BEAR AND ANT-EATER 9 



And this leads at last to specialism. The Indian 

 black bear is a "handyman," like the British Tar — 

 good all round. Its great soft paw is a very service- 

 able tool and weapon, armed with claws which will 

 take the face off a man or grub up a root with equal 

 ease. When a black bear has found an ant-hill it 

 takes but a few minutes to tear up the hard, cemented 

 clay and lay the deep galleries bare ; then, putting 

 its gutta-percha muzzle to the mouth of each, it 

 draws such a blast of air through them that the 

 industrious labourers are sucked into its gullet in 

 drifts. Afterwards it digs right down to the royal 

 chamber, licks up the bloated queen, and goes its 

 way. 



But there is .another worker in the same mine 

 which does not go to work this way. The ant-eater 

 found fat termites so satisfying that it left all other 

 things and devoted its life to the exploiting of ant- 

 hills, and now it has no rival at that business, but 

 it is fit for nothing else. Its awkward digging tools 

 will not allow it to put the sole of its foot to the 

 ground, so it has to double them under and hobble 

 about like a Chinese lady. It has no teeth, and 

 stupidity is the most prominent feature of its char- 

 acter. It has become that poor thing, a man of one 

 idea. 



But the bear is like a sign-post at a parting of 

 the ways. If you compare a brown bear with the 

 black Indian, or sloth bear, as it is sometimes called, 

 you may detect a small but pregnant difference. 



