% "Q.v^^
 
 TOWER MENAGERIE.
 
 TOWER MENAGERIE: 
 
 COMPRISING 
 
 THE NATURAL HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ANIMALS CONTAINED IN THAT ESTABLISHMENT ; 
 
 WITH 
 
 ttyetr Characters antJ Hjistorrj. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 PORTRAITS OF EACH, TAKEN FROM LIFE, BY WILLIAM HARVEY; 
 
 AND ENGRAVED ON WOOD BY BRANSTON AND WRIGHT. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 I'RINTED FOR ROBERT JENNINGS, POULTRY; 
 AND SOLD BY W. F. WAKEMAN, DUBLIN.
 
 CHISWICK: 
 
 PRINTED BY CHARLES WHI1 
 
 i n|. I. !.;.!. ll'll M..
 
 HIS MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY 
 
 KING GEORGE THE FOURTH, 
 
 THE 
 
 MUNIFICENT PATRON OF THE ARTS AND SCIENCES, 
 
 IN WHICH IT IS ATTEMPTED TO COMBINE BOTH ART AND SCIENCE 
 IN THE 
 
 ILLUSTRATION OP HIS ROYAL MENAGERIE, 
 
 IS, 
 
 BY HIS MAJESTY'S MOST GRACIOUS PERMISSION, 
 
 HUMBLY INSCRIBED. 
 
 2090795
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION ix 
 
 BENGAL LION 1 
 
 LIONESS AND CUBS 11 
 
 CAPE LION 17 
 
 BARBARY LIONESS 24 
 
 TIGER 25 
 
 LEOPARD 35 
 
 JAGUAR 41 
 
 PUMA 49 
 
 OCELOT 53 
 
 CARACAL 57 
 
 CHETAH, OR HUNTING LEOPARD 61 
 
 STRIPED HY.T.NA 71 
 
 HY.ENA-DOG 77 
 
 SPOTTED HYJENA 81 
 
 AFRICAN BLOODHOUND 83 
 
 WOLF 89 
 
 CLOUDED BLACK WOLF 93 
 
 JACKAL 97 
 
 CIVET, OR MUSK CAT 99 
 
 JAVANESE CIVET 103 
 
 GRAY ICHNEUMON 105 
 
 PARADOXURUS 107 
 
 BROWN COATI . . -. V. 109 
 
 RACOON ;..-.. HI 
 
 AMERICAN BLACK BEAR 115 
 
 GRIZZLY BEAR 121
 
 viii CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THIBET BEAR 129 
 
 BORNEAN BEAR 133 
 
 EGRET MONKEY? 144 
 
 COMMON MACAQUE 145 
 
 BONNETED MONKEY, VAR 146 
 
 BONNETED MONKEY 147 
 
 PIG-FACED BABOON 148 
 
 BABOON 149 
 
 WHITE-HEADED MONGOOS 151 
 
 KANGUROO 155 
 
 PORCUPINE 161 
 
 ASIATIC ELEPHANT 163 
 
 ZEBRA OF THE PLAINS 177 
 
 LLAMA . . . 181 
 
 RUSA-DEER 185 
 
 INDIAN ANTELOPE 191 
 
 AFRICAN SHEEP 197 
 
 GOLDEN EAGLE .'.' 201 
 
 GREAT SEA-EAGLB -. . . ' ; : .- ; ^' 202 
 
 BEARDED GRIFFIN 203 
 
 GRIFFON VULTURE <<,. 205 
 
 SECRETARY . . .. .. .!* 209 
 
 VIRGINIAN HORNED OWL 213 
 
 DEEP-BLUE MACAW 215 
 
 BLUE AND YELLOW MACAW 217 
 
 YELLOW-CRESTED COCKATOO 219 
 
 NEW HOLLAND EMEU 221 
 
 CRESTED CRANE 225 
 
 PELICAN 227 
 
 ALLIGATOR ....'. 231 
 
 INDIAN BOA '".' ."'."'.'.' 233 
 
 ANACONDA .',;.-'-.';''. 237 
 
 RATTLESNAKE . 239
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE origin of Menageries dates from the most remote 
 antiquity. Their existence may be traced even in the 
 obscure traditions of the fabulous ages, when the contests 
 of the barbarian leader with his fellow-men were relieved 
 by exploits in the chase scarcely less adventurous, and 
 when the monster-queller was held in equal estimation 
 with the warrior-chief. The spoils of the chase were 
 treasured up in common with the trophies of the fight ; 
 and the captive brute occupied his station by the side 
 of the vanquished hero. It was soon discovered that the 
 den and the dungeon were not the only places in which 
 this link of connexion might be advantageously pre- 
 served, and the strength and ferocity of the forest beast 
 were found to be available as useful auxiliaries even in 
 the battle-field. The only difficulty to be surmounted 
 in the application of this new species of brute force to 
 the rude conflicts of the times consisted in giving to it 
 the wished-for direction; and for this purpose it was 
 necessary that the animals to be so employed should be 
 confined in what may be considered as a kind of Mena- 
 gerie, there to be rendered subservient to the control, 
 and obedient to the commands, of their masters. 
 
 la the theology too of these dark ages many animals 
 occupied a distinguished place, and were not only vene- 
 rated in their own proper persons, on account of their 
 size, their power, their uncouth figure, their resemblance
 
 X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 to man, or their supposed qualities and influence, but 
 were also looked upon as sacred to one or other of the 
 interminable catalogue of divinities, to whose service 
 they were devoted, and on whose altars they were sacri- 
 ficed. For these also Menageries must have been con- 
 structed, in which not only their physical peculiarities 
 but even their moral qualities must have been to a 
 certain extent studied ; although the passions and pre- 
 judices of the multitude would naturally corrupt the 
 sources of information thus opened to them, by the 
 intermixture of exaggerated perversions of ill observed 
 facts and by the addition of altogether imaginary fables. 
 
 If to these two kinds of Menageries we add that which 
 has every where and under all circumstances accom- 
 panied the first dawn of civilization, and which consti- 
 tutes the distinguishing characteristic of man emerging 
 from a state of barbarism and entering upon a new and 
 social state of existence, the possession of flocks and 
 herds, of animals useful in his domestic economy, ser- 
 viceable in the chase, and capable of sharing in his 
 daily toils, a tolerable idea may be formed of the collec- 
 tions which were brought together in the earliest ages, 
 and were more or less the subjects of study to a race of 
 men who were careless of every thing that had no imme- 
 diate bearing upon their feelings, their passions, or their 
 interests. 
 
 But as civilization advanced, and the progress of 
 society favoured the developement of mind, when those 
 who were no longer compelled by necessity to labour 
 for their daily bread found leisure to look abroad with 
 expanded views upon the wonders of the creation, the 
 animal kingdom presented new attractions and awakened 
 ideas which had before lain dormant. What was at first
 
 INTRODUCTION. xi 
 
 a mere sentiment of curiosity became speedily a love of 
 science ; known objects were examined with more minute 
 attention ; and whatever was rare or novel was no longer 
 regarded with a stupid stare of astonishment and an 
 exaggerated expression of wonder, but became the object 
 of careful investigation and philosophic meditation. Such 
 was the state of things in civilized Greece when the 
 Macedonian conqueror carried his victorious arms to the 
 banks of the Indus, and penetrated into countries, not 
 altogether unknown to Europeans, but the natural pro- 
 ductions of which were almost entirely new to the philo- 
 sophers of the West. With the true spirit of a man of 
 genius, whose sagacity nothing could escape, and whose 
 views of policy were as profound as the success of his 
 arms was splendid, Alexander omitted no opportunity 
 of proving his devotion to the cause of science ; and the 
 extensive collections of rare and unknown animals which 
 he transmitted to his old tutor and friend, in other 
 words the Menagerie which he formed, laid the founda- 
 tion of the greatest, the most extensive, and the most 
 original work on zoology that has ever been given to the 
 world. The first of moral philosophers did not disdain 
 to become the historian of the brute creation, and Aris- 
 totle's History of Animals remains a splendid and 
 imperishable record of his qualifications for the task. 
 
 Very different were the feelings by which the Roman 
 generals and people were swayed even in their most 
 civilized times and at the height of their unequalled 
 power. Through all the gloss which history has thrown 
 over the character of these masters of the universe there 
 appears a spirit of unreclaimed barbarity which was 
 never entirely shaken off. From the scenes of their 
 distant conquests their praetors sent to the metropolis 
 
 b
 
 xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of the world bears and lions and leopards and tigers ; 
 but a love of science had no share in the motives for the 
 gratification of which they were transmitted, and the chief 
 curiosity manifested on such occasions by the people of 
 Rome was to ascertain how speedily hundreds or thou- 
 sands, as the case might happen, of these ferocious 
 beasts would destroy each other when turned out half- 
 famished into the public amphitheatre, or how long a 
 band of African slaves, of condemned criminals, or of 
 hired gladiators, would be able to maintain the unequal 
 contest against them. The consul or emperor who 
 exhibited at one time the greatest number of animals to 
 be thus tortured before the eyes of equally brutal spec- 
 tators was held in the highest esteem among a people 
 who regarded themselves as civilized, and whose chief 
 delight was in witnessing these wanton effusions of 
 blood. It was only under the later Caesars that a few 
 private individuals brought together in their vivaria a 
 considerable number of rare and curious animals; and 
 the Natural History of Pliny derives most of its zoolo- 
 gical value from the opportunities which he had of 
 consulting these collections. But the monstrous fables 
 and the innumerable errors, which the most superficial 
 examination would have taught him to correct, with 
 which every page of this vast compilation absolutely 
 teems, speak volumes with regard to the wretched state 
 of natural science in the most splendid days of Roman 
 greatness. 
 
 From the unsuspecting credulity with which this text- 
 book of the naturalists of the middle ages continued to 
 be received, it is evident that the science remained 
 stationary, if it did not actually retrograde, during the 
 lapse of fourteen or fifteen centuries. The want of
 
 INTRODUCTION. xiii 
 
 opportunities of investigation may be regarded as the 
 principal cause of this lamentable deficiency. Some of 
 the rarer animals, it is true, were occasionally to be 
 seen in Europe; but Menageries constructed upon a 
 broad and comprehensive plan were as yet unknown. 
 The first establishment of modern days, in which such 
 a plan can fairly be said to have been realised, was the 
 Menagerie founded at Versailles by Louis the Four- 
 teenth. It is to this institution that we owe the Natural 
 History of Buffon and his coadjutor Daubenton ; the 
 one as eloquent as Pliny, with little of his credulity, but 
 with a greater share of imagination ; and the other a 
 worthy follower of Aristotle in his habits of minute 
 research and patient investigation, but making no pre- 
 tensions to the powerful and comprehensive mind and 
 the admirable facility of generalising his ideas which so 
 preeminently distinguished that great philosopher. 
 
 Of the characters of most of the institutions which we 
 have noticed the Tower Menagerie has at various times 
 partaken in a greater or less degree. Originally intended 
 merely for the safe-keeping of those ferocious beasts, 
 which were until within the last century considered as 
 appertaining exclusively to the royal prerogative, it has 
 occasionally been converted into a theatre for their con- 
 tests, and has terminated by adapting itself to the present 
 condition of society as a source of rational amusement 
 and a school of zoological science. 
 
 The first notice of a Royal Menagerie in England 
 places this establishment at Woodstock, where King 
 Henry the First had a collection of lions, leopards, and 
 other strange beasts. Three leopards were presented to 
 Henry the Third by the Emperor Frederic the Second, 
 himself a zoologist of no mean rank. From Woodstock
 
 Xiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 they were transferred to the Tower ; and numerous orders 
 issued in this and the succeeding reigns to the sheriffs of 
 London and of the counties of Bedford and Buckingham 
 to provide for the maintenance of the animals and their 
 keepers are extant among the Records. Thus in the year 
 1252 the sheriffs of London were commanded to pay four 
 pence a day for the maintenance of a white bear ; and in 
 the following year to provide a muzzle and chain to hold 
 the said bear while fishing, or washing himself, in the 
 river Thames. In 1255 they were directed to build a 
 house in the Tower for an elephant which had been 
 presented to the king by Louis king of France ; and 
 a second writ occurs in which they were ordered to 
 provide necessaries for him and his keepers. 
 
 From vario*us orders during the reigns of Edward the 
 First, Second, and Third, we learn that the allowance 
 for each lion or leopard was six pence a day, and the 
 wages of their keeper three halfpence. At later periods 
 the office of keeper of the lions was held by some person 
 of quality about the king, with a fee of six pence a day 
 for himself, and the same for every lion or leopard 
 under his charge. On these terms it was granted by 
 King Henry the Sixth, first to Robert Mansfield, Esq. 
 marshal of his hall, and afterwards to Thomas Rookes, 
 his dapifer. It was not unfrequently held by the lieu- 
 tenant or constable of the Tower himself, on the condition 
 of his providing a sufficient deputy. There was also 
 another office in the royal household somewhat resem- 
 bling this in name, that of master, guider, and ruler of 
 the king's bears and apes; but the latter animals appear 
 to have been kept solely for the royal " game and plea- 
 sure." 
 
 During all this period, and even almost clown to our
 
 INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 own times, the common phrase of " seeing the lions" in 
 the Tower appears to have been almost literally correct, 
 for we seldom hear of any other animals confined there 
 than lions or leopards. Howel tells us in his Londino- 
 polis, published in 1 657, that there were then six lions 
 in the Tower, and makes no allusion to any other ani- 
 mals as being at that time contained in it. In 1708 
 some improvement had taken place; for there were 
 then, according to Strype, no fewer than eleven lions, 
 two leopards or tigers (the worthy historian, it seems, 
 knew not which), three eagles, two owls, two cats of the 
 mountain, and a jackal. Maitland gives a much longer 
 catalogue as existing there in 1754; and this is still 
 further extended in a little pamphlet entitled " An His- 
 torical Description of the Tower of London and its 
 Curiosities/' published in 1774. After this time, how- 
 ever, the collection had been so greatly diminished both 
 in value and extent, that in the year 1822, when Mr. Al- 
 fred Cops, the present keeper, succeeded to the office, 
 the whole stock of the Menagerie consisted of the grizzly 
 bear, an elephant, and one or two birds. How rapidly 
 and how extensively the collection has increased under 
 his superintendence will best be seen by a reference to 
 the numerous and interesting animals whose natural 
 history forms the subject of the present work. By his 
 spirited and judicious exertions the empty dens have 
 been filled, and new ones have been constructed; and 
 the whole of them being now kept constantly tenanted, 
 the Menagerie affords a really interesting and attractive 
 spectacle to the numerous visiters who are drawn thither 
 either from motives of curiosity or by a love of science. 
 
 Such is a brief outline of the history up to the present 
 period of the establishment known as the Tower Mena-
 
 Xvi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 gerie. Of the animals contained in it during the summer 
 of 1828, and of two others which had then recently died, 
 the succeeding pages offer delineations, descriptions, and 
 anecdotes. Among so numerous a collection of inha- 
 bitants, of such dissimilar habits, and brought together 
 into one spot from such distant and various climes, some 
 changes have almost necessarily taken place even while 
 our work has been passing through the press ; yet so 
 excellent is the management of Mr. Cops, especially as 
 regards cleanliness, that essential security of animal 
 health, that not a single death has occurred from dis- 
 ease, and one only from an accidental cause : the secre- 
 tary bird, having incautiously introduced its long neck 
 into the den of the hyaena, was deprived of it and of its 
 head at one bite. Other removals are owing to the spirit 
 of commerce. The Cape lion, the chetahs, the Thibet 
 bear, and the deep-blue macaw, have passed into foreign 
 hands, and are now on the continent of Europe. Two 
 of the wolves and one of the Javanese civets have been 
 transferred to the Zoological Society; and the white 
 antelope has also exchanged its habitation in the Tower 
 for the delightful Garden created by that Society in the 
 Regent's Park. 
 
 With the exceptions which have just been enumerated 
 the whole of the animals which are here figured and 
 described are actually living in the Tower Menagerie. 
 Their continuance there affords a test of the fidelity of 
 our work which could not be applied to any production 
 on zoology that has yet appeared in this country, nor, 
 to an equal extent, in any other. As a visit to the 
 Menagerie will enable the reader at once to compare 
 our representations and descriptions with their living 
 prototypes, the imperative necessity of scrupulous accu-
 
 INTRODUCTION. XV11 
 
 .racy has been deeply impressed throughout the whole 
 undertaking on the minds of those who have been 
 engaged in its completion. In this, it is trusted, they 
 have fully succeeded. To explain the share which each 
 has taken in the work, and to record a debt of gratitude 
 to those kind friends who have assisted in it, , is the 
 pleasing duty which it now remains to fulfil. 
 
 The whole of the drawings are from the pencil of 
 MR. WILLIAM HARVEY, who, in seizing faithful and 
 characteristic portraits of animals in restless and almost 
 incessant motion, has succeeded in overcoming difficul- 
 ties which can only be appreciated by those who have 
 attempted similar delineations. In the portraits he has 
 strictly confined himself to the chastity of truth ; but in 
 the vignettes, which have always some reference to the 
 subject of the article which they conclude, he has occa- 
 sionally held himself at liberty to give full scope to his 
 imagination. 
 
 The engravings have been executed throughout by 
 MESSRS. BRANSTON and WRIGHT. Determined on 
 securing the accuracy of the representations, they have 
 in every instance compared the proofs with the animals, 
 and have made corrections where necessary until the 
 resemblance has been rendered perfect. In one case 
 alone has a deviation from the original been indulged 
 in : the tail of the ocelot has been figured of the length 
 usual in the species, instead of the truncated .state in 
 which it exists in the specimen; the markings of the 
 animal are, however, as noticed in its article, accurately 
 represented. 
 
 The literary department has been superintended by 
 E. T. BENNETT, Esq. F.L.S., an active member of the 
 Zoological Society, who has arranged for the press the
 
 XViii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 whole of the materials collected from various and au- 
 thentic sources. To JOHN BAYLEY, Esq. F. R. and A. S. 
 M. R. I. A. &c. he is indebted for several suggestions in 
 addition to the information contained in that gentleman's 
 valuable work, " The History and Antiquities of the 
 Tower of London." To MR. ALFRED COPS, the present 
 KEEPER OF THE LIONS, whose meritorious exertions for 
 the increase and improvement of the Menagerie have 
 been already adverted to, he has also to tender his 
 thanks and those of his coadjutors for the facilities con- 
 stantly afforded to them in the most ready and obliging 
 manner, and for much valuable information relative to 
 the history and habits of the animals. 
 
 But especially are his best thanks due for numerous 
 suggestions and much valuable assistance to his friend 
 N. A. VIGORS, Esq. A.M. F.R. and L.S., the zealous 
 and talented SECRETARY of the ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
 To that distinguished zoologist, whose extensive and 
 intimate acquaintance with the animal kingdom at large, 
 and particularly with its feathered tribes, is universally 
 acknowledged, and to other leading Members of the 
 Society to which he devotes his talents and his time, 
 a work like the present appeared not ill adapted to 
 advance the good cause in which they are engaged, the 
 diffusion of knowledge. Under their auspices it was 
 commenced, by their countenance it has been fostered, 
 and it is with the sanction of their approval that it is 
 now submitted to the public eye. 
 
 LONDON, Nov. 1828.
 
 THE BENGAL LION. 
 
 PEL is LEO. LINN. Var. BENGALENSIS. 
 
 FIRST in majesty as in might, the monarch of the brute 
 creation asserts an undisputed claim to occupy the 
 foremost place in our delineation of the inhabitants of 
 this Royal Menagerie. Who is there to whom his stately 
 mien, his unequalled strength, his tremendous powers 
 of destruction, combined with the ideas generally enter- 
 tained of his dauntless courage, his grateful affection, 
 and his merciful forbearance, are not familiar " as house- 
 hold words ?" When we speak of a Lion, we call up to 
 our imaginations the splendid picture of might unmin- 
 gled with ferocity, of courage undebased by guile, of 
 dignity tempered with grace and ennobled by generosity ;
 
 2 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 in a word, of all that combination of brilliant qualities, 
 the imputation of which, by writers of all ages, has 
 placed him by universal consent above other beasts, and 
 invested him with regal attributes. 
 
 Such, indeed, is the outline which we have been taught 
 to frame to ourselves of this noble animal ; and beautifully 
 has this imaginary sketch, for such in a great measure it 
 will be found on closer examination, been filled up by 
 the magic pencil of Buffon, who, in this, as in too many 
 other instances, suffered himself to be borne along by the 
 strong tide of popular opinion. Yielding to the current, 
 instead of boldly stemming it, he has added the weighty 
 sanction of his authority to those erroneous notions which 
 were already consecrated by their antiquity, and has 
 produced a history of the Lion, which, however true in 
 its main facts, and however eloquent in its details, is, to 
 say the least, highly exaggerated and delusive in its 
 colouring. The Lion of Buffon is, in fact, the Lion of 
 popular prejudice; it is not the Lion, such as he ap- 
 pears to the calm observer, nor such as he is delineated 
 in the authentic accounts of those naturalists and travel- 
 lers who have had the best means of observing his habits, 
 and recording the facts of which they have been them- 
 selves eye witnesses. 
 
 The Lion, like all the other cats (the genus to which, 
 in a natural arrangement, he obviously belongs) is armed 
 in each jaw with six strong and exceedingly sharp cut- 
 ting-teeth, with two formidable canine, and with six 
 others, three on each side, occupying the places of the 
 molar or grinding-teeth, but terminating in sharp protu- 
 berances to assist in the laceration of the animal food, 
 which is the proper nutriment of his tribe. Besides
 
 THE BENGAL LION. 3 
 
 these, he has, on each side of the upper jaw, a small 
 tooth, or rather tubercle, placed immediately behind the 
 rest. His tongue is covered with innumerable rough 
 and elevated papillae, the points of which are directed 
 backwards : these also assist in comminuting his food, 
 and not unfrequently leave their traces on the hand 
 which has been offered him to lick. His claws, five in 
 number on the fore feet, and four on the hind, are of 
 great length, extremely hard, and much curved ; they 
 are retractile within a sheath enclosed in the skin which 
 covers the extremity of his paws ; and as they are only 
 exposed when he has occasion to make use of them, they 
 thus preserve the sharpness of their edge and the acute- 
 ness of their point unimpaired. In all these particulars 
 the Lion essentially agrees with the rest of the cats ; and 
 it is these which constitute what naturalists have termed 
 their generic character; in other words, they are the 
 points of agreement which are common to the whole 
 group or genus, and form the most prominent and striking 
 characteristics, by which they may be at once connected 
 together and separated from all other animals. 
 
 The Lion is distinguished from other cats by the 
 uniformity of his colour, which is pale tawny above, 
 becoming somewhat lighter beneath, and never, except 
 in his young state, exhibiting the least appearance of 
 spots or stripes : by the long and flowing mane of the 
 adult male, which, originating nearly as far forward as 
 the root of his nose, extends backwards over his shoul- 
 ders, and descends in graceful undulations on each side 
 of his neck and face ; and by the tuft of long and blackish 
 hairs which terminates his powerful tail. These consti- 
 tute what is termed his specific character, or that which
 
 4 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 is peculiar to the species or race ; connecting the indi- 
 viduals together by marks common to them all, and at 
 the same time separating them from the other animals of 
 the same group or genus. 
 
 In his moral and intellectual faculties, as well as in 
 his external and physical characters, the Lion exhibits a 
 close agreement with the strikingly distinct and well 
 marked group to which he belongs, and of which he is 
 unquestionably the first in rank and importance : and 
 perhaps the most effectual means of guarding against 
 the general prejudice, which has delighted in exalting 
 him at the expense of his fellow beasts, will be found 
 in the recollection that, both physically and morally, 
 he is neither more nor less than a cat, of immense size 
 and corresponding power it is true, but not on that 
 account the less endowed with all the guileful and vin- 
 dictive passions of that faithless tribe. His courage is 
 proverbial : this, however, is not derived from any pecu- 
 liar nobility of soul, but arises from the blind confidence 
 inspired by a consciousness of his own superior powers, 
 with which he is well aware that none of the inferior 
 animals can successfully compete. Placed in the midst 
 of arid deserts, where the fleet but timid antelope, and 
 the cunning but powerless monkey fall his easy and 
 unresisting prey ; or roaming through the dense forests 
 and scarcely penetrable jungles, where the elephant and 
 the buffalo find in their unwieldy bulk and massive 
 strength no adequate protection against the impetuous 
 agility and fierce determination of his attacks, he sways 
 an almost undisputed sceptre, and stalks boldly forth 
 in fearless majesty. But change the scene, and view 
 him in the neighbourhood of populous towns, or even
 
 THE BENGAL LION. 5 
 
 near the habitations of uncultivated savages, and it will 
 then be seen that he recognises his master, and crouches 
 to the power of a superior being. Here he no longer 
 shows himself openly in the proud consciousness of his 
 native dignity, but skulks in the deepest recesses of the 
 forest, cautiously watches his opportunities, and lies in 
 treacherous ambush for the approach of his unwary prey. 
 It is this innate feeling of his incapacity openly to resist 
 the power of man, that renders him so docile in captivity, 
 and gives him that air of mild tranquillity, which, toge- 
 ther with the dignified majesty of his deportment, has 
 unquestionably contributed not a little towards the gene- 
 ral impression of his amiable qualities. 
 
 His forbearance and generosity, if the facts be carefully 
 investigated, will be found to resolve themselves into no 
 more than this : that in his wild state he destroys only 
 to satiate his hunger or revenge, and never, like the 
 " gaunt wolves," and " sullen tigers," of whom the poet 
 has composed his train, in the wantonness of his power 
 and the malignity of his disposition ; and that, when 
 tamed, his hunger being satisfied and his feelings being 
 free from irritation, he suffers smaller animals to remain 
 in his den uninjured, is familiar with, and sometimes 
 fond of, the keeper by whom he is attended and fed, and 
 will even, when under complete control, submit to the 
 caresses of strangers. 
 
 But even this limited degree of amiability, which, in 
 an animal of less formidable powers, would be considered 
 as indicating no peculiar mildness of temper, is modified 
 by the calls of hunger, by the feelings of revenge, which 
 he frequently cherishes for a considerable length of time, 
 and by various other circumstances which render it dan-
 
 6 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 gerous to approach him unguardedly, even in his tamest 
 and most domesticated state, without previously ascer- 
 taining his immediate state of mind. On such occasions 
 no keeper possessed of common prudence would be rash 
 enough to venture upon confronting him: he knows too 
 well that it is no boy's play to 
 
 seek the Lion in his den,' 
 
 And fright him there, and make him tremble there ; 
 
 for in this state of irritation, from whatever cause it may 
 have arisen, he gives free scope to his natural ferocity, 
 unrestrained by that control to which at other times he 
 submits with meek and unresisting patience. 
 
 Happily for mankind the range of this tremendous 
 animal is limited to the warmer climates of the earth ; 
 and even in these the extent of that range is constantly 
 becoming more and more confined by the spread of 
 human civilization, which, at the same time that it drives 
 him to take refuge at a distance from the haunts of men, 
 contributes greatly to thin his numbers and to diminish 
 his power of annoyance. His true country is Africa, in 
 the vast and untrodden wilds of which, from the immense 
 deserts of the north to the trackless forests of the south, 
 he reigns supreme and uncontrolled. In the sandy 
 deserts of Arabia, in some of the wilder districts of 
 Persia, and in the vast jungles of Hindostan, he still 
 maintains a precarious footing : but from the classic soil 
 of Greece, as well as from the whole of Asia Minor, both 
 of which were once exposed to his ravages, he has been 
 utterly dislodged and extirpated. 
 
 There is some variation in the different races of Lions 
 from these distant localities ; but this is by no means of
 
 THE BENGAL LION. 7 
 
 sufficient importance to establish a distinction between 
 them. The Asiatic Lion, of which we are now treating, 
 seldom attains a size equal to that of the full-grown 
 Southern African; its colour is a more uniform and 
 paler yellow throughout; and its mane is, in general, 
 fuller and more complete, being furnished moreover with 
 a peculiar appendage in the long hairs, which, com- 
 mencing beneath the neck, occupy the whole of the 
 middle line of the body below. All these distinctions 
 are, however, modified by age, and vary in different 
 individuals. Their habits are in essential particulars the 
 same : we shall therefore defer what we have farther to 
 say on this head until we come to speak of the Cape 
 Lion, and proceed to the history of the Asiatic individual 
 now exhibiting in this Menagerie, a striking likeness of 
 which is given in the engraving at the head of the present 
 article. 
 
 This fine animal, although called by the keepers " the 
 Old Lion," is, in reality, little more than five years old ; 
 and that designation was adopted only for the purpose 
 of distinguishing him from the Cape Lion, a compara- 
 tively modern resident of the Menagerie. His proper 
 name, or rather that by which he has been known ever 
 since his arrival at the Tower, is George. The following 
 anecdotes relative to the mode of his capture, and to his 
 habits and demeanour in his captivity, are given on the 
 authority of Mr. Cops, who derived his information on 
 the first point from General Watson himself, and speaks 
 to the rest from his personal observation. 
 
 It was in the commencement of the year 1823, when 
 the General was on service in Bengal, that being out one 
 morning on horseback, armed with a double-barrelled
 
 8 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 rifle, he was suddenly surprised by a large male Lion, 
 which bounded out upon him from the thick jungle at 
 the distance of only a few yards. He instantly fired, 
 and, the shot taking complete effect, the animal fell dead 
 almost at his feet. No sooner was this formidable foe 
 thus disposed of than a second, equally terrible, made 
 her appearance in the person of the Lioness, whom the 
 General also shot at and wounded so dangerously that 
 she retreated into the thicket. As her following so imme- 
 diately in the footsteps of her mate afforded strong 
 grounds for suspecting that their den could not be far 
 distant, he determined upon pursuing the adventure to 
 the end, and traced her to her retreat, where he com- 
 pleted the work of her destruction, by again discharging 
 the contents of one of the barrels of his rifle, which he 
 had reloaded for the purpose. In the den were found a 
 beautiful pair of cubs, male and female, supposed to be 
 then not more than three days old. These the General 
 brought away with him, and succeeded by the assistance 
 of a goat, who was prevailed upon to act in the capacity 
 of foster-mother to the royal pair, in rearing them until 
 they attained sufficient age and strength to enable them 
 to bear the voyage to England. On their arrival in this 
 country, in September, 1823, he presented them to his 
 Majesty, who commanded them to be placed in the 
 Tower. The male of this pair is the subject of the pre- 
 sent, the female that of the succeeding article. 
 
 The extreme youth of these Lions at the time of their 
 capture, and the constant control to which they had been 
 accustomed from that early period of their existence, 
 rendered them peculiarly tame and docile, insomuch 
 that, for twelve months after their arrival, they were fre-
 
 THE BENGAL LION. 9 
 
 quently suffered to walk in the open yard among the 
 visitors, who caressed them and played with them with 
 impunity. The Duke of Sussex, in particular, was highly 
 delighted with the unusual spectacle of a Lion and a 
 Lioness bounding about him at perfect liberty, and with 
 all their natural grace and agility. It must, however, be 
 observed that they were not then fully grown, and that 
 it was afterwards thought necessary to place them under 
 greater restraint; but more with the view of guarding 
 against possible mischief, than in consequence of any 
 positive symptoms of rebellion. Of the change which 
 has taken place in the character of the female, we shall 
 have occasion to speak hereafter : the male still continues 
 perfectly docile, and suffers himself to be treated with 
 the greatest familiarity by his keepers and those to whom 
 he is accustomed. 
 
 Like all the other carnivorous animals in the Mena- 
 gerie, he is fed but once in the twenty-four hours ; and his 
 meal usually consists of a piece of beef, of eight or nine 
 pounds weight, exclusive of bone. This he seizes with 
 avidity, tears it to pieces instantly with his claws, and 
 ravenously devours it ; contrary to the usual custom of 
 his fellow lions in a state of nature, who are said gene- 
 rally to remain for a considerable time after they have 
 struck the fatal blow, before proceeding to glut their 
 appetite with the flesh and blood of their victim. This 
 awful pause of suspense may, however, under such 
 circumstances, be attributable to an instinctive desire 
 completely to finish their work, or at least to preclude 
 the possibility of resistance, prior to removing from the 
 body of their prostrate prey the weapon with which his 
 destruction has been inflicted.
 
 10 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 It has been generally remarked, that lions in captivity 
 have certain constant and stated times for roaring : this 
 observation is not, however, strictly true with regard to 
 those now in the Tower. It may nevertheless be observed 
 that in the summer time, especially when the atmospheric 
 temperature is considerable, they uniformly commence 
 roaring abdut dawn, one of them taking the lead, and 
 the others joining in the concert in succession ; and 
 Mr. Cops has frequently had occasion to remark that 
 whenever any one of them fails in accompanying the 
 rest in their by no means harmonious performance, the 
 cessation from the customary roar is an infallible symp- 
 tom of actual or approaching illness. At no other time 
 is there that regularity in their roaring which has been 
 so frequently stated ; although the chorus which has just 
 been described is sometimes repeated after feeding, and 
 also when they have been left alone for any length of 
 time ; hence it occurs particularly on Sundays, a day on 
 which they have no company except from the occasional 
 visits of the keepers. 
 
 <?*&
 
 THE LIONESS AND HER CUBS. 
 
 STRIKINGLY distinguished at the first glance from her 
 royal mate by the absence of the flowing honours of the 
 mane, which invest him with an air of superior dignity 
 and gravity, the Lioness is also remarkable for her 
 smaller size, her more slender and delicate make, and 
 the superior grace and agility of her movements. Her 
 inferiority in muscular strength to the Lion, and to him 
 alone, is, however, fully compensated by the greater 
 liveliness of her disposition, the unrestrained ardour of 
 her passions, and the vigorous impetuosity of her mo- 
 tions, which all contribute to render her an equally 
 formidable opponent with her more powerful, but less 
 irritable, lord. They differ also in another obvious cha-
 
 12 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 racteristic, the habitual position and direction of their 
 heads, that of the Lion being almost uniformly elevated 
 and thrown upwards with an air of mingled frankness 
 and hauteur, agreeing well with the popular notions of 
 his tranquil dignity of temper and deportment ; while 
 the Lioness as constantly carries her head on a level 
 with the line of her back, thus giving to her otherwise 
 expressive countenance a sullen and downcast look, and 
 evincing a nearer approach to the inferior races of the 
 feline tribe. This singular distinction appears to be in 
 a great measure dependent on the absence of the mane ; 
 for it is observed that the young male cubs, until the 
 period at which this badge of dignity begins to make its 
 appearance, that is to say until they are about twelve 
 months old, carry their heads in the same level position 
 with the female. 
 
 It cannot be doubted that the lighter and slenderer 
 shape of the Lioness, and her consequently greater acti- 
 vity, tend in an especial manner to the formation of that 
 more lively and sensitive character by which all her 
 actions are so strongly marked: but there is another 
 cause, no less powerful than these, which operates with 
 peculiar force, in the vivid excitability of her maternal 
 feelings, which she cherishes with an ardour almost 
 unparalleled in the history of any other animal. From 
 the moment that she becomes a mother, the native 
 ferocity of her disposition is renovated as it were with 
 tenfold vigour; she watches over her young with that 
 undefined dread of danger to their weak and defenceless 
 state, and that suspicious eagerness of alarm, which keep 
 her in a constant state of feverish excitation: and woe 
 be to the wretched intruder, whether man or beast, who
 
 THE LIONESS AND HER CUBS. 13 
 
 should unwarily at such a time approach the precincts 
 of her sanctuary. Even in a state of captivity, and 
 however completely she may have been previously sub- 
 jected to the control of her keeper, she loses all respect 
 for his commands, and abandons herself occasionally to 
 the most violent paroxysms of rage. 
 
 Of this the individual Lioness now in the Tower 
 affords a striking- example. We have already observed 
 in our account of the Lion that, for a considerable time 
 after her arrival in England, she was so tame as to be 
 allowed frequently to roam at large about the open yard ; 
 and even long after it had been judged expedient that 
 this degree of liberty should no longer be granted, her 
 disposition was far from exciting any particular fear in 
 the minds of her keepers. As an instance of this, we 
 may mention that when, on one occasion about a year 
 and a half ago, she had been suffered through inad- 
 vertence to leave her den, and when she was by no 
 means in good temper, George Willoughway, the under 
 keeper, had the boldness, alone and armed only with 
 a stick, to venture upon the task of driving her back 
 into her place of confinement; which he finally ac- 
 complished, not however without strong symptoms of 
 resistance on her part, as she actually made three springs 
 upon him, all of which he was fortunate enough to 
 avoid. 
 
 But from the period when she gave birth to her Cubs 
 a total alteration has taken place in her temper and 
 demeanour. She no longer suffers the least familiarity 
 even on the part of her keepers, but gives full scope to 
 the violence of her passions. Intent solely on providing 
 for the security of her young, she imagines that the 
 object of every person who approaches her den is to rob
 
 14 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 her of her treasures, over which she watches with almost 
 sleepless anxiety, exhibiting the truly beautiful but 
 appalling picture of maternal tenderness combined with 
 savage ferocity, each in their utmost intensity of force 
 and colouring. 
 
 The Cubs, which are three in number, two male and 
 one female, were whelped on the 20th of October, 1827, 
 the day of the battle of Navarino ; and it is remarked by 
 Mr. Cops, as a curious coincidence, that they are the 
 only Lions which have been whelped in the Tower since 
 the year 1794, rendered memorable by the great naval 
 victory gained by Lord Howe over the French fleet. 
 They are universally considered to be the finest ever 
 bred in England, and are now in a most thriving con- 
 dition. They have not, however, yet reached the period 
 when the shedding of the milk-teeth takes place, a pro- 
 cess which is perhaps more perilous to the brute creation 
 than that of dentition to the offspring of the human race, 
 and appears indeed to be attended with greater risks in 
 proportion to the carnivorous propensities of the respec- 
 tive species. To the Lion it has always proved, at least 
 in his state of captivity, a period of the greatest danger, 
 very few individuals of the numerous whelps which have 
 been produced either here or on the continent surviving 
 its effects. Still there is good reason to hope, from the 
 peculiarly healthy appearance of the present litter, that, 
 by means of skilful management, the danger may be 
 averted, and that a pair at least of these noble animals, 
 " born and bred in England," may in a few years rival 
 their parents in size, in beauty, and in majesty. 
 
 The mother and her whelps are admirably represented 
 in the spirited group of portraits which heads the present 
 article. The latter have all the playfulness of kittens,
 
 THE LIONESS AND HER CUBS. 15 
 
 and are fondled by their dam in a similar manner to 
 that in which the domestic cat caresses her young. 
 While they were small enough she carried them from 
 place to place in her mouth, and showed the greatest 
 solicitude to keep them from the view of strangers ; and 
 even now that they are grown too large for this mode of 
 treatment, she continues to pay the strictest attention to 
 the cleanliness of their persons, and licks their fur, as 
 they tumble about her, with all the matronly dignity 
 and gravity of an accomplished nurse. 
 
