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<h2>CHAPTER LV.</h2> 1091. Why do quadrupeds that are vegetable eaters feed so continually? Because their food contains but a small proportion of nutrition, so that it is necessary to digest a large quantity to obtain sufficient nourishment. 1092. Why do flesh eating animals satisfy themselves with a rapid meal? Because the food which they eat is rich in nutritious matter, and more readily digestible than vegetable food; it does not therefore, require the same amount of grinding with the teeth. <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/i-282.jpg" width-obs="364" height-obs="400" alt="" /> <div class="caption">Fig. 73.—PELICAN WITH DILATED POUCH.</div> </div> 1093. Why has the pelican a large pouch under its bill? Because it subsists upon fish, generally of the smaller kind, and uses its pouch as a net for catching them; the pouch also serves as [Pg 277] a paunch, in which the fish are stored, until the bird ceases from the exertion of fishing, and takes its meal at leisure. <hr class="bible-verse" /> "And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good."—Genesis i. <hr class="bible-verse" /> In their wild state they hover and wheel over the surface of the water, watching the shoals of fish beneath, and suddenly sweeping down, bury themselves in the foaming waves; rising immediately from the water by their own buoyancy, up they soar, the pouch laden with the fish scooped up during their momentary submersion. The number of fish the pouch of this species will contain may be easily imagined when we state that it is so dilatable as to be capable of containing two gallons of water; yet the bird has the power of contracting this membranous expansion, by wrinkling it up under the lower mandible, until it is scarcely to be seen. In shallow inlets, which the pelicans often frequent, it nets its prey with great adroitness. The pelican chooses remote and solitary islands, isolated rocks in the sea, the borders of lakes and rivers, as its breeding place. The nest, placed on the ground, is made of coarse grasses, and the eggs, which are white, are two or three in number. While the female is incubating, the male brings fish to her in his pouch, and the young, when hatched, are assiduously attended by the parents, who feed them by pressing the pouch against the breast, so as to transfer the fish from the former into the throats of the young. This action has doubtless given origin to the old fable of the pelican feeding its young with blood drawn from its own breast.—Knight's Animal Kingdom. 1094. Why do the smaller animals breed more abundantly than the larger ones? Because the smaller ones are designed to be the food of the larger ones, and are therefore created in numbers adapted to that end. An elephant produces but one calf; the whale but one young one; a butterfly lays six hundred eggs; silk-worms lay from 1,000 to 2,000 eggs; the wasp, 5,000; the ant, 4,000 to 5,000; the queen bee, 5,000 to 6,000, or 40,000 to 50,000 in a season; and a species of white ant (termes fatalis) produces 86,400 eggs in a day. Birds of prey seldom produce more than two eggs; the sparrow and duck tribe frequently sit upon a dozen; in rivers there prevail a thousand minnows for one pike; and in the sea, a million of herrings for a single shark; while of the animalcules upon which the whale subsists, there must exist hundreds of millions for one whale. 1095. Why has the whale feathery-like laminæ of whale-bone extending from its jaws? Because these feathery bones, lying side by side, form a sieve, or strainer, for the large volumes of water which the whale receives into its mouth, drawing off therefrom millions of small animals, [Pg 278] which form a jelly-like mass upon which the whale feeds. A whale has been known to weigh as much as 249 tons, and its blubber yielded 4,000 gallons of oil. How many millions of living creatures must have gone to make up that enormous mass of animal matter! <hr class="bible-verse" /> "Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? * * He paveth the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men."—Job xxxix. <hr class="bible-verse" /> 1096. Why have cats, and various other animals, whiskers? The whiskers of cats, and of the cat tribe, are exceedingly sensitive, enabling them, when seizing their prey in the dark, to feel its position most acutely. These hairs are supplied, through their roots, with branches of the same nerves that give sensibility to the lips, and that in insects supply their "feelers." 1097. Why has the horse a smaller stomach proportionately than other animals? Because the horse was created for speed. Had he the ruminating stomach of the ox, he would be quite unfitted for the labour which he now so admirably performs. 1098. Why has the horse no gall-bladder? Because the rapid digestion of the horse, by which its fitness for speed is greatly increased, does not require the storing up of the bile as in other animals in which the digestive process is a slower operation. 1099. Why do certain butterflies lay their eggs upon cabbage leaves? Because the cabbage leaves are the food of the young caterpillars; and although the butterfly does not subsist herself upon the leaf, she knows by instinct that the leaf will afford food to her future young; she therefore lays her eggs where her young ones will find food. This explanation applies to many insects that lay their eggs upon other plants. 1100. Why have insects long projections from their heads, like horns or feathers? Because those organs (the antennæ), are those through which come insects hear and others feel; and the projecting of these antennæ from their bodies probably enables them to hear or feel [Pg 279] more acutely while their wings are in motion, without the interference of the vibrations of their wings. <hr class="bible-verse" /> "My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honey-comb, which is sweet to thy taste."—Proverbs xxiv. <hr class="bible-verse" /> 1101. Why have bees stings? Because they gather and store up honey which would constantly attract other insects, and the bees would be robbed of their food but for the sting, which is given to them for protection. 1102. Why have flies fine hairs growing at the extremities of their legs? Because they require to cleanse their bodies and wings, and to free them from particles of dust. And as they cannot turn their heads for this purpose, they have hairy feet, which serve as brushes, by which any part of their bodies can be reached and cleaned. <hr class="chap" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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