366 GENERAL ADAPTIVENESS. 



off guard, not expecting, and unprepared therefore for, 

 intrusion or attack, is recognised by many animals, including 

 bees and ants (Figuier) and the weasel (Baird). The pisoti 

 tries to surprise the iguana while the latter is asleep (Belt). 



Modes of ordinary defence against the attacks of enemies 

 include a variety of efficient means of protection, involving 

 usually organisation and co-operation in a common purpose. 

 Thus musk oxen, if surprised either in family or as a herd, 

 * form a square, the young ones being in the centre and the 

 old outside with their heads down ; or else the bull, placed 

 as a sentinel, takes to flight and the others closely follow, 

 the placing of their outposts being astonishing ' (Payer and 

 Copeland). Cows protect their young by forming a circle 

 round them, while cattle, as well as fowls and turkeys, sur- 

 round the wolf or other enemies in a circle (Pierquin). 



Illustrations of ingenious ruses in the capture of prey, in 

 the punishment of offenders, in the shirking of disagreeable 

 duty, are innumerable. A crane in the Zoological Gardens, 

 London, being annoyed while feeding by a pertinacious 

 sparrow, at length pretended indifference; but when the 

 tormentor came within range in order to steal a share of the 

 crane's food, the latter bird stuck its beak into the sparrow, 

 intending to kill it. Failing in this, however, and then deli- 

 berating how to dispose of its victim, the crane thrust it 

 under water in a tank, and it was saved from drowning only 

 by one of the keepers (' Animal World '). 



This incident, again, is a type of others that are of 

 frequent occurrence, relating on the one hand to pretended 

 unconsciousness, helplessness, or apathy, and on the other to 

 the various forms of deliberate murder forms suited to place, 

 time, and other circumstances. ' Science Gossip ' tells us of 

 a magpie pulling a cat's tail to divert it from its food, and 

 similar stories, no doubt true, are told of monkeys, ravens, 

 crows, and other animals that are equally mischievous, 

 ingenious, and designing. The Nicaraguan alligator lies 

 quite still on river banks, as if dead, so as to catch animals 

 that unsuspectingly approach it. To catch waterfowl it 

 floats like a log on the water, with only that part of its head 

 containing its eyes above the surface, furtively watching its 



