gainly shoulders and assumes the look of a Jason, while in reality he
is as harmless as a mouse, and the smallest child could drive him away
with a twig. His bravery is all pose--a make-believe game--which he
plays over and over again with every one he meets.

A noted American scavenger is the peccary, a species of wild hog, whose
home ranges from Texas to the Pampas of South America. He is a devourer
of creatures more obnoxious than himself. He moves with great rapidity,
is always on the alert, and stops at nothing from mountains to a flowing
river. When he attacks an enemy he makes short work of him.

Bands of these hogs are led by a chief, who is the swiftest and fiercest
of the herd. This aggressive leader is followed by successive lines of
males, behind which come the strong females, while the rear is brought
up by the old, the sick, and the young. In marching, they have the
discipline of a trained army, and turn neither to the right nor to the
left but go straight ahead. If the leader, for any cause, decides to
change his route, the fact is quickly made known in some way to his
followers, and the turn is made at a direct angle, with the accuracy of
a surveyor, and the peccaries go forward again directly toward their new
destination. This is another evidence of a special sense unknown to man.

But whenever a stop is made, or wherever they go, they do their work as
scavengers. Fallen fruits, dead animals, insects, snakes, and worms are
their prey. Thus they are valuable forest sweepers.

Strangely enough, in the animal world, as in the human, the lower
professions are filled with those of less mentality than the higher, and
as a result we find scavengers are nearest allied to criminals. The idea
of one creature killing and eating another seems terrible. Yet they do,
and most often do human beings commit the same crime. Cannibalism among
wild animals is a common occurrence. The demand for food usually causes
one animal to kill and devour another. But in captivity there are other
causes for cannibalism: fear and excitement will oftentimes cause a
mother to destroy her offspring.

It is a case of dog eat dog! Badgers often kill and devour their young.
Wolves, in cases of extreme hunger, will eat their puppies; and Arctic
travellers, when food for their dogs is scarce, have to guard constantly
against the stronger eating the weaker. I once caught a mother field
mouse with her two young and placed them in a cage; the