The Burgess Animal Book for Children

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The Burgess Animal Book for Children Page 23

by Thornton W. Burgess


  “The Sea Lions belong to this same fin-footed order. The best known of these are the California Sea Lion and the Fur Seal, which is not a true Seal. The California Sea Lion is also called the Barking Sea Lion because of its habit of barking, and is the best known of the family. It is frequently seen on the rocks along the shore and on the islands off the western coast. These Sea Lions are sleek animals, exceedingly graceful in the water. They have long necks and carry their heads high. They are covered with short coarse hair and have small, sharp-pointed ears. Their front flippers have neither hair nor claws, but their hind flippers have webbed toes. They are able to move about on land surprisingly well for animals lacking regular legs and feet, and can climb on and over rocks rapidly. Naturally they are splendid swimmers.

  “The largest member of the family is the Steller Sea Lion, who sometimes grows to be almost as big as a Walrus. He is not sleek and graceful like his smaller cousin, but has an enormously thick neck and heavy shoulders. His voice is a roar rather than a bark. The head of an old Sea Lion is so much like that of a true Lion that the name Sea Lion has been given this family.

  “The most valuable member of the family, so far as man is concerned, is the Fur Seal, also called Sea Bear. It is very nearly the size and form of the California Sea Lion, but under the coarse outer hair, which is gray in color, is a wonderful soft, fine, brown fur and for this the Fur Seal has been hunted so persistently that there was real danger that soon the very last one would be killed. Now wise and needed laws protect the Fur Seals on their breeding grounds, which are certain islands in the Far North. The young of all members of this family are born on shore, but soon take to the water. The Fur Seal migrates just as the birds do, but always returns to the place of its birth. Man and the Polar Bear are its enemies on land and ice, and the Killer Whale in the water. Mr. Fur Seal always has many wives and this is true of the other members of the Sea Lion family and of the Walrus. The males are three or four times the size of the females. Among themselves the males are fierce fighters.

  “The true Seals are short-necked, thick-bodied, and have rather round heads with no visible ears. The Walrus and Sea Lions can turn their hind flippers forward to use as feet on land, but this the true Seals cannot do. Therefore they are more clumsy out of water. Their front flippers are covered with hair.

  “The one best known is the Harbor or Leopard Seal. It is found along both coasts, often swimming far up big rivers. It is one of the smallest members of the family. Sometimes it is yellowish-gray spotted with black and sometimes dark brown with light spots.

  “The Ringed Seal is about the same size or a little smaller than the Harbor Seal and is found as far north as it can find breathing holes in the ice. You know all these animals breathe air just as land animals do. This Seal looks much like the Harbor Seal, but is a little more slender.

  “Another member of the family is the Harp, Saddle-back or Greenland Seal. He is larger than the other two and has a black head and gray body with a large black ring on the back. The female is not so handsome, being merely spotted.

  “The handsomest Seal is the Ribbon Seal. He is about the size of his cousin the Harbor Seal. He is also called the Harlequin Seal. Sometimes his coat is blackish-brown and sometimes yellowish-gray, but always he has a band of yellowish-white, like a broad ribbon, from his throat around over the top of his head, and another band which starts on his chest and goes over his shoulder, curves down and finally goes around his body not far above the hind flippers. Only the male is so marked. This Seal is rather rare. Like most of the others it lives in the cold waters of the Far North.

  “The largest of the Seals is the Elephant Seal, once numerous, but killed by man until now there are few members of this branch of the family. He is a tremendous fellow and has a movable nose which hangs several inches below his mouth.

  “The queerest-looking member of the family is the Hooded Seal. Mr. Seal of this branch of the family is rather large, and on top of his nose he carries a large bag of skin which he can fill with air until he looks as if he were wearing a queer hood or bonnet.

  “The Seals complete the list of animals which live mostly in the water but come out on land or ice at times. Now I will tell you of a true mammal, warm-blooded, just as you are, and air-breathing, but which never comes on land. This is the Manatee or Sea Cow. It lives in the warm waters of the Sunny South, coming up from the sea in the big rivers. It is a very large animal, sometimes growing as big as a medium-sized Walrus. The head is round, somewhat like that of a Seal. The lips are thick and big, the upper one split in the middle. The eyes are small. It has but two flippers, and these are set in at the shoulders. Instead of hind flippers, such as the Seals and Sea Lions have, the Manatee has a broad, flattened and rounded tail which is used as a propeller, just as fish use their tails. The neck is short and large. In the water the Manatee looks black. The skin is almost hairless.

