354 ANIMAL DEFENCES 



three dogs with three successive sweeps of its long scimitar-shaped 

 horns." Even the lion sometimes meets his match in this well- 

 defended form. 



Kangaroos seek safety in flight, but when forced to defend 

 themselves, can use their powerful hind-legs with considerable 

 effect. Semon (in In the Australian Bnsli) states that this 

 animal, when " driven to bay, will seek its last refuge by leaning 

 its back against a tree and defending itself against its pursuers by 

 kicking and scratching with its hind-legs, the fourth toe of which 

 bears a long and pointed claw. On carelessly approaching an old 

 kangaroo male bent on his defence, dogs w-ill often be clutched by 

 his fore-legs, suffocated by his powerful embrace, or scratched to 

 death. . . . Some kangaroos, when at their wits' end, sometimes 

 manage to escape into a river or lagoon, in the deep water of 

 which they stand fully erect and drown any dog swimming up to 

 them." This description, of course, applies to the artificial con- 

 ditions of a kangaroo hunt conducted by mounted men with dogs. 

 But it is clear that the powers of swift locomotion and active 

 defence possessed by these animals were evolved in relation to 

 older conditions, and were amply sufficient to enable them to hold 

 their own against natural enemies, of which, as usual, man was by 

 far the most formidable. 



The Skunk {^Mephitis siijfocans) has already been mentioned as 

 an example of warning-coloration among Mammals (see p. 301). 

 If the warning be neglected and an attack made, the animal 

 ejects a superlatively offensive fluid from its stink-glands, and in 

 most cases escapes with its life. 



Actively Defensive Weapons of Birds and Reptiles. — The 

 larger running birds, such as Ostrich and Emeu, are able to 

 defend themselves very effectively by kicking, it being said that 

 the former is not far inferior to a horse in this respect. Althouoh 

 not provided with special defensive weapons, many birds of social 

 habit, such as rooks, combine for the purpose of repelling the attacks 

 of enemies, more particularly when these are birds of prey. 



Among Reptiles, it is possible that the two American Lizards 

 (species of Heloderma) (fig. 503), which are the only two members 

 of their order known to be poisonous, use their special weapons 

 rather for defence than offence. These consist of slender orooved 

 teeth loosely attached to the jaw, and resembling the fano-s of 

 venomous snakes. At the base of each tooth is a small poison- 



