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_.
[Illustration: Fig. 73.--PELICAN WITH DILATED POUCH.]
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 a
_paunch,_ in which the fish are stored, until the bird ceases from the
exertion of fishing, and takes its meal at leisure.
[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.]
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, 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!
[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.]
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 more acutely
while their wings are in motion, _without the interference of the
vibrations of their wings_.
[Verse: "My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the
honey-comb, which is sweet to thy taste."--PROVERBS XXIV.]
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.