RETREAT 365 



they slowly and deliberately quit their retreat in search of food. 

 Large stones are often overturned by their united efforts in order 

 to seek for any animals that may have crawled under them, such 

 animals forming, along with roots, tubers, juicy leaves, and fruits, 

 their chief nourishment. After that the company bask in the sun 

 with their backs turned to the wind, the older ones sitting on stones, 

 while the young tumble and play about. The old, meanwhile, keep 

 a careful watch all round; the troop next go to some water to 

 drink, and after supper they betake themselves once more to rest. 

 For the most part a troop sticks to the same feeding-ground, for 

 some time at least, but from time to time it changes its ground. 



" On the approach of any danger warning sounds are heard, 

 and the females and the young then crowd together, while the 

 old males, like the champions of the ancient Greeks, advance into 

 the foremost of the fight uttering fearful cries, bellowing, and 

 gnashing their teeth. A bold and proud spirit with contempt of 

 death is beyond question a characteristic trait of the baboons, 

 and when Brehm records a case in which an old Arabian male 

 baboon gradually managed to extricate a young one, which had 

 been left behind on a rock surrounded by dogs, from the midst 

 of its assailants and before the very eyes of the hunters, inspiring 

 by its determined bearing both dogs and hunters with such respect 

 for its powers that no attack was ventured on, we may well agree 

 with Darwin in saying that here was a proof of heroism of which 

 only few men were capable." 



The characteristically herbivorous order of Ungulates illus- 

 trates a number of points in connection with retreat from enjmies. 

 It includes, for instance, many examples of extraordinary fleetness, 

 as in the case of horses and their allies, deer, antelopes, and 

 giraffes. It is usual for such forms to live in social communities, 

 the safety of which while feeding is provided for by the posting 

 of sentinels. A well-known instance of the latter habit is afforded 

 by the Alpine Chamois (Rupicapra tragus\ which feeds during 

 the day in small herds of about a score individuals, the welfare of 

 which is watched over by an old female, who takes up a position 

 giving a wide outlook, and warns her associates of danger by a 

 sharp whistling cry. Retreat is often cleverly effected by such 

 gregarious forms, as, for instance, by the little antelopes known 

 as Duyker-Boks (species of Cephalophus], which "duck" down 

 among the bushes among which they feed in a way which has 



