CHAPTER XVII.

_SHRIKES, THRUSHES AND THEIR ALLIES, SWALLOWS, LYRE-BIRDS, CHATTERERS,

BROAD-BILLS, ETC._

The Shrike Family are an exceedingly interesting group of birds, of

world-wide distribution and of great diversity of appearance, varying in

size from a bird as small as a titmouse to one as large as a thrush, and

presenting a considerable range of coloration, some being very brightly,

others dull coloured. From the hooked beak, and the presence of a notch in

the tip of the upper jaw, they were considered by the older naturalists to

be allies of the Birds of Prey, a decision still further supported by their

hawk-like habit of capturing living prey in the shape of small birds and

mice; whilst the remarkable custom of impaling their victims, still living,

on thorns has earned for them the popular name of BUTCHER-BIRDS. The limits

of the family, owing to the diversity of the forms involved, have not as

yet been finally determined by naturalists, some having included species

which others hold have no place there.

[Illustration: Photo by W. Reid] [Wishaw, N.B.

AUSTRALIAN MAGPIE.

A common South Australian form, known also as the Piping-crow.]

Five species are commonly included in the list of British birds, although

only two occur with any frequency: of these, the GREAT GREY SHRIKE visits

Great Britain every winter; whilst the smaller RED-BACKED SHRIKE is an

annual summer visitor to those islands, breeding, however, only in England,

occurring but occasionally in Scotland, and being almost unknown in

Ireland, where only one specimen has ever been recorded.

The RED-BACKED SHRIKE, writes Dr. Sharpe, "reminds us of a fly-catcher in

the way in which [it] captures its food, for it has undoubtedly favourite

perches, on which it sits, and to which it returns after the capture of an

insect. It is frequently to be seen on telegraph-wires, where it keeps a

sharp look-out in every direction, and a favourite resort is a field of

freshly cut grass. It also captures a good many mice and small birds, not

pursuing them in the open like birds of prey, but dropping down on them

suddenly. In the British Museum is a very good specimen of the larder of a

red-backed shrike, taken with the nest of the bird by Lord Walsingham in

Norfolk, and showing the way in which the shrike spits insects and birds on

thorns; and the species has been known ... to hang up birds even bigger

than itself, such as blackbirds and thrushes, as well as tits of several

kinds, robins, and hedge-sparrows, while it will also occasionally seize

young partridges and pheasants."

[Illustration: _Photo by W. F. Piggott_] [_Leighton Buzzard._

REED-WARBLER.

A common British bird, arriving in April, and leaving again in September.]

Though undeniably unmusical, the red-backed shrike is nevertheless able to

imitate with considerable success the notes of other small birds, decoying

them by this means within striking distance--an accomplishment shared also

by other members of the Shrike Family. The present species is attractively

clothed in a plumage varied with black, grey, rufous, and chestnut-brown,

the last being the predominating hue of the upper-parts; hence the name

Red-backed Shrike.

The habits of its congener, the GREAT GREY SHRIKE, are precisely similar. A

caged specimen which had become very tame would take food from its captor's

hands. When a bird was given it, the skull was invariably broken at once,

after which, holding the body in its claws, the shrike would proceed to

tear it in pieces after the fashion of a hawk. Sometimes, instead, the

carcase would be forced through the bars of the cage--in lieu of

thorns--and then pulled in pieces.

Very different in appearance from the members of the Shrike Family are a

group of possibly allied forms known as WAX-WINGS. Of pleasing but sober

coloration, they are remarkable for certain curious appendages to the inner

quill-feathers, of a bright sealing-wax red colour, from which they derive

their name: similar wax-like appendages occur also, sometimes, on the

tail-feathers.

Breeding in the Arctic Circle, wax-wings occur in both the Old and New

Worlds, though some species peculiar to the latter region lack the wax-like

appendages characteristic of the majority of the species. These birds are

erratic in their movements, and large bands occasionally visit the British

Islands during the autumn and winter, the eastern counties being usually

the most favoured spots; but on the occasion of one of these immigrations,

in the winter of 1872, many were seen in the neighbourhood of the North of

London. During the summer they feed on insects, but in autumn and winter on

berries and fruit. At this time they become very fat and are then captured

and sold in large numbers for food in the Russian markets, and occasionally

are sent over to London.

[Illustration: _Photo by J. T. Newman_] [_Berkhamsted._

SONG-THRUSH.

A resident British species, sometimes called the Mavis.]

[Illustration: _Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co._] [_Parson's Green._

YOUNG THRUSH.

This photograph shows the mud-lined nest.]

Passing over a small group of comparatively uninteresting American birds

known as "Greenlets," we come to the WARBLERS, a group which constitutes

one of the largest families of birds of the Old World. The species included

in this family vary greatly in their characters, so that it is by no means

easy to give diagnostic characters, whereby they may be readily

distinguished from the Fly-catchers on the one hand or the Thrushes on the

other. The Thrushes, however, as a group, may be distinguished from the

Warblers by the circumstance that in the former the young have a

distinctive spotted plumage, differing from that of the adults, while the

young of the Warblers are not so marked, their plumage differing but little

from that of their parents.

More than twenty species of warblers are included amongst British birds.

Although some of them are but rare and accidental visitors to Britain,

others are amongst the commonest of the spring migrants, remaining to nest,

and leaving again in the autumn. Some, as the BLACK-CAP, WHITE-THROAT,

CHIFF-CHAFF, GARDEN-, WILLOW-, and WOOD-WARBLERS, frequent woods,

hedgerows, and gardens; whilst others, as the SEDGE- and REED-WARBLERS, are

found only near water affording sufficient shelter in the shape of

reed-banks or osier-plantations.

[Illustration: _Photo by J. T. Newman_] [_Berkhamsted._

BLACKBIRD.

The male and female are quite different one from another, and in this

respect differ from the Thrushes, in which the sexes are alike.]

The BLACK-CAP and GARDEN-WARBLER rank as songsters of no mean talent, being

held second only to the nightingale. As if by common consent, the two

former never clash, so that where black-caps are common there are few

garden-warblers, and _vice versâ_.

Most of these birds build a typical cup-shaped nest of dried grasses, lined

with finer materials, and placed near the ground; but that of the

REED-WARBLER is a most beautiful structure, the dried grass of which it is

made being woven around some three or four reed-stems, making it seem as if

the latter had, in growing up, pierced the sides of the nest in their

course. The cup-shaped hollow is very deep, so that when the supporting

reeds are bowed low in the breeze the eggs rest perfectly safe.

We must pass now to a consideration of the Thrush Tribe, which, as we have

already hinted, are very closely allied to the Warblers.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. F. Piggott, Leighton Buzzard._

ROBIN.

The young Robin wears a distinct livery, quite different from that of its

parents.]

Birds like the COMMON THRUSH and the BLACKBIRD are so common and so well

known that they scarcely need comment here. The same perhaps is true of

many other members of this group not popularly associated with the Thrush

Tribe; such are the RED-BREAST, or ROBIN RED-BREAST, as it is more

generally called, and the NIGHTINGALE. Few birds have inspired so many

writers as the nightingale; it even holds a place in classical mythology.

Professor Newton gives us one variant of a very common but pretty story:

"Procne and Philomela were the daughters of Pandion, King of Attica, who in

return for warlike aid rendered him by Tereus, King of Daulis in Thrace,

gave him the first-named in marriage. Tereus, however, being enamoured of

her sister, feigned that his wife was dead, and induced Philomela to take

her place. On her discovering the truth, he cut out her tongue to hinder

her from revealing his deceit; but she depicted her sad story on a robe

which she sent to Procne, and the two sisters then contrived a horrible

revenge for the infidelity of Tereus by killing and serving to him at table

his son Itys. Thereupon the gods interposed, changing Tereus into a hoopoe,

Procne into a swallow, and Philomela into a nightingale, while Itys was

restored to life as a pheasant, and Pandion (who had died of grief at his

daughters' dishonour) as a bird of prey [the osprey]."

[Illustration: _Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons._

NIGHTINGALE.

The sweetest and most renowned of all the British songsters.]

A not infrequent error with regard to the red-breast may be pointed out

here. Many people seem to suppose that the female is less brilliantly

coloured than her mate. As a matter of fact this is not so; what are

generally regarded as females of this species are the dull, spotted young,

which, as we have already pointed out, assume this peculiar livery

throughout the tribe.

No less common in Britain, during the summer months at least, are the

WHEAT-EARS, STONE-CHATS, WHIN-CHATS, and RED-STARTS. Small and prettily

coloured species, these are all insect-eaters, and, with the exception of

the wheat-ears, lay blue eggs, deposited in somewhat coarsely constructed

nests, placed on or near the ground; or in holes in ruins, trees, or walls,

in the case of the red-starts; or in burrows or under ledges of rock, as

among the wheat-ears, which lay white eggs.

The bird commonly known as the HEDGE-SPARROW is a close ally of the Thrush

Family, having nothing to do with the sparrows proper--which are

finches--as its name would imply.

[Illustration: _Photo by G. Watmough Webster & Son_] [_Chester._

STONE-CHAT.

A resident and generally distributed British bird.]

Another nearly related form is the DIPPER, or WATER-OUZEL. By no means

brilliantly coloured, it is nevertheless an exceedingly interesting bird,

and one never met with away from mountain streams. The group has a wide

distribution, occurring in suitable localities in Europe, Asia, and the

Rocky Mountains of America, and extending from Colombia to Peru and

Tucuman. Squat in form, with rounded wings and short tail, the ouzel seeks

the greater part of its food on the bottom of swiftly running streams. It

is everywhere, writes Dr. Sharpe of the commoner of the two British

species, a shy and watchful bird, and, except in the breeding-season,

appears to be solitary. By patient watching near the dipper's haunts,

however, it is possible to observe the bird scudding over the surface of

the water with a rapid flight and a vigorous beating of the wings,

something like that of a kingfisher, until it alights on a rock or large

stone in the middle of the stream. Its white breast then stands out in bold

relief, and, after pausing for a moment, the bird commences to edge to the

side of the rock, and either walks deliberately into the water, or

disappears suddenly beneath the surface, seeking its food at the bottom of

the stream, in the shape of larvæ, caddis-worms, water-beetles, and small

snails.

The WRENS are probably near allies of the Dippers. The family includes a

number of species of small birds, most largely represented in the New

World, but distributed widely over the Old World also. Two occur in the

British Islands: of these, one, the COMMON WREN, is found throughout

Europe, and occurs also in Northern Africa, Asia Minor, and North

Palestine; whilst the other, the ST. KILDA WREN, is only found on the

island from which it takes its name.

Considerations of space compel us to pass over three or four families, of

comparatively little interest to any save the scientific ornithologist, in

favour of the FLY-CATCHERS and SWALLOWS.

The former, in that the young are spotted, appear to evince some affinity

to the Thrush Tribe, but they have broad and flatter bills than the latter,

whilst the mouth is surrounded by more or less conspicuous bristles. They

are entirely Old World forms, having their stronghold in Africa.

Three species of fly-catcher occur in England, though only one, the COMMON

or SPOTTED FLY-CATCHER, usually breeds in Great Britain, coming late in the

spring from Africa. As its name implies, it feeds upon small insects,

capturing them on the wing by sudden sallies, and returning immediately

after to some perch, generally a garden-fence, or the bare bough of a tree.

As a rule the prey is caught with a sudden dart, but sometimes only after a

prolonged flight, when the bird will double and turn, as the necessity

arises, with great skill. Its nest, made of dry grass and moss, lined with

horse-hair and covered externally with spider-webs and lichens, is usually

placed in some sheltered position, such as a crevice in the bark of a tree

or in the creepers covering the trellis-work of a house; and owing to the

skilful way in which it is covered externally, so as to resemble its

surroundings, is difficult to find.

[Illustration: _Photo by J. T. Newman_] [_Berkhamsted._

A PAIR OF WRENS.

Known nearly everywhere in England as the "Kitty" or "Jenny" Wren.]

The SWALLOWS and MARTINS constitute an exceedingly well-defined group of

birds, and one which holds a conspicuously high place in the regard of

mankind, finding a welcome everywhere on account of the great benefits they

confer by the removal of insect-pests in the shape of the smaller gnats and

flies. These, were they not kept in check by the Swallow Tribe, would

render most parts of the world uninhabitable. Rarely seen upon the ground,

save when procuring mud for the construction of their nests, the birds of

this group are all peculiarly strong fliers, turning and twisting with the

greatest speed and precision. All have very short beaks and wide mouths,

long wings and tails, and small and weak feet.

[Illustration: _Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co._] [_Parson's Green._

COMMON WRENS, WITH NEST BUILT IN PHEASANT'S SKELETON.

In winter wrens have a custom of seeking some hole or other convenient

shelter and huddling together in small parties for the sake of warmth.]