 The Cubs have hitherto exhibited very faint traces of 
 the striped livery which is generally characteristic of the 
 Lion's whelp ; but it is highly probable that when they 
 lose their winter coat, this marking may become more 
 obvious, although, on account of their advancing age, it 
 will never show itself with that distinctness which has 
 been observed in other instances. It consists of a blackish 
 band, extending along the centre of the back, from the 
 head almost to the extremity of the tail, and branching 
 off into numerous other bands of the same colour, which 
 are parallel to each other, and pass across the upper 
 parts of the sides and tail. The very young lion conse- 
 quently bears no small resemblance to the tiger; a 
 circumstance which it is interesting to remark as one 
 which furnishes additional evidence of the close affinity 
 of these formidable animals. The colouring of its bands 
 is, however, much less intense ; and in addition to these 
 it possesses on the head and on the limbs numerous 
 irregular spots of a darker hue than the rest of the fur, 
 which are never found in the neighbouring species. On 
 the limbs of the present Cubs these spots and blotches 
 are distinctly visible amidst the rough and half shaggy 
 coat which covers them, and which is not exchanged for
 
 16 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 the smooth and sleek fur, with which they are subse- 
 quently invested, until they approach their full growth. 
 As they advance towards the adult age, which takes 
 place in the fifth or sixth year, the livery gradually 
 disappears, and is then usually entirely lost. The 
 Lioness herself, however, still retains some trifling 
 vestiges of it. The Cubs are, as usual, destitute of the 
 longer hairs which form the tuft at the extremity of the 
 tail of the adult, which in them tapers to a black tip. 
 Their voice is at present perfectly similar to the mewing 
 of a cat ; and it is not until they reach the age of eighteen 
 months that it changes into that peculiar roar which 
 afterwards becomes so tremendous. At that age the 
 mane has already attained considerable developement. 
 This appendage begins to make its appearance in the 
 males w r hen they are ten or twelve months old, having 
 at first the shape of a slight frill or ruff, but gradually 
 becoming more and more extensive, and at length assum- 
 ing that striking form which gives to the full grown 
 animal a graceful and dignified, and to the more aged a 
 reverend and majestic, air.
 
 THE CAPE LION. 
 
 FELIS LEO. Var. CAPENSIS. 
 
 AFRICA, as we have already observed, is truly the native 
 country of the Lion ; and in no part of that vast conti- 
 nent, we may add, does he attain greater size, or exhibit 
 all his characteristic features in fuller and more complete 
 developement, than in the immediate vicinity of the settle- 
 ments which have been formed in the interior of its 
 southern extremity by the Dutch and English colonists 
 of the Cape. In speaking of the Bengal Lion, we have 
 also pointed out the more striking characteristics by 
 which the Asiatic race is distinguished from that of 
 Southern Africa; consisting principally in the larger 
 size, the more regular and graceful form, the generally 
 
 c
 
 18 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 darker colour, and the less extensive mane of the African. 
 It remains, however, to be mentioned that, even in this 
 latter race, there are two varieties, which have been long 
 known to the settlers under the names of the Pale and 
 the Black Lion, distinguished, as their appellations imply, 
 by the lighter or darker colour of their coats, and more 
 particularly of their manes. This variation, there can 
 be little doubt, is entirely produced by the different 
 character of the districts which they inhabit, and of the 
 food which they are enabled . to procure. The black 
 Lion, as he is termed, is the larger and the more ferocious 
 of the two, more frequently attacking man himself, if 
 less noble prey should fail him; and sometimes mea- 
 suring the enormous distance of eight feet from the tip 
 of the nose to the origin of the tail, which is generally 
 about half the length of the body. He is, however, of 
 less frequent occurrence than the pale variety. 
 
 It is in the night-time more particularly that the Lion 
 prowls abroad in search of his prey, the conformation of 
 his eyes not only, like those of the cat, allowing him to 
 see with a very moderate degree of light, but even ren- 
 dering the full glare of day distressing and intolerable 
 to him. It is for this reason that travellers, who are 
 compelled to sleep in the open air in countries infested 
 by these animals, are careful to keep up a blazing fire, 
 which the tenderness of their eyes deters them from 
 approaching, unless when they are extremely hard 
 pressed by the calls of hunger. These, it would appear, 
 sometimes become paramount to every other considera- 
 tion, and urge the Lion, as they do many more ignoble 
 beasts, into the exhibition of a degree of courage, which,
 
 THE CAPE LION. 19 
 
 in despite of all that has been said on the subject, is by 
 no means his natural characteristic. 
 
 " At the time," says Mr. Burchell, in his admirable 
 Travels in Southern Africa, " when men first adopted 
 the Lion as the emblem of courage, it would seem that 
 they regarded great size and strength as indicating it; 
 but they were greatly mistaken in the character they had 
 given of this indolent skulking animal." That an animal 
 which seldom attacks by open force, but, stealing along 
 with cautious and noiseless tread, silently approaches 
 his victim, conceals himself in treacherous ambush, and 
 at length, when he imagines his prey to be fairly within 
 his reach, bounds forth upon him with an overwhelming 
 leap, crushes him beneath the tremendous weight of his 
 irresistible paw, tears him piece-meal with his talons, 
 and, after having surfeited on his horrid meal, returns 
 into the depths of his solitary concealment to sleep 
 away the hours until his satiated appetite shall be again 
 renewed, and his craving maw stimulate him to fresh 
 exertion, that such an animal should ever have been 
 regarded as the type of courage and the emblem of 
 magnanimity would indeed be most astonishing, were it 
 not that men have in all ages been too prone to flatter 
 superior power, and to offer at the shrine of greatness 
 that homage which is due only to the good. 
 
 True it is that on some occasions the Lion 'has been 
 known, in the capriciousness of his disposition, to suffer 
 his prostrate prey to escape but little injured from his 
 clutch ; but these instances are of rare occurrence, and 
 may safely be referred either to his natural indolence, 
 when excited neither by hunger nor by provocation, or 
 to that intellectual debasement which among brutes is 
 
 c 2
 
 20 THE TOWER MEiNAGERIE. 
 
 the usual concomitant of increased bulk and formidable 
 strength. But to conclude from such whims and freaks, 
 unaccountable as they may sometimes appear, that he is 
 actuated by feelings of mercy, or by the natural impulse 
 of a generous mind, would be about as reasonable as it 
 would be to assume from the instances which are recorded 
 of the justice and generosity of a Tamerlane or a Tippoo, 
 that those monsters of sanguinary cruelty were in reality 
 the mildest and most merciful of despots. 
 
 We have said that the Lion generally chooses the 
 night for his excursions ; and this is in fact the only 
 time at which he ventures to approach the habitations of 
 man, from which he will frequently carry off horses or 
 oxen, apparently with the greatest ease, and almost with- 
 out seeming to be incumbered by his burthen. Beyond 
 the precincts of European civilization, and out of the 
 reach of the dreaded rifle, he will sometimes penetrate 
 into the very hut of the Bushman, and prey upon its 
 human inhabitants. It is even stated, and on very 
 respectable authority, that in some of the most distant 
 kraals, or villages, those wretched people purposely 
 expose the old and the infirm among them in such 
 situations as they consider most open to attack, as the 
 Lion's share, in the expectation that he will instinctively 
 seize upon those who are first thrown in his way. When, 
 however, the Lion finds his appetite thus easily satiated, 
 it is said that he is sure to return night after night to 
 the kraal for a fresh victim ; until the miserable remnant 
 of its inhabitants at length find it absolutely necessary 
 to quit the ground, and to seek a precarious safety in 
 flight. 
 
 In the day-time, when pressed by hunger, the Lion
 
 THE CAPE LION. 21 
 
 takes his secret stand among the reeds and long grass in 
 the neighbourhood of springs and rivers, and watches 
 with unwearied patience for such animals as may, for 
 the purpose of quenching their thirst, pass sufficiently 
 near him to ensure the success of his attack. This is 
 generally made in one enormous bound of fifteen, twenty, 
 or even, it is said, thirty feet, and with a force capable of 
 bearing to the ground and completely disabling the most 
 formidable opponent. At times, however, he will pursue 
 his prey somewhat more openly, and by quickly repeated 
 springs; but this is an exertion which he is unable to 
 continue for any considerable length of time, and which, 
 consequently, any animal of moderate fleetness, that has 
 fairly got the start of him, is certain to outstrip. Of 
 this the Lion appears to be fully aware ; for, if not 
 successful in the commencement of the chase, he gene- 
 rally relinquishes it at once, and retires gradually, and 
 step by step, to his place of ambush, to watch for a 
 better opportunity and a more certain prey. 
 
 It is rarely that the Lion of the Cape district ventures 
 to attack a man, unless provoked, or impelled by urgent 
 hunger. The colonists, however, who are very great 
 sufferers (especially in their horses, for whose flesh he 
 seems to have a peculiar taste) by his frequent visits; are 
 his most determined and deadly foes, and omit no 
 opportunity of wreaking their vengeance upon him for 
 the injuries which he has inflicted upon their property. 
 The frontier boors in particular, who are more exposed 
 to his ravages, and who, being well trained to hunting, 
 are most of them excellent marksmen, appear to take a 
 peculiar pleasure in attacking the Lion, even when they
 
 22 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 meet him almost singly. They, however, more frequently 
 make up parties for the chase, which is unquestionably 
 attended with no little danger, even when the huntsmen 
 are numerous and experienced; for although the Lion 
 on such occasions almost always takes to his heels, and 
 endeavours to make his escape without confronting his 
 pursuers; yet, when he finds that flight is in vain, he 
 turns upon them with a fierceness and determination 
 that nothing could withstand, were it not for the well 
 proved superiority possessed by them in the formidable 
 rifle, which, on such an emergency, they know how to 
 direct with a steady and almost unerring aim. 
 
 The Cape Lion is seldom taken alive ; his utter de- 
 struction and extermination forming the primary object 
 of his pursuers. Occasionally, however, when a Lioness 
 has been shot, and the hunters have been fortunate 
 enough to trace out her den, the cubs are brought away, 
 and in some measure domesticated, at least for a season, 
 and until they acquire sufficient force to become dan- 
 gerous. Up to this period some of the colonists will even 
 suffer them to remain almost at large in their dwellings ; 
 but they have frequently occasion to rue the mercy they 
 have shown, and are at length compelled, by the unequi- 
 vocal manifestations of that ferocity which never fails to 
 make its appearance when the animals have attained a 
 certain age, to destroy the creatures whom they have 
 nourished and caressed. 
 
 Two male individuals of this breed are now exhibiting 
 at the Tower: the one whose portrait illustrates the 
 present article, and who, although scarcely more than 
 two years and a half old, already rivals his adult Asiatic
 
 THE CAPE LION. 23 
 
 neighbour in size and majesty, while he exceeds him in 
 grace and agility; and a second, of about ten months 
 old, apparently belonging to the pale variety, and who 
 is just beginning to exhibit the first faint outline of the 
 mane. The former of these is remarkably beautiful and 
 docile : he became an inmate of the Tower in May, 1827 ; 
 and was, during his voyage from the Cape, being then 
 very young, so tame and domesticated as to be allowed 
 to run about the deck like a dog.
 
 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 THE BARBARY LIONESS. 
 
 FELIS LEO. Var. NUMIDA. 
 
 IN the male of this variety, which has been more fre- 
 quently brought to Europe than any other, the mane 
 attains as much developement and covers the under 
 parts of the body as extensively as in the Lion of Eastern 
 Asia, whom, however, at the adult age, he exceeds con- 
 siderably in size. The Lioness has little to distinguish 
 her from the other breeds. 
 
 The specimen now in the Menagerie is a young female 
 about three years and a half old. She was a present to 
 his Majesty from the Emperor of Morocco. During 
 some tempestuous weather, which occurred on her pas- 
 sage, the male who accompanied her was killed, and she 
 herself met with an accident, from the falling of a spar, 
 by which she was curtailed of her fair proportions, and 
 deprived of the greater part of her tail. The disfigure- 
 ment thus caused is, however, trifling, and she is still a 
 very fine animal.
 
 THE TIGER. 
 
 FELIS TIGRIS. LINN. 
 
 CLOSELY allied to the Lion, whom he resembles in size, 
 in power, in external form, in internal structure, in 
 zoological characters, in his prowling hahits, and in his 
 sanguinary propensities, the Tiger is at once distin- 
 guished from that king of beasts, and from every other 
 of their common genus, by the peculiar marking of his 
 coat. On a ground which exhibits in different indivi- 
 duals various shades of yellow, he is elegantly striped 
 by a series of transverse black bands or bars, which 
 occupy the sides of his head, neck, and body, and are 
 continued upon his tail in the form of rings, the last of 
 the series uniformly occupying the extremity of that
 
 26 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 organ, and giving to it a black tip of greater or less 
 extent. The under parts of his body and the inner sides 
 of his legs are almost entirely white ; he has no mane ; 
 and his whole frame, though less elevated than that of 
 the Lion, is of a slenderer and more graceful make. His 
 head is also shorter and more rounded. 
 
 Almost in the same degree that the Lion has been 
 exalted and magnified, at the expense of his fellow 
 brutes, has the Tiger been degraded and depressed below 
 his just and natural level. While the one has been held 
 up to admiration, as the type and standard of heroic 
 perfection, the other has, with equal capriciousness of 
 judgment and disregard of the close and intimate rela- 
 tionship subsisting between them, been looked upon by 
 mankind in general with those feelings of unmingled 
 horror and detestation which his character for untame- 
 able ferocity and insatiable thirst of blood was so well 
 calculated to inspire! It requires, however, but little 
 consideration to teach us that the broad distinction, 
 which has thus been drawn, cannot by possibility exist ; 
 and the recorded observations of naturalists and travel- 
 lers, both at home and abroad, will be found amply 
 sufficient to prove that the difference in their characters 
 and habits, on which so much stress has been laid, is in 
 reality as slight and unessential as that which exists in 
 their corporeal structure. 
 
 Unquestionably the Tiger has not the majesty of the 
 Lion; for he is destitute of the mane, in which that 
 majesty chiefly resides. Neither has he the same calm 
 and dignified air of imperturbable gravity which is at 
 once so striking and so prepossessing in the aspect of 
 the Lion. But, on the other hand, it will readily be
 
 THE TIGER. 27 
 
 granted, that in the superior lightness of his frame, which 
 allows his natural agility its free and unrestricted scope, 
 and in the graceful ease and spirited activity of his 
 motions, to say nothing of the beauty, the regularity, 
 and the vividness of his colouring, he far excels his 
 competitor, whose giant bulk and comparative heaviness 
 of person, added to the dull uniformity of his colour, 
 detract in no small degree from the impression produced 
 by his noble and majestic bearing. 
 
 In comparing the moral qualities of these two formi- 
 dable animals, we shall also find that the shades of 
 difference, for at most they are but shades, which distin- 
 guish them, are, like their external characteristics, pretty 
 equally balanced in favour of each. In all the leading 
 features of their character, the habits of both are essen- 
 tially the same. The Tiger, equally with the Lion, and 
 in common indeed with the whole of the group to which 
 he belongs, reposes indolently in fhe security of his den, 
 until the calls of appetite stimulate him to look abroad 
 for food. He then chooses a convenient ambush, in 
 which to lie concealed from observation, generally amid 
 the underwood of the forest, but sometimes even on the 
 branches of a tree, which he climbs with all the agility 
 of a cat. In this secret covert he awaits with patient 
 watchfulness the approach of his prey, upon which he 
 darts forth with an irresistible bound, and bears it off in 
 triumph to his den. Unlike the Lion, however, if his 
 first attack proves unsuccessful, and he misses his aim, 
 he does not usually slink sullenly back into his retreat, 
 but pursues his victim with a speed and activity which 
 is seldom baffled even by the fleetest animals. 
 
 It is only when this close and covert mode of attack
 
 28 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 has failed in procuring him the necessary supply, that, 
 urged by those inward cravings, which are the ruling 
 impulse of all his actions, he prowls abroad under the 
 veil of night, and ventures to approach the dwellings of 
 man, of whom he does not appear to feel that instinctive 
 awe which the Lion has been known so frequently to 
 evince. But even on such occasions, and although im- 
 pelled by the strong stimulus of famine, he is in general 
 far from unmindful of his own security; but creeps 
 slowly along his silent path with all the stealthy caution 
 so characteristic of the feline tribe. Occasionally, how- 
 ever, when the pangs of hunger have become intolerable, 
 and can no longer be controlled even by the overpower- 
 ing sway of instinct, he will boldly advance upon man 
 himself in the open face of day, and brave every danger 
 in the pursuit of that object which, to the exclusion of 
 every other sentiment, appears under such circumstances 
 wholly to engross his faculties. 
 
 It is evident then that in the general outline of his 
 habits, and even in most of the separate traits by which 
 his character is marked, he differs but little from the 
 Lion. His courage, if brute force stimulated by sensual 
 appetite can deserve that honourable name, is at least 
 equal ; and as for magnanimity and generosity, the idea 
 of attributing such noble qualities to either is in itself so 
 absurd, and is so fully refuted by every particular of 
 their authentic history, that it would be perfectly ridicu- 
 lous to attempt a comparison where no materials for 
 comparison exist. It may, however, be observed that in 
 one point the disposition of the Tiger appears to be 
 more cruel than that of the Lion; inasmuch as it is 
 related, that he is not at all times satisfied with a single
 
 THE TIGER. 29 
 
 victim, but deals forth wholesale destruction, without 
 mercy and without distinction, upon whatever may 
 chance to be within the reach of his murderous talons. 
 This, however, is by no means his constant or usual 
 practice ; his instinct being in general sufficient to teach 
 him that his purpose is as effectually answered by one 
 fatal bound as by the most extensive devastation ; for 
 neither he, nor any of the more powerful of his tribe, 
 return to their prey after the first meal, but leave its 
 mangled relics for the ignoble beasts which follow in 
 their train. 
 
 To what cause then, if the similarity between these 
 two animals be so great, and the points of distinction 
 between them so trifling, can we attribute the very dif- 
 ferent impressions which we have all received, and in all 
 probability continue to cherish, with regard to their 
 respective characters? Perhaps something like a plau- 
 sible answer to this question may be found in the fact, 
 that our notions of the Lion have been formed on the 
 striking and exaggerated pictures of his noble qualities, 
 for which we are indebted to the poets of antiquity, who 
 contemplated him only in his captive and almost domes- 
 ticated state ; while our early ideas of the Tiger were 
 derived in a great measure from the equally exaggerated 
 statements of miserable and pusillanimous Hindoos, the 
 spiritless and unresisting victims of every species of 
 oppression, who regarded him with almost unspeakable 
 horror as the merciless tyrant of their forests, a tyrant 
 whose ferocious temper and sanguinary ravages were 
 equalled only by those of the human despots, to whom, 
 as well as to their brute oppressors, they paid the base
 
 30 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 tribute of servile minds, in the fearful dread and crouch- 
 ing awe with which they prostrated themselves at the 
 feet of both. 
 
 Nothing in fact can exceed the terror which this formi- 
 dable animal inspires in those countries which are liable 
 to his devastations. More restricted, however, in this 
 respect than the Lion, he is entirely unknown in Africa, 
 and is rarely, if ever, to be met with in Asia on this side 
 the Indus. In the south of China, and in the larger 
 Asiatic Islands, such as Sumatra and Java, he is unhap- 
 pily but too common ; but it is said, we know not with 
 what degree of truth, that in the last mentioned locality 
 he is less ferocious than in the Peninsula of Hindostan. 
 This is truly the cradle of his existence and the seat of 
 his empire, in which he disputes dominion even with the 
 Lion himself, who is comparatively rare in the Indian 
 jungles, and with whom the Tiger has been sometimes 
 known to join in deadly and successful struggle for the 
 mastery. Endowed with a degree of force, which the 
 Lion and the Elephant alone can equal, he carries off a 
 buffalo in his tremendous jaws, almost without relaxing 
 from his usual speed. With a single stroke of his claws 
 he rips open the body of the largest animals; and is 
 said to suck their blood with insatiable avidity. Of the 
 correctness of this latter statement, at least in its full 
 extent, there is however strong reason to doubt. The 
 Tiger does not, according to the most credible accounts, 
 exhibit this propensity to drinking the blood of his 
 victims in any greater degree than the rest of his car- 
 nivorous and blood-thirsty companions. In this, as in 
 other instances, fear has drawn largely on credulity, and
 
 THE TIGER. 31 
 
 the simple and sufficiently disgusting fact has been 
 amplified and exaggerated with all the refinements upon 
 horror which the terrified imagination could suggest. 
 
 In making these observations it is far from our inten- 
 tion to become the apologists of this ferocious beast : our 
 object is simply to place him in the rank which he 
 deserves to hold, on a level with those animals with 
 whom Nature has decreed that he should be associated 
 no less in character than in form. In his wild and unre- 
 stricted state, he is unquestionably one of the most ter- 
 rible of the living scourges, to whose fatal ravages the 
 lower animals, and even man himself, are exposed. But 
 in captivity, and especially if domesticated while young, 
 his temper is equally pliant, his disposition equally docile, 
 and his manners and character equally susceptible of 
 amelioration, with those of any other animal of his class. 
 All the stories that have been so frequently reiterated, 
 until they have at length passed current without exami- 
 nation as accredited truths, of his intractable disposition 
 and insensibility to the kind treatment of his keepers, 
 towards whom it is alleged that he never exhibits the 
 slightest feelings of gratitude, have been proved by 
 repeated experience to be utterly false and groundless. 
 He is tamed with as much facility, and as completely, 
 as the Lion ; and soon becomes familiarised with those 
 who feed him, whom he learns to distinguish from others, 
 and by whom he is fond of being noticed and caressed. 
 Like the cat, which he resembles so closely in all his 
 actions, he arches his broad and powerful back beneath 
 the hand that caresses him ; he licks his fur and smooths 
 himself with his paws ; and purrs in the same mild and 
 expressive manner when he is particularly pleased. He
 
 32 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 remains perfectly quiet and undisturbed, unless when 
 hungry or irritated, and passes the greater part of his 
 time in listless repose. His roar is nearly similar to 
 that of the Lion, and, like his, is by no means to be 
 regarded as a symptom of anger, which he announces 
 by a short and shrill cry, approaching to a scream. 
 
 Two of these noble animals, the one male and the 
 other female, are among the most striking and attractive 
 ornaments of the Menagerie. The beautiful male, of 
 which our figure offers a characteristic likeness, is a very 
 recent importation, having arrived in England in the 
 month of April of the present year, in the East India 
 Company's ship Buckinghamshire, to the commander of 
 which, Captain Glasspool, we are indebted for the follow- 
 ing particulars relative to his birthplace, capture, early 
 life, and education. He was taken prisoner in company 
 with two other cubs, supposed to be not more than three 
 weeks old, on that part of the coast of the peninsula of 
 Malacca which is opposite to the island of Penang, and 
 is commonly known by the name of the Queda Coast. 
 In our present imperfect acquaintance witli this part of 
 the farther peninsula of Hindoostan, it affords perhaps 
 but little ground for surprise that none of these terrible 
 animals should have previously reached this quarter of 
 the globe from a locality so seldom visited by European 
 vessels. Their existence in its extensive jungles and 
 marshy plains has long, however, been notorious; and 
 to judge from the specimen now before us, which, 
 although barely two years old, already exceeds in size 
 the full-grown Asiatic Lion which occupies the neigh- 
 bouring den, they must in that situation be at least as 
 formidable as their fellows of the hither peninsula. The
 
 THE TIGER. 33 
 
 dam of this individual had, it appears, made a nocturnal 
 incursion into one of the towns of the district, from 
 which she had carried off a large quantity of provisions. 
 She was pursued and killed, and her three cubs were 
 taken possession of by the conquerors in token of their 
 victory and brought home in triumph. One of them, a 
 female, died shortly after ; the second, a male, is still 
 living in the possession of a resident at Penang ; and the 
 third, the subject of the present article, also fell into the 
 hands of a gentleman of that settlement, in whose pad- 
 dock he was confined, in company with a pony and a 
 dog, for upwards of twelve months, without evincing the 
 least inclination to injure his companions or any one 
 who approached him. By this gentleman he was pre- 
 sented to Captain Glasspool, who brought him to Eng- 
 land : on the voyage he was remarkably tame, allowing 
 the sailors to play with him, and appearing to take much 
 pleasure in their caresses. On being placed in his pre- 
 sent den he was rather sulky for a few days ; but seems 
 now to have recovered his good temper, and to be per- 
 fectly reconciled to his situation. The mildness of his 
 temper may probably be in a great measure due to his 
 having from a very early age been accustomed to boiled 
 food; raw flesh never having been offered to him until 
 after his arrival in the Menagerie. This change of food 
 he seems particularly to enjoy, although he has by no 
 means lost his appetite for soup, which he devours with 
 much eagerness. Notwithstanding his immature age, 
 Mr. Cops considers him the largest Tiger that he ever 
 saw. 
 
 The other individual at present in the Tower is a 
 Tigress of great beauty from Bengal, scarcely a twelve-
 
 34 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 month old, -who also promises to become an exceed- 
 ingly fine animal. During her passage from Calcutta 
 she was allowed to range about the vessel unrestricted, 
 became perfectly familiar with the sailors, and showed 
 not the slightest symptom of ferocity. On her arrival, 
 however, in the Thames, the irritation produced by the 
 sight of strangers completely and instantly changed her 
 temper, rendering her irascible and dangerous. Her 
 deportment was so sulky and savage that .Mr. Cops 
 could scarcely be prevailed on by her former keeper, 
 who saw her shortly afterwards, to allow him to enter 
 her den: but no sooner did she recognise her old friend, 
 than she fawned upon him, licked him, and caressed 
 him, exhibiting the most extravagant signs of pleasure ; 
 and when he left her she cried and whined for the 
 remainder of the day. To her new residence and her 
 new keeper she is now perfectly reconciled.
 
 THE LEOPARD. 
 
 FELIS LEOPARDVS. LINN. 
 
 THE race of this wily and sanguinary animal, which is 
 unsurpassed in all the terrible characteristics of its tribe, 
 and yields to the tremendous and ferocious beasts, to the 
 illustration of whose habits and manners our previous 
 pages have been devoted, in none of their dreaded attri- 
 butes, excepting only in size and strength, is spread 
 almost as extensively over the surface of the Old World 
 as that of the Lion himself. From the shores of the 
 Mediterranean to the immediate neighbourhood of the 
 Cape he is familiar to every part of the monster-bearing 
 continent of Africa ; while in the east of Asia his fatal 
 spring and murderous talons are equally known and 
 
 o2
 
 36 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 dreaded by the mild and timid Hindoos, the polite but 
 still barbarous Chinese, and the fierce and savage Islanders 
 of the great Sumatran- chain. Throughout this immense 
 tract of country he varies but in a trifling degree, and that 
 merely in his comparative magnitude, in the size, shape, 
 and disposition of his markings, and in the greater or 
 less intensity of his colouring : in the more essential 
 particulars of form and structure, as well as in character 
 and disposition, he is every where the same. 
 
 It has already been mentioned that the Leopard is 
 smaller than the Tiger ; indeed he seldom exceeds from 
 three to four feet from the tip of the nose to the root of 
 the tail, which latter is somewhat shorter than the body. 
 Perhaps the largest authentic measurement is that of an 
 animal, spoken of under the designation of Panther, but 
 in all probability truly a Leopard, which was killed by 
 Colonel Denham's party in the course of that zealous 
 and successful traveller's late expedition, and Avhich is 
 stated at eight feet two inches from the muzzle to the 
 extremity of the tail. This savage creature, although 
 twice impaled by the lances of his pursuers which he 
 had snapped asunder in his rage, was still on the point 
 of making a spring upon the foremost of the party, when 
 a musket ball through the head completely deprived him 
 of that vitality which his previous wounds, dangerous 
 and fatal as they undoubtedly were, had not even ap- 
 peared to diminish in any sensible degree. 
 
 The ground colour of the fur of the Leopard, which is 
 eminently and beautifully sleek, is a yellowish fawn 
 above, which becomes paler on the sides, and is entirely 
 lost in the pure white of the under part of the body. 
 The top of the back, the head, neck, limbs, and under
 
 THE LEOPARD. 37 
 
 surface of the body, are irregularly covered with larger 
 or smaller, roundish or oval, perfectly black spots ; while 
 the whole of the sides of the animal and a portion of his 
 tail are occupied by numerous distinct roses, formed by 
 the near approach of three or four elongated small black 
 spots, which surround a central area, about an inch or 
 an inch and a quarter in breadth, of a somewhat deeper 
 colour than the ground on which it is placed. There 
 are some black lines on the lips, and bands of the same 
 colour on the inside of the legs ; two or three imperfect 
 black circles, alternating with white, also occur towards 
 the extremity of the tail, which is entirely white beneath. 
 It would be superfluous to enter into any detail of his 
 habits, which correspond but too well with those of his 
 fellow cats already described, and are only modified by 
 his want of equal power. This deficiency is, however, 
 in a great measure supplied by the extreme pliability of 
 his spine, which gives to his motions a degree of velocity, 
 agility, and precision combined, that is altogether un- 
 equalled by any other quadruped, and to which the 
 greater lateral compression of his body, the increased 
 length and more slender proportions of his limbs, and 
 the suppleness of all his joints must of necessity mate- 
 rially contribute. Equally satage, equally dastardly, 
 and equally cruel, he closely imitates the manners of 
 the Lion and the Tiger, on a somewhat reduced, but still 
 formidable, scale. Antilopes, monkeys, and the smaller 
 quadrupeds constitute his usual prey, upon which he 
 darts forth from his secret stand, and which he perti- 
 naciously pursues even upon the trees where they may 
 have taken refuge, climbing after them with surprising 
 agility. Man he generally endeavours, if possible, to
 
 38 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 avoid ; but, when hard pressed, he fears not to make 
 head against the hunter; and it frequently requires the 
 exertion of no common share of skill and intrepidity in 
 the latter to save himself from the deadly fangs of the 
 infuriated object of his pursuit. Occasionally, indeed, 
 the cravings of hunger stimulate the treacherous animal 
 to attack the unwary woodcutter, or the lone traveller 
 whose path has led to his secret haunts ; but in this case 
 he rarely, if ever, shows himself openly in the face of 
 day, but watches with insidious glare for the fatal oppor- 
 tunity of springing upon his wretched victim from 
 behind, and of annihilating his power of resistance before 
 it could possibly be exerted in his defence. 
 
 In captivity, however, especially if taken while yet 
 young, his character frequently undergoes a change as 
 favourable as that which takes place under the same 
 circumstances in the generality of his tribe. The pair at 
 present in the Tower are male and female ; they are both 
 Asiatic, and are confined in the same den, but they differ 
 very materially in temper and disposition. The female, 
 which is the older of the two, and has been a resident in 
 the Menagerie for upwards of four years, is exceedingly 
 tame, suffering herself to be patted and caressed by the 
 keeper, and licking his hands. Strangers, however, 
 especially ladies, should be cautious of approaching her 
 too familiarly, as she has always evinced a particular 
 predilection for the destruction of umbrellas, parasols, 
 muffs, hats, and such other articles of dress as may 
 happen to come within her reach, seizing them with the 
 greatest quickness and tearing them into pieces almost 
 before the astonished visiter has become aware of the 
 loss. To so great an extent has she carried this peculiar
 
 THE LEOPAHD. 39 
 
 taste that Mr. Cops declares that he has no doubt that 
 during her residence in the Tower she has made prey of 
 at least as many of these articles as there are days in the 
 year. The agility with which she bounds round her 
 cell, which is of considerable size, touching at one leap, 
 and almost with the velocity of thought, each of its four 
 walls, and skimming along the ceiling with the same 
 rapidity of action, which is scarcely to be followed by 
 the eye, is truly wonderful, and speaks more forcibly of 
 the muscular power and flexibility of limb by which 
 such extraordinary motions are executed than language 
 can express. 
 
 The male, on the contrary, although he has been more 
 than twelve months an inmate of the Tower, is still as 
 sullen and as savage as on the day of his arrival. Not- 
 withstanding the kind treatment which has been lavished 
 upon him by the keepers, he yet refuses to become 
 familiarised with them, and receives all their overtures at 
 a nearer acquaintance with such sulky and even angry 
 symptoms as plainly evince that it would be dangerous 
 to tamper with his unreclaimed and unmanageable dis- 
 position. He is, as is usual in all these animals, larger 
 than the female, and much richer and more beautiful in 
 the style of his marking and depth of his colouring. The 
 two animals, however, although differing so greatly in 
 temper, agree together tolerably well, excepting only at 
 meal times, when their usual harmony is in some measure 
 broken in upon by the jealousy with which they regard 
 each other's share of the repast. 
 
 Their food consists of about five pounds of beef per 
 day for each : this the keeper generally tosses up in 
 front of their den, at the distance of nearly two feet from
 
 40 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 the bars, and to the height of six or eight feet from the 
 floor. The animals, who are on the alert for their dinner, 
 immediately leap towards the bars, and, darting out their 
 paws with incredible swiftness, almost uniformly succeed 
 in seizing it before it falls to the ground. If, as it some- 
 times happens, the meat is thrown up at too great a 
 distance, so as not to be fairly within reach, they remain 
 perfectly stationary and make no attempt to spring upon 
 it, but watch it with anxious avidity, apparently calcu- 
 lating and comparing the distance of the object and the 
 extent of their own grasp. When they have, in this 
 way, secured their meal, instead of ravenously falling to, 
 like the other carnivorous animals in the collection, they 
 stand growling over it for some minutes, leering upon 
 each other with the most frightful contortions. This 
 growling attitude of mistrust in feeding was constantly 
 maintained by the female, even before she had a com- 
 panion in her captivity, and when consequently there 
 existed no immediate object for the excitement of her 
 selfish or envious feelings. '
 
 THE JAGUAR. 
 
 FELIS ONCA. LINX. 
 
 IT can scarcely fail to have been remarked by those who 
 have perused the preceding- pages with moderate atten- 
 tion that the species of cats described in them, including 
 the largest and most formidable of the whole genus, are 
 exclusively natives of the Old World, and confined to 
 the hot and burning climates of Southern Asia and of 
 Africa. A second and more numerous class, of which, 
 however, no example exists at present in the Tower 
 Menagerie, and which, consequently, it does not fall 
 within our province to illustrate, occupy the colder and 
 northern regions of both hemispheres. These belong 
 principally to the same subdivision with the Lynx
 
 42 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 (being, like him, distinguished by the pencils of long 
 hairs which surmount their ears), and to that which 
 comprehends the domestic cat ; and are all of diminutive 
 size and trifling power when compared with those mon- 
 strous productions of the torrid zone, the Lion, the 
 Tiger, and the Leopard. The reader is not, however, to 
 imagine that the smaller species exist only in the vicinity 
 of the pole and in the temperate regions of the earth : he 
 will find, on the contrary, that many of them are natives 
 of more southern climes, and commit their petty ravages 
 under as fierce a sun as that which fires their more 
 dreaded competitors in the career of rapine and of blood. 
 Of one of these, the true Lynx of antiquity, we shall 
 have occasion to treat in a subsequent article. 
 
 But there is also a third class which springs into 
 existence in the warmer climates of America, some of 
 whose representatives almost equal the Tiger in magni- 
 tude, in vigour, and in ferocity, while others rival the 
 Leopard in the beauty and sleekness of their fur, and in 
 the agility and gracefulness of their motions. Foremost 
 of these, and holding the highest rank among the most 
 formidable animals of the New World, stands the Jaguar, 
 or, as he is sometimes called, the American Tiger. Supe- 
 rior to the Leopard in size as well as in strength, he 
 approaches very nearly in both respects to the Lionesses 
 of the smaller breeds : he is, however, less elevated on 
 his legs, and heavier and more clumsy in all his propor- 
 tions. His head is larger and rounder than that of the 
 Leopard ; and his tail is considerably shorter in propor- 
 tion, being only of sufficient length to allow of its 
 touching the ground when the animal is standing, while 
 that of the Leopard, as we have before observed, is very
 
 THE JAGUAR. 43 
 
 nearly as long as his whole body. This disproportion 
 between the length of their tails affords perhaps the 
 most striking distinction between the two animals, offer- 
 ing, as it does, a constant and never-failing criterion ; 
 whereas the difference in the marking of their furs, 
 although sufficiently obvious on a close examination, 
 depends almost entirely on such minute particularities 
 as would probably escape the notice of a superficial 
 observer, and were in fact for a long time so completely 
 neglected, even by zoologists, that it is only within a 
 few years that we have been again taught accurately to 
 distinguish between them. These particularities we shall 
 now proceed to point out. 
 
 On- the whole upper surface of the body of the Jaguar 
 the fur, which is short, close, and smooth, is of a bright 
 yellowish fawn ; passing on the throat, belly, and inside 
 of the legs, into a pure white. On this ground the head, 
 limbs, and under surface are covered with full black 
 spots of various sizes; and the rest of the body with 
 roses, either entirely bordered by a black ring or sur- 
 rounded by several of the smaller black spots arranged 
 in a circular form. The full spots are generally conti- 
 nued upon the greater part of the tail, the tip of which 
 is black, and which is also encircled near its extremity 
 by three or four black rings. So far there is little to 
 distinguish the marking of the Jaguar from that of the 
 Leopard ; we come now to the differences observable 
 between them. The spots which occupy the central line 
 of the back in the former are full, narrow, and elongated ; 
 and the roses of the sides and haunches, which are con- 
 siderably larger and proportionally less numerous than 
 in the Leopard, are all or nearly all marked with one OF
 
 44 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 sometimes two black dots or spots of smaller size towards 
 their centre : an apparently trifling, but constant and 
 very remarkable distinction, which exists in no other 
 species. By this peculiarity alone the Jaguar may at 
 once be recognised ; and this external characteristic, 
 together with the extreme shortness of his tail, his much 
 greater size, his comparatively clumsy form, and the 
 heaviness of all his motions, not to speak of the peculiarity 
 of his voice, which has the sharp and harsh sound of an 
 imperfect bark, are unquestionably fully sufficient to 
 sanction his separation from a race of animals, from 
 which, however much he may resemble them in general 
 characters, he differs in so many and such essential par- 
 ticulars. That this separation has been made more com- 
 plete by the hand of Nature herself, who has interposed 
 the wide ocean between him and those of his fellows 
 with whom alone there is any probability of his being 
 confounded, is an additional proof, if any confirmation 
 were wanting, of the soundness qf the distinction which 
 has been drawn between them. 
 
 It is in the swampy forests of South America that the 
 Jaguar commits his destructive ravages, which are spread 
 over nearly the whole of that continent from Paraguay 
 almost to the Isthmus of Darien. It has frequently been 
 said that he is also to be found in Mexico ; but this 
 appears to be a mistake, originating probably in Buffon's 
 having confounded the Jaguar with the Ocelot, describing 
 and figuring the latter under the name of the former, and 
 intermingling with his description many of the peculiar 
 traits of the real Jaguar derived from the relations of 
 travellers. On the other hand he has erroneously figured 
 the latter animal under the name of the Panther; a
 
 THE JAGUAR. 4-5 
 
 mistake in which he has been followed by Pennant and 
 others, and with which the writings of zoologists are 
 more or less infected even up to the present day. What 
 the Panther of the ancients actually was, or whether 
 there exists any real difference between it and the 
 Leopard, is a much disputed question, into which we 
 have neither space nor inclination to enter : certain it is 
 that it could not possibly have been the present animal, 
 which has never been found out of the limits of America ; 
 and thatBuffon himself had no idea, while he was figuring 
 the latter, that the specimen before him was not a native 
 of Africa or the East. The name of Jaguar is corruptedly 
 derived from the Brazilian appellation of the animal, to 
 which the Portuguese have given the name of Onya; 
 another blunder, for the Ounce of the Old World is now 
 universally allowed to be identical with the Leopard, and 
 with the latter we have already shown that it is impossible 
 that the American species can be conjoined. 
 
 Like the Cats already described, to whom, however, he 
 is much inferior in the suppleness and elasticity of his 
 motions, the Jaguar makes his solitary haunt in the 
 recesses of the forest, especially in the neighbourhood of 
 large rivers, which he swims with the greatest dexterity. 
 Of the extent of this faculty, as well as of his extraor- 
 dinary strength, some judgment may be formed from a 
 circumstance related by D'Azara, which fell partly under 
 that traveller's personal observation; namely, that a 
 Jaguar, after having attacked and destroyed a horse, 
 carried the body of his victim for about sixty paces to 
 the bank of a broad and deep river, over which he swam 
 with his prey, and then dragged it into the adjoining 
 wood. According to M. Sonnini he is as expert at
 
 46 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 climbing as at swimming. " I have seen," he says, " in 
 the forests of Guiana, the prints left by the claws of the 
 Jaguar on the smooth bark of a tree from forty to fifty 
 feet in height, measuring about a foot and a half in 
 circumference, and clothed with branches near its sum- 
 mit alone. It was easy to follow with the eye the efforts 
 which the animal had made to reach the branches: 
 although his talons had been thrust deeply into the 
 body of the tree, he had met with several slips, but he 
 had always recovered his ground, and, attracted no doubt 
 by some favourite object of prey, had at length succeeded 
 in gaining the very top." 
 
