Honey-bird.--The instinct of the honey-bird is well-known, which induces
him to lead men to hives, that he may share in the plunder. The stories
that are told of the apparent malice of the bird, in sometimes tricking a
man, and leading him to the lair of wild animals, instead of to the bees'
nest, are well authenticated.
Revolting Food, that may save the Lives of Starving Men.--Suspicion of
Poison.--If any meat that you may find, or if the water of any pool at
which you encamp, is under suspicion of being poisoned, let one of your
dogs eat or drink before you do, and wait an hour to watch the effect of
it upon him.
Carrion is not noxious to Starving Men.--In reading the accounts of
travellers who have suffered severely from want of food, a striking fact
is common to all, namely, that, under those circumstances, carrion and
garbage of every kind can be eaten without the stomach rejecting it. Life
can certainly be maintained on a revolting diet, that would cause a
dangerous illness to a man who was not compelled to adopt it by the pangs
of hunger. There is, moreover, a great difference in the power that
different people possess of eating rank food without being made ill by
it. It appears that no flesh, and very few fish, are poisonous to man;
but vegetables are frequently poisonous.
Dead Animals, to find.--The converging flight of crows, and gorged
vultures sitting on trees, show where dead game is lying; but it is often
very difficult to find the carcase; for animals usually crawl under some
bush or other hiding-place, to die.
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