366 NATURAL HISTORY READER. 



out of a deep, narrow vessel. So a mug, containing about 

 a gill of milk, was set before her. She instant])' turned 

 up the proboscis toward her forehead, and, in the easiest 

 way imaginable, lapped the vessel dry. The organ was not 

 even wet. The sight, though comical, was really pretty. 

 It was the only time that I had ever seen the turning up 

 of the nose at one's friends so deftly and gracefully clone. 

 And she could turn the same organ in a contrary way quite 

 as easily. 



8. Sometimes for an airing the animal was tied by a 

 long tether to a flower-stand on the lawn. She bad nearly 

 all the appetencies of the domestic swine ; and the end of 

 her proboscis was essentially a swine's snout. I now beheld 

 the use of this singularly tipped organ. And an interest- 

 ing sight it was to sec that little thing plow up the green- 

 sward with the tip of her nose — and so easily. Here ap- 

 peared the veritable swinish acuteness of scent for insects 

 and worms, and the swinish facility for rooting in the 

 ground. With surprising rapidity furrow after furrow was 

 made, of about the width of a man's thumb. Whenever a 

 worm or insect was discovered, as when drinking, the nose 

 was curved up, so that the mouth could extract the object 

 from the furrow. 



I). The tail of Nasua is quite suggestive of the raccoon ; 

 but Nasua's tail is a much handsomer affair — longer, and 

 with rings more numerous and of gayer colors. With ad- 

 mirable intelligence, our pet put this beautiful appendage 

 to a remarkable use. She was tethered by a string to a 

 chair, and an egg was put on the floor at a tantalizing dis- 

 tance. She could just touch it with a paw, and that touch 

 caused the coveted prize to roll out of reach. She then 

 turned her hind feet toward it, pulling hard so as to stretch 

 her neck ; still, oven with a hind foot she could not touch 

 it. The logic of events was now, " Get it if you can ! " 



10. All this Nasua well understood, for she turned tail 



