bow
his head and long neck
down to the ground.
Most comical he looks,
and very few people
can help laughing when
they watch his ridicu-
lous movements.
Or perhaps, while we
are looking at them,
one of the great long-
legged birds will catch
sight of another on the
other side of the wire
fence, and the two will
voices they have, for their cry sounds almost
like the blast of a trumpet.
Once a pairof cranes
were kept in captivity
by a farmer, and treat-
ed as pets. Before
very long one of them
died; but the other,
which was allowed to
run where it pleased,
soon formed a great
friendship with a bull.
Day after day he would
go into the stable, and
drive away the flies
which troubled his
strange friend. When
the bull was let out
into the farm-yard, the
crane would walk up
and down beside him,
sometimes running on
for afew yards, in order
to dance for a moment
or two, and sometimes
stopping to bow low, as
though out of great
respect. In the after-
noon the bull was
driven out to pasture,
and the crane always
went with him, often
for a distance of nearly
two miles. When the
pair arrived at the
meadow, the bird
run fiercely at each other, stopping just be- | would take leave of his friend, with many
fore they reach the fence, and then scream-
ing as loudly as they possibly can.
be quite surprised to find what deep, strong
We shall
low bows, and go off to search for food for
himself, always returning, however, in time to
walk back with the bull when he was driven
C
18
home. When the bull bellowed, the crane
would answer him, by uttering his loud,
trumpet-like note. And this odd friendship,
we are told, went on for several years.
In times of old, cranes were very plentiful
in England, and numbers of their nests
might have been found among the reeds in
the marshes and fens. In those days their
flesh was often eaten, and at royal banquets
a boiled or
roasted crane
was always one
of the dainties.
But as time
went onthe bird
became more
and more
scarce, until
now a wild
crane is hardly
ever seen in the
British Islands.
In some
parts of Europe,
however, these
birds are still
very abundant.
Every autumn
large flocks fly
southwards
over France, to
return again in
the following
spring. The
farmers do not at all like to see one of these
flocks settling in their fields, for, although
cranes feed chiefly upon insects, worms, and
the small animals which they can catch in
streams and marshes, they are very fond of
corn, which they dig out of the ground with
their long beaks.
Brsipes the common crane, we are almost
sure to see in the Gardens two or three ex-
THE ZOO.
amples of the Crowned Crane. We can
easily recognize this very handsome bird
when we see it by its bright scarlet and white
cheeks, and by the golden crest or “ crown â€
upon its head.
The crowned crane is fond of sitting in a
very odd position, the knees, as we call them,
resting upon the ground, while the feet pro-
ject far in front. These so-called “knees,â€
however, are
really the
ankles, so that
the bird is rest-
ing upon the
whole soles of
its feet, instead
of uponthe toes
only. At times
this bird will
dance and bow,
just like the
common crane;
and its voice is
so loud that it
is said to have
been heard
from a distance
of nearly two
miles.
ANOTHER
very handsome
crane is the
Demoiselle,
| which we may know by its snowy-white
ear-tufts, and the blackish-grey plumes
which hang from its breast. This bird is
very common in many parts of Africa and
Asia, and if we were to pay a visit to one
of the great African swamps, we should very
likely see several hundreds of demoiselle
cranes wading about in the water, and
searching busily for the snails and insects.
upon which they feed.
THE SCARLET IBIS, SACRED IBIS, AND GLOSSY IBIS.
19
CuHaprer VII.
IBISES.
Tue Scaruet Isis, THE SACRED IBIS, AND THE GLossy IBIS.
FTER we have watched the cranes for
awhile, let us make our way to the
Terrace Walk, which is quite close by. On
the farther side of this we shall find a large
enclosure, covered over with wire netting.
This is called the Night Herons’ Pond, and
we have already visited it once, in order to
look at the curious, long-necked flamingos.
Now I want you to notice some other birds,
called Ibises, which live in the same enclo-
sure. .
There are quite a number of different
kinds of ibises, for more than thirty have
been found in different parts of the
world. Of course we shall not see
all of these in the Gardens ; but
we may always be sure of see-
ing two at least of the most
curious, namely, the
Scarlet Ibis and the
Sacred Ibis.
The first
of these is a
really lovely >
bird ; one of ~
themosthand-
some, indeed,
of allthe birds
in the Gar-
dens. Wecan (2%
tell it at a
glance by its
bright scarlet
plumage,
whichis mark-
ed only by a
few patches
of black. Those who have seen this bird in
South America, its native country, tell us that
it is even more beautiful there, and that when
and _ tail,
it is captured, and taken to a colder climate,
its feathers become paler in colour every time
that it moults.
The scarlet
ibis is very
fond of bask-
ing in the sun-
shine on hot
summer days.
Perhaps we
shall see it
doing this.
First of all
it leans for-
ward, and
bends down
its head until
its beak almost rests
upon the ground.
Then it half opens its
wings, and raises them
over its back, as if it were
about to fly ; and then all the
plumage of the body begin to
tremble and shake, just as if
the bird were shivering with
cold. Sometimes it will remain
in this odd position for many
minutes together.
Tuar silvery white bird,
with a glossy black head and
neck, and the plume of black
feathers falling over its wings
is a Sacred Ibis.
Look at it well, for it is a most
interesting bird.
in many parts of Africa, and was once very
plentiful in Egypt. In that country, in olden
days, the people used to worship it; and if
It is found
20 IETS,
they found its dead body, they used to wrap
it up with spices, and make it into a mummy,
just as they did with the bodies of kings and
other great men when they died. This is the
reason why the bird is called the sacred ibis.
No doubt you think that they must have
been very silly people to worship a bird.
But then we must remember that those
ancient Egyptians were far more ignorant
than we are now, and also that the ibis always
came to their
country just as
the river Nile
began to rise,
and went away
when it fell.
Now in order
that you may
understand why
this should have
led the people
to worship the
bird, I must tell
you that Egypt
: ? Ve
is very unlike HOHE.
. TIGL
other countries, aes j
for it often hap-
pens that sev- 7%
eral months
pass without Ly
even a shower 9/7;
of rain. We
might think,
therefore, that
the cropswould aE
nearly always ee
perish for
want of moisture. Every year, however, the
river Nile rises and overflows the country ;
and, when it falls again, it leaves behind it
several inches of a rich mud, which remains
moist for some little time. In this mud the
crops are sown, and are very soon ripe, anid
ready for cutting.
ZOO,
eee Sa oe a <4
So, you see, the harvest of Egypt quite
depends upon the Nile; and this led the
people, when they knew no better, to think
that the river itself must be a kind of god,
which would refuse to help them if they
offended it. And as the sacred ibis always
came and went away with the floods, they
thought that the river must be very fond of
it, and that therefore, they ought to worship
it too!
The real rea-
son why the
bird always
came just when
the floods were
beginning to
rise was that it
might feed on
the small ani-
mals which
were washed
up by the river.
For it is very
fond of snails,
and slugs, and
worms ; and its
long beak en-
ables it to dig
these out even
when they are
deeply buried
in the soft mud.
THERE is an-
other kind of
ibis, called the
Glossy Ibis,
which changes m colour as it grows older,
-so that a grown-up bird is not in the least
like a young one. This is the only kind of
ibis which is ever found wild in England.
All the ibises are very easily tamed, and
soon learn to know their owner, and ta
follow him about almost like dogs.
PELICANS. 21
CuHapter VIII.
PELICANS.
\\ 7 HEN we leave the night heron’s pond,
after looking for a little while at the
ibises, let us turn to the left, and walk for a
short distance along the Terrace Wall. This
will soon bring us to a small enclosure, close |
to the Water-fowls’ Lawn, and not very far
from the Monkey House, in which we shall |
see quite a number of Pelicans.
These are very curious and interesting
feet are the paddles with which they row
themselves through the water.
But the most curious part of the pelican is
its beak. As the bird walks about, this does
not look very different from the beak of many
another large bird. It is very big, no doubt,
and very long; but we do not notice anything
very remarkable about it. But underneath it
is a long, deep pouch, of a dull orange colour,
birds. They are not so handsome, perhaps,
as a good many others, for their plumage
is almost always plain white, with just a
slight tinge of rosy pink. But they are
very odd indeed in many ways, and there
is a good deal that we ought to learn about
them.
In the first place, they are very fond of
the water, and are able to swim well. We
should at once guess, indeed, that they must
be good swimmers if we were to look at
their feet, which are webbed just like those
of a duck, a goose, or a swan. ‘The bodies
of all these birds, in fact, are boats ; and the
which is so large that it can be made to hold
no less than two gallons of water. The bird
can tuck this pouch up, so that it can
scarcely be seen at all; but when it is fully
spread out it looks very big indeed.
The pelican uses this pouch as a kind of
basket. It feeds entirely upon fishes ; but it
does not always want to eat them as soon as
it catches them, and very often they have to
be carried home to the nest for the little
ones. So it puts them in this curious pouch,
and sometimes carries quite a number of
victims packed away in it together. When it
gets to its nest it turns its prisoners out, and
22 THE
gives some to its mate, some to its little
ones, and eats the rest itself.
Sometimes, however, it has the misfortune
to be robbed of its victims before it has time
to get to land. For there is a kind of hawk,
which is a big, strong bird, and which,
although it is very fond of fish, does not at
all like the trouble of catching them for it-
self. Perhaps, too, it is not very successful as
a fisherman. As soon, therefore, as it sees a
pelican flying towards the shore with its
ZOO.
may often see a kestrel doing when it is
searching the ground beneath it for field-
mice. As soon as it sees a fish swimming
near the surface it darts swiftly down,
snatches it up, and then rises back into the
air to look for another victim.
Travellers tell us that large flocks of
pelicans often hunt together in this way, and
that they sometimes rise so high into the air
that, big birds though they are, they can
scarcely be seen.
They also say that the
pouch full of victims, it dashes down upon it,
and begins to buffet it with its wings. The
frightened pelican immediately thinks that it
is going to be killed, and screams with terror.
This is just what the hawk wants, and, as
soon as the pelican opens its beak, it
snatches a fish out of its pouch, and flies
away with its booty in triumph!
If a pelican is angry or annoyed, it gene-
rally opens and shuts its beak several times
with a loud snapping noise, which can be
heard for some little distance.
When this curious bird is looking for prey,
it often hovers high up in the air, just as you
birds always fly off to their fishing-grounds
early in the morning, and catch enough fish
for their breakfast before the sun is high.
When their mates and young ones have been
fed, and their own hunger is satisfied, they
fly away to a sand-bank, or to a clump of
trees, and begin to preen their feathers with
their long beaks. Having done this very
carefully, they take a nap until the heat of
the day is over, and then fly back to their
fishing-grounds, in order to obtain another
meal before nightfall. When the pelican
goes to sleep, it turns its head half round,
and rests its long beak upon its back.
PELICANS. 22
CHarPreR IX.
PELICANS.—(Contenued. )
HERE is still a good deal for us to learn
about these very curious and interest-
ing birds.
Those who have watched them in the
countties where they live tell us that they
often hunt for fishes in a very clever manner.
A number of the birds arrange themselves in
a semi-circle, and then swim towards the
OS
shore, approaching closer and closer to one
another as they do so. By this plan, of
course, they drive a number of fishes along
before them, and catch them without any
difficulty when they get into shallow water !
When the fish have to be caught in a river,
the birds behave rather differently. They
then divide themselves into two parties,
which enter the stream two or three hundred
yards apart, and then swim towards one
another. The frightened fish, of course,
_ dash away before them, only to find out
before long that there are enemies in front as
well as behind; and in a very few minutes
most of them are caught and packed away
in the pouches of the ingenious pelicans.
In many old books about natural history
| you may read that the mother pelican feeds
' her young ones with blood drawn from her
own breast. But this is not true, for she
really feeds them with small fishes, which she
or her mate have caught and carried home
to the nest in their great pouches. We can
easily see, however, how this curious mistake
came to be made. If you look at a pelican’s
bill, you will at once notice that the tip is of
a bright rosy red colour. Now, as the bird
turns her head round sideways, so as to
' allow the little ones to get at the fish, her
beak of course rests against the white feathers
Tisgue
of her body; and no doubt people, noticing
this,-mistook the red tip for blood, and so
thought that the bird was wounding herself
in order to provide food for her offspring.
In each wing of the pelican there is a large
tuft of fine, hair-like feathers ; and in conse-
quence of these the bird is very much sought |
after. It is often caught by means of a fish-
ing rod and line. The hook is baited with a
minnow, which is kept quite close to the sur-
face by means of a float; and the pelican,
flying along, sees the fish, attempts to get it |
into its pouch, and is caught by the hook.
order that it may obtain a larger share of the
food. Then one of them will think, perhaps,
that it is not being properly treated, and will
open its beak as widely as it can, and begin to
scold its companions very loudly and angrily.
But the keeper is very careful to see that
each of the party gets just his own proper
allowance and no more, and, if he sees one
of the greedy birds snatching up a fish that
belongs to another, will pass it by until its
turn comes again.
If you are fortunate, too, you may see one
of these great birds indulgizg in a game of
St†be
ose
Of course it tries very hard to break away ;
but before it can do so the hunter rows up to
the spot in his boat, and carefully cuts off the
plume of feathers from each wing. He then
releases the hook and allows the bird to fly
away, in order that it may grow new plumes
in the place of those which he has taken.
The best time to watch the pelicans in the
Gardens is just as they are being fed. This
is a very amusing sight, for every bird is
jealous of all the rest, and wants to get all
the fish for itself. They all become very
excited indeed when they see the keeper
approaching. and thrust out their long bills
between the bars of the enclosure, each try-
ing very hard to push the others aside, in
; play ; and a very amusing sight it is. The
| bird tumbles about in the water, dabbling
with its beak just as if it were catching fish ;
then it splashes a quantity of water into the
air, by means of its huge wings ; and lastly
it comes ashore, stands still, and flaps its
wings quickly to and fro, sending a shower
of spray all round it, just as a dog does after
he has been enjoying a swim.
In the northern parts of Africa pelicans
are sometimes seen in enormous flocks.
One well-known traveller tells us that he
has seen a lake nearly a square mile in
extent completely covered with them, and
says that, from a little distance, they looked
like huge water lilies.
HE SALIN SPOLLED AND
GARDENING BOWER BIRDS. 25
CHAPTER X
BOWIE Re BLD =.
THE SaTIN, SPOTTED, AND
Ge day I must tell you about those very
curious birds, the brush turkeys of
Australia, and how, instead of making a nest,
they bury ther eggs in a huge mound of
earth and leaves, which they scrape together
with their great
feet and long,
strong claws. To-
day, however, let
us pay a visit to
tyhyewe Wirersitie aan
Aviary, which is in
a corner of the
Gardens, quite
close to the Main
Entrance. There
we shall find some
other birds which
also come from
Australia, and are
even more curious
still.
These are called
Bower Birds, ow-
ing toaverystrange
habit, which no
other birds in the
world seem to pos-
sess. Many birds
build nests—sometimes very wonderful and
beautiful nests, like those of the martin, the
wren, and the long-tailed titmouse. But the
bower bird, besides building a nest in a tree,
also builds a kind of gallery upon the
ground; and this gallery, or “bower,†is
used as a playground, in which several bower
birds often amuse themselves together !
The bird builds this gallery in the follow-
ing way :—
First of all, it collects a number of sticks
and twigs, which it chooses with great care.
GARDENING Bower Birps.
Then it weaves these firmly together into a
platform of basket-work, about as large as a
door-mat. Having done this, it gathers
more twigs, and fastens them into the plat-
form in such a manner that they form a kind
Mg A
=
of tunnel, the tops of each pair just meeting
one another, like the letter V turned upside
| down. ‘This tunnel is sometimes as much as
| three feet long, and keeps the bird very
| busily employed for several days.
| Even when this “bower†is finished, the
work of the little feathered builder is not over,
for now it has to be decorated! So the bird
| begins to hunt about, and soon gathers to-
gether all sorts of curious objects. It is
very fond, for instance, of the green and blue
and yellow feathers dropped by parrots and
|
|
\
26 THE
cockatoos when they are moulting ; and to-
gether with these, perhaps, it will have a
number of snail shells of different sizes,
several bones, and one or two skulls of small
animals. If the bower is near the dwellings
of men, scraps of ribbon and cloth, pieces
of coloured paper, and bits of broken glass
and china are almost sure to be found. The
birds are very mischievous, too, and will
steal any small glittering object that they can |
carry away, just as the magpie and the jack- |
daw will. So, when the natives of Australia |
lose anything of the kind, they always go at |
once to the nearest “bower,†knowing that
they are almost sure to find it there.
These birds seem to be very fond indeed
of their bowers, and spend several hours in
them almost every day. Such games of play
they have! Sometimes it is a kind of
“follow-my-leader.†Three or four birds will
run after one another as fast as they can,
racing through the bower again and again.
Then, perhaps, they will suddenly stop, and
begin to bob and bow to each other in the
ZOO,â€
most laughable manner, just as if they were
taking part in a dance, and bowing to their
partners ; and in another minute they are play-
ing “follow-my-leader†again. And so the fun
goes on until they are all so tired that they
are obliged to stop and rest.
If we stand and watch the bower birds for
a little while, very likely we shall see them
building their bower, or decorating it with all
sorts of odd scraps. And we shall notice that,
whenever they run through it, they utter a loud,
deep cry, something like that of a parrot.
The bower bird
which we shall see in
the Gardens is that
known as the Satin
Bower Bird, owing to
the beautiful satiny
black plumage of the
cock. The young
bird, oddly enough, is
of a dull olive green
colour, like the hen,
and only becomes
black by degrees.
Perhaps, too, we
shall see an example
of the Spotted Bower
Bird, which we may
at once know by the
buff spots upon its
back and wings, and
by the band of pink
feathers upon its
neck.
A third kind, called the Gardening Bower
Bird, is also known, but has not as yet been
brought to the Gardens. This bird is per-
haps the most curious of all, for it is said to
decorate its bower, not with feathers and
shells and bones, but with the prettiest
flowers and the most brightly coloured fruits
that it can find. This is the reason why it is
called the gardening bower bird. Perhaps
one of these days it will be brought to
England, and we shall be able to see
whether all that is said about it is true.
GOLDEN, SILVER, PEACOCK, AND IMPEYVAN PHEASANTS. 27
CHAPTER XI.
PHEASANTS.
Tue GOLDEN, SILVER, Pracock, AND ImpEYAN PHEASANTS.
UITE close to the South Entrance to
“~ the Gardens we shall find a row of |
cages, with a short wire “run†in front of
each. These are called the Pheasants’
Aviaries, because in them are kept quite a |
number of pheasants of several different |
kinds. Many of these are very brightly |
coloured ; and some, indeed, are so beautiful
that we shall hardly know how to admire |
them enough.