A large number build their nests of mud, collected in small pellets and

held together by the secretion of the salivary glands. These nests are

commonly more or less cup-shaped, and fastened under the eaves of

dwelling-houses or other buildings, or placed on a convenient beam or other

ledge. The RED-RUMPED SWALLOWS and FAIRY MARTINS--species enjoying an

enormous distribution, being found in India, Africa, America, and

Australia--build very large flask-shaped nests, having the entrance

produced into a funnel often eight or nine inches in length. Others, like

the SAND-MARTIN, excavate long tunnels, terminating in larger chambers, in

the faces of sand-banks--a performance which must certainly be regarded as

wonderful, when one realises the feeble tools with which the task of

excavating has to be performed. Some species utilise the holes made by

other birds, in one species this hole being itself bored within the burrow

of the viscacha.

All are more or less migratory in their habits, some covering enormous

distances in journeying to and fro between their winter retreats and their

summer breeding-places. The COMMON SWALLOW and HOUSE-MARTIN, for example,

leave the shores of Africa early in the spring, and distribute themselves

over Europe, thousands visiting the British Islands. After rearing in their

respective breeding-places from two to three broods, they return with their

offspring before the rigours of winter set in to the African Continent. The

routes and destinations of the swallow are now well known; but as much

cannot be said for the house-martin, whose winter quarters are as yet

enshrouded in mystery. That they must be somewhere in Africa is all that

can at present be said.

Three species of the Swallow Tribe visit England regularly every year, and

remain to breed. These are the COMMON or CHIMNEY-SWALLOW, and the

HOUSE-MARTIN just referred to, and the little SAND-MARTIN. In the two first

mentioned the upper-parts are of a dark steel-blue colour with a metallic

gloss, but they are, nevertheless, easily distinguished one from

another,--since the swallow has a deeply forked tail, and a bright chestnut

patch on the throat, with a similarly coloured band across the forehead;

whilst the martin lacks the chestnut markings, and is pure white beneath,

with a large white patch on the lower part of the back, and a less markedly

forked tail. Furthermore, the legs of the martin are feathered down to the

claws, whilst the feet of the swallow are bare. The sand-martin is a little

greyish-brown bird, with white under-parts. It is the earliest of the

Swallow Tribe to arrive in Britain, and the first to depart.

[Illustration: _Photo by J. T. Newman_] [_Berkhamsted._

YOUNG SWALLOWS.

For hundreds of years it has been regarded as most unlucky to kill a

swallow.]

LYRE-BIRDS AND SCRUB-BIRDS.

At the beginning of the account of the Perching-birds it was stated that

the group was divided into two sections, and that each of these was further

sub-divided into two. With the Swallows the first sub-division of the first

section ended; the second we are to consider now in the very singular

LYRE-BIRDS and SCRUB-BIRDS of Australia.

Rendered conspicuous on account of the remarkable lyrate tail, from which

the name is derived, the LYRE-BIRDS, on closer acquaintance, prove to be

exceedingly interesting forms, though materials for a really complete

biography of the three known species are not yet available. The males, it

seems, are skilled mimics, reproducing the songs of other birds with great

fidelity, this being especially true of the species known as PRINCE

ALBERT'S LYRE-BIRD. During the courting-season the males construct

hillocks, to which they resort to display their very beautiful and graceful

tails, elevating them over the head, and drooping the wings after the

fashion of a peacock, accompanying this display with certain spasmodic

pecking and scratching actions. They are solitary birds, more than a pair

never being seen together, and even these are exceedingly difficult to

approach, stratagem always being necessary. But a single egg is laid, which

has the appearance of being smeared with ink; whilst the young bird differs

from that of all other perching-birds in the thickness of its downy

covering and the great length of time in which it remains in the nest. The

nest, made of sticks, moss, and fibres skilfully interwoven, and lined

inside with the leaf of a tree-fern which resembles horse-hair, is a large

domed structure, with a single aperture serving as an entrance.

Lyre-birds are essentially ground-dwellers, feeding upon insects,

especially beetles and snails, and keeping to the wilder regions of the

country.

The SCRUB-BIRD is an extremely interesting form, scientifically. Only the

males are known at the present time, and these are dull-coloured birds of

the size of a thrush. Of the female, eggs, and nest, we as yet know

absolutely nothing.

CHATTERERS, ANT-THRUSHES, BROAD-BILLS, ETC.

The second major division of the Perching-birds embraces a few forms of

considerable interest.

The group of CHATTERERS includes several remarkable forms of very diverse

coloration, many representing the most gorgeous of all South American

birds.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. F. Piggott_] [_Leighton Buzzard._

SAND-MARTINS.

This photograph shows a portion of a sand bank, pierced with the

tunnel-like nests made by these feeble builders.]

One of the most remarkable is the UMBRELLA-BIRD. This bird is funereal in

appearance, being clothed in a plumage of deep black, with the head

surmounted by a large, drooping, flat-topped crest, resembling in shape the

familiar crest of certain varieties of the canary, whilst from the throat

hangs a long lappet of feathers reaching nearly down to the feet. The

female is duller than her mate, and lacks the peculiar plumes. The

umbrella-bird is a forest-dwelling species, confined to the Upper Amazons,

and dwelling in the tops of the highest trees, where it finds ample

sustenance in wild fruits. But few naturalists have ever seen it in a wild

state.

Equally wonderful are the BELL-BIRDS, so called on account of their note,

which bears an extraordinary resemblance to the sound made by a blacksmith

upon an anvil, though it has often been likened to the tolling of a bell.

Four species are known, in three of which the males have a pure white

plumage, with much naked, vividly coloured skin on the face. One species

has a curious pendulous process hanging from the forehead, thinly covered

with feathers. By some this is said to be capable of erection during

periods of excitement. Like the umbrella-bird, these are forest-dwelling

species.

For brilliancy of plumage amongst the Chatterers, the palm must be given to

the COCKS-OF-THE-ROCK, in the males of which orange-red predominates,

whilst the general effect is heightened by crests and curiously curled and

frayed feathers growing from the lower part of the back. The males indulge

in remarkable love-displays, the performances being held in some open

space, and in the presence of the females. One at a time each male appears

to go through a kind of dance, accompanying his peculiar steps and hops

with much swaying of the head and extending of the wings. When tired, the

performer gives a signal which is understood by his fellows, and retires

from the ring, his place being immediately taken by another.

The nesting habits of the Chatterers vary greatly,--some building nests of

mud and twigs, which they fasten on projections of rock in damp caves;

others simply lining holes in trees with dry grass. Some build a cup-shaped

nest of lichens, others a simple platform of sticks, whilst some of the

THICK-BILLED CHATTERERS hang large nests of leaves, plant-stalks, and wool

from low branches, the entrance to the nest being from a hole in the side.

The eggs vary in number among the different species from two to four, and

in colour may be white, chocolate, pale salmon-coloured, or greenish blue,

and are for the most part spotted.

[Illustration: _Photo by D. Le Souef_] [_Melbourne._

VICTORIAN LYRE-BIRD.

Lyre-birds, which are also known to the colonists as "Pheasants," are great

mimics.]

Closely allied to the Cocks-of-the-rock are the MANAKINS, for the most part

small and thick-set birds, and in many instances brilliantly coloured--at

least in the case of the males. Some seventy species are known, all of

which are confined to South America. They must be sought for, as a rule, in

the forests or thick undergrowth of marshy places.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

TAIL OF AUSTRALIAN LYRE-BIRD.

This ornamental tail is worn only by the male.]

The Manakin Family contains several species of considerable interest, on

account of the peculiar modifications which certain of the quill-feathers

of the males have undergone. In some species what are known as the

secondary quill-feathers are peculiarly twisted, and have the shafts much

thickened. With these modified feathers the birds are enabled, probably by

clapping the wings and bringing the thickened feathers violently together,

to make a sharp sound, which has been likened to the crack of a whip. Other

species have the quill-feathers of the hand--the primaries, as they are

called--similarly thickened, and they probably are also used to produce

sounds.

One species is known as the BAILADOR, or DANCER, on account of a very

remarkable habit which the males have of dancing. Two males, choosing some

secluded spot, select a bare twig, and, taking up a position about a foot

and a half apart, alternately jump about two feet in the air, and alight

again on exactly the same spot from which they sprang. With the regularity

of clockwork one bird jumps up the instant the other alights, each bird

performing a musical accompaniment to the tune of

"to-le-do--to-le-do--to-le-do," uttering the syllable "to" as he crouches

to spring, "le" while in the air, and "do" as he alights; and this

performance appears to be kept up till the birds are exhausted.

[Illustration: _Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons._

BELL-BIRD.

So called from its wonderfully clear, bell-like note.]

Some of the manakins are very beautifully coloured. One species, for

example, is black, with a blue mantle and a crimson crest; another, black,

with orange-coloured cheeks and breast and similarly coloured band round

the neck, green rump, and yellow abdomen. The females are generally duller

in coloration.

The ANT-THRUSHES, or PITTAS, are long-legged, short-tailed birds, of

brilliant coloration, having their headquarters in the Malay Archipelago;

but the family is represented in India, Australia, and West Africa.

These birds are very shy and exceedingly difficult to approach. One

species, the large GROUND-THRUSH, is described by Wallace as one of the

most beautiful birds of the East. Velvety black above, relieved by pure

white, the shoulders are azure-blue and the belly a vivid crimson. The nest

recalls, in the plan of its architecture, that of the Oven-birds, being

more or less globular in form, and having a lateral entrance; it is

composed of twigs, roots, bark, moss, leaves, and grass, and is frequently

cemented with earth. The eggs are usually spotted, and have a creamy-white

ground-colour: the spots may be brown, reddish grey, or purplish black.

The curious PLANT-CUTTERS of the temperate regions of South America are

nearly related to the Chatterers, though at one time it was believed they

were allied to the True Finches. Constituting but a small family, the

plant-cutters are remarkable for their strangely serrated beaks, the

cutting-edges of which are armed with a series of fine saw-like teeth. This

beak is used in cutting down plants; and as these birds appear to cut down

a great number in sheer wantonness, they are much disliked in the

neighbourhood of gardens and plantations.

Plant-cutters are not conspicuous for the beauty of their plumage, and have

a harsh and grating voice.

The WOOD-HEWERS constitute a group of over 200 species, all of which are

South American. They are for the most part small and dull-coloured birds,

but nevertheless of considerable interest on account of their nest-building

habits. The most remarkable members of the family in this respect are three

species of OVEN-BIRDS. These construct a massive nest of mud, bearing a

more or less fanciful resemblance to a baker's oven; hence the name

Oven-bird. Roughly globular in shape, its walls are of great thickness, and

to prevent cracking hair and grass-fibres are intermixed with the mud; the

interior is gained through a small hole on one side of the nest, which

leads into a passage terminating in a chamber containing the eggs, which

are laid upon a bed of grass. Strangely enough, the bird seeks the most

exposed situations, placing its nest on branches, in the forks of trees, on

posts, rocks, or house-tops. Another species, known to the Spaniards as the

CASARITA, or LITTLE HOUSE-BUILDER, builds its nest at the bottom of a

narrow cylindrical hole, which is said to extend horizontally underground

for nearly six feet. Other species build nests of sticks and twigs or of

grass, which are divided into chambers after the fashion of the mud nest of

the oven-bird, the inner chamber being lined with wool and feathers.

The variation in the form, habits, and coloration of these birds is very

great, some recalling the Woodpeckers and Tree-creepers, others the

Titmice.

The family of the TYRANT FLY-CATCHERS, though numbering some 400 species,

is less interesting, or rather contains fewer peculiar forms, than the

Manakin Family. The tyrant fly-catchers are American birds, and represent

the fly-catchers of the Old World. One of the best known is the KING-BIRD,

which is renowned rather for its pugnacious disposition than for beauty of

plumage.

The CRESTED TYRANT-BIRD has a curious habit of lining its nest with the

cast-off skins of snakes, a habit which has caused a great deal of

discomfort both to juvenile as well as adult egg-collectors, who,

recognising the skin by the touch, have hurriedly withdrawn the hand, lest

the owner of the cast-off coat should be in the vicinity.

[Illustration: _Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons._

COCK-OF-THE-ROCK.

The cock-of-the-rock is a South American bird, of gorgeous coloration.]

All the tyrant-birds are active and restless in their habits, and frequent

marshy districts, sitting alone, perched on the dead branches of trees or

bushes, whence they dart forth like the Old World fly-catchers on their

prey. Some species, however, frequent bare plains; others, also

ground-dwellers, associate occasionally in flocks.

Though the prey, which consists chiefly of insects, is, as a rule, captured

on the wing, it is not invariably so. One species, for example, pounces

down on crawling beetles, grasps them in its claws, and eats them on the

ground. Some other species eat mice, young birds, snakes, frogs, fishes,

spiders, and worms, the larger victims being beaten on a branch to kill

them. One or two species will eat seeds and berries.

The nest is often domed, and skilfully felted with moss, lichens, and

spider-webs.

The BROAD-BILLS are the sole representatives of the final sub-division of

the Perching-birds. After the brilliant coloration, the next most striking

feature is the great breadth of the bill. Their range is very limited,

extending from the lower spurs of the Himalaya, through Burma and Siam, to

Sumatra, Borneo, and Java. They seek the seclusion of forests in the

neighbourhood of water, exhibiting great partiality for the banks of rivers

and lakes, and feeding on worms and insects, many of the latter being

captured on the wing.

