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 eatent ; general ill health might 
thus be commonly prevented, and many diseases wholly removed. 
It will be seen, from the preceding outline, that by far the greates number of 
Mammalia exist upon more 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 
subsist in unusual situations. Thus the Squirrel will sometimes devour Birds, and 
the Slarten 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 fmls 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 cai-nivorons 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 nltimate causes of these migrations, 
by occasioning the destruction of those insects or plants from which the animals de- 
rived their maintenance. The IMamraalia are, however, in general sufficiently protected 
by their covering of haw or blubber from the changes of the seasons. They seek for 
shelter beneath the surface of the earth or sea, perhaps they sleep or hybernatc. 
But when animals are threatened with tamlne, 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. Migrations occurring in spring seem to owe their origin chiefly to this scarcity 
of provisions arising from an excessive population. Dr Richardson informs ns that 
the Black Bears of America migrate from Canada into the United States in very 
severe winters ; hut in milder seasons when they have been well fed, they remain and 
hybemate in the North. Among some of the sociable Mammalia, the force of han- 
ger, the confidence arising from the example of their fellows, and tire excitement 
of the Social impulse, ru-ge even the feebler and more timid animals to attempt mi- 
grations on the greatest scale of raagnitndo, and fraught witli 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 
broailcst waters, disturb the invariability or iropotuosity of their course. Kumbers 
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 throe 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. Wdien stacks of hay or corn interrupt their passage, they gnaw 
through them instead of passing round. Pennant relates, that the Rats of Kamt- 
Bchatk.-! becoming too numerous at the commencement of Spring, proceed in great 
bodies westward, swimming over rivers, lakes, and arms of the seas. Many aro 
drowned or destroyed by Water-fowl or Fish. As soon as they have crossed the 
River Penchim, at the head of the Gulf of tho same name, they turn southward, and 
reach the rivers Judema 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 consumo so much 
vegetable food. The immense herds of Bisons, which often blacken the surface, iii 
the great valley of the Mississippi, near the banks of that river and its tributaries, 
are continually shifting their quarters, followed by Wolves, which prey on the rear. 
“ It is no exaggeration,” says Mr James, “to assert, that in one place, on tho 
banks of tho Platte, at least ten thousand Bisons burst on our sight in an instant. 
In the morning we again sought the living picture, hut upon all the phaiii, which last 
evening was so teeming with .noble animals, not one remained.” Vast troops of 
Dziggtai, which inhabit the mountainous deserts of Great T.artary, feed during the 
summer in tho 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 plams 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 deluge 
upon the culthuted regions near the Cape, when the stagnant pools of the immense 
deserts sonth of tho 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 tho 
midst of the compressed phalanx with only as much room between him and his vic- 
tims, as the fears of those immediately around could procure by pressing outwards. 
There arc certain secluded spots in tho neighbourhood of Melville Island, which 
are visited annually by herds of Vlusk-Oxen and Rein-Dccr ; during the short 
summer of the arctic regions, various plants put forth their leaves and flowers tho 
moment the snow is off the gromid, forming a carpet, spangled with tho 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 Wlialcs and Seals, or the air, like 
the Bats, possess unusual facilities for executing these periodical migrations. The 
Whales of the Northern Seas aro 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 March, 
to return in June. They proceed in great droves northwards, directing their course 
where the sea is moat free from ice. This migration of the Seals must, however, 
proceed from some other object than a mere search for food, as they aro observed 
to bo very fat when they set out on this expedition, and very lean when they come 
home again. The Groat Bat ( VespertiUo noctula) visits England during the sum- 
mer, but retires in winter to Italy, where it hybernates. 
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 tho Jaguar traverses with ease the 
largest streams in Sonth America, Tho Bear, and also the Bison, stem the current 
of tlio 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- 
sumes, renders it necessary that they should he constantly moving'from place to place. 
Tim Elephant crosses the stream in two ways. If the bed of tho 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 tho end of his 
trunk only is out of the water — for it is a matter of indiflcrcnce to him whether his 
body be completely immersed, provided he can bring the tip of his trunk to tho 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 tho sea and swim to them. 
In hunting excursions in North America, tho Elk of that country is frequently pur- 
sued for great distances through tho water.” 
Without this power of shifting their quarters, a far greater number of animals 
would have become extinct than has ocenned under 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 whoHy fall, from the influence of surrounding 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 dccrcetl that tho demand for food shall bear a determinate ratio to tho supply, 
and Nature never hesitates to deal indiscriminate destruction on all individuals or 
species which transgress this law. 
It is evident from the mutual dcpcndance 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 Frugivo- 
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 clearly point out that the 
creative power has been exerted successively, imd probably at remote periods of time 
— a conclusion which is fully confirmed by the investigation of Fossil Remains. 
The mutual reaction of zknimals 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 i's 
thus tho ultiro.atc cause of their greatest enjoyments and sufferings. 
“ Tho law of universal mortality." observes Dr Buckband, “being the established 
condition on which it h.a3 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 tudden ter- 
mination of our mortal life, yet, in tho case of every inferior animal, such a termi- 
nation of existence is obviously the most desirable. Tho pains of sickness and de- 
crepitude of ago 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 feeblo .and 
aged; no alleviating care to relievo the sick; and tho extension of life through lin- 
gering stages of decay and old age would to each individual be a scene of protracted 
misery. Under such a system, the natural world would present a mass of daily suf- 
fering, boariiig a large proportion to the total amount of animal enjoyment. By the 
existing dispensations of sudden destruction and rapid succession, the fcchlo and dis- 
abled aro speedily relieved from suireriiig, 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 sinblen anil unexpected death is an evil infinitely small, >» 
comparison with tho enjoyments of which it is tho termination. 
<■ To the mind whicl. looks not to general results in the cconomv of Nature, the 
earth may seem to present a scene of perpetual warfare and incessant carnage; but 
the more enlarged view, while it regards individuals in their conjoint relations to the 
general benefit of their own species, and that of other species with which they are 
associated in the great family of Nature, resolves caclr apparent case of individual evil 
into an example of subserviency to universal good. 
“ I bo .appointment of de.ath by the agency of Carnivora, as the ordinary termina- 
tion of animal existence, appears therefore in its m.ain results to be a dispensation ot 
benevolence ; it deducts much from tho aggregate amount of tho 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 tho surface of the land and depths of the 
waters are ever crowded with myriads of animated beings, tlic pleasures of whose life 
arc co-extonsive tvith its duration; and which, throughout the little day of existence 
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 ; 
when unexpected death arrests its course, it repays with small interest tho large debt 
