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UNIVERSITY OF N C AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
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 00022093431 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 
 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/morebeastsforWorOObell 
 
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 Published by EDWARD ARNOLD, London and New Yokk. 
 

 
 By the same Authors 
 
 
 
 THE 
 
 BAD 
 
 CHILD'S 
 
 BOOK 
 
 OF 
 
 BEASTS. 
 
 
 Published by ALDEN & CO.. 
 
 Oxford. J 
 
 
 
 Price as. 
 
 6d. aett. 
 
 
 
To 
 MISS ALICE WOLCOTT BRINLEY 
 
 of Philadelphia. 
 
MORE BEASTS 
 
 FOR WORSE CHILDREN 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The parents of the learned child 
 (His father and his mother) 
 
 Were utterly aghast to note 
 
 The facts he would at random quote 
 
 On creatures curious, rare and wild ; 
 And wondering, asked each other. 
 
 5 
 
"An idle little child like this, 
 How is it that he knows 
 
 What years of close analysis 
 Are powerless to disclose ? 
 
 Our brains are trained, our books are big, 
 And yet we always fail 
 6 
 
To answer why the Guinea-pig- 
 Is born without a tail. 
 
 Or why the Wanderoo* should rant 
 In wild, unmeaning rhymes, 
 
 Sometimes called the " Lion-tailed or tufted Baboon of Ceylon." 
 
 7 
 
Whereas the Indian Elephant 
 Will only read The Times. 
 
Perhaps he found a way to slip 
 Unnoticed to the Zoo, 
 
 And gave the Pachyderm a tip, 
 Or pumped the Wanderoo. 
 
 Or even by an artful plan 
 
 Deceived our watchful eyes, 
 
 And interviewed the Pelican, 
 Who is extremely wise." 
 
" Oh ! no," said he, in humble tone, 
 With shy but conscious look, 
 
 " Such facts I never could have known 
 But for this little book." 
 
 10 
 
THE PYTHON 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 ' { 
 
 o ' o 
 
 5 
 
 A Python I should not advise,- 
 It needs a doctor for its eyes. 
 And has the measles yearly. 
 
 II 
 
However, if you feel inclined 
 To get one (to improve your mind, 
 And not from fashion merely). 
 Allow no music near its cage ; 
 
 12 
 
And when it flies into a rage 
 Chastise it, most severely. 
 
I had an Aunt in Yucatan 
 
 Who bought a Python from a man 
 
 And kept It for a pet. 
 She died, because she never knew 
 These simple Htde rules and few ; — 
 
 14 
 

 ix 
 
 The Snake is living yet. 
 
 15 
 
THE WELSH MUTTON 
 
 The Cambrian Welsh or Mountain Sheep 
 
 Is of the Ovine race, 
 His conversation is not deep, 
 
 But then — observe his face ! 
 
 i6 
 
THE PORCUPINE 
 
 What! would you slap the Porcupine? [ Alas ! that any friend of mine 
 Unhappy child — desist! | Should turn Tupto-philist.* 
 
 * From T{nrTu, = l strike ; .^i\£'w-ii = I love ; one that loves to strike. The word is not found in classical Greek, nor does 
 it occur among the writers of the Renaissance — nor anywhere else. 
 
 17 C 
 
^ 
 
 To strike the meanest and the least 
 Of creatures is a sin, 
 i8 
 
How much more bad to beat a beast 
 With prickles on its skin, 
 19 
 
THE SCORPION 
 
 The Scorpion is as black as soot, 
 He dearly loves to bite ; 
 
 He is a most unpleasant brute 
 To find in bed, at ni^ht. 
 
 i^/. 
 
 20 
 
THE CROCODILE 
 
 ^^'^'^l^^3kl^ ^^JM. 
 
 r ^^v. 
 
 ■i/JI//^^ J/; 
 
 Whatever our faults we can always engage 
 That no fancy or fable shall sully our page, 
 
 So take note of what follows, I beg. 
 This creature so grand and august in Its age, 
 
 In its youth is hatched out of an ^%%. 
 
 21 
 
And oft in some far Coptic town 
 The Missionary sits him down 
 To breakfast by the Nile: 
 The heart beneath his priestly gown 
 
 Is innocent of guile. 
 
