358 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



is one of the most timid and inoffensive of all creatures, not even 

 surpassed in this respect by the guinea pig. It is never known to 

 defend itself, much less to make an assault. The absence of 

 incisors and canine teeth renders it incapable of biting, and it has 

 no offensive odor to warn off molesters. Its strong claws, strange 

 to say, are never used as weapons of combat. 



Some species are said to be able to outrun a man, but the six- 

 banded armadillo can not run faster than a man can walk. It 

 has a habit when pursued of quickly dodging and doubling like 

 a rabbit. Failing in all other means of escape, it simply puts 

 its head between its fore feet, tucks its tail and feet away, and 

 rolls itself into a ball, after the common habit of our porcupine 

 and opossum. In this position it may be punched and kicked 

 about with apparently the same freedom from feeling that is dis- 

 played by these animals in similar circumstances. Not all of the 

 species, however, resort to this expedient. Some are enabled to 

 expand and flatten their bodies until they lie on the ground 

 extended like a board, somewhat after the habit of the snake 

 known as the spreading adder. 



If the armadillo can not reach its burrow before an enemy is 

 upon it, it often escapes by digging its way into the ground a 

 feat which it is enabled to accomplish in an incredibly short 

 space of time, vanishing before the very eyes of its pursuer. 

 Persons unused to hunting the armadillo sometimes grab its 

 retreating tail, thinking thus to draw out its owner. Failure 

 invariably attends such efforts. The animal simply continues its 

 course into the earth, leaving its tail in the hands of the aston- 

 ished hunter ! 



The great strength which thus enables the armadillo to resist 

 withdrawal resides chiefly in its wonderful feet and claws. It 

 simply stiffens its legs and firmly implants its long toe-nails in 

 the ground. The back and sides of the animal are at the same 

 time forced against the top and sides of the burrow, wedging its 

 body in the hole so tightly that six men could scarcely draw it 

 out. It would be like pulling up a sapling tree by its roots. I 

 have noticed a similar bracing movement, by a stiffening of the 

 legs, in the Florida gopher or land tortoise, a creature which has 

 some habits in common with the armadillo. 



Hunters have three methods of getting the armadillo out of 

 its hole : by drowning it out, by smoking it out, and by digging. 

 Sometimes all three expedients prove unsuccessful, the rapid bur- 

 rowing of the animal enabling it to escape. The surest way is to 

 continue digging until the fugitive is exhausted. 



Hunters frequently resort to stratagem by taking advantage 

 of the nocturnal habits of the armadillo and capturing it when it 

 emerges from its hole at nightfall. Or they watch near its bur- 