In one cage we
shall see five or six
of the lovely
Golden Pheasants,
which come from
China, and are
among the most
beautiful of all.
Indeed their plum-
age has so many
bright colours, that
it cannot be very
easily described.
On the head is a
crest of feathers
of a rich reddish
yellow. Then the
neck is clothed
with a ruff of
of black. These feathers are much valued
by anglers, who use them in the make-believe
“flies†with which they so often bait their
hooks. Below the ruff comes a patch of
dark, glossy green, which shines in the sun
like a piece of polished metal, and the rest
of the back is golden yellow, with a crimson
edging to the feathers at the sides of the
tail. Then the tail itself is chestnut brown,
mottled with black, and the whole of the
breast is bright scarlet. so that, altogether,
orange feathers, marked with several rings |
|
|
|
ii
the golden pheasant is a very beautiful bird
indeed.
These, however, are the colours of the
cock only. The hen is not nearly so hand-
some, for she has no crest upon her head,
| and no ruff upon her neck, while the whole
of her plumage is reddish brown, with darker
spots and markings.
The golden pheasant seems to know how
handsome he is, and to like being admired,
for he will walk slowly up and down as long
as we stand and look at him.
Tue Silver Pheasant, which lives in the
next cage, is almost as beautiful, although its
colours are not so bright. Its crest, you will
notice, is deep purple-black instead of yellow,
and on its neck it has a bright scarlet wattle,
instead of a ruff of yellow feathers. All the
upper part of its body is silvery white, with
} a number of black markings, which look as
28
if they had been traced with a pencil; and
the breast is of the same deep purple-black
as the crest.
Sad to say, the silver pheasant is very fond
of quarrelling; and it attacks its foes so
fiercely, and uses its spurs with such effect,
that it is said to be able to overcome even
the game-cock in fair fight. Once it was
thought that silver pheasants might be kept
in our parks and woods, like the common
pheasants ; but it was soon found that they
fought all the other pheasants and drove
them away, besides quarrelling dreadfully with
one another. Then, too, they are heavy
birds, and not very strong of wing, so that
they cannot fly at all well, and prefer to
perch on the ground. And so, before very
long, most of them fell victims to the foxes
and weasels.
Iy a third cage, close by, is another bird
LEE BAO O:
that we ought to notice, This is the Pea-
cock Pheasant, which comes from the moun-
tains of India. We shall see in a moment
why it is called the fewcock pheasant, for it
has a very large and broad tail, which is
spread out in very much the same way as the
“train†of the peacock ; and upon this tail
are two rows of large eye-like spots. On its
head is a beautiful crest of deep, shining
blue.
Now
neste auis
look at
its legs.
SS Most
» fame
birds
have only
one “spur,†as it is called, on
each. But the peacock phea-
sant has two, or even three.
With these it fights, kicking at
its enemy as hard and fast as
it can, and sometimes wound-
ing it very severely.
WE must look, too, at the
Impeyan Pheasant, or Monal,
which is almost more beautiful
than even the golden pheasant
itself Notice its beautiful crest
of shining green feathers, its
purple neck and back, crossed
by a bar of snowy white, and its reddish brown
tail. Then it has black wings, which seem to
glow with purple and green as the sun shines
upon them, while the eyes are surrounded by
a patch of blue, and the legs are green.
Look, too, at its sharp, curved beak. With
this it digs up the bulbs and roots upon
which it feeds. If we are very fortunate, it
may begin to dance while we are watching
it; and then I am quite sure that we shall
not be able to look at it without laughing,
PEA-FOWL. 29
CHAPTER XII.
PEA~FOWL.
WE must not pass by the Pea-fowl with-
out stopping to look at them for a
few minutes.
What lovely birds they are, with their
crests of green-
ish-blue, their
golden-green
plumage, and
their long
spreading trains
with the hun-
dreds of eye-
like spots!
Here is a pea-
cock walking
about with his
train raised and
spread; and
very proud in-
deedheappears
of its beauty.
He seems to
know that we
are admiring
him, and stops
just oppositeus,
every now and
thenrustling his
long feathers
and dropping
them a_ little,
and then raising them again. Then another
one comes up and raises /zs train, as though
he were jealous of the first ; and the two walk
up and down before us, until we move away.
What a beautiful sight a flock of pea-fowl
must be in India, their native land! In
many parts of India no one is allowed to
shoot them, and so several hundreds may
sometimes be seen together, nearly all the
cocks with their beautiful trains spread, as
they walk to and fro before the hens.
Zs
We
da!
Travellers tell us, indeed, that in some
places pea-fowl are found in such numbers,
that it is hardly possible to sleep at night,
owing to the noise of their cries. They
become very tame, and
seem to know that they
! will not be hurt, even
4 entering the villages in
eo search of food, and
roosting at night upon
the huts.
In other parts of the
country, however, they
are hunted, in rather a
re curious way.
The hunter, mounted
upon a swift horse, takes
a whip with a long lash,
and starts off to look for
a peacock. When he
! sees one, he rides to-
wards it as fast as he
can. Now the peacock,
although it can fly very
well, is a heavy bird, and
not very quick at taking
to wing; so,
before it is fair-
ly in the air,
the hunter is
alongside, strik-
ing at it with
his long whip.
If he should
succeed in hit-
ting it, the lash
is almost certain to coil round the bird’s neck,
like'a lasso; and then all that the hunter
has to do is to leap to the ground, and secure
his prisoner before it can break away.
The hunters do not much like to follow
the pea-fowl to their roosting places, for the
XB THE ZOO.
2 ~
birds often take refuge in the thick patches
of jungle in which tigers are so fond of
hiding. The peacock, however, is even
more afraid of a tiger than the hunter, and,
when it sees one, begins to scream with
terror, at the same time flying up into the
nearest tree, so as to be out of reach of its
claws. All the pea-fowl within hearing begin
to scream also; and in this way the hunter
is often warned of the presence of his
enemy, and enabled either to escape, or to
reach a place of safety.
Once I saw a very amusing fight in a
fight went on until I was obliged to go
away.
Sometimes peacocks are very quarrelsome
birds indeed. One, which lived in Ireland,
had four wives one after the other, and killed
them all by pecking them to death. He also
killed several of his own little ones, and
would have killed more, if they had not
been hidden away where he could not find
them. The same bird was very fond of
frightening the chickens, and used to drive
them up into a corner, and then rattle his
quill-feathers just in front of their faces.
farm-yard, between a peacock and a turkey.
I do not know what the two birds had
quarrelled about; but, just as I came
up, the peacock made a rush at the
turkey. The turkey did not try to get out
of the way, but waited until the peacock
came quite close, and then jumped over
his head, and sat upon his train! This, of
course, made the peacock very angry indeed,
for he did not like his beautiful train to be
meddled with ; so, shaking the turkey off, he
ran at him again. The clever turkey, how-
ever, jumped over his head once more, and
again sat on his tail; and so the strange
He never really hurt the chickens, but
would drive them away from their food day
after day, and try to make them think that he
was going to kill them.
Two other kinds of pea-fowl are mostly to
be seen in the Gardens. One of these is
the Black-shouldered Pea-fowl, which is
sometimes called the Japan Peacock, al-
though it does not come from Japan at all;
and the other is the Japan Pea-fowl, which is
a very beautiful bird indeed, and may be
easily known by its colouring, and by its
peculiar crest.
CORMORANTS AND DARTERS.
31
CHAPTER XIII.
CORMORANTS AND DARTERS.
ERE are the Cormorants. What odd-
looking birds they are! They have
such slender, snake-like necks, and such
long, hooked beaks! Their feet, too, are
webbed, just like those of a duck or a
swan. Do they live in the water?
Yes ; they fre-
quent the sea-
coast, and the
mouths of large
rivers, and are
very goodswim-
mers and divers
indeed. Some-
times, when we
are at the sea-
side, we may
see a cormo-
rant sitting up-
on a distant
rock. Then we
may be quite
sure that he is
looking for fish.
As soon as one
swims past he
darts down into
the water, dives
after it, and
very soon ap-
pears again,
with his victim
struggling in
his bill.
Now and
then he catches
an eel, which twists about so much that he
cannot swallow it. So he grasps it firmly
by the tail, and batters it against a rock until
it is dead.
Once a cormorant was killed by an eel
which he had caught. When he seized the
fish, he struck the upper part of his beak
quite through its body, and could not draw
it out again. The eel, as soon as it felt the
wound, coiled itself tightly round the bird’s
neck and strangled it ; and a fisherman, when
he passed by, found them both lying dead,
and took them home to be stuffed and placed
in a museum !
In China
the cormorant
is often tamed,
and is employ-
ed by his mas-
ter in catching
fish. Two or
three birds are
generally taken
out fishing to-
gether, and are
so well trained
that they will
sit quietly on
the edge of the
boat until they
are told to enter
the water. No
sooner do they
hear the word
of command,
than they dive
down; and,
before very
long, first one
and then an-
other rises to
the surface,
each with a
glittering fish held prisoner in its beak.
Sometimes one of these feathered fisher-
men will seize a fish that is too big for him
to carry by himself. In such a case one of
his companions will go and help him, and the
| two together soon bring it to the boat.
| No doubt you are wondering why the cor-
32 THE ZOO:
morant does not swallow the fish which he
catches, instead of bringing them to his
master. Very likely, if he were able, he
would do so, for he has a very large appetite,
and always seems to be hungry. But, before
the Chinaman takes his birds out fishing, he
fastens a strap round their long necks, just
tightly enough to prevent them from swallow-
ing, but not from
breathing. After
they have caught
a certain number
of fish, however,
he removes. their
collars, and gives
them a fish or two
each, to reward
them for their
labours.
Only a little
more than two
hundred years ago,
cormorants were
employed in this
way in England,
and a writer of
the time of King
Charles the Se-
cond gives quite
a long account
of the sport.
If you were
to see a cormo-
rant in the winter,
and again in the
summer, you
would hardly /
know it to be the se
same bird. Dur- He
ing the cold weather its head, neck, and back
are either black or bronze in colour, and the
feathers of the head are quite short. As the
heat increases, however, the plumage changes
in colour, until the head and neck are
sprinkled with pure white feathers, while the
head bears a long crest.
Now let us look into the Fish House for a
moment or two. Here we shail find a
curious bird, very much like the cormorants
in some respects, but with an even longer
and more snake-like neck, which reminds us
of that of the flamingo. This is a Darter,
or Snake-bird, as it is sometimes called, and
is a native of South America.
When it is watching for prey, the darter
sits upon a branch
-which overhangs
some stream, and
remains as mo-
tionless as if it
were carved out
of stone. No
sooner does a
fish pass by, how-
ever, than it drops
into the water,
dives down after
it, and very soon
returns to its
perch to swallow
its victim.
When the darter
swims, its body is
entirely under
water, and only
its long, slender
neck can be seen,
looking, as it
bends and _ twists
about, just like
that of a serpent.
This is the reason
why darters are
sometimes called
“snake-birds.†So
strong is the re-
semblance, indeed, that many a traveller has
been quite deceived, and has thought, until
the bird rose from the water, that it was
really a snake. 3
Another kind of darter lives in Africa, and
is said to be so quick in its movements, that,
when it sees the flash of a gun, it can dive
before the bullet reaches it !
THE RED AND BLUE MACAW,:AND THE KAKA PARROT. 33
CHAPTER XIV.
TEE PARROT AOU SE.
THE Rep. anD BLUE Macaw, AND THE KakA PaRROT.
ERE we are at the Parrot House. Yes.
What a dreadful noise the birds are
making, to be sure!
More than a hundred
parrots, macaws,
cockatoos, and parro-
quets are squalling
and screaming and
shrieking at the very
tops of their voices!
Long before we reach
the door we can hear
the din; and when
we open it and go in-
side we are almost
deafened !
What are those
large, brightly colour-
ed birds, which are
fastened to their
perches by a chain
round one leg?
Those are Macaws.
Do not let us go too
near to them, for
they are not always
very good-tempered
birds, and perhaps
they may try to bite
us.
What very hand-
some fellows they
are! Here is one
with a bright scarlet
body, a scarlet and
blue tail, and wings
of red, blue, yellow,
and green. How
very beautiful a flock
of these birds must
look when they are flying about in their
native forests !
Travellers who have seen them say
that it would be hard to imagine a more
splendid sight. But
the settlers are not at
all pleased to see
them, even though
they are so beautiful ;
for they are very
mischievous birds,and
do a great deal of
damage in. the corn-
fields. As soon as
the grain begins to
ripen, they come in
great numbers, and
the farmer is obliged
to employ men to
watch his fields night
and day, and keep
on driving them
away.
They are very cun-
ning birds, and quite
seem to know that
they have no business
in the fields. For,
before they fly down
among the corn, they
place’ one of their
number as a sentinel,
upon the topmost
branches of a high
tree, in order to give
warning if an enemy
should approach.
As soon as this bird
sees any signs of
danger, he utters a
loud and _ peculiar
cry, and then all the
rest of the flock fly quickly away.
Macaws are not very good talkers, and
D
34 THE
ZOO.
seldom utter any sounds besides their loud,
harsh scream. But sometimes they learn to
talk a little, and to speak a few words or
sentences almost as well as the parrots.
Nearly all these handsome birds live in
South America. The natives often catch
them alive, and keep them in their houses as
pets. Sometimes, too, they make themselves
head-dresses out of
the scarlet and blue
feathers of the tail.
When they want the
birds for such a pur-
pose as this, they
shoot them with poi-
soned arrows by
means of a blow-gun.
The arrow is quite
small, hardly larger,
indeed, than a steel
knitting-needle. But
the poison with which
it is tipped is so
powerful, that the
birds fall dead to the
ground almost direct-
ly after they are
struck,
HERE is a_ parrot
that I want you to
look at carefully.
It is called the Kaka
Parrot, or Kea, and
is ina cage all by
itself. It is not at
all a handsome bird,
and I daresay you
think that there is
nothing very strange about t,
Yet it is one
of the most remarkable birds in the Parrot
House.
For in New Zealand, the country in which
it lives, it kills so many sheep that the settlers
are obliged to shoot it whenever they can !
It does not feed upon the flesh of the sheep,
but only cares for the fat just in one part of
its back. In order to obtain this, it perches
upon the poor animal, plucks off the fleece,
tears away the skin, and then digs its long
beak deeply into the flesh and eats its fill.
The wounded sheep tries hard to shake off
its enemy, but cannot do so, and before very
long it dies from
loss of blood, while
the parrot flies away
to seek for another
victim.
These savage birds
are so mischievous,
that out of a flock
of three hundred fat
sheep, they have been
known to destroy no
less than two hun-
dred in under five
months! The set-
tlers do not find it at
all easy to shoot
them, for they hide
away in the thickest.
parts of the forest by
day, and only come
out to attack the
flocks at night. Very
often, indeed, the
shepherd does not.
even know that they
are near, until he goes
out to the pastures
one morning, and
findssome ofhissheep
lying dead or dying
upon the ground,
If you look at the bill of the Kaka, you
will see that it is very long, very sharp, and
very much curved, and you will easily be
able to understand what a terrible weapon it
is for tearing away the flesh of an unfortu-
nate sheep.
THE SULPHUR-CRESTED COCKATOO, AND PARROQUETS., 35
CHAPTER XV.
THE PARROT HOUSE.—/( Continued.)
THE SULPHUR-CRESTED COCKATOO, AND THE SHINING AND GROUND PAaRROQUETS.
72 EFORE we leave the Parrot House, we
must look at some of the Cockatoos
and Parroquets.
Here is a
white cocka-
too, with a
Jong plume of
pale yellow fea-
thers upon his
head. Because
of this plume,
he ‘is called
the Sulphur-
crested Cock-
atoo. If he
is teased or
excited, he will
raise his crest,
and spread it
out like a fan;
and at the same
time he will
spread his
wings, open his
beak widely,
and utter such
loud and pierc-
ing screams,
that it is quite
hard to believe
that they pro-
ceed from the
throat of a bird.
This cocka-
too comes from
Australia,where
it may be seen
flying about in large flocks, which often con-
sist of more than a thousand birds. As they fly
in and out among the foliage of the trees, they
look very pretty indeed. But they do somuch
mischief in the corn-fields, that the farmers .
trap and shoot them whenever they can.
It is said that these birds are sometimes
caught in great numbers in a very odd way.
The trapper takes a cockatoo, and fastens it to
the ground upon its back. He does not hurt
it, but ties it down in such a way that it cannot
release itself.. As soon as the bird finds itself
a prisoner, it begins to scream as loudly as it
can, and before very long a number of other
cockatoos are sure to come to the spot, in order
to see what can be the matter. When they
see their companion fastened down to the
ground, they fly down, and try to set
him free ; and before very long one
of them is certain to walk over
him. Assoon as he does this,
however, the captive cocka-
too, who has been clutch-
ing at the air with his
feet, seizes hold of
him and grasps him
firmly; andall that
the fowlerhasto
do is to walk up
andrelease him.
Having done
this, he takes
the second
cockatoo, and
fastens Az up-
on the ground ;
~ and before very
long, ¢7vo cock-
atoosare seized
and held _pris-
oner by the un-
Then these are released
fortunate captives.
and tied down; and so on until the fowler
has caught as many as he requires !
What a stout, strong beak this cockatoo
TAETES
has! And how useful it is to him in climb-
ing! When he lowers himself from his perch
to the ground, or climbs up again, indeed,
he uses his beak quite as much as his feet.
One lady who kept a pet cockatoo always
used to give it her empty cotton reels. The
bird would watch her while at work, and
become quite excited when it saw thai the
cotton was nearly finished. When the reel
was given to it, it would grasp it in its beak,
and with one bite split it into two pieces,
each of which it would then break into
fragments. It-would split a nut, too, in the
same way. But, strange to say, it never |
2 oD )
seemed to know that the kernel was good to
eat, for it always dropped it on the ground
as soon as the shell was broken.
Cockatoos always make their nests in a
hole in a tree. If a hole is not quite large
ZOO.
enough, or of the shape they prefer, they will
tear away the surrounding wood with their
powerful beaks, until they have altered it to
their liking.
Some of the Parroquets are beautiful birds.
Here is a very pretty one called the Shining
Parroquet, which comes from the Fiji Islands.
Its head and breast are rich
crimson, and its neck blue,
while the lower parts of its
back are bright green, and its
eye is orange. So brilliant
and varied is its plumage, in-
deed, that it looks very much
like a small macaw.
Most of the parroquets are
very much alike in their habits.
