e him as soon
as his head appears. It may happen that there is no puddle in the
neighbourhood suitable for this bath; it is said that in this case the
fox is not embarrassed for so small a matter, and provides from his
own body the wherewithal to moisten the hedgehog.

The combination is complicated, and approaches more nearly the methods
employed by Man when the animal makes use of a foreign body, as a tool
or as a fulcrum, to achieve his objects. A snake is very embarrassed
when he has swallowed an entire egg with the shell; he cannot digest
it in that condition, and the muscles of his stomach are not strong
enough to break it. The snake often finds himself in this condition,
and is then accustomed either to strike his body against hard objects
or to coil himself around them until he has broken the envelope of the
eggs he contains.

The Snake himself is treated in this way in South America. The Sulphur
Tyrant-bird picks up a young snake by the tail, and, flying to a
branch or stone, uses it like a flail until its life is battered
out.[27]

[27] W. H. Hudson, _Naturalist in La Plata_, p. 73.

It would be a paradox to attribute great intelligence to Batrachians;
yet certain facts are recorded which show them to be capable of
reflection. Among others the case is quoted of a green frog who
obtained possession of a small red frog, and who proposed to swallow
him. The other was naturally opposed to the realisation of this scheme
and struggled with energy. Seeing that he would not succeed, the green
frog went towards the trunk of a tree and, still holding his victim,
struck him many times vigorously against it. At last the red frog was
stunned, and could then be swallowed at leisure.

Gasteropods are not always protected by their calcareous shells any
more than tortoises are by their carapaces; for certain birds know
very well how to break them. Ravens drop snails from a height, and
thus get possession of the contents of the shell.

The most celebrated breaker of shells is the Bearded Vulture or
Lammergeyer (_Gypaeetos barbatus_). This rapacious bird is very common
in Greece, where he does not usually live on large prey. If he
sometimes carries away a fowl, it is exceptional; he prefers to live
on carrion or bones, the remains of the feasts of man or of the true
vulture. He rises very high carrying these bones in his talons and
allows them to fall on a stone, swallowing the fragments after having
sucked out the ma