1 THE SERVICE OF TAILS 87 
it by the head, because the ordinary serpent having 
once seized a victim never lets go until he has 
swallowed it. Lastly, there is no observable dif- 
ference, so far as this point is concerned, between 
the behavior of those lizards with long brittle tails 
and those with firm tails or scarcely any tail at all ; 
and the most brittle one of all, the “glass snake,” 
so called, is a subterranean species that rarely ex- 
poses either end of its body to capture. 
As to the mice, they do not ordinarily carry their 
tails in an extended position, but almost invariably 
keep them curled about their feet, as if they were 
afraid something might bite them, instead of anx- 
ious to induce a possible foe to seize them, in order 
that they might jerk them out of his clutch and 
laugh at his discomfiture at finding only a mouth- 
ful of fur instead of a fat morsel in his teeth. No 
mouse or squirrel is fool enough for that; and if 
by accident, the situation is ever created, no pur- 
suer is fool enough to sit still and curse his luck 
while the mutilated mouse or squirrel ambles gaily 
away. Moreover, there are short-tailed mice. With 
such bushy-tailed quadrupeds as the wolves, jack- 
als, and foxes, the case is still worse for the argu- 
ment. The very last thing such an animal does, 
when in danger, is to straighten out his tail. His 
first impulse, on the contrary, is to tuck it as far 
between his hind legs as he can. The very hard- 
est part for an enemy to seize would be its bushy 
tail, and the worst; for instantly the head would 