They fly about in large flocks,
looking very beautiful indeed
in the sunshine, and filling
the air with their
loud, piercing
cries. If they find
a field of
iC emOsG
~ maize they
do a great
deal of
mischief, stripping off the grain, and devour-
ing it in great quantities. Sometimes, too,
they will visit a newly-sown field, and scratch
away the earth in order to find the seed.
The farmer dislikes them, therefore, quite
as much as he dislikes the cockatoos, and
many a parroquet falls a victim to his guns
and snares.
One of these birds, called the Ground
Parroquet, is very much like a pheasant. It
hardly ever flies, but runs swiftly upon the
ground, threading its way among the herbage
with the most wonderful quickness. It does
not make any nest, but lays its eggs on the
bare ground. In South Australia, where it
lives, it is often hunted with dogs ; and those
who have tasted its flesh say that it is very
good to eat.
GUILLEMOTS AND GANNETS. 37
CHAPTER XVI.
GUILLEMOTS AND GANNETS.
N OW we will go and look at some of the
sea birds.
Here are a number of Guillemots, in a
egg, for the bird always lays it upon a ledge
at a great height from the ground, and in the
steepest part of the cliff which she can find,
little enclosure with a pond in the middle. ‘ s9 that no one may be able to climb up and
We can easily
tell them by their
black backs and
white breasts,
and by their
long, sharp beaks,
which are not
hooked at the
tip like those of
the gulls. They
are very plenti-
fulin many parts
of our British
coasts, and we
may sometimes
see them in great
numbers, either
resting upon the
rocky cliffs, or
sitting upon the
water, and every
now and then
diving beneath
the surface after
a fish. They can
swim very well
indeed, and when they dive they use their
wings as well as their feet, so that they may
almost be said to fly under water.
Guillemots choose a very odd place to lay
their eggs. They do not build a nest, like
almost all other birds, but just place their
one big egg upon a ledge of rock, and sit
upon it there. This egg is shaped like a
pear, with one end very large, and the other
very small; and the bird seems never to lay
a second, unless the first is taken away.
It is not at all easy to obtain a guillemot’s
take it. The
men who collect
the eggs for sale,
‘gowever, are let
down by ropes
from above; and
they carry a bas-
ket with them,
into which they
place the eggs
as fast as they
can gather them
up.
These eggs
are so different
in colour and
markings that,
if you were to
see a number
together, you
would very likely
think that they
must all have
been laid by dif-
ferent kinds of
birds. Some are
grey, some gree, some white, some brown,
and some almost red ; and some are marked
nearly all over with dark spots and streaks,
while others have scarcely any markings at
all. They are said to be very good to eat,
and are more than twice as large as a hen’s
egg, so that one is quite enough for a meal.
When the little guillemots are hatched out,
their mothers take the greatest care of them,
and are even said to carry them down to the
water on their backs. As the parents swim
along, they keep crying out “Kur-roo, kur-
Oras
roo,†to their little ones, who answer them
with a cry which sounds like “ Pee-yoo-it,
pee-yoo-it,†and flap and paddle along after
them as well as they can.
CuoseE by the guillemots are some Gannets.
These are much larger birds, for they are
very nearly three feet long, while a guillemot
only measures about sixteen inches. Except
for the long black feathers which cover the
tail, they are almost entirely white, and their
feet are webbed, just like those of a goose or
a swan.
These birds feed upon fish, which their
sharp eyes enable them to see even when
they are flying at quite a height above the
water. As soon as a gannet catches sight of
a fish, it darts swiftly down, plunges beneath
the surface with a great splash. and after a
few seconds appears again with its victim
ZO00.
struggling in its beak. It is very fond of
herrings, and its appetite is so keen that it is
said to devour as many as fifty of these fish
in one day!
The fishermen in some parts of Scotland
catch the gannet in a very curious way.
Taking a dead herring, they fasten it down
upon a deal board, and then leave it floating
upon the surface of the water. Before very
long a gannet is sure to see it, and to strike
it with such force that its sharp beak passes
through the fish into
the board. When
it finds itself fast,
of course, it tries
to withdraw its
beak, but cannot
do so; and in a
very few minutes
the poor bird is
drowned.
Gannets are often
caught, too, in the
fishing-nets; for, as
they dive to catch
the herrings, they
become entangled
in the meshes,
and cannot’ break
away.
Great numbers of
gannets lay their
eggs upon the fa-
mous Bass’ Rock,
and have become
so tame that they will even allow them-
selves to be stroked or patted, as they
sit upon their eggs. If a gun is fired, how-
ever, they all rise at once, and the air is filled,
with thousands of the great white birds, all
screaming loudly with terror. In another
island, called St. Kilda, more than twenty-five
thousand of these birds are caught every
year !
TREE AS SIE Te IE
oo
CHaprer XVII.
THE eR US ot URE Ne
AMEN G the most curious birds in the
; Gardens are the Brush Turkeys, which
come from Australia and from some of the
large islands in the Pacific Ocean. Wee shall
find several of these in a large enclosure not
very far from the
Parrot House.
Almost the very
first thing that we
notice when we
look at them is,
that they have no
feathers upon their
necks. For this
reason they are
sometimes called
“vultures†by the
people who live in
Australia,although
they are not birds
of prey at all, We
are not quite right,
indeed, even in
calling them “ tur-
keys,†for they are
not true turkeys,
and seem to have
had that name
given to them
only because they have wattles growing upon
their necks. If we want to be qguzfe correct,
we must speak of them as Tallegallas ; but
_as that isa long name, and not a very easy
one to pronounce, we will continue to call
them “brush turkeys.â€
‘The best time to watch these birds is in
the spring, just when they are thinking of
laying their eggs ; for they then behave ina
very odd way indeed. They do not build a
nest, like so many other birds ; neither do
they place their eggs in the ground. But
they scrape together a great mound of earth,
|
|
t
|
and dead leaves, and herbage of all kinds,
and then bury their eggs in that !
Several pairs of brush turkeys will work
together in making one of these mounds,
which may be as much as fifteen feet high,
and nearly sixty feet round!
the birds carefully, you will see that they
have large feet, and long, stout claws. When
they wish to make a mound, they scrape and
scratch up the earth and the herbage with
these stout claws, and fling it away behind
If you look at
them. Working round in a circle, they con-
tinue to do this, until they have flung
together quite a large quantity of grass and
leaves and mould. Then they move in a
little closer and do the same, until at last
quite a large mound is raised. As soon as
this is finished, they dig a hole in the top or
40 THE
sides, in which the hen lays her eggs. The
cock then covers them carefully up.
But you ask how the eggs are hatched.
In this way. When a quantity of leaves
and grass is piled together and left to decay,
it soon begins to give out a great deal of
heat. If you place your hand, for example,
in a heap of cut grass which has been left
standing for a few days, you will find that it
is quite hot to the touch. Now the brush
turkey always takes care to have enough
grass and
leaves in the
mound to
give out just
the right
heat. And
so the eggs
are very
soon hatch-
ed, even
though the
parent birds
never sit up-
on them at
all.
Some-
times, how-
ever, the sun
shines down
upon the
mound, and
would soon
make the
eggs zvo hot.
But the cock bird is always on the watch,
and on very hot days he uncovers the eggs
fora few hours, so that the cool air may
get to them. When the sun sets he carefully
covers them up again, and so prevents them
from becoming chilled at night.
These curious birds use the same mounds
year after year, just adding to them every
spring as much material as is wanted. The
eges are very good indeed to eat, and the |
ZOO.
savages of Australia like them so much that
they will journey for fifty miles in order
to obtain them. They are very large—
so large that one egg will make a suffi-
cient meal for a grown man—and nearly
a bushel of eggs may be taken from a
single mound.
When the little birds are hatched out,
they wait for about twelve hours, and then
burrow their way out of the mound. They
are not helpless for two or three weeks, like
! so many
young birds,
but are able
UO matialce
care ofthem-
selves from
the very
first, al
though their
parents
cover them
up in the
mound at
night until
that it is not
at all easy
to overtake
them ; while,
only three
days after
they are hatched, they are able to fly.
The brush turkey is not very fond of
using its wings, and always prefers, if it
should be pursued, to run away through the
thick bushes. When the dingo, or Austra-
lian wild dog, chases it, however, it cannot
escape in this way; and in such a case it
leaps upon a low branch, hops from bough
to bough until it reaches the top of the tree,
and then flies away.
CAPE BARRON GOOSE, BERNICLE GOOSE, AND BEAN GOOSE. 41
CuHaprer XVIII.
GEESE:
THE Cape Barron Goosr, THE BERNICLE GOOSE, AND THE BEAN GOOSE.
WWE shall always find quite a number of
Geese in the Gardens, belonging to
several different kinds. We shall not have
sufficient time to look at them all; but two
or three of them are so interesting that we
must not pass them by without notice.
One of these is the Cape Barron Goose.
This is a rather large bird, which comes from
the wildest parts of New Holland. In olden
days it used to be very plentiful, and was so
tame and
fearless that
it would sit
quite still
while a man
walked upto
itandknock-
ed it on the
head. When
sailors found
how easily
they could
kill it, how-
ever, they
destroyed so
many that it
became
quite scarce. Ss
And now the birds that remain are so wary
and shy that it is very difficult indeed to
get near them.
As the flesh of the Cape Barron goose is
very good to eat, the bird has sometimes
been brought over to this country, in the
hope that it might live in the farmyards.
But it is so quarrelsome, that it cannot live
with other birds without wanting to kill them.
It is full of courage, and will attack birds
much larger than itself. On one occasion
a Cape Barron goose even fought with a
crane, and very soon left it dead upon the
ground !
But even our common geese will fight at
times. A few years ago, in Canada, a gander
was attacked by a cow, who charged at it,
and tried to drive it away. As the cow
approached,
however,
the bird sud-
denly leapt
up, seized
the hair be-
tween her
horns with
its beak, and
began toflap
its wings in
hea tea.cies
Thecowwas
very much
surprised at
this beha-
viour, which
she had not
expected at
all, and,
shaking off
the gander,
retreated for
f a few paces.
Again she charged, and again the bird jumped
up and seized her hair, beating her face so
violently this time that she ran away, and
left her clever adversary master of the field !
The Cape Barron goose is of a brownish
grey colour, spotted with black, and with pink
legs and bright red eyes. Perhaps we shall
hear it calling to its mate, and may know it
at once by its loud, trumpet-like voice.
THEN there is the Bernicle Goose, which
sometimes flies over to this country for a
month or two in the winter. Many years
ago, when people did not know nearly so
THE ZOO.
much about natural history as they do now,
it was thought that this bird was produced
from barnacle shells, and that if a piece of
wood were allowed to float for a few months
in the sea, the barnacles which adhered to it
would all turn into geese! Of course we
know better now, and have found out that
this goose is hatched out of an egg, just like
any other bird. But the name of “bernicieâ€
goose, which it still bears, reminds us of this
strange old legend.
Like all other geese, the bernicle goose
can fly very well, and often travels for long
distances over the sea. A number of these
birds always fly together. If there are not
very many of them, they fly in a wavy line ;
but, if the company should be a large one,
they arrange themselves in the form of a V,
and fly with the point directed forwards.
These birds are very shy indeed, and only
a very patient and cautious sportsman can
approach near enough to shoot them. He
| has to lie down upon his face, creep over the
mud, crawl along the wet ditches, and take
advantage of every little bush or hillock
which may help to conceal him. And, with
all his care and precautions, it very often
happens that, just as he comes within gun-
shot, the birds
suddenly catch
sight of him, take
fright, and fly
away before he
can raise his gun.
Ler us look
for a moment,
too, at the Bean
Goose.
This is an-
other of the birds
which only visit
us during the win-
ter. All through
the spring and
summer it lives
in the far north,
even within the
Arctic circle.
But towards the
middle of Octo-
ber it finds that
the cold is be-
coming too
severe, so it flies
southwards, and
does not return
until the follow-
ing spring.
This goose is
| a rather mischievous bird, for it will often
alight in a cultivated field, and devour a
great deal of the produce before it again
takes to wing. For this reason, in France,
it is generally called the Harvest goose, and
the farmers are glad to trap or shoot it when-
ever they can.
THE ALBATROS. 43
CHAPTER XIX.
THE ALBATROS.
Oe of the strangest birds in the Gardens , that they may know it again, and let it go.
is the Albatros. It comes from the | A bird marked in this way has been known
Southern Seas, and is very much like an | to follow a ship for more than two thousand
enormous sea-gull, with very long, narrow ; miles.
wings, webbed feet, like those of a duck, and When an albatros is hooked, it always tries
a strong hooked beak. very hard to prevent the sailors from hauling
‘This bird possesses most wonderful powers | it upon deck. Its usual plan is to rest upon
of flight. It can remain in the air for days | the sea, and spread out its long wings, so that
rere
they dip in the water, and
offer a great deal of resis-
tance. Sometimes this plan
is. successful, and the line
breaks or the hook gives
way. But in such a case the
bird very seldom learns wis-
dom, and in.a few moments
will swoop down at another
bait, and be hooked again.
Why is the albatros so
fond of following a ship?
Because it knows that a
quantity of scraps will be
ag aoe thrown out from time to
= time ; and it is always hun-
together without needing to rest. It will | gry, and ready to snatch these up and swallow
follow a ship for thousands of miles across | them. It is rather a fierce bird, and many
the ocean, and each morning will be seen | a time, when a sailor has fallen overboard,
sweeping quietly along behind it, as swiftly | it has been known to fly down upon him,
and easily as if it had been resting all night. | strike him with its wings, tear him with its
Sometimes the sailors catch an albatros, by | beak, and in one or two cases even to kill him.
angling for it with a rod and line, just as if | Once, however, a sailor was saved through the
they were fishing in the air. The hook is | attack of an albatros. The bird dashed at him
baited with a lump of pork, or blubber, and | as he was swimmingand wounded him severely.
before it has been hung out for many minutes | But he seized it by the neck, held its head under
an -albatros is almost sure to swoop down | water until it was drowned, and then rested
upon it, swallow the tempting morsel, and so | upon its floating body until a boat came from
become a prisoner. Then the sailors drag it | the ship and picked him up.
in, and, if they do not want to kill it, tie a One very curious fact about the albatros is
piece of coloured ribbon round its neck, so | that, when it is flying, it hardly ever seems to
44 THE ZOO.
move its wings. If you watch a sparrow, or | although they are very strong, they are not at
a lark, or a thrush while in the air, you will | all heavy. Very often these bones are used
notice that it keeps flapping its wings ; and, | by sailors for pipe-stems. Then there are a
if it did not do this, it would very quickly | number of large air-cells in the body, which
fall to the ground. But the albatros has such | are always kept full of heated air from the
very large and powerful wings, that it can fly | lungs. Thus the bird is really much lighter
for an hour at a time without moving them | than one would imagine, and the strain
at all. Now it rises, now it falls, and now it | thrown upon the wings is not so very great
after all.
The albatros
makes its home
upon high,
rocky islands,
where it is very
seldom disturb-
ed by man.
It does not
make a nest,
but lays its one
great egg upon
the ground,
and just scrapes
together a
quantity of
loose earth
around it.
There is one
albatros, how-
ever, which
makes a mound
of earth, about
ten or twelve
inches high,
and places its
egg on the
top. When
the little bird
; is just hatched
skims swiftly through the air; and yet its ; out, it is covered with a kind of woolly
great wings remain perfectly still. Perhaps | down, and is fed by its parents with a thick
this is one reason why it so seldom seems to | oily liquid, which is poured out from the
be tired, even after a long journey of hun- | beak. If we were to meddle with the bird
dreds of miles over the sea. when it had young, it would squirt some
Another reason is that, although it is such | of this liquid upon our clothes, and would
a big bird, its body is very light. Its bones | snap its beak together loudly, in the hope
are not solid, like ours, but hollow, so that, | that it might frighten us.
WHITE SWAN, BLACK SWAN, AND BLACK-NECKED SWAN. 45
' CHAPTER XX.
SWANS.
Tse WHITE Swan, THE BLacK Swan, AND THE BLACK-NECKED SWAN.
HAT a graceful bird the Swan is while
in the water! It glides along so
easily, and carries itself so well, that it is
quite a pleasure to watch its movements.
But how clumsy and awkward it is when it
comes out of the water! It waddles along
in the most ungainly way. It can hardly keep
its balance at all. It does not seem to know
what to do with its long neck. The fact is,
its legs are set very far back upon its body.
This helps it in swimming, but not in walking.
And the bird always seems very glad indeed
when it leaves the land, and finds itself once
more in the water.
We shall always see at least three or four
different kinds of swan in the Gardens. One
of these, of course, is the common White
Swan. This is a very interesting bird,
although we know it so well. See how
quietly it moves along. One would hardly
-and roots
ree wanan ttn
AAMT UL
think that it was swimming at all. Now it
stops, and plunges its long neck under the
water, just like a duck. It is searching for
food, and can reach almost to the very bottom
of the pond. What does it eat? The leaves
of water plants, chiefly. But now and then it
will catch and eat a small fish, such as a
bleak or a roach ; and it is very fond indeed
of fishes’ eggs. It will even follow carp and
other fish to their breeding grounds, and
search for the spawn as it hangs on branches
underneath the water. And it
devours such quan-
tities of these eggs,
ine
often been known to destroy all the fish in a
pond !
Sad to say, the swan is very fond of quar-
relling. Not very long ago, two swans were
seen fighting on the river Thames, just below
Putney Bridge. After a short time, one of
the birds, which was getting the worst of the
battle, left the water, in the hope of escaping
from his enemy. But the other swan quickly
followed him, attacked him again, drove him
back into the water, and in the course of a
very few minutes succeeded in killing him!
40
When swans have a nest, they are more
quarrelsome than ever, and will even attack
a boat, if it should pass anywhere near,
They fight chiefly with their wings, which are
so strong that they can break a man’s arm
with a single blow. The birds are always on
the watch for a foe, and so well do they keep
guard, that it is very seldom indeed that a
swan’s eggs are stolen.
The swan is not a very good nest-builder,
and merely heaps together a great pile of
reeds, rushes, and grass, on the top of which
THE ZOO.
back. If she is in the water when they want
to climb upon her she sinks down as low as
she can, so that they may be able to scramble
up. If she is on the land, she helps them up
with one leg.
HERE are some Black Swans, which for a
long time were very scarce birds indeed.
They come from Australia, where they were
rst discovered nearly two hundred years ago.
Look at their blood-red bills, and the beauti-
ful tuft of white feathers near the tail. They
it lays its greenish white eggs. The nest is
nearly always placed quite close to the edge
of the water; and the bird is so clever that,
if a flood should take place after heavy rain, it
will quickly raise its heap a few inches higher,
so that the water may not flow over the eggs.
The young of the swan are called cygneds.
