Statewide County CA Archives History - Books .....Animals 1891
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Book Title: Memorial And Biographical History Of Northern California

ANIMALS.

  Following are brief notices of nearly all the quadrupeds of California:

  The grizzly bear (Ursus horribilis) is the largest and most formidable of the
quadrupeds. He grows to be four feet high and seven feet long, with a weight,
when very large and fat, of a thousand pounds, being the largest of the
carnivorous animals, and much heavier than the lion or tiger ever get to be. The
grizzly bear, however, as ordinarily seen, does not exceed 800 or 900 pounds in
weight. In color the body is a light grayish brown, dark brown about the ears
and along the ridge of the back, and nearly black on the legs. The hair is long,
coarse and wiry, and stiff on the top of the neck and between the shoulders. The
"grizzly," as he is usually called, was at one time exceedingly numerous for so
large an animal; but he offered so much meat for the hunters, and did so much
damage to the farmers, that he has been industriously hunted, and his numbers
have been greatly reduced. The grizzly is very tenacious of life, and he is
seldom immediately killed by a single bullet. His thick, wiry hair, tough skin,
heavy coats of fat when in good condition, and large bones, go far to protect
his vital organs; but he often seems to preserve all his strength and activity
for an hour or more after having been shot through the lungs and liver with
large rifle balls. He is one of the most dangerous animals to attack. There is
much probability that when shot he will not be killed outright. When merely
wounded he is ferocious; his weight and strength are so great that he "bears"
down all opposition before him; and he is very quick, his speed in running being
nearly equal to that of the horse. In attacking a man, he usually rises on his
hind-legs, strikes his enemy with one of his powerful fore-paws, and then
commences to bite him.

  The black bear (Ursus Americanus) is found in the timbered sections. Dr.
Newberry, speaking of the food of the black bear, says: "The subsistence of the
black bears in the northern portion of California is evidently, for the most
part, vegetable. The manzanita, wild plum, and wild cherry, which fruit
profusely, and are very low, assist in making up his bill of fare. The brown, or
cinnamon bear, is also common, and is not a different species from the black bear.

  The panther, supposed by Dr. Newberry to be the Felis concolor—the same with
the panther found on the Atlantic slope of the continent—has a body larger than
that of the common sheep, and a tail more than half the length of the body. Its
color is dirty white on the belly, and elsewhere a brownish-yellow, mottled with
dark tips on all the hairs. The panther is a cowardly animal, and, except when
driven by some extraordinary motive, never attacks man. The panther is nocturnal
in his-habits, and always prefers the night as a time for attacking colts, which
are a favorite prey with him.

  The California, mountain or silver lion is still occasionally met with in the
wildest mountain fastnesses.

  The American wild-cat (Lynx rufus) is common here.

  The gray wolf (Canis ocddentalis) is found here, but is not abundant.

  The coyote used to be very common, and occupied the same place here with that
occupied in the Mississippi Valley by the prairie-wolf. Dr. Newberry thinks the
two belong to the same species (Canis latrans). The color of the coyote has a
reddish tinge. His food consists chiefly of rabbits, grouse, small birds, mice,
lizzards and frogs; and in time of scarcity he will eat carrion, grasshoppers,
and bugs. He is very fond of poultry, pigs, and lambs, and will destroy almost
as many of them as would a fox. He is one of the worst enemies and most
troublesome pests of the farmer.

  The gray fox (Vulpes Virginianus) is the only animal of that species we know
to exist in Northern California, although many years ago, we heard that there
were some black foxes. "Silver" and "cross" foxes have been found.

  The American badger (Taxidea Americana) used to be common here, but they are
now nearly extinct.

  The black-footed raccoon (Procyon hernandezii) is very common in the forests
and along the water courses.

  Of the yellow-haired porcupine (Erethizon epixanthus), a few have been found
in some sections, but they are very rare.

  The mountain-cat, or striped bassaris (Bassaris astuta). is occasionally found
here, but are not numerous. The body is about the size of that of the domestic
cat, but the nose is very long and sharp, and the tail very long and large. The
color of the animal is dark gray, with rings of black on the tail. The miners
call it the "mountain cat," and frequently tame it. It is a favorite pet with
them, becomes very playful and familiar, and is far more affectionate than the
common cat, which it might replace, for it is very good at catching mice.

  The fisher (Mustela Pennanti) is found in some localities; also the chipmunk,
woodchuck, otter, raccoon, porcupine, etc.

