42 THE MAMMALS OF THE WOODS 



Denmark, Hungary, Croatia, Moldavia, and central and southern Russia to 

 the Ural Mountains. The forest, the skirts of the forest, and plantations and 

 parks, are its usual haunts. It makes its nest, in holes in the ground, of soft 

 grass, hair, and wool, and often prefers animal food to any other; insects and 

 worms, as well as young birds, and butcher's meat, being among its favourite fare. 

 But it by no means disdains vegetable food, such as corn, seeds, and roots ; and in 

 hard winters will live on the bark of young trees. It will climb trees to a con- 

 siderable height, but does not run very quickly. Solitary individuals may be seen 

 at any time of the day, although these field-mice do not appear in large numbers 

 before the afternoon or towards evening. Three or four times a year the females 

 have a litter of from five to eight naked and blind young ones, which in six 

 weeks are half the size of their parents. 



The beasts of prey (Carnivora), like the hoofed mammals and 



Wild Cat 



rodents, are not well represented in the forests of Europe. To this 

 order belong cats, civets, hytenas, bears, dogs, martens, and likewise seals and 

 walruses. The order consists mainly, although not exclusively, of flesh-eating 

 animals and comprises proportionally more of these than does any other 

 mammalian group except the marsupials. 



If the walruses and seals, as well as certain extinct Carnivora, be included, it 

 is not easy to find distinctive marks in common for the order. In all cases, how- 

 ever, the toes of these animals are armed with claws, which are generally sharp 

 and bent, without any near resemblance to human nails. There are never less 

 than four completely developed toes on each foot, and in no case can the first toe, 

 otherwise the thumb, be placed opposite the others for grasping purposes. 

 The teeth of the Carnivora are generally well developed, as their food would 

 indicate. Their canine teeth are large and adapted for seizing and tearing their 

 prey, and among the cheek-teeth there is generally a pair in each jaw, adapted 

 for cutting the food to pieces like a pair of scissors. The lower jaw can only be 

 moved up and down, and not sideways as in most other mammals, so that the teeth 

 cannot crush and grind the food but only tear or cut it into fragments which are 

 swallowed whole. While some families are indigenous to all parts of the world, 

 others are confined within very small limits. The land Carnivora (Fissipedia) are 

 best distinguished from the marine Carnivora by the structure of their feet. There 

 are, indeed, some species among the former which spend more or less of their time 

 in the water, and have their feet united by a membrane, but they are never fin- 

 footed like the seals and walruses. The teeth, however, are more important for 

 the purpose of distinction. Instead of the uniform and sharply cusped cheek- 

 teeth of the marine forms, those of the land Carnivora have usually the 

 above-mentioned flesh-teeth on each side of the upper and lower jaw. 



The family of the cats (Felidce) contains the two genera Felis and Cynoelurus. 

 In all there is obviously a relationship to the domesticated cat, so that, whoever 

 knows that familiar animal will recognise any other representative of the group. 

 The long slender body of the cats combines strength and suppleness in perfection , 

 and their strength is so considerable that the larger kinds can kill and carry 

 away animals of greater bulk than themselves. Their distinctive points are the 