When they are first hatched they are of a
light bluish grey colour, which does not
change to pure white until they are nearly
full grown. The parents take great care of
them, and will savagely attack anyone who
comes near.
While they are quite small, the mother |
swan carries her little ones about on her
are not such elegant birds as the white swans,
however, for they hold their necks much
more stiffly, and do not swim with such ease
and grace.
Let us look, too, at the Black-necked
Swan. For several years these birds, which
live in South America, were never known to
breed anywhere in Europe except in the
Gardens ; and they were so scarce, that the
first pair brought over to this country were
sold for no less than eighty pounds.
The cygnets of this swan are quite white
when they are first hatched out, and do not
obtain their black necks for some little time.
DIVERS AND GREBES,
CHAPTER XX].
DIVERS AND GREBES.
47
‘Tur Great NoRTHERN Diver, THE GREAT CRESTED GREBE, AND THE DABCHICK.
ERY odd birds are the Divers.
This one with the narrow white streaks
running across its
back is called the
Great Northern
Diver, because it is
the largest bird of
the family, and
lives in the far
north. Sometimes,
however, it may be
seen off the Scot-
tish coast; and, if
we were to visit
some of the narrow
inlets and bays in
the north of Scot-
land, we should be
almost sure to see
a great northern
diver or two, swim-
ming busily about
in search of prey.
The bird wellde-
serves its name of
“diverâ€; for it
seems able toswim
under water quite
as well as on the
surface. Those
who have pursued
itin a boat saythat
it will often rise
quite three hun-
dredyardsfrom the
too, say that when the water is clear they
sometimes see a diver flapping its way along
many feet beneath the boat ; so that we may
say that this singular bird really jes under
water /
place where it dived, and that it uses its wdrgs f 2
in swimming as well as its legs. Fishermen, underneath its breast as it rests stretched
upon the ground !
Sportsmen tell wu
Strange to say, too, it often uses its wings
when walking upon dry
land. You will
remember, I dare
say, that the legs
of a swan are set
so far back upon
its body, that it
can only waddle
along in a very
awkward and un-
gainly manner.
But the legs of the
great northern
diver are set even
farther back still ;
and the conse-
quence is, that it
can hardly walk at
all, and one ex-
pects to see it top-
ple over every
minute. So, if it
is in a hurry, it
throws itself for-
ward, lying with
its breast upon the
ground, and then
shuffles along by
using its wingsand
legs together,
almost as if it had
four legs instead
of only two.
And it does not
sit on its eggs, like
other birds; it Z/es on them, keeping them
s that there is no bird so
hard to shoot as the great northern diver. It
is very wary, and will not allow a gunner to
come within shot ; and it swims so fast, and.
48
THE ZOO.
dives so well, that it is quite impossible to
overtake it in a boat. So the man who
wishes to shoot the bird is obliged to hide
behind some rocks close to the water's edge,
and wait there patiently in the hope that the
bird may swim within gunshot.
Fishermen do not like the great aGHhGH |
diver at all, for it devours large quantities of
the fish which they want to catch themselves.
Sometimes, however, the bird falls a victim to
its own greediness, for it will swim into the
herring-nets after its victims, and become
entangled in the meshes, and so be drowned.
Once, too, one of these birds swam right into
the open jaws of a huge angler fish, which
was lying on the mud at the bottom of the
water !
In many parts
of Scotland this
singular bird is
known as the
Loon.
HeErREisa Great
Crested Grebe.
What curious
feet ithas! Yes ;
we can always
tell a grebe by
1S teeta = lie
toes are not join-
ed together, like
those of a duck
or swan, but each
is webbed sepa-
rately, so that the
foot looks like a
hhorse-chestnut
leaf with only
three lobes. Yet
they are very use-
ful in swimming ; and a great crested grebe
great northern diver itself.
There is another kind of grébe which we
may often see in streams and ponds, if we
remain quite quiet, and do not alarm it by
any movement. This is the Little Grebe, or
Dabchick, which is not very much bigger
than a blackbird.
--A few months ago I had an odd. little
adventure with a dabchick. I was fishing for
water-insects, in a small stream, and, seeing
a cluster of weeds which looked as if
it might harbour some beetles, I thrust
in my net close
beside it. No
sooner had I
done so than
there was a great
splashing, and up
flew a dabchick!
It had seen me
coming, had
dived under
water, and was
clinging to the
very weeds into.
which I plunged
my net, hoping
that I should pass
by without notic-
ing it,
If you watch a
dabchick when it
is swimming, you
will notice that
it dives without
making any
splash, just as
if its sbody,
had been oiled.
7 It can swim
Ne under water
1 very well; and,
iAP abth \tOyaah NS
catches sight of you, it will disappear,
and remain under water for several minutes,
rising, perhaps, a couple of hundred yards
away.
SEA GULLS. 49
CuaPprrrR XXII.
SEA GULLS.
Tue Great Biack-BackeD, BLack-HEapED, aNnD Scrssor-Bitt GULLS.
A SMALL enclosure not very far from the
Swine’s House is given up to the Sea
Gulls ; and here we may always see several
different kinds of these beautiful and interest-
ing birds. It wil} be worth our while to look
at them for a few minutes, and see what there
is to learn about them.
If you have ever been to stay by the sea-
At low water I daresay that you saw them
walking about upon the mud, close to the
water’s edge. Then they were looking for
lug worms, and for the different small crea-
tures which are often left stranded by the
tide. As the tide comes in they walk before
it, watching each wave. And as they devour
all sorts of substances which otherwise would
side, you mist nave noticed a great many
sea gulls ; and no doubt you often wondered
why they were constantly flying backwards
and forwards over the sea. But the reason
was a very simple one ; they were looking for
food. They feed on small fishes, shell-fishes,
and dead creatures of various kinds; and |
they know quite well that these are often
thrown up on the crest of a wave. All the
while that they are flying to and fro, there-
fore, their sharp little eyes are keeping most
careful watch; and the moment that they
catch sight of anything eatable, they dart
down and secure it.
be left to putrefy, they are really very usetu
birds indeed.
There is another way, too, in which they
are often useful. When the tide is high, and
there is no food to be picked up upon the
chore, they will fly a few miles inland, and
make their way to some field. There they
busy themselves searching for grubs and
caterpillars, numbers of which they find and
devour before it is time to go back to the
shore.
Once I saw a very pretty sight. I was
travelling by train, a few miles from the sea,
when we passed by a field which seemed
E
LEP
quite covered with black birds and white,
almost in equal numbers. The black birds
were rooks and the white birds were sea gulls.
There must have been thousands of each ;
and all were as busy as they could be, driving
their long beaks down into the ground, and
pulling out the mischievous grubs which were
eating the roots of the crops.
Sometimes gardeners catch a sea gull, clip
his wings, so that he cannot fly away, and let
him run about in the garden, in order that he
may keep down the caterpillars and snails. I
once knew a gull that was kept in this way.
He lived in the garden next to mine, and
almost every day we used to see him at work,
hunting among the cabbages and lettuces for
slugs and caterpillars.
This was a Great Black-backed Gull, one
of the largest and finest of all. Fishermen
mostly call it the “Cob.†It does not live
in large flocks, like many of the gulls, but
mostly flies about in pairs; and it is so
quarrelsome, that if others, even of its own
kind, come near, it will fight with them and
drive them away.
400.
We must not confuse this bird with the
Black-headed Gull, which is smaller, and
much more plentiful. There are always two
or three to be seen in the Gardens. In
summer we may know it at once by the deep
~pblackish-brown colour of its head and the
upper part of its neck. But in winter,
strange to say, these parts become white.
When the nesting season comes, the black-
headed gulls fly inland, and make their way
to some marsh or mere. ‘There they tread
down thesedges and
reeds into a kind of
hollow, in which
they lay their eggs.
Large numbers ot
these birds nest
every year on Scoul-
ton Mere, in Nor-
folk, where their
eges are collected,
and sold for food.
A friend of mine,
who is fond of sail-
ing in the Norfolk
Broads, told me that
he once passed the
night close to the
nesting-ground of
these gulls, and that
they made so much
noise that he was quite unable to sleep.
A VERY curious gull is the Scissor-bill, which
lives along the coasts of America and part of
Africa.
This bird has a very long beak, the upper
part of which is much shorter than the lower,
which shuts into it like a knife-blade into its
handle. It feeds chiefly upon shell-fish of
different kinds; and it is said that, when it
catches a mussel or an oyster, it pokes its
sharp beak between the shells, and then
bangs them against a stone or rock until they
are broken to fragments.
THE MANDARIN, COMMON SHELDRAKE, AND EIDER DUCK. 51
CuHaPreR XXIII.
DUCKS.
Tue Manparin Duck, THE CoMMON SHELDRAKE, AND THE EIDER DUCK.
We a very curious bird this is! It
looks like a duck; but it has two
odd wing-like fans standing up on either side
of its body, above the true wings, and remind-
ing one very much of the wings of a butterfly.
And it is so beau- :
tifully coloured !
The crest of long
feathers upon its
headis partly green
and partly purple.
From the eye to
the back of the
neck is a streak
of pure
creamy
white.
Thesides
of the
neck are
clothed
with long
feathers
of rich
russet
brown;
the front
of the neck and all the upper part of the
breast are deep purple; and on each
shoulder are four curved stripes, twe of
which are pure white, and the other two
black. Then the wing-fans are chestnut
brown, edged with dark green, and the lower
parts of the bodyare white. So that, altogether,
the bird is a very handsome one indeed.
What can it be?
Tt is a Mandarin Duck, so called because
it comes from China, where it is highly prized
by the mandarins. This is his mate, swim-
ming close by. She is not at all a handsome
bird, for her plumage is only mottled brown,
and she has none of the lovely colours that
adorn the drake. But even he is not always
in such rich attire, for during four months of
the year—from May to August—he throws
off all his brilliant feathers, and even loses
the curious wing-fans that stand up so oddly.
During this season we should never know
him for the same bird.
The Chinese are very proud of these
ducks; so proud, indeed, that it is hardly
possible to buy a pair, even for a large sum
of money. Those which we may see in the
Gardens have been bred there; and nearly
every year the birds lay eggs, and bring up
their little brood. The ducklings are very
queer little creatures, not in the least like
their parents, for their soft, fluffy plumage is
grey and brown above, and creamy white
below.
Oddly enough, these ducks build their nests,
52 THE ZOO.
not on the ground like nearly all other ducks,
but in the trees. And their feet are so formed
that they can perch on a branch without any |
difficulty.
Weshallfind the Sheldrakes on the Southern
Ponds. These are handsome birds, too,
although they are not nearly so brightly
coloured as the mandarin duck. Sometimes
they are called “burrow ducks,†because
they like to lay their eggs in the burrow of a
rabbit. If they cannot find one, they search
out a hollow for themselves, in some sandy
spot, and line it with leaves, grass, and down.
The eggs of these ducks are very much
sought after, in order that the little ones may
be hatched out, and kept in Bei vai ponds
and lakes. When the
men go to search for
them, they always
look for the marks of the ducks’ feet near
the entrance to a burrow; and, when they
see these footprints, they know that a nest
is close by.
When the ducklings are hatched, the parent
birds take great care of them, and’ are very
clever in protecting them from their enemies.
If a dog should jump into the water, for
instance, the mother will pretend to be
wounded, and flap along just in front of him.
The dog, of course, thinks that he can easily
catch the bird, and eagerly chases it, while all
the time it is leading him away from the little
ones. Then, when it has led him far enough,
the clever bird takes to wing, and is soon
back with its little family.
The Common Sheldrake is a British bird,
and remains with us all the year. It is chiefly
found on the sea coast, and may often be
seen swimming about in bays and _ inlets,
especially off the coast of Scotland.
THe Eider
» Duck is fa-
mous for the
soft down which.
it plucks off its
breast in order
to cover up its.
eggs. We use
this down for
making warm
coverlets. It is
taken from the
nest twice dur-
ing the breed-
ing season.
The first time,
both eggs and
down are taken.
The mother
bird then lays
another batch.
of eggs, and
covers them,
as before, with
down from her
own breast.
These are again taken, and the mother lays
a third batch of eggs. She has no more down
left on her own body, however, so her mate:
plucks his breast instead, and covers the eggs.
for her. And this time the poor birds are
allowed to bring up their family without
disturbance.
The drake watches his mate very closely
when she is sitting upon her eggs. If she
leaves the nest, even for a short time, he at.
once hurries after her and fetches her back.
TEETLE IM 2 OLIN AEE AAO) RED [MEL AND = TBELED se TSEIUN ES: 53
CHAPTER XXIV.
THe PUFFIN, THE RAZOR-BILL, anp THE TERNS,
x VERY odd-looking bird is the Puffin.
Its beak is so very large, and so very
brightly coloured,
and seems to fit
it so very, very
badly! Indeed,
when one looks
at a puffin for the
fICStaMtimMe}= it; 1S
hardly possible to
help thinking that
its bill must have
been intended for
some other bird—
perhaps for a par-
rot! Owing to
this curious beak,
indeed, the puffin
is often called the
“ sea-parrot.â€
Puffins are Brit-
ish birds; but they
do not live with \
us all through the CU “they rose again to
year. Like a great SAA ake breath, we
many other birds, WERE
they are “spring
migrants †; that is,
they come to this
they dig a burrow for themselves, with their
strong beaks. And so hard do they work,
55 that these burrows
are often as much
as three feet long.
The nest is al-
ways quite close
to the sea; for
puffins are water
birds, and can
swim and dive very
well indeed. If we
could watch them
in the water, we
, should often see
them dive, and
remain beneath the
surface for some
little time. Then
' we should know
= that they were
aunting for fish.
‘each had caught
guite a number of
“sprats, and that all
country in the he heads were in-
spring, and go side its beak, and
away again in the - all the tails dan-
autumn. While gling outside. Ina
they are here they very few moments
lay their eggs. the victims would
Sometimes they lay all be swallowed,
these in a rabbit- and before very
hole ; and if the long the birds
rabbits object to e would be diving
their presence, and try to turn them out, the | again to look for more.
puffins fight them, and turn the rabbits out Puffins take very great care of their eggs,
instead! If they cannot find a rabbit-hole | and will not leave them, even if they should
54 THE
be attacked by such a large and powerful
bird as the raven. More than once, indeed,
a puffin has been known to kill a raven, by
seizing it with beak and feet, tumbling with it
into the sea, and holding it under water until
it was drowned !
In some parts of the coast the name of
“puffin†is given to the Razor-bill; but this,
is quite a different bird.
Great Britain for a short time in the year, for it
It only comes to |
ZOO,
easily know them by their long forked tails.
Because of these tails, terns are often called
“sea-swallows.†No doubt you know how to
tell a swallow from a martin. All that you
have to do is just to look at its tail, and see
if it is forked or not. Just in the same way
you may tell a tern from a sea-gull; and
indeed in some of these birds the tail is quite
as long as the body.
Terns spend most of their time dashing
about in the air.
When they are tired, and
cannot bear cold weather, and always makes ,
its way southwards quite early in the autumn.
But in the summer it may often be seen -
swimming about, not very far from the shore.
The razor-bill has one very curious habit.
If two birds should be swimming together,
and one of them be shot, the other will never
try to make its escape, but will come straight
up to see what has happened to its com-
panion. Not thinking of its own danger, it
will paddle round and round, and seem to be
wondering why the dead bird does not get up
and swim about too. And its attention is so
much occupied, that it can easily be knocked
over with an oar.
We must look at some of the Terns.
These are rather like sea-gulls; but we may
want to rest, they will sit for a short time on a
buoy, or a piece of floating wood, or even on
the surface of the wateritself. Like the puffin,
they feed on small fish; and every now and
then, as one watches them, one may see them
swoop suddenly down, splash for a moment or
two in the water, and then rise again into the
air, with a victim struggling in their beaks.
Like both the puffin and the razor-bill,
terns only come to us during the summer.
They do not like rough weather, and always
take refuge before a storm in some sheltered
bay, or even fly for a few miles up a river.
When they are tired of fishing, they often
have a game together; and a very pretty
sight it is to see them chasing one another
backwards and forwards, just as if they were
having a game of “catch who catch can.â€
CROCODILES. ; 55
CHAPTER XXV.
DAE AREP LILES aOUSsE:
CRocoDILEs.
\A7E now come to the Reptile House,
which is full of curious and interest-
ing creatures. Turtles, tortoises, lizards,
snakes, toads, and frogs, of all sorts and
sizes, are here in numbers. We cannot talk
about them all, of course; that would take
far too much time.
is to learn about them.
HERE are some Croco-
diles, in a large tank nearly
full of water. How quiet
and still they are! All the
time that we are watching
them they never move. It
is quite hard to, believe, at
first, that they can really be
alive. If we did not know
that they were crocodiles, -
indeed, we should very likely.
have mistaken ee
them for floating
logs of wood.
And travellers
tell us that that is
just what they look
like when they are
living in their na-
tive rivers. They
float just at the top
of the water, and
lie quite still for
hours together, so that no one who did not
know them well would guess what they really
are. But they keep a sharp look-out for prey,
although they lie so motionless. And if a deer
or other animal should come down to the river-
bank to drink, the great reptiles see it at once,
swim silently to the spot where it is standing,
and sweep it into the water with one stroke
of their powerful tails.
But we will choose some
of the most remarkable and see what there -
The great tail, indeed, is the chief weapon
of the crocodile. His legs, as we can easily
see, are very small and weak; and when he
if
==. leaves the water for a while and
~ comes upon land, he can only
waddle clumsily along, with his
body dragging uponthe ground.
But his tail is immensely strong.
He can whisk it to and fro so
quickly that it is very hard indeed to avoid its
blow. And if it should strike even a large
animal, the blow is sure to knock it into the
water, when the crocodile seizes it with his huge
jaws before it can manage to regain its feet.
The crocodile uses this tail, too, in swim-
ming. I daresay you know that if you sit in
a boat, and work an oar from side to side at
the stern, you will travel slowly along without
56 THE
rowing at all. Now a crocodile’s body is like
a boat, and his tail is like an oar worked at
the stern.
can use his tail with much greater force than
we can use an oar, so that he dashes through
the water at a very great speed.
Now look at the head of one of the croco-
diles. You will notice that this nostrils are
placed on a kind of peak, at the very end of
his long muzzle. There is a
curious reason for this. When
a deer or other animal is drink-
ing,as I have told you, the cro-
codile matt
tries to
strike it
with his tail, .
and knock it
into the riv-
er. If hesuc-
ceeds, he at
once seizes
his victim in
his jaws,
drags it un-
der water, and holds
it there, in order to
drown it. Now, if the crocodile’s
nostrils were placed like those of
other animals, he could not do this,
for he would be drowned as well as his victim.
