Birds and nature (1901) (14568987610)

Identifier: birdsnature91901chic (find matches)

Title: Birds and nature

Year: 1900 (1900s)

Authors:

Subjects: Birds Natural history

Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Mumford, Publisher

Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries

Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

Text Appearing Before Image:

ofthe original secondary quadrupeds,stranded for centuries on a Southernisland, and still keeping up among Aus-tralian forests the antique type of life thatwent out of fashion elsewhere a vast num-ber of years ago. Hence they have brainsof poor quality, a fact amply demon-strated by the kangaroo when onewatches his behavior in the zoologicalgardens. Every high-school graduate is wellaware that the opossum, though it is amarsupial, differs in psychological devel-opment from the kangaroo and the wom-bat. The opossum is active and hig-hlyintelligent. He knows his way about theworld in which he lives. A possum up agum tree is accepted by observantminds as the very incarnation of animalcunning and duplicity. In negro folk-lore the resourceful possum takes theplace of the fox in European stories; heis the Macchiavelli of wild beasts; thereis no ruse on earth of which he is notamply capable; and no wily manoeuvreexists which he cannot carry to an endsuccessfully. All guile and intrigue, the

Text Appearing After Image:

u OSDC possum can circumvent even UncleRemus himself by his crafty diplomacy.And what is it that makes all the differ-ence between this cute marsupial and hisbackward Australian cousins? It is thepossession of a prehensile hand and tail.Therein lies the whole secret. The opos-sums hind foot has a genuine apposablethumb; and he also uses his tail in climb-ing as a supernumerary hand, almost asmuch as do any of the monkeys. Heoften suspends himself by it, like an ac-robat, swings his body to and fro to ob-tain speed, then lets go suddenly, andflies away to a distant branch, which heclutches by means of his hand-like hindfoot. If the toes make a mistake, he canrecover his position by the use of his pre-hensile tail. The result is that the opos-sum, being able to form for himself clearand accurate conceptions of the realshapes and relations of things by thesetwo distinct grasping organs, has ac-quired an unusual amount of general in-telligence. And further, in the keen com-petition for li

birds and nature 1901 strigops habroptila illustrations book illustrations zoological illustration ornithology birds natural history monkeys folklore high resolution ultra high resolution images from internet archive public domain bird images

1901

American Museum of Natural History Library

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