WEAPONS OF ANIMALS 175 



with the result that <Jie congregation had hastily to 

 leave the church. 



As the skunk is able to expel its odoriferous 

 fluid for a distance of as much as sixteen feet, one 

 may well imagine that other animals find it conve- 

 nient to give the creature a wide berth. The Malay 

 badger, or stink-badger as it is sometimes called, 

 shares the evil reputation of the skunk ; and the 

 zorilla or Cape polecat is but a degree less objec- 

 tionable. 



The beaks of birds are very efficient weapons ; 

 those of the storks, vultures, eagles, hawks, and 

 parrots being of a very formidable nature. Even 

 those of quite small birds are not to be ignored, 

 for the writer knew a Brazilian troupial (a species 

 not as large as a thrush) which would fly and strike 

 at the eyes of any stranger who entered its aviary ; 

 while the combative tits and robins have been 

 known to pierce the skull of other small birds with 

 their bills. 



The ostrich, the emu, the rhea and the cassowary 

 fight with their feet, the latter directing its blows 

 forwards, and the others delivering theirs in a back- 

 wards and outwards direction. Darwin states that 

 rheas ' have been known to attack a man on 

 horseback, trying to kick and leap on him.' 



The diurnal birds of prey, as well as the owls, 

 employ their sharp talons as weapons, and during 

 combat with one another an individual will fre- 

 quently lie upon its back and in that position ward 

 off the attack of its adversary. Equally effective 

 weapons are the claws of crabs, crayfish, and lobsters. 