But as they are raised so much above the jaws,
he can keep them well out of the water while
his victim is held beneath, and so is able to
breathe quite easily.
But why does not the water flow down his
throat and choke him? If he holds his
victim beneath the surface, his jaws, of
course, must be partly open; and if ze were
to hold our mouths open under water, we
should be drowned very quickly. But the
Only, as he is so very strong, he -
ZOO.
crocodile has a very odd throat, not in the
least like ours. As long as his jaws are shut
it_remains open, so_that he can swallow quite
easily. But as soon as he opens his mouth
the throat is firmly closed, so that not even
the tiniest drop of water can pass down, and
find its way into his lungs.
What a curious skin the crocodile has! It
looks, indeed, more like a coat of mail than
And it is so hard that even a bullet
a skin. :
will not pass through it unless it strikes it
quite fair and true. Savages who live near a
river in which crocodiles dwell will sometimes
kill one of the great reptiles, strip off its hide,
and make with it a kind of armour for them-
selves. And when they are wearing this
armour they have no need to fear the spears
and arrows of their enemies. A suit of this
armour may be seen in the British Museum.
GROCODILESTVAND ALLIGATORS.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE REPTILE HOUSE.—( Continued. )
CROCODILES AND ALLIGATORS.
(Qe very strange thing about Crocodiles
‘ is, that they can live for a very long
time without eating. Captive crocodiles,
indeed, have sometimes been known to
touch no A
foodatall
for more
than a
year and
ahalf 7
When
a croco-
dile is
first cap-
tured, he
nearly al-
ways be-
comes ¥
very sullen,
refuses to eat.
a month or two he
is let alone. But, if
he will not eat then,
he is fastened down
on the ground, so ;
that he cannot use his great tail, his jaws are
forced open, and a quantity of food is poked
down his throat-with a long pole! He does
‘not like this treatment at all; and next time
that food is offered him, he nearly always
takes it at once.
In the river Nile, where crocodiles are very
plentiful, numbers of men and women are
killed by them every year. A man goes to
draw water, perhaps, or to bathe ; and before
he knows that a crocodile is near, one of the
great reptiles swims silently up, knocks him
into the water with one blow of its mighty
tail, and then seizes him in its terrible jaws.
Sometimes a man who is seized in this way
contrives to escape by twisting himself round,
and forcing his thumbs into the crocodile’s |
eyes, thus obliging it to loose its hold. But
more often there is a short struggle, and the
poor prisoner is dragged under water and
drowned.
A few years ago a crocodile was killed, and
when its body was opened a quantity of
human hair was discovered that
must have belonged to quite a
ozen different people. Besides
‘there ale several necklaces
3 et,
and bracelets, five finger-
rings, and no less than sixty-
eight pebbles, some of which
were no less than three
inches in diameter!
These stones, like those in the gizzard of a
bird, seem to have helped the crocodile to
digest its food.
The young of the crocodile are not born
alive, but are hatched from eggs, which are
laid by the mother in a hole in the sand.
About fifty or sixty are laid together. These
eggs are not very large, being only about as
big as those of a goose; and the shell,
58 THE
ZOO
instead of being hard and brittle, is tough
and leather-like.
When the little crocodiles appear they are
only a few inches long. Even at that early
age, however, they are quite as fierce as their
parents, and will snap savagely at any one
who attempts to touch them. Once a little
boy, whose father kept a baby crocodile in a
basin of water, gave it a push with its finger
In an instant the
when no one was looking.
little reptile twist-
ed round, seized
the finger, and
held on so tightly
that the child
could not remove it, and ran screaming about
the house until a servant came out and forced
it to loose its hold.
I should not think that that little boy ever
meddled with a crocodile again !
ALLIGATORS are very much like crocodiles.
We may know them, however, by the shape
of their heads, which are short and broad,
while the toes are partly joined together by
webbing, like those of a duck. They are
found only in North and South America.
The Common Alligator, which is a native
of North America, lives in rivers and lakes,
where it feeds chiefly upon fish. It is said,
too, to bite off the tails of cows, when they
come down to the bank to drink. Itis a very
savage creature, but at the same time is rather
timid, and will not fight unless it is driven to
bay. It does not often carry off human
beings, but now and then a big alligator will
seize a man, drown him, and quickly tear him
to pieces.
Alligators are mostly caught by four large
hooks, like fish-hooks, bound firmly together,
and baited with a large piece
of flesh, When one of these
reptiles is hooked and drawn
' to land his struggles are ter-
rific, and he snaps with his
jaws and lashes his long tail
from side to side with the
greatest fury. His captors, how-
ever, watch for an oppor-
tunity, and’° soon contrive
to deliver a heavy blow on
his head with a long pole. This stuns him
for a moment, and before he can recover his
senses they rush in and kill him.
Perhaps you would hardly think that both
crocodiles and alligators are really very useful
creatures. Yet they do good work by devour-
ing the carcases of animals which fall by
accident into the rivers. If these carcases
were not removed, they would soon become
putrid, and poison, not only the water, but
the air as well; so that the reptiles really
render very useful service by devouring them.
TORTOISES.
59
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE REPTILE HOUSE.—(Continued.)
TORTOISES.
HEE is a big Tortoise. Let us stop and
look at him for a little while.
What a very odd-looking creature he is!
His body is quite covered, both above and
below, by his hard, horny shell, so that we
cannot see it at all. There is just a hole for
his head, and a smaller one for his little
But even his head and legs are not always to -
be seen, for he can draw them in when he
likes, and pack them away ; so that he is quite
shut up inside his shell, just as the knights
of old used to be in their suits of armour.
Now I daresay that you will be very much
surprised when I tell you that the “shell,†as
we call it, is not really a shell at all. It is not
like that of a lobster, for instance. A lobster’s
shell is only his skin, very much hardened ;
and every now and then he casts it off, just
as a crab does, and a new one is found grow-
ing underneath. But a tortoise’s shell has
nothing to do with the skin, and cannot be
cast off, for it is formed out of the bones!
This seems very strange, does it not? Yet
it is quite true. The upper part, which covers
the tortoise’s back, is formed partly out of his
backbone and partly out of his ribs, which
are outside his body instead of inside! They
are very much flattened, of course, and are all
joined together into one. But still, if we
could strip off the sheli and examine it
carefully, we should be able to trace each
separate bone.
Just in the same way, the shell underneath
his body is formed out of ‘his breastbone,
which is very much flattened and widened
too. So that a tortoise’s bones, instead of
serving as a framework, to support his body,
form a kind of box, in which he is shut up!
And how very strong this horny covering
is! You might stand on the back of quite a
small tortoise, without hurting him in the
least. And a big one would be none the
worse if the wheels of a heavy carriage were
to run over him! The tortoise finds this
shell very useful when an enemy attacks him,
60
LEE RAGO,
for he has only to draw in his head and legs,
and then is perfectly safe.
Now let us notice another curious fact
about our tortoise. He has no teeth. 5
How, then, does he eat his food? you ask.
hook at his lips, as I suppose we must call
them. Do you not see how hard, and horny,
and sharp they are? With them he-can nip
off the roots and leaves upon which he feeds.
He does not need to chew these, but
swallows them in large pieces, just as a cat
swallows a piece
of meat. And
so he really does
not want teeth
like those of
other animals,
Some tortoises
have very strong jaws indeed.
Look at this big fellow in a tank
of water all by himself. Although
he is called the Snapping Turtle
he is really a tortoise, and his jaws are so
sharp and so strong that he could easily nip
off all your fingers at a single bite !
This tortoise spends nearly all his life in
the water, where he lives on fish and small
reptiles. And he has even been known to
kill and devour young alligators, in spite of
their struggles and their sharp teeth.
Another very curious tortoise, called the
Indian Tortoise, lives in some of the islands
in the Pacific Ocean. It is famous for its
great size, for it has been known to weigh no
less than six hundred pounds, or as much
as four. men put together. And it has the
curious property of being able to live for a
very long time with nothing to drink. A
number of these tortoises were once kept on
board ship for two months without water ;
yet at the end of the voyage they were quite
fresh, and did not even seem thirsty.
But then they carry about with them a
water-supply which lasts them for many weeks.
On either side of the body, underneath the
shell, is a bladder, holding about a pint.
This is filled when they drink, and is ‘made in
such a way that the tortoise can pass the
water into his system, a little at a time,
whenever he needs it, just as the camel does
from the curious cells in his stomach.
Sometimes, when a traveller is passing
through the desert and cannot find any water,
he kills one of these tortoises and drinks the
contents of its bladders. The water does
not taste very nice, of course ; but it is better
to drink it than to die of thirst. And in
this way many travellers have saved their
lives.
RORTIEEES:,
61
Cuaprer XXVIII.
THE REPTILE HOUSE.—( Continued.)
TURTLES.
N EXT we come to the Turtles.
In some ways these are very much
like tortoises. Their bodies are covered by a
hard, horny shell, for instance, which is
formed out of the spine, the ribs, and the
breastbone. But you will notice that their
limbs are very much longer, and are so broad
and flat that they look almost like fins.
And that is really what they are.
For
head out of the water, she looks about very
carefully indeed to make sure that all is safe.
If she is quite satisfied, she swims a little
closer still, and looks again. And then at
last, if she can see no signs of danger, she
leaves the water and scrambles over the
beach, until she finds a nice sandy spot, just
out of reach of the tide.
With her long hind flippers, she then begins
turtles live in the water, and swim by means
of their legs, which they use as paddles. We
may look upon the body of a turtle, indeed,
as a natural boat, and its limbs as the oars
with which it rows itself along.
Almost the only time that a turtle leaves
the water is when it comes on shore to lay
its eggs. It is very cautious and wary when
it does this, for it seems to know that it has
many enemies, who would be very glad
indeed to find and eat its eggs.
So the mother turtle chooses the night-
time for her undertaking. First, she swims
quite close to the shore, and then, raising her
to dig. As soon as she has loosened a
quantity of sand she jerks it out behind her ;
and she works so hard, that in about ten
minutes’ time she has scooped out a large
hole, eighteen inches or two feet deep. In
this she arranges her eggs, packing them very
carefully side by side. When all are laid, she
fills up the hole, smooths the surface of the
sand so carefully that no one would be likely
to notice that it had been disturbed, and then
goes back to the sea.
Does she not stay to hatch her eggs? you
ask. Oh, no; the heat of the sun does that.
And in a few weeks’ time, if none of her
62 IgE VA OKO?
enemies find the eggs, a number of little tiny
turtles make their appearance, and very soon
find their way into the water.
Many a turtle is caught as she returns from
laying her eggs. The hunters are always on
the watch, and, when they see a turtle
making for the sea, they rush up to it, and |
turn it over with long poles. A turtle cannot
recover its feet, as a tortoise can, when it is
turned over, so that the poor creature is quite
helpless. And next morning the hunters
come up and carry it away.
No doubt you have heard of turtle soup,
of the turtle, the handle comes off, but still
remains fastened to the head by a stout cord.
The frightened animal swims away as fast as
it can, but the long wooden handle drags
behind it, and soon makes it so tired that its
pursuers catch it up and lift it into the boat.
The valuable substance which we call
“tortoiseshell†is not really the shell of a
tortoise, but chiefly comes from another kind
of turtle. This is called the Hawksbill
Turtle, from the shape of its mouth, and the
| tortoiseshell is found on its back in the form
' of thirteen large plates, which overlap each
which many people consider a very great
dainty. This is made from the flesh of the
Green Turtle, which is so called because of
the colour of its fat. It grows to a very great
size, for it is sometimes nearly five feet long,
and more than three feet broad. And it is
said that, when one of these turtles is seen
upon the shore, no less than three men are
required to turn it over on its back.
Sometimes this turtle is found swimming
far out at sea, and then it is captured by a
stout spear, called a “harpoon.†This is so
made that, when it is plunged into the shell
other like the tiles on the roof of a house.
When these plates are stripped off, they are
boiled and steamed until they become quite
soft, after which they are pressed between
wooden blocks in order to flatten them.
These tortoiseshell plates can be taken off
without killing the animal, for they are not
part of the shell itself, which lies beneath
them. As soon as they have been removed,
the turtle is put back into the water, and in
the course of a few months a new set of
plates grow in the place of the old. But
these arenever so thick and valuable asthe first.
MONITORS AND TEGUEXINS.
63
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE REPTILE HOUSE.—( Continued. )
MONITORS AND ‘TEGUEXINS.
ROM the turtles we turn to the Lizards,
of which there are always a great many
to be seen in the Reptile House.
First we will look at the Monitors, of
which there are several different kinds.
What big creatures they are! Here is one
that must be very nearly six feet long when
he straightens out his long, slender tail.
Yes, the monitors are the largest
of all the true lizards. They are
very active, too, and very strong ;
and, although they never seem to
attack any one if they are let alone,
they become very savage if they are
interfered with. Once two men
tried to capture a large monitor which they
met with in South Africa. After a little
trouble, they managed to tie a rope round
its body, just in front of its hind legs; and
then, taking hold of the rope, they attempted
to drag it along. The animal dug its long
claws into a cleft in the rocky ground, how-
ever, and’ for some time resisted all their
efforts to move it. At last its claws broke,
and its hold gave way. In an instant it
sprang round, dashed at the men, and
attacked them so fiercely that they were
obliged to take to flight.
Perhaps you are wondering why these
creatures should be called “monitors.†The
reason is this. A monitor, as we all know,
is one who gives warning, or notice. Now
these reptiles were supposed to give warning
of the approach ot a crocodile,
by uttering a loud hissing noise ;
and so they were called moni-
tors. It has never been proved
that they do this, however ; and,
on the contrary, we know that
monitors are often found in
places where crocodiles abound, and yet
never give warning of their approach at all.
Nevertheless, some of the monitors are
among the very worst enemies that the
crocodile has; for, although they feed on
snakes, frogs, toads, small lizards, and even
insects, there is nothing that they like so
much to eat as a crocodile’s eggs. In order
to obtain these, they search carefully all
along the sandy banks of the rivers in which
64,
the great reptiles live ; and, when they find a
batch of eggs, they dig them up and eat
them. So successful are they in their search,
that thousands upon thousands of crocodiles’:
eggs are destroyed by them every year.
They are very fond, too, of the young
crocodiles, soon after they are hatched out
from the egg, and before they are big enough
to defend themselves. Being capital swim-
mers, they will even follow the little croco-
diles into the water, and capture them there.
It is said, indeed, that a young crocodile is
never safe from its voracious enemy unless it
can take refuge beneath the body of one
of its own grown-up relations, where the
monitor will not venture to attack it.
In Egypt, where monitors are not all uncom-
mon, the natives think that they are hatched
out from the eggs of crocodiles which have
been laid in hot, dry places, and that in course
of time they turn into crocodiles themselves !
But of course this is not true.
Before we leave the monitors, we ought
to notice what strange square ears they
have. We must look, too, at their long,
forked tongues, which keep darting in and
out of their mouths just like those of the
serpents.
Nilstee Ja mule
|
LAE ZOO:
Coser by the monitors are some Teguexins.
In some ways, these reptiles are very much
like the monitors. They are very nearly as
big; for example, and. have the same long,
slender tails. One of the teguexins, indeed,
grow to a length of more than five feet.
Sometimes these animals are called Safe-
guards, because
they are thought
to give warning of
the approach of an
alligator, just as
the monitors have
been supposed to
do of that of the
crocodile.
The teguexins
live in the warmer
parts of South
America, and in
the West Indies.
They are fond of
water, and are
never found very
far from a stream.
If they are alarmed
in any way, they
retreat as fast as
they can to the
banks of the river,
and then plunge
boldly into the
water and sink
beneath the surface. They have big lungs,
and can hold their breath for a long time ;
so that, before they are obliged to rise to
the surface for air, the danger has generally
passed away. They are good swimmers,
too, as well as good divers, and can travel
through the water with some little speed
by waving their powerful tails from side to
side, just as the crocodiles and _ alligators.
do.
Teguexins are rather timid creatures ; but
they will bite fiercely if driven to bay, and
are said to retain their hold just like a bull-
dog.
IGUANAS.
65
CHAPTER XXX.
THE REPTILE HOUSE.—( Continued.)
IGUANAS.
N EXT we come to the Iguanas, of which
there are a great many different kinds.
These curious lizards all live in South
America and the West Indies. Like the
Teguexins, they are never found very far
from water, and generally live on the banks
So kop sa bs
AZ N
Ean
{
/
ee
LMKE
US
Zi
Dy
ofa stream. But, zzlike those reptiles, they
spend the greater part of their lives among
the branches of trees.
Just look at the iguana’s foot, and see how
well suited it is for climbing. See how long
the toes are. With them it can take firm
hold of a bough. Notice the length and
sharpness of the claws. It is easy to under-
stand how they find their way into every
little crack and cranny in the bark. Then
the legs are much stronger than those of
most lizards ; so that, altogether, the animal
is very well fitted for a life in its leafy home.
But it is almost as much at ease in the
water. If it should be frightened, indeed, it
nearly always drops into the river. It can
swim very well, by waving its long tail to and
fro, just as the crocodiles and alligators do.
And it can also dive very well, for it can
remain under water for more than an hour
before it is obliged to come up to the surface
to breathe.
Underneath the iguana’s chinwe notice what
seems to be a hanging fold of skin. In reality,
however, it is a kind of pouch, and the animal
can fill it out with air whenever it pleases. It
generally does this when itisalarmed, hoping to
frightenits enemy by its formidable appearance.
F
66 MELEE AO O):
---
But it has other weapons also with which
to defend itself. Its teeth are very sharp,
and it knows how to use them; and when
once it has seized its foe, it is not at all easy
to make it let go. Then it can strike a very
sharp blow with its long, slender tail, which
it lashes about like a whip. So that, although
the iguana is only just a big lizard, it is not
very easily caught.
Hunters often capture it by means of a
long cord, at the end of which they make a
noose. This they throw over the reptile’s
head as it sits upon a branch, and then jerk
it to the ground before it has recovered from
its surprise. Many iguanas, however, leap
Perhaps you wonder why they should want
to catch it at all. ‘The fact is, that it is very
good to eat. ‘Io us it seems rather strange
that a lizard should be used for food ; but all
those who have tried it agree in saying that an
iguana’s flesh is really most excellent, and that
it tastes very much like the breast of a delicate
chicken. In South America, indeed, iguana
cutlets are looked upon as a very great dainty,
and are often to be seen upon the tables of
those who can afford to buy them.