The nest of the broad-bill is a large and not very neat structure, oval in

shape, with an entrance near the top, which is often protected with an

overhanging roof. It is generally suspended from a low branch or plants

near the water, and made of twigs, roots, and leaves, and lined with finer

materials. From three to five eggs are laid.

With these birds, probably the most primitive of the Perching-birds, this

section ends. Many forms have inevitably been crowded out, whilst others

have been but briefly noticed; nevertheless, all the really important

groups have been more or less completely described, and in the majority of

cases well illustrated.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville Kent, F.Z.S. Milford-on-Sea._

_Printed at Lyons, France._

GREEN AND OCELLATED LIZARDS.

The former species is found in the South of England, as well as on the

Continent; the latter is restricted to Southern Europe and North Africa.]

----

_BOOK III. REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS._

BY W. SAVILLE-KENT, F.L.S., F.Z.S.

----

REPTILES.

----

CHAPTER I.

_CROCODILES AND ALLIGATORS._

The Reptile Class, as defined by modern scientific limitations, includes

among the living animals of the world the several groups of the Crocodiles,

the Tortoises and Turtles, the Tuatera, the Lizards, and the Snakes. In the

popular mind the Frogs and Toads, and the Newts and Salamanders, are often

held to belong to the same main section; but these, as hereafter shown,

claim, as Amphibians, an independent position of equivalent rank and value.

In bygone geological ages the Reptile Class embraced a considerably larger

number of groups; some of the members, such as the extinct Dinosaurs,

comprised titanic monsters from 60 to 80 feet in length. The Crocodiles and

Alligators of the present day are the only living reptiles which in any way

approach the extinct Saurians in their dimensions, or assist us in some

small measure to realise their unwieldy forms and bulk.

The members of the Crocodile Order, which, in addition to the Alligators,

includes also the Caimans and so-called Gavials or Garials, agree with one

another in the more or less ponderous lizard-like shape of their body,

supported on well-developed but short and comparatively weak legs, in their

special adaptation to an amphibious existence, carnivorous habits, and

restriction to tropical and subtropical climates.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S._] [_Regent's Park._

YOUNG NILE CROCODILE.

This species was worshipped with divine honours and mummified after death

by the ancient Egyptians.]

Among the salient characters of the CROCODILE, as the representative of its

tribe, which specially adapt it for its aquatic habits, the long, powerful

tail is strongly compressed and thus fitted for use as an organ of

propulsion, and the feet are more or less webbed. The most striking of its

structural adaptations is, however, associated with the formation of the

creature's skull. The manner in which a crocodile or alligator contrives to

breathe or to save itself from asphyxiation, when opening and shutting its

mouth under water, as it may often be observed to do in the Regent's Park

Menagerie, is a common source of wonderment to the onlooker. This seemingly

difficult feat is compassed by virtue of the posterior nostrils, or

breathing-passages, being set so far back in the skull, and being so

completely cut off from the mouth-cavity by specially developed bones of

the palate, that they have no intercommunication with the mouth. It is this

mechanism which enables a crocodile to seize and hold an animal underneath

the water between its open jaws until it is drowned. Special valves at the

back of the mouth prevent any water running down the creature's throat,

while it is able itself to breathe unrestrainedly by allowing just the tip

of its elongated snout, with the anterior nostril-apertures, to remain

above the water's surface. In many species a conspicuous knob-like bony

excrescence is developed at the extremity of the snout, by which the

nostril-openings are raised turret-wise above the surface of the water. The

eyes also being usually elevated above the level of the creature's head,

the crocodile is able to approach its floating or bank-side prey

practically unperceived, its huge body, limbs, and even the head, with the

exception of the nose and eyes, being totally submerged.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S._] [_Regent's Park._

YOUNG BROAD-SNOUTED CROCODILE.

A native of West Africa, remarkable for the extreme shortness and great

breadth of its nozzle.]

[Illustration: _Photo by Norman B. Smith, Esq._

A DEAD CROCODILE.

A man-eating individual. This particular animal has just been shot. The

natives in the background give a good idea of its size--little less than 20

feet long.]

Although capable of moving with great activity in the water, crocodiles and

their allies are usually accounted sluggish and slow movers on the land.

Seen basking in the sun, as is their wont, by the hour together on some

sand-bank, or creeping lazily thereon among their fellows, such a

conclusion is natural. The celerity, however, with which even a huge

25-footer, as witnessed by the writer in the Norman River, North

Queensland, will make tracks for and hurl itself into the water, if

disturbed during its midday siesta by the near impact of a rifle-bullet, is

a revelation. Crocodiles, moreover, as might be inferred from the slit-like

contour of the eye-pupil, as shown by daylight, are to a large extent

nocturnal, displaying their greatest activity, and being in the habit of

travelling long distances along and away from the river-banks in search of

food, or in connection with their migratory or mating instincts, under the

cover of darkness.

[Illustration: _Photo by Mr. W. Rau_] [_Philadelphia._

A CROCODILE.

Note the massive character of the tail, a weapon wherewith the creature can

disable a horse or an ox, or sweep smaller prey into the water.]

Of all living animals the crocodile and its allies are probably equipped

most efficiently for both defence and aggression. The thick, horny shields,

quadrangular on the back, tail, and under-surface, and adapted in shape and

size to cover the head, limbs, and sides, constitute an almost impenetrable

cuirass. As weapons of offence the formidable array of trenchant teeth,

with which the powerful jaws are armed, have not alone to be reckoned with

by the victim assailed. The crocodile's limbs and claws are relatively

weak, and incapable of aggressive mischief; but in the long, compressed,

muscular tail the reptile possesses a terribly effective weapon, wherewith,

with one swift, unexpected side-stroke, it will sweep a smaller animal into

the water, or deal a blow of sufficient power to fell or disable a man or

bullock. Thus well-nigh invulnerable, and cognisant of its marvellous power

of jaw and tail, a full-grown crocodile will not hesitate to try

conclusions with even such puissant adversaries as the bear, the tiger, and

other large carnivora, when they approach the river's brink to drink. Not

infrequently, too, the crocodile comes off the victor in these contests;

while, as sometimes happens, both of the well-matched foes are found dead

side by side at the water's edge. The dread in which crocodiles are held by

the natives of tropical countries, and the heavy toll they levy upon the

riverside population, and more especially the women-folk in their

accustomed avocations of water-carrying or laundry work, are too familiar

to need dissertation. Hence it is that in every country, excepting those

particular locations where the creature is a subject of misguided

veneration or fetish worship, it may be said that every man's hand is

against them, and the enmity most cordially reciprocated.

All the members of the Crocodile Family propagate by egg-production. The

eggs are relatively small in size, those of the largest species not

exceeding that of a goose in dimensions. In shape they are more or less

symmetrically ovate, and encased with a hard, white shell. In the case of

the crocodile, the female selects a suitable dry sand-bank near the river's

edge, in which it excavates a hole of about 2 feet deep, and, having

deposited from twenty to sixty eggs therein, mounts guard over them,

sleeping on top of the nest by day, until the young are hatched. With the

alligator, the site chosen for the nest is more usually among bushes or

reeds at some distance from the water, and the eggs, which may be laid to

the number of over 100, are covered over with leaves and vegetable débris,

whose decomposition engenders the heat required for their successful

incubation. In both instances the parent jealously guards the nest and

repels all intruders until the eggs are hatched, and ultimately conducts

the young ones to the water, where they soon learn to shift for themselves.

Numbers of them, nevertheless, in their young and weak state, fall victims

to vultures, hawks, ichneumons, and all manner of birds and beasts of prey.

From their birth the little saurians are most vicious and irascible in

disposition, hissing and snapping at or laying hold with bull-dog tenacity

of a finger or other seizable object that may be held towards them. From

their earliest days also they are eminently aggressive and carnivorous.

Contenting themselves at first with flies and other insects, they speedily

extend their attentions to frogs, lizards, fish, or any small animals which

frequent the marshes and river-banks; and finally, with their concurrently

increased appetites and dimensions, requisition such larger prey as sheep,

goats, deer, horses, and, as before mentioned, even the human species, if

they can steal a march on them unawares. Crocodiles are provided with

relatively small gullets, and are necessarily incapable of swallowing any

prey whole which is of large dimensions. Accordingly any big quarry which

is seized and dragged into the river is disposed of piecemeal, the reptile

rending the carcase in fragments with the aid of its terrible teeth and

side-wrenches of its ponderous body.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

A QUEENSLAND CROCODILE.

The specimen referred to in the anecdote on page 550.]

Of crocodiles proper, as distinguished from alligators, there are some

dozen known species. From their last-named near allies they are

distinguished by the entire absence of the supplementary bony armature

which in most alligators underlies the outer horny cuirass on the under

surface of the body. A more essential distinction is associated with the

character of the teeth. The upper and lower teeth of the crocodile

interlock, and the fourth lower canine-like tooth is received into a notch

in the side of the upper jaw, and is consequently more or less visible when

the mouth is closed. In the alligators, on the other hand, this bigger

tusk-like tooth fits into a pit-like excavation in the upper jaw, and is

invisible when the mouth is shut.

The TRUE CROCODILES are found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia,

Australasia, and Central America. The largest is undoubtedly the estuarine

species, ranging from the eastern shores of India, through the Malay

region, to North and East Australia, New Guinea, and the Fiji Islands. This

wide range is a natural concomitant of their brackish- and salt-water

proclivities. Individuals of the species are, in fact, not infrequently met

with floating on the sea at some considerable distance from the land. An

example of this estuarine species has been recorded which measured no less

than 33 feet, while a length of 20 feet and over is by no means of uncommon

occurrence.

[Illustration: _Photo by J. W. McLellan_] [_Highbury._

CROCODILE, WELL ILLUSTRATING THE CHARACTER OF THE DENTITION.

The lower tusk-like teeth fit into notches in the upper jaw, and are

visible when the mouth is closed. In the alligator these teeth fit into

pits in the upper jaw, and are hidden from view under the like conditions.]

[Illustration: _Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co._] [_Parson's Green._

CROCODILES AND ALLIGATORS, WITH YOUNG.

Notwithstanding their proverbially irascible dispositions, these reptiles,

of all ages and dimensions, herd together on the most amiable terms.]

The method adopted in Queensland and North Australia for capturing these

destructive monsters is that of a running noose, so attached to a suitably

flexible mangrove-tree growing in the vicinity of its nocturnal runs as to

constitute a gigantic spring-trap. A dead carcase or other suitable bait is

added to lure the animal to its doom. The crocodiles thus caught are alive

and uninjured, and can be dispatched or reserved for menagerie exhibition.

A somewhat amusing incident attended the transport of a "reprieved" captive

by steamship from Cairns to Brisbane, Queensland, a few years since. In the

dead of night, when all but the watch and engineer had retired to rest

(they have to anchor and lay-to at night in the Great Barrier Reef

channels), the saurian managed to free himself from his bonds, and started

on a voyage of discovery around the decks. Arriving at the stoke-hold, he

either incontinently stumbled into it, or descended of malice prepense,

sniffing the chance of a supper or a good joke at the engineer's expense.

Anyway, the engineer was aroused from his peaceful dozings with the

impression that the last day of reckoning had arrived, and, rushing up the

hatchway, awakened the whole ship's strength with his frantic outcries.

The NILE CROCODILE, the most familiar form in European menageries, and once

abundant throughout Egypt to the Nile's delta, has now retired to the upper

reaches of that great river. It never attains to the dimensions of the

estuarine form. By the ancient Egyptians, as is well known, this species

was pampered and worshipped with divine honours while living, and after

death embalmed and preserved in the catacombs.

[Illustration: _Photo by Robert D. Carson, Esq._] [_Philadelphia._

A CROCODILE FROM SOUTHERN UNITED STATES.

The teeth of crocodiles, as compared with those of alligators, are much

less uniform in size and character.]

Other noteworthy crocodiles, of which space will allow only of the mention

of their names, are the AMERICAN or ORINOCO CROCODILE, and the LONG-SNOUTED

CROCODILE of West Africa, which distantly approach to the LONG-SNOUTED

GAVIAL or GARIAL of India, in which the snout is elongated in a beak-like

manner, and armed with close rows of long, recurved teeth, specially

adapted for its exclusively fish-eating propensities. Full-grown examples

of the gavial may attain to a length of 20 feet.

The TYPICAL or MISSISSIPPI ALLIGATOR is, as its name denotes, a North

American form, having the modified dental and other structural details

previously referred to, but otherwise in size and its aggressively

destructive habits nearly corresponding with the Oriental crocodile. A

second species of alligator is found in China.

[Illustration: _Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co._] [_Parson's Green._

MISSISSIPPI AND CHINESE ALLIGATORS.

The Chinese species, which is the smaller of the two, feeds mainly upon

fish.]

In the tropical South American rivers the place of the alligator is

occupied by the CAIMANS, some of which attain to huge proportions, and are

distinguished from the former by the greater development of the bony

armature of both their back and under-surface, and by certain essential,

but to the lay reader obscure, modifications of the skull. An example of

the GREAT CAIMAN once did duty as a riding-horse to the naturalist

Waterton, as all those familiar with his book of travels will remember.

