72 



FIRST CLASS OF THE VERTEBRATED ANIMALS. 



appears that these important results of training are produced by the most simple 

 means, which every man may practise to a certain extent ; general ill health might 

 thus be commonly prevented, and many diseases wholly rcmovod. 



It will be seen, from the preceding outline, that by far the greater number of 

 Mammalia exist upon move than one kind of food; and even in those species which 

 are more especially restricted to an animal or vegetable diet, a certain degree of 

 variation from their ordinary habits is allowed to them, by means of which they can 

 Eubsist in unusual situations. Thus the Squirrel will sometimes devour Birds, and 

 the Marten and Pole Cat can subsist upon fruits. Domestication tends greatly to 

 produce this omnivorous habit, yet there are some instincts connected with the food 

 of animals which it fails to overcome. The Dog continues to hide his food, though fed 

 regularly and plentifully; and civilized Man pursues the wild game with alacrity, 

 although hunting has long ceased to be necessary to his subsistence. 



When the numbers of herbivorous animals are not kept down by other tribes, or 

 when the carnivorous species fail in finding their prey, food begins to fail, and no 

 resource remains to the famished animals but Migration from their native haunts. 

 Excessive changes of temperature may be the ultimate causes of these migrations, 

 by occasioning the destruction of those insects or plants from which the animals de. 

 rived their maintenance. The Mammalia are, however, in general sufficiently protected 

 by their covering of ha^r or blubber from the changes of the seasons. They seek for 

 shelter beneath the surface of the earth or sea, perhaps they sleep or hybernate. 

 But when animals are threatened with famine, either by a season excessively 

 favorable to their multiplication, or any other cause, and their provisions in con- 

 sequence suddenly become scarce, a simultaneous movement is the certain conse- 

 quence. Migi-ations occurring in spring seem to owe their origin chiefly to this scarcity 

 of provisions arising from an excessive population. Dr Richardson informs us that 

 the Black Bears of America migrate from Canada into the United States in very 

 severe winters ; but in milder seasons when they have been well fed, they remain and 

 hybernate in the North. Among some of the sociable Mammalia, the force of hun- 

 ger, the confidence arising from the example of their fellows, and tlie excitement 

 of the Social impulse, urge even the feebler and more timid animals to attempt mi- 

 grations on the greatest scale of magnitude, and fraught with the highest danger to 

 themselves. The common Squirrels, compelled by a scarcity of provisions to desert 

 their abodes, migrate from Lapland into lower latitudes in amazing numbers. On- 

 wards they travel in a direct line, nor do rocks, forests, the deepest ravines, or the 

 broadest waters, disturb the invariability or impetuosity of their course. Numbers 

 are drowned in passing large firths and rivers, or fall a prey to their numerous ene- 

 mies. The Lemmings of Norway and Sweden often pour down in myriads from the 

 mountains of the North and devastate the country. They move generally in lines, 

 about three feet from each other, and exactly parallel. The general direction of 

 their march lies from north-west to south-east, and they pass directly onwards through 

 rivers and lakes. When staclvS of hay or corn interrupt their passage, they gnaw 

 through them instead of passing round. Pennant relates, that the Rats of Kamt- 

 schatka becoming too numerous at the commencement of Spring, proceed in great 

 bodies westward, swimming over rivers, lakes, and arms of the seas. Many ai-o 

 drowned or destroyed by Water-fowl or Fish. As soon as they have crossed the 

 River Penchim, at the head of the Gulf of the same name, they turn southward, and 

 reach the rivers Judoma and Ochot by the middle of July, a district surprisingly dis- 

 tant from their point of departure. 



Mr Lyell has correctly observed, that the large Herbivorous animals which are 

 gregarious, can never remain long in a confined region, as they consume so much 

 vegetable food. The immense herds of Bisons, which often blacken the surface, in 

 the great valley of the Mississippi, near the banks of that river and its tributaries, 

 arc continually shifting; their quarters, followed by Wolves, which prey on the rear. 

 ** It i? no exaggeration," says Mr James, "to assert, that in one place, on the 

 banks of the Platte, at least ten thousand Bisons burst on our sight in an instant. 

