Ilr THE SERVICE OF TAILS 65 
ant-eater is an enormous brush, which he is said 
to bend over his body like an umbrélla. His 
home is in the Amazonian forests, where tremen- 
dous rains fall; and as it is his business to be abroad 
in the forest, pushing his way through the drip- 
ping undergrowth at all hours, such an umbrella, 
as Mr. Wallace assures us, is of great service 
to him,—except when it gets him into trouble. 
This usually hap- 
pens by reason of 
an Indian’s rat- 
tling the leaves 
THE GREAT ANT-EATER, 
in imitation of a arms = 
shower, and mking = °° Se 
advantage of the 
poor beast’s haste to elevate his umbrella, to rush 
forward and kill it. Hence the wisest of the ant- 
eaters have concluded that there are times when it 
is well to know enough xo¢ to go in when it rains. 
The long and ample tail-feathers of East Indian 
pheasants form a pent-house, with sloping roofs 
beneath which the chicks huddle, warm and dry 
F 
