The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-09
TABLE MANNERS AND
 HABITS OF ANIMALS

From the Louisville Herald.
 Recent investigations of science into the habits of birds and animals have re- vealed some very interesting facts which must increase our respect for the intel ligence of these creatures.
 Not only are they connoisseurs respect ing their food. having fine judgment and taste in the selection of tid-bits, but they possess an aesthetic sense, which is. in some instances, demonstrated by really fine table manners"
 In man alone are the hands as it were, set aside for service on the head, for though in the monkeys the forefeet have become hands and are used to carry food to the mouth, they are also used for walk ing purposes; and this is true also of the squirrel tribe. mice and rats and the kan- garoo. One must, however make an ex- ception of those strange creatures. the jerboas, which in their powers of salta- ton have eclipsed the l1angaroos. As consequence, the forefeet have dwindled away to the vanishing point, and hence are useless save only for conveying food to the mouth
 The birds feed with the hands tied be- hind the back so to speak and as a consequence, have developed long, mobile necks, and peaks of varying shape, adapt ed to particular kinds of food. While many, like Philip Pirrip, are "bolters,' others have adopted more or less elabo- rate methods of disposing of their food preparatory to swallowing. Thus the nuthatch, which feeds principally on nuts, fixes these hard-shelled morsels in the crevices of the bark of some gnarled tree, and then smashes the shell by we'll directed blows of a powerful dagger-like beak.
 The thrush, on the other hand, smashes the shell of snails, which form large part of it's diet, by banging them against a stone. which, from long use, becomes a sort of sacrificial altar, since it is gen. orally surrounded by the accumulated fragments of countless victims Crows deal similarly with mussels picked up on the seashore; but these are broken by the very ingenious device of letting them fall from a height to the rocks be- low.
 As a rule, birds contrive in the most wonderful fashion to dispense with hands; some, like the parrots, some owls and the great purple gallinule, seize and hold their food in one foot while eating. But others, like the butcher bird, shrike, have adopted the practice of splitting their food on the spines of thorny trees, such as hawthorn, forming thereon a kind of larder Young birds and mice are favor ite morsels, and these requiring to be torn in pieces, must be securely held. Since the feet are not strong enough for this purpose, the skewering system above mentioned has been devised.
 The wryneck, the woodpeclxer and the great ant-eater are examples of creatures .t.xI. l.~I- e.. extraordinary development of the tongue. This is of great length exceeding mobility and covered with sticky saliva-a sort of natural ''blrdlime'. Thus coated, 1t can be sent .slithering' into the midst of crowded swarms of insects to be drawn back covered with frantically protest ing bodies; or it can be shot out to se- cure victims singly, as in the case of frogs and toads or the bizarre chance leon.
 The American yellow-bellied wood becker or ''sap-sucker.'' with cuteness worthy of his native country, has de- vised means of living literally on locust and wild honey, thereby anticipating John the Baptist by several thousand years For this bird has developed great fond ness for the sweet sap of trees, and to obtain this drills a series of more or less symmetrically arranged holes through the bark of apple or other trees; which soon become filled with the coveted juice. This nectar is supplemented by more solid food in the shape of beetles and other insects which are also attracted by the fluid. Pe- riodically the woodpecker returns to his larder, feeling sure of bountifu meal without the trouble of hunting for it.
 One of the California woodpeckers is extremely sociabe in the matter of feed ing, for several birds will act In concert to collect acorns,- which are thrust into holes made in the barA of some chosen tree, and when sufficient have been col lected. the party leave their stores till some future day, when they return in a body to the feast. The skate, like the sticky-tongued crea- lures, entraps it's food, but after very different fashion. gwoopipg suddenly over it's victim 1t as suddenly descends with great outsrpead wings. and pinning it down under the whole weight of the body. speedily thrusts the doomed one onward to the mailclad jaws by curious shuffling movements of these all-embracing pin ions.
 An egg diet is favored by quite host