 Endowed with such tremendous powers it is no won- 
 der that this formidable animal is regarded with terror 
 by the inhabitants of the countries which he infests. He 
 seldom, however, attacks the human race ; although he 
 does not appear to shun it with any peculiar dread. 
 His onset is always made from behind, and in the same 
 treacherous manner as that of all his tribe ; of a herd of 
 animals or of a band of men passing within his reach, he 
 uniformly singles out the last as the object of his fatal 
 bound. When he has made choice of his victim he 
 springs upon its neck, and, placing one of his paws 
 upon the back of its head while he seizes its muzzle 
 with the other, twists its head round with a sudden jerk, 
 which dislocates its spine and deprives it instantaneously 
 of life and motion. His favourite game appears to be 
 the larger quadrupeds, such as oxen, horses, sheep, and 
 dogs, whom he attacks indiscriminately and almost 
 always successfully, when urged by the powerful crav- 
 ings of his maw. At other times he is indolent and 
 cowardly, secretes himself in caverns, skulks in the
 
 THE JAGUAR. 47 
 
 depths of the forest, and is scared by the most trifling 
 causes. 
 
 The Spaniards and even the native Indians appear to 
 take a pleasure in hunting the Jaguar, whom they attack 
 in various ways. One of the most common is to chase 
 him with a numerous pack of dogs, who, although they 
 dare not attack so 'formidable an opponent, frequently 
 succeed in driving him to seek refuge on a tree or in a 
 thick copse. Should he trust himself to the former, he 
 is usually destroyed by the musket or the lance ; but if 
 he has taken covert among the bushes, it is sometimes 
 difficult to aim at him with precision. In this latter 
 case some of the Indians are hardy enough to attack 
 him single-handed ; a perilous exploit, which, according 
 to D'Azara, they perform in the following manner. 
 Armed only with a lance, of five feet in length, they 
 envelope their left arm in a sheep-skin, by means of 
 which they evade the first onset of the furious animal, 
 and gain sufficient time to plunge their weapon into his 
 body before he can turn upon them for a second attack. 
 Another mode of destroying him is by means of the 
 lasso ; but this method can of course be employed only 
 when the animal roams abroad upon the plains, or can 
 be driven by the dogs into an open space fit for the 
 purpose. Riding at full gallop with the lasso coiled up 
 in their hands, these excellent horsemen will throw the 
 noose with such certainty and precision as infallibly to 
 secure their formidable enemy at the distance of a hun- 
 dred paces, and to place him completely at their mercy. 
 
 The Jaguar is generally said to be quite untameable, 
 and to maintain his savage ferocity even in a state of 
 captivity, showing no symptoms of attachment to those
 
 48 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 who have the care of him. This assertion is amply con- 
 tradicted by the fact that an individual confined in the 
 Paris Menagerie, was exceedingly mild in his temper, 
 and particularly fond of licking the hands of those with 
 whom he was familiar ; as was also remarkably the case 
 with the specimen lately in the Tower, whose portrait 
 ornaments the present article. This animal was obtained 
 by Lord Exmouth while on the American station, and 
 accompanied the expedition to Algiers at the memorable 
 bombardment of that nest of pirates. On his return to 
 England, his Lordship gave it to the Marchioness of 
 Londonderry, who soon afterwards presented it to his 
 Majesty, by whose order it was placed in the Tower ; 
 where it continued until a short time since, when it 
 unfortunately died. Mr. Cops is, however, in expectation 
 of being soon enabled to replace it. It was exhibited 
 under the name of the Panther, an appellation which 
 we have before stated that the Jaguar had erroneously 
 obtained, not only among the furriers, by whom it is 
 universally so called, but even among scientific zoolo- 
 gists.
 
 THE PUMA. 
 
 FEUS CON COLOR. LINN. 
 
 NEARLY approaching to the Jaguar in size and form, 
 but obviously distinguished from him at the first glance, 
 by the total absence of spots, the Puma, Couguar, or, 
 as he was once called, the American Lion, occupies the 
 second place among the cats of the New World, over 
 nearly the whole of which he was formerly spread, from 
 Canada and the United States in the North, to the very 
 extremity of Patagonia in the South. From a large 
 portion of this immense expanse of country he appears, 
 however, to have been of late years in a great measure, 
 if not entirely, rooted out ; and it is seldom that he is 
 now heard of in the vicinity of that civilization, which
 
 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 involves, as a necessary consequence, either the complete 
 extinction, or, at least, the gradual diminution and 
 dispersion to more secure and sheltered habitations, of 
 all the more savage and obnoxious beasts. For his title 
 of the American Lion he was, in a great degree, indebted 
 to an absurd notion on the part of the early colonists, 
 which was even shared by many naturalists, that he 
 was, in reality, neither more nor less than a degenerate 
 variety of that far more noble animal. This opinion 
 has, however, long since given way before the prevalence 
 of sounder views ; and he is now universally recognised 
 as forming a species clearly distinguishable from every 
 other, by a combination of characters which it is impos- 
 sible to mistake. 
 
 Almost the only striking point of resemblance between 
 him and the Lion consists in the uniform sameness of 
 his colour, which on the upper parts of his body is of a 
 bright silvery fawn, the tawny hairs being terminated by 
 whitish tips : beneath and on the inside of the limbs he 
 is nearly white, and more completely so on the throat, 
 chin, and upper lip. The head has an irregular mixture 
 of black and gray ; the outside of the ears, especially at 
 the base, the sides of the muzzle from which the whiskers 
 take their origin, and the extremity of the tail, are black. 
 The latter is not terminated, as in the Lion, by a brush 
 of hair; 'neither has the Puma any vestige of a mane. 
 His length from the tip of the nose to the root of the 
 tail is commonly about four feet, and his tail measures 
 above half as much more, being just sufficiently long to 
 suffer its extremity to trail upon the ground. His head 
 is remarkably small and rounded, with a broad and 
 somewhat obtuse muzzle ; and his body is proportion- 
 ably more slender and less elevated than that of the
 
 THE PUMA. 51 
 
 Lion. His young, like those of the latter animal, have a 
 peculiar livery, consisting in spots of a darker shade 
 than the rest of their fur, scattered over every part of the 
 body, but only visible in a particular light, and disap- 
 pearing entirely at the adult age. There is no difference 
 whatever in colour between the sexes, the fur of the 
 female being in every respect similar to that of the male : 
 in size the latter is superior to his mate ; and his head, a 
 part which in the female is disproportionately small, 
 corresponds better with the general form of his body. 
 
 More circumspect, or rather more cowardly, than any 
 of the larger species of his cautious tribe, he is, notwith- 
 standing his much greater magnitude, scarcely more 
 dangerous than the common wild cat, preying only 
 upon the smaller species of animals, seldom venturing 
 to attack any living creature of greater size or courage 
 than a sheep, and flying from the face of man with more 
 than usual terror. But this cowardice is also, in a state 
 of nature, connected with a degree of ferocity, fully 
 equal to that which is developed in the most savage and 
 blood-thirsty of his fellow cats. Unlike the Jaguar, which 
 generally contents itself with a single victim, the Puma, 
 if he should happen to find himself undisturbed in the 
 midst of a flock of sheep, deserted by their guardians 
 and left entirely at his mercy, is said never to spare, 
 but to destroy every individual that he can reach, for 
 the purpose of sucking its blood. He differs also 
 from the Jaguar in his habit of frequenting the open 
 plain rather than the forest and the river, in and near 
 which the latter usually takes his secret and destructive 
 stand. Hence he is more exposed to the pursuit of the 
 skilful thrower of the lasso, from whom, as his swiftness 
 
 3
 
 52 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 is by no means great and his timidity excessive, he rarely 
 escapes. 
 
 In captivity the Puma readily becomes tame, and 
 may even be rendered docile and obedient. His man- 
 ners closely resemble those of the domestic cat ; like it 
 he is extremely fond of being noticed, raises his back 
 and stretches his limbs beneath the hand that caresses 
 him, and expresses his pleasure by the same quiet and 
 complacent purring. They soon become attached to 
 those with whom they are familiar; and numerous 
 instances might be mentioned in which they have been 
 suffered to roam almost at large about the house without 
 any injurious results. One of these is no doubt familiar 
 to many of our readers, occurring as it did under the 
 roof of Mr. Kean, the tragedian, who possessed an 
 animal of this species so tame as to follow him about 
 almost like a dog, and to be frequently introduced into 
 his drawing-room, when filled with company, at perfect 
 liberty. 
 
 The Puma figured above is a female, about three years 
 old, exceedingly sleek in her fur and lively in her colours, 
 and equally mild and good-tempered with any of her
 
 THE OCELOT. 
 FELIS PARDALIS. LINN. 
 
 " OF all the animals with tigrine skins/' says Buffon, 
 " the male Ocelot has unquestionably the most beautiful 
 and at the same time the most elegantly variegated robe ; 
 that of the Leopard himself does not approach it in 
 liveliness of colour or regularity of design." That this 
 estimate is by no means exaggerated will readily be 
 allowed by all who have had an opportunity of seeing 
 this truly beautiful creature, which may unquestionably 
 be regarded as the beau ideal of a cat. Nearly equal in 
 size to the Lynx of Europe, but shorter in its proportions 
 and more graceful in its form, it holds, as it were, a 
 middle station between the Leopard and the domestic cat.
 
 54 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 Its body, when full grown, is nearly three feet in length, 
 and its tail rather more than one; while its medium 
 height may be reckoned at about eighteen inches. The 
 ground colour of its fur is gray mingled with a slight 
 tinge of fawn ; and on this it is elegantly marked with 
 numerous longitudinal bands, the dorsal one being 
 continuous and entirely black, and the lateral, to the 
 number of six or seven on each side, consisting for the 
 most part of a series of elongated spots with black 
 margins, sometimes completely distinct, and sometimes 
 running together. The centre of each of these spots 
 offers a deeper tinge of fawn than the ground colour 
 external to them; and this. deeper tinge is also conspi- 
 cuous on the upper part of the head and neck, and on 
 the outside of the limbs, all of which parts are irregu- 
 larly marked with full black lines and spots of various 
 sizes. From the top of the head, between the ears, there 
 pass backwards, towards the shoulders, two, or more fre- 
 quently four, uninterrupted diverging bands, which are 
 full black anteriorly, but generally bifurcate posteriorly 
 and enclose a narrow fawn-coloured space within a black 
 margin ; between these there is a single longitudinal 
 somewhat interrupted narrow black line, occupying the 
 centre of the neck above. The ears are short and 
 rounded, and externally margined with black, surround- 
 ing a large central whitish spot. The under parts of the 
 body are whitish, spotted with black, and the tail, which 
 is of the same ground colour with the body, is also 
 covered with blackish spots. 
 
 The description above given is chiefly derived from 
 the comparison of two living specimens, the one existing 
 in the Menagerie of the Tower, the other in that of the
 
 THE OCELOT. 55 
 
 Zoological Society, at their gardens in the Regent's 
 Park. There is one circumstance, however, of which it 
 may be necessary, to offer some explanation. We have 
 stated the length of the tail at more than a foot ; and 
 in all the known Ocelots, as well as in all the species (of 
 which there are several) that approach it in form and 
 colouring, the proportionate length of the tail is at least 
 equal to that which we have given as its average mea- 
 surement. That of the Tower specimen, however, does 
 not exceed six or seven inches ; its extremity is com- 
 pletely overgrown with hair, and there is no appearance 
 of a cicatrix. Still its equality throughout, and its 
 abrupt stumpiness, if we may so express ourselves, 
 induce the belief that this abbreviation of the tail is 
 purely accidental; and we feel by no means inclined 
 to regard the specimen before us as belonging to a new 
 species, to be distinguished by the excessive shortness 
 of that appendage, by the unusually pale colour of its 
 markings, and by some slight peculiarities in the mode 
 of their arrangement, which varies indeed in every 
 individual that we have seen. 
 
 The animal in question, accurately represented in the 
 portrait which is prefixed to the present article, was 
 presented by the late Sir Ralph Woodford, governor of 
 Trinidad, about six months since, under the name of 
 the Peruvian Tiger; from which denomination we may 
 presume that it was originally brought from that part of 
 the continent of America. The species, however, is very 
 widely spread, being found as well in Mexico, from the 
 language of which country it derives its name, as in 
 Paraguay. Its habits are similar to those of the other 
 cats, keeping itself close in the depths of the forests
 
 56 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 during the clay, and prowling abroad at night in search 
 of victims, which it finds in the smaller quadrupeds 
 and birds. In the chase of the latter it is particularly 
 successful, pursuing them even to their nests amid the 
 trees, which it climbs with the greatest agility. It is 
 easily tamed, but seldom loses all trace of its natural 
 ferocity. D'Azara, however, speaks of one which was so 
 completely domiciliated as to be left at perfect liberty ; 
 it was strongly attached to its master, and never attempted 
 to make its escape. The specimen in the Tower, which is 
 a male, is perfectly good tempered, exceedingly fond of 
 play, and has, in fact, much of the character and manners 
 of the domestic cat. Its food consists principally of 
 rabbits and of birds, the latter of which it plucks with 
 the greatest dexterity, and always commences its meal 
 with their heads, of which it appears to be particularly 
 fond. It does not eat with the same ravenous avidity 
 which characterizes nearly all the animals of his tribe.
 
 THE CARACAL. 
 
 FELIS CARACAL. LINN. 
 
 THE Caracal, which is unquestionably identical with the 
 Lynx of the Ancients, but whose original name has been, 
 in modern times, usurped by an animal of northern 
 origin, utterly unknown to the Greeks, and distinguished 
 by the Romans by a totally different appellation, is a 
 native of most of the warmer climates of the Old World, 
 infesting probably as large an extent of the surface of 
 the earth as the Lion or the Leopard themselves. 
 Throughout the whole of Africa, from Egypt and Bar- 
 bary to the extremity of Caffraria, and in the southern 
 half of Asia, at least as far eastwards as the Ganges, he 
 follows, as it were, in the footsteps of those larger and
 
 58 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 more formidable beasts. So uniformly indeed has he 
 been met with in the train of the Lion, that many early 
 writers, determined to find a reason for every thing, laid 
 it down as a settled fact that the Caracal, equally with 
 the Jackal, although in a different manner, was the 
 Lion's purveyor; that he accompanied that terrible 
 animal in the pursuit of his prey ; pointed it out to 
 him by means of his more delicate nostril and piercing 
 sight ; and, when his royal master had finished his meal, 
 received a portion of the flesh in reward for his good 
 and loyal service. But the greater part of this fanciful 
 tale is now known to have had its origin only in the 
 imagination of men who had caught a glimpse of the 
 real truth, and made up for the want of accurate obser- 
 vation by the invention of a theory almost as fabulous 
 as the stories of the ancients, which attributed to the 
 same animal such wonderful powers of sight as to pierce 
 even through stone walls. He follows, it is true, in the 
 traces of the Lion ; but, far from associating with him in 
 the pursuit of game, he ventures not, any more than the 
 other beasts of the forest, to trust himself within reach of 
 his paw. His object is solely to satiate his appetite upon 
 the remains of the mangled carcases which the Lion may 
 leave; consequently the latter might with much greater 
 truth and propriety be regarded as the purveyor of the 
 Caracal, who depends perhaps more for his subsistence 
 upon the food thus provided for him, than upon that 
 which he can procure by the exercise of his own powers 
 or sagacity. He frequently, however, indulges his native 
 ferocity in petty ravages on the smaller and more timid 
 quadrupeds, such as hares and rabbits : birds also form 
 a favourite object of his attacks, and in pursuit of them
 
 THE CARACAL. 59 
 
 he mounts the tallest trees with surprising swiftness and 
 agility. It is even said that his qualifications for the 
 chase are capable of cultivation ; and it has been repeated 
 by travellers, from the days of the celebrated Marco Polo 
 downwards, that the princes of the East occasionally 
 make use of his services in taking small game in nearly 
 the same manner as they employ the subject of the 
 succeeding article for the larger: but from all that we 
 know of his disposition in a state of captivity, this state- 
 ment appears, to say the least, extremely questionable. 
 
 In size the Caracal is somewhat larger than the Fox. 
 The whole of the upper surface of his body is of a deep 
 and uniform brown, the hairs being for the most part 
 slightly tipped with gray ; the under and inner parts 
 are nearly white ; and the chin and lower lip, and two 
 spots, one on the inner side of and above the eye, and 
 the other beneath its outer angle, completely so. The 
 neck and throat are of a lighter and brighter brown than 
 the rest of the fur. The ears, which are long and 
 upright, taper gradually to a fine tip, which is sur- 
 mounted by a pencil of long black hairs ; they are black 
 externally and whitish within. It is to the striking 
 character afforded by these organs that the animal is 
 indebted for his modern name of Caracal, corrupted 
 from his Turkish appellation, which, equally with that 
 by which he is known in Persia, signifies " black ear." 
 His whiskers are short, and take their origin from a 
 series of black lines which occupy the sides of the 
 muzzle ; at some distance behind them, in front of the 
 neck on each side, is a short and thick tuft of lighter 
 coloured hairs. The tail, which is eight or nine inches
 
 60 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 in length, is 'of the same uniform colour with the body 
 from its base to its tip. 
 
 The specimen in the Tower, from which our engraving 
 was made and our description taken, is a native of Ben- 
 gal, a locality from which these animals have been so 
 rarely brought to Europe, that it has been a question 
 among naturalists whether the Caracal of India and that 
 of Africa really belonged to the same species. There 
 is, however, no difference of any importance observable 
 between the present animal and those which have been 
 brought from the latter continent. It is extremely sulky, 
 keeping constantly retired in one of the backward cor- 
 ners of its cage, and swearing, as we express it in the 
 common cat, almost incessantly when conscious of being 
 noticed. The Lynxes indeed appear, at least when in 
 captivity, to exercise this peculiar faculty of voice to a 
 much greater extent than any other species of the group. 
 They are remarkably irascible and mistrustful, and are 
 seldom completely tamed.
 
 THE CHETAH, OR HUNTING LEOPARD. 
 
 ATA. ScHREB. 
 
 UNITING to the system of dentition, the general habit 
 and many of the most striking peculiarities of the cats, 
 some of the distinguishing features and much of the 
 intelligence, the teachableness, and the fidelity of the 
 dog, the Hunting Leopard forms a sort of connecting 
 link between two groups of animals, otherwise com- 
 pletely separated, and exhibiting scarcely any other 
 character in common than the carnivorous propensities 
 by which both are, in a greater or less degree, actuated 
 and inspired. Intermediate in size and shape between 
 the leopard and the hound, he is slenderer in his body, 
 more elevated on his legs, and less flattened on the fore
 
 62 THK TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 part of his head than the former, while he is deficient 
 in the peculiarly graceful and lengthened form, both of 
 head and body, which characterize the latter. His tail 
 is entirely that of a cat ; and his limbs, although more 
 elongated than in any other species of that group, seem 
 better fitted for strong muscular exertion than for active 
 and long-continued speed. From these indications it 
 may be gathered that he approaches much more nearly 
 to the feline than to the canine group : we shall therefore 
 follow the example of zoologists in general, by referring 
 him for the present and provisionally to the genus Felis, 
 and proceed to point out more particularly the characters 
 by which he is connected with, as well as those by which 
 he is distinguished from, the rest of that formidable and 
 extensive tribe. 
 
 In the number and form of his teeth, in the asperity 
 of his tongue, in the conformation of his organs of sense, 
 and in the number of his claws, he accurately corres- 
 ponds with the legitimate species of the genus Felis. 
 The principal character in which he differs from them 
 consists in the slight degree of retractility of these latter 
 organs. Instead of being withdrawn within sheaths 
 appropriated for the purpose, as in the whole of the cats 
 properly so called, the claws of the Hunting Leopard 
 are capable of only a very limited retraction within the 
 skin, and are consequently exposed to the action of the 
 ground on which they tread, their points and edges 
 being thus rendered liable to be blunted by the constant 
 pressure to which they are subjected, almost to the same 
 extent as in the dogs. The slightest consideration of 
 the uses to which the claws are applied by the whole of 
 the feline tribe, in whom they are, in fact, in consequence
 
 THE CHETAH, OR HUNTING LEOPARD. 63 
 
 of their extreme power and sharpness, organs of offence 
 if possible more deadly and more destructive than the 
 teeth, will teach us that the modification which has just 
 been described in so important a part of their organi- 
 zation, must of necessity be accompanied by a corres- 
 ponding change in manners and habits ; and that 
 convenience alone, and the want of analogous structure 
 in any other animal, could justify us in continuing to 
 class the Chetah among the cats, from whom he differs 
 in so essential a particular. 
 
 In outward form, however, notwithstanding his more 
 slender make, the difference between them is by no 
 means great. His head, although more elevated and 
 prominent in front, exhibits the same broad lateral ex- 
 pansion, caused by the thick mass of muscle which acts 
 so powerfully upon the short and dilated jaws of the 
 cats, and imparts to them that tremendous force and 
 effect for which they are so remarkable. His legs, not- 
 withstanding their increased length and slender propor- 
 tions, retain all the elastic springiness, by means of 
 which the Leopard or the Tiger are enabled to bound 
 with so much vigour and velocity upon their unsuspect- 
 ing prey. His air and manners, too, are unquestionably 
 those of the cats ; and his mode of colouring, which we 
 shall next proceed to describe, although exhibiting very 
 peculiar and marked distinctions, offers so close an 
 analogy to that of the Jaguar and the Leopard, that, 
 were we to regard this character alone, it would be 
 impossible to arrange him in a different group from that 
 which comprehends those beautifully spotted, but fero- 
 cious, beasts. His fur, however, it must be remarked, 
 has little of the sleekness which characterizes those
 
 64 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 animals, but exhibits, on the contrary, a peculiar crisp- 
 ness which is not to be found in any other of the tribe. 
 
 His ground-colour is a bright yellowish fawn above, 
 and nearly pure white beneath, covered above and on 
 the sides by innumerable closely approximating spots, 
 from half an inch to an inch in diameter, which are 
 intensely black, and do not, as in the Leopard and 
 others of the spotted cats, form roses with a lighter 
 centre, but are full and complete. These spots, which 
 are wanting on the chest and under part of the body, 
 are larger on the back than on the head, sides, and 
 limbs, where they are more closely set: they are also 
 spread along the tail, forming on the greater part of its 
 extent interrupted rings, which, however, become conti- 
 nuous as they approach its extremity, the three or four 
 last rings surrounding it completely. The tip of the 
 tail is white, as is also the whole of its under surface, 
 with the exception of the rings just mentioned ; it is 
 equally covered with long hair throughout its entire 
 length, which is more than half that of the body. The 
 outside of the ears, which are short and rounded, is 
 marked by a broad black spot at the base, the tip, as 
 also the inside, being whitish. The upper part of his 
 head is of a deeper tinge ; and he has a strongly marked 
 flexuous black line, of about half an inch in breadth, 
 extending from the inner angle of the eye to the angle 
 of the mouth. The extremity of the nose is black, like 
 that of the dog. The mane, from which he derives his 
 scientific name, is not very remarkable: it consists of 
 a series of longer, crisper, and more upright hairs, which 
 extend along the back of the neck and the anterior por- 
 tion of the spine.
 
 THE CHETAH, OR HUNTING LEOPARD. 65 
 
 Such are the outward and physical characteristics of 
 this beautiful animal ; in his moral and intellectual qua- 
 lities he differs still more widely from that compound 
 of unteachableness, malice, and mistrust, which is the 
 necessary result of the low degree of intelligence pos- 
 sessed by the remainder of the group of animals with 
 which he is at present associated. Of his habits in a 
 state of nature we have no certain information ; but in 
 his tamed and domesticated condition he has been ren- 
 dered, in some countries at least, auxiliary to man, by 
 the successful cultivation of his mental faculties, which 
 have been trained into a degree of subservience to the 
 commands of his master, that can only be surpassed by 
 the superior sagacity of the hound. Chardin, Bernier, 
 Tavernier, and others of the older travellers had related 
 that in several parts of Asia it was customary to make 
 use of a large spotted cat in the pursuit of game, and 
 that this animal was called Youze in Persia, and Chetah 
 in India; but the statements of these writers were so 
 imperfect, .and the descriptions given by them so incom- 
 plete, that it was next to impossible to recognise the 
 particular species intended. We now, however, know 
 with certainty that the animal thus employed is the 
 Felis jubata of naturalists, which inhabits the greater 
 part both of Asia and of Africa. It is common in India 
 and Sumatra, as well as in Persia ; and is well known 
 both in Senegal and at the Cape of Good Hope ; but the 
 ingenuity of the savage natives of the latter countries 
 has not, so far as we know, been exerted in rendering 
 its services available in the chase in the manner so 
 successfully practised by the more refined and civilized 
 inhabitants of Persia and of Hindostan. In Senegal it
 
 66 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 is valued only on account of its skin, which forms an 
 important article in the commerce of that colony ; while 
 at the Cape, where 'it is known to the Dutch settlers by 
 the misapplied name of Luipard (Leopard), it seems to 
 be entirely neglected even in a commercial point of 
 view. In the neighbourhood of the latter colony, it 
 should be added, the animal appears from the testimony 
 of travellers to be of rare occurrence; and Professor 
 Lichtenstein, in particular, mentions an instance in 
 which the skin of one was worn by the chief of a horde 
 of Caffres as a badge of peculiar dignity and distinction. 
 But even in the East, where the qualities of the Chetah 
 appear to be best appreciated, and his faculties to be 
 turned to most account, it would seem that he is not 
 employed in hunting by all classes of the people indis- 
 criminately ; but, on the contrary, that he is reserved 
 for the especial amusement and gratification of the 
 nobles and princes of the land, rather than used for 
 purposes of real and general advantage. In this respect, 
 and indeed in many others, as will be seen by the 
 following brief account of the mode in which the chase 
 with the Hunting Leopard is conducted, it bears a close 
 resemblance to the ancient sport of hawking, so preva- 
 lent throughout Europe in the days of feudal tyranny, 
 but scarcely practised at the present day except by the 
 more splendid slaves of Asiatic despotism. The animal 
 or animals, for occasionally several of them are employed 
 at the same time, are carried to the field in low chariots, 
 on which they are kept chained and hooded, in order to 
 deprive them of the power and temptation to anticipate 
 the word of command by leaping forth before the ap- 
 pointed time. When they are thus brought within view
 
 THE CHETAH, OR HUNTING LEOPARD. 67 
 
 of a herd of antelopes, which generally consists of five or 
 six females and a male, they are unchained and their 
 hoods are removed, their keepers directing their attention 
 to the prey, which, as they do not hunt by smell, it is 
 necessary that they should have constantly in sight. 
 When this is done, the wily animal does not at once 
 start forwards towards the object of his pursuit, but, 
 seemingly aware that he would have no chance of over- 
 taking an antelope in the fleetness of the race, in which 
 the latter is beyond measure his superior, winds cauti- 
 ously along the ground, concealing himself as much as 
 possible from sight, and, when he has in this covert 
 manner nearly reached the unsuspecting herd, breaks 
 forth upon them unawares, and after five or six tremen- 
 dous bounds, which he executes with almost incredible 
 velocity, darts at once upon his terrified victim, strangles 
 him in an instant, and takes his fill of blood. In the 
 meanwhile the keeper quietly approaches the scene of 
 slaughter, caresses the successful animal, and throws to 
 him pieces of meat to amuse him and keep him quiet 
 while he blinds him with the hood and replaces him 
 upon the chariot, to which he is again attached by his 
 chain. But if, as is not unfrequently the case, the herd 
 should have taken the alarm, and the Chetah should 
 prove unsuccessful in his attack, he never attempts to 
 pursue them, but returns to his master with a mortified 
 and dejected air, to be again let slip at a fresh quarry 
 whenever a fit opportunity occurs. 
 
 The Chetah has been until of late years very imper- 
 fectly known in Europe. Linnaeus was entirely unac- 
 quainted with it, 'and Buffon described it from the fur 
 alone under the name of Guepard, the appellation by 
 
 F2
 
 68 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 which its skin was distinguished in the commerce with 
 Senegal, but evidently without suspecting its identity 
 with the Asiatic animal, the trained habits of which, 
 misled probably by the authority of Tavernier, he erro- 
 neously attributed to his imaginary Ounce. Subsequent 
 French zoologists had rectified this error, and it was 
 generally believed that the tamed Leopard of Bernier, 
 the Youze, the Guepard, and Tavernier's Ounce, were 
 one and the same animal ; but it was not until a year or 
 two ago that the possession of a living specimen, brought 
 from Senegal, in the Menagerie of the Jardin du Roi, 
 enabled M. F. Cuvier to ascertain its characters with 
 precision. The comparison of this African specimen 
 with the skins sent from India, and with the notes and 
 drawings made in that country by M. Duvaucel, to 
 whom we are indebted for a vast deal of interesting 
 information relative to the zoology of the East of Asia, 
 at once put an end to all doubts of the identity of the 
 two animals. 
 
 Several individuals have been brought alive to this 
 country at various times; but, notwithstanding the op- 
 portunities thus afforded, it does not appear that English 
 naturalists have paid any particular attention to the 
 study of their character and habits. In all probability 
 the earliest that arrived in Europe was one which was 
 brought from India by Lord Pigot, and which was 
 figured by Pennant under the name of the Hunting 
 Leopard. Three others, found at the capture of Seringa- 
 patam among the rest of the state paraphernalia of the 
 fallen Sultan, came into the possession of General, after- 
 wards Lord, Harris, who, on his return to England, 
 presented them to his late Majesty, by whose command
 
 THE CHETAH, OR HUNTING LEOPARD. 69 
 
 they were placed in the Tower. They did not, however, 
 long survive the effects of the passage and of the change 
 of climate, which latter has proved equally fatal to the few 
 specimens which have since been brought to this country 
 for public exhibition. They appear, indeed, to be exceed- 
 ingly delicate in their temperament, and to require con- 
 siderable attention on the part of their keeper. The 
 pair now in the Tower, if two individuals of the same 
 sex, both of them being males, can be called a pair, were 
 purchased by Mr. Cops a few months since from the 
 captain of a vessel trading to Senegal, to whom they 
 were brought by some of the natives when only a few 
 weeks old and no larger than an ordinary cat. They 
 were the constant inmates of his cabin, and soon became 
 strongly attached to their master, never, as they grew 
 up, exhibiting the slightest symptom of that savage 
 ferocity to which all the larger cats are occasionally 
 more or less prone, even under the most favourable 
 circumstances. Much of this peculiar meekness of tem- 
 per, which they still maintain, is doubtless owing to the 
 very early age at which they were made captive, as well 
 as to the mild and little stimulating nature of the food 
 to which they have ever since been accustomed. This 
 consists chiefly of boiled meat and meal; and during 
 the winter season, in consequence of the delicacy of their 
 habit, they are supplied with hot mashes, gruel, &c. 
 Their mode of feeding is very like that of the dog. 
 
 In size and stature these beautiful animals consider- 
 ably exceed any that have been seen in this country of 
 late years. They are truly, as may be judged from their 
 portraits, an elegant and graceful pair, having, when led 
 out into the yard in their couples, very much of the air
 
 70 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 and manners of a brace of greyhounds. When noticed 
 or fondled they purr like a cat ; and this is their usual 
 mode of expressing pleasure. If, on the other hand, 
 they are uneasy, whether that uneasiness arises from 
 cold, from a craving after food, from a jealous appre- 
 hension of being neglected, or from any other cause, 
 their note consists of a short, uniform, and repeated 
 mew. They are extremely fond of play, and their man- 
 ner of playing very much resembles that of the cat ; with 
 this difference, however, that it never, as in the latter 
 animal, degenerates into malicious cunning or wanton 
 mischief. Their character, indeed, seems to be entirely 
 free from that sly and suspicious feeling of mistrust 
 which is so strikingly visible in the manners and actions 
 of all the cats, and which renders them so little suscep- 
 tible of real or lasting attachment. The Chetahs, on the 
 contrary, speedily become fond of those who are kind to 
 them, and exhibit their fondness in an open, frank, and 
 confiding manner. There can, in fact, be little doubt 
 that they might with the greatest facility be reduced to a 
 state of perfect domestication, and rendered nearly as 
 familiar and as faithful as the dog himself.
 
 THE STRIPED HY^NA. 
 
 HYMNA VULGARIS. DESM. 
 
 FROM the strongly marked group, to the illustration of 
 various species of which the foregoing pages have been 
 dedicated, we pass by a natural and easy transition to 
 an animal, which, although closely resembling them in 
 its zoological characters, and in the cowardly ferocity of 
 its disposition, bears nevertheless a stronger affinity to 
 the dogs, with which it was associated by Linnaeus. 
 From each of these groups it is, however, readily distin- 
 guished by several obvious and essential characters, of 
 sufficient importance to sanction its separation as a genus, 
 now universally adopted among naturalists. 
 
 Like both the cats and the dogs, the Hyaenas are
 
 72 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 completely digitigrade ; that is to say, they walk only 
 on the extremities of their toes : but these toes are only 
 four in number on each of their feet, and are armed 
 with short, thick, strong, and truncated claws, which are 
 not in the least retractile, and are evidently formed for 
 digging in the earth, a practice to which they are im- 
 pelled by a horrid and hateful propensity, which we 
 shall have further occasion to notice in describing their 
 habits and mode of life. Their body, in shape much 
 resembling that of the wolf, to which they also approach 
 very nearly in size, is considerably more elevated in 
 front than behind, owing partly to their constant custom 
 of keeping the posterior legs bent in a crouching and 
 half recumbent posture. Beneath the tail, which is short 
 and dependent, they are furnished with a pouch, in the 
 interior of which is secreted a peculiar matter of a very 
 strong and disagreeable smell. Their head is large and 
 broad, flattened in front, and terminating in a short, 
 thick, and obtuse muzzle. Like most carnivorous ani- 
 mals, they are armed in each jaw with six cutting teeth, 
 and two canine, the latter of which are of considerable 
 size and strength. The outermost pair of incisors in the 
 upper jaw are much larger and stronger than the rest, 
 and closely resemble the canine in form. The number 
 of the molar or cheek teeth is five on each side in the 
 upper jaw, and four in the lower; and all of them are 
 remarkable for their extreme thickness and strength in 
 comparison with those of the dogs and cats. Their 
 tongue is similar to that of the latter animals in the 
 roughness which it derives from the sharp and elevated 
 papillae with which it is covered. 
 Of the genus thus characterized there exist two well
 
 THE STRIPED HYAENA. 73 
 
 marked and unquestionably distinct species, the Striped 
 Hyaena, or Hyaena vulgaris of modern zoologists, which 
 there can be no doubt is also the Hyaena of the ancients; 
 and the Hyaena crocuta, or Spotted Hyaena, the Tiger 
 Wolf of the colonists of the Cape of Good Hope. To 
 these may probably be added a third species, which 
 there is good ground for believing to be distinct, and 
 which has lately been described by Dr. Andrew Smith, 
 the superintendant of the South African Museum, under 
 the name of Hyaena villosa : this is also a native of the 
 vicinity of the Cape, and is denominated by the settlers 
 the Strand Wolf, or Strand Jut. With the two latter 
 we have, however, on the present occasion, no concern ; 
 the only animal of this genus in the Tower belonging to 
 the striped race, which inhabits the greater part of Asia 
 and of Africa, penetrating in the former as far as India, 
 and extending over all the northern part of the latter 
 continent. It does not appear that the striped and 
 spotted races are ever found to occupy the same ground ; 
 but the territorial limits which separate the one from the 
 other have not yet been distinctly ascertained. 
 
 The striped Hyaena has for its ground colour a uni- 
 form brownish gray, which is somewhat darker above 
 than beneath. On the sides of the body it is marked by 
 several irregular distant transverse blackish stripes or 
 bands, which are more distinct on the lower part. To- 
 wards the shoulders and haunches these stripes become 
 oblique, and they are continued in regular transverse 
 lines on the outside of the legs. The front of the neck 
 is completely black, as are also the muzzle and the 
 outsides of the ears ; the latter being broad, moderately 
 long, and nearly destitute of hairs, especially on the
 
 74 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 inside. The hair of the body is long, particularly on 
 the back of the neck and on the spine, where it forms a 
 full and thick mane, which may be said to be continued 
 even upon the tail, the latter organ being furnished with 
 strong tufted hairs of considerable length. The mane 
 and the tail are both marked with blackish spots or 
 stripes variously and irregularly placed. Much variety 
 is indeed to be met with as well in the ground colour of 
 the whole body as in the disposition of the markings, 
 which are extremely different in different individuals. 
 
 The habits of the Hyaenas are entirely nocturnal : while 
 in the daytime their cowardice is so excessive that they 
 fly from the face of man, and suffer themselves, when 
 taken, to be ill treated with impunity and even without 
 attempting to avenge themselves, they prowl abroad in 
 the stillness of the night with all the temerity of brutal 
 daring. They will frequently make prey of the lesser 
 animals, and will occasionally venture to attack dogs 
 and even horses; but it is seldom that they muster up 
 sufficient courage to contend with living man, unless 
 stimulated by strong provocation, or impelled by the 
 most violent cravings of hunger. Congregated in nume- 
 rous bands they beset the encampment of the traveller, 
 or infest the neighbourhood of villages or even of towns, 
 which they enter with the fall of night and do not quit 
 until the dawn of day ; disturbing the inhabitants with 
 their peculiar moaning or wailing, which is in some 
 measure intermediate between a grunt and a howl. 
 Parading the streets and penetrating into the houses in 
 search of prey, they eagerly devour the offal of animals, 
 the refuse of the daily meal, or whatever else that is in 
 any way eatable may happen to fall in their way.
 
 THE STRIPED HY^NA. 75 
 
 Nothing, however filthy, comes amiss to their voracious 
 appetites, which are indeed unbounded. They even 
 break into the cemeteries of the dead, and tearing open 
 the graves by means of their powerful claws, disinter the 
 buried corpses, on which they glut that horrid propensity' 
 for feeding on carrion, which is at once the most striking 
 and the most disgusting of their peculiarities. Their 
 fondness for this polluted species of food tends of course 
 not a little to increase the natural antipathy with which 
 they are regarded by the natives of the countries in 
 which they abound, and renders them objects of pecu- 
 liar detestation and abhorrence. The great size and 
 strength of their teeth and the immense power of their 
 jaws enable them to crush the largest bones with com- 
 parative facility, and account for the avidity with which 
 they prey upon an almost fleshless skeleton. In the 
 daytime they retire into caves, from which they issue 
 only when the shades of evening warn them that the 
 hour for their depredations has arrived. Their gait is 
 awkward and usually slow and constrained; when 
 scared, however, from their prey, or when pursued by 
 the hunter, they fly with tolerable swiftness, but still 
 with an appearance of lameness in their motions, result- 
 ing from the constant bending of their posterior legs. 
 
