294 FAMILY CAMELOPARDID^E ; GIRAFFE. 



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

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



FIG. 149. GIRAFFE. 



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, 



