LIZARDS 



175 



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 remark- 

 able 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 fur what appears to its apprehension the best substitute for one — 

 via. 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. 



Brought to bay, a monitor pos- 

 sesses 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 replace- 

 able, as in many other lizards — 

 is converted, for the time being, 

 into a veritable stock-whip, where- 

 with 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 com- 

 paratively 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 aff"ection 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 e.xperienced 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 



Ph,i, t, If. Sai i/;» A'<nl, F.Z. i. 



HORNED TOAD 



This species is highly prized for its inseci-destroytng procH'vtties 