 Notwithstanding the brutal voracity of his habits and 
 the savage fierceness of his disposition, there is scarcely 
 any animal that submits with greater facility to the 
 control of man. In captivity, especially when taken 
 young, a circumstance on which much depends in the 
 domestication of all wild animals, he is capable of being 
 rendered exceedingly tame, and even serviceable. In 
 some parts of Southern Africa the spotted species, which
 
 76 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 is by nature quite as ferocious in his temper as the 
 striped inhabitant of the North, has been domiciliated in 
 the houses of the peasantry, among whom he is preferred 
 to the dog himself for attachment to his master, for 
 general sagacity, and even, it is said, for his qualifica- 
 tions for the chase. That the Striped Hyama might be 
 rendered equally useful is highly probable from the 
 docility and attachment which he manifests towards his 
 keepers, especially when allowed a certain degree of 
 liberty, which he shows no disposition to abuse. If 
 more closely restricted his savage nature sometimes 
 returns upon him; and it is for this reason that those 
 which are carried about the country from fair to fair, 
 pent up in close caravans, frequently become surly and 
 even dangerous. The individual whose portrait we give 
 is, on the contrary, remarkably tame ; he is a native of 
 the East Indies, and is confined in the same den with 
 one of the American Bears, as we shall have occasion to 
 notice more particularly when speaking of the latter 
 animal.
 
 THE HYAENA-DOG. 
 
 CANIS PICTUS. DESM. 
 
 IT is not without much hesitation that we have adopted 
 for this animal the generic name of Canis, and referred 
 it, in conformity with the example of most of the leading 
 zoologists of the day, to the same group with the Wolf, 
 the Jackal, and the Fox ; from all of which it differs in 
 such important particulars as fully entitle it, in our 
 estimation, to the rank of a distinct and separate genus. 
 To this rank it has, indeed, been already raised by 
 Mr. Brookes, under the generic appellation of Lycaon ; 
 but as we are not aware that it has been any where 
 described under that name, or that any detailed account 
 has been given of the characters on which that separation
 
 78 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 is founded, we cannot consider ourselves authorized in 
 a work of this nature to make any innovations upon 
 science, however much we may feel, as in the present 
 instance, that they are called for by the exigency of the 
 case. That its position is at least doubtful is proved by 
 the fact that M. Temminck, one of the ablest of the 
 continental zoologists, first described it from the living 
 animal under the designation of a Hyaena, and, having 
 subsequently changed his opinion, is now disposed to 
 regard it as a species of dog. 
 
 For the zoological characters of the latter genus the 
 reader is referred to the following article : at present we 
 shall confine ourselves to the description of the remark- 
 able animal before us, pointing out, as we proceed, the 
 marks by which it differs from both the groups to which 
 it has hitherto been referred, and those by which it is 
 assimilated to either the one or the other. In the shape 
 and elevation of its body it is at first sight distinguished 
 from them both, its legs being considerably longer in 
 relation to its size, and the trunk of its body, as will be 
 seen by the portrait prefixed, being very different in 
 form and proportions. It is entirely destitute of the 
 mane of the Hyaena, and its tail is very similar to that 
 of certain dogs; but, on the other hand, its head 
 approximates very closely, or rather bears a most 
 striking resemblance, to the broad and flattened fore- 
 head, and the short and truncated muzzle, which charac- 
 terize the former genus. It is this latter circumstance 
 no doubt that has induced many naturalists, both popular 
 and scientific, to identify the Wild Dog, as he is called 
 by the settlers at the Cape, with a group of animals 
 from which in every other particular of outward struc-
 
 THE HYjENA-DOG. 79 
 
 ture, excepting one, it is remarkably and obviously 
 distinct. The only other point of agreement between 
 them consists in the number of its toes, which, like 
 those of the Hyaena, are only four to each foot. This 
 peculiarity, combined with the form of the head, unques- 
 tionably affords some ground for placing these animals 
 in close apposition; but is by no means so important, 
 in the absence of other and more essential characteristics, 
 as to warrant their union into a single group. Taken 
 together, however, and in connexion with other features 
 of distinction, these characters may fairly be regarded 
 as sufficiently striking to sanction the separation of the 
 animal now under consideration from the dogs. With 
 the latter it corresponds most completely in the number 
 and form of its teeth, and in the general structure of its 
 skeleton, which differs remarkably from that of the 
 Hyaena. 
 
 In size and form it is smaller and more slender than 
 either the Hyaena or the Wolf. Its ground colour is of 
 a reddish or yellowish brown, which is variously mot- 
 tled in large patches along the sides of the body and on 
 the legs, with black and white intermingled together. 
 Its nose and muzzle are completely black, and it has a 
 strong black line passing from them up the centre of the 
 forehead to between the ears, which are very large, black 
 both within and without, and furnished with a broad 
 and expanded tuft of long whitish hairs arising from 
 their anterior margin and filling up a considerable part 
 of their concavity. There is a lighter patch on the 
 muzzle beneath each of the eyes. The tail is of mode- 
 rate length, covered with long bushy hair, and divided 
 in the middle by a ring of black, below which or towards
 
 80 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 the extremity it is nearly white, as are also the fore 
 parts of the legs below the joint. These colours and 
 markings are subject to variation in different indivi- 
 duals ; but in their general disposition and appearance 
 they constantly exhibit the greatest similarity. 
 
 The Hyaena-Dog, if this compound term may be 
 allowed, is a native of the South of Africa, and infests the 
 frontier settlements at no great distance from the Cape 
 to a very extensive and troublesome degree. Mr. Bur- 
 chell, to whom we are indebted for the earliest specimen 
 brought to this country, as well as for first pointing out 
 its distinctive characters, informs us that it hunts in 
 regular packs, preferring the night, but frequently pur- 
 suing its prey even by day. It is not only exceedingly 
 fierce, but also remarkably swift and active, insomuch 
 that none but the fleeter animals can escape from its 
 pursuit. Sheep, oxen, and horses appear to be its 
 favourite game : on the former it makes its onset openly 
 and without fear, but of the latter it seems to stand in 
 awe, and attacks them only by stealth, frequently sur- 
 prising them in their sleep, biting off the tails of the 
 oxen, for which it has a particular fancy, and inflicting 
 such serious injuries upon the horses, especially the 
 young colts, as they rarely survive. 
 
 The individual brought home by Mr. Burchell was 
 kept by that gentleman chained up in his stable-yard 
 for more than a year; at the expiration of which its 
 ferocity continued unabated ; the man who fed it being 
 so fearful of it that he " dared never to venture his hand 
 upon it." It is nevertheless highly probable that with 
 a somewhat firmer and bolder treatment it might have 
 been in some degree tamed, if not domesticated ; for it
 
 THE HYAENA-DOG. 81 
 
 is stated that it at length became familiar with a dog, 
 which was its constant companion. That which is at 
 present in the Tower was brought to England in com- 
 pany with the youngest of the Cape Lions. They agreed 
 together extremely well ; but as the Lion increased in 
 size his play became too rough for his comparatively 
 feeble companion, who was borne to the earth in a 
 moment by the superior weight and strength of his 
 antagonist. Mr. Cops therefore found it necessary to 
 consign them to separate dens. Other companions for 
 the Hyaena-Dog have, however, very recently been ob- 
 tained, an interesting addition having been made to the 
 stock of the Menagerie by the acquisition of a couple of 
 Spotted Hyaenas ; a brief notice of which we subjoin, as 
 well as their portraits by way of tail-piece, they having 
 arrived during the progress of the present sheet through 
 the press, and consequently too late for insertion in their 
 proper place. 
 
 In size the SPOTTED HYAENA, the Hyaena Crocuta of 
 naturalists, is somewhat inferior to the striped. Its 
 muzzle, although short, is not so abruptly truncated; 
 and its ears, which are short and broad, assume a nearly 
 quadrilateral figure. Its ground colour is yellowish 
 brown ; and the whole body is covered with numerous 
 spots of a deeper brown, tolerably uniform in size, but 
 sometimes not very distinctly marked, and occasionally 
 arranging themselves in longitudinal rows. Its hair is 
 shorter than that of the Striped Hyaena, and although 
 longer on the neck and in the central line of the back 
 than elsewhere, does not form so distinct and well fur- 
 nished a mane as in the latter animal. The tail is blackish 
 brown, and covered with long bushy hair.
 
 82 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 This species appears to be peculiar to Southern Africa. 
 In its wild state it is equally ferocious in its temper and 
 disgusting in its habits with the common species of the 
 North ; but it has been found, as we have before men- 
 tioned, to be capable of domestication, and of rendering 
 services to man equal to those which he derives from the 
 dog. The pair which have just arrived in the Tower 
 have been placed by Mr. Cops in one den with the 
 Striped Hyaena and with the Hyaena-Dog; and this 
 juxta-position affords an excellent opportunity for a 
 comparison of their characters and disposition. They 
 agree together tolerably well; but the new-comers are 
 hardly as yet reconciled to their abode, and consequently 
 appear shy and reserved. The Hyaena-Dog is the most 
 lively of the group ; and his playfulness appears occa- 
 sionally to give no little annoyance to the Striped 
 Hyaena, who generally returns his solicitations with a 
 surly snarl, but does not seem disposed to resent them 
 farther.
 
 THE AFRICAN BLOODHOUND. 
 
 CAMS DOMESTICVS. LINN. Var. 
 
 THE generic characters of this well known group, com- 
 prehending not only the various races of the Dog, the 
 Wolf, and the Jackal, but also the numerous species of 
 Foxes, which differ from the rest only in the form of the 
 pupils of their eyes (which are round in the former, and 
 transversely linear in the latter) may be shortly enume- 
 rated as follows. They are all furnished in the upper 
 jaw with six sharp incisors and two canine teeth in 
 front, and with six molars on each side; the same 
 number of each description is also to be found in the 
 lower, with the addition of a seventh grinder. Their 
 tongue is perfectly smooth, the papillae which cover it
 
 84 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 being soft and velvety to the touch, instead of rough and 
 pointed as in the Hyaenas and Cats. They have five 
 toes to each of the fore feet, of which only the four 
 outermost touch the ground, the fifth being always more 
 or less elevated. On the hind feet the number of the 
 toes is no more than four, for although the rudiment of 
 a fifth is distinctly visible in the skeleton, it is rarely 
 observable in the living animal. On these toes they 
 constantly support themselves in walking, the soles of 
 their feet, or rather that part of the legs which corres- 
 ponds to the soles of plantigrade animals, never being 
 applied to the surface of the ground on which they 
 tread. Their claws are blunt, strong, but little curved, 
 and not at all retractile; and their use is evidently 
 limited to turning up the earth. Their muzzle is more 
 or less elongated to afford space for the ample series of 
 lateral teeth; and the strength of their jaws, as well as 
 the extent of opening between them, is by this means 
 much diminished. In most of these particulars they 
 exhibit a striking contrast with the more perfect of the 
 carnivorous races, and afford grounds for expecting an 
 equally manifest falling off from their ferocious and 
 sanguinary propensities. The dogs are in fact by no 
 means equally carnivorous with the cats ; and their teeth, 
 especially the grinders, are fitted as well for the demo- 
 lition of vegetable as of animal substances. 
 
 In a wild state, however, they subsist themselves 
 principally by preying upon the inferior animals, feed- 
 ing with nearly equal relish upon the warm and palpi- 
 tating fibres of a fresh and almost living victim, and 
 upon the mangled carcass which taints the air with its 
 unsavoury exhalations. Their habitation is in the depths
 
 THE AFRICAN BLOODHOUND. 85 
 
 of the forest, where the larger species form themselves 
 dens in the close and thick underwood, while the smaller 
 burrow in the earth for shelter. Their lengthened muzzle 
 and the great extent, to which all the cavities connected 
 with the nose are dilated, are admirably fitted for giving 
 to the organ of smell the fullest developement of which 
 it is capable. It is the perfection of this organ, com- 
 bined with the general lightness and muscularity of their 
 frame and the firm agility of their elongated limbs, which 
 renders many of the species such excellent hunters, by 
 enabling them to scent their prey at an immense and 
 sometimes almost incredible distance, and to run it down 
 in the chase with indefatigable swiftness and unrelaxing 
 pertinacity. 
 
 The very terms of the specific character by which 
 Linnaeus attempted to distinguish the domesticated from 
 the other dogs, " the tail curved upwards (towards the 
 left)," may be regarded as affording in themselves a 
 sufficient proof of the difficulty of the task, when so 
 great a naturalist, after taking a complete review of all 
 the particulars of their organization, was compelled to 
 rest contented with a distinction drawn from so trifling 
 and apparently insignificant a remark. It would in fact 
 appear to be absolutely impossible to offer in any form 
 of words whatever a character sufficiently comprehensive 
 to combine the almost infinite varieties of this Protean 
 race, and at the same time to separate them from those 
 other races from which they are generally believed to be 
 specifically distinct. To this observation of Linnaeus 
 almost the sole addition that has been made by later 
 zoologists consists in a remark of M. Desmarest, that 
 whenever a spot of white is found upon any part of the
 
 86 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 tail of a domestic dog, the tip of that very variable organ 
 is also constantly white; so that we are still driven to 
 recur to the tail alone for the only uniform physical 
 characteristics that have been pointed out to distinguish 
 an animal, which every one recognises at first sight, and 
 which indeed it is impossible to mistake. 
 
 But it is to the moral and intellectual faculties of the 
 Dog that we must look for those remarkable peculiarities 
 which distinguish him in so eminent a degree not only 
 from his immediate neighbours, but also from every 
 other quadruped. Unfortunately we have not the means 
 of comparing him in a pure state of nature with the 
 other animals of his tribe; for although it has been 
 repeatedly attempted to determine his primitive stock, 
 there can be no doubt that upon this point we are still 
 as much as ever in the dark. There exist, however, in 
 various parts of the world, considerable numbers of 
 Dogs, the descendants unquestionably of races formerly 
 domesticated, which, to all appearance, differ but little 
 in their habits and manners from the Wolf and the 
 Jackal, to one or other of which they frequently ap- 
 proach in form, and from each of which it has been 
 confidently asserted that the domestic species was prima- 
 rily derived. But the doubts to which this striking 
 similarity might otherwise give rise are instantly re- 
 moved by the readiness with which these wild Dogs 
 submit to the control of man, and become familiarized 
 with that state of servitude to which nature appears to 
 have destined them from the first. Other animals may 
 indeed be tamed; they may become playful, familiar, 
 and even affectionate ; but none of them have hitherto 
 been taught, even by long-continued training, to exhibit
 
 THE AFRICAN BLOODHOUND. 87 
 
 qualities of mind in any degree comparable to the abso- 
 lute subserviency, the undeviating attachment, the sub- 
 missive docility, and the acute intelligence, which these 
 invaluable animals almost spontaneously manifest, when 
 placed in circumstances favourable to their develope- 
 ment. 
 
 So much has been written by authors of every descrip- 
 tion, from the earliest ages down to the present time, 
 upon every point connected with their history and habits, 
 and the space which we could devote to their illustration 
 in the present volume is so small, that we choose rather 
 not to enter at all upon the subject than to treat of it in 
 the very abrupt and imperfect manner to which we 
 should necessarily be restricted. It only remains there- 
 fore to add a few observations relative to the extremely 
 beautiful leash of hounds which are figured at the head 
 of the present article, before passing to the consideration 
 of the remaining species of the group which are at pre- 
 sent contained in the Menagerie. 
 
 These are two males and one female, belonging to the 
 most elegant as well as the most intelligent variety of 
 the species, that to which Linnaeus, on account of the 
 high degree to which the latter quality was carried in 
 them, gave par excellence the epithet of sagax. They 
 were presented by Major, now Colonel Denham, on his 
 return from the most successful expedition that has 
 perhaps ever been made into the evil-omened regions of 
 C.entral Africa, from whence they were brought by that 
 gallant traveller, who also gave Mr. Cops the following 
 account of their qualifications for the chase. He had 
 repeatedly, he said, made use of them in hunting the 
 Gazelle, in their pursuit of which he had observed that
 
 88 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 they displayed more cunning and sagacity than any 
 dogs with which he was acquainted, frequently quitting 
 the line of scent for the purpose of cutting off a double, 
 and recovering it again with the greatest facility. They 
 would follow a scent after an hour and a half or even 
 two hours had elapsed ; and the breed was therefore 
 commonly employed in -Africa for the purpose of tracing 
 a flying enemy to his retreat. They are in fact, both 
 for symmetry and action, perfect models ; and there are 
 few sportsmen who will not regret that there appears no 
 chance of crossing our own pointers with this interesting 
 breed. A mixed race, combining the qualifications of 
 both, would unquestionably be one of the most valuable 
 acquisitions to our sporting stock ; but, unhappily, this 
 union seems to be altogether hopeless ; for although 
 they have now been more than three years in England, 
 and are in excellent health and condition, they appear, 
 like many other animals restrained of their liberty and 
 kept constantly together, to have no disposition to per- 
 petuate their race. The males are remarkably good 
 tempered; the female on the contrary is surly and ill 
 natured.
 
 s&jm 
 
 THE WOLF. 
 
 CAMS LUPVS. LINN. 
 
 THIS sullen and forbidding-looking animal, the most 
 ravenous and ferocious that infests the more temperate 
 regions of the earth, of many parts of which he is the 
 terror and the scourge, is distinguished from the humble, 
 generous, and faithful friend of man, the domestic dog, 
 by no very remarkable or striking character; and yet 
 there is something in his physiognomy, gait, and habit, 
 which is at once so peculiar and so repulsive, that it 
 would be almost impossible to confound a Wolf, how- 
 ever tame, with the most savage and the most wolflike 
 of dogs. For the separation of the two species, Linnaeus, 
 as we have seen in the preceding article, had recourse to
 
 90 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 the tail; and having determined that that of the dog 
 was uniformly curved upwards, he attributed to that of 
 the Wolf a completely opposite direction, that is to say, 
 a curvature inwards; assigning, at the same time, a 
 straight or a deflected position to those of all the other 
 animals of the group. The deflected, or down-pointing, 
 direction is, however, equally common in the Wolf with 
 the incurved ; and this petty distinction, which has little 
 to do with structure, and still less with habits, is hardly 
 deserving of serious attention. More obvious and more 
 essential differences will be found in the cast of his 
 countenance, which derives a peculiar expression from 
 the obliquity of his eyes; in the breadth of his head, 
 suddenly contracting into a slender and pointed muzzle ; 
 in the size and power of his teeth, which are compara- 
 tively greater than those of any dog of equal stature ; in 
 the stiffness and want of pliability of his limbs ; in his 
 uniformly straight and pointed ears ; and in a black stripe 
 which almost constantly, and in nearly every variety of 
 the species, occupies the front of the fore leg of the adult. 
 His fur, which differs considerably in texture and colour, 
 from the influence of climate and of seasons, is com- 
 monly of a grayish yellow, the shades of which are 
 variously intermingled ; as he advances in age it becomes 
 lighter, and in high northern latitudes frequently turns 
 completely white, a change which also takes place in 
 many other animals inhabiting the polar regions. 
 
 Entirely dependent upon rapine for his subsistence, 
 the nose of the Wolf is fully equal to that of the sharp- 
 est-scented hound. The size and speed of the elk and 
 of the stag are insufficient to protect them from his 
 violence; he pursues them with equal swiftness and
 
 THE WOLF. 91 
 
 cunning, and, when he has succeeded in running' them 
 down, finds little difficulty in rendering- them his prey. 
 To effect this purpose with the greater certainty he 
 frequently unites himself with a numerous train of his 
 fellows, who are however bound together by no other 
 tie than the common object of their pursuit; and when 
 this is once attained immediately separate and proceed 
 each to his own retreat, whence they again emerge to 
 reunite in the common cause whenever the necessary 
 stimulus is supplied. In inhabited countries he seldom 
 ventures to show himself openly or in packs, but sleeps 
 away the greater part of the day in the shelter of the 
 forest, and only prowls abroad by night when impelled 
 by the cravings of his appetite. The sheep-cote and the 
 farm-yard become then the scenes of his ravages ; and 
 such is his ingenuity, and so great the rapidity of his 
 motions, that he will frequently carry off his prey almost 
 before the eyes of the shepherd, although the warning 
 voice of the watchful dog had given timely notice of the 
 approach of the marauder. His ferocity is sometimes 
 carried to such a pitch that he becomes dangerous to 
 man ; and when hard pressed by famine, to which in 
 spite of all his skill in the chase and his sagacity in 
 the pursuit of meaner rapine he is by no means a 
 stranger, he will fall at unawares upon the solitary and 
 unprotected traveller, or, prowling about the habitation 
 of the villager, carry off from it his unsuspecting and 
 defenceless children. 
 
 Happily for England this formidable beast has long 
 been extirpated from its woods; but the comparative 
 extent of his domain has been thereby but little reduced. 
 It may be roughly stated as comprehending the whole
 
 92 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 northern hemisphere, of which only very small portions 
 are exempted from his ravages. He is easily tamed 
 when young, and may even (according to M. F. Cuvier, 
 who has published a history of a domesticated individual 
 bordering in many particulars very closely on the mar- 
 vellous, but of the truth of which the well known 
 character of that scientific naturalist is a sufficient gua- 
 rantee) be rendered susceptible of the highest degree of 
 attachment to his master, whom he will remember after 
 prolonged and repeated absence, and caress with all the 
 familiar fondness of a dog. Such traits as this are, 
 however, to say the least, very uncommon ; and he is, 
 even in captivity, generally speaking, ill tempered and 
 morose. The old male, the father of the litter now in 
 the Tower, was extremely savage; the female, on the 
 contrary, is very tame, and, whichas more remarkable, 
 continued so even during the period of suckling her 
 young, which were five in number. Neither before, at, 
 nor after this period did her temper undergo any change : 
 she suffered her keepers to handle her cubs, of which 
 she was excessively fond, and even to remove them from 
 the den, without evincing .the smallest symptom either 
 of anger or alarm.
 
 THE CLOUDED BLACK WOLF. 
 
 CAN is NVBILVS. SAY. 
 
 To distinguish between the numerous races of Wolves 
 which are scattered more or less abundantly over nearly 
 the entire surface of the earth ; to determine that such 
 and such variations are the result of original formation, 
 and that such and such others are merely the product of 
 accidental circumstances ; in other words, to establish 
 clear and tangible grounds of specific distinction between 
 animals so varied in external appearance, but corres- 
 ponding so perfectly in every essential particular, while 
 the shades of character by which they differ, although in 
 many cases strikingly marked, are for the most part so 
 unimportant, or so little permanent, as scarcely to be
 
 94 THE TOWER MENAGEKUi. 
 
 deserving of notice, is unquestionably one of the most 
 difficult problems, to the solution of which the zoologist 
 has to apply himself. 
 
 Ifl internal and anatomical structure, on which modern 
 naturalists are agreed that the greatest reliance ought to 
 be placed in the distinction of closely approximating 
 species, there is in the various races of Wolves no devi- 
 ation from the common type of sufficient importance to 
 warrant their separation from each other; neither does 
 their outward form, excepting only in size and in the 
 comparative measurement of parts, differ in any remark- 
 able degree. In colour it is true that the most striking 
 variations are observable, their hair exhibiting almost 
 every intermediate shade between the opposite extremes 
 of black and white. But it must be obvious that on this 
 character, taken by itself, it would be absurd to insist as 
 a ground of specific distinction, when we reflect on the 
 influence which climate and other external accidents 
 must necessarily exercise on animals so extensively dis- 
 persed, and so variously circumstanced. 
 
 There are, however, strong grounds for believing that 
 the fine pair of animals, whose portraits are prefixed to 
 the present article, exhibit real and substantial marks of 
 distinction of sufficient value to sanction their separation 
 from the other species. Considerably larger and more 
 robust than the Common Wolf, and differing greatly in 
 the expression of their physiognomy, neither in figure 
 nor in countenance are they remarkable for that starved 
 and gaunt appearance which is the common and well 
 known attribute of the latter. In fact, they have alto- 
 gether a more fierce and formidable, but at the same 
 time a more noble and less sinister, aspect. Their hair,
 
 THE CLOUDED BLACK WOLF. 95 
 
 which is of considerable length, especially along the 
 middle of the back and shoulders, where it forms a sort 
 of indistinct and scattered mane, is mottled with various 
 shades of black, gray, and white, giving to the whole 
 animal that dark and clouded colour which constitutes 
 one of its most peculiar and striking characteristics. The 
 colouring, which, on the upper parts of the body, is deep 
 black, becomes somewhat lighter on the sides, and assumes 
 a yet lighter shade beneath : the chin and angles of the 
 mouth are nearly white ; the gray tinge predominating 
 over the darker shades in various other parts, but by no 
 means in so regular a manner as to merit a particular 
 description. The ears are remarkably short; and the 
 tail is also somewhat shorter in proportion than that of 
 the common wolf, not reaching, in its solid form, beneath 
 the posterior bend (which in all these animals is formed 
 by the heel) of the hind legs. 
 
 The animals at present in the Tower, the only indi- 
 viduals of this species that have been brought alive to 
 Europe, were presented about four years since by the 
 Hudson's Bay Company, by some of whose hunters they 
 had been trapped in the northern regions of America. A 
 fine skin of the same species was brought home by the 
 late overland expedition to those countries, under the 
 command of Captain Franklin, and presented to the 
 Museum of the Zoological Society. There is also another 
 instance of its occurrence recorded in the capture of a 
 solitary specimen, in the Missouri territory, by the party 
 engaged in Major Long's expedition from Pittsburgh to 
 the Rocky Mountains. This specimen was accurately 
 described, in the notes to the published narrative of that 
 expedition, by Mr. Say, who at once recognised it as a
 
 96 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 distinct species, and affixed to it the scientific name which 
 we have adopted without hesitation for these animals, 
 with the most striking peculiarities of which his descrip- 
 tion coincides in every essential particular. 
 
 Their habits in a state of nature are, in all probability, 
 perfectly similar to those which characterize their imme- 
 diate neighbours, from which, in captivity, they differ 
 in no remarkable degree. Like the common kind, they 
 are exceedingly voracious, tearing their meat and swal- 
 lowing it in large gobbets, and afterwards gnawing the 
 bones (for which they frequently quarrel) with truly 
 wolvish avidity. Although they have been so long con- 
 fined, they retain their original ferocity undiminished : 
 a circumstance, it may be mentioned by the way, which 
 has prevented us from giving their measurement. Judg- 
 ing, however, from the eye, we may confidently venture 
 to assert that their size, especially that of the male, is 
 considerably superior to that of the specimen described 
 by Mr. Say, which measured about four feet and a quarter 
 from the tip of the nose to the origin of the tail.
 
 THE JACKAL. 
 
 CAN is AVREVS. LINN. 
 
 THE Jackal, one of the greatest pests of the countries 
 which he inhabits, is spread over nearly the whole of 
 Asia and the north of Africa, occupying in the warmer 
 regions of those continents the place of the Wolf, of 
 whom in many particulars he may be considered as 
 offering a miniature resemblance. In size he is about 
 equal to the common fox, but he differs from that equally 
 troublesome animal in the form of the pupils of his eyes, 
 which correspond with those of the dog and of the wolf, 
 in the comparative shortness of his legs and muzzle, in 
 his less tufted and bushy tail, and in the peculiar marking 
 of his coat. The colouring of his back and sides consists
 
 98 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 of a mixture of gray and black, which is abruptly and 
 strikingly distinguished from the deep and uniform 
 tawny of his shoulders, haunches, and legs : his head is 
 nearly of the same mixed shade with the upper surface 
 of his body, as is also the greater part of his tail, which 
 latter, however, becomes black towards its extremity ; 
 his neck and throat are whitish, and the under surface 
 of his body is distinguished by a paler hue. 
 
 Unlike the wolf or the fox, he always associates him- 
 self with his species in numerous troops, which burrow- 
 together in the earth, hunt in concert, and act in con- 
 junction for their mutual defence. These bands not only 
 prey upon the smaller quadrupeds and domestic poultry, 
 but, emboldened by their numbers, give chase to and 
 attack the larger animals. They frequently follow in 
 the train of more noble beasts, and make their meal off 
 the remains of the carcases which have been half de- 
 voured by the Lion or the Tiger. When taken they 
 become almost immediately tame and docile ; offering 
 no resistance and evincing no signs of ferocity. The 
 specimen in the Tower is remarkably quiet ; it is a male, 
 and has been a resident for upwards of three years. 
 

 
 THE CIVET, OR MUSK CAT. 
 
 VlVERRA ClVETTA. LlNN. 
 
 THE group of animals to which we have next to turn 
 our attention is perhaps the most puzzling, and cer- 
 tainly the least understood, among the true Carnivora ; 
 hence there exists no little difficulty in defining its 
 limits and distinguishing the species which compose it. 
 Under the generic name of Viverra, Linnaeus compre- 
 hended a series, or, to speak more properly, a congeries, 
 of quadrupeds, differing from each other so remarkably 
 in form, in structure, and in habits, as to render it 
 absolutely impossible to find characters by which they 
 might be circumscribed and isolated from their fellows. 
 His definition of the genus therefore, although purposely 
 
 H 2
 
 100 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 expressed in terms the most vague and indistinct, neither 
 excludes such animals as from their obvious affinities he 
 could not refrain from referring to other groups, nor 
 includes full one half of the species which he has 
 arranged beneath it. The Ichneumon of the Nile, the 
 Suricate of the Cape, the Coati of South America, the 
 Stinking Weasels of the North, the Civet of Barbary, 
 the Genette of the East, the Ratel of South Africa, and 
 others equally distant in affinity, were sweepingly com- 
 pelled into this ample receptacle, which was converted 
 into a genuine " refuge for the houseless," in which 
 every carnivorous quadruped, known, unknown, or im- 
 perfectly known, that appeared to be without a place 
 elsewhere, was charitably afforded a temporary asylum. 
 
 In this arrangement, which brought animals truly 
 digitigrade, with retractile claws, tongues covered with 
 sharp papillae, canine teeth of great power, and molars 
 formed for tearing flesh, consequently in a high degree 
 sanguinary and carnivorous in their habits, into close 
 and intimate contact with others, which are positively 
 plantigrade, with exserted claws, smooth tongues, and 
 teeth of little power and evidently incapable of lacerating 
 animal food, and which are therefore in all cases more 
 or less, and in several instances wholly, vegetable eaters, 
 it was impossible for naturalists long to coincide. The 
 genus thus formed presented so heterogeneous a combi- 
 nation, that the difficulty was rather where to stop in 
 the dispersion of the dissimilar materials of which it was 
 composed, than where to commence the necessary ope- 
 ration ; and in consequence nearly a dozen genera, not 
 hanging together in one continued series, but scattered 
 through various parts of the system, and most of them
 
 THE CIVET, OR MUSK CAT. 101 
 
 essentially distinct, have been the result of the dismem- 
 berment of this single group. 
 
 The true Civets, to which the genus Viverra is now 
 restricted, yield in the extent of their carnivorous pro- 
 pensities to the cats alone, whom they approach very 
 closely in many points of their zoological character, as 
 well as in their predatory, sanguinary, and nocturnal 
 habits. In addition to the six incisors and two canines, 
 which are common to the whole of the true Carnivora, 
 they have on each side and in each jaw six molars, one 
 of which is peculiarly adapted for lacerating flesh, while 
 the rest are more or less of the ordinary form. Their 
 tongues are furnished with the same elevated and pointed 
 papillae which give so remarkable an asperity to those of 
 the cats ; and their claws are half retractile. The toes are 
 five in number on each of the feet, and their extremities 
 alone are applied to the ground in walking ; the animals 
 are consequently completely digitigrade. But the most 
 distinctive character of the group consists in an opening 
 near the tail, leading into a double cavity of considerable 
 size, furnished with glands and follicles for the secretion 
 of the peculiar odoriferous substance so well known as 
 the produce of the Civet, and from which the animal 
 derives his name. 
 
 The present species is from two to three feet in length, 
 exclusive of the tail, which is nearly half as much more ; 
 and stands from ten to twelve inches high. His body, 
 which is. more elongated in its form than that of any of 
 the animals hitherto described, is covered with long hair, 
 the ground colour of which is of a brownish gray inter- 
 mingled with numerous transverse interrupted bands or 
 irregular spots of black. A series of longer hairs of the 
 latter colour occupy the middle line of the back, from
 
 102 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 between the shoulders to the extremity of the tail, and 
 form a kind of mane, which may be raised or depressed 
 at pleasure. The legs and greater part of the tail are 
 perfectly black, and the upper lip and sides of the neck 
 nearly white. A large patch of black surrounds each 
 eye, and passes from it to the angle of the mouth ; and 
 two or three other bands of the same colour pass ob- 
 liquely from the base of the ears towards the shoulder 
 and neck, the latter of which is marked by a broad black 
 patch. 
 
 In his natural habits the Civet closely resembles the 
 fox and the less powerful species of cats, subsisting by 
 rapine, and attacking the birds and smaller quadrupeds, 
 which form his principal food, rather by night and by 
 surprise than by open force and in the face of day: 
 reduced to a state of captivity, he becomes moderately 
 tame, but not sufficiently so to allow himself to be 
 handled with impunity. In many parts of Northern 
 Africa large numbers of them are kept for the purpose 
 of obtaining their perfume, which bears a high price and 
 is much esteemed. The individual sketched above is a 
 male of large size, and remarkable for never having 
 deposited any of the perfume, although for more than 
 twelve months an inhabitant of the Menagerie.
 
 THE JAVANESE CIVET. 
 
 VIVERRA RASSE. HOHSF. 
 
 THE present species is remarkably distinct from the pre- 
 ceding both in form and colour. Its ground is of a 
 much lighter gray, on which it offers a broad longitu- 
 dinal dorsal line of black, and two or three narrower 
 ones of the same colour on each side, composed of con- 
 fluent spots. " These spots are also thickly but somewhat 
 irregularly scattered over the rest of the body, and may 
 be considered as forming a series of flexuous dotted lines. 
 The legs are black externally; and the head is grayish 
 and without spots. A deep longitudinal black line 
 occupies the side of the neck above, and a second more 
 oblique is placed below. The body, which is from 
 fifteen to eighteen inches in length, is narrow and com-
 
 104 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 pressed, and more elevated behind than before ; the 
 back is strongly arched. The line of the profile is per- 
 fectly straight, the muzzle narrow and tapering, and the 
 ears short and rounded. The tail is of equal length 
 with the body, and tapers gradually to the tip ; it is 
 marked with eight or nine broad rings of black, alter- 
 nating with an equal number of grayish. 
 
 Like the other animals of its group, its habits are pre- 
 datory ; in ^confinement it retains much of its original 
 ferocity, and is extremely spiteful and savage. The two 
 individuals from which our figure was taken have inha- 
 bited the Menagerie for nearly twelve months ; they are 
 both" males, and occupy different dens. They are fed, 
 like the preceding, and indeed like all the carnivorous 
 quadrupeds which it remains to mention, on a mixture 
 of vegetable and animal food ; and deposit large quan- 
 tities of civet, which strongly impregnates the air of the 
 apartment in which they are kept. This perfume is 
 highly esteemed by the Javanese, who apply it not only 
 to their dresses, but also to their persons. Even the 
 apartments and furniture of the natives of rank are 
 generally scented with it to such a degree as to be offen- 
 sive to Europeans. 
 
 -fct
 
 THE GRAY ICHNEUMON. 
 
 ICHNEUMON GRISEVS. GEOFF. 
 
 FROM the Civets, to which it closely approaches in the 
 number and in some degree also in the form of its teeth, 
 in the asperity of its tongue, and in the semi-retractility 
 of its claws, the group of which the Egyptian Ichneumon 
 forms the type is distinguished by its narrower and more 
 pointed muzzle, by the shortness of its lower lip, and 
 more especially by the absence of the double cavity 
 beneath the tail, which is replaced by a single pouch of 
 considerable size, but destitute of secreting glands. Their 
 hair is long, crisp, brittle, and always more or less 
 variegated in colour, in consequence of each separate hair 
 being marked by alternate rings of different shades. 
 The colour of the species now before us, which is a
 
 106 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 native of India, is a pale gray, the hairs being for the 
 most part of a dirty yellowish white, relieved towards 
 their extremities by narrow rings of brown. The head 
 and limbs are darker than the rest of the body. 
 
 The habits of the Ichneumons are very similar to those 
 of the ferret. In the localities where they abound, their 
 sanguinary disposition and predatory inclinations render 
 them a real pest to the farm-yard, to which they pay 
 their nocturnal visits for the purpose of destroying the 
 poultry. They also make war upon rats, birds, and 
 reptiles, and devour the eggs of the latter with the 
 greatest avidity. Endowed with a remarkable degree of 
 courage in proportion to their size, they do not hesitate 
 to attack any animal that is not obviously more than a 
 match for them. Even in captivity they retain much of 
 their native spirit; and so great is their activity and 
 determination that the individual now in the Tower 
 actually on one occasion killed no fewer than a dozen 
 full grown rats, which were loosed to it in a room sixteen 
 feet square, in less than a minute and a half. They are 
 very easily tamed, become attached to those with whom 
 they are familiar and to the house in which they live, and 
 will follow their master about almost like a dog. 
 
 .
 
 THE PARADOXURUS. 
 
 PARADOXVRVS TYPVS. F. Cuv. 
 
 ALTHOUGH the division of the true Carnivora into digi- 
 tigrade and plantigrade is in many respects objection- 
 able, we feel compelled, in conformity with established 
 rules, to remove the animal before us from its most 
 obvious affinities, to arrange it among the latter; placing 
 it, however, at the commencement of that division and 
 nearly in contact with the viverrine groups, to which it 
 is so intimately allied, as to have been actually con- 
 founded by Buffon with the common Genette ; a mistake, 
 which was first clearly pointed out by M. F. Cuvier, but 
 which has obtained so generally among naturalists, that 
 the Paradoxurus is still commonly exhibited under that 
 erroneous name. From the Genettes and Civets it differs
 
 108 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 little in its general form and habits ; its teeth are nearly 
 similar; and its toes and nails closely correspond in num- 
 ber and in their degree of retractility. But it is entirely 
 destitute of the secretory pouch; and, in addition to its 
 plantigrade walk, it exhibits a very peculiar structure in 
 the tail. This organ is as long as the body, and flattened 
 above and below; when extended, the further half is 
 turned over so as to place its lower side uppermost, and 
 the animal has it in its power to roll it up into a spire, 
 commencing from above downwards, to the very base. 
 
 .The colour of the species varies in different lights : in 
 general it may be described as grayish black, with a 
 tinge of yellow. On this ground it is marked with one 
 broad dorsal, and on each side two or three narrower, 
 indistinct black lines. The under jaw, the legs, and the 
 greater part of the tail are entirely black ; and there is a 
 whitish spot above and under each of its eyes. 
 
 India and the larger Asiatic Islands appear to be its 
 native country ; but nothing certain is known of its 
 habits in a state of nature : in captivity it is sullen and 
 irascible, and evinces no affection for its keeper, appear- 
 ing in fact totally insensible to the attentions which it
 
 THE BROWN CO ATI. 
 
 NASVA KARICA. F. Cuv. 
 
 THE characters of the genus to which this curious little 
 animal belongs resemble so closely in the most impor- 
 tant particulars those of the other plantigrade Carnivora, 
 that it will here be sufficient to explain those points 
 alone in which the Coatis differ from their immediate 
 affinities. From the Bears they are essentially distin- 
 guished by the general form of their body, which in 
 some measure approaches that of the viverrine group ; 
 by their physiognomy, which is altogether peculiar, and 
 by their elongated tail, which is nearly equal in length 
 to their body. From the Racoons their generally length- 
 ened form, and especially that of the snout, which is
 
 110 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 in fact their most obvious and striking characteristic, are 
 fully sufficient to distinguish them. In the Coatis this 
 organ is produced in a most remarkable degree ; and it 
 is terminated by a muzzle so extremely flexible that, 
 when the attention of the animal is excited, it is kept in 
 constant action and moved about in all directions. 
 
 The Coatis are barely equal in size to the common 
 fox : they inhabit the woods of South America, and live 
 upon fruits, insects, and reptiles, climbing trees in pur- 
 suit of their prey with great agility. In captivity they 
 are easily tamed, and are fond of being caressed ; hut 
 exhibit no peculiar symptoms of attachment. 
 
