The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1908-10-09
A Tale About Tails.

to animals, whose local good work is
mentioned elsewhere in our columns,
are seriously contemplating crusade
against the docking of horses tails, and
this naturally suggests the subject of
tails generally, with which the Creator
seems to have regarded it as essential to
supply all living creatures.
Why is a tail? Man is wont to ridi-
cule the caudal appendage and mimi
mlze It's uses, probably because he shed
his away back in the pithecoid stage.
The end of things seems to him futile
and undignified. Yet the tail continues
to be the emostimportant member among
animals, and the world could hardly
wag without it. Arms and legs are a
modern invention compared with the
sinuous extension that wagged and wav
ed and acted as a propeller to the early
forms of life millions of years ago. All
sentiments and emotion were expressed
by the tail, curved or erect or gently
moved from side to side, constituting a
sign language quite sufficient for the
ichthyosaurus and other brainy deni
zens of the deep.
From the curator of the New York
Geological Park, we get some interest
ing information on this subject. When
you see a dog lie down and curl his tail
forward you have hint of the primitive
use of this member. The animal, in
wild state, when the weather was cold,
was accustomed to use his thick, hairy
tail as a rug around his body, and par
t,cularly as shelter for his nose. While
snugly sheltered he could breathe and
smell an enemy through the porous tip.
The dog expresses all kinds OF affection
by wagging, and grief by dropping his
tail. A pointer has learned in forty
generations an artificial self-control that
causes him to stffen his body and tail
when he scents the game. When a dog
puts his tail between his legs it is re-
miniscence of an ancestral precaution
against pursuing enemy who might
bite the trailing member.
The cat tribe does not wag, but uses
its tail to get rid of surplus of nervous
energy when engaged in the hunt. The
kitten, stalking bird, or lion after an
OK, curls and uncurls the tip of its tail.
This is like a man nervously tapping his
foot or fingers at moments of stress and
excitement. The jaguar walking on a
slender bough and the house cat going
to rendezvous on top OF back yard
fence, employ their tails to keep their
balance, the same as a tight rope walker
7 sways his pole. Sheep seem to have no
use for tails, yet the breed found in Asia
Minor and Tartary with 50-pound tail
make the appendage serve rs store
house for fat. These enormous eXten-
sons are fastened on two sticks, which
drag on the ground or are carried on two
small wheels.
An important function of tails is to
T whisk away flies and other insects that
attack animals unprotected by long haiI
] | or thick hides. Two horses or COWS
standing beside each other, head to tail
and joining forces to switch off flies, il
lustrate an ingenious application of the
proverb, that two tails are better than
? one. The wild horse did not have much
tail, because his thick and shaggy coat
= shielded him from insects.
Most aquatic animals use their tai
) rather than the limbs to swim with. TIL,
l alligator paddles along slowly with hi'
webbed toes, but he folds his legs or let,
them drift when he wants to go at full
speed, by undulating his tail. Seals fol6
their hind tlippers together and use then
tail fashion, while penguins swim will
their wings and steer with their tails
8 Whales used to live on dry land anC
j. crawl about on four feet. When they
took to the water they found it con
It venient to develope tails with vertica
d instead of a horizontal sweep. Thi
helped them to shoot up quickly from
i the ocean depths to get air. The aliga
u tor's tail is so powerful that it can knocl
over and injure half dozen men trying
to hold it. The Mexican iguana has ;
happy faculty of letting an enemy keel
the end of his tail, while he escapes int
his burrow, and nature soon makes VI
with new growth for the appendage h,
n has lost. The porcupine vibrates hi
y quilted tail as formidable wepon.
n A fossil discovered in Bavaria show
= how the lizards tail evolved into tn
feathery tuft of a bird. The link be-
tween reptile and bird had twenty larg
feathers on each side of its leathery tail
which served chiefly as a rudder il
short, leaping flights. More feathers
set closely together, came in response t.
II need, and finally the power to open ant
J. shut fanlike tail of feathers. A curl
D osity is the paradise widow finch o
e Africa, which has body four inche
K long and tail foot in length. After
heavy rain or dew the bird can't fly un
I'll the sun has dried its feathers, whic