 In the morning we again sought the living picture, but upon all the plain, which last 

 evening was so teeming with noble animals, not one remained." Vast troops of 

 Dzif^^'tai, which inhabit the mountainous deserts of Great Tartary, feed during the 

 summer in the tracts East and North of Lake Aral. In the autumn they collect in 

 herds of hundreds, and even thousands, and direct their course towards the North of 

 India, and often to Persia. Bands of two or three hundred Quaggas are sometimes 

 seen to migrate from the tropical plains of Southern Africa to the vicinity of the 

 Maleleveen river. During their migrations they are followed by Lions, who slaugh- 

 ter them nightly. Myriads of Springboks or Cape Antelopes pour down like a delugo 

 upon the cultivated regions near the Cape, when the stagnant pools of the immense 

 deserts south of the Orange River dry up, which often happens after intervals of 

 three or four years. The havoc committed by them resembles that of the African 

 Locusts; and so crowded are the herds, that the Lion has been seen to walk in the 

 midst of the compressed phalanx with only as much room between him and his vic- 

 tims, as the fears of those immediately around could procui-e by pressing outwards. 



There are certain secluded spots in the neighbourhood of Blelville Island, which 

 are visited annually by herds of I\Iusk-Oxen and Rein-Deer; during the short 

 summer of the arctic regions, various plants put forth their leaves and flowers the 

 moment the snow is off the ground, forming a carpet, spangled with the most lively 

 colours, and these animals travel over immense distances of dreary and desolate re- 

 gions, to graze undisturbed in these luxuriant pastures. 



Mammalia which frequent the ocean, like the Whales and Seals, or the air, like 

 ihe Bats, possess unusual facilities for executing these periodical migrations. The 

 Whales of the Northern Seas are known to desert one tract of sea and visit an- 

 other at a very remote distance. The Seals, according to Krantz, retire from the 

 coasts of Greenland, in July, return again in September, and depart again in JMarch, 

 to return in June. They proceed in great droves northwards, directing tlieir course 

 where the sea is most free from ice. This migration of the Seals must, however, 

 proceed from some oth;;r object than a mere search for food, as they are observed 

 to be very fat when they set out on this expedition, and very lean when they come 

 home again. The Great Bat ( Vespertilio nnctula) visits England during the sum- 

 mer, but retires in wintcT to Italy, where it bybernates. 



The daring manner in which Land animals attempt to cross large tracts of water 

 IS an immediate consequence of the urgency of their wants. *' Rivers and narrow 

 firths," says Mr Lyell, ** can seldom interfere with their progress, for the greater 

 part of them swim well, and few are without this power when urged by danger and 

 pressing want. Thus, among Beasts of Prey, the Tiger is seen swimming about the 

 islands and creeks in the Delta of the Ganges, and the Jaguar traverses with ease the 

 largest streams in South America. The Bear, and also the Bison, stem the current 

 of the Mississippi. To the Elephant in particular, the power of crossing rivers is 

 essential in a wild state, for the quantity of food which a herd of these animals con- 

 Eumes, renders it necessary that they should be constantly moving-frora place to place. 

 The Elephant crosses the stream in two ways. If the bed of the river be hard, and 

 the water not of too great depth, he fords it; but when he crosses great rivers, such 

 as the Ganges and the Niger, the Elephant swims deep, so deep that the end of his 

 trunk only is out of the water — for it is a matter of indifference to him whether his 

 body be completely immersed, provided he can bring the tip of his trunk to the sur- 

 face, so as to breathe the external air. Animals of the Deer kind frequently take to 

 the water, especially in the rutting season, when the Stags are seen swimming about 

 in search of the Does, especially in the Canadian lakes; and in some countries where 

 there are islands near the sea-shore, they fearlessly enter the sea and swim to them. 

 In hunting excursions in North America, the Elk of that country is frequently pur- 

 sued for great distances through the water." 



Without this power of shifting their quarters, a far greater number of animals 

 would have become extinct than has occurred ujider their present constitution. The 

 mutual action and reaction of species is the necessary consequence of these general 

 laws of Nutrition, by which all Living Beings are governed. Individuals maintain 

 their existence for days or years — species for centuries and ages. Each arrives at its 

 termination when its resources wholly fail, from the influence of surroundino^ causes 

 of change, and it is to their mutual struggles for subsistence we owe that equilibrium 

 of animal forces which is found to prevail in all parts of the globe. In every place 

 it is decreed that the demand for food shall bear a determinate ratio to the supply,, 

 and Nature never hesitates to deal indiscriminate destruction on all individuals or 

 species which transgress this law. 