 22 
 
When suddenly the rigid frown 
 
 Of Panic is observed to drown 
 
 His customary smile. 
 

 Why does he start and leap amain, 
 
 24 
 

 ^'^4^ #- 
 
 7 
 
 
 And scour the sandy Libyan plain 
 
 -:i 
 
ffiUFFET] 
 
 Like one that wants to catch a train 
 
'a- 
 
 Or wrestles with internal pain ? 
 
 27 
 
Because he finds his egg contain — 
 Green, hungry, horrible and plain — 
 An Infant Crocodile. 
 
 28 
 
THE VULTURE 
 
 The Vulture eats between his meals, 
 And that's the reason why 
 
 He very, very rarely feels 
 As well as you and I. 
 
 29 
 
^^..^-^^ 
 
 His eye is dull, his head is bald, 
 His neck is screwing thinner. 
 
 Oh ! what a lesson tor us all 
 To only eat at dinner ! 
 
 3" 
 
THE BISON 
 
 The Bison is vain, and (I write it with pain) 
 The Door-mat you see on his head 
 
\ 1 
 
 Is not, as some learned professors maintain, 
 The opulent growth of a genius' brain ; 
 
v.^ 
 
 
 
 !/ 
 
 €^:_jir:: 
 
 But is sewn on with needle and thread. 
 
 33 
 
THE VIPER 
 
 
 
 
 
 t%-^ 
 
 
 Yet another great truth I record in my verse, 
 That some Vipers are venomous, some the reverse ; 
 A fact you may prove if you try, 
 
 34 
 
By procuring two Vipers, and letting them bite ; 
 
 35 
 
i\_i„L 
 
 ^y^ 
 
 ZJZ. 
 
 \ 
 
 With the first you are only the worse for a fright, 
 

 M^m&^ 
 
 But after the secojid you die. 
 
 37 
 
THE LLAMA 
 
 The Llama is a woolly sort of fleecy hairy goat, 
 With an indolent expression and an undulating throat 
 Like an unsuccessful literary man. 
 
 3« 
 
And I know the place he Hves in (or at least — I think I do) 
 It is Ecuador, Brazil or Chili — possibly Peru ; 
 You must find it in the Atlas if you can. 
 
 30 
 
■' 1/4 
 
 
 L^=^ i 
 
 The Llama of the Pampasses you never should confound 
 (In spite of a deceptive similarity of sound) 
 
 With the Lhama who is Lord of Turkestan. 
 
 40 
 

 "% 
 
 For the former is a beautiful and valuable beast, 
 But the latter is not loveable nor useful in the least; 
 And the Ruminant is preferable surely to the Priest 
 Who battens on the woful superstitions of the East. 
 The Monp^ol of the Monaster}^ of Shan. 
 
 41 
 
THE CHAMOIS 
 
 The Chamois inhabits 
 Lucerne, where his habits 
 
 (r hough why I have not an idea-r) 
 
 Give him sudden short spasms 
 On the brink of deep chasms, 
 And he lives in perpetual fear. 
 
 42 
 
THE FROZEN MAMMOTH 
 
 This Creature, though rare, is still found to the East 
 Of the Northern Siberian Zone. 
 
 43 
 
It is known to the whole of that primitive group 
 That the carcass will furnish an excellent soup, 
 
 Though the cooking it offers one drawback at least 
 (Of a serious nature I own): 
 
 44 
 
If the skin be but punctured before it is boiled 
 Your confection is wholly and utterly spoiled. 
 
 45 
 
And hence (on account of the size of the beast) 
 The dainty is nearly unknown. 
 
 46 
 
THE MICROBE 
 
 The Microbe is so very small 
 You cannot make him out at all, 
 But many sanguine people hope 
 
 To see him through a microscope. 
 His jointed tongue that lies beneath 
 A hundred curious rows of teeth ; 
 
 47 
 
His seven tufted tails 
 
 with lots 
 Of lovely pink and 
 
 purple spots 
 
 On each of which a pattern stands, 
 Composed of forty separate bands ; 
 His eyebrows of a tender green; 
 
 All these have never yet been seen — 
 
 But Scientists, who ought to know, 
 
 Assure us that they must be so. , 
 
 Oh ! let us never, never doubt 
 
 What nobody is sure about ! 
 
 48