214 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



The hairy armadillo has in recent years been 

 frequently imported alive into England, some two 

 dozen individuals in all being annually advertised for 

 sale by the various dealers.^ The price apiece 

 ranges from thirty to fifty shillings. From their 

 marked intelligence and activity, these animals are 

 always attractive exhibits for zoological gardens, and 

 many amusing remarks are made by "the man in 

 the street " as he watches them trot round their yard, 

 nose on ground, like hounds on scent. Armadilloes 

 are quite hardy, and, if warmly bedded with plenty of 

 good hay or straw, acclimatised specimens may be 

 safely kept without artificial heat during the winter. 

 The food problem is easily solved, since, like coati- 

 mondis, armadilloes will eat almost anything. It is 

 absolutely necessary to pave the floor of their out- 

 door yard (they ought always to have one) with stone 

 or some other impermeable material, since they will 

 burrow into an earth floor and be lost, and they are 

 quite capable of wrenching aside badly laid bricks. 

 Every corner must be well secured and the yard 

 strongly fenced with stout railings. Wire netting- 

 fastened with staples is a poor barrier for an armadillo, 

 which will probably wedge its conical snout under 

 the netting, and then wrenching away with its 

 armoured head and shoulders burst it open by ripping 

 out the staples. Similarly the railings must be 



1 The author reinenibers a batch of five offered for sale together in 

 Liverpool some two years ago. 