The habits of the caiman differ somewhat locally. From the main stream of

the Lower Amazon they are in the habit of migrating in the dry season to

the inland pools and flooded forests. In the middle districts of the same

river, where the drought is excessive and protracted, the caimans are

addicted to burying themselves in the mud till the rains return; while in

the upper reaches of the Amazon, where the droughts are not prolonged, the

caimans are perennially present. The eggs of these reptiles are much

esteemed for food by the natives of Dutch Guiana.

----

CHAPTER II.

_TORTOISES AND TURTLES._

The order of the Chelonians, including the Tortoises, Turtles, and

Terrapins, with their allies, constitutes one of the most distinct and

readily defined groups of the Reptile Class. The more or less complete bony

shell, or carapace, which encases the body, and into which both head and

limbs can in many cases be completely retracted, separates these reptiles

very widely from the other orders. In some respects certain details of the

skull-structure assimilate them to the Crocodiles; but here again there is

an entire absence of the rows of formidable teeth, the upper and lower jaws

being sharply pointed, covered with horn, and thus converted into a

trenchant beak. The two leading groups of the Tortoises and the Turtles are

distinctly separated, by the respective conformation of their limbs, for a

terrestrial or aquatic existence. The Tortoises have normal walking-legs,

with toes and, in most instances, claws, fitting them for walking on the

land or burrowing into the earth. In the True Turtles these limbs take the

form of flattened paddles, and in no instance are more than two of the toes

provided with claws.

The TORTOISES are sub-divided by zoologists into some six or eight

subordinate groups or families, for the most part distinguished by the

respective modifications of their protective shells. This shell in all

tortoises and turtles consists of two essential elements--the upper or back

casing, known as the "carapace," and the under one, or so-called

"plastron," which covers the ventral surface. In some forms these two

elements are completely welded into one another, forming a continuous

box-like shell; in others they are more or less separate; while in yet

another series the lower shell is rudimentary. These distinctions have been

found to constitute a convenient basis for classification.

[Illustration: _Photo by C. N. Mavroyeni_] [_Smyrna._

ASIATIC TORTOISES.

A tortoise, like a turtle, turned over on its back, represents one of the

most helpless of living animals.]

In the TRUE LAND-TORTOISES, which invite first attention, the upper and

lower shells are completely united in a box-like form, and the neck, bent

in the form of the letter S, can be completely retracted within it. The

limbs are club-shaped, covered with horny scales or tubercles, and adapted

for walking, the toes being unwebbed, and provided with strong claw-like

nails.

[Illustration: _Photo by C. N. Mavroyeni_] [_Smyrna._

EUROPEAN TORTOISE.

A tortoise's shell, or carapace, constitutes a portable house, wherein the

animal can entirely withdraw for shelter in inclement weather, or when

attacked by enemies.]

Pre-eminent among this typical terrestrial series come the huge GIANT or

ELEPHANT-TORTOISES, formerly abundant, as their fossil remains indicate, in

Southern Europe, India, and North and South America, and now represented

only in the isolated oceanic islands of Aldabra, off Madagascar, the

Seychelles, and the Galapagos groups. Even within historic times they were

very abundant in the islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues; but their huge

size and lethargic habits, combined with their esculent qualities, have

brought about their extermination. Those remaining in the islands mentioned

are now so reduced in numbers that there is a possibility of their becoming

extinct at an early date, and this notwithstanding the strenuous endeavours

that are being made to save them. A large percentage of the small residue

of these giant Chelonians have been transported from their island homes and

presented to the London Zoological Gardens, where they are now comfortably

housed.

An instructive idea of the aspect and relative dimensions of these giant

tortoises may be obtained by a reference to page vii of the First Volume,

in which one of these Chelonians is shown to be equal in size and strength

to carrying a human rider. It is recorded that these reptiles were so

abundant in the island of Rodrigues in 1691 that one might count as many as

3,000 of them in a single flock, and walk for over 100 paces upon their

backs. All of these giant tortoises, as obtained from separate island

groups, or islets of the groups, exhibit characteristic differences,

indicating the length of time they have been separated from one another.

The age to which these giant tortoises attain is altogether phenomenal. One

example at Port Louis, Mauritius, originally brought from the Seychelles,

is definitely known to have lived for over 130 years from the date of its

transportation. It is stated to have been of large size when imported; and

as these animals are notoriously slow growers, another couple of centuries

may be safely added to its life-span. The Galapagos Islands down to recent

times have produced the greater number of species of these tortoises, the

carapace of the largest of these not infrequently measuring as much as 4

feet in direct length, and the weight of such an animal being over 400 lbs.

[Illustration: _Photo by S. G. Payne & Son, Aylesbury, by permission of the

Hon. Walter Rothschild._

ELEPHANT-TORTOISES FROM THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS.

Several species are shown in this photograph.]

Highly interesting details concerning the Galapagos giant tortoises and

their habits are contained in Darwin's "Voyage of the Beagle." At the time

of that illustrious naturalist's visit they were still very abundant in the

islands. He remarked that they abounded in both the higher and damper and

the lower and arid districts, but gave preference to the former. The old

males were invariably the largest, growing to such a size that they

required six or eight men to lift them, and yielded as much as 200 lbs. of

good, highly nutritious meat. On some of the islands there was no water;

and in these cases, as also when they occurred in the dry and arid

lowlands, they were observed to feed chiefly on the succulent cactuses.

When water was plentiful, the tortoises exhibited a great fondness for it,

drinking large quantities and wallowing in the mud. In the larger islands,

where wells and springs existed in the higher and damper portions, regular

well-beaten paths radiated in every direction, indicating the routes, like

sheep-tracks, regularly followed by the tortoises to and from the

water-holes. It was these tracks which betrayed their presence and led to

their first discovery by the older Spanish navigators. When travelling long

distances to the watering-places, it is recorded that they march night and

day, pursuing the "even tenor of their way" at the rate of sixty yards an

hour--one yard per minute, or four miles per day! During the

breeding-season the larger males indulge in hoarse roarings or bellowings

that can be heard for a considerable distance. The female deposits her eggs

either in the sand, where this is plentiful, covering them up again, or,

where the ground is rocky, drops them indiscriminately in any crevice or

depression encountered. The eggs are white, spherical, and hard-shelled, as

in all tortoises, and somewhat exceed those of a hen in bulk.

The very antithesis of the giant land-tortoises of the Galapagos Islands is

the small and familiar GRECIAN TORTOISE, frequently exposed for sale on

hand-barrows in the London streets, and acquired by the unsophisticated

suburban resident as a quaint but not altogether estimable garden pet. Like

the majority of tortoises, this is a vegetarian, and with epicurean tastes

that will guide it instinctively to select your choicest lettuces and the

gems of your horticultural triumphs for the delectation of its fastidious

appetite. The Grecian tortoise rarely exceeds 5½ inches in length, and is

abundant throughout South-eastern Europe, Sicily, Italy, and the Grecian

Archipelago, extending thence to Syria. In Algeria an almost identical

tortoise occurs which grows to the greater length of 9 inches; while Greece

produces yet a third form, the so-called MARGINED TORTOISE, which attains

the greater length of 11 inches, and is distinguished by the colour of the

carapace usually being black, with a small spot of yellow on each

shield-like plate. All three of the foregoing species are collectively

imported by shiploads for sale in England, and it would be interesting to

know what fate befalls them. In Greece and Sicily they are regularly placed

on the market as an article of food. When acclimatised in England, and even

in their warmer native country, these Grecian tortoises bury themselves in

the earth and hibernate during the cold winter months.

[Illustration: _Photo by S. G. Payne & Son, Aylesbury, by permission of

Hon. Walter Rothschild._

ELEPHANT-TORTOISE.

Note the small size of the head with relation to the huge carapace.]

Next to the typical Land-tortoises the so-called HINGED TORTOISES demand

brief notice. The several members of this little group are denizens of

tropical Africa, and notable for the circumstance that the hinder portion

of their carapace is united with the anterior one by a movable ligamentous

hinge. As a result of this peculiarity the animal, when retracted within

its shell, can entirely close up the hinder aperture. None of these forms

exceed a length of 9 inches.

In another group, distinguished by the title of BOX-TORTOISES, a

ligamentous hinge is developed across the centre of the lower shell, or

plastron, which, being freely movable with relation to the upper shell,

enables the animal, when retracted, to completely close up both the

anterior and posterior carapace apertures. The box-tortoises are natives of

the South-eastern United States and Mexico, and, in addition to the

foregoing structural peculiarity, are distinguished by the high or vaulted

contour of their carapace. In some the toes are slightly webbed, and their

habits are mainly carnivorous, indicating affinity with the flesh-eating

and essentially aquatic Terrapins.

Between the two, however, have been intercalated a little group, known as

the POND-TORTOISES, one species of which is found in Southern Europe, and a

nearly allied one in North America. These pond-tortoises are distinguished

by the smooth and depressed form of the carapace; the toes are fully

webbed, fitting them for an aquatic life; while a ligamentous hinge,

separating the anterior and posterior moieties of the plastron, enables

them to cover in and protect their retracted head and limbs, after the

manner of the Box-tortoises. The carapace of the European pond-tortoise

does not exceed 7½ inches in length, and is usually dark brown or black,

ornamented with yellow dots or radiating streaks. This species inhabits

both ponds and running water, and during the daytime creeps out on the

banks, like the Crocodiles, to bask in the sun. As with the Crocodiles,

however, the daytime does not represent the period of its greatest

activity, this being during the night. The pond-tortoises are highly

esteemed for the table in the countries where they are indigenous.

[Illustration: _Photos by S. G. Payne & Son, Aylesbury, by permission of

the Hon. Walter Rothschild._

GIANT OR ELEPHANT-TORTOISES FROM THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS.

The elephant-like character of their limbs, whence they derive their name,

is well exemplified in these examples.]

The TRUE TERRAPINS are all tortoises of essentially aquatic habits,

differing, however, from the water-frequenting Pond-tortoises, last

referred to, in that they have no ligamentous hinge providing for the

hermetical closure of the carapace apertures. The carapace and plastron,

moreover, are firmly united by bone, so that the two form conjointly a

rigid, continuous shell, as in that of the typical Land-tortoises. The

terrapins are widely distributed, being found in North America, Japan,

China, the Persian Gulf, Spain, and North-west Africa. Terrapin ranks

highly as a table delicacy in the United States. The real DIAMOND-BACKED

species, however, is now becoming very scarce, the supply not being equal

to the demand, and many inferior varieties being substituted in its place.

The "fishing" for these terrapins is mainly prosecuted during the autumn

months, when the reptiles become dormant, and are easily discovered and

secured by probing the mud with sticks. The female terrapin, or "cow," as

it is designated, is considered the greater delicacy, the eggs, to the

number of twenty or thirty, usually found inside its body, being the _de

rigueur_ garnishing of the dainty dish. The diamond-terrapin rarely exceeds

a length of 7 inches; but some of the inferior varieties, or "Sliders," as

they are termed, are of much larger dimensions, and may weigh as much as 4

lbs.

[Illustration: _Photo by S. G. Payne & Son, Aylesbury, by permission of the

Hon. Walter Rothschild._

GIANT TORTOISE.

The giant tortoises, like the relatively diminutive European varieties, are

essentially herbivorous.]

From an æsthetic standpoint the PAINTED TERRAPIN undoubtedly bears the

palm. Its smooth, depressed carapace is not more than 6 inches long, and

its ground-colour is usually a dark olive-green, yellow lines bordering its

component central shields; the small marginal shields are sometimes almost

crimson with black markings, and the "bridge" uniting the carapace and

plastron exhibits the same brilliant coloration. The soft skin of the head,

neck, and other exposed parts have yellow and red bands on a brown or

blackish ground-colour. This beautiful little terrapin, which is a special

favourite for aquariums, is a native of Eastern North America.

Passing the small and not peculiarly conspicuous group of the AMERICAN

MUD-TERRAPINS, we arrive at the very distinctly differentiated family of

the SNAPPERS, SNAPPING-TURTLES, or ALLIGATOR-TERRAPINS, as they are

variously called. These likewise are exclusively confined in their

present-day distribution to the New World, though in former ages allied

species inhabited Europe. The alligator-terrapins are characterised by the

relatively small size of the carapace, within which the animal is unable to

completely retract its head and limbs, as in the preceding types. The head

is relatively large, and armed with a formidable hooked beak; while the

tail greatly exceeds in relative length that of any of the ordinary

tortoises or terrapins, and is scaly and crested somewhat like that of a

crocodile along its upper ridge, and has horny plates on the under-surface.

Their popular name has, in fact, been conferred upon these Chelonians on

the strength of their presenting the aspect to no inconsiderable extent of

an alligator's body, to which the carapace of an ordinary terrapin has been

united. The common alligator-terrapin, or snapping-turtle, is among aquatic

Chelonians an animal of considerable size. The carapace alone may be as

much or more than 20 inches long, and to this have to be added the thick

head and neck and elongated tail, which, taken together, are of almost

similar dimensions.

