FIELD BOOK OF MAMMALS 



Vernon Bailey, in his Biological Survey of Texas, North 

 American Fauna No. 25, pp. 54-56, gives a very good account 

 of the Texas Armadillo. 



"They are partial to low, dense cover of coarse grass, thorny 

 thickets, cactus patches, and scrub oaks, under which they 

 make numerous burrows and trails, or root about in the leaves 

 and mold, where they enjoy comparative safety under the 

 double protection of leafy screen and armor plate. But they 

 thrive best in a rocky country, especially where limestone 

 ledges offer numerous caves and crevices of various sizes, from 

 which they can select strongholds that will admit no larger 

 animal. Almost every rock-walled gulch along the head- 

 waters of Guadalupe River has one or more dens with smoothly 

 worn doorways from which much traveled trails lead away 

 through the bushes or to little muddy springs, where tiny hoof- 

 like tracks and the corrugated washboard prints of ridged 

 armor suggest that the armadillos not only dig and nose about 

 in the soft ooze for their insect food, but, pig-like, enjoy also 

 a cooling mud bath. Other trails lead along rocky shelves, 

 up the sides of gulches, and away from thicket to thicket, and 

 are easily followed sometimes for half a mile till they branch 

 and scatter or connect with cattle trails, where the rope-like 

 prints of dragging, homy tails are visible among the dusty cow 

 tracks. Late in the afternoon one occasionally meets an 

 armadillo trotting vigorously along a trail on his stumpy little 

 feet, his tail dragging after him in a useless sort of way as he 

 hurries nervously across the open spaces and stops in the 

 thickets to nose about under the leaves in search of dainties 

 from the fragrant soil. At such times the long, pointed nose 

 seems to be the keenest organ of sense. The little eyes, half 

 the time buried in rustling leaves, rarely detect an object not 

 close by and in motion. I have followed one of these pre- 

 occupied little animals for half an hour, often within 20 or 30 

 feet, moving only when it was rustling in the leaves, and 

 watching its motions without being discovered or creating 

 alarm. Hunters say that if you stand still the armadillos will 

 sometimes bump against your feet without discovering you, 

 so short sighted are they and so intent on their own business. 

 But when alarmed, they get over the ground with a rush that 

 is surprisingly rapid considering their turtle-like build. If the 

 first rush does not carry them to cover and an enemy over- 



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