TASTES OF ANIMALS 



At the same time, such a case as this reveals again that 

 mysterious and exquisite purposefulness which a reverent 

 mind discovers in Nature everywhere. 



At the same time, as we have already pointed out, we are 

 exceedingly ignorant of many of the very commonest facts. 

 Leo Errera, the great Belgian botanist (whose recent death 

 has been a terrible loss to science), collected together some 

 facts as to the taste of cattle for various spiny and thorny 

 plants ; he found that cattle wished to eat the following : 

 Buckthorn, whin or gorse, raspberry, brambles, the Scotch 

 thistle, the creeping thistle, as well as musk, welted and 

 slender thistles, sow thistle, and saltwort. 



They avoided : Barberry, the petty and German whin, rest 

 harrow, the carline, and the other thistles not given above, 

 as well as the common juniper. 



They disdained or despised: Sea holly, common holly, 

 milk thistle, Lactuca, and Urtica urens.^ 



So far as the holly is concerned, it is certainly not 

 despised by sheep and rabbits in this country. But how few 

 are the plants investigated! Several of the commonest 

 British plants are omitted just because no one has taken the 

 trouble to watch them. 



Here, then, is an opportunity oi discovering something 

 new, fresh, and interesting which should be well within the 

 reach of any one who passes his life in the country. 



1 Errera, Un Ordre de Becherches trop rdgligL See also Ludwig, 

 Biologie d. Pflanzen^ p. 210. 



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