  HARDSHELL THE ARMADILLO. This is the nine-banded Armadillo of the southwest. See page 259.

  “This curious animal lives on water plants. Sometimes it will come close to a river bank and with head and shoulders out of water feed on the grasses which hang down from the bank. The babies are, of course, born in the water, as the Manatee never comes on shore. Now I think this will end to-day’s lesson and the school.”

  Peter Rabbit hopped up excitedly. “You said that the largest animals in the world live in the sea, and you haven’t told us what they are,” he cried.

  “True enough, Peter,” replied Old Mother Nature pleasantly. “The largest living animal is a Whale, a true mammal and not a fish at all, as some people appear to think. There are several kinds of Whales, some of them comparatively small and some the largest animals in the world, so large that I cannot give you any idea of how big they are. Beside one of these, the biggest Walrus would look like a baby. But the Whales do not belong just to this country, so I think we will not include them.

  “Now we will close school. I hope you have enjoyed learning as much as I have enjoyed teaching, and I hope that what you have learned will be of use to you as long as you live. The more knowledge you possess the better fitted for your part in the work of the Great World you will be. Don’t forget that, and never miss a chance to learn.”

  And so ended Old Mother Nature’s school in the Green Forest. One by one her little pupils thanked her for all she had taught them, and then started for home. Peter Rabbit was the last.

  “I know ever and ever so much more than I did when I first came to you, but I guess that after all I know very little of all there is to know,” said he shyly, which shows that Peter really had learned a great deal. Then he started for the dear Old Briar-patch, lipperty-lipperty-lip.

  Index

  Antelope

  Pronghorn; Fleetfoot; (Antilocapra americana)

  Antelope Jack

  Armadillo

  Nine-banded; Hardshell; (Dasypus novemcincta)

  Six-banded

  Three-banded

  Badger

  American; Digger; (Taxidea taxus)

  Bandy the Banded Lemming

  Bassaris

  Bat

  Big Brown; House; Carolina; (Eptesicus fiscus)

  Big-eared; (Corynorhinus macrotis)

  Big-eared Desert; (Antrozous pallidus)

  Hoary; (Nycteris cinereus)

  Little Brown; Cave; (Myotis lucifugus)

  Red; Tree; Flitter; (Nycteris borealis)

  Silvery; (Myotis subulatus)

  Bear

  Alaska Brown; Great Brown; Bigfoot; (Ursus gyas)

  Black; Buster; (Ursus americanus )

  Cinnamon

  Grizzly; Silvertip; (Ursus horribilis )

  Polar; Snow King; (Thalarctos maritimus)

  Beaver

  American; Paddy; (Castor canadensis)

  Mountain; Boomer; Chehalis; Sewellel; Showt’l; Stubtail; (Aplodontia rufa phæa)

  Bigear the Rock Mouse

  Bigfoot the Alaska Brown Bear

  Bighorn the
Mountain Sheep

  Billy Goat

  Billy Mink

  Bison

  American; Buffalo; Thunderfoot; (Bison bison)

  Blacktail the Deer

  Blarina

  Bobby Coon

  Buffalo

  Bugler the Elk

  Buster Bear

  Carcajou

  Caribou

  Barren Ground; (Rangifer arcticus)

  Woodland; Wanderhoof; (Rangifer caribou)

  Cat

  Bob; Wild; Catamount

  Jaguarundi; Eyra; (Felis ca-comitli )

  Ring-tailed; Civet; Coon; Cacomixtle; Bassaris; (Bassariscus astutus)

  Sneak

  Tiger

  Chatterer the Red Squirrel

  Chipmunk

  Rock Squirrel; Striped Chipmunk; (Tamias striatus)

  Cony

  Coyote

  Danny Meadow Mouse

  Deer

  Black-tailed; Blacktail; (Odocoileus columbianus)

  Mule; Jumping; Forkhorn; (Odocoileus hemionus)

  White-tailed; Virginia; Lightfoot; (Odocoileus virginianus )

  Digger the Badger

  Elk

  American; Wapiti; Bugler; (Cervus canadensis)

  Ermine

  Eyra

  Ferret; Black-footed; (Mustela nigripes)

