ong themselves, often play more than anything, and
are not serious. Red deer seldom injure one another with their long
antlers, but they could easily kill a dog or even a man. Stags, however,
often fight to death, in some instances locking horns and tumbling over
a precipice.

The most ingenious of all the horned fighters is the sable antelope,
whose clever system of self-defence might well be taught in war-schools.
His horns are long, sharp-pointed, and bend backwards. When wounded, or
attacked by wolves or dogs, he lies down, and scientifically covers his
back by rapid fencing with his pointed horns. He can quickly kill any
dog that attacks him in this way.

Occasionally great battles take place between a buffalo and a lion, or
more often two or three lions attack a buffalo, who rarely escapes them.
The strength of a lion is almost beyond our comprehension when we
remember that one can actually carry a cow over an ordinary-sized fence.

[Illustration: _American Museum of Natural History, New York_

THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT HAS MANY MEANS OF DEFENCE, NOT THE LEAST OF
WHICH IS HIS AGILITY IN CLIMBING TO INACCESSIBLE PLACES.]

[Illustration: _American Museum of Natural History, New York_

WILD BOARS ARE AMONG THE MOST FEROCIOUS OF ANIMALS. BY MEANS OF THEIR
GREAT STRENGTH ALONE THEY ARE WELL ABLE TO DEFEND THEMSELVES.]

A most unique fighter is the giraffe. He has neither claws nor sharp
teeth with which to defend himself; so, if he gets angry with one of his
kind, he deliberately uses his long neck like a pile driver would use a
sledge hammer. Swinging it round and round, he lets his head descend
upon his adversary like a heavy ax! The two animals use the same kind of
tactics, and bracing themselves so as to stand the blows, they fight
until one has to give in. Their heads are furnished with two small
knob-like horns which only protect them from the heavy blows without
serving as offensive weapons.

Most singular and amusing of all methods of self-defence are those which
entirely depend for their efficiency upon bluff, or pretence. The
chameleon, for example, erects his snake-like hood, though he is
harmless, and at the most could scarcely injure the smallest animal.
Equally curious are the methods of skunks and polecats, which project
against enemies a highly disagreeable fluid.

Passive modes of defence are as many and varied as are the active; one
of the strangest and most inexplicable of these is that known