THE SERVICE OE TAILS 



65 



ant-eater is an enormous brush, which he is said 

 to bend over his body like an umbrella. 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- 

 tlinu' the leaves 



The Great Ant-eater 



in imitation of a 

 shower, and taking" "" ^ ~ "^ , '.''--^ .} T'- " 

 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 not 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 



