306 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



preys on fish, but during the long winter it leaves the frozen 

 waters, and preys, like other Polecats, on Mice and land 

 animals."* The Bactrian Camel (Camelus bactrianus), instead 

 of confining itself to a strictly vegetable diet, will, according to 

 Prejevalski, when pressed by hunger, readily devour almost 

 anything that it may come across, including felt blankets, bones 

 and skins of animals, flesh, and fish.f That prolific pest in 

 Australia — the Rabbit — is now said to have learned to live and 

 thrive on bark and the twigs of bushes, and even to have deve- 

 loped the power of getting up trees t in search of food, going up 

 as high as eight feet, using their teeth to climb with.§ When 

 the Hamsters (Cricetus frumentarius) issue in the spring from the 

 burrows in which they have have passed their winter hybernation, 

 " they devour ravenously almost anything that comes before 

 them, not refusing an occasional young bird, a mouse, or a 

 beetle." || As is generally known, the usual food of these animals 

 is of a vegetable nature. " Reindeer devour hundreds and 

 thousands of Lemmings." IT Mr. J. A. Thomson states that he 

 had a report on creditable authority that in the hard winter 

 1894-95, Stags in Aberdeenshire were known to have eaten 

 Rabbits." ** The Chacma Baboon in some parts of the Cape 

 Colony "has largely taken to killing Lambs for the purpose 

 chiefly of sucking the milk with which they have filled their 

 stomachs." ft In Egypt, Hyaenas are " said to feed on Indian 

 corn, and be destructive to the crops." +t In the Scottish High- 

 lands, near the head of Loch Garry, Foxes were strictly pre- 

 served and plentiful. A year or two ago, when their cubs were 

 ravenous, these Foxes took to killing Lambs in the fields around, 

 and the unusual spectacle in Britain " was seen of large fires 

 kept burning all night to scare them away, while slumber was 



* ' Origin of Species,' 6th edit. p. 138. 

 f Lydekker, ' Eoy. Nat. Hist.,' vol. ii. p. 411. 



J "In California it has forgotten how to burrow" (0. J. Cornish, 'Wild 

 England of To-day,' p. 189). 



§ Writer in the ' Times ' ; quoted in ' Spectator,' January 4th, 1896. 



|| Lydekker, loc. cit. vol. iii. p. 125. 



IF Brehm, ' From North Pole to Equator,' p. 75. 



** Ibid, editor, note, p. 567. 



ft S. Schonland, ' Zoologist,' 4th ser. vol. i. p. 155. 



H A. Leith Adams, ' Naturalist in Nile Valley and Malta,' p. 47. 



