48 THE INDUSTRIES OF ANIMALS. 



The Snake himself is treated in this way in South 

 America. The Sulphur Tyrant-bird picks up a young 

 snake by the tail, and, flying to a branch or stone, 

 uses it like a flail until its life is battered out.^ 



It would be a paradox to attribute great intelligence 

 to Ratrachians ; yet certain facts are recorded which 

 show them to be capable of reflection. Among others 

 the case is quoted of a green frog who obtained pos- 

 session of a small red frog, and who proposed to 

 swallow him. The other was naturally opposed to 

 the realisation of this scheme and struggled with 

 energy. Seeing that he would not succeed, the green 

 frog went towards the trunk of a tree and, still 

 holding his victim, struck him many times vigorously 

 against it. At last the red frog was stunned, and 

 could then be swallowed at leisure. 



Gasteropods are not always protected by their cal- 

 careous shells any more than tortoises are by their 

 carapaces ; for certain birds know very well how 

 to break them. Ravens drop snails from a height, 

 and thus get possession of the contents of the 

 shell. 



The most celebrated breaker of shells is the 

 Bearded Vulture or Lammergeyer {Gypdetos barbatus). 

 This rapacious bird is very common in Greece, where 

 he does not usually live on large prey. If he some- 

 times carries away a fowl, it is exceptional ; he prefers 

 to live on carrion or bones, the remains of the feasts 

 of man or of the true vulture. He rises very high 

 carrying these bones in his talons and allows them to 

 fall on a stone, swallowing the fragments after having 

 sucked out the marrow. He is also greedy of tor- 

 toises, and uses the same method to break their 



^ W. H. Hudson, Nahiralist in La F/ala, p. 73. 