 Three supposed species have been described; but 
 naturalists in general are at present inclined to admit of 
 no more than two; and even with regard to these we 
 have yet no sufficient proof that they are really more 
 than strongly marked varieties. The one from which 
 our figure was taken belongs to the brown kind, which 
 is distinguished from the other chiefly by its darker 
 colour both above and below, and by the blackness of 
 the sides of its snout. The tails of both species are 
 usually encircled by rings alternately black and fulvous ; 
 and each has the eye surrounded by three white spots.
 
 THE RACOON. 
 
 PROCYON LOTOR. Cuv. 
 
 LARGER in size and more robust in stature than the 
 Coatis, and approximating still more closely in their 
 physical characters to the Bears, which may be consi- 
 dered as the typical group of the plantigrade Carnivora, 
 the Racoons naturally occupy an intermediate station 
 between the playful, timid, and harmless little creatures 
 just noticed, and the powerful, clumsy, and dangerous 
 animals next to be described. Like both Bears and 
 Coatis they have in each jaw six sharp incisors, two 
 strong canines, and twelve cheek teeth, six on each side. 
 But these latter differ from those of the Bears, inasmuch 
 as the whole six form a regular series, the three anterior
 
 112 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 ones of which are small and pointed, and the three 
 posterior broad and surmounted by prominent and 
 blunted tubercles ; while in the Bears the three anterior 
 appear rather to form a supplemental appendage, being 
 placed irregularly and at unequal distances, and not 
 unfrequently falling out altogether as the animal ad- 
 vances in age : the tubercles on the crowns of the poste- 
 rior ones are also much less strongly marked. The 
 Coatis exhibit nearly the same mode of dentition as the 
 Racoons ; but striking marks of distinction between them 
 are afforded by the comparative length of the tail, which 
 in the latter is scarcely half as long as the body ; and by 
 that of the snout, which, instead of being prolonged into 
 an extensible muzzle, capable of being moved about in 
 all directions, as in the Coatis, is scarcely produced 
 beyond the lower lip, and has very little motion. The 
 strongly marked difference in physiognomy arising from 
 this circumstance is increased by the width of the head 
 posteriorly, which is so great as to give to the general 
 outline of the face of the Racoons the form of a nearly 
 equilateral triangle. Their ears are of moderate length, 
 upright and rounded at the tip ; their legs strikingly 
 contrast in. their slender and graceful form with the 
 strong and muscular limbs of the Bears ; and their nails, 
 five in number on each of the feet, are long, pointed, and 
 of considerable strength. The whole body is clothed 
 with long, thick, and soft hair; and its general shape, 
 notwithstanding its intimate connexion with the Bears, 
 and its short and thickset proportions, is not without a 
 certain degree of elegance and lightness. 
 
 The Racoons are natives of America, and the species 
 which has been most frequently observed by naturalists,
 
 THE RACOON. ' 113 
 
 and which we are now to describe, is most frequent in 
 the northern division of that continent. Indeed it may 
 admit of doubt whether it ever advances further south 
 than the Isthmus of Darien, the animal described by 
 M. D'Azara as identical with it being evidently a distinct 
 species. Its fur is usually of a deep grayish black, 
 resulting from the intermixture of those two colours in 
 successive rings on each individual hair. The shades of 
 colour vary on different parts of the body, and are as 
 usual much lighter below and on the inside of the legs. 
 The face, which is nearly white, is surrounded by a 
 black band of unequal breadth, passing across the fore- 
 head, encircling the eyes, and descending obliquely on 
 each side towards the angle of the jaw. The whiskers 
 are of moderate length ; and the hair of the face gene- 
 rally, as well as of the legs, is short and smooth. The 
 tail, which is thick at the base, tapering gradually to the 
 tip, and covered with long -hairs, has five or six brownish 
 rings, alternating with an equal number of the lighter 
 colour which is prevalent on the lower parts of the body. 
 All that we know of their habits in a state of nature 
 may be comprehended in the single fact, that, in addi- 
 tion to the vegetable substances, and more particularly 
 fruits, which form the principal part of their subsistence, 
 they feed on the eggs of birds, and even on the birds 
 themselves, their agility and the structure of their claws 
 affording them the means of reaching the tops of the 
 tallest trees with quickness and facility. In captivity 
 they are easily tamed, and even appear susceptible of 
 some degree of attachment ; but they never entirely lose 
 their sentiment of independence, and are consequently 
 incapable of complete domestication. When placed
 
 114 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 under a certain degree of restraint they appear con- 
 tented and happy, are fond of play, and take pleasure 
 in the caresses of their friends, and even of strangers ; 
 but however long this kind of domestication may have 
 continued, and how much soever they may seem recon- 
 ciled to their confinement, the moment the restraint is 
 withdrawn and they feel themselves again at liberty, the 
 love of freedom prevails over every other consideration, 
 and they become as wild as if they had never been 
 reclaimed. In eating, they commonly support them- 
 selves on their hind legs, and carry their food to the 
 mouth between their fore paws, having first plunged it 
 in water, if the liquid element, of which they are remark- 
 ably fond, is within reach. This singular peculiarity, 
 the object of which is not very obvious, but from which 
 the animal derives his specific name, does not, however, 
 appear to be constant and uniform, being frequently 
 entirely neglected. The same may be said of their 
 fondness for shell-fish and mollusca, for which they are 
 generally stated to have a great partiality ; some of them> 
 like the handsome pair now living in the Menagerie, 
 displaying the greatest address and dexterity in opening 
 the shell of an oyster, and extracting its contents, while 
 others absolutely refuse to touch it.
 
 THE AMERICAN BLACK BEAR. 
 
 URS VS A MER 1C A N VS. PALLAS. 
 
 WE have now arrived at the closing group of the true 
 Carnivora; a group which, although less sanguinary in 
 its habits than almost any of those which we have 
 hitherto had occasion to notice, and endowed by nature 
 with a capacity of subsisting entirely on vegetable sub- 
 stances, comprehends nevertheless, among the closely 
 allied species of which it is composed, not merely the 
 largest, but even some of the most formidable, of the 
 carnivorous Mammalia. 
 
 Both in outward shape and internal characters, these 
 clumsy, sluggish, and uncouth animals offer a perfect 
 contrast to the light, active, and elegant forms of the 
 
 i2
 
 1 16 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 tribe with which we commenced our series. Instead of 
 the compressed and lengthened body, with its soft, sleek, 
 and variegated covering, and the long and graceful tail 
 by which it is terminated, we have a broad, awkward, 
 and thickset figure, covered with a rough, shaggy, and 
 unattractive fur, and ending in a scarcely visible appen- 
 dage, serving neither for ornament nor use. The differ- 
 ence in gait and motion is as remarkable as that of 
 shape ; for while the one glides gently along, as it were 
 on tiptoe, or bounds onwards with the velocity of thought, 
 the other appears to be oppressed by the weight of his 
 ponderous and unwieldy bulk, and supporting himself 
 on the full expansion of his dilated paws, scarcely moves 
 without the semblance of an effort. The short and 
 rounded jaws of the cats, with their close and regular 
 series of powerful cutting and lacerating teeth, and their 
 rough and rasplike tongue, are supplied by a broad and 
 lengthened snout, teeth of a character totally different in 
 almost every essential point, and a soft, smooth, and 
 extensible tongue. The claws too, which in the cats are 
 strongly curved, exceedingly sharp at their edges, taper- 
 ing gradually to a fine point, and capable of being 
 entirely retracted within their sheaths, are here indeed 
 of great power, and sometimes even considerably arched, 
 but rounded in their surfaces, more or less blunted at 
 their extremities, and constantly protruded to their full 
 extent. In this manner might the contrast be pursued 
 through almost every organ ; but our limits warn us that 
 we must at once proceed to the enumeration of the 
 essential characters which combine the Bears into a well 
 marked group. 
 
 These characters are derived, first, from their com-
 
 THE AMERICAN BLACK BEAR. 1 17 
 
 pletely plantigrade walk, the whole sole being at all 
 times closely applied to the surface on which they tread ; 
 secondly, from their claws, of which they have five on 
 each foot ; thirdly, from the extreme shortness of their 
 tail ; and lastly, from the form and arrangement of their 
 teeth. These consist of the usual number of incisors 
 and canines, the latter being in general very robust, and 
 of a series of molars, which, when complete, amount to 
 six on each side in each jaw ; the posterior three having 
 flat and expanded surfaces surmounted by broad and 
 blunted tubercles, and lying closely in contact with each 
 other. Between them and the canines exists a consider- 
 able space, which is or should be occupied by three 
 smaller and obtusely pointed teeth ; but this number is 
 seldom found entire, one or more of them being gene- 
 rally absent, and the series being thus rendered incom- 
 plete. 
 
 The Black Bear of America is distinguished from his 
 fellows, and more especially from the brown bear of 
 Europe, which he approaches most nearly in size and 
 form, by few very striking external differences, except the 
 colour of his fur. His forehead has a slight elevation ; 
 his muzzle is elongated, and somewhat flattened above ; 
 and his hair, though long and straight, has less shaggi- 
 ness than that of most of the other species of the group. 
 In colour it is of a uniform shining jet-black, except on 
 the muzzle, where it is short and fawn-coloured, becom- 
 ing almost gray on the lips and sides of the mouth. 
 This, however, it should be observed, is the character 
 only of the full-grown animal : the young are first of a 
 bright ash colour, which gradually changes to a deep
 
 118 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 brown, and finally fixes in the glossy black tint of ma- 
 ture age. 
 
 The habits and manners of the Black Bear resemble 
 those of the brown almost as closely as his physical 
 characters. In a state of nature he seeks the recesses of 
 the forest, and passes his solitary life in wild and uncul- 
 tivated deserts, far from the society of man, and avoiding 
 even that of the animal creation. His usual food con- 
 sists of the young shoots of vegetables, of their roots, 
 which he digs up with his strong and arcuated claws, 
 and of their fruits, which he obtains by means of the 
 facility with which the same organs enable him to climb 
 the loftiest trees. He possesses indeed the faculty of 
 climbing in a most extraordinary degree, and frequently 
 exercises it in the pursuit of honey, of which he is pas- 
 sionately fond. When all these resources fail him, he 
 will attack the smaller quadrupeds, and sometimes even 
 animals of considerable size; familiarity with danger 
 diminishing his natural timidity, and the use of flesh 
 begetting a taste for its continued enjoyment. He is 
 also said, like the Polar Bear, to have a peculiar fond- 
 ness for fish, and is frequently met with on the borders 
 of lakes and on the coast of the sea, to which he has 
 resorted for the gratification of this appetite. Notwith- 
 standing his apparent clumsiness, he swims with the 
 greatest dexterity, the excessive quantity of fat with 
 which he is loaded serving to buoy him up in the water ; 
 in this way he frequently crosses the broadest rivers, or 
 even very considerable arms of the sea. 
 
 The entire continent of North America, or perhaps it 
 might be more correct to say, that immense portion of
 
 THE AMERICAN BLACK BEAR. 119 
 
 its surface which still remains uncultivated and deso- 
 late, furnishes an abode to this species of bear, which is 
 consequently as widely dispersed as any of his tribe. 
 As his fur is of some value in commerce, although not 
 so much sought after at the present day as it was for- 
 merly, his race has become an object of the cupidity of 
 man, by whom they are frequently hunted for the sake 
 of their skins. This chase is principally followed by the 
 Indians, who are also attracted by the flavour of his 
 flesh, of which, and especially of the fat, they partake with 
 an avidity truly disgusting. Travellers, however, who 
 have been reduced to the necessity of having recourse 
 to this sort of food, speak of it as by no means despi- 
 cable : the fat yields moreover a quantity of oil, which 
 is often extremely serviceable. The Indians will some- 
 times attack these animals single-handed ; and if they 
 can manage to keep beyond the reach of their powerful 
 grasp, which is almost irresistible, are sure of gaining 
 the victory ; as the bears, in the rampant posture which 
 they always assume in self-defence, unconsciously ex- 
 pose their most vulnerable parts to the attack of the 
 hunter. Snares are sometimes laid for them ; but these 
 are most frequently unsuccessful ; that extreme caution, 
 which is so strongly pourtrayed in their actions and 
 demeanour, rendering them mistrustful of every thing. 
 Nevertheless their gluttony will sometimes get the better 
 of their prudence, and the bait of honey offers too 
 tempting an allurement to be always resisted. At other 
 times a whole tribe of Indians will assemble for the 
 chase, and after having performed a variety of super- 
 stitious observances, beat the entire country for their 
 game, drive a great number of them into a spot selected
 
 120 THE TOWER MEIS'AGERIE. . 
 
 for the purpose, and deal forth upon them wholesale 
 destruction. They will also trace them to their retreats 
 in the season of their lethargy, which occupies several of 
 the winter months, and during which the bears are 
 incapable of offering any effectual resistance. 
 
 In captivity the Black Bear is distinguished from the 
 brown only by the less degree of docility and intelli- 
 gence which he evinces : and the habits of the latter are 
 so universally known that it would be useless to dwell 
 upon them here. The specimen figured at the head of 
 this article was presented to the Menagerie, in 1824, by 
 Sir George Alderson, and is remarkably tame and play- 
 ful. He has, until very lately, shared his den with the 
 Hyaena, with whom he maintained a very good corres- 
 pondence, except at meal-times, when they would fre- 
 quently quarrel, in a very ludicrous manner, for a piece 
 of beef, or whatever else might happen to furnish a bone ' 
 of contention between them. The Hyaena, though by far 
 the smallest of the two, was generally master ; and the 
 Bear would moan most piteously, and in a tone some- 
 what resembling the bleating of a sheep, while his com- 
 panion quietly consumed the remainder of his dinner.
 
 THE GRIZZLY BEAR. 
 
 URSUS FERUX. LEWIS AND CLARKE. 
 
 A NATIVE also of the northern division of America, and 
 more particularly of that extensive tract of country 
 which constitutes the newly erected State of Missouri, 
 the Grizzly Bear differs in many striking points, both 
 of character and habits, from the subject of the preceding 
 article, as well as from every other animal of the very 
 natural group of which he forms part. By his elongated, 
 narrowed, and flattened muzzle, added to the slight 
 elevation of his forehead, he is closely connected with 
 the Black Bear of America, and as remarkably distin- 
 guished from the common Brown Bear of Europe, and 
 from the White Bear of the polar regions, which last, in
 
 122 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 size and general form, offers perhaps the nearest approxi- 
 mation to the present species. But his enormous mag- 
 nitude, which may be stated as averaging twice the bulk 
 of the Black Bear ; the greatly increased size and power 
 of his canine teeth ; and, above all, the excessive length 
 of his talons, on the fore feet especially, afford charac- 
 teristic differences so obvious and so essential, that it is 
 difficult to conceive how they could have been so long 
 overlooked by naturalists as well as travellers, who have 
 all, until within little more than twenty years of the 
 present time, passed him over without even a casual 
 hint that he presented any claims to be considered as 
 distinct from the common species of his country. 
 
 His hair, generally speaking, is longer, finer, and more 
 abundant than that of the Black Bear, and varies in 
 colour to an almost indefinite extent, passing through 
 all the intermediate shades between a light gray and a 
 black brown. The brown tinge is, however, the most 
 common ; and it is always more or less grizzled either 
 by the intermixture of grayish hairs, or by the brown 
 hairs being tipped with gray. The hair of the legs and 
 feet is darker and coarser, and diminishes in length as it 
 descends; on the muzzle it becomes remarkably pale, 
 and is so much shortened as to give to the animal an 
 appearance of baldness. His eyes are very small and 
 hardly at all prominent ; and the line of the profile is 
 consequently nearly straight. His tail is scarcely visible, 
 being almost entirely concealed by the long hairs which 
 surround it. Of the great size of his feet and talons, 
 some judgment may be formed from the measurements 
 given by Captains Lewis and Clarke, the first travellers 
 by whom the Grizzly Bear was accurately described.
 
 THE GRIZZLY BEAR. 123 
 
 These gentlemen inform us that the breadth of the fore 
 foot in one of the individuals observed by them exceeded 
 nine inches, while the length of his hind foot, exclusive 
 of the talons, was eleven inches and three quarters, and 
 its breadth seven inches. The claws of the fore feet of 
 another specimen measured more than six inches. , The 
 latter are considerably longer and less curved than those 
 of the hind feet, and do not narrow in a lateral direction 
 as they approach their extremity, but diminish only 
 from beneath : the point is consequently formed by the 
 shelving of the inferior surface alone, their breadth 
 remaining the same throughout the whole of their enor- 
 mous length, and their power being proportionally 
 increased; an admirable provision for enabling the 
 animal to exercise to the fullest extent his propensity 
 for digging up the ground, either in search of food or 
 for other purposes. It appears, however, on the other 
 hand, to unfit him for climbing trees, which he never 
 attempts ; and this remarkable circumstance in his habits 
 affords a striking distinction between him and all the 
 other Bears, which are essentially climbers. 
 
 Of all the quadrupeds which inhabit the northern 
 regions of the American continent, the Grizzly Bear is 
 unquestionably the most formidable and the most dreaded. 
 Superior to the rest of his tribe, not excepting even the 
 polar species, in bulk, in power, in agility, and in the 
 ferocity of his disposition, it is not to be wondered at 
 that he should be regarded by the native Indians with 
 an almost superstitious terror, and that some portion of 
 this feeling should have been communicated even to 
 the civilized travellers, who have occasionally met with 
 him in the wild and desolate regions which are subject 
 to his devastations. In the Journals of some of these
 
 124 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 travellers we find recorded such astonishing instances of 
 his strength, ferocity, and extraordinary tenacity of life 
 as would indeed amaze us, were we not aware how much 
 the human mind is prone, under certain circumstances, 
 to fall into exaggeration, in many cases most certainly 
 unintentional. Making, however, all due allowances 
 for the existence of this very natural feeling, we are 
 bound to acknowledge that, there are few animals who 
 can compete with this terrible beast; and that to be 
 made the object of his pursuit is an occurrence well 
 calculated to alarm the stoutest heart, even when pro- 
 vided with the most certain and deadly weapons of 
 human invention, guided by the most experienced eye, 
 and directed by the steadiest hand. 
 
 This tremendous animal appears to be most commonly 
 found in the neighbourhood of the Rocky Mountains, 
 especially on the well wooded plains which skirt the 
 eastern declivity of that lofty and extensive range, among 
 thick copses of brush and underwood, and on the banks 
 of the water-courses which descend in innumerable petty 
 streams from their sources in the hills. In these wild 
 solitudes, rarely trodden by the foot of civilized man, 
 and visited only by the savage Indians of the neighbour- 
 ing tribes, who have not yet learned to bow the neck 
 beneath the yoke of the exterminating conqueror, he 
 reigns the almost undisputed tyrant of the forest. Few 
 among the animals which share with him his barbarous 
 habitation are fleet enough to escape him in the chase ; 
 and none, when fairly placed within his reach, are 
 powerful enough to withstand his overwhelming force. 
 Even the sturdy and formidable Bison, the wild bull of 
 North America, is incapable of offering any effectual 
 resistance to the furious impetuosity of his attack ; and
 
 THE GRIZZLY BEAR. 125 
 
 an illustration of tine extent of his muscular power is 
 afforded by the fact that after having destroyed his 
 victim, he will drag its ponderous carcase to some con- 
 venient spot, where he will dig a pit for its reception, 
 and deposit it for a season, returning to his feast from 
 time to time as the calls of hunger may dictate, until 
 his store is exhausted and he is again reduced to the 
 necessity of looking abroad for a fresh supply. 
 
 But although endowed with so strong a propensity 
 for animal food, as well as with the power to gratify the 
 appetite thus grafted in his very nature, he is not, like 
 the more perfect of the carnivorous tribe, left entirely 
 dependent upon that which, in the climate in which he 
 has been placed, must of necessity be a precarious, and 
 frequently even an impossible, source of subsistence. 
 Of a more fierce and sanguinary temper than the other 
 bears, he does not hesitate to attack whatever living 
 creature may fall in his way, and man himself seems to 
 inspire him with little dread : but in the absence of his 
 favourite food, he makes a less savoury, but equally 
 congenial, meal of vegetable substances, of fruits, or 
 more commonly of roots, the latter of which he digs up 
 with the greatest facility with his enormous claws ; and 
 in some parts of the country these more simple produc- 
 tions form almost his sole subsistence. On the quality 
 of his food depends much of the ferocity of his temper j 
 for it appears that the bears of the western side of the 
 Rocky Mountains, who live almost entirely upon vege- 
 tables, are of a much less fierce and savage disposition 
 than their fellows of the eastern side, where animal food 
 is more abundant and more easily procured. 
 
 Next to his great size and excessive ferocity, one of
 
 126 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 the most striking peculiarities of this animal is his ex- 
 treme tenacity of life. For the instances of this we are 
 indebted almost wholly to the narrative of the Travels of 
 Captains Lewis and Clarke, whose statements are no 
 doubt founded in truth, although it may be suspected 
 that they require to be received with some grains at 
 least of allowance. According to these gentlemen one 
 bear which had received five shots in his lungs, and five 
 other wounds in various parts of his body, swam a con- 
 siderable distance to a sand bank in the river, and 
 survived more than twenty minutes ; another that had 
 been shot through the centre of the lungs, pursued at 
 full speed the man by whom the wound was inflicted 
 for half a mile, then returned more than twice that 
 distance, dug himself a bed two feet deep and five feet 
 long, and was perfectly alive two hours after he received 
 the wound ; and a third, although actually shot through 
 the heart, ran at his usual pace nearly a quarter of a 
 mile before he fell. There is no chance, they add, of 
 killing him by a single shot, unless the ball goes directly 
 through the brain; a single hunter runs consequently 
 no little risk in venturing to attack an animal upon 
 whom the most dangerous wounds, if not instantaneously 
 fatal, produce no obvious immediate effects. 
 
 Notwithstanding the horror with which the natives 
 regard this animal, it is said that they sometimes suc- 
 ceed in rendering him tame; and a whimsical story is 
 told by the late Governor Clinton, on the authority of 
 an Indian trader, of an insult offered to a domesticated 
 bear of this species by an Indian of a different tribe 
 from that to which the master of the bear belonged, 
 being regarded as a national affront, and producing a
 
 THE GRIZZLY BEAR. 127 
 
 war between the two tribes. The same veracious trader, 
 it should be added, did not scruple to affirm that the 
 Grizzly Bear had actually been seen fourteen feet long : 
 the greatest measurement given on any credible autho- 
 rity being somewhat less than nine feet. It may, 
 however, well be doubted whether the Grizzly Bear is 
 capable of being domesticated ; for it would appear that 
 all the known attempts that have hitherto been made to 
 render him docile and obedient have completely failed. 
 In the narrative of Major Long's expedition, Mr. Say 
 has given some particulars relative to the manners of 
 a half-grown individual which was kept chained in the 
 yard of one of the stations of the Missouri Fur Com- 
 pany; but which, though far from having attained his 
 full strength, was by no means trusted even by those 
 who were most familiar with him. They occasionally 
 ventured to play with him; but this was always done 
 with caution and reserve ; and when, as was sometimes 
 the case, he chanced to break loose from his confine- 
 ment, the whole establishment was thrown into a state 
 of confusion and alarm. The same gentleman also gives 
 the history of two individuals which were presented 
 when very young to the Philadelphia Museum, where 
 they were kept for several years confined in a strong 
 cage ; until at length their strength and ferocity, which 
 no kind of treatment appeared capable of subduing, 
 had reached such a pitch that it was found absolutely 
 necessary to destroy them. 
 
 In no respect has the subject of the present notice, 
 whose portrait admirably illustrates the peculiarities of 
 his species, degenerated from the race of which he 
 appears to be the sole representative in Europe. He
 
 128 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 was presented to his late majesty, more than seventeen 
 years ago, by the Hudson's Bay Company, and has long 
 been the oldest inhabitant of the Tower Menagerie. The 
 name of Martin, which was originally bestowed upon 
 him, in imitation probably of that of the most celebrated 
 bear ever exhibited in Europe, has consequently been of 
 late years generally preceded by the epithet of antiquity, 
 and Old Martin has become under that title almost as 
 well known as his famous namesake. His size is far 
 superior to that of any other bear that has ever been 
 seen in this quarter of the globe; and his ferocity, in 
 spite of the length of time during which he has been a 
 prisoner, and of all the attempts that have been made to 
 conciliate him, still continues undiminished. He does 
 not offer the slightest encouragement to familiarity on 
 the part of his keepers, but treats them with as much 
 distance as the most perfect strangers ; and although he 
 will sometimes appear playful and good tempered, yet 
 they know him too well to trust themselves within his 
 clutch. 

 
 THE THIBET BEAR. 
 
 URSVS THIBETANVS. F. Cuv. 
 
 IT is with no slight feelings of regret that we find our- 
 selves unable to furnish a complete and satisfactory 
 account of the animal from whom the portrait above 
 given was taken. Very soon after the drawing was 
 completed, and before we had availed ourselves of the 
 opportunity of making the necessary examination, we 
 were unfortunately precluded from so doing by his 
 sudden transfer to another country. His likeness alone, 
 and a faithful and spirited likeness we will venture to 
 pronounce it, remains with us. From this, and from 
 the very imperfect notes which we possess, we have little 
 hesitation in referring it provisionally to the species first
 
 130 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 established by M. Duvaucel, and since published by 
 M. F. Cuvier in his splendid Histoire Naturelle des 
 Mammiferes. The circumstance, however, of our ani- 
 mal, the only individual of his species ever seen in- 
 Europe, having been brought from the Island of Suma- 
 tra instead of the continent of India, in which alone the 
 Ursus Thibetanus had hitherto been discovered, is so 
 remarkable, that we should have felt bound, had the 
 means still remained open to us, to institute a close and 
 severe comparison between the living specimen and the 
 figure and description furnished by M. Duvaucel and 
 M. Cuvier. As it is, we can only repeat the characters 
 of the Thibet Bear as given by them, and refer to our 
 figure for all the proof which we have it in our power to 
 offer of its identity with the present animal. We trust 
 that M. Temminck, or some other competent naturalist 
 of the country to which the latter has been conveyed, 
 will amply supply a deficiency which certainly would 
 not have existed had we received timely notice of the 
 intended transfer. 
 
 M. Duvaucel enumerates three species of bears inha- 
 biting India and the neighbouring islands. The first of 
 these is the Ursus labiatus, which was strangely mistaken 
 on its first arrival in Europe, nearly forty years ago, for 
 a Sloth, and received from the naturalists of that day 
 the name of Bradypus pentadactylus, or ursinus, the 
 Five-fingered, or Ursine, Sloth; an appellation which 
 has been productive of no little confusion in nomen- 
 clature, and is still frequently employed in menageries 
 and exhibitions to distinguish the same animal, and 
 sometimes even nearly related species. With the true 
 Sloths it has nothing in common ; and the only circum-
 
 THE THIBET BEAR. 131 
 
 stance which can at all account for the blunder, consists 
 in the accidental deficiency of the incisor teeth in the 
 animal first examined ; a deficiency, which, according to 
 the strict principles of the artificial system then adopted, 
 was alone sufficient to convert a Bear into a Sloth. The 
 second is the Ursus Malayanus, the Malay Bear, admi- 
 rably illustrated, both with regard to character and 
 habits, by the late lamented Sir Stamford Raffles in the 
 thirteenth volume of the Linnean Transactions. Another 
 species, intimately connected with this, and unknown to 
 M. Duvaucel, will form the subject of the following 
 article. In the present we must confine ourselves to his 
 third form, the Thibet Bear, which, according to his 
 observations, made on the living animal, is distinguished 
 by the following characteristics. 
 
 In size it is intermediate between the two other species 
 which he describes. Its most remarkable distinction is 
 derived from the thickness of its neck and the flatness 
 of its head, its forehead forming almost a straight line 
 with its muzzle. The latter is moderately thick and 
 somewhat lengthened ; and the ears are very large. The 
 body is compact, and the limbs heavy; a conformation 
 from which we might be led to infer great muscular 
 strength, together with a capacity for climbing trees and 
 performing other feats of a similar description, were it 
 not for the comparative weakness of the claws, which are 
 scarcely more than half as long as those of the other 
 Indian bears. Like the latter, its colour is invariably of 
 a uniform glossy jet-black, except on the lower lip, 
 which is white; as is also a patch occupying the front 
 of the neck, and in shape like a Y, the two upper limbs 
 of which pass in front of the shoulders, while the lower 
 
 K 2
 
 132 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 one occupies the middle line of the chest. The upper 
 part of the muzzle is black, with a slight reddish tint on 
 the sides ; and the edges of the lips flesh-coloured. The 
 hair, which is smooth on the muzzle, becomes shaggy on 
 the back part of the head, from the base of the ears down- 
 wards, and adds considerably to the apparent volume of 
 that part, but not quite to the same extent as in the 
 Ursus labiatus, in old individuals of which it almost 
 touches the ground. It was found by Dr. Wallich in 
 the mountains of Nepaul, and by M. Duvaucel in those 
 of Sylhet ; and from this limited range the latter gentle- 
 man infers, perhaps a little too hastily, that its habitat 
 is less extensive than that of its fellows. He also regards 
 it as being more ferocious in its habits. 
 
 In this latter point alone, so far at least as we can at 
 present judge, does the animal from which our figure 
 was taken offer any remarkable discrepancy from the 
 foregoing account. He could never be prevailed on to 
 touch flesh either raw or cooked; and bread and fruits 
 were the substances on which he was constantly fed. 
 In his disposition he was moderately tame, and particu- 
 larly fond of play, after his own rough and ludicrous 
 fashion.
 
 THE BORNEAN BEAR. 
 
 &RSVS (HELARCTOS) EURYSPILUS. HORSF. 
 
 OF this very remarkable animal, the only individual of 
 the species ever seen in Europe, and in fact the only 
 one that has yet fallen under the notice of zoologists, so 
 complete an account has been published by Dr. Hors- 
 field, in the second volume of the Zoological Journal, 
 that it would be presumptuous in us to attempt to add 
 any thing to the masterly details which are there fur- 
 nished both of its organization and habits. We shall . 
 therefore in the present instance, and with the less 
 reluctance as the animal is no longer living for further 
 reference, content ourselves with abstracting from that 
 paper, as nearly as possible in the words of its author,
 
 134 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 the more interesting and prominent features of the his- 
 tory which is there given of the Bornean Bear; which, 
 in conjunction with another closely related species, the 
 Ursus Malayanus, Dr. Horsfield has separated from the 
 other bears under the sub-generic title of Helarctos. 
 
 One of the most striking points on which this distinc- 
 tion is founded consists in the form of the head, which, 
 instead of being flattened, as in the more northern 
 species of the group, is nearly hemispherical above, the 
 forehead rising in a strong arch immediately behind the 
 nose, which is obtuse and very gradually attenuated. 
 The gape of the mouth is considerable ; and the tongue, 
 which is long, narrow, and very extensile, is capable of 
 being protruded for nearly a foot, and then curved 
 inwards in a spiral manner, a habit in which the animal 
 appears frequently to indulge. In the teeth the differ- 
 ence between this subdivision of the genus and the rest 
 of the animals which compose it is unessential, the 
 incisors and canines having no distinguishing characters, 
 and the molars being apparently subject to the same 
 variations as in the genuine bears. 
 
 The Bornean Bear is perhaps somewhat shorter in his 
 proportions than the rest of the group, and the great 
 proportional breadth of his head extends also to the 
 neck and body. The claws are very long, strongly 
 arched, and very gradually attenuated to the point, 
 which is transversely truncated and chiefly fitted for 
 digging the earth ; but probably also enabling it to climb 
 with great agility. The fur is short and glistening, 
 somewhat rigid, but closely applied to the skin, and 
 smooth to the touch. On the body, head, and extremi- 
 ties, the Bornean Bear has the same pure, saturated,
 
 THE BORNEAN BEAR. 185 
 
 jet-black tint which is observed in the Malayan. The 
 muzzle, including the region of the eyes, has a yellowish 
 brown colour ; and the anterior part of the neck is 
 marked by a large broad patch of a more vivid and 
 nearly orange tint, which is of an irregular quadran- 
 gular form, and deeply notched above. The difference 
 in the form and colour of this patch constitutes the chief 
 distinction between the present animal and the Malayan 
 species, in which latter it is crescent-shaped and white. 
 
 The specimen from which this description was taken 
 measured along the back, from the muzzle to the tail, 
 three feet nine inches. It arrived in this country about 
 four years ago, and formed until lately one of the most 
 attractive and interesting spectacles among the animals 
 confined in the Menagerie. It was brought from Borneo 
 when very young, and during its passage was the con- 
 stant associate of a monkey and of several other young 
 animals. It was thus domesticated in early life, and its 
 manners in confinement greatly resembled those of the 
 Malayan Bear observed by Sir Stamford Raffles, to which 
 it was probably not inferior in sagacity or intellect. It 
 could rest entirely on its posterior feet, and could even 
 raise itself without difficulty to a nearly erect posture ; 
 but was more generally seen in a sitting attitude at the 
 door of its apartment, eagerly surveying the visiters and 
 attracting their attention by the uncouthness of its form 
 and the singularity of its motions. When a morsel of 
 bread or cake was held at a small distance beyond its 
 reach, it would expand the lateral aperture of its nostrils 
 and thrust forwards its upper lip as a proboscis in a 
 most ludicrous manner, at the same time making use of 
 its paws to seize the object. After obtaining it and filling
 
 136 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 its mouth, it would place the remainder with great calm- 
 ness on its posterior feet, and bring it in successive 
 portions to its mouth. When craving for food, and also 
 while consuming it, it emitted a coarse, but not unplea- 
 sant, whining sound, accompanied by a low. grunting 
 noise ; but if teased at this time, it would suddenly raise 
 its voice to a harsh and grating tone. It was excessively 
 voracious, and appeared disposed to eat almost without 
 cessation; a propensity which finally cost it its life, 
 having overgorged itself at breakfast one morning in the 
 course of last summer during the hot weather, and dying 
 within ten minutes afterwards. This was a severe loss 
 to Mr. Cops, who prized it highly, and to whom, in 
 return, it was greatly attached. On seeing its keeper it 
 would often place itself in a variety of attitudes, to court 
 his attention and caresses, extending its nose and ante- 
 rior feet, or, suddenly turning round, exposing its back 
 and waiting for several minutes in this posture with its 
 head placed on the ground. It delighted in being patted 
 and rubbed, even by strangers ; but violently resented 
 abuse and ill treatment. Its principal food was bread. 
 
 Our figure was taken from the stuffed skin which is 
 preserved in the Museum of the Zoological Society.
 
 MONKEYS. 
 
 SIMIJE. LTNN. 
 
 IT may perhaps seem to require some apology thai we 
 have ventured so far to depart from the ordinary system 
 of arrangement as to remove the Monkeys from the 
 station which they have hitherto usually been permitted 
 to occupy at the head of the class, and to transfer them 
 to their present position. We will not attempt to con- 
 ceal that in so doing we were chiefly actuated by the 
 desire of placing at the commencement of our series the 
 largest and most attractive of the animals of which it 
 was composed ; and th'ose which, in a Menagerie like 
 that which we have undertaken to illustrate, always 
 constitute the most imposing feature. But while we
 
 138 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 acknowledge the influence of this feeling to the fullest 
 extent, we cannot refrain from expressing at the same 
 time our firm conviction that the carnivorous quadru- 
 peds possess in reality a better title to the place which 
 we have assigned them, than the Monkeys which we 
 have displaced to make room for them. The supposed 
 transition from man, on which the received arrangement 
 is founded, has little to do with the question ; and it 
 would surely require no great subtilty of argument to 
 prove that the Carnivora are more highly typical of the 
 great class, of which they form so important a part, than 
 any other tribe whatever. But this is not the proper 
 place for entering into so abstract a question ; to which 
 we have only referred en passant, for the sake of justify- 
 ing ourselves upon broader principles for a deviation 
 from established custom, which we should not have 
 hesitated to adopt, in the present instance, on the nar- 
 row ground of expedience alone. Before, however, we 
 take leave of it altogether, we cannot avoid asking, why, 
 if the Monkeys are to take precedence of the Carnivora 
 among Mammalia, the analogous tribe of Birds, the Pies 
 and the Parrots, should not also rank above the ornitho- 
 logical representatives of the beasts of prey, the towering 
 Eagle and the rapacious Vulture ? 
 
 To return, however, to our Monkeys ; to which, be it 
 observed, we do not pretend to assign this as a definite 
 position. They form by far the largest portion of the 
 Quadrumana ; all the other animals of that order being 
 comprehended, or rather confounded, in a distinct family, 
 under the name of Lemurs, from the rightful owners of 
 which appellation many of them differ most essentially. 
 In addition to the hands on the posterior as well as
 
 MONKEYS. 139 
 
 anterior members, with long and flexible fingers and 
 opposable thumbs, which constitute the primary charac- 
 ters of the order, the Monkey tribe in general is distin- 
 guished by the following peculiarities. Their incisor 
 teeth are invariably four in each jaw, and their molars, 
 like those of man, are flat and surmounted by blunted 
 tubercles. The latter are five in number on each side of 
 either jaw in all the Monkeys of the Old Continent, and 
 in one very distinct tribe belonging to the New ; but 
 most of the American species are furnished with a sixth. 
 Their canines vary considerably in size, from a trifling 
 projection beyond the remaining teeth to a long and 
 powerful tusk, almost equalling those of the most formi- 
 dable Carnivora; and from this structure it necessarily 
 follows that a vacant space is left between the incisors 
 and the canines of the upper jaw, and between the 
 canines and the molars of the lower, for the reception 
 and lodgment of those organs when the mouth is closed. 
 The nails of all their fingers, as well as those of the 
 thumbs, are invariably flat and expanded. 
 
 In almost every other point they are subject to infinite 
 variations of form and structure. The shape of the head, 
 which, in one or two species, offers a close approximation 
 to the human form, passes through numerous interme- 
 diate gradations, until it reaches a point at which it can 
 only be compared with that of the hound. The body, 
 which is in general slight and well made, Is in some few 
 instances remarkably short and thick-set, and in others 
 drawn out to a surprising degree of tenuity. Their limbs 
 vary greatly in their proportions ; but in most of them 
 the anterior are longer than the posterior: in all they 
 are admirably adapted to the purposes to which they
 
 140 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 are applied, in climbing and leaping, by the slenderuess 
 of their form, the flexibility of their joints, and the mus- 
 cular activity with which these qualities are so strikingly 
 combined. But of all their organs there is perhaps none 
 which exhibits so remarkable a discrepancy in every 
 particular as the tail ; which is entirely wanting in some, 
 forms a mere tubercle in others, in a third group is short 
 and tapering, in a fourth of moderate length and cylin- 
 drical, in a fifth extremely long but uniformly covered 
 with hair ; in others, again, of equal length, divested of 
 hair beneath and near the tip, and capable of being 
 twisted round the branch of a tree or any other similar 
 substance in such a manner as to support the whole 
 weight of the animal, even without the assistance of his 
 hands. 
 
 In none of them, it may be observed, are the hands 
 formed for swimming, or the nails constructed for 
 digging the earth ; and in none of them is the naked 
 callous portion, which corresponds to the sole or the 
 palm, capable of being applied, like the feet of man 
 or of the bear, to the flat surfaces on which they may 
 occasionally tread. Even in those which have the greatest 
 propensity to assume an upright posture, the body is, 
 under such circumstances, wholly supported by the 
 outer margins of the posterior hands. The earth, in 
 fact, is not their proper place of abode ; they are essen- 
 tially inhabitants of trees, and every part of their organi- 
 zation is admirably fitted for the mode of life to which 
 they were destined by the hand of nature herself. 
 Throughout the vast forests of Asia, Africa, and South 
 America, and more especially in those portions of the 
 three continents which are comprehended within the
 
 tropics, they congregate in numerous troops, bounding 
 rapidly from branch to branch, and from tree to tree, in 
 search of the fruits and eggs which constitute their 
 principal means of subsistence. In the course of these 
 peregrinations, which are frequently executed with a 
 velocity scarcely to be followed by the eye, they seem 
 to give a momentary, and but a momentary, attention to 
 every remarkable object that falls in their way, but never 
 appear to remember it again ; for they will examine the 
 same object with the same rapidity as often as it recurs, 
 and apparently without in the least recognising it as 
 that which they had seen before. They pass on a 
 sudden from a state of seeming tranquillity to the most 
 violent demonstrations of passion and sensuality ; and 
 in the course of a few minutes run through all the 
 various phases of gesture and action of which they are 
 capable, and for which their peculiar conformation 
 affords ample scope. The females treat their young 
 with the greatest tenderness until they become capable 
 of shifting for themselves; when they turn them loose 
 upon the world, and conduct themselves towards them 
 from that time forwards in the same manner as towards 
 the most perfect strangers. 
 