  Fisher; Blackcat; Pennant Marten; Pekan; (Mustela pennanti)

  Flathorns the Moose

  Fleetfoot the Antelope

  Flitter the Bat

  Forkhorn the Mule Deer

  Fox

  Arctic; (Alopex lagopus)

  Black

  Blue; (Alopex lagopus pribilo-fensis )

  Cross

  Desert; (Vulpes macrotis)

  Gray, Tree; (Urocyon cinereoargenteus)

  Kit; (Vulpes velox)

  Red; Reddy; (Vulpes fulva)

  Silver

  Glutton the Wolverine

  Goat

  Rocky Mountain, Billy; (Oreamnos montanus)

  Gopher

  Pocket; Salamander; Grubby; (Geomys bursarius)

  Ground Hog

  Grubby Gopher

  Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel

  Hardshell the Armadillo

  Hare

  Arctic; Snow White; (Lepus Arcticus)

  Little Chief

  Northern; Varying; Snowshoe Rabbit; Jumper; (Lepus americanus)

  Prairie

  Swamp; Swamp Rabbit; (Lepus aquaticus)

  Howler the Wolf

  Jack Rabbit

  Jaguar

  El Tigre; (Felis hernandesi)

  Jerry Muskrat

  Jimmy Skunk

  Johnny Chuck

  Jumper the Hare

  Lemming

  Banded; Bandy; (Dicrostonyx nelsoni)

  Brown; (Lemmus alascensis)

  Lightfoot the Deer

  Lion

  Mountain; Cougar; Panther; Painter; Sneak Cat; Puma; (Felis couguar)

  Little Chief Hare

  Little Joe Otter

  Little Robber the Cotton Rat

  Longcoat the Musk Ox

  Longfoot the Kangaroo Rat

  Lynx

  Bay; Bob Cat; Catamount; Wild Cat; Yowler; (Lynx ruffus)

  Canada; Loup Cervier; Lucivee; Tufty; (Lynx canadensis)

  Manatee

  Sea Cow; (Trichechus latirostris)

  Marmot

  American; Ground Hog; Woodchuck; Johnny Chuck; (Marmota monax)

  Gray; Hoary; Whistler; (Marmota caligata)

  Prairie Dog

  Marten

  Pine; American Sable; Spite; (Martes americana)

  Midget the Silky Pocket Mouse

  Miner the Mole

  Mink

  American; Billy; (Mustela vison)

  Mole

  Brewer’s; Hairy-tailed; (Parascalops breweri)

  Common; Miner; (Scalops aquaticus)

  Oregon; (Scapanus townsendi)

  Star-nosed; (Condylura cristata)

  Moose

  American; Flathorns; (Alces americanus)

  Mouse

  Beach; (Peromyscus poliono-tus niveiventris)

  Grasshopper; Scorpion; (Onychomys leucogaster)

  Harvest; (Reithrodontomys megalotis)

  House; Nibbler; (Mus musculus )

  Jumping; Nimbleheels; (Zapus hudsonius)

  Meadow; Field; Danny; (Microtus pennsylvanicus)

  Pine; Piney; (Pitymys pineto-rum )

  Red-backed; (Evotomys gapperi)

  Rock; Bigear; (Peromyscus truei)

  Rufous Tree; Rufous; (Phenacomys longicaudus)

  Silky Pocket; Midget; (Pyrognathus flavus)

  Spiny Pocket; (Pyrognathus hispidus)

  Wood; White-footed; Deer; Whitefoot; (Peromyscus leucopus)

  Musk Ox

  Longcoat; (Ovibus moschatus)

  Muskrat

  Nibbler the House Mouse

  Nimbleheels the Jumping Mouse

  Ocelot

  Tiger Cat; (Felis pardalis)

  Old Man Coyote

  Opossum

  Virginia; Possum; Unc’ Billy Possum; (Didelphis virginiana)

  Otter

  Canadian; Little Joe; (Lutra canadensis)

  Sea; (Latax lutris)

  Paddy the Beaver

  Panther

  Peccary

  Collared; Texas; Javelina; Muskhog; Wild Pig; Piggy; (Pecari angulatus)

  Pekan the Fisher

  Peter Rabbit

  Piggy the Peccary

  Pika

  Cony; Little Chief Hare; Little Chief; (Ochontona princeps)

