Ill THE SERVICE OF TAILS 63 



that of the thrasher is long and drooping. The 

 brilHant sun-birds and gaudy parrots content them- 

 selves with short rectrices, while the no less orna- 

 mented humming-birds and trogons of our tropical 

 woods trail behind them plumes of vivid color, often 

 three times as long as the body. 



Sometimes the tail carries out the general con- 

 tour of the body, and its origin is scarcely dis- 

 cernible, externally, as among snakes and most 

 fishes ; again, it is an almost naked appendage, as 

 among the rats ; while a third class can be made 

 of tails plentifully furnished, and, as a rule, highly 

 adorned, with hair or feathers, such as those of 

 the horse, the squirrels, the ant-eater, the fox, the 

 malodorous skunk, and the gorgeous peacock,^ 

 pheasants and birds-of-paradise. 



But a more interesting line of inquiry is to trace 

 the manifold ways in which wild animals turn their 

 tails to practical account. These appendages are 

 as a fifth limb to a great number of creatures who 

 would be sadly deficient without them. They serve 

 their various owners as shelters ; as garments ; as 

 receptacles, carriers, and tools ; as respirators ; as 

 badges for friend or foe ; as weapons, both for 

 offence and defence; as anchors, supports and 

 aids to locomotion on land as well as under the 

 water and through the air ; as musical instruments 

 (for example, by the rattlesnake), or as a means 



1 111 this bird, however, the resplendent train really consists of 

 tail-coverts and not of the rectrices, or true tail-feathers. 



