[Animals that Set Traps 



i 



Many crabs are dark green, like the eel-grass 

 where they love to lurk. They feed upon all 

 sorts of small swimming creatures and do not 

 chase them much, but back into a tangle of grass 

 along some little path and keep perfectly still 

 in wait for a victim, upon which they leap like 

 a Zulu ambushed beside a jungle path. 



Almost innumerable are the examples that 

 might be quoted of these tactics among animals 

 of prey in almost all the active classes even 

 among the birds. For instance, herons that 

 feed on fish get them usually by standing im- 

 movable in the water and waiting until one comes 

 unsuspectingly near, when the spear-like beak 

 is thrust through it with a downward stroke 

 of amazing rapidity. It used to be said that 

 the heron had the power of making a mysterious 

 tuft of feathers on its breast glow with phos- 

 phorescent light, attractive to its prey, while 

 at the same time it lighted the water so that 

 the bird could see where to strike. This story 

 has all the advantage of a good illustration for 

 us, except truth! 



Some, however, are too impatient to wait in 



