94 ZOOLOGICAL SKETCHES. 



This grunt and a feeble, parrying movement of his 

 fore-legs seem to be his only means of self-defence, 

 a dernier ressort, reserved for emergencies. If a dog 

 bites him, or if you offer him a tidbit after a prolonged 

 fast and snatch it away from his very jaws, he will slowly 

 turn his head, and then, as if the significance of the 

 indignity were gradually dawning upon his mind, he 

 breaks forth into crescendo grunts, resembling at once 

 the whirr of a buzz-saw and the droning hum of a bee- 

 hive. I do not know if a sloth can be teased into active 

 resistance, for, after trying all my conscience and Mr. 

 Bergh would permit, that point still remains undecided. 

 A Spanish-American sportsman, however, told me that 

 the females sometimes use their claws in defence of their 

 young. This would seem to prove that not resentment 

 or even self-preservation, but child-love and the love of 

 freedom are either the most radical or the most inalien- 

 able instincts of the animal mind. The vivacity of an 

 animal does not depend exclusively on the perfection 

 of its motory organs, for there are sluggish birds and 

 restless reptiles, and the sloth, too, is lazier than even 

 his clumsy structure seems to warrant. His fur is in- 

 fested with various parasites, but he never employs his 

 long claws in entomological pursuits. On principle 

 rather than from absolute helplessness he appears to 

 surrender at discretion to all his enemies, great or small. 

 I do believe that a swarm of horse-ants could eat him 

 alive without meeting with any serious objection on his 



