Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/724

Rh EUROPE and the Cams corsac, whose large packs make incursions from Tarfcary as far west as the Volga. The civet is^found in France arid Spain. Of the five or six species which re present the cat tribe, or genus Fclis, even the most widely diffused, the Fells lynx or common lynx, is growing scarce in all except the more mountainous regions ; and the Felis borcalis or northern lynx is familiar only in Norway and Sweden. In spite of the keen pursuit to which they are subjected the seals may still be seen, though in much diminished numbers, on the shores of all European seas, in cluding the Baltic and the Caspian. The Caspian species belongs to the same genus (Callocephalus of Dr Gray) with those of the Arctic Ocean, which probably indicates that the connexion between these two habitats was more recent than the connexion between the Caspian and the Mediterranean. It is doubtful whether we should include the walrus in the list of European fnuna, though it is common about Spitzbergen, and occasionally appears pretty far south. The next animal which presents itself in the or dinary system of classification is one of the most interesting, on account of its rapid disappearance before the march of civilization. The natural limits of the beaver were between 33 and 67 N. lat., and within that area it was formerly present in great numbers. On the coasts of the Black Sea, where it was abundant in the beginning of the Christian era, it is no longer to be found, and it is about 500 years since it disappeared from England. Its present habitats are mainly in Poland, Russia, Sweden, Finland, and Lapland ; though it still built its dams in the Moldau, the Neubach, the Landsee, the Danube, and the Salzach in Austria, at least as late as 1866. 1 It has left its mark on our geographical nomenclature in such names as Biberach, Bibersburg, and Beverley. The genus Arvicola, or water-vole, is represented by about ten or eleven species, some of which are very widely distributed, while others are limited to very small areas the Arvicola nival is to the Alpine region, the Arvicola destructor to Italy. No small notoriety belongs to the members of the genus Lemmus on account of their strange migrations and the destructive effects of their visits. There are three or four species, the best known of which is the Lemmus nonvegicus, or Norwegian lemming. Equally notorious for their destructive capabilities, and much more general in their distribution, are the rats and mice,, which constitute the next natural order. The most prevalent species, the Mus dscumanus, or common brown rat, was first observed in Europe in 1727, but since then has taken possession of country after country and expelled several weaker congeners. Nine species are described, including the wc41-known house mouse, or Jfus musculus, and a special Iceland variety. The common hamsters, distinguished by their provident preparation for the winter, are found in Poland, Silesia, Belgium, and Alsace ; and two cognate species occur in southern Russia. The same region pre sents three species of Dipus, or jerboas. The next genus is almost peculiar to the &quot; European &quot; sub-region : Spalax iyplibis, perhaps the only species, being confined to southern Russia, Hungary, Moldavia, Greece, and western Asia. The bobak (Arctomys bobnk) inhabits Bukovina and the southern parts of Poland and Russia ; the marmot, Arctomys marmotta, is restricted to the snowy regions of the Alps ; and the Arctomys citillus is found in Austria, Bohemia, Poland, and_ South Russia. One species of squirrel, the Sciurus vul- garis, is familiar in all the wooded districts of Europe; and another, Sciurus alpinus, belongs to the Alps and the Pyrenees. The flying squirrel, Pleromys sibericus, is found in the forests of Lithuania, Lapland, and Finland. A considerable range is assigned to the dormouse, or Jfyoxus, in 1 See &quot; Die Verbreitung des BiLers in Euroi.a,&quot; in Petermann s Mittheilungen, 1366. its three species Myoxus glis, Myoxus nitcla, and My&amp;gt;:.r&amp;lt;u* avellanarius, of which the last is the most common. On the other hand, the porcupine, or Hystrix, is limited to Greece, Italy, and Spain. Hares and rabbits, which form the genus Lepus, have a very wide range, and present but little variety. The distribution of species, however, is peculiar, the common rabbit, for example, being abundant in England, France, and Spain, but absent from Silesia, Galicia, and Russia, and a large part of Italy. The Ruminantia have suffered even more than the larger Carnivora from the encroachments of man; the aurochs, (Bos urus) which at one time had a wide range, is now confined to Lithuania; the Bos scoticus exists in a half-tame condition in a few parks in England and Scot land; the ibex or steinbock is growing scarce in the Alps and Carpathians; and the musmon or wild sheep is only to be met with in Sardinia and Corsica, part of Spain, and some of the Greek islands. The chamois, however, is still fairly common in the Alps of Switzerland, France, and Germany, in the Apennines and the Carpathians, and also in Greece. The only proper antelope, Antilope saiy&amp;lt;i, occurs but rarely in the country to the north of the Black Sea. Fallow deer are found wild in Spain and Sardinia, but elsewhere are protected by man. The elk is still to be met with in Lithuania, Russia, and Scandinavia; the red deer in Scotland, Scandinavia, Germany, and Spain; and the roebuck (Cervus capreolus) in the Scottish High lands, the Apennines, the Carpathians, and the Sierra de Sogura. Of the great Pachydermatous order, which has left such abundant remains of its hippopotami, elephants, and woolly rhinoceroses in our Pleistocene formations, the only representative in a feral condition is the wild b: ar, or Sus scrofa, which is found in various regions from Spain to the Caucasus, but does not venture north of the Baltic. The larger Cetacea are growing scarce in the European seas; but the common whale, Bahcna mysticetus, still comes as far south as ths Mediterranean ; and the sper maceti and the rorqual arc captured in the northern regions. The dolphins, grampuses, and porpoises are pretty com monly represented throughout the various seas, now by one species now by another. How rich the avifauna of the European continent really is may be judged by consulting such noble monographs as those of Gould, Sharpe and Dresser, or Bree ; but it must be borne in mind that it is a variable quantity, and that no monographs can long represent the exact state of the case. The extinction or introduction of mammalian species is easily observed ; but the continual movements of the feathered tribes are less easily ascertained. This has been clearly shown by C. A. Westerland in his account of the geogra phical distribution of the birds in Sweden and Norway. He gives a great many data which prove that southern species not unfrequently move northwards, and that there is a re gular tendency of Asiatic and European birds to migrate to the west; while on the other hand it is well known that western winds bring American strangers to onr shores. The Muscicapa albicollis has been denizened in Gothland for no more than thirty years ; and the Alauda crist da, first observed in 1833, now regularly breeds in Scania. Emberiza ritstica, indigenous to Asia and north eastern Europe, appeared at Haparanda in 1821, and now spends its summers in Lapland. Similar facts might be quoted for country after country and district after district. The jackdaw began to build in Murcia in Spain about 1850, and it is now one of the commonest species; in Thuringia the magpie, once abundant, is growing rapidly scarce. Altogether, according to Degland and Gerbe a classification, there are 247 genera and 531 species more or less belonging to the continent; but of these hardly one or two are peculiarly its own. As characteristic of