It is evident from the mutual dependance of animals upon each other and upon 

 plants, that the creation of certain species has preceded that of others in the order of 

 time. Vegetables must have become numerous upon the earth before the Fruo'lvo- 

 rous tribes made their appearance ; while the Herbivorous animals must have multi- 

 plied upon the earth, and become widely distributed, previous to the institution of 

 predaceous types. The phenomena of nutrition thus cleai'ly point out that the 

 creative power has been exerted successively, and probably at remote periods of time 

 . — a conclusion which is fully confirmed by the investigation of Fossil Remains. 



The mutual reaction of Animals upon each other, and upon Plants, follows neces- 

 sarily from the limited duration which is allotted to the existence of individuals and 

 species. Had Living Beings not been subject to Death, there would have been no 

 reproduction ; the checks to reproduction would not have existed ; in a word, there 

 would have been no activity, no prey to pursue, no enemies to avoid — no mutual re- 

 action, in short. Life would lose that stamp of animation which marks its phenomena 

 so distinctly from those of Inorganic Nature. The liability of Animals to Death is 

 thus the ultimate cause of their greatest enjoyments and sufferings. 



*-' The law of universal mortality," observes Dr Buckland, " being the established 

 condition on which it has pleased the Creator to give being to every creature upon 

 earth, it is a dispensation of kindness to make the end of life to each individual as easy 

 as possible. The most easy death is proverbially that which is least expected ; and 

 though, for Moral reasons peculiar to our own species, we deprecate the sudden ter- 

 mination of our mortal life, yet, in the case of every inferior animal, such a termi- 

 nation of existence is obviously the most desirable. The pains of sickness and de- 

 crepitude of age are the usual precursors of death, resulting from gradual decay ; 

 these, in the human race alone, are susceptible of alleviation from internal sources of 

 hope and consolation; and give exercise to some of the highest charities and most 

 tender sympathies of human nature. But throughout the whole creation of inferior 

 animals no such sympathies exist : there is no affection or regard for the feeble and 

 aged; no alleviating care to relieve the sick; and the extension of life through lin- 

 gering stages of decay and old age v.-ould to each individual be a scene of protracted 

 misery. Under such a system, the natural world would present a mass of daily suf- 

 fering, bearing a large proportion to the total amount of animal enjoyment. By the 

 existing dispensations of sudden destruction and rapid succession, the feeble and dis- 

 abled are speedily relieved from suffering, and the world is at all times crowded with 

 myriads of sentient and happy beings ; and though to many individuals their allotted 

 share of life be often short, it is usually a period of uninterrupted gratification; whilst 

 the momentary pain of sudden and unexpected death is an evil infinitely small, in 

 comparison with the enjoyments of which it is the termination. 



" To the mind which looks not to general results in the economy of Nature, the 

 earth may seem to present a scene of perpetual warfare and incessant cai-nao-e ; but 

 the more enlarged view, while it regards intUviduals in their conjoint relations to the 

 general benefit of their own species, and that of other species with which thev are 

 associated in the great family of Nature, resolves each apparent case of individual evil 

 into an example of subserviency to universal good. 



*' The appointment of death by the agency of Carnivora, as the ordinary termina- 

 tion of animal existence, appears therefore in its main results to be a dispensation of 

 benevolence ; it deducts much from the aggregate amount of the pain of universal death ; 

 it abridges and almost annihilates throughout the brute creation the misery of disease 

 and accidental injuries, and lingering decay; and imposes such salutary restraint upon 

 excessive increase of numbers, that the supply of food maintains perpetually a due 

 ratio to the demand. The result is, that the surface of the land and depths of the 

 waters are ever crowded with myriads of animated beings, the pleasures of whose life 

 are co-extensive with its dm-afion; and which, throughout the little day of existenca 

 that is allotted to them, fulfil with joy the functions for which they were created. 

 Life to each individual is a scene of continued feasting in a region of plenty ; and 

 when unexpected death arrests its course, it repays with small interest the large debt 



