Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Of these the commonest at the present day are porcupines, badgers, otters, rats, mice, and jerboas. The ratel, sable, and genet belong only to the north; the beaver is found nowhere but in the Khabour and middle Euphrates; the alligator, if a denizen of the region at all exists only in the Euphrates.
It is quite wrong to have any dread of them; as a matter of fact, the bird you have just seen is, like all its species, more useful than injurious to man, for it destroys a vast number of small mammals jerboas, shrew-mice, dormice, and field-mice, which ravage the farmer's crops.
It may be added that there is scarce one of these species of which there are not two or more varieties, known only to those who have made a study of the Kingdom of Nature. In this group we include not only Rats, but a great many other small rodents, or gnawers, such as Mice, Marmots, Lemmings, Hamsters, Mole-Rats, Jerboas, and Jumping Mice.
From the habits of this animal I did not expect to succeed in taking it home, but I had every hope that some Jerboas, of which we had five, would outlive the journey, for they thrived well on the food we gave them. I was, however, quite provoked at this place to find that two of them had died from the carelessness of the men throwing the tarpauline over the box, and so smothering them.
Their tails being long and slender, were supposed not to assist them in this operation; but an experiment made by a cruel Frenchman that of cutting off these appendages proved that a considerable portion of the jumping power is derived from the tail. Africa and Asia are the head-quarters of these quadrupeds the most noted species being the Jerboas of Egypt, and the Leaping Hare of the Cape.
And with a dexterous sweep of his long whip, the worthy bishop entangled the jerboas long legs, whisked him up to his saddle-bow, and delivered him to the groom and the game-bag. 'Kill him at once. Don't let him squeak, boy! he cries too like a child.... 'Poor little wretch! said Raphael. 'What more right, now, have we to eat him than he to eat us? 'Eh? If he can eat us, let him try.
By day, the fierce heat pressed its intolerable burden on the quivering air; and no living creature moved on the dumb, swooning earth, but tiny jerboas scuttling through the parched bushes, or lizards vanishing in the clefts of the rock.
By day, the fierce heat pressed its intolerable burden on the quivering air; and no living creature moved on the dumb, swooning earth, but tiny jerboas scuttling through the parched bushes, or lizards vanishing in the clefts of the rock.
Last time I was there she used to let out six Egyptian jerboas in the drawing-room every evening after dinner, awfully jolly little beggars, like miniature kangaroos. They used to go skipping about on their hind legs, frightening some of the women into fits by hiding under their gowns, and making young footmen drop trays of coffee cups.
The Spinous Rats are little animals much resembling ordinary rats; but with the peculiarity of having stiff spines growing among their hair, after the manner of porcupine quills. There are several species of them: all natives of tropical America. The Jerboas are, perhaps, the most singular of all the rodents.
Word Of The Day