Sub-Family Gerbillinæ
Incisors narrow; molars divided into transverse laminæ; pterygoid fossæ short; auditory bullæ usually large; hind limbs very long; tail long and hairy.
Dentition of Gerbillus (magnified).
Form murine, with the exception of the elongated hind-limbs; muzzle pointed; ears moderate and oval; eyes very large and bright; occipital region broad; auditory bullæ large; upper incisors grooved; first molar with three laminæ, the second with two, and third with one only; hinder tarsus and toes much elongated; the fore-limbs small; tail long and hairy, with a tuft at the end.
No. 317. Gerbillus Indicus.
The Indian Jerboa-Rat, or Kangaroo-Rat (Jerdon’s No. 170).
Native Names.—Hirna-mus, Hindi; Jhenku-indur, Sanscrit and Bengali; Yeri-yelka of the Waddurs; Tel-yelka of the Yanadees; Billa-ilei, Canarese.
Habitat.—All over India and in Ceylon, but apparently not in Burmah.
Description.—Light fulvous brown above or fawn colour, paling on the sides; under-parts white; the hairs of the back are ashy at the base, with fulvous tips, a few thin black hairs intermixed chiefly on the side and cheeks.
The eyebrow is whitish; whiskers long and black and a few grey; the nose is elongated; the upper jaw projecting nearly half an inch beyond the lower; tail, which is longer than the body, is blackish above and below, pale laterally, and terminates with a black tufted tip; the ears are large and nearly naked; the eye is particularly large and lustrous, which, with its graceful bounds, have given it its Indian name of “antelope-rat” (Hirna-mus).
Size.—Head and body, about 7 inches; tail, 8½ inches; fore-foot, 5/10 inch; hind-foot, 2 inches. Weight, 6¾ ounces.
This graceful little creature frequents bare plains and sandy country in general, where it forms extensive burrows. Hardwicke writes of it: “These animals are very numerous about cultivated lands, and particularly destructive to wheat and barley crops, of which they lay up considerable hoards in spacious burrows. A tribe of low-caste Hindus, called Kunjers, go in quest of them at proper seasons to plunder their hoards, and often within the space of twenty yards square find as much corn in the ear as could be crammed in a bushel.” Sir Walter Elliot’s account of their burrows is most interesting. He says: “The entrances, which are numerous, are small, from which the passage descends with a rapid slope for two or three feet, then runs along horizontally, and sends off branches in different directions. These galleries generally terminate in chambers from half a foot to a foot in width, containing a bed of dried grass. Sometimes one chamber communicates with another furnished in like manner, whilst others appear to be deserted, and the entrances closed with clay. The centre chamber in one burrow was very large, which the Wuddurs attributed to its being the common apartment, and said that the females occupied the smaller ones with their young. They do not hoard their food, but issue from their burrows every evening, and run and hop about, sitting on their hind legs to look round, making astonishing leaps, and on the slightest alarm flying into their holes.” This account differs from that of Hardwicke as regards the hoarding of food, and from what I can learn is the more correct.
The food of this animal is grain, grass, and roots, but Kellaart mentions certain carnivorous propensities, for one night several of them nearly devoured an albino rat which had been put into the same cage with them. McMaster says of its agility: “I have seen them when released from a trap baffle and elude dogs in the most extraordinary manner by wonderful jumps made over the backs, and apparently into the very teeth of their pursuers.”
Buchanan-Hamilton’s assertion that “these animals live in holes which they dig in the abrupt banks of rivers and ponds” is misleading. They may do so occasionally, but in general they choose sandy plains. The female is prolific, bringing forth from eight to twelve young ones, and Dr. Jerdon states that it is said to have occasionally as many as sixteen to twenty. With regard to Kellaart’s accusation of its being carnivorous at times, I may say I have noticed such tendencies amongst several other rodents which are supposed to be purely vegetarians. I have also known ruminants take to flesh-eating when opportunity offered.
No. 318. Gerbillus HURRIANÆ.
The Desert Jerboa-Rat (Jerdon’s No. 171).
Habitat.—The sandy deserts west of the Jumna and Hurriana; also in Afghanistan according to Horsfield’s Catalogue, and probably in Rajpootana, Sindh, and the Punjab.
Description.—Pale rufous or sandy above, with fine dusky lines, the hairs being blackish at the base, the rest fawn coloured, with a blackish tip very minute; sides paler, with fewer dusky lines; under-parts white, tinged more or less with fulvous or fawn on the belly; limbs pale fawn; orbits pale; whiskers whitish, a few of the upper ones dark; tail yellowish-rufous or fawn colour throughout, with a line of dusky brown hairs on the upper surface of the terminal half, gradually increasing in length to the tips.
Size.—Smaller than the last species. Head and body, 5 inches; tail, 4½.
Jerdon says of this rat that it is “exceedingly numerous in the sandy downs and sand-hills of Hurriana, both in jungles and in bare plains, especially in the former, and a colony may be seen at the foot of every large shrub almost. I found that it had been feeding on the kernel of the nut of the common Salvadora oleifolia, gnawing through the hard nut and extracting the whole of the kernel. Unlike the last species, this rat, during the cold weather at all events, is very generally seen outside its holes at all hours, scuttling in on the near approach of any one, but soon cautiously popping its head out of its hole and again issuing forth. In the localities it frequents it is far more abundant than I have ever seen G. Indicus in the most favourable spots” (‘Mammals of India,’ p. 186).
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