ish on which he feeds.

In these two examples we see a special organ utilised for a particular
function; it is one of the intermediate cases, already referred to,
between the true industries involving ingenuity and the simple
phenomena due to adaptations and modifications of the body.

_Hunting in the dwelling or in the burrow._--All these methods of
hunting or of fishing by surprise are for the most part practised by
the less agile species which cannot obtain their prey by superior
fleetness. Midway between these two methods may be placed that which
consists in surprising game when some circumstance has rendered it
motionless. Sometimes it is sleep which places it at the mercy of the
hunter, whose art in this case consists in seeking out its dwelling.
Sometimes he profits by the youth of the victim, like all
bird-nesters, whose aim is to eat the eggs or to devour the young
while still incapable of flying. The animals who eat birds' eggs are
numerous both among mammals and reptiles, as well as among birds
themselves.

The Alligator of Florida and of Louisiana delights in this chase. He
seeks in particular the Great Boat-Tail (_Quiscalus major_) which
nests in the reeds at the edge of marshes and ponds. When the young
have come out and are expecting from their parents the food which the
chances of the hunt may delay, they do not cease chirping and calling
by their cries. But the parents are not alone in hearing these
appeals. They may also strike the ears of the alligator, who furtively
approaches the imprudent singers. With a sudden stroke of his tail he
strikes the reeds and throws into the water one or more of the hungry
young ones, who are then at his mercy. (Audubon.)

The animals who feed on species living in societies either seize on
their prey when isolated or when all the members of the colony are
united in their city. A search for the nest is necessary in the case
of creatures who are very small in comparison with the hunter, as in
the case of ants and the Ant-eater. But the ant-eater possesses a very
long and sticky tongue, which renders the capture of these insects
extremely easy; when he finds a frequented passage it is enough to
stretch out his tongue; all the ants come of their own accord and
place themselves on it, and when it is sufficiently charged he
withdraws it and devours them. The African _Orycteropus_ (Fig. 2), who
is also a great eater of ants and especially of termites, is equally
aided by