46 ANIMALS AT WORK AND PL A Y 



Water Babies,' who held on to the otter's nose 

 ' because it was a point of honour with lobsters never 

 to let go.' That there is an etiquette of demeanour 

 among different species of birds will have been noticed 

 by all who have fed them during the hard weather. 

 Some are always assertive and forward, like the 

 robins and sparrows ; others, which are equally 

 familiar with man, are as diffident and reserved, the 

 hedge-sparrows being perhaps the most noticeable 

 examples. Why this rule of behaviour should be 

 constant in a single species is difficult to conjecture. 

 The late Mr Booth reaffirmed from his own observa- 

 tion the truth of the old belief that every bird, such 

 as the crows and ravens, withdraws from its meal at 

 the approach of the eagle, just as the carrion birds 

 do before the king vulture. But the strangest 

 instance of etiquette in dealing with royalty is that 

 observed by bees when a strange queen is introduced 

 into the hive. Sometimes the first queen is allowed 

 to fight the rival. If not, the other bees will kill 

 the intruding queen, not by stinging it, but by 

 suffocation a death only reserved for royalty. 



