Brehm's Life of animals - a complete natural history for popular home instruction and for the use of schools. Mammalia (1896) (20404535922)

Title: Brehm's Life of animals : a complete natural history for popular home instruction and for the use of schools. Mammalia

Identifier: brehmslifeofanim1896breh (find matches)

Year: 1896 (1890s)

Authors: Brehm, Alfred Edmund, 1829-1884; Pechuel-Loesche, Edward, 1840-1913; Haacke, Wilhelm, 1855-1912; Schmidtlein, Richard

Subjects: Mammals; Animal behavior

Publisher: Chicago : Marquis

Contributing Library: Internet Archive

Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

Text Appearing Before Image:

120 THE BEASTS OF PREY slender build, and the head is adorned with large, wide ears, which give it the appearance of being remarkably high. The fur is of a light tan color with black'bands on the back and spots on the sides. It is a rather common Cat in South Africa, and is also found in all grassy plains of the continent. Its chief prey is smaller mammals, and especially poul- try. When caught young it may be tamed by good treatment, but adults usually retain their ferocity. The fur is sold as "African Tiger-Cat," but does not command a high price. AMERICAN FELINE ANIMALS. The next of kin to the Lion was formerly supposed to be found among the New World Felidas, to which we will now turn; but their slender body, shorter legs, and small head devoid of beard and mane place the

Text Appearing After Image:

**&m THE SERVAL. —One of the vices of tins African Cat is that it preys upon birds and is an accomplished Chicken thief. It is thi ipriately portrayed in the picture with a bird as its victim. The characteristics of this Cat, the • r body, black sti ipi and spots on the light (tan-colored) fur, and especially the large, long ears, are all well shown in the illustration, (/ uniformly colored New World Felidae on a much lower plane than the Old World Cats. , THE COUGAR, OR PUMA. The best known species of the uniformly colored American Felidse is the Cougar, Silvery Lion or Puma (Felts cancolor), commonly called "Panther" in the United Mates, and having different local names, anion- which are those of " Tiger," " Catamount" and "Mountain Lion." His length is about Eorty inches, the tail measures about twenty-live inches, and the shoulder height is aboul twenty-five inches. Hie dense, short, soft fur is more abundant under the body than on the ba< k. The prevailing color is tan-brown, darkest on the spine, whitish on the under parts. i and below the eye there is usually a white spot. The head is gray and the tip of the tail is dark. There is no difference in color between male or female, but the cubs are totally different from their parents. The tint of adult Pumas also varies with the localit) ; those in South America are lighter, being nearly a silver-gray, while those confined to Mexico and the United States are of a dark tan color. Home and The Puma is very widely spread. He Haunts of the is found not only all over South Amer- Puma. jcai from Patagonia to New Granada, but he extends over Mexico into the United States and as far as Canada. In some localities the animal is very common, in others it had already been nearly exterminated in the last century, when Azara fur- nished the first good description of it. The haunts of the Puma depend upon the nature of the country. In sections well wooded he decid- edly prefers forests to • • • /jQ^ plains; but his favorite spots are edges of for- est and plains grown with very high grass, though he apparently visits these latter only for hunting purposes; at least, he always makes for a forest when pursued by Men. Still he is constantly found in the pampas of Buenos Ay res, where there are no for- ests at all, and there he hides very skill- fully in the grass. He seems to avoid banks of streams and locali- ties that are subject to inundations. Like many of his family he has no particular den or lair. He spends the day sleeping on trees, in bushes or in the high grass; in the evening and at night he goes forth to hunt. He sometimes covers great distances in a single night, and sportsmen do not al- ways find him near the place where he struck down his prey. P2very movement of the Puma is full of grace and vigor; he is said to make leaps of eighteen feet and more. His sight is keenest in the dusk and by night, though bright sun- shine does not seem to dazzle him. His sense of smell is deficient, and his hearing extremely acute. He exhibits courage only in the direst necessity; and as a rule he flees before Men and Dogs. preu All smaller, weak mammals are. his prey, of the Deer, Sheep, young Calves, and Colts when Puma, separated from their mothers. Even the fleet- to..ted Monkeys have no immunity from his attacks, for he holds sway in the trees as well as on the level ground. Rengger once observed him hunting Monk- eys. The flute-like tones of a few Capuchins had attracted the naturalist's attention, and he seized his gun to kill a few of them. Suddenly the whole troop

brehms life of animals friedrich specht mammal illustrations internet archive document brehmslifeofanim 1896 breh leptailurus serval illustrations book illustrations ornithology birds zoological illustration south africa mammals animals zoology images from internet archive

1896

Brown University Library

http://commons.wikimedia.org/

public domain