The eggs of the iguana, too, are very good
to eat. They are covered, not with shell,
like those of a bird, but with a kind of tough,
leatheryskin. Theydo not become hard
by boiling, and, after they have been in
the saucepan for about five minutes, a
hole is made at one end, and the white is
squeezed
out. The
skin is
then strip-
ped off,
and the
yolk is.
eaten with
salt,
These
er eggs are
laid by the mother
iguana in long under-
ground chambers,
which she digs out
in the sandbanks
at the margin of
the river. She does.
not take any care
into the river before the noose can be | of them after they are once laid, but leaves.
thrown ; so the hunter, when he wishes to | them to be hatched by the heat of the sun.
capture a number of these lizards, takes with
him one or two well-trained dogs to follow
them into the water. These dogs are care-
fully taught to hold the lizards in such a way
as not to injure them with their teeth.
Some of the hunters have a very cruel way
of preventing an iguana from biting, for they
sew up its lips as soon as they capture it, so
that the poor creature cannot open its mouth,
One of the iguanas, called the Basilisk, is
a very odd creature to look at. On the top.
of its head is a tall crest, shaped very much
like a fool’s-cap, and all along its back runs
a kind of fin, set with a number of long and
sharp spines. In fact it is not at all unlike
the pictures that one often sees of dragons ,
and if it were onlya little bigger it would really
55
be a very dreadful-iooking creature indeed.
SKINKS. 67
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE REPTILE HOUSE.—(Contnued.)
SKINKS.
Gio by the monitors and iguanas are | they are all digging lizards.
some Skinks.
These seem very tiny creatures if we com-
pare them with the great lizards about which
we have just been reading, for none of them
are more than a foot or so in length, while a
great many never grow to a size of more than
five or six inches. But, although they are so
small, they are very interesting creatures, as
I think that you will agree when I have told
you something about them.
Look at the skinks in this cage. There
are two of them; and we at once notice that
they have rather big heads, cylinder-shaped
bodies, and slender, tapering tails. But I
want you specially to look at their feet. See
how long the toes are, and how strong and
sharp are the curved claws which they bear.
Now when we find that an animal has
claws like these, we may be pretty well sure
that it is an animal that digs in the ground.
Its claws, in fact, are the pickaxes and spades
and shovels that Nature gives it to work with.
Now this is exactly the case with the skinks ;
And the little
creatures at which we are looking now,
although they cannot run very fast, are yet
quite strong and active enough to escape
from their foes by digging.
If you were to see a skink in -its native
country, and were to run up to it and try to
catch it, I think that you would be very much
astonished. For the little animal would sink
into the ground so rapidly, that long before
you reached the spot it would have disap-
peared! Our own mole can burrow very
quickly ; but the skink can burrow even more
quickly still, With its long, curved claws it
scratches away the soil so rapidly, that it seems
to sink into the ground as if by magic. And
almost the only way to capture it is to find it
as it is lying fast asleep in the hot sun, steal
up to it, and seize it before it awakes.
Perhaps you would hardly like to pick up
an animal which has such sharp claws, and
can use them so well. But a skink would
not try to hurt you if you took it up in your
hand. It has sharp teeth, but never seems to
68 THE
ZOO.“
bite; and it never even scratches with its
claws, except now and then by accident, as
it is struggling to get away.
Skinks almost always live in sandy places, -
in the hottest parts of Africa and Asia; and
they are mostly found in spots where the wind
has blown the sand into a heap, at the foot
of some tree or hedge. There they will lie
for hours, enjoying the heat of the sun,
although the sand is so hot that you would
fectly true. For hundreds of years doctors
thought that there was nothing like it; and
they used to give it to patients suffering from
all kinds of disorders, as well as to those who
had been bitten by a poisonous snake. In
some Eastern countries, even now, it is given
in this way ; and if you were to go to Southern
Egypt, and fall sick of a fever, or catch a bad
cold, it is very likely indeed that a dose of
skink’s flesh would be offered you!
Ni Rharnraig —
hardly be able to lay your bare hand upon it.
These lizards feed upon insects, and are
specially fond of beetles, of which they will
eat a very great many, one after another.
But they can go for a very long time without
any food at all, and do not seem to suffer even
if they have to fast for two or three months.
In olden days skinks were put to very
strange uses. I daresay that you were rather
surprised to hear that the flesh of the iguana
is very good to eat; I wonder what you
will think when I tell you that men used
to believe that the flesh of the skink was
very good for medicine! Yet it is per-
When the flesh is given in this way, it is
first dried, then pounded into powder, and
then made up into draughts or pills. What
a nasty idea it seems! Yet in days of old
people used to take medicines far more nasty
than that !
When their flesh was thought to be so valu-
able, skinks were very much persecuted, and
men used to earn their living by catching
them, drying them, and selling them to
doctors and druggists. But now that people
are learning better, they are suffered to live in
peace, and so are much more plentiful than
they were.
THE
HE Geckos are
very curious and
interesting lizards in-
deed. They are not
very large, for the
biggest of them all,
which is found in
Java, is only seven
inches long, and he is
quite a giant by the
side of most of his
relations. But their
feet are formed in a
very odd way, and
some of their habits
are very odd also. So
we cannot do better
than stop for a little
while to talk about
them.
First let us look at
their feet. We notice
at once that all the
toes are widened out
into broad fleshy pads,
so that the little ani-
mals look rather as if
they were wearing bad-
ly fitting gloves. Very
likely we may think
that a lizard with such
singular feet would
hardly be able to walk
at all. Yet these gec-
kos are active enough ;
and, strange to say,
they can walk up a wall, or even along an
overhanging beam with their backs down-
wards, quite as easily and quickly as across
the floor.
For those round, fleshy pads upon the toes
GECKOS.
CHAPTER XXXII.
REPTILE HOUSE.—/(Contenued. )
GECKOS.
they take their name.
live in houses altogether. During the day-
time they mostly hide in some crack or dark
comer where they are not likely to be dis-
turbed ; for their eyes are made in such a
69
aré really suckers, very
much like those upon
the arms of a cuttle-
fish. Until youare older
you will not be able
quite to understand,
perhaps, how they are
used; and I can only
say that they are made
in such a way that,
when the gecko presses
them against the wall
or the ceiling, they
cling to it quite tightly,
and give him a firm
foothold even if he is
hanging head down-
wards. Besides this,
he has a little sharp,
curved claw upon each
toe, which can find its
way into every little
chink and cranny; so
that he is really just
as safe upon the wall
or the ceiling as he is
upon the ground.
If you were to go
and live in a hot coun-
try, most likely, you
would often see geckos
walking about on the
walls. Sometimes, too,
you would hear the
shrill little cry of “ geck,
geck-o,†from which
For they very often
70 THE
way that they can see very well by night, but
are rather dazzled and bewildered by the
daylight. But as soon as it begins to grow
dusk they come out of their hiding-places,
and in a few min-
utes are busily '
searching the
wallsand ceilings
for the insects
upon which they
feed.
So successful
are they in catch-
ing these, that the
inhabitants of the
houses in which
they live are very
glad to see them,
and willnotallow
themtobecaught
or killed. Some-
times they even
make pets of
them, for geckos
are gentle little
creatures, and
soon become
tame. Once an
officer in India
taught a gecko
to come on to
his dinner-table
as soon as the
dessert was pla-
ced upon it, and
every evening
for months the
little lizard came
regularly almost
to the moment.
‘Then the family went away for a few months,
and during their absence the ceilings were
whitewashed and the walls were covered with
stucco, while the house was cleaned from top
to bottom. Of course they never expected
to see their pet gecko any more. Neverthe-
less, on the very first evening after their
ZOO.
return, no sooner was the dessert brought in
than the lizard appeared, having hidden him-
self away in some corner where no one had
noticed him.
There is one kind of gecko which can leap
for some little distance through the air. This
is the Fringed Tree Gecko, which is found in
Java. Sometimes it is called the Flying
Gecko; but it does not really fly. If you
could examine it, you would find that the
sides of its body, limbs, and tail were fringed
with a kind of
broad web, some-
thing like that
which we may
see between the
toes of a frog’s
hind feet. When
the lizard wishes
to leap this web
is spread out, so
that the air buoys
the animal up
just as it buoys
up an oyster-shell
if we throw it
edgeways, and
enables it to
spring to some
little distance.
In some parts
of the world
geckos are
thought to be
very venomous,
and people will
not handle them
lest they should
bite, or pour out
some deadly poi-
son from the fleshy pads upon their toes.
One kind of gecko has even been supposed
to spit out its poison to a distance of several
feet. In reality, however, all these curious
little reptiles are quite harmless, and we
might handle them without the least fear of
receiving any injury.
CHAMELEONS. 7L
CHAPTER XX XIIT
THE REPTILE HOUSE.—(Contcnued.)
CHAMELEONS.
OW let us look at the two little lizards in
this cage. They are called Chame-
leons ; and they are perhaps the very strangest
creatures in the Reptile House.
First I want you to look at their eyes.
How large they are! Yes, they are almost
as large as peas ; and that, in a little creature
the cage. One of his eyes is looking for-
wards, in front of his body ; and the other is
looking backwards, towards his tail! Now
he moves one eye slowly round, while the
other keeps quite still! How very odd it
looks!
Yes; and it is odder still to find that one
not more than six inches long, is very large
indeed. But notice what very odd eyelids
they have. These eyelids are not like ours,
which move up and down. Indeed, they do
not move at all. They cover up almost the
whole of the eyes ; and just in the middle of
each is a tiny round hole, through which the
animal sees.
But even this is not the strangest thing
about these eyes. What would you think if
I were to tell you that they can be moved in
different ways at once? Very likely you
would hardly believe it ; yet it is quite true.
Just look at that chameleon in the corner of
eye can be fast asleep, while the other is wide
awake! Sometimes, too, it appears as if one
side of the chameleon’s body wanted to go
one way, while the other side wanted to
go another! Indeed, it really seems at times
as if a chameleon were made up of the halves
of two different animals, which had been fas-
tened together down the middle.
Next, I must tell about the chameleon’s
tongue. I wish that he would put it out of
his mouth for you to look at. But he only
does this when he is catching a fly ; and then
it goes out and in again so quickly that there
is no time to see it. You would be surprised
FE ede,
to find how long it is ; more than half as long
as his whole body when he stretches it out.
So, without moving, a chameleon can catch a
fly quite four inches away.
The tip of this curious tongue is covered
with a kind of gum, so that the fly sticks to
it the moment it is touched, and is carried
back with it into the mouth.
But a chameleon does not catch many flies,
for he takes so long in making up his mind
to try, that very often indeed the fly escapes.
But he can go for a very long time without
food ; and even if he should get nothing to eat
forfour or five monthshe seems nonethe worse.
Indeed, a chameleon is very, very slow in
all his movements. He never runs, like other
lizards; he never walks; he never even
crawls. He will lift one foot into the air,
and then will seem to go fast asleep for
five or ten minutes, before putting it down.
Then he will take a long rest. Next, perhaps,
he will very slowly uncoil his tail, which has
been twisted round a branch ; and after an-
other rest he will twist it round the branch
again, a little higher up. Then he will not
move at all for at least a quarter of an hour.
At the end of that time, perhaps, he will lift
ZOO.
anotherfoot. Sothatif hetravelsayardina day,
he thinks that he has had rather a long walk !
But the strangest thing of all about a
chameleon is that he is able to change his
colour! Indeed, he often does so several
times in a single day. Look at the two
chameleons in this cage. One is green, with
a pinkish brown stripe along each side, pink
‘cheeks, and a broad green bar across the
middle of his eye: the other is also green,
but with a red bar and a number of red spots
upon his sides. But if you were to come
and look at them an hour or two later on,
most likely you would think that they had
been taken away, and two other chameleons
put in their places. For one might be slaty
grey all over, and the other yellowish blue !
Perhaps one, or both, might be mottled with
patches of yellow. Very possibly the two
sides of their bodies might be coloured quite
differently ; and even while you were looking
at them their colours might change again.
One very odd habit that chameleons have
is that of taking a deep breath, and puffing
themselves out with air. Very often, when
they do this, they make their bodies look
twice as big as they really are.
TOADS. 73
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE REPTILE HOUSE.—(Continued.)
‘Toabs.
Nee let us go and look at some of the
Toads.
Here are several very big ones, in a glass
cage all by themselves. What great creatures
they look! ‘This one near the front of the
cage, whichis lying
half buried in the
earth at the bot-
tom, must be quite
eight inches. long,
while he is so fat
that we cannot
help | wondering
how he manages
to drag himself
along. And the
others are very
nearly as big.
These are called
Giant Toads, be-
cause of their great
size,and they come
from, Brazil. I
wish that youcould
see them eating ;
it is so amusing to
watch them. Perhaps one of them catches
sight of a fly, sitting an inch or two away.
For a few moments he seems to take no
notice of it at all, and you would think
that he did not know it was ‘there. But
he is watching it all the time with his little
bright eyes ; and quite suddenly the fly disap-
pears. What has become of it? The toad
does not seem to have moved. Yet he has
caught the fly and swallowed it.
But how?
I will tell you. Toads have tongues quite
different from yours and mine. Our tongues
have their roots in our throats and their tips
lying just inside our lips. But a toad’s tongue
a
root just inside the lips, while its tip is down
the throat. And so the toad can thrust it out
of his mouth for a very long way. You can.
put only a small part of your tongue out o
your mouth : but the toad can put out nearly
the whole of his. And then, besides, it is a
very gummy tongue.
So, when a toad sees a fly, he just flicks
out his tongue, very quickly, and touches it
with the tip. The fly sticks to this, of course,
and is carried into the toad’s mouth and
down his throat as the tongue flies back to
its place. :
These big toads, however, are not generally
fed with flies, for they would want so many
that it would be very difficult to supply them.
They have worms given to them instead.
Sometimes a worm is rather too big for a
toad, and tries to wriggle out of his mouth.
Then the toad crams it back again with his
is turned the other way round. zat has its | fore paws, which he uses just as if they were
74
LHE ZOO.
hands. And very soon the poor worm is | means of their long hind legs. Toads, how-
swallowed.
There is one very curious thing that a toad
eats sometimes. You would never guess
what it is, so I must tell you. J¢s own skin.
You must know that every now and then a
toad throws off its skin and appears in a new
one, which has been forming underneath it.
And as often as it does this it takes its old
and
cast-off coat, rolls it up into a ball,
swallows it at one gulp!
I wonder if you know how to tell a toad
from a frog. A great many people do not;
and yet it is very easy to do so.
Just look at these toads before us now.
Do you not see what rough, dry skins they
have, all covered with lumps and pimples?
A toad’s skin is always like this; but that of
a frog is quite smooth and slippery, so that it
is very difficult indeed to hold the animal in
one’s hand.
Then frogs hop along the ground, by
ever, only crawl; so that even without pick-
ing it up you can tell whether one of these
animals is a toad or a frog.
In another cage close by are some English
toads. They are a great deal smaller than
the giant toads, and yet they are very much
like them. They have the same rough, warty
skin, the same
beautiful eyes, and
the same curious
tongue ; and they
live upon just the
same food, and eat
it in just the same
way.
One of these days,
perhaps, you may
find a toad, and
want to keep it for
a little while as a
pet. If so, you
need not be afraid
to pick it up, for it
cannot hurt you in
anywayat all. You
may feed it with
small beetles, or
with the odd little
pill millepedes
which are so common under dead leaves, and
roll themselves up into tiny balls the moment
one touches them. Or if you put it ina green-
house or a cucumber frame it will feed itself,
and be very useful in keeping down the
insects.
ANOTHER kind of toad is found in some
parts of England. It is much more active
than the common toad, and runs about
almost like a lizard. ‘This toad is called the
Natterjack, and you may know it by the
yellow stripe which runs along its back.
75
CHAPTER XXXYV.
THE REPTILE HOUSE.—(Contenued.)
FRoGs.
HERE are a great many Frogs in the
Reptile House, and they are such very
interesting creatures that we must not pass
them by without stopping for a little while to
look at them.
Here are some Bull Frogs, which were
brought from North America.
What very big fellows they are!
they are a great deal bigger
than our English frogs?
Yes ; if you were to stretch
Surely
their hind legs straight out behind them, you
would find that they were about fifteen inches
long, from the tips of their noses to the tips of
their toes. Sometimes they grow even bigger
than this,and bull frogs have been caught which
measured no less than twenty-one inches long!
Of course they can leap very well. Indeed,
they ought to be able to do so with such
great, strong hind legs. A bull frog, when it
is frightened, will sometimes clear ten feet of
ground at a single bound, while it can easily
spring over a fence five feet high! And it
leaps along so rapidly, that even a swift run-
ner can scarcely overtake it.
During the greater part of the year bull
frogs are only found singly. But when the
time comes for the eggs to be laid, they
gather together in large companies, and make
sot VW noise with their croaking that they
can be heard from a very great distance. So
loud is this croaking, that those who have
heard it say that it ought rather to be called
“bellowing†; and they also tell us that if any
one has to pass the night near one of the
swamps where these frogs live it is quite
impossible for him to go to sleep.
As many as five or six hundred frogs are
sometimes found in one of these companies.
Bull frogs are said to be very good to eat,
and in some parts of North America there
are “frog farms,†where they are carefully
bred and fattened for the market. Only the
hind legs are eaten, and the flesh upon them
76
THE ZOO,
is said to be quite as good as that of the
most delicate chicken. In Chicago, indeed,
these frogs are called “water chickens,†in
consequence. And no less than two thousand
pounds’ weight of their legs are often sold in
New York in the course of a single day.
Sometimes the bull frog is caught in a very
curious way, with a rod and line, just like a
fish. The bait, which is almost always a live
insect, is drawn along the ground just in front
of the frog, who is almost sure to spring at
it, only to find itself hooked.
But bull frogs do not live entirely upon in-
sects. They are very fond of snails and slugs,
of which they eat a great many; and they
have also been known to swallow small cray-
fish, young snakes, and even chickens. And
where these frogs are plentiful it is hardly
possible to bring up a brood of ducklings,
for one after another the little birds are drag-
ged under water and devoured.
Now let us look at the Tree Frogs. There
are several in this glass cage.
But whereabouts are they?
see them.
Can you not?
We cannot
Look again. Do you not
see one resting among those leaves? Its body
is of such a bright green colour that you did
not notice it. There is another, just at the
back of the cage. And look, there is a third,
clinging to that upright branch.
But how did it manage to perch itself up
there? And how does it contrive to hold on?
Look at its feet, and you will see. Each
toe, you notice, has a round fleshy pad at the
tip. Now these pads are just like those on
the feet of the geckos,’
about which we were
reading a month or two
ago; and by their help
the frog can even climb
,
up an upright pane
of glass, or hang with
its head downwards
from the under side of
a leaf.
The tree frog finds its bright green colour
very useful to it as it sits upon a leaf, for
insects do not notice it, and crawl within reach
of its tongue. Every now and then it throws
off its skin, and appears in a new one; and
as often as it does this it rolls up its old gar-
ment into a ball and swallows it, just as the
toad does.