  Piney the Pine Mouse

  Porcupine

  Quill Pig; Prickly Porky; (Erethizon dorsatum)

  Prairie Dog

  Yap Yap; (Cynomys ludovicianus)

  Prickly Porky the Porcupine

  Puma the Panther

  Rabbit

  Antelope Jack; (Lepus alleni)

  Cottontail; Brush; Gray; Peter; (Sylvilagus floridanus)

  Jack; (Lepus californicus)

  Marsh; (Sylvilagus palustris)

  Snowshoe

  White-tailed Jack; (Lepus campestris)

  Raccoon

  Bobby Coon; (Procyon lotor)

  Rat

  Black; (Mus rattus)

  Brown; House; Norway; Wharf; Robber; (Rattus norvegicus)

  Cotton; Little Robber; (Sigmodon hispidus)

  Kangaroo; Longfoot; (Dipodomys spectabilis)

  Musk; Musquash; Jerry; (Fiber zibethicus)

  Wood; Pack; Trade; Trader; (Neotoma albigula)

  Reddy Fox

  Robber the Rat

  Rufous the Tree Mouse

  Rusty the Fox Squirrel

  Salamander

  Sea Cow

  Sea Lion

  Barking; California; (Zalophus californianus)

  Fur Seal; Sea Bear; (Callorhinus alascanus)

  Seal

  Steller; (Eumetopias jubata)

  Alaska Fur

  Elephant; (Mirounga angustirostris)

  Hooded; (Cystophora cristata)

  Leopard; Harbor; (Phoca vitulina)

  Ribbon; Harlequin; (Phoca fasciata)

  Ringed; (Phoca foetida)

  Saddle-back; Greenland; Harp; (Phoca grœnlandica)

  Seek Seek the Spermophile

  Sewellel

  Shadow the Weasel

  Sheep

  Dall Mountain; (Ovis dalli)

  Fannin’s Mountain; (Ovis fannini)

  Rocky Mountain; Rocky Mountain Bighorn; Bighorn; (Ovis canadensis)

  Stone’s Mountain; Black Mountain; (Ovis stonei)

  Shrew

  Common; Long-tailed; Shrew Mouse; Teeny Weeny; (Sorex personatus)

  Short-tailed; Mole Shrew; Blarina; (Blarina brevicauda )

  Marsh; Water; Black-and-white; (Neosorex palustris)

  Silvertip the Grizzly Bear

  Skunk

  Common; Jimmy; (Mephitis mephitis)

  Hog-nosed; Badger; (Conepatus mesoleucus) />
  Little Spotted; (Spilogale putorius)

  Snow King the Polar Bear

  Snow White the Arctic Hare

  Spermophile

  Gray Ground Squirrel; Gray Gopher; California Ground Squirrel; (Citellus beecheyi)

  Striped Ground Squirrel; Gopher Squirrel; Thirteen-lined Spermophile; Seek Seek; (Citellus tridecemlin-eatus )

  Spite the Marten

  Squirrel

  Abert; (Sciurus aberti)

  Black

  Douglas; (Sciurus douglasi)

  Flying; Timmy; (Glaucomys volans)

  Fox; Rusty; (Sciurus niger rufiventer)

  Gray; Happy Jack; (Sciurus carolinensis)

  Ground

  Kaibab; (Sciurus kaibabensis)

  Red; Chatterer; (Sciurus hudsonicus)

  Rock

  Striped Chipmunk

  Stubtail the Mountain Beaver

  Teeny Weeny the Shrew

  Thunderfoot the Bison

  Tiger Cat

  Timmy the Flying Squirrel

  Trader the Wood Rat

  Tufty the Lynx

  Unc’ Billy Possum

  Walrus; (Odobenus obesus)

  Wanderhoof the Caribou

  Wapiti

  Weasel

  Common; Brown; Bonaparte; Short-tailed; Ermine; Shadow; (Putorius cicognanii)

  Least; (Mustela rixosus)

  Long-tailed; (Putorius longicauda)

  New York; (Putorius noveboracensis)

  Whale

  Whistler the Hoary Marmot

  Whitefoot the Wood Mouse

  White-tailed Jack

  Wolf

  Prairie; Coyote; Old Man Coyote; (Canis latrans)

  Timber; Gray; Howler; (Canis nubilus)

  Wolverine

  Carcajou; Skunkbear; Glutton; (Gulo luscus)

 

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