356 THE HARMONIES OF NATURE. 



The smaller felidse, less formidable by their muscular strength, 

 make up for this deficiency by a still greater activity in their 

 movements,, and a considerable expertness in climbing. The 

 leopard creeps through the thickets with a serpent's flexibility, 

 and when pursued by a more powerful foe frequently escapes 

 upon the trees. There also the wild-cat seeks his prey, and the 

 ferocious lynx, lying in ambush among the branches, springs 

 down upon the back of the unsuspecting deer, and soon brings 

 him to the ground. 



In the weasel tribe the legs are shorter, the vertebral column 

 elongated and in the highest degree flexible, the head small 

 and slender ; a structure by which they are enabled to creep 

 through extremely narrow holes and crevices, in quest of the 

 rats, mice, moles, and small birds on which they prey. 



The bears, who live both on vegetable and animal food, require 

 neither the retractile claws of the felidse, nor their prodigious 

 spring. The plantigrade form of their foot enables them to 

 walk with firmness and solidity, to climb trees, or to dig the 

 ground in quest of the food from which they derive their 

 nutriment. In spite of their uncouth appearance and clumsy 

 gait, they are capable of great activity ; and the larger terres- 

 trial species know how to defend themselves against the most 

 formidable enemies, either felling them with a blow of their 

 forepaws, or stifling them in a murderous embrace. 



The elongated form of the Polar bear, and his short broad 

 paws, enable this tyrant of the Arctic shores to swim with 

 the greatest facility ; and thus every member of the family is 

 admirably fitted out for his peculiar field of action. 



Destined to perform an important part in the economy of 

 Nature, by cleansing the earth of the decaying carcases of the 

 larger beasts, whose remains might otherwise infect the atmo- 

 sphere with pestilential effluvia, the hyaenas are not so well 

 armed for active war as the felidse, having neither their 

 retractile talons nor their terrific bound. Their hind-legs are 

 comparatively feeble; for, in harmonious accordance with their 

 mode of life, the chief strength of their body is thrown into their 

 forequarters, so as to enable them to disinter corpses from their 

 graves, or to make themselves burrows in the earth, into which 

 they retire during the daytime. For this purpose their claws 

 are extremely strong, and the enormous power of their jaws and 



