-headed Melanerpes (_Melanerpes
erythrocephalus_) of North America is very greedy with regard to
apples, and feeds on them as well as on cherries. It takes him a
considerable time to consume an apple, and as he is well aware of the
danger he runs by prolonging his stay in an orchard, he wishes to
carry away his booty to a safe and sheltered spot. He vigorously
plunges his open beak into the apple; the two mandibles enter
separately, and the fruit is well fixed; he detaches it and flies away
to the chosen retreat. Apes are very skilful in utilising their booty.
Cocoa-nuts are rather hard to open, but Apes do not lose any part of
them; they first tear off the fibrous envelope with their teeth, then
they enlarge the natural holes with their fingers, and drink the milk.
Finally, in order to reach the kernel they strike the nut on some hard
object exactly as Man would do. The Baboons (_Cynocephali_), whose
courage is prodigious, since they will fight in a band against a pack
of dogs or even against a leopard, are also very prudent and very
skilful. They know that courage is no use against the sting of a
venomous snake, and that the best thing is to avoid being bitten. The
scorpion, whose dart is perfidious, also inspires their distrust, but
as they like eating him they endeavour to catch him. This is not
indeed very difficult if one carefully observes his movements, and it
is possible to seize him suddenly by the tail, as I have often done,
without being stung. Apes employ this method, pull out his sting, and
crunch the now inoffensive Arachnid. They also like ants, but fear
being bitten by them; when they wish to enjoy them, they place an open
hand on an ant-hill and remain motionless until it is covered by
insects. They can then absorb them at one stroke without fear.

One would not think that an animal so well defended as the Hedgehog
need fear becoming the prey of the Fox. Rolled in a ball, bristling
with hard prickles which cruelly wound an assailant's mouth, nothing
will induce him to unroll so long as he supposes the enemy still in
the neighbourhood. It is vain to strike him or to rub him on the
earth; he remains on the armed defensive. Only one circumstance
disturbs him to the point of making him quit his prudent posture; it
is to feel himself in the water, or even simply to be moist. The fox
is acquainted with this weakness, therefore as soon as he has captured
a hedgehog he rolls him in the nearest marsh to strangl