An 1851 collection of riddles published in London under the heading Pastime for the Parlour included over 100 unique wordplay games in which familiar names, words, and phrases were “enigmatically expressed” by a series of clues.
“Three-fourths of a carpenter’s tool and four-sixths of the name of the first King of England,” for instance, was a clue to the word filbert (comprising three of the letters in file, plus four from the end of Albert). “Three-fourths of that which sunshine does to snow and a flower,” meanwhile, was a clue to the Scottish town of Melrose (mel + rose), while “Four-fifths of a month and a humble abode” was intended to spell out apricot (Apri + cot).
With those clues in mind, can you work out what animal is being described in the riddle below?
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