ANIMALS IN THE DARK.
ON Tuesday last a thick fog descended on London, but stopped like a blanket just above the summit of the ordinary buildings, though the tops of the towers and great hotels were covered with darkness. All the pigeons and sea-gulls, which were sitting on the towers and pediments, or soaring over the river, hastened to descend into the light; and while the former settled on the lower ledges and cornices, the latter skimmed over the Thames below the fog-belt, where they could see the world around them.
Thick fog bewilders all animals; and in real darkness— that is, in total absence of light—they are no more able to see than is man. In the "Mammoth Caves" they lost their eyes, as they do in the deep seas; and even in the catacombs below Paris there are signs that some each change would in time take place. But the power of sight in what we term "the dark" is the rule, and not the exception, among the great majority of animals. The list of those which are either unable to find their way, or feed, or move freely by night is a short one ; and its chief interest lies in the difficulty of accounting for their dependence upon sunlight, while to others and nearly allied creatures night is as clear as day.
Among wild birds, other than those which feed by night, all the hawks, pheasants, finches, and buntings are almost helpless in the dark, sleep heavily, and are easily caught. Why, then, are the wood-pigeon, the rook, and most of the small warblers perfectly alert when once awakened at night, and able to fly through woods and cover as easily as by day ? Pheasants may almost be picked off a tree by night, and are so helpless that if they are driven down they often cannot see to fly up again, sparrows and finches cannot see a bat- fowling net, and trained hawks are quite helpless at night, and have even been killed in the dark by rats, which the hawks would eat themselves by day. Tame pigeons are also helpless in the dark, or are so sleepy that they do not know what they are doing. On the other hand, wood-pigeons dis- turbed at night will dart off through boughs and branches without hesitation or accident. Common fowls are perfectly helpless at night, while guinea-fowls are as quick-sighted as a plover.
Among wild -quadrupeds, for twenty which are quite bewildered by daylight it is difficult to name one which cannot see in the dark. From the elephant to the hare they seem equally alert by night ; and even the prairie-dogs, in spite of their anxiety to be in bed by dark, are most alert if they are turned out of bed into a dark room.
There is evidence that in spite of their ability to find their way and to feed by night, animals are not exempt from some forms of nervousness induced by darkness. How far this affects the individual animal it is difficult to tell ; but its effect is seen in the panics which seize on animals at night, panics which seldom or never occur during the daytime. Whether these night - panics occur among the -wild animals that live in companies and herds we have no sufficient means of ascertaining ; but among domesticated creatures these terrors of the night are not uncommon, and in some cases lead to serious mischief. The most remarkable instance which has occurred in late years in this country was some sudden terror which affected the sheep on the hills reaching from the downs west of Reading to the Chiltern Hills. Reports came in from a very large number of parishes that the flocks had that night broken loose from their folds and scattered over the fields. The cause for so widespread a panic was never ascertained, but it is well known that sheep are liable to these frights by night. The commonest cause is the appearance near the fold of strange dogs, or even of an unknown man. Horses are also very liable to be "stampeded" in the dark. Such mishaps are not common in this country, as when horses are in any numbers together they are usually kept in stables, but near Colchester some years ago the horses of several troops of cavalry, picketed for the night, took fright, pulled up their pickets, and suffered most severely in their gallop with the picket ropes and pins still attached. It is very doubtful whether the absence of daylight contributed much to the injuries received by the horses. The celebrated midnight steeplechase of the officers of a cavalry regiment stationed at Ipswich, in 1839, shows that horses can see by night when ridden at full speed. Remember, this freak, in the performance of which, though there was moonlight at intervals, the riders wore white night-gowns and night-caps that they might be able to see each other, led to no serious disasters either to horses or riders. As the latter could have done little to guide their mounts, or to pull them together for jumps the size of which they could not judge, we must assume that the horses could see as well as was necessary to clear a hedge and ditch. They also jumped a turnpike gate on the main road, though this was perhaps more easily distinguished than the fences. On the pampas wild horses often try to stampede by night trained animals tethered round camps, and the Indians of the plains constantly avail themselves of the nervous- ness of horses at night to effect the same object. They either drive a mob of their own horses down on the camp, or creep up and suddenly scare the herd. Cattle are not affected in the same way. We have never heard of oxen or cows being liable to panic in darkness, unless from causes which would affect them equally in the daytime, such as the sight or smell of blood, or the sudden appearance of a herd of strange-cattle near their feeding ground. As nearly all wild animals feed after sunset with an in- creased sense of security, and are then bold and confident where during the hours of daylight they are timid and suspicious, these terrors of the night among domesticated animals call for some special explanation. We can hardly assume that they have developed " nervee " from artificial breeding and constant contact with man, except in the case of a few highly bred dogs and horses ; neither is there reason to believe that one species of ruminant animal is more averse to dark- ness than another. A probable explanation is that among all wild animals man is the chief object of fear, and as man cannot see in the dark, they gain a respite by night from their most besetting apprehension. The fear of carnivorous wild beasts is only secondary. But in the case of the domesticated animals the fear of man is exchanged for confidence, and wild beasts become their sole object of dread. In all countries where these are found, especially the wolf, the leopard, the lion, and the puma, the night becomes to domesticated animals a time of intense apprehension, having a definite object in some particular prowling beast. Darkness in itself is not the object of fear, but merely marks the time when the object of fear is abroad. Among our domesticated animals in this country the terror is not per- sonified, but the nervousness survives in an impersonal form. It is not often in:evidence, and needs some incident to arouse it ; but there is no doubt that the propensity to fear increases with darkness and vanishes at daybreak. The effect of dark- ness on insects shows some striking differences. Butterflies are so sensitive to want of light that they are not only stupid and sleepy at night, but are affected in the daytime by the shadow of every passing cloud. It is a common practice of but- terfly-hunters to keep their eye on an insect without pursuing it, waiting till a cloud comes, when it is nearly certain to settle down and become more or less torpid. Possibly they fear rain ; but some moths, whose wings are no less fragile than those of butterflies, often fly on evenings when a slight rain is falling, Except the owls and the night-jar, most of our night-feeding birds are thoroughly keen-sighted by day. They include the whole class of birds—ducks, waders, storks, and herons—which feed on the muds left by the tide. It is generally held that these birds can see equally well by night as by day. Very few people have spent enough time out on the muds by night to speak on this point with certainty ; but a fowler who has had forty years' experience of night shooting on the marshes, quoted in the Badminton Magazine of January last, gives it as his opinion that all wild fowl see distinctly by night; but that, on the other hand, they do not recognise objects which they do not expect to see. They see and avoid a man walking, but if he is still they apparently mistake him for a piece of wreck or debris. Thus, when sitting in "duck holes," with the moon nine days old, he has known a pair of stints settle on the bank of the hole, and once caught one with his hand. He has also known an owl fly into the hole and perch on the marmm-grass with which it was lined ; while another gunner declares that as he lay on his back on the shingle one night a mallard pitched between his feet and began to preen its feathers ! The more familiar an observer grows with the ways of animals after dark and in the very early morning, the more convinced he is likely to become that they have made it an axiom that man is, or ought to be, in bed from dusk till six o'clock, and that even if he is not, the world during the hours of darkness and dawn belongs to them alone.
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