Tail

“ Associated Poets
TAIL, n. The part of an animal's spine that has transcended its natural limitations to set up an independent existence in a world of its own. Excepting in its foetal state, Man is without a tail, a privation of which he attests an hereditary and uneasy consciousness by the coat-skirt of the male and the train of the female, and by a marked tendency to ornament that part of his attire where the tail should be, and indubitably once was. This tendency is most observable in the female of the species, in whom the ancestral sense is strong and persistent. ”

“ There it is, a great animal, half the length of one’s arm, with bushy, long red tail arched high for easier running, its grayish coat showing in the bars of sunlight, its eyes bright and black and keen. ”

“ All the comings and goings took place in silence, over the top of the tree, and I have watched the nest an hour at a time without being able to see a sign of its occupancy, except the one thing a sitting bird cannot hide, the tail. And, by the way, how providential—from the bird student's point of view—that birds have tails! They can, it is true, be narrowed to the width of one feather and laid against a convenient twig, but they cannot be wholly suppressed, nor drawn down out of sight into the nest with the rest of the body. ”

“ As he sings, his tail droops, but when he is bustling about on every-day business he is given to changing his attitude with the passing instants—now he is fluffy, now sleek; up goes his tail; he jumps; he flashes his wings, droops them and spreads his tail. ”

“ His tail is widely expanded, he mounts in the air to a small distance, describes a circle, and, again alighting, approaches his beloved one, his eyes gleaming with delight, for she has already promised to be his and his only. ”

“ The tail resembles a seal’s tail, being thick and short: his fat is like hog’s lard. He lies commonly upon the ice shoals, and can live a good while on shore, till hunger drives him back into the seas; his nourishment being both herbs and fishes: he snores very loud, when he sleeps; and when he is provoked to anger, he roars like a mad bull. ”

“ For hours at a stretch they roll about, and chase tails, and pounce upon the quiet old mother with fierce little barks. One climbs laboriously up the rock behind the den, and sits on his tail, gravely surveying the great landscape with a comical little air of importance, as if he owned it all. When called to come down he is afraid, and makes a great to-do about it. Another has been crouching for five minutes behind a tuft of grass, watching like a cat at a rat-hole for some one to come by and be pounced upon. ”

“ With big black eyes, how they squat and watch, or stand, immovable on their hind legs, their little forepaws held as if in petition, solemnly, seriously, steadily watch, watch, watching, until they are satisfied either that you are all right, or are to be shunned. For, with a whisk of the tail, they either dart towards you, or run in the other direction and hide in the brush, climb with amazing speed up a tree, or rush into their holes in the ground. ”

“ Whether going up or down, he carries his tail extended at full length in line with his body, unless it be required for gestures. But while running along horizontal limbs or fallen trunks, it is frequently folded forward over the back, with the airy tip daintily upcurled. In cool weather it keeps him warm. Then, after he has finished his meal, you may see him crouched close on some level limb with his tail-robe neatly spread and reaching forward to his ears, the electric, outstanding hairs quivering in the breeze like pine-needles. ”

“ See them lashing their tails, bristling their manes, ploughing the air and tossing high above their incensed horns, that distracted gory biped, whose every individual hair is made to stand on end with horror, and his coat-tail astonishingly to perpendicularize. ”

“ What we call the tail is only the tail covert, and the back view shows the real tail is of stiff feathers, arranged, when these are spread, in an inverted heart shape. Then comes a sudden noise like a loud sneeze, repeated again and again before one can see that it is caused by the sharp striking of the tail feathers against each other and the tail covert—and again he turns and paces. ”

“ Nothing can carry within it affection, or even respect, for an animal whose tail begins nowhere in particular, unless it is at the neck; even if any creature may esteem it an animal at all that is but a tail with a mouth and eyes at one end. Dignify the mouth and eyes into a head, and still you have nothing wherewith to refute those who shall call the snake tribe naught but heads and tails; a vulgar and raffish condition of life, of pot-house and Tommy-Dod suggestion.
AN EARLY WORM. ”

