:::::l"::*; TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO B^::::;::: 



body and tail lying, like a gigantic emerald, out- 

 stretched upon a stone. But the Iguanas ( Ctenosmira 

 acantlmra) are common, from small ones a foot long to 

 great fellows forty-five to fifty inches in length. Their 

 scales are of a dark hue and mottled, especially over 

 the back and neck, with flesh-colour. Along the neck 

 and the back is a ridge of tooth-like spines which gives 

 the creature an exceedingly fierce appearance. The 

 habits of tlie Iguanas are most interesting ; they appear 

 to be strictly diurnal, and the hotter the sun the more 

 they enjoy basking in it. Not until the cool of early 

 morning had passed did they appear, crawling slowly 

 out of their gloomy caverns to the highest point of 

 rock near by, and, holding themselves as high as their 

 short legs would permit, they looked carefully around 

 in all directions. It takes little imagination to magnify 

 the stone upon which an Iguana is resting into a huge 

 boulder, and the lizard to a measure of feet instead 

 of as many inches, — and the world has slipped back 

 two, four, six millions of years, and the Ceratosaurus 

 of the Jurassic Age is before us. 



The Iguana is apparently soon satisfied that every- 

 thing is as it was the day before, and it slowly settles 

 down, sprawling flat upon the stone, of which, to all 

 intents and purposes, it becomes a part. The keenest 

 eye fails to differentiate rock and lizard, so exactly 

 does the mottling of the creature's scales harmonize 

 with the weathered and lichened surface of the stone. 



«4 158 #» " 



