294 FAMILY CAMELOPARDID.E ; GIRAFFE. 



of taste. With this it lays hold of the tender branches, and 

 draws them into its moutli ; being assisted by the upper lip, 



which is endowed with great flexibility and muscular power, and 

 projects beyond the lower. The Giraffe cannot readily bring its 

 mouth to the ground ; being obliged, in order to do so, to stretch 

 its fore-legs widely apart, and to bend its neck into a semicir- 

 cular form. It is obviously not adapted, therefore, to browse 

 near the earth ; and it seldom lowers its head to the ground, 