“ This tail was long and formed of extended vertebræ like the tail of a lizard, and from every joint grew a pair of large quill feathers.
Such a tail must have greatly hindered the creature’s flight, and in fact in the many years that passed before the existence of the next birds of which fossil forms remain, a new fashion of tails had come in; the huge court-train had vanished, and birds appeared with the closely crowded vertebræ of the tail, only sufficient to support the tail feathers. ”

“ But if you first turn your attention to the chicks the mother will turn on her trail, stretch out her long, broad, banded tail into a beautiful fan, ruffle up the feathers on either side of her neck and come straight towards you. Often she will stretch her neck and hiss at you like a barn-yard goose. ”

“ And all his tail that isn't hair up straight.
He shudders his coat as if to throw off flies.
"Whoever it is that leaves him out so late,
When other creatures have gone to stall and bin,
Ought to be told to come and take him in." ”

“ One fine summer's afternoon, the Lion went trotting home in high good humour. As he went along, he kept muttering and grinning to himself, as if mightily pleased. When he got home, he banged at the door of his den with his tail. A Lion's tail is very strong and hard, you know, stronger and harder than any bell rope. ”

“ For I am very interesting.’
“‘It’s much nicer,’ said the bushy-tailed Wood-Rat, ‘to be what I am. My tail is the wonder of the world.’
“‘I never heard that before,’ said the Flying Squirrels. ‘Now with us, it is different. We can fly! We are like Birds. ”

“ The tail, indeed, is the most striking feature of the bird, being not only so very long, but seemingly endowed with the gift of perpetual motion, since it is never still, but bobs up and down, and sidewise, too, into every possible angle, and almost incessantly. ”

“ As she lies in repose the enormous bushy tail is curled round and laid over the face, so that barely any outline is perceptible. It is curious to see how, even in this condition, the large ears are gently moved at every sound, and when the creature is roused from her torpor the brilliancy with which the eyes gleam from among the heavy fur of the tail is really remarkable. ”

“ These, too, are the only ones among the winged race that repeatedly look up to the heavens, with the tail raised aloft, which in its drooping shape resembles that of a sickle, and these birds inspire terror even in the lion, the most courageous of all animals. ”

“ On the cross at Ilkley we observe some of these curious animals with their long tails interlacing. Sometimes the tail is wound round the creature’s body, and the idea of the artist was to represent the animal reduced to a state of powerlessness. ”

“ In the early morning of the world, everything was new and wonderful beyond all [51] doubt; but not more new and wonderful than useful and necessary to carry out the future business of creation. Who can deny the high origin of tails? The first animal who was active and well-formed must have had a tail. ”

“ If the big wavy streak of a blue tail blows off behind a blue fox, he doesn’t look near so distinguished. Or, if the long yellow torch of a tail blows off behind a yellow flongboo, he doesn’t look so distinguished as he did before the wind blew. ”

“ The expanded white tail covered more space than all the rest of the bird, and was evidently the grand feature in the performance. Whilst one was descending, the other would shoot up and come slowly down expanded. ”

“ A friend of mine thinks it a pity that we have lost our tails. He argues it would be so helpful if, like the dog, we possessed a tail that wagged when we were pleased, that stuck out straight when we were feeling mad. ”

“ The tail, used as a propeller, grew strong, large and flat, and we can imagine that the animals themselves, as they put out to sea and in time avoided even the rivers, became larger as the centuries passed by. ”

“ In the autumn they cover the outside of their houses with mud, and they walk over it as they are at work, and their tails drag along upon it; and this I expect made persons first suppose that they were plastering it, with the tail for a trowel. When they are caught and kept, boys, they still keep up this fashion of slapping with the tail; so that I rather think it is part of the nature of the animal.
"At another time, perhaps, I will tell you more about the beaver; but it is now late, and I must bid you good morning."
"Good day, Uncle Philip." ”

