. Peter Parley's kaleidoscope : or, Parlor pleasure book : consisting of gleanings from many fields of the curious, the beautiful, and the wonderful . hreatening appearance produced a momentary suspension ofhostilities; but the bird soon returned to the charge, and, cover-ing his body with one of his wings as a buckler, struck hisenemy with the bony protuberance of the other. He saw it atlast stagger and fall; the conqueror then fell upon it to dispatchit, and with one stroke of his bill laid open its skull. To detail the various devices resorted to by animals to obtainfood, would require a vo
. Peter Parley's kaleidoscope : or, Parlor pleasure book : consisting of gleanings from many fields of the curious, the beautiful, and the wonderful . hreatening appearance produced a momentary suspension ofhostilities; but the bird soon returned to the charge, and, cover-ing his body with one of his wings as a buckler, struck hisenemy with the bony protuberance of the other. He saw it atlast stagger and fall; the conqueror then fell upon it to dispatchit, and with one stroke of his bill laid open its skull. To detail the various devices resorted to by animals to obtainfood, would require a volume. Some of them set traps, as theant lion ; the spider .spreads nets, the cats lie in wait, the foxsteals in by night, the falcons pounce on their prey. The fly-shooter, of Java, is a real hunter, and using his mouth for a gun,his breath for powder, and a drop of water for a bullet, takes anunerring aim and brings down his prey. Thus we find in a fishthe only instance in the animal kingdom of the use of a propulsiveweapon, analogous to the destructive engines of man, from thebow and arrow to the cannon. 510 CURIOUS CHARACTERISTICS OF ANIMALS. WALRUS ATTACKED BY ESQUIMAUX. In connection with this subject, St. Pierre conveys a happyillustration of the adaptation of animals to the provision whichProvidence has made for feeding them. The sluggish cow,says he, pastures in the cavity of the valley ; the bounding sheepon the declivity of the hill ; the scrambling goat browses amongthe shrubs of the rocks ; the hen, with attentive eye. picks upevery grain that is lost in the field ; the pigeon, on rapid wing,collects a similar tribute from the refuse of the grove : and thefrugal bee turns to account even the small dust on the flower :there is no part of the earth where the whole vegetable crop maynot be reaped. Those plants which are rejected by one, are adelicacy to the other ; and even among the finny tribes contributeto their fatness. The hog devours the horse-tail and hen-bane ;
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Keywords: ., bookauthorgoodrich, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookyear1859
