22 ANIMALS AT WORK AND PLA Y 



'Pan' ran up and carefully licked off the frozen 

 ice and snow, stopping every now and then to 

 give an anxious look, which said as plainly as 

 possible : ' Dear me, if I don't get him clean 

 quickly, he will be sent to lie in the stable.' 



Horses and cattle not only wash and clean their 

 own coats, but also assist at each others' toilets. 

 The greatest difficulty which most animals find in 

 the pursuit of cleanliness and neatness is to wash 

 their own necks. A cat does this by licking its 

 fur as far as its tongue will bend upwards and back- 

 wards, and finishing by wetting its feet and rubbing 

 the parts behind its ears and the back of its neck. 

 But cattle and horses can use no such expedient. 

 Consequently they wash for each other such parts of 

 their coats as they cannot reach themselves. If a 

 horse and a cow are alone in the same field, they 

 will perform these good offices mutually, though, 

 as the horse cleans its own or the cow's coat 

 usually with its teeth, while the cow uses its tongue, 

 the process is not quite satisfactory to either. But 

 they are ever so much better off than the solitary 

 giraffe at the Zoo. After its arrival it soon made 

 all its coat bright and clean except its neck. This 

 could only be washed by another giraffe ; and as it 

 has no companion, its neck is several shades darker 

 than its body, and clearly needs washing. 