“ Skin, bone, and feathers. Ugh! you would only trouble me in my empty stomach, and there study out at leisure the various odds and ends of my organisation. No, no! get up; give my mouth a wide berth; sit on my tail, if you like the fur.”
Concealing my dread of his hungry fangs, I perched lightly on the tail, where I was not unfrequently disturbed by the tremor of his emotions.
Fellow Sparrows, the tail of a beast of prey is the safest perch, and it affords a true index of the play of passion in the brute. ”

“ Positively—a tail! All sorts of incorrect theories went by the board. Somehow he felt this was a topic not to be too urgently pursued. But he and Mrs. Bunting were old friends.
"And she really has. . . a tail?" he asked.
"Like the tail of a big mackerel," said Mrs. Bunting, and he asked no more.
"It's a most extraordinary situation," he said.
"But what else could I do?" asked Mrs. Bunting.
"Of course the thing's a tremendous experiment," said my cousin Melville, and repeated quite inadvertently, "a tail!" ”

“ A sudden bob forward of the head in a very swingy manner, the tail at the same time swinging up (very suggestive of a wooden bird that performs the same actions upon one's pulling a string) is a characteristic action, and seems to have no special reference to anything—unless deportment. ”

“ And surely if it be absurd to paint a human bead upon a horse's neck, with the body of a fowl, ending in a fish's tail, it is not less so to heap heads, tails, horses, fish, lions, and cupids, one upon the other. ”

“ There is a striking analogy between the movements of a Fish's tail in swimming and the action of the screw of a steamer, but as a propelling organ the former is far superior to the latter. As we have seen, the tail of a living Fish can so adjust its shape and surface that it alternately eludes and grips the water in accordance with the needs of particular strokes. ”

“ But even in these modern times how much use and ornament it possesses must be seen by everybody when they think of the lion, the dog, the eagle, the swallow, the monkey, the squirrel, and the fish. Running, leaping, flying, swimming are all helped very much indeed by the tail. ”

“ Do you see that kitten chasing so prettily her own tail? If you could look with her eyes you might see her surrounded with hundreds of figures performing complex dramas, with tragic and comic issues, long conversations, many characters, many ups and downs of fate,—and meantime it is only puss and her tail. How long before our masquerade will end its noise of tambourines, laughter, and shouting, and we shall find it was a solitary performance? ”

“ Now look at the tail, Rap, and tell me what you can find."
"Why, there is a bunch of long stiff feathers like rowers, that slide over each other when you spread the tail, and a lot of short feathers that hide the roots of the long ones. Are they rowers and coverts too?" "A bird does not row with his tail—he steers with it, as if it were a rudder; and the long feathers are therefore called rudder-feathers—or rectrices, which is Latin for rudders. But the short ones are called coverts, like those of the wings—upper tail-coverts, and under tail-coverts." ”

“ They have a bushy tail, with somewhat shorter hind legs and more curved claws than their allies; and they afford a curious example of the adaptation of an animal to new conditions of life very different from those for which its general form and structure seem to fit it. ”

“ Then, too, the large ones that make the tail help the bird to fly, by acting like a rudder to steer with. Perhaps the small ones too, all over the body, are of some help in flight, because they make a bird smooth, so that it can cut through the air more easily—you know they all lie one way, pointing backward from their roots to their tips. ”

“ When fully grown, from tip of mouth to tip of tail, they are about eight feet long. Their great plumed wings and tails and their heads so feline in form and appearance suggest the idea of composite creatures, partaking of the characteristics of both bird and animal, and when in flight they present an imposing but most uncanny appearance. ”

“ Yes, you do cheat them with your tails. When the dogs catch up with you and are about to clutch you, you turn your tails to one side; the dogs turn sharply after the tail, and then you run in the opposite direction. ”

“ He never walks down. Up, up, he goes, and if you look sharply enough, you will see that whenever he pauses he makes use of his sharp, stiff tail-feathers as a rest—a kind of camp-stool, as it were, or, better still, a bracket. He is built for his work; color, bill, feet, tail-feathers—all were made on purpose for him.
He is a native of the northern country, and therefore to most readers of this book he is a winter bird only. ”