112 THE SENSES OF ANIMALS 



Now if the creature captured is a pregnant female, the 

 unborn young will either be expelled during attack or they 

 will be exposed in tearing at the body. I have never yet seen 

 any of the mammals I have named eat the foetuses. I have 

 seen a terrier of mine swallow some unborn mice in its excite- 

 ment, but these have immediately been vomited up again. 



Incidentally, while on this interesting if gruesome subject, 

 it is well worth mentioning that mongooses (and I have no 

 doubt other small carnivores as well) will eat every scrap of 

 a mouse or rat so long as it is not pregnant — with the 

 exception of the gall bladder. The way in which a mongoose 

 can seize, and dismember the body of a rodent and yet leave 

 the gall bladder is a matter for wonder. A great friend of 

 mine, who was a surgeon of high repute and also a first-class 

 naturalist, the late F. J. F. Barrington, was amazed at this. 

 More than once he saw my mongoose perform this delicate 

 piece of dissection, and in his characteristic way said : "It 

 can do that job a damned sight better than I can !" 



Whether this avoidance of the gall bladder is evidence of 

 actual taste — cum-smell — or whether it is an instinctive 

 characteristic handed down through thousands of genera- 

 tions from some remote ancestors which had learned not to 

 puncture this bitter-tasting organ, I cannot say. 



The avoidance of what would seem to be unpalatable 

 items is also shown when rats, stoats and others plunder 

 breeding frogs and toads when they are engaged in spawning. 

 The unfortunate amphibians, peacefully engaged in their 

 amorous behaviour, are dragged ashore from the margins of 

 ponds and streams and are opened up. The legs only seem 

 to be eaten, and males are more popular than females. The 

 really interesting point is that the unshed spawn of the 

 females is left severely alone. Any student who may have the 

 luck — and it will be luck — to discover a place where rats 

 and stoats have been at work can see this neat discrimination 

 for himself. I admit that it is difficult to say whether taste 

 or smell is responsible for this choosey behaviour, but it is a 

 most interesting matter none the less. The bodies of the 

 hapless frogs and toads will be more or less scattered at 

 random if the predator is a rat ; while if a stoat has been at 

 work, the bodies are usually left in a tidy pile on the bank. 



