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Article REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. ← Page 8 of 11 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Of New Publications.
' If the giraffe stand still , and you view it in front , the effect is very different . As the fore-part of its body is much larger than the hind-part , it " completely conceals the latter ; so that the animal resembles the standing trunk of a dead tree . . --' Its gait , when it walks , is neither awkward nor unpleasing ; but it 5 J ridiculous enough when it trots ; for you would then take it for a limping beast , seeing its head , perched at the extremity of a long neck which neverthe neck and head iii '
bends , swaying backwards and forwards , playing one p iece between t ] ie shoulders as on an axis . However , as the length of the neck exceeds that of the legs at least four inches , it is evident that , the length of the head-too taken into the account , it can feed on grass without difficulty ; and of course is not obliged either to kneel down , or to straddle with its feet , as some authors have asserted . * Its mode of defencelike that of the horse and other
solidungulousani-, pals , consists in kicking with the heels . But its hind parts are so light , and its jerks so -quick , that tbe eye cannot count them . They are even sufficient to defend it against the lion , though they are unable to protect it from die impetuous attack of the tiger . _ ' Its horns are never employed in fight . I did not perceive it use them eveii against my dogs ; and these weak and useless weapons would seem but an error of Natureif Nature could ever commit erroror fail in her
de-, , signs . ' It is a pretty constant rule among animals in general , that males , when young , resemble females , and have nothing to make them distinguished . This resemblance in youth is not peculiar to many species of quadrupeds , as I shall hereafter show , but is found in numbers of birds , both of those in which the two sexes differ most in tbe perfect state , and of those which change their colour in the different seasons of the year . Among these there
is a fixed period , when the male quits his brilliant plumage for the modest garb of the female ; and hence the frequent , mistakes of certain naturalists , who in their cabinets bring together animals of different species , or separate others of tbe same , in contradiction to nature , with which they are little acquainted . . The male and female giraffe resemble each other in external appearance while young . Their obtuse horns terminate in a bundle of long hairs ,
which the male loses at the age of three years ; but the female retains it to a later period . < It is the same with the coat , which , a bright sorrel at first , gradually becomes deeper as the animal grows up , and ends at length in a bay-brown in the female , and in a dark-brown , approaching to black , in the male . A proof of what I advance may be seen in the cabinet of natural history at Leyden , where there is a young giraffe about seven feet high , which was sent by governor Tulbach to professor Allamant , who had it stuffed with great
care . * From this difference of colour in giraffes of a certain age , the males may be distinguished from the females at some distance . In both , however , the coat differs as well in the form as in the arrangement of the spots ; and . I must remark , that the female , when very old , acquires the deep colour of the male . * The female is also distinguishable when near by being less tall , and having the knob on the forehead less prominent and conspicuous . - Like the
cow , she has four teats or dugs ; and , if I may trust to the testimony of the savages , she goes twelve months with young , and has never more than one at a time . As the plate in iriy former volumes , representing tbe male giraffe , was faulty , because the head was badly executed , the reader will not be dis-• pleased to find here a more accurate representation of the part in question , on a . larger scale .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Of New Publications.
' If the giraffe stand still , and you view it in front , the effect is very different . As the fore-part of its body is much larger than the hind-part , it " completely conceals the latter ; so that the animal resembles the standing trunk of a dead tree . . --' Its gait , when it walks , is neither awkward nor unpleasing ; but it 5 J ridiculous enough when it trots ; for you would then take it for a limping beast , seeing its head , perched at the extremity of a long neck which neverthe neck and head iii '
bends , swaying backwards and forwards , playing one p iece between t ] ie shoulders as on an axis . However , as the length of the neck exceeds that of the legs at least four inches , it is evident that , the length of the head-too taken into the account , it can feed on grass without difficulty ; and of course is not obliged either to kneel down , or to straddle with its feet , as some authors have asserted . * Its mode of defencelike that of the horse and other
solidungulousani-, pals , consists in kicking with the heels . But its hind parts are so light , and its jerks so -quick , that tbe eye cannot count them . They are even sufficient to defend it against the lion , though they are unable to protect it from die impetuous attack of the tiger . _ ' Its horns are never employed in fight . I did not perceive it use them eveii against my dogs ; and these weak and useless weapons would seem but an error of Natureif Nature could ever commit erroror fail in her
de-, , signs . ' It is a pretty constant rule among animals in general , that males , when young , resemble females , and have nothing to make them distinguished . This resemblance in youth is not peculiar to many species of quadrupeds , as I shall hereafter show , but is found in numbers of birds , both of those in which the two sexes differ most in tbe perfect state , and of those which change their colour in the different seasons of the year . Among these there
is a fixed period , when the male quits his brilliant plumage for the modest garb of the female ; and hence the frequent , mistakes of certain naturalists , who in their cabinets bring together animals of different species , or separate others of tbe same , in contradiction to nature , with which they are little acquainted . . The male and female giraffe resemble each other in external appearance while young . Their obtuse horns terminate in a bundle of long hairs ,
which the male loses at the age of three years ; but the female retains it to a later period . < It is the same with the coat , which , a bright sorrel at first , gradually becomes deeper as the animal grows up , and ends at length in a bay-brown in the female , and in a dark-brown , approaching to black , in the male . A proof of what I advance may be seen in the cabinet of natural history at Leyden , where there is a young giraffe about seven feet high , which was sent by governor Tulbach to professor Allamant , who had it stuffed with great
care . * From this difference of colour in giraffes of a certain age , the males may be distinguished from the females at some distance . In both , however , the coat differs as well in the form as in the arrangement of the spots ; and . I must remark , that the female , when very old , acquires the deep colour of the male . * The female is also distinguishable when near by being less tall , and having the knob on the forehead less prominent and conspicuous . - Like the
cow , she has four teats or dugs ; and , if I may trust to the testimony of the savages , she goes twelve months with young , and has never more than one at a time . As the plate in iriy former volumes , representing tbe male giraffe , was faulty , because the head was badly executed , the reader will not be dis-• pleased to find here a more accurate representation of the part in question , on a . larger scale .