The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-08-15 00:00:00

Ebt stottrbage Oltstriler,

SATURDAY AUGUST 15th, 1885

WA RFARE IN ANIMATED NATURE.

Tri? theory is commonly accepted that, until
man fell from his original state of innocence,
storms and earthgnakes were unknown, and
.the lower anin-:itis, belonging to different
species, lived in ptrfect amity and peace. In
ac2ordance with this theory, Milt( n has
represented Adam. after 7,ve and b:mself
had eaten the forbidden fruit, • hhserving
vith npprehension certana signs 'of change
in nature Which seemed to him presages of a
corresponding change in their own state.
Just at the transition period, when the angel
Michael, divinely commissioned for the
purpose, is imagined winging his way from
hcay.en to speak words of comfort to the
fallen darkly-foreboding pail., the following
lines occur in the eleventh book of "Paradise
Lost :"

." Nature fir -itgve igi, iinpres,'d
Or bird, 1— at, air; air Fuddenly ecliplp!d,
After short blu-h of niArn; nigh, in h• r sight,

The bird of J,‘re, how his nery tour,
Two birds of gaye4 plume before him drove;
Down from a I ill tlie beast that reigns in woods,
First 11,11tpr tkcn, puriued a gentle brace,
Goodlie,t of all th fo:est, hart and hind; •
arect to tke .:_astern gate was bent their flight."
With Eve sitting by his side, Adam specu-
lates and moralises on the probable meaning
of these mute yet ominous signs of change
which absorb their gaze. But the investi.
gations and conclusions of modern signs have
tended somewhat to dispel the theory that,
prior to the creation and the fall of man,
tranquility prevailed throughout the material
world, and that the beasts of the earth, the
fowls of the air, and the fish of the sea
formed happy families in their respective
elements. In fossil remains embedded in
the earliest formation of rocks, which must
have existed lowg before the Adamic age,
geologists have round the evidences of multi-
tudinous creatures having perished by violent
deaths in priniceval corvulsions of nature.
Although the sight may be novel to the two
human spectators, the manner in which
Milton pictures the eagle swooping down
from the upper regions of the air upon the
pair of beautifully-plumaged birds, and the
lion bounding from the forest in pursuit of•
the fugitive hart and hind, makes it appear
as if the Royal bird and the Royal beast had
always been accustomed to go in search of
prey - Indeed, taking into account the dif-
_ _

lerent structures, habcts, and instincts of the
carnivorous and herbivorous races ot animals,
it is impossible to imagine the lion and the
lamb, in other than a metaphorical sense,
lying down tog,cther
_peaceably on the same
_ _ _

-
pasturage, or the falcon and the thrash
- - -

Perched-amicably on the same branch in the
woodlands. In quaint pictorial representa-
tions on the millennial Golden Age the
pastured lion has a sheepish face, betokening
an.entire change of nature, a vegetation-
liking for grass, and a teetotal distaste for
drinking any liquid thicker than water.
Adam in the days of innocence, and in his
hours of contemplatio-A, might have seen por-
tents of et il to come in the beak and talons
of the eagle, and in the sinewy strength and
claw-armed powerful paws of the lion, if he
had been informed by some angelic mes-
senger, like Michael or Gabriel, that the fate
of the lower animals, no less than that of
mankind, depended on the respect he paid,
as a test of his obedience, to the Divine com-
mand he had received. Each species of
animals, originally formed with its present
structural characteristics and adaptation to
special habits, must have been designed from
the first to procure the food suited to its

tastes and wants. in the ways it still continues

to practice and pursue. the adaptation of
means to ends, in the procurement of suit-
able food, both as regards the carniverous
and herbivorous races of animals, forms the
most interesting subject of study in the
whole range of natural history. It is by
their strength, their power of seeing in the
d:trk, their arts of ambuscade, their terrible
teeth and claws, and their capacity of making
sadden forward springs that beats of prey
succeed in overcoming their victims in a
masterful manner, and making !iearty meals
at dead of night. Even the I..ar of the lion
who thirsts for blood as the hart panteth for
the water-brooks, has a paralysing effect up-
on animals of the deer species that might
otherwise escape from his claws by his
bounding speed of hoof. Even the virtue of
patience is turned to good account both by
four-footed and feathered carnivora, and it

is practiced by the panther on the prowl as
well as by the osprey sitting on the ledge of
a cliff intently eyeing the sea. This patient
watchfulness is familiarly exhibited when the
household cat is observed keeping guard
quietly and earnestly at a particular spot
till it can make a mouthful of a mouse. Un-

satisfied by their ferocious raid on weaker
races which furnish them with feasts of raw
flesh, washed down with bumpers of Mood,
beasts of prey often fall foul of each other,
and engage in fierce conflicts. When lion

meets lion, tifzer meets tiger, leopard meets
leopard, or when twoferce naturm of different
tribts follow the same scent, eagee to throttle
a fat and sleek-hided buck, then comes the
terrible tug of war, and the forest glades are
made hideous with their mingling roars,
growls, and yells. . But hot encounters are
by no means confined to the flesh eat3rs.
Many herbivorous an ima Is, especially the
males, are as fond of fighting as Dr. John
Brown's famous dog "Jab," and go at it
with amazing pertinacity and vigour. In-
tensely fierce is the struggle of two stags,
tugging and straining with their antlers in-
terlocked, wher the prize of victory is the
leadership of the herd, On one occasion, in
the course of the Peninsular War, that cele-
brated Spanish General, the Marquis de la
Itomana, found it impossible, as related by
Southey, to embark the horses of two cavalry
regiments, which were accordingly velieved
of their bridles and set loose on the beach.
The animals were black, long-tailed, Aadalu-
siau stallions, and, as they pranced forwards,
rejoicing in their freedom, they passed some
country horses and maresr which were feed-
ing in the distance. o the horror of the
offices and soldiers on shipboard, the war
horses were seen to fall immediately into two
divisions, as if at the word of command, and
then attacked each other, first in squadrons
of 10 or •)0, find afterwards in a general melee
of mutual slaughter. lhe scene was terrific,
as the biting and kicking was most ferocious,
and when the last boats put off from th
beach the few horses that remained were
heen to be continuing the fight with the same
frightful fury as at first. Some animals,
much smaller than Andalusian horses, prefer
to dle rather than accept defeat—game cecks
are. of this plucky breed; and even hares,
I,vhiclt are eummonly regarded as the most
timoreus of four-footed creatures, have been
known to fight until one of the combatants
succeeded in beating the other to death.

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