There is one very curious frog about
which I must tell you, although it is not to be
seen just at present in the Reptile House.
This is the Pouched Frog, which is found in
South America. Instead of leaving her eggs
to hatch in the water, as other frogs do, the
mother frog places them in a large pouch on
her back, and carries them about with her
until the little tadpoles are hatched !
SALAMANDERS.
77
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE REPTILE HOUSE. —( Continued.)
SALAMANDERS.
Gs by the Frogs are some Salaman-
ders.
These are rather pretty little creatures,
about five inches long, with a row of big yellow
spots upon their sides. They look very much
like small lizards, do they not? Yet they are
not really lizards at all.
Let me tell you why.
True lizards are lizards all through their
lives. Except, of course, that they are very
drnbga lin. na prt.) eft
tiny, they are just as perfect when they first
come out of the eggs as they are when they
are quite grown up. But salamanders, when
they come out from the eggs, are not perfect
salamanders at all; they are only tadpoles.
They live in the water, just like the tadpoles
of the toad and the frog. They have no
nostrils and no lungs, but breathe by means
of gills, like the fishes. They have no legs,
and no real body, but are just big round
heads, with little wavy tails. And by the help
of these tails they manage to swim about.
But if you could watch them, day after
day, you would find that they changed their
form very quickly. First you would notice
that each of the little tadpoles was beginning
to get a body, and that the tail was becoming
longer. Then you would see that two tiny
little legs were appearing, just behind the
head. A few days later you would see that a
second pair of legs were coming, just at the
root of the tail. Then two little nostrils
would begin to show themselves, and at the
same time the gills would become smaller
and smaller, until at last they would disappear
entirely, while lungs would have been grow-
ing in their place. And by that time the
but true salamanders; and they would crawl
out of the water, and live all the rest of their
lives upon dry land.
Thus salamanders are something like
newts, and something like toads and frogs.
They keep their tails all their lives, as newts
do; but they live upon dry land, like toads
and frogs.
In olden days people were very much
afraid of salamanders ; and in some parts of
the world they are afraid of them even now.
They think that the little creatures are very
poisonous, and that if they bite a man he is
quite sure to die. So when they see one
they will jump upon it, and crush the poor
| thing to death.
78
TEE MAO:
Now really the salamander is quite harm-
less. Its teeth are so tiny that they could not
possibly pierce your skin, and you might pick
it up, and even put your finger in its mouth,
without any danger at all.
But it zs poisonous to other lizards, and
even to snakes. If you look at a salaman-
der’s body, you will notice that it is covered
with little wart-like lumps. Now inside these
lumps is a small ae
quantity of
milky fluid; and
if a lizard or a
snake seizes a
salamander, a
little of this fluid is squeezed out into «
its mouth. And before very long the
reptile is dead.
It used to be thought, too, many years
ago, that if a salamander ran over the
roots of an apple tree, all the fruit
would fall off. Of course this is quite
absurd. But the strangest belief about the
animal was, that it could put out a blazing
fire! People really believed that when a sala-
mander saw a fire it ran straight into it, and
that the fire at once went out! Of course we
know better now, and are only amused to hear
what very strange things men used to believe.
Salamanders are very seldom seen abroad
during the daytime, for they do not like the
light, and hide themselves away in some dark
corner where they are not likely to be found.
At nightfall they come out from their hiding-
places, and begin to search for the tiny
insects upon which they feed. During the
winter, of course, there are no insects to be
found ; so the salamanders bury themselves
in the ground, fall fast asleep, and do not
wake up again until the spring.
All that long time they neither
eat, nor drink, nor breathe, and
even their blood hardly flows
=
a
eu through their bodies. This
— is called hibernating.
Se
Awotuerkind of salaman-
pera ela der is to be seen in the Rep-
tile House. Thisiscalledthe
= Giant Salamander, and well
deserves its name, for it isof-
ten more than three feetlong.
Tt does not live on dry land, like the common
salamander, but remains in the water all its life,
feeding upon eels and other kinds of fishes.
We cannot see very much of it, for it does
not like the light, and always hides in the
darkest corner of its tank. And it is so like
the rockwork in colour that it is very hard to:
distinguish it.
Aas NO OS a
SNAKES.
79
CuHaPreR XXXVII.
Po eee REP Rhee EO US ms:
(Continued. )
SNAKES,
2 will take us some little time to work our
way through the Snakes. There are a
very great many of them, and they are very
wonderful creatures, so that if I were to tell
you half of what is known about them I
should have to write quite a big book. So we
will only look at a few, and we will begin with
one which is very common in many parts of
our own country.
This is the Grass Snake, or Ringed Snake,
as it is sometimes called. It is quite harm-
less. It has no poison-fangs at all, and its
teeth are so small
that they could not
pierce our skin. But
it has the curious
power, when it wish-
es, of pouring out a
most horrible odour
uponanything which
it touches. So, if we
were to pick up
one of these snakes,
our hands would
smell very nasty in-
deed for many an
hour afterwards,
even if we washed
them carefully over
and over again.
Very often coun-
try people think that
this snake is an ad-
der, and are very
much afraid of it in
consequence. But you can always teil it from
an adder by the bright yellow patch on either
side of its neck. The true adder does not
possess this patch; so, when you see a snake
with a yellow neck, you may be quite sure
that it is not an adder, and that it cannot
hurt you.
Just look at that snake as it glides along
the side of its cage. You notice that it does
not gather its body into a row of loops, as
we sometimes see it doing in pictures, but
that it lies flat upon the ground, and winds its
way along in a very easy and graceful man-
ey
ner. Now in order to.
understand how the
reptile does this, we
should have, first to
turn it over upon its
back, and then to kill
it and open its body.
When we turned it over, we should find
that the scales upon the lower part of its
body were quite different from those on the
upper. Instead of being small and narrow,
we should see that they were large and broad,
and that they were more like horny plates:
80 THE
ZOO.
than scales. Now the snake can raise and
lower these plates as it wishes ; and each has
a sharp edge. So, when the scales are raised,
the edges take hold of the ground ; and by
first raising those in front and then those
behind, and constantly drawing up its body,
the snake is able to travel along almost as
fast as a man can walk.
But how are the scales raised ?
We cannot answer that question without
knowing something about the inside of a
snake’s body. If we were to take a
dead snake and open it, we should
find that it had a very great number
ofribs. We ourselves have only twelve
pairs of ribs; but some snakes have nearly
three hundred. And each pair of these ribs,
instead of being jointed to the breast-bone, is
fastened to one of the long horny plates.
So, you see, by moving its ribs forwards the
snake can raise its scales; and by moving
them backwards it can lower them. And it |
Pragle dk Belen
is by doing this, with one pair of ribs after
another, that the snakes glides along.
The grass snake feeds chiefly upon frogs.
Perhaps we might think that a frog, when it
saw its enemy, could easily hop away. But
strange to say, as soon as it catches sight of
a snake, it seems to lose its powers of leap-
ing. All that it does is to crawl slowly along,
just as if it had been badly injured; and
the snake glides quietly up, seizes it, and
begins to swallow it.
This always takes some
little time. The snake
seizes one foot of the frog
\ Seay at first, and soon succeeds
in getting the whole leg
into its mouth. Then it
waits until the frog tries to
force itself away with the
other foot, when it seizes
that too, and swallows it
in like manner. ‘Then the
body and fore legs follow ;
and in a few min-
utes the poor frog
has quite disap-
peared.
A This snake is a
very good swim-
mer, and sometimes
it will dive beneath
biG,
$7 the surface, and lie
LF i a long time at
the bottom of the
water.
Early in the sum-
mer the grass snake
lays its eggs, which
are something like
those of a bird, except that they are covered
with a tough skin instead of a brittle shell.
A number of these eggs are always fastened
together in a long string, and the snake
generally buries them in a heap of dead
leaves, so that they may be hatched out by
the heat.
SNAKES. 8I
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE REPTILE HOUSE.—(Continued.)
SNAKES.
Sometimes people think that a snake’s little
forked tongue is its sting, and are very much
afraid of it. But this is a great mistake. The
N EXT we will look at the Viper, or Adder,
as it is more often called.
This, like the Grass Snake, is found in
Great Britain ; only,
while it is quite com-
mon in some places,
it is never seen in
others. It is mostly
found on sandy
heaths, and on hot
days is very fond of
basking in the sun.
If it hears an ap-
proaching footstep
it will almost always
glide quickly away.
But sometimes it
falls fast asleep ; and
once I very nearly
trod upon a viper as
it lay coiled up on a
sandy hillock, and
only saw it just in
time.
It was very for-
tunate that I did
not touch it; for, if I had done so, it
would almost certainly have twisted round
and bitten my leg. And though the bite
of a viper very seldom kills a man, it
almost always makes him very ill for
some little time.
You must not think that a viper bites
with a// its teeth. Its true teeth, indeed,
are very small, and quite harmless, like those
of the grass snake. But it has two poison-
fangs, which are placed in the front part of the
upper jaw. When these fangs are not being
used, they lie back upon the roof of the
mouth. But as soon as the snake lifts up its
head to strike they start forward, and are
then ready for use.
tongue is not poisonous at all, and even if a
venomous snake were to lick your hand it
would not hurt you in the least.
But the fangs are very formidable weapons
indeed, because as soon as they pierce the
skin they force a tiny drop of poison into the
wound. And this poison, although it will not
often kill a man, is strong enough to make
G
82° THE
his leg or his arm swell up to nearly double
its size, and to cause a great deal of pain for
several days. .
Now let me tell you how this poison is
forced into the wound.
In the first place, then, it is formed in a
kind of little bag, or gdand, which lies inside
the snake’s head, not very far from the root
of the fangs. ‘lhe fangs themselves are
hollow, and a little tube runs from
their root into the bag of poison. So,
when the snake bites, a small drop
of the poison is forced out of the
bag, along the tube, through the fang,
and so into the flesh of the victim.
If you were to cut one of the fangs from |
the mouth of a dead viper, you would be
able to see the passage through it quite
easily ; and you would also notice, just below
the point, a hole about the size and shape of
the eye of a fine needle. This is the hole
through which the poison enters the wound.
You will remember that, when we were
talking about the grass snake, I told you that
you might always know it by the bright yellow
ZOO.
patch on either side of its head. The viper
does not possess this patch; and, moreover,
it has a chain of zigzag black markings run-
ning from its head along its back. So, if
ever you should find a viper, you may know
at once that it is dangerous, and had better
be let alone.
Like the grass snake, the viper is fond of
eating frogs; but as these are not often to be
found in the sandy heaths where it loves to
dwell, it feeds chiefly upon small animals,
such as shrews and field mice. But, if neces-
sary, it can go for a
long time without
food. We should be
very hungry if we
had to pass a single
day without eating ;
but aviper will go for
a month, or even
more, without a
meal,andseem none
the worse. When it
is caught and keptin
a cage, indeed, it
very seldom seems
to care to eat; and
sometimes a captive
viper will actually
starve itselfto death.
When autumn
comes, the viper be-
comes very sluggish,
and only leaves its
retreat upon very
warm days. And all through the winter it lies
hidden away under the ground in a deep sleep,
like the dormouse and the hedgehog, without
either eating, or drinking, or breathing.
THE common Blindworm, or Slowworm, is
often mistaken for a snake. But, in reality, ,
it is not a snake at all, but a lizard; and of
course it is perfectly harmless.
THE PUFF ADDER AND THE HORNED VIPER. 83
CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE REPTILE HOUSE.—( Continued.)
Tur Purr ADDER AND THE HORNED VIPER.
\\/ HAT is this stoutly-built snake, with a | long you would be quite well again. The
heart-shaped head anda short, stumpy | bite of a puff adder, however, would kill you
tail, which is lying half-buried in the sand at | almost directly. No matter how slightly you
the bottom of its cage? were bitten you would be dead in about half-
That is a Puff Adder. It is so called | an-hour, and nothing could be done to save
because it has an odd way, when it is angry, | your life. For its poison is so strong, that
evena horse quickly
dies after a prick
from those terrible
fangs.
But it is not only
the strength of its
poison that makes this snake so much
more deadly than others. Many snakes
are quite as venomous as the puff adder;
and yet they do not kill nearly so many
of puffing out its body, until it is nearly twice | people. And the reason is this. Nearly all
its proper size. And it is one of the most | snakes are very timid ; and, when they hear an
dangerous snakes in the world. approaching footstep, they glide away as fast
In its upper jaw it has two poison-fangs, | as they can, so that a man is not very often
very much like those of the viper about | bitten by them. But the puff adder is very
which we were reading last month. But its | sluggish, and likes to lie partly buried in the
bite is very much worse than that of a viper. | sand and nearly asleep, just as this one is lying
If a viper were to bite you, no doubt you | at the bottom of his cage now. And the con-
would suffer a great deal of pain, and the | sequence is that many people tread upon him
part which was bitten would swell very much, without noticing him, and are only made aware
and most likely you would feel very weak and | of his presence when they feel the sharp prick
ill for several days; but then the effects of | of his deadly fangs.
the poison would pass off, and before very | The natives of that part of Africa where
84 THE ZOO.
the puff adder lives make use of his poison
for the purpose of tipping their arrows. And
they catch him in a very bold and daring
way. Let us suppose that one of these
savages sees a puff-adder dozing in the hot
sunshine. Creeping quietly up behind the
reptile, he suddenly springs forward, and
plants one of his bare feet across its neck.
‘The snake at once begins to writhe and twist
about; but it cannot escape, because it is
held so firmly down, and it cannot bite,
because its neck is not free. Then the
savage leans forward, cuts off its head with
his knife or the edge of his spear, and then
takes out the two little bags in which the
poison is lying. There is not very much of
this poison, for the bags are quite small; but
he gets enough from each snake to tip several
arrows. And these are so deadly that when
a man, or even a lion, is wounded by one of
them, he is quite sure to die.
In order to prevent these arrows from
wounding himself, the savage hunter always
carries them in a carefully made case, which
keeps the points closely covered up.
The Hottentots kill the puff-adder in quite
a different way. Knowing that the juice of
tobacco is quickly fatal to it, they irritate the
reptile with a long stick which has been
smeared with the poisonous liquid. The
snake darts forward, snaps at the stick, and
in a very few moments is lying dead upon
the ground.
It is not very easy to describe the colour
of a puff-adder, because all puff-adders are ~
not alike. But the body is mostly of a dull
brown, marked with spots and streaks of
darker brown and white, and there is a
reddish band between the eyes.
z
Tue Horned Viper is another very danger-
ous snake, and has just the same habit of
lying half asleep in the hot sun as the puff-
adder. It is called the “horned†viper from
the two odd little horns just behind its eyes.
These horns are really scales, in an altered
form ; and the Arabs have an odd belief, to
the effect that if one of the horns is pounded
into dust, and rubbed on a man’s eyelids, he
will be able to see all the wealth of the
world !
The horned viper generally leaps sideways
at its victim; and it is said to be able to
spring to a distance of at least three feet.
LHE COBRA AND THE HATE. 85
CHAPTER XL,
THE REPTILE HOUSE,.—(Contenued.)
THE CopRA AND THE HajeE.
OW we come to.a very curious and inter- Once a cobra bit a man and killed him in
_ esting snake indeed. these very Gardens. His victim was one of
This is the Cobra, of which several ex- | the keepers, who came to the snake cages
amples are almost always to be seen in the | one day when he was nearly tipsy, seized a
Reptile house. It is rather a large snake— | cobra by the tail, and began to swing it
six feet long sometimes, and as big round as | round and round his head. As he tried to
a man’s arm. And you can always tell it by | put it back into its cage, however, the snake
the odd black mark—something like a pair of |
spectacles—on the back of its neck. When |
a cobra is angry, or about to strike a victim, ©
it spreads this part of its body out in a very | darted at his face, and bit him just between
strange way, so as to look like a kind of hood. | the eyes; and in a little more than an hour
The common cobra is chiefly found in | he was dead.
India, where it is very plentiful indeed. As Although it is so poisonous, many of the
it is one of the dangerous snakes, a price is | natives of India earn their living by catching
set on its head, and a small sum is paid for | and taming the cobra. These men are
every dead cobra that is brought in; and | mostly called “snake-charmersâ€; and they
sometimes as many as two hundred thousand | go to work in a very curious way. Sitting
cobras are killed in a single year. Vet their | down in front of a hole in which a cobra is
numbers do not seem to grow less, and every | known to have taken up its abode, they begin
year thousands upon thousands of men, | to play a slow tune upon a kind of wooden
women, and children die from their terrible | pipe. Before very long, the snake is sure to
bite. come out; and then, instead of darting at
86 DLE GAO O)
the charmer, it rears its body, spreads its
hood, and begins to dance up and down, as it
were, in time to the music. After this strange
performance has gone on for a little time, the
charmer, still playing, stretches out one hand
very slowly and carefully indeed, and seizes
the serpent by the neck. It writhes about,
of course, and twists its body round his arm,
and does its very best to bite; but he holds
it firmly at arm’s length, and at last manages
to put it into an earthenware vessel which
he has brought with him. Then, perhaps, he
will take it home and train it, so that if any-
one wants to see some snake-charming, he
may always have a cobra ready. And as
often as he plays on his pipe, it is said, the
snake will come out and dance up and down,
just as it did when it was first captured.
Sometimes the charmer pulls out the fangs
of the cobra as soon as he catches it, SO as
to render it harmless. But very often he
does not take the trouble to do this ; and
many a charmer has been bitten and killed
by a cobra which seemed to be perfectly tame.
Many of the natives of India think that it
is very “lucky†to have a cobra in the house,
just as some silly people in England think that
itis “lucky†to find a horse-shoe lying in the
road. So if one of these snakes finds his
way indoors they do not disturb him, but
allow him to take up his abode in some quict
corner. And every evening they will put owt
for him a saucer of milk, of which he is
exceedingly fond.
Once the life of an English officer was
saved by a knowledge of this fact. While
he was sitting at table he felt something cold
pressing against his leg; and on looking
down he saw that it was a cobra. He knew
that if he moved the snake would bite him ;
so he sat perfectly still, and
asked one of his brother
officers to put a saucer of
milk on the floor. As soon
as this was done the cobra
moved away to drink it, and then, of course,
was easily killed.
In a cage close by is a different kind of
cobra, which comes from Africa. This is
called the Haje, or Spitting Snake, because it
is said to sit poison at its enemies, besides
wounding them with its fangs. It is a very
fierce snake ; and those who have often met
with it say that it very seldom glides away
when it hears a footstep, as other snakes do,
but at once rears up, spreads its hood, and
makes ready to bite.
RATILESNAKES.
