cribed by Brehm, is
common. When by chance a bird of prey, such as an eagle, has thrown
himself on a young ape who is amusing himself far from the maternal
eye, the little one does not let himself be taken without resistance;
he clings to the branches and utters shrill and despairing cries. His
appeals are heard, and in an instant a dozen agile males arrive to
save him; they throw themselves on the imprudent ravisher and seize
him, one by the claw, another by the neck, another by a wing, pulling
him about and harassing him. The bird struggles as well as he can,
distributing around him blows from talons and beak. But he is often
strangled, and when his temerity does not receive this extreme
punishment, the feathers which fall from him when he flies away bear
witness that he has not emerged unscathed from the scuffle.

Animals like Buffaloes resist by a common defence the most terrible
Carnivora. Even the Tiger is their victim, although if one of them met
that wild beast alone he would surely become its prey. Being very
agile, the tiger can reach by one leap the back of the ruminant, whose
brutal and massive force cannot thus be exercised; but the feline who
falls into the midst of a troop fares very badly. One buffalo falls on
him with lowered horns, and with a robust blow of the head throws him
into the air. The tiger cannot regain his senses, for as soon as he
reaches the ground, and often even before, he is again seized and
thrown towards other horns. Thus thrown from one to another like a
ball, he is promptly put to death.

The less terrible Carnivora give Buffaloes no trouble. Wolves do not
dare to attack them when they are united; they await in ambush the
passage of some strayed calf, and rapidly gain possession of it before
the rest of the flock are aware, or they would dearly pay for their
attack.

The Bisons of North America, near relatives of the Buffaloes, also
repulse Wolves in common; and if Man succeeds better against them it
is owing to the skill which he shows in hiding himself and not
attracting their attention. Every one knows how Indians hunt the Bison
with arrows, and his pursuit is very risky to the hunter, for he must
not be discovered by the game, as he would then be trodden underfoot
or disembowelled. In the immense prairies where these ruminants feed,
a few Indians covered by bisons' skins advance on all fours, so that
nothing betrays their presence. The victims fall one by one beneath
silent