THE HAIRY ARMADILLO 213 



from mice to maize seeds. Living prey or putrid 

 carrion\ fragrant clover or ugly snake, all come 

 alike to the hairy armadillo, whose very gait spells 

 business-like activity as it trots over the pampas, 

 inspecting every object in its path with diligent 

 scrutiny, sniffing over it like a terrier, and expelling 

 the air from its nostrils with vigorous puffs. 

 This armadillo climbs well on occasion and swims 

 with ease ; but its chief accomplishment is digging, 

 when it sinks into the earth as by magic, and if not 

 taken at once is quickly lost. The late Charles 

 Waterton confessed to having spent three-quarters 

 of a day in digging out one of these little edentates! 

 If pursued by dogs, and unable to burrow, it rolls 

 itself up, presenting to the teeth of its assailants 

 nothing but an unsatisfactory globe of bony mail, 

 jointed like the tail of a lobster, and from its mere 

 bulk exceedingly slippery. The various feats of the 

 peludo are all the more remarkable since though it 

 may dig like a mole it is almost as blind as that 

 animal ; its hearing, however, is acute enough. 

 During its hours of repose it sleeps in a self- 

 constructed burrow, shivering at intervals in the 

 peculiar manner also affected by picarian birds, such 

 as toucans and hornbills. Two young appear to be 

 the normal number in a litter ; they are born blind. 



1 The South American pampas now supports eiglity million sheep 

 and horses. The peludo feeds on the carcases, and beinj;- unable to tear 

 open the raw hide, sagaciously levers its way under the dead animal and 

 tears through the skin, rotten through contact with the earth. 



