ANIMAL COMPANIONS 63 



the deer's coat ? of the fawn's ? Can you think of other animals of your 

 own region that are protectively colored ? 



What is the color of a skunk ? of a hornet ? Some of these animals 

 that have a sting or other adequate means of defense are brightly colored 

 and therefore conspicuous. The bright color serves to advertise their 

 disagreeable qualities. Some of the great cats illustrate well another 

 phase of coloration. They are colored like their surroundings, not to save 

 them from attack, but so they can creep up without detection and capture 

 their prey. The lion inhabitant of the desert regions has a coat of sandy 

 hue. The tiger, lurking among the reeds and rushes of the river's margin, 

 is striped with alternate bands of yellow and black. The leopard, jaguar, 

 and many other forest-inhabiting animals are mottled to match the sun- 

 light and shadow on the forest floor. 



Certain habits of these common pets, relics of their wild ancestry, are 

 protective in their purpose. Do you ever see a number of dogs on the 

 street together ? Do cats run about in packs ? If one dog starts to chase 

 a cow what do other dogs that are near by do? How do wolves hunt? 

 tigers ? Read chapter xvii of Du Chaillu's Land of the Long Night. Which 

 of the common domestic animals go in herds? Their wild relations do 

 the same. Wolves will readily kill one cow, but when the herd stands 

 together with lowered heads the circle of horns effectually resists the 

 attack. 



Besides the stories already mentioned the following are suggested: 

 "Mother Wolf's Story," St. Nicholas, March, 1903; Lion and Tiger Stories, 

 republished from St. Nicholas, in book form, by the Century Company; 

 Porter's Wild Beasts. 



Structure of the leg. All these animals have head, trunk, tail, and 

 limbs. Do angleworms have these parts ? Can you think of other animals 

 that do not have them ? of some that do ? Note the parts of the leg of a 

 cat, the upper leg, lower leg, foot, toes. Does the cat have joints as we do ? 

 Notice the parts of your own arm, upper arm, forearm, hand, and ringers. 

 Does the dog have joints in its legs ? How many are there in the foreleg ? 

 Are they similar to those of the cat's foreleg in number and position ? Are 

 they similar to your own joints at knuckles, wrist, and elbow ? Compare 

 the foreleg of the squirrel and rabbit. How many joints are there ? Are 

 they similar in position to those of the dog and cat? Make an outline 

 sketch of a person's arm and then of the foreleg of each of these animals to 

 show the number of joints and the parts between joints. Then reduce 

 these sketches to straight-line diagrams in which the joints are represented 

 by spaces and the structures between the joints by lines. Your own arm 

 would be diagrammatically represented on p. 64, Fig. 5. 



