382 THE ANIMALS OF NEW ZEALAND 



remained, and these appeared to be quite paralysed with fear. 

 Whenever the tuatara made a movement, the poor little creatures 

 would crouch down and try to hide themselves under the dry 

 leaves in the box. He watched the box very carefully, and at 

 length found a tuatara in the act of eating one of the small 

 lizards. It had crushed the little fellow ciuite flat, beginning at 

 the head, and rejecting about an inch of the tail. At the bottom 

 of the box he found a dozen tails. There were four or five little 

 tuataras. about three inches long, in the box, but none of those 

 had disappeared. He generally found them perched on the heads 

 of the big ones, asleep. 



Tuataras are very capricious in their feeding, sometimes 

 refusing it for months, and then suddenly eating heartily every 

 day. They are fond of water, and like to lie in it for a large part 

 of the day ; and they swim freel.y, sometimes with only the nostrils 

 above water, sometimes immersed altogether. 



Dr. Newman has described these animals as being lazy in 

 all their movements, and, when frightened, he says, they move 

 very slowly. He adds that their pace is a slow crawl, the 

 abdomen and tail trailing on the ground. When driven fast, or 

 when chasing prey, they always lift the whole trunk off the 

 ground; it does not touch at any point. This rapid gait is very 

 wobbling, something like a man swimming sideways. After 

 running three or four yards, they grow weary and stop. They 

 cannot jump the smallest obstacle, their limbs being too feeble. 



They sleep the greater part of the day, and awaken slowly even 

 when handled. They sometimes bite when caught, and 

 occasionally fight viciously with each other, and then they bite 

 hard, holding on tightly with their mouths. They are timid 

 animals, easily frightened by noises, and run into their holes at 

 the sight of a man. They make no sound. 



They dig holes for themselves in loose sand or shingle, using 

 their fore feet, sometimes right and left alternately, sometimes one 

 foot only. The earth is thrown far behind them. They grow 

 slowly, and live for a long time. Captain Mair says that he has 

 seen an unusually large one which had been kept in an old 

 kumara pit on Flat Island, Motiti, for over three generations. 