 The degrees of their so much vaunted intelligence, 
 which is in general very limited, and rarely capable of 
 being made subservient to the purposes of man, vary 
 almost as much as the ever-changing outline of their 
 form. From the grave and reflective Oran-Otang, whose 
 docility and powers of imitation in his young state have 
 been the theme of so much ridiculous exaggeration and 
 sophistical argumentation, to the stupid and savage 
 Baboon, whose gross brutality is scarcely relieved by a
 
 142 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 single spark of intelligence, the gradations are regular 
 and easy. A remarkable circumstance connected with 
 the developement of this faculty, or perhaps we should 
 rather say, with its gradual extinction, consists in the fact 
 that it is only in young animals which have not yet 
 attained their lull growth, that it is capable of being 
 brought into play ; the older individuals, even of the 
 most tractable races, entirely losing the gaiety, and with 
 it the docility, of their youth, and becoming at length as 
 stupid and as savage as the most barbarous of the tribe. 
 The Monkeys of the Old and of the New World differ 
 from each other in several remarkable points, some of 
 which are universally characteristic of all the species of 
 each, while others, although affording good and tangible 
 means of discrimination, are but partially applicable. 
 Thus the nostrils of all the species inhabiting the Old 
 World are anterior like those of man, and divided only 
 by a narrow septum. In those of the New World, on 
 the contrary, they are invariably separated by a broad 
 division, and consequently occupy a position more or 
 less lateral. In the former again the molar teeth are 
 uniformly five in number, crowned with obtuse and 
 flattened tubercles; while in the latter they are either 
 six in number, or in the few anomalous cases in which 
 they are limited to five, and which are peculiar to a 
 group that ought to occupy an intermediate station 
 between the Monkeys and the Insect-eating Carnivora, 
 their crowns are surmounted by sharp and somewhat 
 elevated points. The tails of all the American Monkeys 
 are of great length, but they differ more or less from 
 each other in the power of suspending themselves by 
 means of that organ, a faculty which is nevertheless
 
 MONKEYS. 143 
 
 common to the greater number of them, and of which 
 those of the Old World are entirely destitute. On the 
 other hand the American species never exhibit any 
 traces of the callosities or of the cheek-pouches, which 
 are so common among the Asiatic and African races. 
 
 Each of these grand divisions has been subdivided into 
 several minor groups or genera; but zoologists have 
 hitherto been by no means unanimous with respect to 
 the principles on which this subdivision ought to be 
 effected. The arrangement which appears to be most 
 generally adopted at the present day is that of M. Cu- 
 vier and M. Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire, which is essentially 
 founded on the application of an imaginary rule, first 
 employed by Camper for ascertaining the degree of 
 intelligence, and consequently of ideal beauty, expressed 
 by the human face in its various gradations of elevation 
 or debasement, and called by him the facial angle. 
 Unfortunately, however, the operations of nature in the 
 animal creation can never be subjected to geometrical 
 laws; nor can her innumerable phases be expressed 
 with the precision of a mathematical theorem. This 
 assumed point of comparison varies almost indefinitely, 
 not merely in different species, but even in the same 
 individual; and the Oran-Otang himself, who is sup- 
 posed to approach most nearly to the human form, offers 
 the most striking illustration of the truth of this obser- 
 vation ; inasmuch as in his young and intellectual state 
 his facial angle is equal to 65, while in his aged and 
 debased condition, in which he has actually been re- 
 peatedly described as a different animal under the name 
 of Pongo, it sinks below 30 ; degrading him even beneath 
 the level of the most savage and stupid of the Baboons.
 
 144 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 In the foregoing observations we may perhaps be con- 
 sidered as giving too much space to the generalities of 
 the subject; an objection to which we can only answer 
 that nearly the whole of our knowledge of the Monkey 
 tribes consists in generalities. Of the great number of 
 species, upwards of one hundred, which are now known 
 and characterized, very few are distinguished from their 
 immediate fellows by striking and strongly-marked cha- 
 racters, either physical or moral. The groups too are 
 connected by such gradual and easy transitions, that 
 although the typical forms of each, isolated from the 
 mass and placed in contrast with each other, unquesti- 
 onably exhibit many broadly distinguishing peculiarities, 
 yet the entire series offers a chain so nearly complete 
 and unbroken as scarcely to admit of being treated of in 
 any other-way than as one homogeneous whole. 
 
 A no less striking than apposite instance of the close 
 affinity between the species, and of the difficulty of dis- 
 tinguishing them from each other, especially in their 
 young state, is furnished by the animals whose figures 
 stand at the head of the present article. They are all 
 three very evidently young individuals, and have not 
 yet reached the period when it would be safe to pro- 
 nounce with positiveness upon the species, or, were we 
 to adopt the Cuvierian system in its full extent, upon 
 the genera even, to which they respectively belong. 
 
 The specimen from which the central figure was taken 
 is in all probability the earlier age of a species of Cer- 
 copithecus; but to which of them it should be referred, 
 or whether it belongs to any hitherto characterized spe- 
 cies, we may not venture to determine until its characters 
 shall have become more fully developed. The distinctive
 
 MONKEYS. 145 
 
 marks of this genus, which comprehends the smallest 
 Monkeys of the Old Continent, consist in a depressed 
 forehead, with a facial angle of 50; a flat nose, with the 
 nostrils directed upwards and outwards ; cheek-pouches, 
 generally of large size ; callosities behind ; and a tail of 
 considerable length. The individual before us, in addi- 
 tion to these characters, is remarkable for the reddish 
 brown colour of his upper parts, which gradually dis- 
 appears in a lighter hue, mingled with a bluish tinge 
 beneath ; for the elevated and compressed toupet which 
 advances considerably forwards on his forehead ; for the 
 hairs which are thinly scattered over his livid face ; and 
 for the spreading tufts of a somewhat lighter colour 
 which occupy the sides of his head and face posteriorly. 
 
 The animal which occupies the right hand in the cut 
 appears to be the young of the Macacus cynomolgus, 
 Cuv., the Common Macaque ; or rather perhaps, if the 
 colour of the face is to be regarded as affording a suffi- 
 cient specific distinction, of a new species lately described 
 by M. F. Cuvier under the name of Macacus carbona- 
 rius. The Macaques are characterized by the greater 
 elongation of their muzzles, which reduces their facial 
 angle to 40 or 45; by the strong developement of their 
 superciliary ridges; by the oblique position of their 
 nostrils in the upper surface of their nose ; and by the 
 presence of cheek-pouches and callosities.. The young 
 animal figured is blackish brown above, and, as is very 
 common among the Monkeys, lighter and of a bluish 
 cast beneath ; his hands and face are nearly black ; the 
 hairs which cover his forehead form a thick tuft advanc- 
 ing forwards ; and his face is almost naked. 
 
 We have little hesitation in referring the left hand
 
 146 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 figure to the Cercopithecus pileatus of M. Geoffrey 
 St. Hilaire, the Guenon couronnee of Buffon, which 
 M. Cuvier suspects, with great appearance of truth, to 
 be nothing more than a variety of the Macacus Sinicus, 
 the Bonnet Chinois of the same popular author. It 
 differs from that in fact in little else than in a shorter 
 muzzle, and in a less regularly radiated and depressed 
 disposition of the hair of the upper part of the head ; 
 characters which may be fairly regarded as resulting 
 from its immature age. We may also observe that the 
 Macacus radiatus, Geoff., described in the succeeding 
 article, does not appear to be by any means clearly dis- 
 tinguished from the Bonnet Chinois; and that it is 
 highly probable that these three Monkeys form in reality 
 but a single species. 
 
 All these animals, which are at present confined in 
 one cage along with several young individuals of the 
 common species of Baboon and with the Bonneted 
 Monkey, exhibit a mixture of playfulness and malice, 
 which renders them extremely amusing. Their gambols 
 with each other are often truly laughable.
 
 THE BONNETED MONKEY. 
 NACACUS RADIATVS. DESM. 
 
 THE PIG-FACED BABOON. 
 CYNOCEPHALVS PORCARIVS. DESM. 
 
 THE Monkey which occupies the left hand in the present 
 cut forms part of the same group with the subjects 
 noticed at the end of the preceding article, from which 
 it is distinguished by the peculiar manner in which the 
 hair of the upper part of its head diverges, and, as it 
 were, radiates horizontally, from a central point towards 
 an imaginary circumference, assuming a form not unlike 
 the object to which it is usually compared, the round 
 bonnet of a Chinese. Its forehead is also more flattened, 
 its superciliary crests less developed, and its muzzle 
 
 L2
 
 148 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 considerably lengthened and laterally compressed. The 
 length of its body is from twelve to fifteen inches, and 
 its tail when entire measures quite as much. The fore- 
 head, which is strongly wrinkled, is nearly naked, and 
 the whole of the face is entirely destitute of hair. That 
 of the upper parts of the body is of a uniform yellowish 
 gray, the under surface deriving a bluish tinge from the 
 skin, which is but thinly covered. Its native country is 
 the east of Asia. 
 
 The right hand figure represents the Chacma, or Pig- 
 faced Monkey, one of the true Baboons, whose generic 
 characters will be found in the succeeding article. The 
 forehead of this species is remarkably depressed, and 
 the nose much prolonged. Its general colour is dusky, 
 approaching" to black. Its body measures from two to 
 three feet in length ; but the tail is short, and does not 
 reach the ground when the animal stands upon all fours. 
 It is a native of Africa, and was formerly very trouble- 
 some in the neighbourhood of the Cape. 
 
 Both these animals, although lively and tolerably 
 good humoured when young, become mischievous in 
 their dispositions and disgusting in their habits as they 
 advance in age. The voice of the latter closely resembles 
 the bark of a dog.
 
 THE BABOON. 
 CYNOCEPHALVS PAPIO. DESM. 
 
 IN the true Baboons the facial angle of the adult varies 
 from 30 to 35, and the superciliary crests are for the 
 most part considerably elevated, as is also the ridge on 
 the back of the head formed by the attachment of the 
 temporal muscles, which, as well as the canine teeth, are 
 large and powerful. The cheeks are furnished with 
 pouches capable of much distension ; and the muzzle 
 terminates in a flattened extremity like that of the dog, 
 on which the openings of the nostrils are situated. The 
 tail is generally as long as, and sometimes even longer 
 than, the body ; but in several of the species it is 
 extremely short. The callosities are frequently of large
 
 150 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 size and disgustingly conspicuous. This genus is gene- 
 rally considered as the lowest in organization, and con- 
 sequently in capacity and intelligence, of the tribe to 
 which it belongs. 
 
 The colour of the common Baboon is .reddish brown ; 
 his face and hands are black, and his upper eyelids 
 white. The hair of his cheeks forms a considerable tuft 
 on each side ; and the under surface of his body is but 
 sparingly covered. In bulk he is equal to a middle 
 sized dog; his proportions are thickset and inelegant; 
 but he is by no means dull or inactive. When young, 
 he is gay, playful, and docile ; but as he grows older he 
 becomes untractable, malicious, and ferocious. He is 
 sometimes even dangerous, his muscular strength and 
 agility, together with the great power of his teeth and 
 jaws, rendering him a formidable opponent. On this 
 account it is absolutely necessary to keep him strictly 
 confined. He is a native of Africa, and more especially 
 of the tropical parts of its western coast.
 
 THE WHITE-HEADED MONGOOS. 
 
 LEMUR ALBIFRONS. GEOFF. 
 
 BELONGING to a different tribe of the same grand divi- 
 sion with the true Monkeys, from which they are more 
 readily distinguished by their general form and habit 
 than by any very remarkable deviation in their structure 
 or organization, these agile and playful little creatures 
 form a group which naturally follows in immediate 
 succession. The technical peculiarities on which their 
 separation from the Monkeys is founded are usually 
 deduced from their teeth and nails ; but other and more 
 obvious characteristics are afforded by the form of their 
 heads, of their tails, and of their hinder extremities, and 
 these assist in confirming a distinction which might
 
 152 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 otherwise be regarded as arbitrary and unnecessary. 
 The teeth of the Lemurs are, like those of man and of 
 the Monkeys of the Old World, thirty-two in number, 
 and consist of four incisors, two canines, and ten molars 
 in the upper jaw, and of six incisors, two canines, and 
 eight molars in the lower. Such at least is the usual 
 statement with respect to their dentition ; but M. Geof- 
 froy maintains, on the other hand, that the number of 
 incisors is equal in both jaws, and coincides with that of 
 the Monkeys ; the two outermost of the six, which are 
 larger than the rest, being in his opinion the true 
 canines ; while the canines, commonly so called, are in 
 fact only the first of the series of molars. This conjec- 
 ture unquestionably derives considerable strength from 
 the fact that, when the animal closes its mouth, the 
 supposed canines of the lower jaw pass behind those of 
 the upper, a position directly contrary to that which 
 they uniformly assume in every other animal that is 
 furnished with that kind of teeth. On each of their four 
 hands they have four fingers of moderate length, and a 
 thumb which is capable of being opposed to them almost 
 equally well with that of the other Quadrumana ; they 
 are consequently enabled to grasp whatever they seize 
 with the greatest precision. The peculiarity of their 
 nails consists in the shape of that of the index of the 
 hinder hands, which forms an elongated, curved, and 
 pointed claw, approaching in some degree to those of 
 the carnivorous quadrupeds. All the rest of their nails 
 are broad and flat like those of the Monkeys. Their 
 posterior extremities are longer than their anterior ; and 
 their body and limbs are light, graceful, and well pro- 
 portioned. The tail, which is of uniform thickness
 
 THE WHITE-HEADED MONGOOS. 153 
 
 throughout, is longer than the body, and, in common 
 with it, is clothed with long, soft, and woolly hair. The 
 head is long, triangular, and gradually tapering into a 
 slender and pointed muzzle, which, in proportionate 
 length, far exceeds that of any of the Monkeys ; the 
 ears are short and rounded ; and the whiskers but little 
 developed. 
 
 The whole of the genus thus characterized are natives 
 of Madagascar and of two or three of the smaller islands 
 in its immediate vicinity. They appear to occupy in 
 that remarkable and very imperfectly known country 
 the place of the Monkeys, none of which have yet been 
 detected within its precincts. They are said to live in 
 numerous troops upon the trees, and to feed upon fruits 
 and insects ; but their habits in a state of nature have 
 not yet been observed with sufficient accuracy to enable 
 us to form any clear idea of their mode of existence. 
 In captivity they are particularly tame and good tem- 
 pered, fond of being noticed, delighting in motion, and 
 climbing and leaping with surprising agility. They are, 
 however, in some degree nocturnal; and when undis- 
 turbed pass a considerable portion of the day in sleep. 
 If alone, they roll themselves up in the form of a ball, 
 and wind their long tail in a very curious manner round 
 their body, apparently for the purpose of keeping them- 
 selves warm ; for they are naturally chilly, and delight 
 in basking in the rays of the sun, or in creeping as close 
 as possible to the fire. When two of them are confined 
 together, they interlace their limbs and tails after a sin- 
 gular fashion, and placing their heads in such a position 
 as that each may, if disturbed, see what is going on 
 behind the other's back, fall comfortably asleep.
 
 154 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 The species to which the beautiful pair in the Mena- 
 gerie belong has all the habits of its group. It is 
 characterized by the clear fulvous brown colour of the 
 upper surface of the body and outer side of the limbs, 
 gradually becoming lighter on the under and inner sur- 
 faces, and deepening in its shade towards the tail, the 
 greater part of which is nearly black. The muzzle and 
 the hands are bluish black. The male has the whole of 
 the forehead, the sides of the cheeks, and the under part 
 of the lower lip covered with a white fur, which in the 
 female is of a blackish gray and much less developed ; 
 her general colour is also of a lighter tinge. This 
 remarkable difference would lead us to question the 
 specific identity of the two animals, were we not assured 
 by M. F. Cuvier that he had verified the fact by what is 
 usually regarded as an unequivocal test. Mr. M'Leay 
 has, however, thrown considerable doubt upon the accu- 
 racy of the inference thus attempted to be drawn, by 
 exhibiting to the Linnean Society a female, in whom the 
 white fur of the head was as dictinctly developed as in 
 her male companion. The whole of the species of this 
 group require, in fact, an accurate revision.
 
 THE KANGUROO. 
 
 MACROPUS MAJOR. SHAW. 
 
 THE very peculiar structure from which the Marsupial 
 animals derive their name has been regarded by almost 
 every naturalist who has written on the subject as so 
 essential a deviation from the common type, that, setting 
 aside all considerations of form or habits, and regardless 
 even of those technical characters on which so much 
 reliance is usually placed, they have for the most part 
 agreed in uniting under the same family designation 
 every animal in which it occurred. This peculiarity 
 consists in a folding or doubling of the skin and its 
 appendages beneath the lower part of the belly in the 
 females, in such a manner as to form an open pouch or
 
 156 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 bag, in which the young are contained from a very early 
 period, in which the process of suckling takes place, and 
 in which, even for some time after they have acquired 
 sufficient size and strength to leave it, the little ones 
 continue to take refuge. 
 
 But the presence of this one anomalous characteristic 
 is accompanied by so many striking discrepancies in 
 other parts, that, limited as this tribe is in number, most 
 of the principal forms of Mammalia find analogous 
 representations among its groups. Thus the Opossums 
 exhibit characters in some measure intermediate between 
 the Quadrumana and the Carnivora, to which latter the 
 Dasyuri, another Marsupial group, closely resembling 
 the Civets in form and habits, approach very nearly; 
 while the herbivorous races of the tribe might occupy a 
 station between the Rodent and Ruminant Orders, with 
 each of which they exhibit various degrees of relation- 
 ship. This want of uniformity in the essential parts of 
 their organization necessarily gives rise to much diffi- 
 culty in determining their position in the system. The 
 mode of classification now most generally followed is 
 perhaps, under all the circumstances, the best that could 
 at the present moment be adopted ; although it must be 
 owned that the purely herbivorous species arrange them- 
 selves with a very ill grace under a subdivision of the 
 order Carnivora. Placed, however, as they are at the 
 end of that order, and immediately before the Rodentia, 
 the regular gradations from the type of the former to 
 that of the latter, which occur in their different groups, 
 become most distinctly manifest. 
 
 With the exception of the Opossums, which are natives 
 of America, the tribe is peculiar to New Holland and its
 
 THE KANGUROO. 157 
 
 appendages, and to some of the islands which form the 
 great chain of connexion between that insular continent 
 and South-eastern Asia. The former is, however, their 
 head' quarters, and the species which are found beyond 
 its limits are few in number compared with those which 
 people its territory, and, what is more remarkable, people 
 it to the exclusion of nearly all the other Mammalia; 
 the dog alone, the universal concomitant of man, and 
 one or two species of rats, disputing with them their 
 title to its exclusive possession; for those paradoxical 
 creatures, the Ornithorhynchus and Echidna, if really 
 mammiferous, approximate closely in structure to the 
 Marsupial tribe. 
 
 The largest of these animals are the Kanguroos, whose 
 generic characters we shall now proceed to describe. 
 Their teeth are only of two kinds, the canines being 
 altogether wanting. The incisors are six in the upper 
 jaw, and two only in the lower ; the former short, and 
 arranged in a curved line, and the latter long, pointed, 
 closely applied to each other, and directed forwards. 
 The molars are separated from the incisors by a consi- 
 derable vacant space, and are five in number on each 
 side of each jaw. The most remarkable peculiarity in 
 the external form of these animals consists in the extreme 
 disproportion of their limbs, the anterior legs being short 
 and weak, while the posterior are extremely long and 
 muscular. The tail too is excessively thick at its base, 
 of considerable length, and gradually tapering ; and this 
 singular conformation enables it to act in some measure 
 as a supplemental leg, when the animal assumes an 
 erect or nearly erect posture, in which position he is 
 supported as it were on a tripod by the joint action of
 
 158 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 these three powerful organs. By means of this combi- 
 nation they will, when flying from danger, take a suc- 
 cession of leaps of from twenty to thirty feet in length 
 and six or eight in height ; but even in their more quiet 
 and gradual mode of progression they also make use of 
 their tail in conjunction with their four extremities. The 
 lore feet are furnished with five toes, each terminating in 
 a moderately strong and arcuated claw. The hinder 
 extremities, on the contrary, have only four toes, the two 
 interior of which are united together so as to form the 
 appearance of a single one furnished with two short and 
 feeble claws; the third is long, of great strength, and 
 terminated by a large and powerful claw having the 
 form of a lengthened hoof; and the fourth, the most 
 external of the series, is similar in character to the third, 
 but of much smaller dimensions. The head and anterior 
 part are small and delicate, and appear quite dispro- 
 portioned to the robust posterior half of the body ; and 
 this disproportion is equally striking, whether the animal 
 assumes an erect position or crouches forwards upon all 
 fours. In either case the whole extent of the soles of 
 the posterior feet, which are of great length, is applied 
 to the surface of the ground. Although differing from 
 all the Rodent animals in the number of the cutting 
 teeth of the upper jaw, the Kanguroo has the deep 
 fissure in the upper lip, with which nearly all that order 
 are furnished, and of which the hare offers a familiar 
 and proverbial instance. 
 
 These singular animals were among the first fruits 
 which accrued to natural history from the discovery of 
 New South Wales, a country which has since proved so 
 fertile in new and remarkable forms both of the animal
 
 THE KANGUROO. 159 
 
 and vegetable creations. Their natural habits in a wild 
 state are still, however, very imperfectly known. They 
 appear to live in small herds, perhaps single families, 
 which are said to submit to the guidance of the older 
 males, and to inhabit in preference the neighbourhood 
 of woods and thickets. They are, as might be inferred 
 from the small size of their mouths and the peculiar 
 character of their teeth, purely herbivorous, feeding 
 chiefly upon grass and roots. Their flesh is eaten by the 
 colonists, by whom it is said to be nutritious and savoury, 
 an assertion which is confirmed by those who have par- 
 taken of it in England. In order to procure this they 
 are frequently hunted in their native country; but the 
 dogs who are employed in this service sometimes meet 
 with dangerous wounds, not only from the blows of their 
 powerful tail, which is their usual weapon of defence, 
 but also from the claws of their hind feet, with which 
 they have been known to lacerate the bodies of their 
 assailants in a shocking manner. But, unless when thus 
 driven to make use of such powers of self-defence as 
 they possess, they are perfectly harmless and even timid ; 
 and, when domesticated, are not in the least mischievous. 
 In several collections in this country, and particularly 
 in the Royal Park at Windsor, from which the specimens 
 in the Menagerie were obtained, they have become almost 
 naturalized, and appear to be but little affected by the 
 change of climate. When confined in a small enclosure, 
 they uniformly make their path round its circuit, seldom 
 crossing it or passing in any other direction except for 
 the purpose of procuring their food. Their whole ap- 
 pearance, and especially their mode of progression, is 
 singularly curious and even to a certain extent ludicrous.
 
 160 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 Modern naturalists have attempted to distinguish 
 several species among the Kanguroos; but as the cha- 
 racters on which these are founded consist merely in 
 difference of size and slight modifications of colour, a 
 much more complete acquaintance with them than we 
 yet possess is requisite before they can safely be adopted. 
 Our specimens are of a brownish gray above, somewhat 
 lighter beneath, with the extremity of the muzzle, the 
 back of the ear, the feet, and the upper surface of the 
 tail, nearly black, and the front of the throat grayish 
 white. Since they have been confined in the Menagerie, 
 the female has once produced young ; a circumstance by 
 no means unfrequent even in this country among those 
 which are less restricted of their liberty and are suffered 
 to roam at large in a meadow or a park. They are fed, 
 like the domesticated Ruminants, upon green herbage 
 and hay ; and are extremely tame and good tempered.
 
 THE AFRICAN PORCUPINE. 
 
 HYSTRIX CRIST AT A. LINN. 
 
 ALTHOUGH the Rodent order, next to the Carnivorous, is 
 the most numerous in species, the Porcupine is the only 
 animal belonging to it which is at present contained in 
 the Menagerie. The animals of this division, consisting 
 chiefly of " rats and mice and such small deer," have 
 indeed, with some few exceptions, so little of interest for 
 the mere casual visiter of an exhibition, that it is rarely 
 that they are sought after unless by the scientific col- 
 lector. They are at once distinguished from the Carni- 
 vora by the total absence of canine teeth ; and have 
 uniformly two incisors in each jaw, projecting forwards 
 and generally of considerable size, separated from a 
 variable number of grinders by a vacant space. 
 
 From the other animals of the order the Porcupines 
 
 M
 
 162 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 are so readily distinguished by the long and pointed 
 spines with which their body is armed, that it is unneces- 
 sary to dwell on their generic characters. The common 
 Porcupine, when fully grown, as in the remarkably fine 
 specimen figured over leaf, measures more than two feet 
 from the tip of the nose to the origin of the tail. The 
 spines, which are supported by a slender pedicel, thickly 
 clothe the upper and posterior parts of the body, the 
 largest being more than a foot in length ; they are regu- 
 larly surrounded by alternate rings of black and white. 
 The head and neck are crested with long, bristly, black 
 hairs, forming a kind of mane, and all the rest of the 
 body is covered with short black hair. 
 
 The Porcupine is a native of Africa and the south of 
 Europe; he chooses for his abode the most arid and 
 solitary situations, and passes the daytime secluded in 
 the burrows which he digs for his habitation, quitting 
 them only at night to provide his subsistence, which 
 consists entirely of vegetable substances. He is a re- 
 markably timid animal, and never makes use of his 
 formidable weapons except in self-defence ; if alarmed, 
 his spines immediately become erected, and woe be to 
 the enemy who should dare to attack him open-mouthed 
 when in that posture.
 
 THE ASIATIC ELEPHANT. 
 
 ELEPHAS INDICUS. Cuv. 
 
 THE opportune arrival of a beautiful little Elephant, an 
 animal which has for some time been a desideratum to 
 the Menagerie, fortunately enables us to add to our list 
 of subjects that which in all probability presents the 
 most generally attractive spectacle among the whole 
 class of Mammiferous Quadrupeds. The strong and 
 peculiar interest which the Elephant possesses above all 
 other beasts arises in fact not so much from his gigantic 
 bulk and immense muscular power, as from the high 
 opinion usually entertained of those intellectual quali- 
 ties with which he has long been supposed to be pre- 
 eminently endowed, and which have rendered him a 
 
 M 2
 
 164 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 theme of exaggerated encomium to the careless observer, 
 while even in some philosophic minds they have fur- 
 nished the groundwork on which perverted ingenuity 
 has built up theory after theory as baseless and ima- 
 ginary as the foundation on which they have been made 
 to rest, the reason and reflection of a brute. 
 
 It is on this account that we feel it incumbent upon 
 us, notwithstanding all that has been written on the 
 subject, to dwell with some little detail on the natural 
 history of this singular animal ; but we shall nevertheless 
 endeavour to compress our observations within the small- 
 est possible compass. We shall commence as usual with 
 his zoological characters, and shall then take a glance at 
 his habits, such as they appear in a pure state of nature, 
 unfettered by any laws but those of necessity, and 
 uncontrolled except by the inevitable influence of the 
 circumstances in which he is placed. And lastly we 
 shall view him when under the control of man, and 
 reduced to that half-domesticated condition to which 
 even his stubborn nature is bowed by the application of 
 those means which man alone can employ, and by which 
 he maintains his ascendancy as undisputed lord of the 
 creation over the mightiest even more effectually than 
 over the meanest of its works. 
 
 The Elephants belong to the Pachydermatous order, 
 in which they constitute a family readily distinguishable 
 from the other enormous beasts which form part of it, 
 the Hippopotamus and the Rhinoceros, by a combination 
 of characters of the most remarkable description. To the 
 immense size and clumsy figure of the two last named 
 animals, which indeed they commonly surpass in both 
 those particulars, they add the following distinctive
 
 THE ASIATIC ELEPHANT. 165 
 
 zoological characters. Their teeth consist of two formi- 
 dable tusks, which, occupying the place of the incisors 
 of the upper jaw, project forwards in a nearly horizontal 
 direction, generally with a slight curvature upwards ; 
 and of one or occasionally two cheek teeth of consider- 
 able magnitude on each side of each jaw, formed of 
 vertical layers of bony matter surrounded by enamel, 
 and connected together by a third substance called cor- 
 tical. These latter are not, as in almost all the other 
 Mammalia, renewed for one only time and at a certain 
 age by the growth of others to supply their places from 
 the cavity of the jaw beneath them ; but, on the contrary, 
 are pushed forwards by the advance of those which are 
 destined to replace them from behind, and are renewed, 
 according to the statement of Mr. Corse, no less than 
 eight times at different periods of the animal's existence. 
 On each successive change the number of laminae of 
 which they are composed is increased, the earliest not 
 offering more than four, while the later ones frequently 
 exceed twenty ; and it is in consequence of the new teeth 
 generally making their appearance for some time prior 
 to the total failure of their predecessors that their num- 
 ber occasionally appears to be double its proper and 
 more usual amount. The tusks on the contrary admit 
 but of a single displacement and renewal ; the first or 
 milk pair seldom exceeding two inches in length, and 
 falling out between the first and second year. The per- 
 manent ones which succeed are much larger and more 
 powerful in the adult male than in the female, and not 
 unfrequently project as much as two feet. They are 
 well known as furnishing one of the most beautiful and 
 ornamental productions which the animal kingdom
 
 166 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 affords, as well as a valuable article of commerce, in the 
 pure and polished ivory of which they are formed. They 
 have been known to weigh as much as one hundred and 
 fifty pounds, but their usual average is from fifty to 
 seventy. 
 
 The ears of the Elephant are large, not elevated like 
 those of other quadrupeds so as to form a kind of trum- 
 pet for the reception of sound, but flattened down upon 
 the side of the head, and forming a broad and uninter- 
 ruptedly expanded surface. His eyes, remarkably small 
 in proportion to his bulk, are sheltered above by a cluster 
 of long hairs, which, with a few others scattered over the 
 head and still more rarely on the body, and a kind of 
 brush at the extremity of the tail, constitute the only 
 covering, if covering it may be called, with which he 
 is provided. His skin in fact is throughout nearly des- 
 titute of hair ; but in return it is, as in the rest of the 
 order, of excessive thickness and extreme tenacity, inso- 
 much as to be capable of repelling a common musket 
 ball, which scarcely makes the slightest impression upon 
 its surface. His feet are enveloped by a large hoof of a 
 callous and almost horny consistence, and are divided, 
 in the skeleton at least, into five toes, the extremities 
 only of which, rendered obvious by the nails by which 
 they are surmounted, are externally visible. On the 
 hind feet the number of apparent toes varies from three 
 to four. 
 
 But of all the peculiarities by which the Elephant is 
 distinguished, the most singular and at the same time 
 the most useful is the projection which is formed by the 
 blending and extension of the nose and upper lip into 
 an elongated and tapering tube, considerably longer than
 
 THE ASIATIC ELEPHANT. 167 
 
 the head, and truncated at the extremity, where it is 
 surrounded by a slightly elevated margin, which is pro- 
 longed anteriorly and superiorly into a finger-like appen- 
 dage of various and invaluable use. This trunk or 
 proboscis, as it is called, is divided throughout its whole 
 extent into two equal cavities, which are continuous with 
 the nostrils, but appear to have no other connexion with 
 the organ of smell than as being the medium of the 
 passage of odours to the olfactory apparatus, which is 
 confined within the bones of the head, and is indeed 
 seated much higher than usual in consequence of the 
 large space occupied by the roots of the tusks and by 
 the cavities of the maxillary bones. The real uses of 
 the trunk are far higher and more important; and it 
 is to this unique and unexampled structure that the 
 Elephant owes whatever superiority he possesses over 
 other beasts. In general capacity he is inferior to most, 
 and the intellectual qualities of a dog or a horse are 
 unquestionably of a far more elevated order ; but with 
 the assistance of this curious organ, with some little 
 sagacity, a tolerable memory, and a certain degree of 
 docility, the Elephant is enabled to execute such a 
 variety of actions, either of his own accord or at the 
 command of his keeper, as have gained him the credit 
 not only of being the cleverest of brutes, but of possess- 
 ing qualities of a superior cast and even the divine gift 
 of reason itself. 
 
 The structure of the trunk is entirely muscular, and 
 the fibres of which it is composed are arranged in such 
 a manner that it is capable of being inflected in almost 
 any direction ; but to twist itself spirally inwards appears 
 to be its most natural action. In this manner it will
 
 168 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 grasp with the utmost firmness, for its strength is fully 
 equal to its flexibility, whatever it may seize ; and it is 
 by this means that the Elephant conveys his food to his 
 mouth. Being purely herbivorous, but encumbered with 
 a head and appendages so weighty as to require all the 
 support to be derived from an excessively short and 
 almost unyielding neck, it would be utterly impossible 
 for him to browse upon the herbage from which his 
 sustenance is chiefly derived, and he would consequently 
 run no small risk of absolute starvation, were it not for 
 this admirable provision, by means of which he collects 
 and enfolds his food, and conveys it to his mouth with 
 as much ease and precision as a Monkey would execute 
 the same motions with his hands. In drinking too the 
 trunk offers the same facilities and performs the same 
 useful and necessary office. Placing its extremity in the 
 fluid which he is about to drink, the Elephant pumps 
 up, or rather inhales, a sufficient quantity to fill its 
 cavities, and then transferring it to his mouth pours its 
 contents quietly down his throat. When his thirst is 
 satisfied he will frequently continue the same process of 
 filling his trunk for the purpose of discharging the liquid 
 contained in it over his body, an indulgence in which he 
 appears to take no little pleasure ; and will even some- 
 times amuse himself by directing the fluid to other 
 objects. 
 
 The Asiatic Elephant was until very lately considered 
 as forming one species with the African, the clear and 
 obvious distinctions which exist between them never 
 having been noticed until pointed out by M. Cuvier, 
 notwithstanding that both have been familiarly known 
 for more than two thousand years to the nations of
 
 THE ASIATIC ELEPHANT. 169 
 
 Europe, the former having formed an important part of 
 the armament with which Porus withstood the conquer- 
 ing arms of Alexander, and having been subsequently 
 introduced even into Italy by Pyrrhus ; and the latter, 
 as we may fairly presume, furnishing those individuals 
 which were employed in the warlike array of the Cartha- 
 ginians. The Asiatic animal appears when fully grown 
 to attain a larger size than the African, the females 
 commonly measuring from seven to eight, and the males 
 from eight to ten feet in height, and sometimes weighing 
 six or seven thousand pounds. His head is more oblong, 
 and his forehead presents in the centre a deep concavity 
 between two lateral and rounded elevations ; that of the 
 African being round and convex in all its parts. The 
 teeth of the former are composed of transverse vertical 
 laminae of equal breadth, while those of the latter form 
 rhomboidal or lozenge-shaped divisions. The ears of the 
 Asiatic are also smaller and descend no lower than his 
 neck, and he exhibits four distinct toes on his hind feet : 
 the African on the contrary is furnished with ears of 
 much greater size, descending to his legs, and no more 
 than three toes are visible on his posterior extremities. 
 These differences are so striking and important, and 
 indeed, so far as regards the form of the head and the 
 structure of the teeth, so essential, that it is impossible 
 not to adopt the division which has been founded upon 
 them, and to consider the natives of the two continents 
 as originally and specifically distinct. 
 
 The Asiatic Elephants themselves vary considerably 
 in several minor particulars, such as the comparative 
 length and thickness of their trunks and of their tusks, 
 the latter of which are sometimes, even in the males, of
 
 170 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 very small dimensions. But these variations are evi- 
 dently the result of locality and other fortuitous circum- 
 stances, the species appearing gradually to degenerate 
 as it recedes from the tropics, and to improve as it 
 advances towards the line. The Elephants of Ceylon 
 are consequently in the highest esteem for size, beauty, 
 and hardihood, and those of Pegu are but little inferior 
 to them ; while those of the northern districts of India 
 are held in comparatively trifling estimation. 
 
 These animals are by nature sociable, and congregate 
 together in herds, which frequently amount to more 
 than a hundred. The imposing spectacle furnished by 
 such a collection of these immense masses of animated 
 matter may well be imagined. They generally seek the 
 shade of the forest, in which they find additional means 
 of subsistence in the young shoots of the trees, which 
 supply the place of other and more congenial herbs. 
 They frequently issue from it, however, in quest of the 
 latter, and also to indulge in a propensity possessed by 
 them in common with all those animals which like them 
 are furnished with thick and almost naked, or with 
 bristly, skins, that of bathing in the water or wallowing 
 in the mud. It is for this reason that they are usually 
 met with in the neighbourhood of large streams, which 
 their great size and the quantity of fat with which they 
 are commonly loaded enable them to swim with facility. 
 Their trunk is also extremely serviceable in this opera- 
 tion, as it enables them to bury as it were the whole of 
 their body beneath the water, retaining above the surface 
 no more than the extremity of that organ for the admis- 
 sion and expulsion of the air. After having been for 
 some time in the water, it is said that their skin loses the
 
 THE ASIATIC ELEPHANT. 171 
 
 dusky hue by which it is usually distinguished in con- 
 sequence of the dirt and other matters with which it is 
 incrusted, and assumes a perfect flesh-colour marked 
 with numerous round and blackish spots. This natural 
 colour is, however, lost almost immediately on their 
 reaching the land, when they uniformly scatter them- 
 selves all over by means of their trunk with the mud or 
 dust which first falls in their way. So fond are they of 
 this process that they commonly recur to it whenever 
 an opportunity offers. The bathing appears to be abso- 
 lutely necessary in order to keep their skins to a certain 
 extent supple and flexible; for which purpose their 
 keepers, in captivity, occasionally have recourse to the 
 smearing them with oil as a substitute. 
 
 Like other herbivorous quadrupeds they are, generally 
 speaking, quiet and harmless, intent solely upon pro- 
 viding for their wants, and never attacking man or other 
 animals unless provoked or when under the influence of 
 excitement. In this latter case they make use not only 
 of their proboscis, which they wield with great dexterity 
 as a weapon of offence, but also of their tusks, with 
 which they inflict the most tremendous wounds. Their 
 speed in pursuit corresponds rather with the cumbrous- 
 ness than with the magnitude of their frame, the exces- 
 sive weight of which soon renders them weary, and 
 compels them to slacken their pace ; which, when urged 
 to the utmost, is barely equal to that of a horse of mode- 
 rate fleetness. They will sometimes penetrate in quest 
 of food into the rice fields and sugar plantations, in 
 which they commit the most extensive ravages, not so 
 much by the quantity which they consume as by that 
 which they destroy. The solitary individuals, which are
 
 172 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 occasionally met with separate from the general herd, 
 indulge perhaps more frequently in these excesses than 
 the community, which generally avoids as much as pos- 
 sible the habitations of man. It has commonly been 
 imagined that these stray Elephants were the younger 
 and weaker males, who had been driven from the herd 
 by their more powerful fellows ; but the fact that they 
 are usually adults of the largest size completely nega- 
 tives this supposition, and proves that it is of their own 
 free will that they wander thus alone. They attain their 
 full growth between the ages of eighteen and twenty- 
 four, and well authenticated instances have occurred in 
 which they have reached the age of a hundred and thirty 
 years. Indeed there is reason to believe that their life 
 may be sometimes prolonged to two centuries. 
 