A second closely related member of this family, known by the name of

TEMMINCK'S SNAPPER, attains to yet longer proportions, and is the largest

known river-tortoise. The carapace in this species may measure over 2 feet

in length, and has three strongly marked longitudinal ridges. The head is

relatively larger and the tail somewhat shorter than in the preceding

species. It is a denizen of the southern districts of the United States,

being met with in Texas, Florida, and as far north as the Missouri.

The habits of the two species are stated to be identical. Both of them

frequent the rivers and swamps of the areas indicated, preferring the

waters that have a muddy bottom, and in some localities occurring in vast

numbers. As a rule they prefer lying in deep water near the centre of the

river or swamp they inhabit, but they also occasionally ascend to the

surface and float in midstream with outstretched necks. Like other

water-tortoises, they come on land to find suitable locations for

depositing their eggs. The name of Snappers, commonly applied to these

tortoises, bears reference to their inveterate habit of snapping and biting

viciously at everything placed within their reach. Even from the egg the

young of Temminck's species is wont to display this trait. The animals are

somewhat esteemed for food, and are consequently caught for the market.

They will take almost any bait, but manifest a predilection for fish.

Considerable caution has necessarily to be exercised in dealing with them

in the boats, and it is a common custom to decapitate them immediately they

are hauled on board, otherwise they are capable of inflicting the most

terrible wounds with their powerful cutting beaks on the persons of all or

any who may remain within their reach. Bathing in waters tenanted by the

pugnacious and distinctly aggressive snappers is a risky proceeding, and

many cases of serious injuries that have happened to incautious adventurers

in this direction have been recorded.

[Illustration: _Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co._] [_Parson's Green._

A GIANT TORTOISE WITH A EUROPEAN TORTOISE ON ITS BACK.

Illustrating their comparative dimensions.]

The food of both the alligator and Temminck's snapper consists mainly of

fish, and where common these tortoises must be ranked among the most potent

agencies in denuding the rivers and lakes of their finny denizens. Not

content with fish, the larger examples have been known to drag under water

and devour such large water-fowl as ducks, and even geese. It is stated

that the snappers exhibit a surprising amount of agility in the water, and

swim after and capture the fish on which they feed. Such a feat seems

scarcely credible of a bulky adult individual, while, moreover, it is

provided with a remarkable and effective adaptation for taking its prey by

stratagem. A very fine example of Temminck's snapper was for many years

confined in a tank in the Reptile-house in the Regent's Park Zoological

Gardens. It usually lay prone at the bottom of its tank, giving little or

no signs of life throughout the day, but was wont to display more activity

and to move about its tank at night. At times, when ready for a fresh

food-supply, it was observed that it would lie motionless as a stone, as

usual, but with its mouth open to its widest gape. This attitude it would

maintain for several hours together. The singularity of this action was

that the gaping jaws displayed to view two elongate worm-like structures,

which sprang close to one another from the floor of the mouth just within

its entrance. These worm-like appendages were continually writhing to and

fro, and presented in both aspect and movements a most remarkable

resemblance to actual living worms. With this naturally provided decoy for

fish there can be no need for the snapper to exhaust its energies in the

strenuous pursuit of its quarry. To make the delusion complete, the head,

neck, and chin of Temminck's snapper are decorated with small lobular or

leaf-like membranous appendages resembling sponges or aquatic vegetation.

The solid grey-brown triangular head of the animal itself might easily be

mistaken for a piece of rock, and thus decorated with seemingly natural

growths the unwary fish come browsing along it, rush upon the wriggling

worms at the entrance of the cavernous chamber, and are lost. A photograph

of this interesting Chelonian is reproduced on page 560, which depicts it

with its mouth open, and indicates both the position and the presence of

the worm-like decoy-appendages.

[Illustration: _Photo by S. G. Payne & Son, Aylesbury, by permission of the

Hon. Walter Rothschild._

ELEPHANT-TORTOISE.

Illustrating the ample chamber-like space provided within the carapace for

the retraction of the head and limbs.]

There are several water-tortoises presenting a considerable external

resemblance to the forms already noticed which belong to distinct family

groups. Thus the MATAMATA TORTOISE of Northern Brazil has at first sight,

except for its short tail and nose-like proboscis, much in common with

Temminck's snapper. Fimbriated and foliaceous membranous outgrowths are

developed on the head and neck to a much more luxuriant degree, and it

would be interesting to ascertain if it possesses similar decoy-appendages

inside the mouth.

The so-called SNAKE-NECKED WATER-TORTOISES of South America, and the

LONG-NECKED aquatic ones of Australasia, possess modifications of

skull-structure and other details that indicate family distinctness. A

broad external character that serves to separate this group from the

Terrapins and all preceding forms is that the neck, when drawn within the

cavity of the carapace, is not flexed in the form of the letter S, but

simply bent sideways along the anterior margin of the body. The species

belonging to this group, which includes the Matamata, Snake-necked, and

Soft-shelled Water-tortoises, and also a few essentially terrestrial

species, are distinguished collectively by the appellation of the

"SIDE-NECKED" Tortoises.

TURTLES.

[Illustration: _By permission of the New York Zoological Society._

SNAPPING-TURTLE.

Also known as the Alligator-terrapin, with reference to its long,

alligator-like tail.]

Certain of the Terrapins, or Water-tortoises, belonging to the groups above

described frequent saline river-estuaries and salt marshes, but none are

strictly marine. With the Turtle Family, however, we arrive at an

exclusively pelagic section, in which the animals are specially adapted for

life in the high seas, the walking-limbs of the terrestrial and fresh-water

species being replaced by long and powerful swimming-flippers. The shell in

these marine Chelonians is more or less heart-shaped and flattened, and the

carapace and plastron are always separate, and never united in a rigid

box-like form, as with the Land-tortoises. In common with those fresh-water

tortoises which pass the greater portion of their existence in lakes or

rivers, the MARINE TURTLES resort to the land to deposit their eggs. The

locations chosen are the sand-beaches or isolated sandy islets in tropical

oceans, wherein, after excavating hollows to receive them, the eggs are

covered up and left to hatch with the heat of the sun. The eggs of turtles

differ from those of the Land-tortoises and Terrapins in that their

external covering is soft or leathery. So soon as the young turtles are

hatched, they emerge from the sand, and instinctively make their way to the

water. Many, however, are the perils that beset their course, and few there

be out of perhaps 80 or 100 turtlets which gain the shore and get through

into deep water. Fish-hawks and sea-birds of every description are waiting

ready to pounce down upon them immediately they make their appearance, or

to thin their ranks as they run the gauntlet of perhaps 100 yards or so to

reach the sea in safety. Even at the waters edge the ordeal is by no means

passed. Shoals of the smaller sharks and other predatory fish are

continually cruising round in the shallow water, and have as high an

appreciation of the toothsomeness of tender turtle as the proverbial London

alderman. The writer was fortunate on one occasion, among the coral islands

on the Australian coasts, to light upon a young turtle brood just emerging

from their sandy nest. The majority were assisted to the sea, and a few,

reserved in the interests of science, were liberated in a bath of sea-water

to have their first swim. Snapshot photographs were taken, one of which,

reproduced on page 561, serves to illustrate the great relative length of

the paddle-like limbs at this early stage and the variety of postures

assumed during natation.

[Illustration: _Photo by York & Son_] [_Notting Hill._

TEMMINCK'S SNAPPER.

The two white points visible on the lower jaw represent the pair of

worm-like appendages which the creature uses as a bait to attract or

capture fish.]

Of the typical Marine Turtles three distinctly characterised species are

recognised by zoologists. These are the GREEN TURTLE, indispensable for

soup at aldermanic banquets; the HAWKSBILL, or tortoiseshell-producing

turtle; and the LOGGERHEAD. Of these three, the green turtle and the

loggerhead more nearly resemble one another, and are apt to be confounded

by the uninitiated. Such an error is very readily detected when the

Chelonian comes to the table, the flesh of the loggerhead being rank and

utterly unfit for food. In order, however, to be wise before the event, and

to avoid a grievous misdirection of culinary energy--turtle being a

standard dish in the coral seas--it is only necessary to count the number

of large shield-like plates that flank each side of the central series in

the creature's carapace. In the true green or edible turtle there are only

four pairs of these large lateral shields, while in the loggerhead there

are never less than five, and sometimes more. The loggerhead-turtle also,

as its name implies, has a conspicuously larger and coarser head than the

esculent species. The fact that while the green turtle is a strict

vegetarian, feeding entirely on seaweeds, the loggerhead is altogether

carnivorous, readily accounts for the diametrically diverse gastronomic

properties of these two Chelonians. Both species attain to a considerable

size, over 3 feet in length (the loggerhead being the larger), and are

found inhabiting the same waters throughout the tropics.

The HAWKSBILL, or true tortoiseshell-producing turtle, never attains to

quite as large dimensions as the two preceding species, though its carapace

may measure as much as 2 feet 6 or 8 inches long. The structural feature

that at once distinguishes the hawksbill from either the green or

loggerhead species is the character of the horny shields developed on the

surface of the carapace. Instead of the edges meeting in juxtaposition, as

in those two forms, they overlap one another, like the scales of a fish,

and are notable for their thickness and their exceedingly beautiful but

variably marbled patterns. It is these marbled horny plates which

constitute the tortoise-shell of commerce. In young individuals the

substance is thin and very transparent, but thickens with advancing age,

until in old individuals the plates may vary from 1/8 to ¼ inch in

thickness. Like the two preceding species, the hawksbill, within tropical

seas, enjoys a cosmopolitan distribution. Its habits, like the

loggerhead's, are essentially carnivorous; but while the flesh is coarse

and rank, the eggs are valued for the table.

A remaining member of the Marine Turtle series is the so-called LUTH or

LEATHERY TURTLE. This Chelonian differs so materially in structure from the

foregoing species as to be referred to a distinct family. The horny plates,

so conspicuous in all the other types, are entirely absent, the bony

carapace, which is distinctly seven-ridged longitudinally, being covered

with a homogeneous leather-like skin. Both jaws are formidably hooked and

cutting throughout their edges, and the paddles are destitute of the two

rudimentary claws found in the preceding species. The leathery turtle grows

to an immense size; specimens have been recorded measuring as much as 8

feet in total length and weighing over 1,600 lbs. Its flesh is not only

unfit for food, but is reported to be of a poisonous character. The coasts

of Florida and Brazil are among the areas where the leathery turtle is met

with in the greatest abundance.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

NEWLY HATCHED TURTLES ENJOYING THEIR FIRST SWIM.

The limbs at this early stage of their development are of an abnormal

length.]

The more ordinary method of capturing turtle for the market or to supply

the deficiencies of the larder aboard ship in tropical climates is to land

at night, preferably when the moon is full, on the islands to which the

females are in the habit of repairing to deposit their eggs. This function

is invariably discharged during the night hours, and unless the moon is up

the presence of the reptiles is not easily determined. Time is generally

given for the turtle to excavate its sand-burrow and lay its eggs, usually

over a hundred in number, the proper moment for the capture being that

when, the task accomplished, it sets forth to regain its more accustomed

element. The creature is then seized and turned suddenly upon its back,

where it is left to struggle and flounder helplessly, being perfectly

incapable of righting itself, while other captures are made. On outlying

coral islands, such as those of the Lacepedes, off the Western Australian

coast, several dozen of the Chelonians may represent one good night's haul,

the choice of the fittest examples being left until the return of daylight.

In many places turtles are pursued in the water and speared; while in some

locations, notably at Keeling Island, as recorded by Darwin, the animals

are chased by the natives in sailing-craft. One man steers the boat, the

other one standing in the bows on the look-out for turtle. A Chelonian

being sighted, an exciting stern chase ensues, and on coming abreast with

the quarry the look-out man plunges into the water straight upon the

turtle's back, and clings pertinaciously with both hands to the shell of

the neck until the creature is exhausted, when it is dragged into the boat.

[Illustration: _Photo by H. V. Letkmann._

CUBAN TERRAPINS.

In common with many other water-tortoises, or terrapins, this species is

essentially gregarious in its habits.]

The most remarkable method of taking turtle, however, is that practised in

Torres Straits, as also at Mozambique and formerly in the West Indies. The

sucking-fish, or remora, is in this case impressed into the service of the

human fishers. Taking advantage of the fish's natural propensity to swim

towards and adhere pertinaciously to any larger floating object, fishermen

go out with specimens kept alive in a small well in the bottom of their

boats. When in pursuit of turtle, a long light line is attached to the

fish's tail; and coming within sight of a Chelonian, the fish, with an

abundance of slack or pay-out line, is thrown in the direction of the

turtle. The remora immediately swims towards and adheres firmly to the

under surface of the shell of the turtle, when it will suffer its body to

be torn asunder rather than let go its hold of its newly gained sanctuary.

Should the turtle be a small one, both fish and turtle are dragged with the

line back to the boat. If, on the other hand, it is of large size, one of

the natives plunges into the water, and, following the line down, secures

the turtle.

In the island of Ascension the cultivation and breeding of turtles for

exportation in artificially constructed enclosures have for a considerable

time been the subject of an important industry. There are doubtless many

other locations on both the Australian coast-line and in the British West

Indies where this highly profitable trade could be established. In addition

to the green turtle, attention might also be profitably directed at the

same locations to the culture of the tortoiseshell-bearing species.