  The yellow-cheeked weasel (Putorius xanthogenys) is found here, but are not
numerous.

  The common mink (Putorius vison) has a skin as valuable as that of the beaver;
the fur is of a dark, brownish chestnut color, with a white spot on the end of
the chin. They exist here, but are very rare.

  California has two skunks (Mephitis occi-dentalis and Mephitis bicolor), very
common animals. The Mephitis bicolor, or little striped skunk, is chiefly found
south of latitude 39°; the other in the northern and central parts of the State.
The colors of both are black and white.

  The Squirrel Family.—The California gray squirrel (Sciurus fossor), the most
beautiful mid one of the largest of the squirrel genus, inhabits all the pine
forests of the State. Its color on the back is a finely-grizzled bluish gray,
and white, beneath. At the base of the ear is a little woolly tuft, of a
chestnut color. The sides of the feet are covered with hair in the winter, but
are bare in the summer; the body is more slender and delicate in shape than that
of the Atlantic gray squirrel. It sometimes grows to be twelve inches long in
the head and body, and fifteen inches in the tail, making the entire length
twenty-seven inches. Dr. Newberry says: "The California gray squirrel is
eminently a tree-squirrel, scarcely descending to the ground but for food and
water, and it subsists almost exclusively on the seeds of the largest and
loftiest pine known (Pinus lambertiana), the 'sugar-pine' of the Western coast.
These squirrels inhabit the forests."

  The Missouri striped ground-squirrel has five dark-brown stripes on the back,
separated by four gray stripes; the sides are reddish-brown, the belly
grayish-white, and the tail rusty-black above and rusty-brown beneath. The
animal is four or five inches long. It is found in the northern part of the
State. It eats acorns and the seeds of the pine, manzanita, and ceanothus, in
the thickets of which last-named bush it prefers to hide its stores. This
species of squirrel is exceedingly rare.

  The Spermophile has two species in California, which resemble each other so
closely that they are usually supposed to be the same; they are popularly known
as the California ground-squirrels, the little pests which are so destructive to
the grain crops. Their bodies are ten or eleven inches long in the largest
specimens; the tail is eight inches long and bushy, the ears large, the cheeks
pouched, and herein consists the chief difference between them and squirrels;
the color above black, yellowish-brown, and brown, in indistinct mottlings,
hoary-yellowish on the sides of the head and neck, and pale yellowish-brown on
the under side of the body and legs. They dwell in burrows, and usually live in
communities in the open, fertile valleys, preferring to make their burrows under
the shade of an oak tree. Sometimes, however, single spermophiles will be found
living in a solitary manner, remote from their fellows. Their burrows, like
those of the prairie-dog, are often used by the rattlesnake and the little owl.
Dr. Newberry says: "They are very timid, starting at every noise, and on every
intrusion into their privacy dropping from their trees, or hurrying in from
their wanderings, and scudding to their holes with all possible celerity;
arriving at the entrance, however, they stop to reconnoitre, standing erect, as
squirrels rarely and spermophiles habitually do, and looking about to satisfy
themselves of the nature and designs of the intruder. Should this second view
justify their flight, or a motion or step forward still further alarm them, with
a peculiar movement, like that of a diving duck, they plunge into their burrows,
not to venture out till all cause of fear is past. The squirrels of this species
were exceedingly rare until within the past decade. They seem to have effected
an entrance from the valleys to the east, and are now multiplying. The farmers,
as yet, seem not to realize the magnitude of the damage these squirrels will
ultimately accomplish.

  The California gopher(Thomomysbulbivorus) is the most abundant and most
troublesome rodent of this section. When full grown, it has a body six or eight
inches long, with a tail of two inches. The back and sides are of a
chestnut-brown color, paler on the under parts of the body and legs; the tail
and feet are of grayish-white; the ears are very short. In the cheeks are large
pouches, covered with fur inside, white to their margin, which is dark-brown.

  Of rats and mice there are many species. There is very common in the forests a
wood-rat that builds conical-shaped burrows by means of piling up sticks and
bramble. We have seen these rat houses as much as ten feet in diameter at the
base and five or six feet high. Of mice there are many species of both field and
house pests. We have seen here two or three specimens of the Jerboa family,
called by some kangaroo mice, on account of their great length of hind legs,
from which they spring, as does the kangaroo.

