THE COMMON LIZARD, LAGERTA VIVIPARA 51 



place they dwell in. Open country they certainly 

 prefer to deep valleys and woods. 



Habits. — Eeptiles are frequently described as being 

 sluggish and slow of movement. This is certainly not 

 true of many lizards, and is very wide of the mark in 

 the case of the viviparous lizard. A more difficult 

 creature to catch it would be hard to mention. The 

 pace at which one of these creatures will cross a 

 piece of open ground to the nearest cover is simply 

 astonishing, and almost defies capture by the hand. 

 The observer sees the lizard first here, then there, and 

 then not at all, and it is a hundred to one against 

 finding it, unless it has sought the shelter of an 

 isolated tuft of grass, from which it may be dislodged. 

 Even then it is very difficult to see the little creature 

 amongst the roots, and just as it is exposed and you 

 are about to grasp it, like a flash it darts out and 

 away to another more secure hiding-place. As to 

 attempting to see -the individual movements of the 

 limbs it is a sheer impossibility. In fact, all the 

 movements of this lizard are rapid. Feeding is 

 carried out in desperate haste, as well as locomotion. 



During the hot summer months they may be seen 

 sunning themselves in the open, especially the gravid 

 females, at which time, of course, their movements are 

 more deliberate and less speedy, and therefore they 

 are at this period more easily captured. 



L. vivijoara is said to be a good swimmer and to 

 take readily to water. It is also stated that when 