Tortoiseshell possesses the singular and useful property of being

susceptible of perfect amalgamation. Consequently a number of small-sized

pieces can be welded so indistinguishably with one another as to serve the

same use as the larger plates for commercial purposes. This amalgamation is

effected by bevelling the edges of the two pieces that it is desired to

unite along the proposed line of junction, and then, while they are held in

juxtaposition in a metallic press, submitting them to the action of boiling

water.

----

CHAPTER III.

_LIZARDS._

[Illustration: _Photo by E. C. Atkinson._

BLIND-WORM.

Notwithstanding its name, the blind-worm possesses small, very bright

little eyes.]

The Lizard Tribe or Sub-order is notable as containing a greater number of

specific forms than any other of the Reptilian groups, no less than 1,700

distinct species being described in the most recently published catalogues.

While formerly regarded as constituting a separate and independent order of

the Reptile Class, later investigations have demonstrated that lizards are

so intimately related through sundry intermediate types with the Snakes

that they cannot be recognised as constituting other than a sub-section of

the same order. The two groups of the Lizards and Snakes are consequently,

and with reference more particularly to their commonly shared scaly

armatures, technically distinguished by the appellation of Scaled Reptiles.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

GLASS-SNAKE, OR SCHELTOPUSIK.

The presence of movable eyelids distinguishes this legless lizard from the

true snakes.]

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

GLASS-SNAKE.

Snails constitute the favourite food of the glass-snake.]

While the more typical members of the Lizard Tribe are readily

distinguished from the Snakes by the possession of well-developed limbs, a

not inconsiderable number of species are altogether devoid of these

appendages, or possess them only in a partially developed or rudimentary

condition. The BRITISH BLIND-WORM, or SLOW-WORM, constitutes an example of

such a legless lizard, although on account of its outward snake-like

appearance it is commonly regarded as a snake by the uneducated. In the

South European so-called GLASS-SNAKE, or SCHELTOPUSIK, here figured, the

snake-like aspect and creeping habits are still more conspicuous, but yet

when examined more critically its lizard affinities become apparent. One of

the most readily apprehended external characters that serve to distinguish

this and the majority of the legless lizards from snakes is the possession

by the former of movable eyelids and conspicuous external ear-openings.

Among snakes eyelids are invariably absent, the eyes, by way of

compensation, being covered by transparent horny plates, which impart to

these creatures that peculiar stony stare which undoubtedly constitutes one

of the most repulsive features of their tribe. There are, however, a few

exceptional lizards devoid of eyelids, though these species do not take a

snake-like form.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

BURMESE GECKOS.

One of the largest members of the tribe, measuring 8 or 10 inches in

length.]

Lizards, while distributed throughout temperate and tropical regions,

attain to the zenith of their representation in size, number, and variety

of form and colour in tropical and sub-tropical countries. The majority of

species are essentially sun-worshippers, and in temperate climates, such as

that of England, where they are but sparsely represented, pass the

cheerless winter months in a state of torpid hibernation.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

BURMESE GECKO.

Under-surface, showing minute hexagonal scales and peculiar structure of

the adhesive toe-pads.]

The first position among the Lizard Tribe is usually accorded to the GECKO

FAMILY--a group numbering 280 species, which present several somewhat

anomalous features and characteristics. In the first place, in

contradistinction to the majority of lizard forms, they are for the most

part nocturnal in their habits, and have their eyes specially modified to

meet them. Geckos, as the exception to the ordinary lizards previously

referred to, possess no eyelids, and the pupil of the eye, as seen in broad

daylight, is mostly represented by a narrow vertical slit, like that of a

cat or a nocturnal dog-fish. As the night approaches, however, the

membranous diaphragm is retracted, displaying to view a symmetrically

orbicular pupil of abnormal size and luminosity. Another prominent

characteristic of the geckos is the peculiar modification of their feet,

which in most instances are furnished with adhesive disks or pads, which

enable these lizards to run with ease, after the manner of flies, on the

smooth surface of a wall or window-pane, or even along the ceiling. It is

further noteworthy of the geckos that they are the only lizards which

possess the power of emitting distinct vocal sounds. The name Gecko is, in

point of fact, derived from the fancied resemblance to the word that

constitutes the shrill, somewhat bird-like note of one of the most familiar

species. "Tok," "toki," "chick, chick," "checko," and "tocktoo" are

distinctive call-notes that are respectively associated with other members

of the Gecko Family.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

MADEIRAN GECKOS.

Madeiran geckos photographed through a glass window-pane, showing the

peculiar formation of their adhesive toe-pads. One example is regrowing its

recently amputated tail. These geckos often travel from Madeira to Covent

Garden Market among banana bunches.]

The geckos are most numerously represented in the Indian and Australasian

regions. None of them attain to large dimensions. They rarely exceed 1 foot

in total length, and most frequently measure some 3 or 4 inches only.

Geckos, in common with many other lizards, are notable for the facility

with which their tail becomes detached and left in the hands of their

would-be captor. In course of time a new tail sprouts out from the

truncated stump of the original member, and within a few more months equals

it in dimensions. It not infrequently happens that two or even three new

tail-sprouts take the place of the original appendage, imparting to the

little creature a most bizarre appearance. The above photograph includes an

example of the Madeiran species in which a new tail-bud of a normal

character has just commenced to grow.

The nearest approach to the phenomenon of flight among lizards occurs in

what are known as the FLYING-DRAGONS, belonging to the family of the

Agamas, which next invites attention. These lizards are all of relatively

small size, not exceeding a few inches in length, and inhabit the

Indo-Malayan region. In these singularly specialised forms six or seven of

the posterior ribs are abnormally produced on each side of the body, and so

united together by thin, semi-transparent membrane as to form a pair of

wing-like expansions. When not in use, these structures are folded, after

the manner of a fan, closely against the animal's sides, while, when

extended, they constitute a most effective parachute, wherewith the little

creatures accomplish flying leaps from tree to tree, after the manner of

the Flying-squirrels and Phalangers. The colour of these wing-like

structures varies among the many different specific forms, being in some

instances spotted or reticulated like those of a butterfly.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

FLYING-DRAGON OF JAVA.

A lizard with wing-like membranes supported by the abnormally developed

ribs. It takes long flights from tree to tree.]

This same family of the Agamoid Lizards includes a number of species of

very dissimilar aspect and habits, which are almost exclusively confined to

the Old World or Oriental zoological region. Australia in particular is

remarkably rich in representatives of this group, many of them of

considerable size. Certain of these have within recent years been found to

be endowed with the power of bipedal locomotion. The FRILLED LIZARD of

Queensland and the northern territories of Western Australia was the first

species in which this bipedal habit was authentically demonstrated in

connection with examples observed in Australia and also brought to England

by the writer, one of the last-named examples furnishing the photographs

reproduced on page 567. In other respects this lizard is one of the most

remarkable of its tribe. The peculiar Elizabethan collar-like frill,

capable of erection or depression at the creature's will, imparts to it a

most singular appearance. When at rest or undisturbed, this membranous

frill-like structure is folded down in neat, symmetrical pleats around the

lizard's neck. Should the creature be approached by man or dog or other

aggressive animal, the mouth springs open to its widest, and simultaneously

with this action the frill is erected like the sudden opening of an

umbrella, and stands out at right angles around the neck, imparting to it a

most formidable and threatening aspect. Dogs, in fact, which will

habitually chase and kill larger lizards, such as the Monitors, will

frequently halt and retire discomfited when confronted with a frilled

lizard at bay with its frill erected. The brilliant colour of this frill,

more especially in the male, adds very considerably to the formidable

appearance of this lizard. While the body of this lizard is usually of a

light brown colour, with more or less distinct darker transverse bars and

reticulations, the frill-like membrane has a ground-colour in which orange

and chrome-yellow chiefly predominate, and upon which are superimposed

splashings and speckles of brilliant scarlet. While the total length of

this averages 2 feet, the expanded frill in adult males is not infrequently

as much as 8 or 9 inches in diameter. The peculiar, grotesquely human

aspect presented by the frilled lizard when running on its hind legs only

will be appreciated on reference to the accompanying photographs. This

erect attitude is only assumed when the frilled lizard is traversing more

or less considerable distances and moving on level ground. Under other

circumstances it progresses on all-fours, after the manner of the ordinary

members of its class.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

FRILLED LIZARD AT BAY WITH EXPANDED FRILL.]

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

FRILLED LIZARD WITH FRILL FOLDED UP.]

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

FRILLED LIZARD RUNNING ON ITS HIND LEGS (VIEW FROM THE REAR).]

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

FRILLED LIZARD RUNNING ON ITS HIND LEGS (BROADSIDE VIEW).]

Several other lizards belonging to the family group of the Agamas have been

demonstrated by the writer to move in the same manner as the frilled

species. LESEUR'S WATER-LIZARD, also a Queensland form, which attains to a

length of 3 or 4 feet, is a notable example in this connection. As implied

by its name, it is semi-aquatic in its habits. It frequents scrubs in the

neighbourhood of river-banks and backwaters, and passes a considerable

portion of its time in shallow water with only its nostrils elevated above

the surface. It is a most expert swimmer, sculling itself with grace and

rapidity, aided only by its long, laterally compressed tail. Examples

brought to England and kept alive for some years by the writer were

observed, in hot weather more particularly, to sleep at nights in their

water-tanks.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

AUSTRALIAN TREE-LIZARD.

This species also runs on its hind legs.]

The several instances of bipedal locomotion among living lizards, as here

chronicled, are of especial interest in correlation with the circumstance

that certain extinct Dinosaurs habitually progressed on their hind limbs

only. They, in fact, have left "footprints on the sands of time" which

indubitably prove this assumption. There is, however, no relationship

between the two groups, and the resemblance is one of pure analogy, just as

both bats and birds fly, although they have no kinship.

Among other interesting lizards included in the Agama Family, mention may

be made of the singular JEW or BEARDED LIZARD of Australia--a flattened,

broad-set form, some 14 or 15 inches long, brown in hue, and clothed with

rough imbricated scales, but whose chief peculiarity consists of the

expansive beard-like development of the cuticle immediately underneath the

animal's chin. As in the frilled lizard, this cuticular excrescence is only

conspicuous when the creature is excited, at other times being contracted

and indistinguishable from an ordinary skin-fold. When retiring to rest,

these lizards, in their adult state, almost invariably climb up and cling

to the rough bark of a convenient tree, and when young and more slender

will also ascend saplings, on which they sleep, clinging by their

interlocked claws.

Another member of the Agama Family which invites brief notice is the

so-called YORK DEVIL, or MOUNTAIN-DEVIL, of Western and Central Australia.

This lizard is of comparatively small size, rarely exceeding 6 or 7 inches

in length. Its feeble form and stature, however, are abundantly compensated

for by the complex panoply of spines and prickles by which its head and

limbs and body are effectually protected. The natural food of this singular

lizard consists exclusively of ants, the small black, evil-smelling species

which often proves itself a pest by its invasion of the Australian

colonists' houses being its prime favourite. These are picked up one by one

by the rapid flash-like protrusion and retraction of the little creature's

adhesive tongue, and the number of ants which are thus assimilated by a

Moloch lizard at a single meal is somewhat astonishing. A number of

examples of this species were kept by the writer in Australia, and their

gastronomic requirements fully satisfied every day by taking them into the

garden and placing them in communication with a swarming ant-track. By

careful observation it was found that no less than from 1,000 to 1,500 ants

were devoured by each lizard at a single sitting. The ant-devouring

proclivities of these prickly little lizards can no doubt be turned to very

useful and effective account in clearing ant-infested domiciles, and were

in fact thus utilised by the writer on more than one occasion.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

AUSTRALIAN WATER-LIZARD.

This lizard is of aquatic habits, and runs on its hind legs when traversing

long distances.]

The lizards included in the Agama Family are essentially inhabitants of the

Eastern Hemisphere, none occurring in America. In the western continent,

however, we find an equally extensive but structurally distinct group which

presents many singularly corresponding types. This family comprises the

true IGUANAS, many of them of considerable size, and a numerous assemblage

of smaller forms. Among those species which present a striking parallel in

size and aspect to the peculiarly characteristic Old World Agamas, mention

may be made of the little so-called HORNED TOAD, or SPINY LIZARD, of

California and other of the North American States. This species might

readily be taken by the uninitiated for a near relation of the Australian

Moloch Lizard, or Mountain-devil, last described, its flattened diminutive

form and bristling spiny armature seemingly justifying such a supposition.

The crucial test afforded by the character of the dentition, however,

distinctly indicates its true position to be with the Iguanas. In the

Agamas the teeth are invariably developed from the apex, or summit, of the

jaw. These teeth, moreover, are varied in character. In the Iguanas, on the

other hand, the teeth are all more or less uniform in character, and are

attached to the outer sides of the jaw.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

AUSTRALIAN WATER-LIZARD.

Showing attitude when running.]

