She 



HOW ANIMALS ARE PROTECTED 

 AGAINST THEIR ENEMIES. 



The most casual observer cannot fail to be interested in the 

 wonderful manner in which all classes of animals, from the 

 largest quadruped to the smallest insect, are protected against 

 the various enemies which seek to destrov them, and the studv 

 of this subject is a source of never-ending delight to the 

 naturalist, or, indeed, anyone who is embued with a true sense 

 of the lessons to be learnt from the wonders of nature. It 

 will be seen at once that those animals which are not endowed 

 with strong teeth, claws, or other weapons of defence against 

 their foes, always have some peculiarity of shape or colour 

 which concealsthembvharmonizinor with their surroundino-s, and 

 thus guards them, to a certain extent, from the attacks of those 

 predatory creatures into whose clutches they would otherwise 

 easily fall. And this is as it should be, for, if those carnivorous 

 animals whose natural food they are, were able to hnd their 

 prey too easily, they would destroy for the love of slaughter, 

 even after the pangs of hunger were satisfied. But as it is^. 

 predatory'animals are obliged to use a large amount of cunning 

 and energy in hunting their victims down, and therefore they 

 do not as a rule kill more than are absolutely necessary to 

 satisfy the cravings of the stomach. Thus is the balance of 

 Nature evenly preserved, all species of animals maintaining 

 their proper proportions to one another. At the same time, 

 we must not forgret that the same resemblance to surroundinof 

 objects which conceals many animals from their stronger foes, 

 serves them also as a means of more successfully hunting those 

 weaker creatures upon which they in their turn prey. 



Anyone who has seen the Hippopotami in the Gardens 

 of the Zoological Society of London must have been strujk 

 by the resemblance these huge animals bear to half-sunken 

 rocks, when laying quietly in the small lake which is attached 

 to their house, with only part of the back and top of the head 



C 



