USE OF NATURAL INSTRUMENTS. 419 



among white ants signal to the workers by strokes of their 

 pincers (Figuier). And ants in general use their antenna) 

 in 



1. Examination of objects. 



2. Communication of ideas, feelings, or desires (Figuier). 

 They are instruments of language. 



3. Milking Aphides, in which the deftness or adroitness 

 of the ant, and also of the bee, has been commented on by 

 Moggridge. 



The dugong of Ceylon clasps its young to its breast with 

 one flipper while swimming with the other (Tennent). 'I 

 once saw a whale, 5 says Dr. Eobert Brown, ' when the boats 

 were approaching it, take the young under one pectoral fin 

 and swim off by the aid of the other.' 



Claws are used by some animals for certain of the pur- 

 poses to which man and the Quadrumana apply their nails. 

 In this way pea-hens are in the habit of combing out the 

 topknots of their sons. Romanes gives a case in which a 

 Brahma hen (foster mother) did the same to her foster son 

 (a peacock) ' she standing on a seat or other eminence of 

 suitable height, and he bending his head forwards with 

 evident satisfaction.' Parrots and many other birds hold 

 their food in their feet or claws for instance, certain New 

 Zealand birds mentioned by Dr. Buller. By means of their 

 claws, too, they hold on to their perch, and scratch up earth 

 in search of worms or otherwise. A pet bird of Bechstein's 

 got its food by pressing a lever with its foot. The procedure 

 was imitated by another uneducated bird suffering from 

 hunger. It lifted the lid of the food box with its claws as it 

 had seen the trained bird do. Dogs and cats use their claws 

 to scratch up earth in making caches of food, .to scratch at 

 doors so as to attract man's notice, to reach or grasp coveted 

 articles. 



The feet especially the hind feet are used for many 

 purposes, both as implements and weapons. The horse 

 inflicts deadly injury with its hind hoofs, batters doors or 

 fences, assaults its enemies, or protects itself from their 

 assaults. But it also makes a more ingenious and less ob- 

 jectionable use of these formidable hoofs. Thus a mare 



E E 2 



