47 THE FOOD OF ANIMALS. 



THE FOOD OF ANIMALS. 



"Carne ferae sedant jejunia, nee tamen omnes : 

 Quippe equus, et pecudes, armentaque gramine vivunt." OVID. 



ON passing the terrestrial animals in review before us, it would ap- 

 pear that those which go in flocks are known to live upon the fruits of 

 the earth, and that those which shun the society of their own species 

 contrive to maintain themselves by preying upon their fellow-creatures. 

 Men are omnivorous, although the old saying of "fruges consumere 

 nati," seems to imply that they would not do wrong in abstaining from 

 carnal food. This arrangement is easily accounted for, seeing that 

 the food of gregarious animals is plentiful, whilst that of solitary ones 

 is comparatively scarce. Were lions to hunt in companies, the cap- 

 tured quarry would be insufficient for their appetites ; they would 

 fight for the slaughtered spoil ere they had torn it in pieces, and the 

 strongest would be possessed of the prize. 



We have all noticed the growling habits of the beasts of prey, 

 when they approach too near each other at the time of feeding. 

 Carnal food, by being confined to one particular spot, must always 

 bring the consumers into contact. On the contrary, fruitage is 

 widely spread, and offers abundant maintenance to the weak apart 

 from the strong. Even hounds, whose nature is mollified by art, 

 and which are brought by discipline to hunt in concert, cannot be 

 prevented from fighting for their share of the dying fox ; and were 

 you to treat them in the field to a dead horse, you would hear 

 nothing but the yells of the bitten, and the snarls of others in pos- 

 session of the food. 



Thus, then, instinct points out to carnivorous animals the neces- 

 sity of procuring subsistence by solitary effort. And this is well 

 ordained, for the carcass of a deer would ill requite the united efforts 

 of forty lions to secure it. Were they to try the experiment once, 

 their mutual lacerations in the conflict for a morsel of it would teach 

 them to adopt some more agreeable and more productive plan in 

 future. 