 The usual mode of catching the wild Elephants for the 
 purpose of domestication has been so often described that 
 it would be superfluous to repeat it here. It may be suffi- 
 cient to observe that a herd of them having been driven 
 by the hunters into an enclosure surrounded by pali- 
 sades and ditches, and provided only with a narrow pass 
 by way of egress, they are there made prisoners one after 
 the other, and attached to the tame elephants, which are 
 employed on such occasions partly as decoys and partly 
 as guards over their captive brethren. The necessity of 
 having recourse to this mode of supplying the wants, or 
 rather of ministering to the pride, of the sovereigns of 
 the East, both native and European, who alike regard 
 these animals as the indispensable appendages of their 
 rank, arises from the circumstance of the breed being 
 very rarely propagated in captivity ; the Hindoos being 
 either too ignorant or too careless to adopt the requisite
 
 THE ASIATIC ELEPHANT. 173 
 
 measures for securing its continuance, and relying upon 
 the certainty of being enabled by their hunting to keep 
 up a sufficient supply. But there can be little doubt, 
 from what we observe in other animals, that had a 
 domesticated breed of Elephants existed from the times 
 when their services were first made available to man, 
 they would have been far superior both in sagacity and 
 docility to the half-reclaimed individuals at present em- 
 ployed. 
 
 It may readily be supposed that the taming of these 
 wild and unwieldy creatures is a task of no little diffi- 
 culty and delicacy : but the experienced keepers by 
 whom it is undertaken seldom fail to execute it with 
 success. It is effected partly by reducing the strength 
 of the animal by restricting him in the quantity of his 
 food, by the employment of caresses or of castigation 
 according to the dispositions he may manifest, by occa- 
 sionally indulging him in sweetmeats or in other dainty 
 fare, and by subjecting him to the control of the tame 
 elephants, and especially of the females, which are more 
 commonly employed for this purpose. By the appli- 
 cation of these means the space of a fortnight is generally 
 sufficient to reduce him to a certain degree of tameness, 
 and in less than six months he is trained to the various 
 exercises which it is intended that he should perform, 
 and his education is regarded as complete. They do not, 
 however, always become familiar and habituated to their 
 new mode of life even within this period of time ; for, 
 according to the statement of Mr. Corse, Elephants have 
 been known to stand twelve months at their pickets 
 without lying down to sleep ; and this is regarded as a 
 certain sign of want of confidence in their keepers and of
 
 1 74 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 a longing desire to regain their liberty. It is probably 
 to some such circumstance as this that we are indebted 
 for the erroneous idea so generally prevalent that these 
 animals always sleep standing; whereas the truth is, 
 that when perfectly at ease and reconciled to their fate, 
 they lie down on their sides and sleep like other beasts. 
 
 The purposes for which they are commonly employed 
 are rather those of pomp, of luxury, and of ostentation, 
 than of utility. As a means of warlike offence they have 
 been, since the introduction of firearms, absolutely dis- 
 used ; and it is only as beasts of burden that they are 
 turned to any useful account. In this respect the ser- 
 vices of a single Elephant are equal to those of five or 
 six horses, as they will carry from fifteen to twenty hun- 
 dred weight, and travel from forty to fifty miles a day. 
 They generally consume a hundred weight and a half 
 or two hundred weight of solid food, and thirty or forty 
 gallons of fluid, in the course of the day. They are fond 
 of wine, spirits, and other intoxicating articles, by the 
 attraction of which they are frequently induced to exert 
 their powers, and to perform various feats of dexterity, 
 when all other methods have failed to render them tract- 
 able. They become strongly attached to their keepers; 
 but, if irritated by ill usage, their hatred is as violent as 
 their affection, and is carefully stored up until a favour- 
 able opportunity occurs, when they seldom fail to remem- 
 ber an insult or an injury, even at very distant periods 
 of time. 
 
 With regard to their sagacity much has been written, 
 and many exaggerated and many incredible stories have 
 been told; but it would appear that those who have 
 attributed to the Elephant a degree of intelligence
 
 THE ASIATIC ELEPHANT. 175 
 
 superior to every other beast, have been misled by 
 outward appearances, and by the natural prepossession 
 arising from his gigantic and imposing figure. Without 
 his trunk, upon the singular and admirable structure of 
 which most of that skill and dexterity which have been 
 regarded as the result of mental reflection is entirely 
 dependent, he would be, in all probability, as very a 
 brute as the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, or the hog. 
 By means of that organ, however, he unquestionably 
 acquires the capacity of performing feats of which other 
 animals are incapable; but here his superiority ends. 
 In intelligence, as in docility, he is far inferior to the 
 dog; and many other quadrupeds might fairly compete 
 with him in both. Thus to turn a key in a lock, to push 
 back a bolt, to untie a rope, to uncork a bottle, to search 
 in the pockets of his keepers for apples or oranges, these 
 and many other tricks of a similar kind, for which he 
 is famous, are evidently nothing more than mechanical 
 actions, to the performance of which he is stimulated, 
 like other beasts, at first by the promise of reward or the 
 fear of chastisement, and afterwards by the mere force of 
 habit. In like manner the dexterity with which he learns 
 to load and unload himself, or to place a man or child 
 upon his back by means of his trunk, without offering 
 them the slightest injury ; and on the other hand the 
 precision with which he is made to execute the will of 
 the Asiatic despot on the unhappy victims of his dis- 
 pleasure, by seizing them and casting them beneath his 
 feet, to be there dispatched, according to the tenor of the 
 orders which he receives, either with a single crush, or 
 with all the horrors of a lingering death ; these also are 
 actions of no higher order than many other animals are
 
 176 
 
 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 equally capable of in a moral point of view, although 
 not so well fitted for them by physical conformation. 
 
 In conclusion we have only to add that the fine little 
 Elephant from which our figure was taken appears from 
 his dimensions and from the very small size of his tusks 
 to be little more than three years old. He is extremely 
 good tempered, and became reconciled to his situation 
 almost from the very moment of his arrival.
 
 THE ZEBRA OF THE PLAINS. 
 
 BURCHELLII. 
 
 THE well known group of which the Horse, the Ass, and 
 the Zebra constitute the leading species, is distinguished 
 from all other quadrupeds by the form of their hoof, 
 which is single and undivided, rounded in front, of con- 
 siderable thickness, and enveloping the extremity of 
 their only apparent toe. They have in each jaw six 
 powerful cutting teeth, accompanied on either side by 
 the same number of grinders with square crowns flat- 
 tened at the top : the males have two canines in the 
 upper jaw, and frequently in the lower also ; and this 
 structure is sometimes shared by the females of the 
 domesticated races. Between the canines and the molars 
 
 N
 
 178 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 there is a vacant space, which, our readers scarcely need 
 to be reminded, receives the bit, the small but irresisti- 
 ble instrument by means of which man has for ages 
 exercised the most complete control over the services of 
 these useful animals. Although purely and essentially 
 herbivorous, their anatomy, as well as their habits, sepa- 
 rates them most thoroughly from the Ruminants, and 
 approximates them in several respects to the Pachy- 
 dermatous order, with which, in spite of their many 
 discrepancies, both physical and moral, M. Cuvier has 
 associated them. It is needless to point out the incon- 
 gruity of this union, and it would be equally so to say 
 more of the general form and external characteristics of 
 a group, the principal species of which are so constantly 
 before our eyes. 
 
 It may, however, be observed, that it has been pro- 
 posed to divide it into two distinct genera, the one 
 containing the Horse alone, and characterized by the 
 flowing tail uniformly covered with long hair, by the 
 absence of a line of darker coloured hairs along the 
 back, and by the presence of callous protuberances on 
 the hind legs as well as on the fore : the other compre- 
 hending the Asses and Zebras, and distinguished by the 
 tail having a brush of long hairs at its extremity only, 
 by the presence of the dorsal line, and the absence of 
 the protuberances on the posterior legs. Such a divi- 
 sion, restiijg as it does on striking but not very essential 
 differences, may fairly be admitted for the purpose of 
 separating the genus into sections ; but can hardly be 
 regarded as founded on characters of sufficient import- 
 ance to disunite so well marked and strongly connected, 
 as well as so limited, a group. In the same paper in
 
 THE ZEBRA OF THE PLAINS. 179 
 
 which this new arrangement was proposed, the beautiful 
 animal which we have now to describe was first specifi- 
 cally distinguished by Mr. Gray from the Common Zebra, 
 with which it had previously been confounded, and cha- 
 racterized by him under the name of the Asinus Bur- 
 chellii. Still there exists so much confusion between the 
 two Zebras, many naturalists falling into the same error 
 with Mr. Burchell, who first remarked the distinction 
 between them, and regarding the present animal as the 
 Zebra of zoologists, and the common one in reality as 
 the new species; while others have absolutely counter- 
 changed a part of the characters of each, and thus made 
 confusion worse confounded ; that we cannot do better 
 than describe with some little detail the markings of the 
 individual now before us. 
 
 The ground colour of its whole body is white, inter- 
 rupted by a regular series of broad black stripes extend- 
 ing from the back across the sides, with narrower and 
 fainter ones intervening between each. Over the haunches 
 and shoulders these stripes form a kind of bifurcation, 
 between the divisions of which there are a few transverse 
 lines of the same colour ; but these suddenly and abruptly 
 cease, and are not continued on the legs, which are per- 
 fectly white. Along the back there is a narrow longitu- 
 dinal line, bordered on each side with white. The mane 
 is throughout broadly and deeply tipped with black, and 
 is marked by a continuation of the transverse bands of 
 the neck. The lines of the face are narrow and beauti- 
 fully regular; from the centre of the forehead they 
 radiate downwards over the eyes ; along the front of the 
 muzzle they are longitudinal, the outer ones having a 
 curve outwards ; and on the sides they form broader 
 
 N 2
 
 180 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 transverse bands. From the confluence of these bands 
 on the extremity of the muzzle, the nose, and the lower 
 lip, those parts become of a nearly uniform blackish 
 brown. The tail is white : there is no longitudinal ven- 
 tral line : and a large black patch occupies the posterior 
 part of the ear near the tip. The hoofs are moderately 
 large, deep in front, shallow behind, and much expanded 
 at their margin. 
 
 Of the habits of these animals in a state of nature we 
 know but little. They inhabit the flat parts near the 
 Cape of Good Hope, the common Zebra being confined 
 to the mountains. All the attempts that have been made 
 to domesticate either the one or the other, and to render 
 them serviceable, have hitherto failed; but there seems 
 no good reason why they should not, with proper ma- 
 nagement, be brought as completely under subjection 
 as the other species of the genus. The subject of the 
 present article, which has now been about two years in 
 the Menagerie, will suffer a boy to ride her about the 
 yard, and is frequently allowed to run loose through 
 the Tower, with a man by her side, whom she does not 
 attempt to quit except to run to the Canteen, where she 
 is occasionally indulged with a draught of ale, of which 
 she is particularly fond.
 
 THE LLAMA. 
 
 LLAMA PERVVIANA. Cuv. 
 
 IN common with the Camels, the Llamas are distin- 
 guished from all other Ruminating animals chiefly by 
 the absence of horns, by the structure of their feet, and 
 by their mode of dentition, in all of which these two 
 closely allied groups very nearly correspond with each 
 other. In their general form there is also some simila- 
 rity ; but the latter are much lighter in their proportions, 
 and far more lively and spirited in their motions. They 
 exhibit no traces of the clumsy and unsightly humps 
 which disfigure the backs of the former, and their necks 
 and limbs, of greater comparative length, appear to be far 
 less oppressed by the superincumbent weight of the head
 
 182 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 and body, which are consequently maintained in a more 
 upright and graceful position. The principal difference 
 in their internal structure consists in the want of that 
 extensive appendage to the first stomach, which renders 
 the Camel so peculiarly valuable in situations where 
 water is with difficulty procured, by enabling him to 
 lay in at once a sufficient stock of that indispensable 
 necessary to supply his wants for many days. But even 
 without this appendage the Llamas are observed to be 
 by no means so much exposed to frequent thirst as the 
 generality of animals, and to drink but rarely and in 
 moderate quantity. 
 
 The feet of the Camels and of the Llamas are very 
 different in form from those of all the other Ruminants. 
 They are, it is true, deeply divided, like those of the 
 latter, into two apparent toes ; but cannot be said, like 
 them, to part the hoof, for they have no real hoof, and 
 the extremities of their protruded toes are armed only 
 with short, thick, and crooked claws. These toes are in 
 the Camels united posteriorly by a horny process, which 
 is wanting in the Llamas. The teeth of both are nearly 
 similar : they consist of six incisors in the lower jaw and 
 two in the upper; of two canines in each; and of six 
 molars in the upper, and five in the lower, on each side. 
 None of the other Ruminants exhibit the least appear- 
 ance of cutting teeth in the upper jaw. The nostrils of 
 both consist externally of mere fissures in the skin, which 
 may be opened and closed at pleasure, and which are 
 surrounded by a naked muzzle ; and their upper lip is 
 divided into two distinct portions, which are very exten- 
 sible, and capable of much separate motion. 
 
 The species of the group, of which the Llama forms
 
 THE LLAMA. '183 
 
 the type, have been involved by the imperfect descrip- 
 tions of naturalists in almost inextricable confusion. No 
 less than five have been admitted ; but the variations of 
 colour and of size, and the degree of length and fineness 
 of the wool, differences rather commercial than natural, 
 afford almost the only positive distinctions that have 
 yet been laid down between them; and when we con- 
 sider that some of them have been for ages in a state 
 of domestication, it will readily be allowed that such 
 characters as these are, to say the least, trivial and 
 uncertain. Our animals, which are nearly four feet in 
 height at the shoulder, and somewhat more than five 
 feet to the top of the head, have the neck, the back, the 
 sides, and the tail, which is rather short, covered with a 
 beautiful coat of long, bright brown, woolly hair. The 
 long and pointed ears, and the small and attenuated 
 head, on which the hair is short, close, and even, are of 
 a grayish mouse-colour ; the outside of the legs is of the 
 same colour with the sides of the body ; and their inside, 
 as also the under part of the body and the throat, pure 
 white. The hair on the limbs is short and smooth. In 
 these respects they offer but little to distinguish them 
 from any of the animals which have been exhibited in 
 this country under the various names of Llamas, Pacos, 
 and Guanacos. There is, however, at present in the 
 Garden of the Zoological Society, an animal, which 
 besides being of larger size, covered with longer and 
 coarser wool, and entirely white (which latter circum- 
 stance may be purely accidental), differs remarkably in 
 the form of the forehead, which in it is perfectly flat, 
 while in our animals it rises in a strong curve. This 
 character, it is probable, affords a permanent ground of
 
 184 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 distinction, although we venture not at present to speak 
 decidedly respecting it. 
 
 The Llamas congregate together in considerable herds 
 on the sides of the Andes, and generally in the colder 
 and more elevated regions. When the Spaniards first 
 arrived in Peru they were the only beasts of burden 
 employed by the natives; and even at the present day, 
 when horses have become so excessively common, they 
 are usually preferred for passing the mountains, on 
 which their sureness of footing, exceeding even that of 
 the mule, gives them a manifest superiority. Generally 
 speaking they are quiet, docile and timid ; but they 
 occasionally exihibit much spitefulness, especially if 
 teased or ill treated. Their mode of evincing this is 
 very peculiar, and consists in darting their saliva through 
 their nostrils with considerable force. Like all the other 
 Ruminants they subsist entirely on vegetables. Those 
 in the Tower Menagerie have a particular fondness for 
 carrots; and if one of these is abstracted from them 
 while they are eating, their anger is immediately roused, 
 and they spit, as it is termed, with the greatest vehe- 
 mence, covering with their saliva a surface of three or 
 four yards in extent. One of the animals in the cut is 
 represented in the act.
 
 THE MALAYAN RUSA-DEER. 
 
 CER v us EQ UIN vs. C v v. 
 
 THE DEER constitute a numerous and beautiful group of 
 Ruminants, which are readily distinguished by the grace- 
 ful symmetry of their form, by their long and slender, 
 but firm and sinewy, legs, by their broad and pointed 
 ears, and by the comparative shortness of their tails ; 
 but more especially by the generally large and branch- 
 ing horns which ornament the heads of the males. Like 
 all the ruminating animals, with the exception of those 
 mentioned in the preceding article, they are furnished 
 with eight cutting-teeth in the lower jaw, opposed to a 
 callous and toothless surface in the upper; and with 
 expanded, flat, and deeply bifurcated hoofs, constituting
 
 186 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 two distinct and apparent toes, above which they have 
 also the rudiments of two others. Some of the species 
 have canine teeth in the upper jaw, generally in the 
 males alone ; and they have all six molars on each side. 
 In the greater number of them the nostrils are surrounded 
 by a naked muzzle ; and most of them are also provided 
 with a sinus or sac, of greater or less extent, immedi- 
 ately beneath the inner angle of the eye, called the sub- 
 orbital sinus, the larmier of the French zoologists. 
 
 The horns, which form the most distinguishing cha- 
 racter of the genus, are perfectly solid throughout their 
 whole extent. Their form varies very considerably in 
 the different races ; but they are constantly uniform in 
 the same species, unless accidentally or artificially per- 
 verted from their natural growth. In some they are 
 simple at the base and terminate in a broad and palmate 
 expansion, which is variously lobed and divided ; in 
 others they are more or less branched, giving off antlers 
 in different directions; and in some few they are short 
 and nearly simple. They fall off and are renewed 
 annually in all the species which inhabit the northern 
 and temperate regions of the earth, and in those in 
 which they attain any considerable size ; but Sir T. Stam- 
 ford Raffles was of opinion, and his opinion has been in 
 some measure confirmed by the observations of Major 
 C. Hamilton Smith, that several of the tropical species 
 with small and nearly simple horns are exempted from 
 this general law. The horns are smaller and less de- 
 veloped in the young than in the full grown and adult 
 animal, and diminish again in size, and frequently 
 become irregular, as he advances in age. In one species 
 alone, the Rein-Deer of the North, the female wears the
 
 THE MALAYAN RUSA-DEER. 187 
 
 same palmy honours with the male ; but they do not in 
 her reach the same enormous extent. 
 
 The high degree of domestication to which this latter 
 species has been brought, and the invaluable services 
 which it renders to the Laplander, added to the tranquil 
 content which most of the deer manifest in a state of 
 captivity, afford sufficient proofs that there is nothing in 
 the constitution of the group repugnant to their being 
 tamed and familiarized with man ; but from none of the 
 other races have any real or essential advantages been as 
 yet derived. The quiet confidence, mixed with a certain 
 air of cautious timidity, which they exhibit in their half- 
 restricted state, in the park or the chase, where they are 
 kept more for ornament than use, is perfectly indicative 
 of their general character. But the very mildness of 
 their disposition has been turned to their disadvantage, 
 and one of the gentlest of animals, because endowed 
 by nature with a high degree of fleetness, with some 
 sagacity, and with a certain share of timidity, has been 
 marked out by man as the chosen victim of his cruelty, 
 disguised under the captivating name of sport. 
 
 The Samboo Deer, as the present species is called by 
 his keepers, belongs to the Rusa group, which are distin- 
 guished from the rest of the genus by their horns being 
 provided with a single antler at the base, and with a 
 lateral snag which forms a kind of bifurcation towards 
 the extremity. They are usually of large stature and 
 nearly uniform colours, and are, for the most part, fur- 
 nished with a rough and shaggy mane, a broad and 
 expanded muzzle, and sub-orbital openings of consider- 
 able size. The handsome Stag now before us is dark 
 cinereous brown above, nearly black on the throat and
 
 188 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 breast, and light fawn, intermixed with dirty white, on 
 the inside of the limbs. His eyes are surrounded by 
 a fawn-coloured disc, and patches of the same colour 
 occupy the fore knees, and a space above each of the 
 hoofs in front. His nose, which is black, is enveloped 
 in an extensive muzzle; his ears are nearly naked on 
 the inside, and marked by a patch of dirty white at the 
 base externally; and his mane, which spreads down- 
 wards over the neck and throat, is remarkably thick and 
 heavy. His tail is black above, and light fawn beneath ; 
 and a disc of the latter colour occupies the posterior part 
 of the buttocks, having on each side a blackish line 
 which separates it from the lighter tinge of the inside of 
 the thighs. His horns, when properly grown, consist of 
 a broad burr, from which the pointed basal antler rises 
 almost perpendicularly to the extent of nine or ten inches ; 
 of a stem, which is first directed outwards, and then 
 forms a bold curve inwards ; and of a snag, or second 
 antler of smaller size, arising from the stem near its 
 extremity on the posterior and internal side, and forming 
 with it a terminal fork, the branch however being shorter 
 than the stem, and not exceeding five or six inches in 
 length. The entire length of the horns is about two 
 feet ; they are of a dark colour, very strong, and deeply 
 furrowed throughout. 
 
 The foregoing description of the horns, it should be 
 observed, is taken from those of the year before last, 
 which were of the genuine or normal form. Those of 
 the last year, which are represented in the cut prefixed, 
 were from some cause or other remarkably different, that 
 of the right side especially exhibiting a singular mon- 
 strosity in the production of additional branches of
 
 THE MALAYAN RUSA-DEER. 189 
 
 irregular form. Whether this was the effect of disease 
 or of advancing age, or whether it arose solely from 
 some temporary and accidental cause, will probably be 
 determined by the growth of the present year, which is 
 not yet sufficiently advanced to enable us to ascertain 
 its probable form. 
 
 With regard to the sub-orbital sinus, which in this 
 and all the neighbouring species is of very considerable 
 size, its uses are evidently connected with the function 
 of respiration, and probably also with the sense of smell. 
 It is denoted externally by a longitudinal fissure, placed 
 beneath the inner angle of each of the eyes, and leading 
 into a sac or cavity, which in some cases communicates 
 internally with the nose ; and its inner surface is lined 
 by a membrane abundantly supplied with follicles for 
 the secretion of mucus, which is sometimes produced 
 in very large quantities. This latter circumstance has 
 induced some naturalists to regard these openings as 
 mere cuticular appendages. That they really, in some 
 species at least, communicate with the nostrils, is proved 
 by the observations of Mr. White of Selbourne, who 
 states that in consequence of this communication the 
 Fallow-Deer are enabled to take long-continued draughts 
 with their noses deeply immersed in the water, the air 
 in the mean time passing through the sub-orbital slits. 
 So singular a statement was naturally enough doubted 
 and called in question ; but it has never, so far as we 
 know, been impugned on ocular testimony ; while it has 
 received the fullest confirmation from other observations 
 made upon the very species now under consideration, in 
 which the air passing from the sub-orbital sinus, while 
 the animal drinks, may be felt by the hand, and even
 
 190 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 affects the flame of a candle. Another proof of the 
 connexion of these cavities with the nose is derived from 
 the fact that the animals which are provided with them 
 frequently apply their orifices, equally with those of the 
 nostrils, to the food which they are about to take, open- 
 ing and shutting them with great rapidity. 
 
 The subject of the present article, which, like all the 
 rest of the minor group of which he forms a part, is a 
 native of India and of the Indian Islands, was a present 
 to his Majesty, who kept him for some time, in company 
 with another of the same species, at large in the great 
 park at Windsor. As both, however, happened to be 
 males, they disagreed so violently, and their quarrels at 
 length rose to such a pitch, that in order to preserve 
 peace it was found absolutely necessary to separate 
 them; and our animal, as the most outrageous of the 
 two, was dismissed the royal service, and condemned to 
 the captivity of the Tower. Since this period he has 
 become exceedingly tame, the cause of his former ill 
 temper being removed, and demeans himself as quietly 
 as the most harmless and gentlest of his tribe.
 
 THE INDIAN ANTELOPE. 
 
 ANTILOPE CERVICAPRA. PALL. 
 
 IN the elegant symmetry of their form and the light 
 and graceful agility of their motions, the Antelopes are 
 superior even to the Deer, whom, however, they closely 
 resemble, not merely in outward shape, but also in 
 internal structure. Like them, in addition to the coin- 
 cidence of a slightly made and beautifully proportioned 
 figure, they are frequently furnished with a naked 
 muzzle, and with the same remarkable sinus beneath 
 the inner angle of the eye ; and their ears are generally 
 of considerable size, erect, and pointed. But they are 
 strikingly distinguished from them and from all the 
 other animals of the order by the peculiar character of
 
 192 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 their horns, which are formed of an elastic sheath en- 
 closing a solid nucleus, and are for the most part com- 
 mon to the females as well as to the males. They have 
 no canine teeth, and exhibit no appearance of a beard 
 such as is seen in the Goats. The horns vary greatly in 
 the different races ; they are sometimes straight and 
 upright, at other times slightly curved, and frequently 
 spirally twisted with the most beautiful regularity : they 
 are usually surrounded by elevated rings or by a spiral 
 ridge, are constantly of the same form in the same 
 species, and are not subject to an annual falling off and 
 renewal, as in the Deer, from which they differ also in 
 their mode of growth, the horns of the latter group 
 lengthening at their apices, while those of the former 
 receive their increase at the base. 
 
 In their natural habits the numerous species of which 
 this group is composed approach very closely to the 
 Deer; there is, however, considerable variety in their 
 mode of life. They inhabit almost every description of 
 country ; the sandy desert, the open plain, the thicket, 
 the forest, the mountain, and the precipice, being, each 
 in its turn, the favourite haunt of the different races; 
 but, with the exception of a few species, they do not 
 advance much beyond the limits of the tropics. The 
 smaller ones usually prefer a solitary life, but the 
 larger, for the most part, congregate together in herds, 
 which are generally few in number. In their manners 
 they exhibit much of that cautious vigilance and easily 
 startled timidity, combined with a certain degree of 
 occasional boldness and not a little curiosity, which are 
 the natural consequences of their wild and unrestricted 
 habits, of their trivial means of defence against the
 
 THE INDIAN ANTELOPE. 193 
 
 numerous enemies to whose attacks they are exposed, 
 and of the unequalled fleetness of their speed. In some 
 this latter quality consists of a continued and uniform 
 gallop, which in others is interrupted at every third or 
 fourth stroke by a long and generally a lofty bound, 
 producing a beautiful effect by its constant and rapid 
 recurrence. 
 
 The Indian Antelope, of which the specimen in the 
 Tower constitutes a remarkable and highly interesting 
 variety, is not only one of the most beautiful, but also 
 the most celebrated species of the group. It occupies 
 the place of Capricorn in the Indian Zodiac, and is con- 
 secrated to the service of Chandra or the Moon. In size 
 and form it closely resembles the Gazelle of the Arabs, 
 the well known emblem of maiden beauty, typified, 
 according to the poets, in the elastic lightness of its 
 bound, the graceful symmetry of its figure, and the soft 
 lustre of its full and hazel eye. From this truly elegant 
 creature our Antelope is, however, essentially distin- 
 guished by several striking characters. Its horns, which 
 are peculiar to the male, are spirally twisted, and form, 
 when fully grown, three complete turns ; they are closely 
 approximated to each other at the base, but diverge 
 considerably as they proceed upwards. They occa- 
 sionally attain a length of nearly two feet, and are 
 surrounded throughout by elevated and close-set rings. 
 The two horns taken together have frequently been 
 compared to the branches of a double lyre. The extre- 
 mity of the nose is bare, forming a small and moist 
 muzzle; the sub-orbital openings are larger and more 
 distinct than in almost any other species ; and the ears 
 are pointed and of moderate size. The natural colours
 
 194 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 vary with the age of the animal, but correspond in 
 general pretty closely with those of the common deer. 
 They may be shortly described as fawn above and 
 whitish beneath, becoming deeper with age> and lighter 
 in the females than in the males. The occasional stripes 
 of a lighter or darker colour, which are generally visible 
 on various parts of the body, can scarcely be considered 
 as occurring with sufficient regularity to allow of their 
 being described as characteristic of the species. 
 
 But for these shades of colour, or for any other, we 
 should look in vain in the animal of the Tower Mena- 
 gerie, which, in consequence of a particular conformation, 
 not unfrequent in some species of animals, and occa- 
 sionally met with even in the human race, is perfectly 
 and purely white. In order to explain this phenomenon, 
 which is one of the most curious, but at the same time 
 one of the most simple in physiology, it is necessary to 
 observe that there exists beneath the epidermis, or outer 
 covering of the skin, both in man and animals, a peculiar 
 membrane of very fine and delicate texture, which is 
 scarcely visible in the European but sufficiently obvious 
 in the Negro, termed by anatomists the rete mucosum. 
 In this net-work is secreted, from the extremities of the 
 minute vessels which terminate upon its surface, a mu- 
 cous substance which varies in colour according to the 
 complexion of the individual, of the varieties in which 
 it is the immediate cause ; and from the substance thus 
 secreted the colouring matter of the hairs and of the iris 
 is derived. The pure whiteness then of the covering of 
 the animal in question, and of all those which exhibit a 
 similar variation from their natural tinge, is attributable 
 solely to the absence of this secretion from whatever
 
 THE INDIAN ANTELOPE. 195 
 
 cause. It is always accompanied, as in the present 
 instance, by a redness of the eyes, arising- from the 
 blood-vessels of the iris being exposed to view in conse- 
 quence of the want of the usual coating- formed by this 
 secretion, by which they are naturally protected from 
 the too great influence of the lig-ht. In the human race 
 the individuals who are thus afflicted, characterized by 
 the dull whiteness of their skins, the deep redness of 
 their eyes, and their colourless, or, as it is generally 
 termed, flaxen, hair, are called Albinos. They are 
 generally timid in disposition, languid in character, and 
 weak both in mind and body. The same original con- 
 formation, for it is always born with the individual and 
 never acquired in after life, although sometimes pro- 
 longed beyond its limits in the shape of an hereditary 
 legacy, is common to many animals. Perhaps the most 
 familiar instances among these are the white mice, the 
 white rabbits, and the white pigeons, which are known 
 to every one. But it has also been occasionally seen 
 in many other species, as monkeys, squirrels, moles, 
 pigs, and even cows and horses, and, to come a little 
 closer to our present subject, in goats and deer. Not 
 even that massive and stupendous beast the Elephant 
 is exempted from its influence. It can hardly be neces- 
 sary to recall to the reader the title on which the ruler 
 of millions of not uncivilized Asiatics, the Burmese 
 monarch, prides himself more than on any other, inas- 
 much as it is the emblem of power and prosperity, that 
 of Lord of the White Elephant ; a title, which, while it 
 demonstrates the fact of the existence of this deviation 
 in the Elephant as well as in other animals, proves also 
 
 o 2
 
 196 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 the extreme rarity of its occurrence. It has moreover 
 been noticed in many species of birds. 
 
 The present species of Antelope is spread over the 
 whole of the Peninsula of Hindoostan and a part of 
 Persia ; but it is questionable whether it has been found 
 in Africa, as is commonly asserted. They are said to 
 bound with apparent ease over a distance of from twenty- 
 five to thirty feet, and mounting to the height of ten or 
 twelve. It is consequently useless to attempt to chase 
 them in the common mode with hounds ; and their pur- 
 suit is restricted to the higher nobility, who employ for 
 the purpose either hawks, who pounce upon their quarry 
 and detain it until the dogs can come up, or Chetahs, 
 who attack them by surprise in the manner before 
 described. 
 
 The elegant Albino now in the Tower was brought 
 from Bombay by Captain Dalrymple of the Vansittart, 
 and remained for a considerable time at Sand Pit Gate, 
 where it was an especial favourite with his Majesty, as 
 well on account of the gentleness of its disposition, as 
 for its rarity and beauty. It bears its confinement in 
 the Menagerie with perfect resignation, and is remark- 
 able for the mildness and tranquillity of its deportment.
 
 THE AFRICAN SHEEP. 
 
 Or IK ARIES. LIJJN. Var. GUIIVEENSIS. 
 
 IN characterizing the present genus, were we to look 
 solely at the animal such as we have it daily before our 
 eyes, the distinction between it and all the other Rumi- 
 nants is too striking to be for a moment mistaken. But 
 the insensible gradations which connect this familiar 
 denizen of our downs and pastures with the untamed 
 native of the desert and the precipice, and the close 
 affinity which subsists between the latter and the goats, 
 render it almost impossible to isolate them by any 
 satisfactory characters. On the present occasion we shall 
 content ourselves with observing that the sheep may 
 generally be distinguished by the direction of their
 
 198 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 horns, by the elevation of their profile, and by their 
 want of beard : characters neither essential nor infallible, 
 but the best that can be offered. 
 
 The variety figured over leaf is in one of the many 
 intermediate stages between unreclaimed barbarism and 
 complete domestication. It is an awkward looking crea- 
 ture, high on the legs, narrow in the loins, and covered 
 with a rough and shaggy coat. The back and sides are 
 nearly black ; the shoulders reddish brown ; and the 
 posterior part of the body, the haunches, the hind legs, 
 and the tail, white ; as are also the ears, which are rather 
 large, the nose, and a spot over each eye. The horns, 
 although the specimen is a male, are remarkably small, 
 and enclose the ears within their curve. If the ears are 
 freed from their confinement, the animal becomes very 
 uneasy, and never rests until he has succeeded in re- 
 placing them, which he cannot accomplish without 
 considerable difficulty. He was presented to the Mena- 
 gerie by Lord Liverpool about six years ago, and is 
 extremely mild in his temper.
 
 THE GREAT SEA-EAGLE THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 
 
 HALIAETOS OSSIFRAGVS. SAV. AQVILA CHRYSAETOS. SAV. 
 
 HAVING in the preceding article terminated the series of 
 Mammiferoufl Quadrupeds at present existing in the 
 Tower Menagerie, we must next direct our attention to 
 the illustration of the Birds, a Class which, although 
 fully entitled to the second place in the arrangement of 
 the Animal Kingdom, is separated by a wide and almost 
 unoccupied interval from that which unquestionably 
 claims the foremost rank. 
 
 To commence then with the Eagles, which form a 
 prominent group of the Rapacious Order, and are uni- 
 versally regarded as the most majestic, as well as the 
 most powerful, of birds. In common with the whole
 
 200 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 Order, they are remarkable for the strong incurvation of 
 their bill and talons, the latter of which are ibur in num- 
 ber on each of the feet, and are moved by m.eans of a 
 thick and strong muscular apparatus, which gives to the 
 grasp of the larger species that extreme tenacity by which 
 they are distinguished, enabling them to seize and carry 
 off fish and birds, and even quadrupeds of moderate 
 size. This innate propensity to rapine, derived from 
 their peculiar conformation which renders them essen- 
 tially flesh-eaters, indicates at once the analogical rela- 
 tionship borne by the Rapacious Birds to the Carnivorous 
 Quadrupeds ; and the high degree to which it is carried 
 by the Eagles, their vast powers of flight, their towering 
 majesty, their irresistible might, their uniform prefer- 
 ence of living victims and rejection of the offal, render 
 them superior to all other birds, in the same proportion 
 as the Lion is allowed to take the lead among mammife- 
 rous quadrupeds. 
 
 The Eagles, properly so called, are characterized by a 
 head covered with plumage and flattened above ; eyes 
 large, lateral, and deep-seated ; a bill of great strength, 
 arched and hooked at its extremity alone, and furnished 
 at its base with a naked membrane, called the cere, in 
 which the openings of the nostrils are situated ; the 
 wings broad and powerful ; the tarsus, or that joint of 
 each leg which is immediately above the toes, strong, 
 short, and covered with feathers down to the very base ; 
 the toes thick and naked, three of them pointing for- 
 wards, and the fourth constantly directed backwards; 
 and the talons of great power and strongly curved. The 
 Golden Eagle, which occupies the right hand in the cut, 
 is frequently three feet and a half in length from the
 
 THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 201 
 
 extremity of the beak to that of the tail. His general 
 colour is blackish brown both above and below, assum- 
 ing on the legs a grayish or sometimes a reddish tinge. 
 His beak is bluish black, covered at the base by a yellow 
 cere; and his toes, which are also yellow, terminate in 
 strong black talons, the posterior one of which frequently 
 attains an enormous length. He is met with throughout 
 the Old Continent, and more especially within the limits 
 of the temperate zone, building his aiery, which he 
 shares with a single female, in the clefts of the loftiest 
 rock, or among the topmost branches of the alpine forest. 
 From this retreat he towers aloft in search of his prey, 
 which he pursues by sight alone, subsisting principally 
 on other birds and on the smaller quadrupeds, which he 
 carries off in his powerful clutch. When his hunger is 
 extreme he sometimes pounces upon the larger animals ; 
 but in such circumstances he is compelled to content 
 himself with sucking their blood upon the spot, and 
 with stripping off portions of their flesh, on which to 
 satiate his appetite at home. Instances have been known 
 of his attaining in captivity to an age of more than a 
 hundred years. 
 
 The principal distinguishing mark of the group which 
 has been separated under the name of the Sea-Eagles, 
 consists in the plumage of the tarsus, which in the latter 
 extends only half way down, the lower part being conse- 
 quently left entirely bare. The species figured on the 
 left, at the head of this article, is commonly more than 
 three feet in length, and the expansion of his wings 
 measures seven or eight feet. His bill is usually of a 
 bluish black colour towards the extremity, and yellow 
 at the base. His general hue is blackish brown, deeper
 
 202 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 above than beneath, and relieved on the breast and 
 under parts by numerous white spots. The larger 
 feathers of his wings are nearly black ; but those of the 
 tail are not so deeply tinged. The naked portion of the 
 legs, as also the toes, are covered with bright yellow 
 scales ; and the talons are of a bright black. 
 
 The Great Sea-Eagle is a native of the Northern 
 Hemisphere, in the colder regions of which he appears 
 to be most at home. He builds his nest in similar 
 situations with the last, but prefers the neighbourhood 
 of the sea, or of lakes and rivers, over which he is 
 frequently to be seen, especially in the morning and 
 towards nightfall, hovering in quest of prey, and pounc- 
 ing down upon the fish which rise to the surface, or 
 even diving after those which are visible beneath. These 
 form his principal sustenance; but he seldom suffers 
 flesh or fowl to escape him if they chance to fall in his 
 way. His flight is less rapid and less lofty than that of 
 the Golden Eagle ; and he neither perceives his prey at 
 such a distance, nor pursues it with such pertinacity. 
 
 The noble birds which illustrate the present article 
 were presents from the Marchioness of Londonderry.
 
 THE BEARDED GRIFFIN. 
 
 GYPAE TOS BARB AT vs. STORR. 
 
 THE Bearded Griffin takes an intermediate station be- 
 tween the Eagles and the Vultures, with the former of 
 which it agrees more closely in general appearance and 
 external form, and with the latter in internal structure 
 and habits. The principal point in which it differs from 
 them both consists in the tuft of bristly hairs which take 
 their origin partly from the cere that covers the base of 
 the beak, and partly from the under mandible, and are 
 directed outwards and downwards in such a manner as 
 to give rise to that appearance from which the bird has 
 received his epithet of Bearded. His beak is strongly 
 arched at the extremity, and is remarkable for its great
 
 204 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 vertical thickness, more especially at the point where 
 the curvature commences. His head, flat like that of 
 the Eagle, is covered with short feathers, which are of a 
 dirty white ; and his eyes are nearly on the same plane 
 with the surface of his head. The general tint of his 
 plumage is blackish brown above and grayish fawn be- 
 neath, and his legs are feathered with the latter colour 
 down to the very toes, which are long and grayish. His 
 claws are of moderate length and curved ; but the force 
 of his clutch is far inferior to that of the Eagles. 
 
 The Bearded Griffin is the largest European bird of 
 prey, and builds its aiery among the loftiest precipices 
 of nearly all the alpine chains of the Old Continent. 
 Here it displays the tyranny, but not the courage, of 
 the Eagle, attacking such living animals only as are 
 likely to fall an easy prey, and gorging in troops with 
 all the rapacity of Vultures upon the most corrupted 
 carrion. 
 
