Оглавление
Frédéric Houssay. The Industries of Animals
The Industries of Animals
Table of Contents
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER II. HUNTING—FISHING—WARS AND EXPEDITIONS
CHAPTER III. METHODS OF DEFENCE
CHAPTER IV. PROVISIONS AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS
CHAPTER V. PROVISION FOR REARING THE YOUNG
CHAPTER VI. DWELLINGS
CHAPTER VII. THE DEFENCE AND SANITATION OF DWELLINGS
CHAPTER VIII. CONCLUSION
Footnotes
APPENDIX
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gardening Ants
INDEX
Отрывок из книги
Frédéric Houssay
Published by Good Press, 2019
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Tennent narrates a singular trick which was twice, to his knowledge, played on a dog by two of these small glossy crows of Ceylon. The dog was gnawing a bone and would not be disturbed from the pure delight of sucking the marrow of which he was the legitimate proprietor. A crow approached the scene of the feast, and conceived the design of taking possession of it; he began by hopping around the dog, going and coming, trying to attract the animal’s attention and ready to profit by the first distraction. His gambols remaining without result, he understood that he would not succeed and he flew away; but it was only to return accompanied by a friend possessing as little respect as himself for the property of others. The associate perched on a branch a few steps away, while the first crow renewed his attempts by flying around the bone and the dog; but the latter remained impassive. Then the second personage, whose part had hitherto been to remain contemplative, flew off his branch, threw himself on the dog and gave him a formidable blow on the spine. Seized with indignation, the dog turned round to punish the author of this unjustifiable aggression; but the bird was already far away, and in the meanwhile from the other side the first Anomalocorax seized the long-coveted bone and also took flight. The feelings of the sheepish dog who saw both his vengeance and his repast flying away in the air may be better imagined than described.22
All the birds, indeed, of this family know how to reach their ends. I have already spoken of certain hunts of the Raven; it is even said that in Iceland he knows when a ewe is going to give birth to young, and awaits this moment with immense patience. As soon as the lamb appears the Raven alights on him, digs out his eyes, and devours them.
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