A Natural History for Young People: Our Animal Friends in Their Native Homes: including mammals, birds and fishesHumphreys, Phebe Westcott
History
A Natural History for Young People: Our Animal Friends in Their Native Homes: including mammals, birds and fishes
Humphreys, Phebe Westcott
Natural history -- Juvenile literature
The Indian continent and Malay Islands produce several very remarkable
species of Stags. First let us mention the Samboo, or Aristotle Deer, so
called because it was first described by that celebrated philosopher of
antiquity; then the Axis, a very elegant animal with a fawn-colored coat
speckled with white, and horns furnished with only two branches; and
lastly, the Porcine Deer, which owes its name to its small size and
massive shape. In Bengal, these two last named species are reared in a
domesticated state, and fattened for the table.
THE FALLOW DEER.
The Fallow Deer holds a middle place in size between the Red Deer and
the Roe. Its height, at the withers, is little more than ten hands. It
may be easily recognized by its horns, which are round at the base, and
palmated above. Its coat, like that of the Axis, is fawn-colored or
brown, dotted over with white spots, which in summer are very distinctly
marked, but are scarcely perceptible in winter. Its habits differ but
slightly from those of the Red Deer.
The Fallow Deer is found over a large part of Europe, in the north of
Africa and also in Asia Minor.
THE COMMON ROE.
The Roe Deer is one of the most elegant and graceful representatives of
this group. It does not measure much more than a yard in length. Its
horns are small, and very simple in their shape. They are composed of a
deeply indented stem, which is straight for the greater part of its
length, and furnished at the top with two branches, forming a fork at
the extremity. Its coat is a uniform fawn-color, the shade of which
varies with the season.
The Roes frequent young woods and thickets in the vicinity of cultivated
ground, where they delight to crop the buds and shoots, thus doing
considerable mischief in plantations. They are timid, intelligent and
gentle; the least unaccustomed noise frightens them. Still, all their
precautions are not sufficient to protect them against the multitude of
huntsmen eager for their capture—an eagerness the more excusable as the
Roe furnishes the finest venison.
CETACEA—THE WHALES.
[Illustration: Whale Attacked by Bloodheads.]
THE Whale family, or the Cetacea, are really aquatic animals, although
they resemble Fishes externally. Their whole structure—their lungs
instead of gills for breathing, their heart, and their manner of feeding
their young, all show that they belong to the Mammals. Only, instead of
being organized for living on land, they are better suited for the
water. Some of them reach an enormous size, and are the giants of the
animal kingdom.
Their body, more or less spindle-shaped, is terminated in a tail which
is very broad and forms a fin. This fin or tail is not vertical, as in
Fishes, and it is the principal agent for moving these living masses.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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