  The American elk (Cervus canadensis) used to be plentiful, but is now extinct.
This animal was nearly as large as a horse. It frequently reached the weight of
from 600 to 1,000 pounds. The color was a chestnut-brown, dark on the head,
neck, and legs, lighter and yellowish on the back and sides. The horns were very
large, sometimes more than lour feet long, three feet across from tip to tip,
measuring three inches in diameter above the burr, and weighing, with the skull,
exclusive of the lower jaw, forty pounds. The horns of the old bucks had from
seven to nine, perhaps more, prongs, all growing forward, the main stem running
upward and backward.

  The white-tailed deer have ever been scarce.

The black-tailed deer (Cervus columbianus), which is a little larger and has
brighter colors, but does not furnish as good venison, the meat lacking the
juiciness and savory taste of the venison in the Mississippi Valley, has been
more common. The average weight of the buck is about 120 pounds, and of the doe
100 pounds, but bucks have been found to weigh 275 pounds. The summer coat of
the black-tailed deer is composed of rather long and coarse hair of a tawny
brown, approaching chestnut on the back. In September this hair begins to come
off, exposing what the hunters call the "blue coat," which is at first fine and
silky, and of a blueish-gray color, afterward becoming chestnut-brown, inclining
to gray on the sides, and to black along the back. Occasionally deer purely
white are found. The horn, when long, is about two feet long, and forks near
mid-length, and each prong forks again, making four points, to which a little
spur, issuing from near the base of the horn, may be added, making five in all.
This is the general form of the horn; sometimes, however, old bucks are found
with but two points.

  The prong-horned antelope (Antilocapra americana) used to range the valleys
like bands of sheep. They are now extinct. In size the antelope was not quite so
large as the California deer, which it resembled closely in form and general
appearance. They were distinguished at a distance by their motion; the antelope
canters, while the deer runs; the antelope went in herds, and moved in a line
following the lead of an old buck, like sheep, to which they are related, while
deer more frequently are alone, and if in a herd they are more independent, and
move each in the way that suits him best. In color, the back, upper part of the
sides and outside of the thighs and forelegs were yellowish-brown; the under
parts, lower part of the sides, and the buttocks as seen from behind, were
white. The hair was very coarse, thick, spongy, tubular, slightly crimped or
waved, and like short lengths of coarse thread cut off bluntly. The horns were
very irregular in size and form, but usually they were about eight inches long,
rose almost perpendicularly, had a short, blunt prong in front, several inches
from the base, and made a short backward crook at the top. The female had horns
as well as the male. The hoof was heart-shaped, and its print upon the ground
could be readily distinguished from the long, narrow track of the deer. The \
antelope was about two feet and a half high, and four feet long from the nose to
the end of the tail.

  Andubon's hare (Lepus audubonii) is the most common species in Northern
California. Its tail is about three inches long, and its color is mixed with
yellowish-brown and black above, white beneath, thighs and rump grayish. This is
usually called "jack rabbit," the epithet abbreviated from jackass. There are
two varieties known to science, Lepus texanus and Lepus callotis.

  The sage rabbit (Lepus artemisia] is also found here.

  Birds.—Condor or king vulture, bald eagle, golden eagle, turkey buzzard,
raven, crow, several kinds of hawk, road-runner, several species of woodpecker,
grouse, mountain and valley quail, pigeon, meadow lark, magpie, blackbird,
flicker, robin, snipe, plover, curlew, redwinged blackbird, bluebird, oriole,
gray and small sparrow, cherry-bird, crossbill, linnet, chewink, California
canary, martin, swallow, blue crane or heron, sand-hill crane, wild goose,
Canada goose or brant, wood, mallard, teal and dipper duck, mud-hen, pelican,
two species of humming-bird, and a few other species not named.

  Fish.—Salmon, salmon trout, brook trout, lake trout, perch, white-fish,
sucker, chub, two species of eels, etc. Several of these and a few other
favorite varieties from the East have been introduced.

  Reptiles.—Two species of rattlesnake, long striped, brown, pilot, green,
purple, milk and water snakes, four kinds of lizard, horned toad, common toad
and frog.

  Insect life is also greatly favored by the "climate and resources of
California."


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California.

Illustrated, Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast
from the Earliest Period of its Occupancy to the Present Time, together with
Glimpses of its Prospective Future; Full-Page Steel Portraits of its most
Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers and also of
Prominent Citizens of To-day.

"A people that takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendents." – Macauley.

CHICAGO
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1891.

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