The larger iguanas are, for the most part, exclusively fruit- and

vegetable-feeders, and arboreal in their habits. The thick forest scrubs in

the vicinity of streams and rivers are their favourite resort. After the

manner of the Australian water-lizards, these iguanas are expert swimmers,

and delight in lying along the overhanging branches, whence at the

slightest alarm they can precipitate themselves into the water beneath.

When swimming, the fore limbs are folded back against the sides, the tail

only being used as a means of propulsion. Several of the larger iguanas,

such as the common or tuberculated species, attain to a considerable

length, 5 or 6 feet; their bodies are proportionably thick, and the white

flesh, in this last-named variety more particularly, is highly esteemed as

a table delicacy. The common TUBERCULATED IGUANA is an essentially handsome

species, its skin being variegated with bands and shadings of brown and

green, which are lightest and brightest in the males and younger

individuals; the neck and snout and jaws are decorated with projecting,

rounded tubercles; a large, baggy, dewlap-like membrane, capable of

inflation at the animal's will, depends from the chin and throat; and a

deeply serrated crest of elevated scales extends from behind the head, down

the centre of the back, nearly to the extremity of the tail.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

AUSTRALIAN JEW OR BEARDED LIZARDS.

The scales of the bearded lizard are exceedingly rough and sharp, sometimes

cutting the skin of those who handle them incautiously.]

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

BEARDED LIZARD.

With its beard-like throat-membrane fully expanded.]

The Iguana Family includes a species with essentially marine proclivities,

this being the GALAPAGOS SEA-LIZARD. This animal was first discovered to

science by the late Mr. Charles Darwin, who found it in considerable

numbers on the shores of the islands which constitute the Galapagos group.

The lizards were observed to spend much of their time swimming in the sea,

but at no very great distance from the land. Experiments proved that they

could live for a very considerable interval entirely submerged, examples

sunk with weights for as much as an hour emerging entirely unaffected from

the ordeal.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S., Milford-on-Sea._

A YOUNG BEARDED LIZARD.

Showing its habitual sleeping attitude.]

While the Iguanas may be described as essentially American, one or two

exceptional forms are found inhabiting the relatively remote regions of the

Fiji Islands and Madagascar. The so-called FIJI BANDED IGUANA (photographs

of a pair of which, once in the writer's possession, are reproduced on page

575) is a very beautiful creature. The body is shapely and well

proportioned, and terminates in a tail of abnormal length--equal to quite

twice that of the body--the entire dimensions measuring some 3 feet. The

male is much more bright in hue than the female; for while the latter is

usually of a uniform light green throughout, the male is variegated, with

broad, alternating bands of brightest emerald-green and pale French grey.

Around the lips and eyes there are lines of brightest yellow, and the

throat is almost pure white.

The small group of GIRDLE-TAILED LIZARDS belongs exclusively to the African

and Madagascan regions, its typical representative being the Cape and

Orange River Colony species, illustrated on page 575. The symmetrical

whorls of long, spinous scales encircling the tail in this and the allied

forms constitute a prominent feature, and have originated the popular name

of Girdle-tails.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

AUSTRALIAN YORK OR MOUNTAIN-DEVIL.

A spinous lizard which inhabits the arid plains of Central Australia.]

The most aberrant representatives of the Lizard Tribe, with regard to one

very important characteristic, are undoubtedly the two species of HELODERM,

or "SILATICA," as they are called by the natives. These reptiles (page 576)

occupy the unenviable position of being the only known lizards which

possess poisonous properties, their bite having been demonstrated to be

fatal to smaller mammals, and to be attended by very serious symptoms in

the case of human subjects being bitten. The more common MEXICAN HELODERM

has been in residence at the Zoo for many years; it attains to a length of

from 18 to 20 inches, and its stout, squat body, short limbs, warty skin,

and peculiar colouring are calculated at first sight to awaken a feeling of

revulsion in the beholder. Like the wasp, the salamander, and other animals

whose conspicuous tints indicate their poisonous or other baneful

properties, the heloderm is distinguished by a lurid ground-colour, varying

in individuals from yellow-orange to flesh-pink, upon which are

superimposed bold, network-like markings of blue-black or dark brown tints.

Along the tail these reticulations usually take the form of more or less

irregular rings.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

SPINOUS LIZARD, OR MOUNTAIN-DEVIL.

This species feeds exclusively upon ants.]

Although the heloderms possess such deadly properties, those at the Zoo

manifest a by no means aggressive disposition, and allow their keeper or

even strangers to handle them with impunity. In experiments purposely made

to substantiate or refute the previously current rumours as to the

poisonous nature of these animals, two guinea-pigs succumbed to bites

received in the course of the day. The owner of the reptiles, who was also

bitten on one occasion through incautiously handling, suffered very severe,

though happily not fatal, effects. In connection with its poison-dealing

properties it is found that it possesses certain long and fang-like teeth,

which are set loosely in the jaws, and which have grooves before and behind

for the transmission of the poison, which is secreted by special glands

situated close to their base. The favourite habitat of the heloderm is the

arid, sandy, and stony region on the western side of the Cordillera

mountain-range. It is at the same time said to be rarely seen in those

parts except during the rainy season, and also to be for the most part

nocturnal in its habits.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

A GROUP OF MOUNTAIN-DEVILS OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA.

The spines of these lizards are so sharp that they will pierce a tender

hand.]

The family group of the MONITORS includes the largest of existing lizards,

notably the semi-aquatic form common to North Australia and the Malay

Peninsula and adjacent islands, which attains a length of 8 or 10 feet, and

is not infrequently mistaken, as it rushes, on being disturbed, through the

reeds and other rank herbage to the water, for a young crocodile. An

exceedingly fine and well set-up example of these huge water-monitors, shot

by Captain Stanley Flower in the neighbourhood of Singapore, is placed in

the Reptile Gallery of the Natural History Museum.

Another species, indigenous to the Southern Australian States, and having

essentially arboreal habits, commonly attains to a length of 5 or 6 feet.

The skin of one example of this species, obtained for the writer from the

eucalyptus forests in Gippsland, Victoria, measures no less than 7 feet

long. With reference to the elegant lace-like pattern of its skin-markings,

this species is frequently associated with the suggestive title of the

LACE-LIZARD. Among the more illiterate settlers it is generally known as a

Gooana, the name being obviously a corruption of Iguana, and being, as a

matter of fact, applied promiscuously, and in all cases incorrectly, to a

number of the larger Australian lizards.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

HORNED TOAD.

A spiny lizard, somewhat resembling the Australian mountain-devil.]

All the members of the Monitor Tribe are inveterate egg-eaters. An Egyptian

species, the NILE MONITOR, renders service to humanity through the

gratification of this propensity in seeking out and devouring the eggs of

the crocodile. The larger water-monitor of the North Australian and Malay

regions has been reported to the writer to be particularly partial to the

eggs of the turtle, digging them out of the sand in which the parent

deposits them, and destroying them wholesale. The more strictly arboreal

Southern Australian species preys to a very large extent on birds' eggs,

climbing to the holes in the trunks and branches in which so many

Australian birds build their nests, and not infrequently capturing and

devouring also the parent birds and young. In the "bush" settlements this

monitor is notorious for its depredations among the hen-roosts, both eggs

and young chickens falling victims to its insatiable appetite. It is

consequently regarded with but scant favour by poultry-farmers, who

frequently organise a "gooana" hunt for its special destruction. If

surprised out in the open, the quarry at once rushes for a tree, and

manifests the most remarkable agility in "swarming" up the smooth, massive

trunk, and in dodging round to the side opposite to that on which the

sportsman approaches. Not infrequently, trees being remote, the monitor

will make for what appears to its apprehension the best substitute for

one--viz. the upright figure of the nearest sportsman. Should this happen

to be a "new chum" enjoying his maiden essay in "gooana" hunting, he will

undoubtedly experience a new sensation as the animal, with its sharp

cat-like claws, unceremoniously scrambles up to his head and shoulders.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

HORNED TOAD.

This species is highly prized for its insect-destroying proclivities.]

Brought to bay, a monitor possesses a more formidable weapon than its teeth

and claws wherewith to repulse the onslaught of the enemy. The long, tough,

thong-like tail--not brittle and replaceable, as in many other lizards--is

converted, for the time being, into a veritable stock-whip, wherewith it

will most severely punish incautious aggressors who venture too near. The

potency of this offensive and defensive weapon is fully recognised by the

reptile-keepers at the Zoo, who freely admit their reluctance to enter the

cage of one of these large, long-tailed, but conversely very short-tempered

monitors. All of the monitors, in consonance with their pre-eminently

carnivorous habits, are more or less savage and intractable. The several

species which have fallen within the writer's cognisance proved no

exception to the rule. An Egyptian example, injudiciously introduced to the

select society of his extensive miscellaneous collection in a heated

greenhouse, proved to be a veritable wolf in the fold, killing several of

the choicest specimens before its vindictive propensities were detected and

arrested. A comparatively small and rare spiny-tailed monitor, brought by

the writer, in company with the frilled lizards, to England from North-west

Australia, would harass and bite any other lizard placed with it, and

resent every friendly overture on the part of its owner, even after so much

as a whole twelvemonth's persistent attempts to tame it. Another, the South

Australian monitor, or lace-lizard, was no exception to the rule, and had

to be maintained in solitary confinement. This particular specimen,

nevertheless, evinced, as the following anecdote will show, a very

pronounced affection for its provided quarters. One day it effected its

escape from the wire-enclosed cage with which it was accommodated in the

writer's Brisbane garden, and after prolonged but unsuccessful searchings

it was given up for lost. Considerable astonishment was naturally

experienced some ten days later, when the animal was discovered in the

garden making frantic attempts to regain access to its former prison-house.

During its ten days' absence it had evidently fallen upon evil times, for

not only was it in a very emaciated condition, but also bereft of its long

and handsome tail. Apparently, after the manner of its tribe, it had been

manifesting a too warm interest in some neighbour's hen-roost, and received

across its tail a stroke with a spade or other cutting instrument that was

intended for a more vital region. Disgusted by such unfriendly treatment,

it evidently determined that free board and lodging at the hands of its

former owner, albeit with the sacrifice of freedom, was a pleasanter line

of life than liberty and a precarious commissariat, with added bodily

risks. An almost identical episode of the voluntary return to captivity of

an escaped monitor has been reported to the writer of a species from Borneo

by Dr. G. D. Haviland.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S._] [_Regent's Park._

TUBERCULATED IGUANA.

This species is esteemed for food by American Indians.]

The monitors, as a rule, are not distinguished for brilliancy of colouring,

shades and mottlings of brown or black being usually dominant. The male of

the Australian lace-lizard, after newly changing its coat, is, however, an

exception. In addition to the highly ornate lace-like reticulated pattern

of its skin-markings, previously referred to, the throat of the animal is

resplendent with mingled tints of sky-blue and lemon-yellow. It is

necessary, however, to observe that its natural surroundings and the ardent

rays of a sub-tropical sun are requisite to bring these brighter tints to

their full development. Examples kept in close confinement in the London

Zoological Gardens yield little or no indication of their colour

potentialities.

[Illustration: _Photo by E. C. Atkinson._

SMALL VIVIPAROUS LIZARD.

Occurs on heaths and commons in the South of England.]

[Illustration: _Photo by H. G. P. Spurell, Esq._] [_Eastbourne._

WALL-LIZARD.

This species is particularly abundant in Italy.]

While the Monitor Family is not represented on the American Continent, we

find there another group of lizards whose members are of considerable size,

and agree in their carnivorous propensities and general habits in a marked

manner with the Monitors. These are the "GREAVED" LIZARDS, named with

reference to the peculiar skin-folding on their legs. One of the largest

and most familiarly known representatives of this group is the TEGUEXIN, or

DIAMOND-LIZARD, indigenous to the greater portion of tropical South

America, and also to the West Indies. This lizard attains to a total length

of a yard or more, and is of a robust and thick-set build, with the hind

limbs much longer and stouter than the front ones. The colour of the

teguexin is also notable, the ground-tint being olive or tawny yellow, upon

which are superimposed black bands and markings which for the most part

take a transverse direction. Like the Monitors, the teguexin in captivity

exhibits a sulky and aggressive disposition, and cannot be safely kept in

company with other less powerful species.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

BANDED IGUANAS.

A rare species from the Fiji Islands. Male to the right; female without

bands to the left. The example crouching between them is a bearded lizard.]

The attribute of bipedal locomotion is possessed by the teguexin. That this

singular method of progression was an accomplishment possessed by one of

the larger tropical American lizards was first reported to the writer from

Trinidad. Some species of iguana was, in the first instance, anticipated to

be the acrobatic performer. Several examples of this family group were

accordingly put through their paces at the Zoo, to ascertain if they could

lay claim to the distinction. None of the iguanas available, however, rose

(on their hind legs) to the occasion, and it was only on experimenting, as

a _dernière ressource_, with the teguexin that a successful demonstration

was accomplished. This lizard was found, in fact, to run bipedally more

freely and persistently, when sufficient space was allotted it, than the

Agamas. It seems singular that this bipedal power of locomotion should have

so long remained undiscovered, and yet is possessed by lizards which have

for a number of years been the denizens of many zoological gardens and

other menageries. The fact that a comparatively large level area is a _sine

qua non_ for the exhibition of this phenomenon affords no doubt the

explanation of this anomaly; but the anomaly itself at the same time serves

to accentuate the desirability, in the interests of both science and the

animals' comfort, that exists for providing them in captivity with a more

liberal and reasonably sufficient space for their indulgence in those

methods of locomotion that are natural to them in their native land.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

SOUTH AFRICAN GIRDLED LIZARD.

