WATER AND ANIMALS. 
(5 I O SHOW the importance of 
^ I water to animal life, we give 
q I the opinions of several 
travelers and scientific men 
who have studied the question 
thoroughly. 
The Camel, with his pouch for stor- 
ing water, can go longer without 
drink than other animals. He doesn't 
do it from choice, any more than you 
in a desert would prefer to drink the 
water that you have carried with you, 
if you might choose between that and 
fresh spring water. Major A. G. 
Leonard, an English transport officer, 
claims that Camels "should be watered 
every day, that they can not be trained 
to do without water, and that, though 
they can retain one and a half gallons 
of water in the cells of the stomach, 
four or five days' abstinence is as much 
as they can stand, in heat and with 
dry food, without permanent injury." 
Another distinguished English 
traveler, a Mr. Bryden, has observed 
that the beasts and birds of the 
deserts must have private stores of 
water of which we know nothing. Mr. 
Bryden, however, has seen the Sand- 
Grouse of South America on their 
flight to drink at a desert pool. ''The 
watering process is gone through with 
perfect order and without overcrowd- 
ing" — a hint to young people who are 
hungry and thirsty at their meals. 
" From eight o'clock to close on ten 
this wonderful flight continued ; as 
birds drank and departed, others were 
constantly arriving to take their 
places. I should judge that the average 
time spent by each bird at and around 
the water was half an hour." 
To show the wonderful instinct 
which animals possess for discovering 
water an anecdote is told by a writer 
in the Spectator, and the article is re- 
published in the Living Age of 
February 5. The question of a supply 
of good water for the Hague was under 
discussion in Holland at the time of 
building the North Sea Canal. Some 
one insisted that the Hares, Rabbits, 
and Partridges knew of a supply in the 
sand hills, because they never came to 
the wet " polders " to drink. At first 
the idea excited laughter. Then one 
of the local engineers suggested that the 
sand hills should be carefully explored, 
and now a long reservoir in the very 
center of those hills fills with water 
naturally and supplies the entire town. 
All this goes to prove to our mind 
that if Seals do not apparently drink, 
if Cormorants and Penguins, Giraffes, 
Snakes, and Reptiles seem to care 
nothing for water, some of them do 
eat wet or moist food, while the 
Giraffe, for one, enjoys the juices of 
the leaves of trees that have their 
roots in the moisture. None of these 
animals are our common, everyday 
pets. If they were, it would cost us 
nothing to put water at their disposal, 
but that they never drink in their 
native haunts "can not be proved until 
the deserts have been explored and 
the total absence of water con- 
firmed." — Ex. 
84 
