THE FUN OF SEEING THINGS 



121 



contiguous territories, where no natural 

 barriers exist, the species seem to inter- 

 grade, giving rise to the most confusing 

 results imaginable. Variations of every 

 description are to be observed, and the 

 student is at his wits' end to discover 

 characters which can be used to safely 

 differentiate them. As a rule, the num- 

 ber and arrangement of the scales on the 

 body help in identification ; but this is 

 not always the case in Sceloporus. As 

 a consequence, other characters must be 

 sought out. Those who have carefully 

 studied them find that the scalation of the 

 head carries one a long ways toward cor- 

 rect indentification in any particular in- 

 stance. 



Our common swift (S. undulatris) oc- 

 curs in most suitable areas where con- 

 ditions are right from one ocean to the 

 other, and in some places it is particu- 

 larly abundant. There is a good, natural 

 size figure of this suedes in my "Chap- 

 ters on the Natural History of the United 

 States," where its life history is given. 

 In this suedes, as well as in others of the 

 genus, the male is ornamented with a 

 ventral patch of rich azure blue on either 

 side of the body, offset with black ; this 

 is also seen very faintly in the female 

 sometimes. 



One of the verv largest forms of the 

 genus is the spiny swift (Sceloporus 

 spinosus), which occurs in many parts 

 of northern Mexico : in this countrv in 

 New Mexico, throughout w r estern Texas, 

 thence eastward over the tier of Gulf 

 States as far as Pensacola, Florida. 



Recently, Mr. Edward S. Schmid, of 

 Washington, D. C, received a large in- 

 voice of these interesting rept^es from 

 New Orleans, and with his usual gener- 

 osity he allowed me to select a number 

 of them for the purposes of photography. 

 There do not appear to be any heretofore 

 published photographs from life of this 

 species ; so the one here offered, giving 

 both male and female, may prove inter- 

 esting to nature students. They were 

 taken by me in April, iqi", and of the 

 size of nature. The male is shown on the 

 upper side of the limb and the female be- 

 low. It will be noted that in this species 

 the conspicuously keeled scales are very 

 large and sharply pointed, giving the 

 reptile a very roughish coat. The gen- 

 eral color is grayish or dull greenish, with 

 sometimes a dash of yellowish tan. Pale 

 transverse bands occur at intervals on 



the body, to become rings on the tail. In 

 the male, a large patch of dull black oc- 

 curs over the shoulder, faintly margined 

 with grayish-black. These latter charac- 

 ters are never present in the female, 

 while the broad, longitudinal stripe and 

 other minor characters are so evident in 

 my photograph that they require no es- 

 pecial mention. 



As in the case of nearly all the species 

 of swifts, this one, too, lives largely an 

 arboreal life, or on old, fallen trees 

 stretched upon the ground. It can run 

 with the speed of a race-horse, and, as 

 in our common form, dodge around on 

 the bark of the tree with all the alacrity 

 of a chipmunk. At night they often bur- 

 row under ground, near the foot of a 

 tree, and remain there until morning — ■ 

 a habit they keep up in captivity if sand 

 or soft earth be supplied them, which it 

 always should be if we make pets of then. 

 Thev eat many kinds of insects, some of 

 which probably are of the pest order, and 

 therefore these lizards are quite beneficial 

 with respect to man's interests. 



Twenty-nine cetaceans were reported 

 stranded on the shores of the British Isles 

 during 1916, one more than the year be- 

 fore. Among them was a suckling 

 sperm whale. 



War Diet in the Zoo. 



The animals of the zoological park 

 in London have gone on war diet. 

 The carnivora get only horse flesh — 

 which was never so cheap or abund- 

 ant as now. Potatoes, of which fifteen 

 thousand pounds a year were formerly 

 consumed, are now not used at all. 

 Bread for the monkeys and apes is now 

 only ship biscuit that has made one or 

 two voyages and is not fit for human 

 food. Instead of wheat and oats the 

 little mammals and the birds get dari. 

 paddy rice, horse beans, and locust 

 beans and Indian corn. For hay has 

 been substituted the grass clipped 

 from the city parks. Even bananas, 

 formerly eaten by many birds and small 

 mammals, are now replaced by boiled 

 wurzels and beetroots. The number of 

 animals also has been greatly reduced, 

 partly by killing such as could be eas- 

 ilv replaced and partly by not replacing 

 those which die. 