Remarkable for the spiny armature, which is arranged in concentric

girdles.]

The Greaved Lizard Family includes somewhat over one hundred species. While

the majority agree with the teguexin in the possession of well-developed

limbs, there are a few retrograde forms in which the hinder limbs are

entirely absent or the front ones reduced to mere stumps. These exceptional

instances pave the way to the family of the Amphisbænas, in which such or a

still lower phase of limb development represents the normal condition. The

Amphisbænas are remarkable for their worm-like resemblance, and for the

circumstances that they live like earth-worms in burrows, that their eyes

are functionless (being concealed beneath the skin), and that they are

without ears. Other details of structure indicate a most rudimentary

condition of development, and they consequently rank as the lowest group in

the Lizard series. Another peculiarity of the Amphisbænas is that, in place

of scales, the skin of the body is divided into square segments, which form

symmetrical rings like those of worms. In addition to this, these

retrograde lizards possess the worm-like faculty of being able to move

backwards and forwards in their burrows with equal facility. It is from

this peculiar property that their title of Amphisbæna, signifying "moving

both ways," is derived. The representatives of this family, including

between sixty and seventy species, are widely distributed, being found in

America, the West Indies, Africa, and also European countries that border

the Mediterranean.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S._] [_Regent's Park._

ARIZONA HELODERM (POISONOUS LIZARD).

In the warted texture of its skin-surface the heloderm differs

conspicuously from other lizards.]

While the Teguexins present resemblances in one direction with the

Amphisbænas, or Worm-like Lizards, the higher or Monitor-like forms have

much in common with the Typical or True Lizards, of which two small but

well-known species--the SAND- and VIVIPAROUS LIZARDS--are indigenous to the

British Isles. All the members of the True Lizards, numbering some hundred

species, are inhabitants of the Old World, becoming scarce, however,

towards the far east of the Asiatic Continent. All possess shapely bodies

and well-developed limbs with five-toed feet, and are remarkable for the

extreme activity of their movements, and in many cases brilliant colouring.

[Illustration: _Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co._] [_Parson's Green._

WHITE MONITOR.

This and other allied species appear to be dead as they lie basking in the

sun.]

The varying individual shades of the GREEN LIZARD's brilliant emerald body

are almost infinite, no two being quite precisely alike in this respect. In

some a yellower, in others a bluer green predominates, while the females

and young are more or less mottled or striped with brown. The under surface

of the body is usually a more or less bright yellow, and the throat, in the

males more particularly, at the breeding-season is frequently brilliant

blue. The more conspicuous colour differences exhibited by this lizard are,

however, intimately associated with the local habitat of the particular

race. Those indigenous to Spain and Portugal, for example, are more or less

ornamented with ocellated spots along the sides of the head and body, while

those peculiar to Eastern Europe and Asia Minor are, in the young condition

more particularly, marked with longitudinal streaks, but their throat is

never blue.

[Illustration: _Photo by the New York Zoological Society._ _Printed at

Lyons, France._

THE WEST AFRICAN PYTHON.

This splendid snake is said to grow to a length of over twenty feet,

although such giants are only occasionally met with.]

[Illustration: _Photo by H. G. F. Spurrell, Esq._] [_Eastbourne._

GREEN LIZARD.

The tail of the green lizard is brittle, and breaks off in the hand if the

animal is held up by it. A new tail grows from the fractured joint in

course of time.]

The green lizard is one of the most beautiful of its tribe, and, although

not indigenous to Great Britain, is common in the Channel Islands. In

Jersey, more especially during the summer months, it is one of the most

familiar of the "common objects of the country," as it darts in and out of

the hedgerows after flies and other insects, or basks in the bright

sunshine on some stone wall, with its emerald-green body flattened out in

order to absorb the greatest possible amount of heat. As the colder autumn

days advance this lizard is rarely visible, and it finally retires into

some rocky cleft or burrow in the hedge-bank, and is no more seen until the

return of spring. Green lizards, liberated in suitably mild spots in the

South of England, have been known to thrive for brief periods, but succumb

to the cold of an extra-severe winter.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

OCELLATED LIZARDS AT HOME.

The most brilliantly coloured of living lizards. The body is bright

emerald-green, decorated on the sides with azure-blue spots.]

The largest representatives of the green lizard are those inhabiting

Eastern Europe and Asia Minor, where in size and colour they almost

imperceptibly merge into the PEARLY or OCELLATED LIZARD. This very handsome

species, which, in company with examples of the green lizard, is frequently

imported by London dealers, ranges from 16 inches to close upon 2 feet in

length. In form it is stouter and more robust than a typical green lizard,

the head in the old males more particularly being exceptionally massive.

Whatever may be lacking in grace of form is, however, fully compensated for

by brilliancy of colouring, no other lizard, in fact, out-rivalling it in

this respect. To the brilliant shagreen-patterned emerald-green hues of the

Jersey species it has superadded along its sides eye-like spots of

brilliant turquoise or ultra-marine, with dark brown or black encircling

lines. In the males the green ground-colour has a more distinctly golden

hue, while in the young individuals the body is more usually olive-colour,

dotted throughout with whitish or pearly-blue, black-edged spots. This

beautiful lizard is unfortunately somewhat irascible in temper, and will

not as a rule allow itself to be handled as freely as the majority of the

members of its tribe; when biting, moreover, it has a tendency to fasten

itself upon the object seized with bulldog-like tenacity, a grip from a

powerful-jawed old male being a somewhat unpleasant experience. In addition

to insects the ocellated lizard will prey upon any other small animals it

can overpower, including the members of its own species; it is consequently

not safe to entrust it in the company of other lizards of less size and

strength.

The Skink Family, which next invites attention, contains no less than 400

known species, and, climatic conditions being favourable, enjoys an almost

cosmopolitan distribution. The majority of its members have stoutish

cylindrical bodies, with relatively short limbs and tail; the legs are

sometimes reduced to two only, or altogether aborted, giving the animal a

snakelike form.

The COMMON or "MEDICINAL" SKINK--so called since it was regarded in the

Middle Ages as an infallible medicinal nostrum--is an inhabitant of North

Africa, and notable for its adaptation to a sand-burrowing existence. The

body is short, cylindrical, exceedingly smooth through the close apposition

of the minute surface-scales, and sharply conical at each extremity. The

well-developed toes of all four feet are flattened and serrated at their

edges in such a manner that they constitute most effective burrowing-tools

in the loose sand these lizards frequent. The length of this skink rarely

exceeds 3 or 4 inches. Its colour is rather exceptional for a lizard, but

at the same time in keeping with its predominating subterranean habits. The

ground-tint in the living examples in the writer's possession, one of which

is photographed on page 579, was a light yellowish-white, like that of old

polished ivory, with here and there a pale flesh-pink tinge. On the

under-surface this light tint was persistent, while the back was traversed

by some twelve broadish bands of pale slate-grey. The skink does not, like

the mole and the Amphisbænas, obtain its food from subterranean sources. It

comes out to bask on the surface of the sand when the sun is at its height,

and keeps a brisk look-out for flies or other insects, which, if they

approach sufficiently near, are pounced upon with remarkably agility.

Should the sky become overcast or any cause for alarm manifest itself, the

skink disappears beneath the sand as though by magic, not infrequently

burrowing down to a depth of several feet. Even at the present day the

skink is esteemed by the Arabs both for medicine and food, and in the

latter association, well broiled, has won the commendation of European

palates.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

RÖNTGEN RAY PHOTOGRAPH OF OCELLATED LIZARD.

The remarkable length and slenderness of the bones of the hind feet are

well illustrated by this photograph.]

One of the most bizarre members of the Skink Family hails from Australia,

where it is known as the STUMP-TAILED LIZARD. The most remarkable feature

in this form is the shortness and roundness of the caudal appendage, the

contour and proportions of which, in fact, so nearly correspond with those

of the head that it was originally described by its discoverer, Captain

William Dampier, just over three centuries ago, as a double-headed animal.

To quote his own quaint description: "The land animals we saw here [Sharks'

Bay] included a sort of guanos of the same shape and size with other

guanos, but differing from them in three remarkable particulars, for these

had a larger and uglier head, and had no tail, and at the rump, instead of

a tail there, they had a stump of a tail which appeared like another head,

but not really, such being without mouth or eyes; yet this creature seemed

by this means to have a head at each end."

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S., Milford-on-Sea._

COMMON SKINK.

Lives and burrows in the sand, coming out when the sun shines.]

A specimen of the stump-tailed lizard is usually on view at the Regent's

Park Gardens, and will afford visitors an opportunity for its comparison in

the flesh with Dampier's description. Fine specimens of the stump-tail will

measure as much as 10 inches in length, and are thick in proportion, the

legs, however, being very small and weak. The surface of the back is

covered with large, overlapping scales, that, in conjunction with its

customarily dark brown or blackish hue, convey to it a marked resemblance

to a long, imbricated fir-cone. On the under-surface the scales are in

comparison very small; the colouring in this region is also usually light

grey or yellow, variegated with darker reticulations.

Stump-tails make most good-natured and grotesque household pets. Of two

examples which were for some years in the writer's possession a

characteristic photograph is reproduced below. When basking in the sun, the

tail often becomes distended to enormous proportions. The internal

substance of this abnormally dilated organ consists chiefly of fatty

tissue, and it seems probable that it fulfils the rôle of a reservoir for

the storage of nutrient and heating materials, to be drawn upon during

hibernation. The winter months in the southern districts of Western

Australia are cold, and this lizard, in common with other local species,

retires during that season into the sheltering recess of a hollow

tree-stump or rock-crevice until the sun is again in the ascendant. The

stump-tail is practically omnivorous in its habits. In captivity fruit, and

more especially bananas, constitute a favourite diet, but it will also

greedily devour worms, beetles, and garden-snails, and may consequently be

turned to good account as a destroyer of garden-pests.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

AUSTRALIAN STUMP-TAILED LIZARDS.

Two of the author's household pets.]

Of other Australian members of the Skink Family, the GREAT CYCLODUS, or

BLUE-TONGUED LIZARD, may be mentioned. This species, which is about 18

inches long, presents no abnormal development of head or tail, as in the

form last described. The body is smooth and sub-cylindrical, and with its

closely set scales resembles that of a snake. The dominant colour is a soft

steel or silvery grey, variegated with darker or lighter cross-bands and

reticulations that are most strongly marked on the sides; the

under-surface, by way of contrast, is most usually pale salmon-pink. The

tongue of this lizard, which gives to it its popular title, is somewhat

remarkable. It is large and flat, and of a bright blue tint, resembling

nothing so much as a piece of blue flannel. The animal, as it moves about,

is in the habit of constantly protruding and retracting its tongue, which

consequently constitutes a very conspicuous object. In common with the

majority of its allies, the blue-tongued lizard is viviparous; but while

the stump-tail only produces one at a time, which is nearly half as large

as the parent, the present form gives birth to as many as ten or twelve. An

example in the writer's possession on one occasion presented him with a

litter embracing the larger number, and afforded the material for the

photograph here reproduced.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

BLUE-TONGUED LIZARDS.

A female with her family of twelve.]

As a contrast to the two preceding forms, the SPINE-TAILED LIZARDS, with

their short, flat, spiky tails, may be cited as a conclusion to this notice

of the Skink Family. There are nine known members of the same genus, all

inhabitants of Australia. The lower of the two forms here figured is

especially abundant on one island of the Abrolhos group, off the Western

Australian coast. This example is represented at about two-thirds of its

natural size. It is an interesting fact that an allied but considerably

larger species monopolises a neighbouring island of the same group, the two

species not intermingling: probably the larger one would prey on the

smaller. The largest member of the genus, known as CUNNINGHAM'S SPINE-TAIL,

of a uniform black hue, peppered white, is not infrequently brought to

Europe, and two examples which were for some years in the writer's

possession bred regularly, producing eight or ten young at a time for

several consecutive years. The fact that these lizards enjoyed full liberty

in a heated greenhouse, with a temperature and surrounding conditions

closely identical with those to which they were naturally accustomed, no

doubt contributed extensively to their fertility.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

SPINE-TAILED LIZARDS, WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

These lizards are essentially vegetarian in their habits.]

With this group we are compelled by lack of space to close our account of

the true lizards, but the reader must understand that only a very few out

of an enormous number have been mentioned at all.

----

CHAPTER IV.

_CHAMÆLEONS AND TUATERA._

CHAMÆLEONS.

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._

CHAMÆLEONS ASLEEP.

The tail of the sleeping chamæleon is frequently coiled spirally like the

proboscis of a butterfly.]

[Illustration: _Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S._] [_Milford-on-Sea._