ANIMALS THAT HUNT. 571 



have the power of combining for actual stratagems. Sometimes a 

 pair hunt together. If they meet a flock, knowing that the dog will 

 defend bravely the creatures intrusted to him, that he is vigilant, and 

 that his fine sense of smell will bring him upon them long before the 

 herdsman is aware of them, they attend first to him. The wolves 

 approach, waril}^ keeping out of sight; then one of them abruptly 

 shows himself and attracts the attention of the dog, who rushes upon 

 the wolf and pursues it with such eagerness that he does not perceive 

 tliat, during this time, the second thief has seized a sheep and dragged 

 it into the wood. The dog finall}^ gives up his attempt to vie in swift- 

 ness with the fugitive and returns to his flock. Then the two confed- 

 erates again meet and share their pvGj. In other cases a w^olf will 

 hunt with his mate. When they wish to take a roebuck, one of the 

 pair — the male, for example — follows it and directs the chase so as to 

 make the prej' pass near a place where the female is hidden. She 

 then springs forward and continues the chase while the male wolf rests. 

 It is a verital)le organized relay race. Of necessity the strength of 

 the roe is exhausted, and he can not equal the ardor which his pur- 

 suer, quite fresh, displays in the chase. He is taken and put to death. 

 The male has meanwhile approached the place of the feast in a more 

 leisurely manner and comes to claim his share of the boot3^ 



By what we have now said, it is clear how analogous to our own 

 methods of hunting are those which are in use among animals. That 

 the picture may be complete, it is necessary to cite the poachers, which 

 will not be difficult, for they are legion. I will only mention one of 

 them — the most audacious — the stercorarius, a sea bird that is often 

 seen on the seashore following gulls, sea mews, and terns as if he 

 would devour them. Such is not his purpose. If you follow him 

 with a glass yon see him torment these unhappy birds unceasingly, 

 until they let fall into the sea a whitish, greenish mass, which he 

 seizes and swallows in an instaiit. The early witnesses of this per- 

 formance imagined that this mass was nothing else than the dejection 

 of the sea bird, and therefore concluded that the stercorarius had a 

 singular method of alimentation (whence the name). But in reality 

 that is not the explanation. The mass rejected is a fish only just 

 swallowed l)y th(> bird, who is forced by the stercorarius to regurgi- 

 tate it; to this (Mid the latter follows without rest and strikes his 

 quarry violently on the head until the ])0()ty is abandoned to him. 

 If the ])ird resists, which rarely happens, he strangles it and tears it 

 to pieces. 



