But, if the bone be too hard, if the prize suspended be a Mole, an
adult Mouse or a Sparrow, the wire ligament opposes an insurmountable
obstacle to the attempts of the Necrophori, who, for nearly a week,
work at the hanging body, partly stripping it of fur or feather and
dishevelling it until it forms a lamentable object, and at last
abandon it when desiccation sets in. And yet a last resource remained,
one as rational as infallible: to overthrow the stake. Of course, not
one dreams of doing so.

For the last time let us change our artifices. The top of the gibbet
consists of a little fork, with the prongs widely opened and measuring
barely two-fifths of an inch in length. With a thread of hemp, less
easily attacked than a strip of raffia, I bind the hind-legs of an
adult Mouse together, a little above the heels; and I slip one of the
prongs in between. To bring the thing down one has only to slide it a
little way upwards; it is like a young Rabbit hanging in the window of
a poulterer's shop.

Five Necrophori come to inspect what I have prepared. After much
futile shaking, the tibiae are attacked. This, it seems, is the method
usually employed when the corpse is caught by one of its limbs in some
narrow fork of a low-growing plant. While trying to saw through the
bone--a heavy job this time--one of the workers slips between the
shackled legs; in this position, he feels the furry touch of the Mouse
against his chine. No more is needed to arouse his propensity to
thrust with his back. With a few heaves of the lever the thing is
done: the Mouse rises a little, slides over the supporting peg and
falls to the ground.

Is this manoeuvre really thought out? Has the insect indeed perceived,
by the light of a flash of reason, that to make the morsel fall it was
necessary to unhook it by sliding it along the peg? Has it actually
perceived the mechanism of the hanging? I know some persons--indeed, I
know many--who, in the presence of this magnificent result, would be
satisfied without further investigation.

More difficult to convince, I modify the experiment before drawing a
conclusion. I suspect that the Necrophorus, without in any way
foreseeing the consequences of his action, heaved his back merely
because he felt the animal's legs above him. With the system of
suspension adopted, the push of the back, employed in all cases of
difficulty, was brought to bear first upon the point of support; and
the fall resulted from t