i 9 4 DAINTIES OF ANIMAL DIET 



for the master or mistress to take to the horses when 

 visiting them. They like apples equally well, but 

 these do not always agree with them. There is, or was 

 recently, at Guildford Station a horse which would 

 push a truck with its chest, when told to do so, instead 

 of pulling it. This was very useful when it was desired 

 to bring the truck up to the end of a siding, where 

 there was no room for the horse to go in front and pull. 

 It had been taught by a shunter, who sat in an empty 

 truck and offered the horse a carrot. The horse would 

 stretch its neck out, and push its chest against the 

 waggon to take the carrot, and so start the waggon 

 along the metals. It was then given the carrot, and 

 soon learnt that it was wanted to push and would be 

 rewarded for doing so. 



Donkeys are said to like thistles. They will eat 

 them, and will even take them from the hand and eat 

 them when other food is at hand. But they do not 

 exhibit much enthusiasm for this dainty, and would 

 probably agree with Bottom that 'good hay, sweet 

 hay, hath no fellow.' Camels, however, really enjoy 

 them, and menagerie camels when on tour will eat 

 every thistle they can pick by the roadside. This is a 

 curious taste in daintiness, but, like some human fancies 

 of the kind, it has a sentimental background. The 

 camel, it is said, eats the thistles because they are the 

 nearest approach to the ' vegetation ' of its native desert. 