~
N
CHAPTER XLI.
THE REPTILE HOUSE.—/(Continued.)
RATTLESNAKES.
Now we come to a very deadly snake
indeed, of which there are several
examples in the Reptile House. This is the
wellknown Rattlesnake, of North America.
Its poison is so powerful that, when a human
being is bitten, death sometimes follows in a
very few minutes.
What is that cu-
rious object at the
end of the rattle-
snake’s tail ?
That is the fa-
mous “rattle,â€
from which the
snake takes its
name. It is made
up of a number of
horny rings, placed
rather loosely one
inside another.
And when the rep-
tile shakes its tail,
they make a loud
rattling noise,
which can be
heard for some
little distance.
The rattlesnake
always does this
when it is angry or alarmed. It rests with its
tail held upright in the midst of its coils.
Then, if it is interfered with, or if it hears a
footstep, it begins to shake its tail rapidly
backwards and forwards, so that anyone pass-
ing by is warned of his danger. If it were
not for this curious habit, there can be no
doubt that great numbers of people would
be bitten by rattlesnakes every year.
Animals always become very much alarmed
when they hear the rattle of this deadly ser-
pent. And it is said that even horses and
dogs which have just been brought over from
England, and have never heard the sound
before, are just as much frightened as those
which live in the same country.
The number of the horny joints in a rattle-
snake’s tail is not always the same. Some
snakes have only five or six joints, and others
fourteen or fifteen. Once a rattlesnake was
killed which had a tail of more than twenty
joints. The North American Indians believe
that every joint signifies a human life, and
that as often as a rattlesnake bites a man and
kills him it adds another joint to its tail. But
of course this is not true. Other people
think that one joint is added every year, when
the rattlesnake changes its skin; so that by
counting the joints in its tailwe can tell how old
it is. But this does not seem to be true either.
Did you know that snakes change their
skin? They do, regularly. At a certain
88 THE
ZOO.
time of the year the old skin loses its colour,
splits open, and shows a bright new skin
underneath. Then the snake wriggles and
twists about, rubs itself against the surround-
ing objects, and at last manages to creep out
of its old garment. Sometimes, when you
are walking through a wood, you may find the
skin of a common grass snake, which has
been cast off in this way.
Rattlesnakes are very common in some
parts of North America. Perhaps we might
think that hunters, who have to sleep on the
ground all night, would
very often be bitten by
them. But every hunter
knows that snakes will
never crawl over a cord
made of hair. So, before
he lies down, he lays a
rope made of horsehair upon the ground, so |
as to form a circle round him. And then he
can go to sleep quite safely, for no snake will
ever come inside the magic ring.
Pigs are said not to be at all afraid of
rattlesnakes. Perhaps it is because their
bodies are so clothed with fat that, when they
are bitten, the poison never passes into their
bloodat all. When they find a deadrattlesnake
they always eat it ; and when they are allowed
to run in the woods they will even kill these
deadly serpents for themselves. It is even said
that in some parts of North America rattle-
snakes have been quite destroyed by the pigs!
Towards the end of autumn rattlesnakes
always disappear. They do not like cold
weather, so they take refuge in some snug
hiding-place before the winter begins. They
are very fond of concealing themselves under
the long moss which grows in damp places,
and every year numbers of them are found
and killed in their retreats.
Besides the common rattlesnake, several
other kinds of these deadly serpents are
known. We may see examples of two of
One is the
these in the Reptile House.
Water Rattlesnake, which is found in the
marshy parts of Central America; and
the other is the Horrid Rattlesnake of
Brazil.
These two snakes grow to a much greater
size than the common rattlesnake, for both
have been known to exceed eight feet in
length. They feed upon frogs, mice, rats,
and small birds. It is said that when one of
these creatures catches sight of its enemy it
seems to lose the power of moving, and
remains quite still until the snake glides up
and captures it. But most likely this is not
true.
THE WATER VIPER AND THE COPPERHEAD, 89
CuHaPTer XLII.
THE REPTILE HOUSE.—(Continued.)
THE WATER VIPER AND THE COPPERHEAD.
Ga to the cages in which the rattle-
snakes are kept is another, which con-
tains a Water Viper. ‘This is a very curious
and interesting snake, and we must not pass
it by without stopping for just a few minutes
to look at it.
It is not at all a large snake—not more
strikes, always shakes that curious tail about
which we were reading last month, and so
warns the passer-by of its presence. But the
water viper has no zattle, and gives no warn-
ing at all; and its spring is so sudden, and so
quick;. that people have very good reason
indeed to be afraid of the snake.
so Se a
than two feet long, =
at the most. Yet in
the countries inwhich Gala pu
it lives it is more
dreaded than even the rattlesnake itself.
This is not because it is more. poisonous
than the rattlesnake ; for the bite of either
snake is almost sure to kill the person who is
wounded by the terrible fangs. It is because
the water viper is much more ready to attack
anyone who is passing by. The rattlesnake,
although it has such deadly weapons, is a
very timid snake. If it is startled, or alarmed,
it will always try to creep quietly away. But
the water viper remains where it is, and
makes ready to spring. ;
Then, again, the rattlesnake, before it
ee
At the bottom of the water
viper’s cage is a large pan of
water. What is that for?
For the snake to lie in. It is very fond of
water, and is never found very far from a
pool or a stream. ‘That is why it is called
the water viper. At the same time, it is very
fond of basking in the sun. So, in order to
do this, and yet be able to enter the water at a
moment’s notice, it likes to climb a tree on
the bank of a river, and coil itself up on one
of the branches which overhang the stream.
Then, if the sun should be clouded over,
or if it should feel hungry, all that it has
to do is to drop into the water and swim away.
LHE
\O
Oo
For it is a very good swimmer. It can
drive itself through the water quite fast by
waving its tail from side to side; and it can
dive, too, when it wishes, and remain below
the surface for quite a long time. If it could
not do this it would very soon starve to death,
for it feeds chiefly Sat
upon fishes. And of
course it must be able
to pursue and over-
take them.
It seems
rather odd |
to find a~
snake so
fond of the
water, does
it not? But
even our
common
English grass snake likes
a bath at times, and will
sometimes entera stream
and lie at the bottom for
some little time. Only a
short time ago, when I
was staying in the New
Forest, I startled one of «
these snakes, which was
gliding quietly along
through the grass. And
instantly it turned aside,
made for a brook close
by, and disappeared beneath the
surface of the water.
There are some snakes, too,
which scarcely ever seem to leave
the water at all. One of these is
called by the curious name of the
Shooter Sun. It lives in the sea,
off the coast of India, and never seems to come
on shore at all except to lay its eggs. These
it buries in the sand, just above high water
mark, so that when the little snakes hatch out
they may be able to enter the sea without
any difficulty.
If this snake is captured, and placed upon
ZOO.
dry land, it seems very unhappy and ill at
ease, and can only crawl very awkwardly
and clumsily along. And if it is kept out
of the sea for more than a day or two, it
dies.
The nostrils of the shooter sun are formed
in such a
way that
they can
be tightly
closed when
the snake
dives, so
that not a
drop of
water can
enter them,
Nort very
far from the
water viper’s
cage is one
which con-
/tains an
example of
another of
the swim-
ming snakes.
This is the
Copperhead,
whichis very
plentiful in
some of the
more south-
ern States of
North Ame-
rica, and is
greatly
| dreaded on
account of
its poison, which is quite as deadly as that
of the rattlesnake. It does not live entirely
in the water, like the shooter sun, but
enters it now and then, as the water viper
does. It swims quite well enough to capture
fishes, but also feeds upon small birds, toads,
frogs, and lizards.
THE HOG-NOSED SNAKE AND THE BLACK VIPER.
or
CHaPTER XLIII.
THE REPTILE HOUSE.—( Continued.)
THE Hoc-NosED SNAKE 42ND THE BLACK VIPER.
HIS month let me tell you something
about two other snakes, which are both
very plentiful in many parts of North Ame-
rica. We may almost always see two or three
examples of each in the Reptile House.
The first of these is the Hog-nosed Snake.
That seems a very odd name to give toa
snake, does it not? But it is a very suitable
one indeed. The snake is not at all a hand-
y
iy
comelllt
some creature; and, if you look at it side-
ways, you will see that its head looks very
much as if the front part had been cut off.
For the muzzle is very short and very blunt,
and is turned up a little at the tip. So that
really it does look very much like the snout
of a hog.
This snake is not a very large one. In-
deed, it very seldom grows to a length of
more than three feet, so that it is really
hardly as big as our common English grass
snake. And, as it has no poison fangs, it is
quite harmless.
Yet, in those places where it lives, many
people are very much afraid of it; quite as
much afraid, indeed, as they are of the rattle-
snake. This is partly, perhaps, because its
broad, blunt muzzle gives it a very savage
appearance. But, strange to say, although it
cannot hurt anyone in any way at all, the
snake often behaves just as if it were poison-
ous, and so frightens people who do not
is harmless. For, if it is
that it
touched or interfered with, it utters a loud
and angry hiss, rears up its head and neck,
and darts at its enemy just as if it were
about to strike a deadly blow. But it is only
pretending ; for, as I said just now, it has no
know
fangs at all. Indeed, it does not even open
its mouth ; and, even if it were to do so, its
teeth are so tiny that they could not possibly
inflict a serious wound.
If a hog-nosed snake is caught, and finds
that its pretence of being poisonous is of no
avail, it will often pretend to be dead, in the
92 THE ZOO.
hope that its captor will throw it down and
go away. So it will hang quite loosely and
heavily in his hand, and allow itself to be
pulled and twisted about without showing
the slightest sign of life. But directly it is
placed upon the ground it glides quickly
away, and is soon snugly hidden in some
place of safety.
This snake feeds upon frogs, toads, lizards,
and certain large insects, which are only
found in damp and marshy places. So it is
nearly always found near the borders of
viper often pretends to be poisonous, just as
the hog-nosed snake does; and it strikes so
sharply, and looks so fierce, that many
people are very much afraid of it. Certainly
its thick body, broad, flat head, and little
glittering eyes do give it a very savage
appearance.
This snake does not live near the water,
but prefers dry places. It is very fond of
living in pine woods, where it can find plenty
of shelter among the dead, needle-like
leaves, and plenty of mice, lizards, and other
rivers and pools, and never seems to wander
very far away from the water.
Tue second of our two serpents is the
Black Viper.
This is not at all a good name ; for, in the
first place, the snake is not entirely black.
Its back and head are very dark indeed, it is
true; but all the lower part of its body is
slaty grey, while its throat is almost white.
And, in the second place, it is not really a
viper. All the true vipers are poisonous
snakes, and have fangs; while the black
viper is not poisonous, and has none. So
that a much more suitable name might have
been found for it.
Although it is perfectly harmless, the black
It is quite
small creatures on which to feed.
a tiny snake, and is hardly ever more than
about eighteen inches long.
SEVERAL other kinds of snakes are com-
mon in North America. One of these is the
Corn Snake, which is quite harmless, and
destroys so many rats and mice that it is
most useful to the farmer. Then there is the
Chicken snake, which is so called because it
is very apt to get into poultry houses at
night, and devour the young chickens. It
eats rats and mice too, however, so that it is
not altogether mischievous. Indeed, both
these snakes are often tamed and allowed to
live in the house, in order that they may do
the work of a cat!
PYTHONS.
93
CuapTer XLIV.
THE REPTILE HOUSE.—(Contnued.)
PyTHONS.
OW we come to some o. the most inter-
esting snakes in the Reptile House.
These are the famous Pythons, which are
found in the hotter parts of Africa, Asia, and
Australia. We may call them the giants of
the serpent race; for they are sometimes
more than twenty feet in length, and as big
round as a man’s thigh.
These huge snakes capture their victims in
a very curious manner. Seizing them with
their teeth, they coil their bodies round them,
and slowly squeeze them to death. They
are very strong—so strong, indeed, that if a
man were seized by a large python, every
bone in his body would be broken in a few
seconds. And the serpent does not cease to
crush the victim until it is a mere shapeless
mass of flesh.
When one of these snakes seizes its prey
it wraps one of its coils wpor another, just as
we put one hand upon the other when we
want to squeeze anything very hard indeed.
Once a keeper in the Reptile House had
a very narrow escape from being crushed to
death by one of the pythons. He had
entered the cage to give the serpent a fowl.
The serpent, however, which was just about
to change its skin, could not see very well,
and seized the man’s thumb instead of the
bird. In an instant its coils were round his
neck and body. He flung himself upon the
ground, and tried hard to release himself
See the terrible pressure ; but if two other
mI
a
keepers had not fortunately come in just at
that moment, and forced the snake away, he
would certainly have been killed.
When a python seizes an animal, it always
likes to coil its tail round a tree trunk, or a
big stone, so as to obtain what we mostly
call a “ purchase.â€
Sometimes these snakes will seize and kill
animals so big that one would think that they
could not possibly be swallowed. Very often,
indeed, even after it has been crushed into a
shapeless mass, the victim is much bigger
round than the neck of the python. But the
jaws and throat of the serpent are made in a
| very curious way. In the first place, the jaw-
94
THE ZOO
bones are not fastened closely together, as
ours are, but can be forced widely apart ; and,
in the second, the flesh and skin of the throat
and neck are very elastic. So the big mouth-
ful is swallowed without very much trouble.
After a python has had such a meal, the
outline of its victim can be distinctly seen,
bulging out in the middle of its body!
These snakes do not require to take food
very often. Indeed, they can go for weeks
or even for months without eating, and seem
that they have legs! It is not easy to see
these limbs, it is true. But if we were to
examine one of these snakes carefully, we
should find a pair of little horny spurs on
the lower surface of its body. And these are
really the hinder legs.
Of course the python does not use these
legs for walking ; they are too tiny for that.
It glides along, just like other snakes, by
means of the scaly plates beneath its body.
When a python lays its eggs, it piles them
none the worse for their long fast. When
they have had a meal, they mostly become
sluggish:and torpid; and if the animal swal-
lowed was a large one, they will lie fast
asleep for several days,
It is sometimes said that when a python
has killed a victim, it licks it all over before
proceeding to swallow it. But this is not
true. It is also said that the serpent’s
breath is so poisonous, that it kills any
‘animal which breathes it. But this is not
true either. Many snakes, no doubt, have a
very unpleasant odour; but this comes, not
sthe tail.
Another curious point about the pythons is
; snake the Ular-sawa.
from the breath, but from certain glands near |
up into a heap, and then coils its body
closely round them. ‘Then, strange to say,
although it is a cold-blooded animal, it
begins to give out heat. And so it lies,
protecting and warming the eggs, until the
little snakes are hatched out.
One of the pythons in the Reptile House
is lying in a tank of water, with only just its
nostrils above the surface. This is an Indian
Python. It is very fond of the water, and
can swim very well, driving itself along by
means of its long tail. The Malays call this
It is rather mischie-
vous, for it is fond of getting into fowl-houses
at night, and destroying the birds as they are
roosting upon their perches.
BOA CONSTRICTORS. 95
CHAPTER XLV.
THE REPTILE HOUSE—(Contenuea.)
BOA CONSTRICTORS.
NOY we must go and look at the Boa ; bourhood know of the presence of their
Constrictors, of which we can see at enemy.
least three different kinds in the Reptile The true boa constrictor does not grow to
House. a very great size. When it is fully grown, it
They are very much like pythons, are they | is between twelve and thirteen feet long.
not? One of those in the Reptile House is very
Yes ; they belong to the same family, and | nearly as long as this.
they seize and kill their victims just as the Until a few months ago, there were two
pythons do.
That is why
they are
called boa
constrictors ;
for they con-
STaeiGt OT
squeeze
their prey,
until it is lit-
tlemorethan
a_shapeless
mass of flesh
and broken
bones.
They are
hardly ever
found upon
the ground,
however, as
pythons are,
but live in the trees. When they are looking
out for prey, they coil their tails tightly round
a low branch, and then wait until some small
animal passes beneath them. As soon as it
| boa constrictors in the same cage, one of
| which was eleven feet long, and the other
| only nine. For a long time they lived very
| comfortably together, and never interfered with
comes within. reach they dart at it, seize it | one another in any way at all. But, one day,
|
|
a sad accident happened. Some pigeons had
been put into the cage, just before the House
was closed for the night ; and both snakes
unfortunately seized the same bird. Each.
swallowed half the bird, so that their jaws
met ; and then, sad to say, the bigger snake
actually swallowed the smaller one, although
only two feet shorter than himself !
with their teeth, and quickly crush it to death
in their folds.
Sometimes they catch a monkey in this
way ; and, in consequence, monkeys are very
much afraid of these snakes. When they
catch sight of one they gather together just
out of its reach and begin to chatter noisily,
so that all the other;monkeys in the neigh-
96 THE ZOO.
So, next morning, when the keepers entered
the house, there was only one boa constrictor
in the cage instead of two. But it was very
easy to see what had happened, for the
snake was nearly double its proper size, and
was stretched stiffly out, instead of being
coiled up as usual! For three whole days,
indeed, it was unable to coil itself under its
blanket. But at the end of that time it
resumed its former size and its usual habits,
and very soon afterwards was hungry enough
to devour a fowl!
when once an animal is fairly seized, it can-
not break away, and the snake cannot release
it; it wst be swallowed. And thus, when
the two serpents seized the same bird,
neither could let it go, and the larger of the
two could not help swallowing the smaller !
Another kind of Boa Constrictor is called
the Anaconda. In Mexico, where it lives, it
is often known as the Matatoro, or “bull-
killer,†because it is supposed to be big and
strong enough to kill a bull. It grows to
a much greater size than the boa constrictor,
Now perhaps we may think that this boa
constrictor must be a dreadful cannibal, to
swallow another snake of its own kind in this
way. But, in reality, it could not help doing
so. The fate of the smaller snake was
sealed as soon as the two seized the same
pigeon. For the teeth of these serpents are
made in such a way that, when once the
victim is seized, they cannot loose their hold.
There are six rows of teeth in all; two
upon the lower jaw, two upon the upper, and
two upon the roof of the mouth. And all
these teeth are strongly hooked, with the
points directed backwards; while every
movement of the jaws serves only to force
the victim towards the throat. So, you see,
for anacondas more than twenty feet long have
sometimes been killed. But it very seldom
seems to attack any large animal, and feeds
partly on fishes, and partly on the small crea-
tures which come down to the water to drink.
For the anaconda is never found very far
from water. It likes to take up its abode in
a swamp, where it can coil itself up in the
branch of a tree, and watch for victims
passing below. Sometimes it will lie under
water, with only its nostrils projecting above
the surface.
In olden days the anaconda was wor-
shipped by the natives of Mexico, who are
very much afraid of it even now, although it
never seems to attack a man.
