As a matter of fact, wild animals, or even domesticated animals in nearly a wild state, do _not_ eat the poisonous plants of the country in which they and their forefathers have been brought up--that is provided that they are either adult or are accompanied by full-grown animals. Almost every case of cattle-poisoning in Great Britain occurs when young calves, foals, or lambs are turned loose in the fields without any mature older head amongst them. Sometimes valuable stable-bred animals are lost, especially by eating yew-leaves, but there are exceedingly few instances of full-grown cattle being caught in such foolishness. When cattle, horses, or sheep are turned loose in a new country, plenty of cases do occur, and it is possible that they might make mistakes with unknown foreign plants which had escaped into their pastures here. But almost every case of poisoning, even of cattle, shows that it is young cattle who foolishly eat foxgloves, dropwort, buttercup, etc., and occasionally die thereby. Wild animals, who are of course brought up by their mothers, never seem to be poisoned. They probably recognize the dangerous plant by colour, smell, or taste. As a matter of fact, many are rendered conspicuous by some lurid sort of colour, such as bright red or purple. There is a general garishness of appearance about many of them. Aconite, Foxglove, Herb Paris, Henbane, and Nightshades all show this peculiar appearance. In Java it is said that the natives keep away wild pigs by planting hedges of certain species with purplish-red leaves around their plantations. Perhaps the most interesting point of all is that it seems to be quite justifiable to conclude that animals do, somehow, manage to tell their offspring and each other what they should and should not eat. Youth, with its tendency to rash experiment, is thus kept in check by the mature experience of age. But it must be admitted that it is exceedingly difficult to arrive at the facts in any particular case. I shall be rash enough to give an opinion as to the actual facts in connexion with the common Yew (_Taxus baccata_). The seeds are poisonous to poultry and pheasants, but the fleshy part round the seed is eaten with impunity by many wild birds (blackbirds, etc.). The leaves are sometimes poisonous and even fatal to horses, cattle, sheep, donkeys, and goats, but they are not eaten by or are harmless to roedeer. When, however, e.g., horses are killed by eating yew, it is generally found that they have been grazing on cut-off branches which have been left lying on the ground. In this condition probably some specially poisonous substance is developed in them. As regards rabbits, it would be extremely comforting to believe that they would eat yew-leaves or anything else which would kill them, but, so far as one can judge, they can eat all sorts of things which ought to do so with perfect impunity. CHAPTER XIX ON FRUITS