ANIMAL COMPANIONS 65 



feet. Feel the dog's feet. Which are softer ? Notice how the kitten uses 

 her claws and how perfectly they are under her control. Where does she 

 keep her claws when they are not in use? Can a dog sheath his claws? 

 Which has sharper claws, a dog or a cat ? Why ? Recall how "the cat and 

 dog held the bone when gnawing it. How does the hoof serve a horse 

 better than claws would ? Dogs are used for hunting because they have 

 a keen sense of smell (how did you prove it?) and because they can run 

 swiftly and for a long time. Their relatives the wolves hunt in packs and 

 run down very fleet-footed animals. The dog or wolf chasing its prey over 

 rough ground needs what ? The cat does not chase its prey, but, as we 

 have seen before, creeps up stealthily and then pounces on it with a few 

 powerful leaps. How is her structure well adapted to this? To what 

 is the dog's straighter leg adapted ? Does the rabbit's structure fit it for 

 a long run or for a few quick leaps ? What is the shape of a hound's body 

 when seen from the front? of a squirrel's? What other animals have a 

 deep, narrow body ? Think of others whose body is round. Can you tell 

 why a hound's body is narrow and deep, like a boat ? 



Continual care must be exercised by the teacher lest the nature-study 

 degenerates into the observation of unimportant details. Thus merely 

 to have children count the toes of cats, dogs, rabbits, squirrels, cows, and 

 horses is scarcely worth while if the work stops there. Let this be but the 

 first step in the discovery of the significant relations between form and length 

 of leg, number and character of the toes, speed and endurance of the animal, 

 and its habits of hunting or means of escape. 



The head. Compare the shape of the hound's head with the shape of 

 the squirrel's. The former has a long, pointed head, the latter a compact, 

 round one. Feel on your own face the point where the lower jaw hinges. 

 This can readily be done as you open and close your mouth. Now feel the 

 cheeks as you bite some hard object. You can notice the location of the 

 strong muscles by which the mouth is shut, as they swell in action. These 

 are the muscles that a squirrel uses as he chisels away the shell of a nut with 

 the sharp front teeth. Think of the lower jaw as a lever, the fulcrum at the 

 point where it hinges. The weight is the resistance to be overcome by 

 the teeth in biting into an object. The power is applied by these jaw 

 muscles we have felt. Draw a diagram of the long jaw of a hound and the 

 short jaw of a squirrel, marking fulcrum, weight, and power on each. Take 

 a stick, like a ruler; fasten one end by a single screw to a wall or table and 

 attach a weight at the other end. Tie a string near the middle of the ruler; 

 run this up over a pulley made by putting a small spool on a nail in the wall; 

 attach weights to the free end of the string to balance the weight at the 

 outer end of the ruler, thus holding the latter horizontal. The apparatus 