 The individual figured is a fine specimen, but is not 
 yet in perfect plumage.
 
 THE GRIFFON VULTURE. 
 
 VULTUR FVLfVS. LlNN. 
 
 IF the Eagles are considered as bearing a close analogy 
 to the more noble and perfect among the Carnivorous 
 Quadrupeds, such as the Lion and the Tiger, which live 
 in solitary grandeur and attack none but living victims, 
 the Vultures may, with equal propriety, be regarded as 
 the representatives of the Jackal, the Wolf, the Hyaena, 
 and other inferior animals of that Order, which hunt in 
 packs and prey upon carrion. Endowed like these 
 animals with an extreme fineness of scent, they are 
 attracted by the smell of dead, and more especially of 
 putrid, carcases, at an immense and almost incredible 
 distance ; and usually assemble in vast numbers to glut
 
 206 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 themselves upon the disgusting banquet on the field of 
 recent battle, or wherever the work of carnage has been 
 carried to any great extent. Under such circumstances, 
 however horrible that propensity may appear which 
 leads them to prey upon the unburied corpses, they 
 unquestionably fulfil a wise provision of nature by 
 removing from the surface of the earth a mass of cor- 
 ruption and putridity which in the warmer climates 
 where they abound would otherwise taint the very atmo- 
 sphere, and might possibly give i'ise to diseases still 
 more fatal in their effects than the malignant passions 
 of man himself, from which the destruction sprung. 
 But although such a scene affords the greatest scope for 
 the indulgence of their depraved appetites, and conse- 
 quently congregates them together in the largest num- 
 bers, it is happily of rare occurrence, and their usual 
 subsistence is derived from the bodies of dead animals. 
 To these they are attracted by the smell, and frequently 
 in flocks so numerous as actually to cover and 'conceal 
 the object of their attack, from which they tear away 
 large gobbets, and swallow them entire and with insa- 
 tiable avidity, never ceasing while yet a morsel remains. 
 It is only when hard pressed by hunger that they venture 
 to attack a living creature ; and their ravages of this 
 kind are always confined to the peaceful and timid 
 denizens of the poultry-yard. They never carry off 
 their victims in their talons, but uniformly devour them 
 upon the spot; and even that portion of their prey 
 which they transport to their young is first swallowed, 
 and afterwards disgorged. in the nest. 
 
 These peculiarities of habit, by which the Vultures 
 are strikingly contrasted not merely with the Eagles,
 
 THE GRIFFON VULTURE. 207 
 
 but even with the smallest of the Falcon tribe, are the 
 necessary result of their organisation. Their beak, it is 
 true, is like that of the Eagles strongly curved at the 
 point alone, and they also possess all the technical 
 characters of the Rapacious Order ; but their talons are 
 far inferior, both in size and in the degree of their cur- 
 vature, and they are consequently unable to grasp their 
 prey with sufficient force to transport it through the air. 
 Their diminished power of flight renders them incapable 
 of soaring upwards to search abroad with piercing eye 
 for the objects of their rapacity ; and they are therefore 
 left dependent upon the acute sensibility of their nos- 
 trils, which amply supplies the deficiency. Of the 
 external characters which they exhibit the most remark- 
 able is derived from the want of plumage on the head 
 and neck, which are covered in the greater number of the 
 species by nothing more than a sort of down or by short 
 and smooth hairs. The object of this provision appears 
 to be to enable them to bury as it were their heads in 
 the carrion on which they feed, without exposing their 
 plumage to be soiled by the filth which it might other- 
 wise contract. Their eyes are placed on a level with 
 their cheeks ; their heads are rounded above ; they have 
 most frequently a ruff of considerable extent round the 
 lower part of their necks; and their legs are usually 
 bare of feathers and covered with large scales. Their 
 very attitudes offer the most perfect contrast to those of 
 the Eagles; the latter constantly maintaining a bold 
 upright posture, with their wings closely pressed to their 
 sides, and their tails elevated, while the Vultures on the 
 contrary are always seen bending forwards in a crouch- 
 ing position, with their wings depressed and separated
 
 208 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 from their bodies, and their tails trailing upon the 
 ground. 
 
 The Griffon Vulture is equal in size to the larger 
 species of Eagle ; his head and neck are covered with 
 short white down, and the latter is ornamented at its 
 base with an extensive ruff of long feathers of a clear 
 and brilliant white. The plumage of the body is reddish 
 gray ; the quill-feathers of the wings and tail are of a 
 blackish brown ; and the beak and claws are nearly 
 black. He is a native of the greater part of Europe 
 and of Asia, and inhabits during the summer the more 
 elevated regions of the two continents, building his nest 
 in the rocks and among inaccessible precipices. In the 
 winter he is said to migrate to warmer and more tem- 
 perate climes. His habits are precisely those of the rest 
 of the group to which he belongs. 
 
 --., -. r. _--- ----_- -." _.__.
 
 THE SECRETARY BIRD. 
 
 GYPOGERANVS SERPEHTARIVS. ILLIG. 
 
 THE singular conformation of this bird, so different in 
 many respects from that of the Order to which both in 
 its leading characters and in its habits it obviously 
 belongs, rendered it for a long time one of the torments 
 of ornithologists, who puzzled themselves in vain to 
 assign it a definitive place in the system, and could not 
 agree even with regard to the grand division of the class 
 to which it ought to be referred. Thus M. Temminck 
 was at one time inclined to refer it to the Gallinaceous 
 Order; and M. Vieillot, after repeatedly changing his 
 mind upon the subject, at last arranged it among the 
 Waders, with which it has absolutely nothing in common
 
 210 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 except the length of its legs. It appears, however, to be 
 now almost universally admitted that its closest affinity 
 is with the Vultures, with which it agrees in the most 
 essential particulars of its organization, and from which 
 it differs chiefly in certain external characters alone, 
 which unquestionably give to it an aspect exceedingly 
 distinct, but are not of themselves of sufficient import- 
 ance to authorize its removal to a distant part of the 
 classification. It constitutes in fact one of those mixed 
 and aberrant forms by means of which the arbitrary 
 divisions of natural objects established by man are so 
 frequently assimilated to each other in the most beau- 
 tiful, and occasionally in the most unexpected, manner. 
 The principal generic characters of the Secretary con- 
 sist in the form of his beak, which is shorter than the 
 head, thick, and curved nearly from the very base, where 
 it is covered with a cere ; in the long and unequal 
 feathers which take their origin from the back of his 
 head, and are susceptible of elevation and depression ; 
 in the naked skin which surrounds his eye, and which is 
 shaded by a series of hairs in the form of an eyebrow ; 
 in the great length and slenderness of his tarsi, which 
 form his most striking characteristic in an Order remark- 
 able for a structure exactly the reverse; and in the 
 shortness of his toes, which are terminated by blunted 
 talons of little comparative size or curvature. The only 
 known species measures upwards of three feet in length. 
 Its plumage, when in a perfect state, is for the most part 
 of a bluish gray, with a shade of reddish brown on the 
 wings, the large quill-feathers of which are black. The 
 throat and breast are nearly white, and the rest of the 
 under surface of the body offers a mixture of black, red,
 
 THE SECRETARY BIRD. 211 
 
 and white, the plumage of the legs being of a bright 
 black, intermingled with scarcely perceptible brownish 
 rays. The plumes of the crest which ornaments the 
 back of the head, and from the supposed resemblance 
 of which to the pens frequently stuck behind the ears of 
 clerks and other writers the name of Secretary was given 
 to the bird, are destitute of barbs at the base, but spread 
 out as they advance, and are coloured with a mixture of 
 black and gray. Each of the wings is armed with three 
 rounded bony projections, with which, as well as with 
 his feet, the bird attacks and destroys his prey. 
 
 In his habits he partly resembles both the Eagle and 
 the Vulture, but differs from them most completely in 
 the nature of his prey and in his mode of attacking it. 
 Like the former he always prefers live flesh to carrion ; 
 but the food to which he is most particularly attached 
 consists of snakes and other reptiles, for the destruction 
 of which he is admirably fitted by his organization. The 
 length of his legs not only enables him to pursue these 
 creatures over the sandy deserts which he inhabits with 
 a speed proportioned to their own, but also places his 
 more vulnerable parts in some measure above the risk of 
 their venomous bite ; and the imperfect character of his 
 talons, when compared with those of other rapacious 
 birds, is in complete accordance with the fact that his 
 feet are destined rather to inflict powerful blows, than to 
 seize and carry off his prey. When he falls upon a 
 serpent, he first attacks it with the bony prominences of 
 his wings, with one of which he belabours it, while he 
 guards his body by the expansion of the other. He 
 then seizes it by the tail and mounts with it to a consi- 
 derable height in the air, from which he drops it to the 
 
 p2
 
 212 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 earth, and repeats this process until the reptile is either 
 killed or wearied out ; when he breaks open its skull by 
 means of his beak, and tears it in pieces with the assist- 
 ance of his claws, or, if not too large, swallows it entire. 
 
 Like the Eagles these birds live in pairs, and not in 
 flocks ; they build their aiery, if so it may be termed, on 
 the loftiest trees, or, where these are wanting, in the most 
 bushy and tufted thickets. They run with extreme 
 swiftness, trusting, when pursued, rather to their legs 
 than to their wings ; and as they are generally met with 
 in the open country, it is with difficulty that they can 
 be approached sufficiently near for the sportsman to 
 obtain a shot at them. They are natives of the south of 
 Africa, and appear to be tolerably numerous in the 
 neighbourhood of the Cape ; where, it is said, they have 
 been tamed to such a degree as to render them useful 
 inmates of the poultry-yard, in which they not only 
 destroy the snakes and rats which are too apt to intrude 
 upon those precincts, but even contribute to the mainte- 
 nance of peace among its more authentic inhabitants by 
 interposing in their quarrels and separating the furious 
 combatants who disturb it by their brawls.
 
 THE VIRGINIAN HORNED-OWL. 
 STRIX VIRGINIANA. LINV. 
 
 ALL the preceding birds belong to that division of the 
 Rapacious Order which pursue their prey in the open 
 face of day, and are consequently termed Diurnal ; but 
 those which we have now to notice are on the contrary 
 Nocturnal in their habits, and* only venture abroad in 
 the shades of the evening, or under cover of the darkness 
 of the night. They are readily distinguished from the 
 former by their short and compressed bill, curved from 
 its very base; by the anterior position of their eyes, 
 which are of great size and surrounded by a circular 
 disc of stiff hairs and feathers, covering the base of the 
 bill anteriorly and extending posteriorly over the ears, 
 which, as well as the disc, vary considerably in size in
 
 214 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 the different races ; by the great extent of dilatation of 
 which their pupils are capable, a provision admirably 
 calculated for enabling them to see by night; by the 
 breadth and apparent bulk of their heads and bodies, 
 both of which are thickly clothed with long and soft 
 feathers ; by the plumage of their legs, which in all the 
 European species is continued down to the very toes, 
 and sometimes even along them; by the direction of 
 their toes, which are all naturally turned forwards, the 
 external one being, however, capable of taking an oppo- 
 site direction ; and by the high degree of retractility and 
 sharpness of their claws. 
 
 All these birds were comprehended by Linnaeus under 
 the generic name of Strix, but later naturalists have sub- 
 divided them into several genera, dependent on the size 
 of the ears and of the ocular discs, on the presence or 
 absence of two remarkable tufts of feathers on the head 
 having somewhat the appearance of horns, and on the 
 covering of the legs and feet. The Virginian Horned 
 Owl is spread over nearly the whole continent of Ame- 
 rica from north to south. Its plumage is brown above, 
 marked with numerous transverse black stripes, and the 
 feathers of the under surface are of a dirty white, trans- 
 versely striped with blackish-brown.
 
 THE DEEP BLUE MACAW. ^ 
 
 ANODORHYNCUS MAXIMILIAHI. SPIX. 
 
 THE second Order of Birds, which comprehends both 
 the Picae and Passeres of Linnaeus, is essentially distin- 
 guished from the rest of the class by the structure of the 
 feet, which are formed for perching. Those of the Scan- 
 sorial tribe in particular, to which all the species to be 
 here noticed belong, have two of the toes directed for- 
 wards, and the remaining two directed backwards, in 
 such a manner as to enable them to grasp the branch of 
 a tree or other similar objects with peculiar firmness, 
 and consequently to climb with more than usual agility. 
 This section comprehends some of the most gorgeously 
 coloured and splendid among birds, as well as those
 
 216 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 which evince the highest degree of intelligence, in the 
 imitation especially of the human voice, for which they 
 have been celebrated from the earliest times. 
 
 The beautiful bird, the portrait of which is prefixed to 
 the present article, is one of the rarest of its tribe, and 
 has until very lately been confounded by ornithologists 
 with the Hyacinthine Macaw, a fine but much less 
 splendid species. It is figured by M. Spix in his 
 Brazilian Birds under the name which we have adopted ; 
 but is there given without either characters or descrip- 
 tion. Its claim to generic distinction would seem to 
 depend on the excessive length and powerful curvature 
 of its claws and upper mandible, and on the slight 
 developement of the toothlike process of the latter. Its 
 colour is throughout of a deep and brilliant blue ; the 
 beak, legs, and claws, are black; and the cere and a 
 naked circle round each of the eyes are of a bright 
 yellow. Our specimen measures two feet four inches 
 from the top of the head to the extremity of the tail, and 
 the expansion of his wings is four feet. The length of 
 the upper mandible is five inches, and that of the lower, 
 -two.
 
 THE BLUE AND YELLOW MACAW. 
 
 MACROCERCVS ARARAUNA. VIEILL. 
 
 THE genus Macrocercus is characterized by the robust- 
 ness of its beak, which is extremely broad and powerful ; 
 by the nakedness of its face, which is sometimes entirely 
 bare, and sometimes partially covered with lines of short 
 and scattered feathers ; and by the size and form of its 
 tail, which is longer than the body, regularly graduated, 
 and terminating in an acute apex. The whole of the 
 species are American, and are remarkable for the bril- 
 liancy of their colours, which are perhaps more varied 
 and more gaudy than those of any of the other modern 
 divisions of the Linnean genus Psittacus. They are 
 consequently more sought after as objects of luxury and
 
 218 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 elegance, and bear a higher comparative value than the 
 rest of the Parrots. In common with the entire tribe, 
 they inhabit the tropical regions of the earth, and live 
 chiefly upon fruits and seeds. Among the latter they 
 uniformly give the preference to such as are provided 
 with a hard and shelly covering. These they crack with 
 great dexterity, carefully rejecting the outer coat, and 
 swallowing only the internal nut. 
 
 The Blue and Yellow Macaw is one of the finest of 
 the group. The whole of its upper surface is covered 
 with plumage of the most beautiful azure ; the feathers 
 of the under parts on the contrary are of a brilliant 
 yellow. The naked part of the cheeks, which are white 
 slightly tinged with flesh colour, is ornamented with 
 three lines of minute blackish feathers ; and the throat 
 is surrounded by a broad collar of greenish black. The 
 forehead is yellowish green.
 
 THE YELLOW-CRESTED COCKATOO. 
 
 PLYCTOLOPHVS SVLPHUREVS. VIEILL. 
 
 THE Cockatoos have a strong, broad, and well curved 
 beak ; their eyes are surrounded by a naked space ; their 
 tafl is short, square, and equal at the end ; and their 
 head is furnished with a remarkable crest of long and 
 slender feathers, which may be raised or depressed at 
 will, and are frequently of a different colour from the 
 rest of the plumage. This latter character forms the 
 most distinguishing mark of the group, which is partly 
 indigenous to India and the Indian Islands, and partly 
 to Australia. They are fond of damp and marshy situa- 
 tions, and usually inhabit the neighbourhood of rivers 
 or of smaller streams, in which they indulge themselves
 
 220 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 with frequent bathing, a practice in which, even in cap- 
 tivity, they seem, in common with many others of the 
 tribe, to take a particular pleasure. Like the rest of the 
 Parrots they live entirely on vegetable substances, and 
 chiefly upon seeds ; some of them, however, are said to 
 feed upon roots. Their usual nourishment, in a domes- 
 ticated state, is the same with that of the other Parrots, 
 consisting generally of nothing more than hemp-seed, 
 from which they detach the outer covering with much 
 adroitness. They have also a great relish for sweetmeats 
 and pastry. 
 
 The present species is pure white throughout, with 
 the exception of its crest, the longer feathers of which 
 are bright yellow ; and of the under surface of the wings 
 and tail, which are straw-coloured, as are also occasion- 
 ally the cheeks. The beak is nearly black. It is a 
 native of the Moluccas, and is not unfrequently brought 
 to Europe. It is remarkably intelligent, and becomes 
 attached to those who show it kindness.
 
 THE EMEU. 
 
 DROMICEIIS Norm HOLLANDIM. VJEILL. 
 
 THE New Holland Emeu, as well as the Ostrich and the 
 Cassowary, to both of which it is nearly related, is now 
 generally regarded as belonging to the Rasorial Order, 
 the Gallinae of Linnaeus, the feet of which are formed 
 for running and for scratching up the earth in search of 
 the seeds which constitute their usual subsistence. Some 
 of the birds, however, which are referred to it, and parti- 
 cularly those now under consideration, feed upon fruits 
 and roots. The whole of the Order are distinguished by 
 a certain degree of convexity on the upper surface of the 
 bill, the base of which is enveloped by a membrane, in 
 which are situated the nostrils covered by a cartilagi-
 
 222 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 nous scale ; by the muscular plumpness of their bodies, 
 and especially of their legs; by the shortness of their 
 wings, and the diminution of strength in their pectoral 
 muscles; and by the thickness and strength of their 
 anterior toes, generally three in number, united at 
 the base alone by a connecting membrane, and rough- 
 ened beneath. These characters conjoined sufficiently 
 indicate that their proper place of abode is the surface 
 of the earth, on which they are enabled to run with a 
 greater or less degree of speed ; and that the air, in 
 which they are incapable of elevating themselves to any 
 considerable height, or of propelling their flight with 
 more than moderate swiftness, and into which some of 
 them cannot even raise themselves at all, is an uncon- 
 genial element to which they can seldom resort. They 
 furnish the principal and most useful breeds of our 
 domestic poultry, and stock our farm-yards with their 
 most valuable inhabitants. 
 
 The distinctive generic characters of the New Holland 
 Emeu, which forms part of the Ostrich family, and is, 
 with the sole exception of the Ostrich, the largest bird 
 known to exist, consist in the flattening of its bill from 
 above downwards, instead of from side to side ; in the 
 absence of the bony process which crests the head of the 
 Cassowary, of the wattles which depend from his neck, 
 and of the long spurlike shafts which arm his wings ; 
 and in the equal, or nearly equal, length of all his claws. 
 The Emeus, however, agree with the Cassowaries in the 
 number of their toes, three on each foot, all of them 
 directed forwards and extremely thick and short, the 
 posterior toe, which is common to most of the Order, 
 being in them entirely wanting; in the excessive short-
 
 THE EMEU. 223 
 
 ness of their wings, which do not even, as is the case 
 with the Ostriches, assist them in running, much less in 
 flight, of which, in common with the latter, they are 
 absolutely incapable ; and in the structure of their fea- 
 thers, which are for the most part double, each tube 
 being divided near its origin into two shafts, the barbs 
 of which are soft, downy, and distinct from each other, 
 and assume at a distance rather the appearance of a 
 silky covering of hair than that of the common plumage 
 of birds. 
 
 The New Holland bird has the head and upper part 
 of the neck thinly covered with slender black feathers ; 
 the space around the ears alone being left bare, and 
 exhibiting, as well as the neck and throat, which are but 
 partially concealed by the scattered plumage with which 
 they are provided, the blue tinge of the skin. The 
 general colour of the plumage is grayish brown above, 
 with a more plentiful intermixture of the gray and a 
 consequent lighter tinge beneath. The young are striped 
 longitudinally with brown and gray. Their bill is black, 
 and their legs are remarkably thick and of a dull brown. 
 The great length of the latter and of the neck, and the 
 erect attitude and quiet demeanour of these birds, which 
 sometimes attain as much as seven feet in height, give 
 them altogether a noble and imposing appearance. They 
 were formerly common in the neighbourhood of Botany 
 Bay, subsisting, like the rest of their tribe, upon vege- 
 table substances, chiefly fruits. They are extremely 
 wild, and run with great swiftness when pursued, out- 
 stripping it is said the fleetness of the greyhound. Like 
 the Kanguroos, they are sometimes hunted by the colo- 
 nists as articles of food ; and their flesh is stated to have
 
 224 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 much of the flavour of beef. The quantity of provision 
 supplied by one of these birds is by no means incon- 
 siderable. 
 
 The animals of the part of New Holland from which 
 these birds are derived appear in general to suffer little 
 from their transportation to the climate of England. 
 The Emeus, like the Kanguroos, have become to a 
 certain extent naturalized in the Royal Park at Windsor, 
 where they breed without difficulty and with no extra- 
 ordinary precautions. Here they have assigned to them 
 a sufficient space of ground to take ample exercise ; and 
 this circumstance contributes not a little to the thriving 
 condition in which they are met with. They are per- 
 fectly harmless unless when irritated or pursued, in 
 which case they sometimes strike very severe blows with 
 their beaks, which are extremely hard. The pair in the 
 Tower were obtained from this establishment, where 
 they were bred.
 
 THE CROWNED CRANE. 
 
 ANTHROPOIDES PAVONINVS. VIEII.L. 
 
 THE fourth Order of Birds, the Waders, are strikingly 
 characterized by the great length of their legs, the lower 
 part of which is entirely bare of feathers ; a peculiarity 
 which is of essential service by enabling them to stand 
 for a long time in the water without injury to their 
 plumage, watching for the fish and reptiles, of which 
 the larger species, and the worms and insects, of which 
 the smaller among them, make their usual prey. 
 
 The beautiful birds represented above, which formed 
 part of the Linnean genus Ardea, since subdivided into 
 numerous distinct groups, offer the following generic 
 characters. Their bill is conical, pointed, scarcely longer
 
 226 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 than the head, and grooved along its upper surface; 
 their head is ornamented with a crest of long and slen- 
 der filamentous feathers, capable of being raised and 
 depressed at pleasure ; their wings are large and power- 
 ful; their legs are covered with large scales; the outer 
 and middle toes are united at the base ; and their claws 
 are short and without denticulations. 
 
 The Crowned Crane is remarkable for its light and 
 elegant proportions, and for its graceful and varied 
 attitudes. Its forehead is covered by a thick tuft of 
 short velvety feathers of a soft and brilliant black ; its 
 naked cheeks and temples are of a delicate rose colour ; 
 and the yellow filaments of its crest terminate in blackish 
 pencils. The long and slender feathers which descend 
 upon its neck, and the broader ones which clothe the 
 upper and under surface of its body are black with a 
 slight tinge of lead-colour; the primary wing-feathers 
 are also black, the secondary reddish-brown, and the 
 wing-coverts white. The bill and legs are black. It is 
 a native of Western Africa ; is extremely tame, and may 
 be readily domesticated. It frequently attains the height 
 of four feet.
 
 THE PELICAN. 
 
 PELECANVS ONOCROTALUS. LINN. 
 
 THE Pelican affords an excellent illustration of the fifth 
 and last Order of Birds, the Swimmers ; the essential 
 character of which consists in the membranous union of 
 the toes, which renders them what is usually termed 
 web-footed, and enables them to propel themselves upon 
 the surface of the water with greater or less rapidity in 
 proportion to the greater or less comparative extent of 
 the membrane in which their toes are enveloped. They 
 are all consequently inhabitants of marshy situations, of 
 the banks of rivers and lakes, or of the seacoast ; and 
 most of them seek their subsistence in their most con- 
 genial element, the water, notwithstanding that by far 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 the greater number of them are also endowed with very 
 considerable powers of flight. 
 
 Linnaeus united under the common title of Pelicans, 
 the Cormorants, the Boobies, and several other birds, 
 which differ from the typical species of the genus by 
 many important characters, the chief point of agreement 
 between them consisting in the form and extent of the 
 membrane which unites the toes. The Linnean group 
 has subsequently been raised to the rank of a family, 
 and its component parts form several distinct genera, 
 that which comprehends the true Pelicans, the genus 
 Onocrotalus of Brisson, being characterized as follows. 
 Their bill is of very great length,, straight, broad, flat- 
 tened above, and terminated by a slight hook ; the lower 
 mandible consists of two lateral branches, united at the 
 point, and having interposed between them a mem- 
 branous pouch capable of very great dilatation ; their 
 four toes are all enveloped to the very apex in the com- 
 mon membrane ; their legs are short, strong, and main- 
 tain the body in a state of equilibrium, their lower part 
 being entirely destitute of feathers. 
 
 With the exception of the quill-feathers of the wings, 
 which are black, the plumage of the Pelican in the 
 Tower is throughout of an extremely light and delicate 
 flesh-colour, varied only by occasional darker tinges. 
 The head and upper part of the neck are clothed with a 
 short down, except on the temples, which are naked and 
 flesh-coloured ; the upper mandible is of a dull yellow 
 in the middle, with a reddish tinge towards the edges, 
 and a blood-red spot on its curved extremity; and the 
 pouch is of a bright straw-colour. 
 
 The Pelican is one of the largest water-birds, consider-
 
 THE PELICAN. 229 
 
 ably exceeding the size of the swan, and frequently 
 measuring from five to six feet between the extremity of 
 the bill and that of the tail, and from ten to twelve 
 between the tips of the expanded wings. Its bill is 
 nearly a foot and a half in length, and from an inch and 
 a half to two inches broad ; and its pouch is capable of 
 containing, when stretched to its utmost extent, two or 
 three gallons of water. The quantity of fish which it 
 sometimes accumulates in the same serviceable reposi- 
 tory is spoken of as enormous. Notwithstanding their 
 great bulk and apparent clumsiness, the large extent of 
 their wings, and the extreme lightness of their bones, 
 which are so thin as- to be almost transparent, enable 
 these birds to rise to a lofty pitch in the air, to hover at a 
 moderate elevation, or to skim rapidly along the surface 
 of the water with as much facility as they dive into its 
 depths in pursuit of their prey. They sometimes assem- 
 ble in large numbers, and in this case are said by Buffon 
 to act in concert, and to show no little skill in manoeu- 
 vring with the view of securing a plentiful quarry, forming 
 themselves into a circular line, and gradually narrowing 
 the extent of the space enclosed, until they have driven 
 the fishes into so small a compass as to render them a 
 certain prey ; when at a given signal they all at once 
 plunge into the water and seize upon their terrified 
 victims, filling their pouches with the spoil, and flying 
 to the land, there to devour it at their leisure. This 
 fishery is carried on both at sea and in fresh water. 
 
 They are found in nearly every part of the globe, but 
 are of rare occurrence in the north of Europe. The 
 beautiful pair figured at the head of this article are said 
 to be from Hungary. The female is now sitting upon
 
 230 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 three eggs, and has built herself a very perfect nest for the 
 purpose. Should these be brought to maturity, as there 
 is every reason to expect, they will probably be the first 
 that were ever hatched in England. She never quits her 
 charge; but is fed by the male, who crams his pouch 
 with double his usual allowance, and then proceeds to 
 shovel her fair share into his partner's throat. It is in 
 this manner also that the young are fed, the old bird 
 pressing his full pouch against his chest, and contriving 
 thus to disgorge a portion of its contents ; an action 
 which has no doubt given rise to the fabulous notion of 
 the Pelican's feeding its young with its own blood. In 
 fact, the appearance of the bird when in this attitude, 
 with the bloody spot on the end of its bill closely pressed 
 against the delicate plumage of its breast, may readily 
 account for the prevalence of such an idea in the minds 
 of superficial observers. The first traces of this fable are 
 to be found in the writings of some of the early fathers 
 of the church, and it was eagerly adopted by the heralds 
 of later days, whose unbounded credulity was ever on 
 the watch for the marvellous, in natural history more 
 especially. 
 
 Our birds are commonly allowed three dozen of small 
 live plaice each per day.
 
 THE ALLIGATOR. 
 
 CROCODILUS Lucius. Ccv. 
 
 THE enormous Reptile from which this genus derives its 
 name belongs to the same subdivision of that class as 
 the agile Lizard and the many-hued Chamaeleon, with 
 which it was comprehended by Linnaeus under the single 
 generic title of Lacerta. This group has subsequently 
 been elevated to the rank of an order, consisting of 
 numerous genera, among which the Crocodiles are dis- 
 tinguished by the following characters. Their toes are 
 five in number on the anterior feet, and four on the 
 posterior ; their sharp and conical teeth are arranged in 
 a single series in each jaw ; their tongue is flat, fleshy, 
 and closely attached almost to its very edge ; and their 
 bodies are clothed with large, thick, square scales, the
 
 232 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 upper of which are surmounted by a strong keel, those 
 of the tail forming superiorly a dentated crest, double 
 at its origin. 
 
 The Alligators constitute a natural subdivision of the 
 genus, in which the snout is broad, blunt, and less pro- 
 duced than in the true Crocodiles ; the fourth tooth on 
 each side of the lower jaw enters a hole in the upper 
 when the mouth is closed; and the toes are only half- 
 webbed. They appear to be exclusively natives of 
 America. The present species is distinguished by its 
 broad and flat snout, with nearly parallel sides, united in 
 front by a curved line ; by the peculiar arrangement of 
 its nuchal scales ; and by the elevated internal margins 
 of its orbits. Its colour is dark brown above, and some- 
 what lighter beneath. It is one of the most dreadful 
 scourges of the countries which it inhabits, preying 
 upon all kinds of animals that come within its reach, 
 and sometimes even upon man himself. Our specimen 
 was apparently very young, not measuring more than 
 three feet in length ; but during two years that it was 
 kept in the Menagerie it was not observed to have at all 
 increased in size. It was fed once a week upon raw 
 beef.
 
 THE INDIAN BOA. 
 
 PYTHON TIGRIS. DAUD. 
 
 THE Serpents form a division of the Reptile Class too 
 well known by their elongated scaly bodies, and their 
 total deprivation of external members, to require any 
 minute description of their organization. They are also 
 held by the generality of mankind in so much abhor- 
 rence, and regarded for the most part with such strong 
 feelings of unmitigated disgust, that we feel but little 
 inclined to dwell upon their history, how much soever 
 they may on many accounts be considered as deserving 
 of a more extended notice. 
 
 They are frequently divided into two great sections ; 
 the one, which is by far the most numerous, compre-
 
 234 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 bending all those in which the poison-fangs are wanting, 
 and which are consequently dangerous only in propor- 
 tion to the extent of their muscular force ; and the other 
 consisting of those in which the fangs are present, and 
 the bite of which is accompanied with the pouring out of 
 a venomous secretion. At the head of the first of these 
 divisions rank the Boas, which in the Linnean arrange- 
 ment comprehended all those snakes, whether venomous 
 or not, whose under surface was covered with narrow 
 transverse plates, and whose tail was destitute of rattle. 
 Later zoologists have, however, confined that appellation 
 to those among the Linnean Boas, which are without 
 poisonous fangs and have claws near the vent, and have 
 regarded as a distinct genus the snakes which in addition 
 to these latter characters have the scales of the under 
 surface of the tail so arranged as to form two distinct 
 rows. To the latter, which inhabit the Old Continent 
 exclusively (while the former are all of them natives of 
 America), they have assigned the name of Python. 
 
 The present species, which is commonly exhibited 
 under the popular but erroneous title of the Boa Con- 
 strictor, appears to be the Pedda Poda of Dr. Russell's 
 Indian Serpents. It is said by that writer to attain a 
 length of eight or ten feet; but living specimens have 
 been brought to this country of twice that size, and 
 some of those now in the Tower are fifteen or sixteen 
 feet long. The number of transverse plates on the under 
 surface of the body is stated to be two hundred and 
 fifty-two, and that of the pairs of scales beneath the tail 
 sixty-two. The back is elegantly marked with a series 
 of large irregular brown blotches bordered with black ; 
 and numerous smaller spots are scattered along the
 
 THE INDIAN BOA. 235 
 
 sides. The ground colour is yellowish brown, lighter 
 beneath. 
 
 The extent of muscular power which these serpents 
 possess in common with the Boas is truly wonderful. 
 To the smaller among them the lesser quadrupeds and 
 even birds fall an easy prey; but the larger, when ex- 
 cited by the stimulus of hunger, are capable of crushing 
 within their spiral folds the largest and most powerful of 
 beasts. The sturdy buffalo and the agile stag become 
 alike the victims of their fatal embrace ; and the bulk 
 of these animals presents but little obstacle to their 
 being swallowed entire by the tremendous reptile, which 
 crushes them as it were into a mass, lubricates them 
 with the fetid mucus secreted in its stomach, and .then 
 slowly distending its jaws and oesophagus to an extent 
 proportioned to the magnitude of the object to be 
 devoured, and frequently exceeding by many, times its 
 own previous size, swallows it by one gradual and 
 long-continued effort. 
 
 Of the mode in which this operation is effected, a 
 detailed description is contained in Macleod's Voyage 
 of His Majesty's Ship Alceste ; and an excellent account 
 has been subsequently given by Mr. Broderip in the 
 second volume of the Zoological Journal from actual 
 observation of the specimens now in the Tower. The 
 vivid description of the latter almost brings before the 
 reader's eye the lightning dash of the serpent ; the single 
 scream of its instantly enfolded victim, whose heaving 
 flanks proclaimed that it still breathed ; and its last 
 desperate effort, succeeded by the application of another 
 and a deadly coil. With equal force and fidelity it 
 sketches the continuation of the scene, when the serpent, 
 after slowly disengaging his folds, placed his head oppo-
 
 236 
 
 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 site to that of his victim, coiled himself once more around 
 it to compress it into the narrowest possible compass, 
 and then gradually propelled it into his separated jaws 
 and dilated throat; and finally presents a disgusting 
 picture of the snake when his meal was at an end, with 
 his loose and apparently dislocated jaws dropping with 
 the superfluous mucus which had been poured forth. 
 
 The individual figured at the head of the present 
 article is a female; a fact which was proved by the 
 remarkable circumstance of her producing in May last, 
 after having been more than two years in the Menagerie, 
 a cluster of eggs, fourteen or fifteen in number, none 
 of which, however, were hatched, although the mother 
 evinced the greatest anxiety for their preservation, coiling 
 herself around them in the form of a cone, of which 
 her head formed the summit, and guarding them from 
 external injury with truly maternal solicitude. They 
 were visible only when she was occasionally roused ; in 
 which case she raised her head, which formed as it were 
 the cover of the receptacle in which they were enclosed, 
 but replaced it again as quickly as possible, allowing to 
 the spectator only a momentary glance at her cherished 
 treasures.
 
 THE ANACONDA. 
 
 PYTHON TIGRIS, Var. 
 
 THE Anaconda is a name which, like that of the Boa 
 Constrictor, has been popularly applied to all the larger 
 and more powerful snakes. It appears to be of Cey- 
 lonese origin, and may therefore belong of right, as well 
 as of usage, to the present Indian species. The serpent 
 which passes under this title at the Tower, and which is 
 figured above, seems to differ in no essential respects 
 from the Boa of the preceding article, the only appre- 
 ciable distinctions between them consisting in the lighter 
 colour, the greater comparative size of the head, and the 
 acuteness of the tail of that which at present engages 
 our attention. 
 
 Happily the appetite of these gigantic snakes bears
 
 238 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 no proportion to their means of gratifying it, as a full 
 meal is uniformly succeeded by a state of torpor, which 
 frequently lasts for a month or six weeks, or, during the 
 cold season, even for a longer period. Those in the 
 Tower, which are kept in a state of artificial warmth, 
 usually feed about every five or six weeks, and a fowl or 
 a rabbit generally suffices for a meal. These are held 
 by the keeper within view of the serpent to ascertain 
 whether he is inclined to take his prey or not. About 
 three years ago Mr. Cops, while thus engaged in offering 
 a fowl to one of the Boas, had nearly met with a serious 
 accident ; the snake, which was almost blind from the 
 approaching change of its skin, missing the fowl, and 
 seizing upon the keeper's thumb instead, around which 
 and its own head it instantaneously threw two coils, and 
 then, as if surprised at the unexpected resistance, cast 
 an additional fold round his neck, and fixed itself by its 
 tail to one of the posts of its cage in such a manner as 
 nearly to throttle him. His own exertions, however, 
 aided by those of the under keepers, at length disen- 
 gaged him from his perilous situation ; but so determined 
 was the attack of the snake that it could not be compelled 
 to relinquish its hold until two of its teeth had been 
 broken off and left in the thumb.
 
 
 THE RATTLESNAKE. 
 
 CROTALVS HORRIDVS. LINN. 
 
 IF the Boas furnish the most terrible examples of the 
 tremendous powers of destruction possessed by a few of 
 that division of the Serpent tribe, whose bite is unat- 
 tended with the effusion of venom, the Rattlesnakes 
 afford a no less remarkable instance of the dreadful 
 malignity of the poison with which others of the tribe 
 are so abundantly supplied. This poison is secreted by 
 a gland of considerable size situated beneath the eye, 
 the excretory duct of which terminates on each side at 
 the base of a long and tubular fang in the upper jaw, 
 which is concealed while the animal is at rest in a fold 
 of the gum, but is capable of being instantaneously
 
 240 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
 
 erected when he is irritated, and affords at the same time 
 the means of inflicting the wound and of insinuating 
 into it the deadly fluid with which it is charged. In the 
 Rattlesnakes these two fangs are the only visible teeth 
 implanted in the upper jaw ; but behind each of them are 
 several rudiments of others by which they are from time 
 to time replaced. Their other distinguishing characters 
 consist in the whole of the transverse plates which cover 
 the under surface of the body and of the tail being 
 simple, and in the singular apparatus by which the 
 latter is terminated, and which is formed of a series, 
 more or less numerous according to the age of the indi- 
 vidual, of flattened rings loosely attached one within the 
 other in such a manner as to produce a peculiar rattling 
 sound when the tail is moved with any degree of quick- 
 ness. The number of rings commonly varies from five 
 to twelve; but in very old specimens it is said to have 
 been found to exceed forty. 
 
 All the known species are natives of America, in the 
 vast forests of which they may be said literally to swarm ; 
 but happily, like most of the other venomous snakes, 
 they never exert their terrible qualities upon man except 
 in self-defence, and the warning rattle is always heard 
 to give notice of their approach. Their bite is almost 
 uniformly fatal even to the largest animals, and the latter 
 frequently evince such an instinctive dread of them, that, 
 according to M. Bosc, it is almost impossible to compel 
 a horse or a dog to advance towards them. Their food 
 consists principally of the smaller quadrupeds, such as 
 squirrels and rabbits, of other reptiles, and of birds, 
 although they rarely climb trees in pursuit of their prey. 
 It was long believed, and the notion is still popularly
 
 THE RATTLESNAKE. 241 
 
 current, that they possessed the power of fascinating 
 their victims, which were thought to be so completely 
 under the influence of their glance as to precipitate 
 themselves of their own accord into the open throat of 
 their enemy ; but the truth appears to be that they 
 actually inspire so great a degree of terror that the 
 animals selected for their attacks are commonly rendered 
 incapable of offering such resistance as might otherwise 
 be in their power, or even of attempting to escape from 
 their pursuit. 
 
 Like most reptiles they retire during the winter into 
 holes, in which they remain in a torpid state until the 
 return of spring ; and during this period they may be 
 taken or destroyed without danger. Their flesh is eaten 
 by the negroes, who also apply their fat, as well as their 
 rattles, to various medicinal or superstitious uses. 
 
 The number at present in the Tower exceeds a hun- 
 dred, varying from four to six feet in length, and differing 
 very considerably from each other both in colour and 
 markings. 

 
 University of California 
 
 SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 
 
 Return this material to the library 
 
 from which it was borrowed. 
 
 APR20 
 DUE 
 
 RECEIVED
 
 A 000079270 5