148 



SLOTH. 



they utter a shrill cry, and erect their hair in the 

 manner of a cat. Azara even states that, if their 

 fears are unusually excited, they contract their skin 

 with so much force, that the hair has heen seen 

 to fall off in handfuls. Nor is this improbable ; the 

 quills of the porcupine are equally susceptible, if too 

 suddenly erected. 



Independent of the visual organ, which is ex- 

 tremely quick, the senses of the Agouti are gene- 

 rally obtuse, and his faculties seem limited. He is 

 one of those wild foresters whose natural qualities 

 can only be appreciated when at liberty. The mo- 

 ment that makes him a captive, seems to paralyze 

 his natural energy. He becomes almost immovea- 

 ble ; eats, if food be offered, but apparently without 

 satisfaction, and neither distinguishes the person 

 who feeds him, nor the hand that supplies his daily 

 wants, nor even the stick which cruelly reminds him 

 of the loss of freedom. It is said that rough treat- 

 ment cannot irritate, nor kindness soften his natural 

 obduracy. 



Five species appertain to this genus, of which the 

 Cavia Aguti, and the Patagonian Cavy, are the most 

 conspicuous. 



America is the native country of that strange 

 quadruped, the Three-toed Sloth, (Bradypus tri- 

 dactylus^) a creature that delights in solitude, and 

 chooses the deepest forest for his home. There he 

 seizes with his enormous claws the branch of some 

 high tree, and hooks himself so firmly that it is 

 difficult to make him let go his hold ; when thus 

 attached, he remains hanging, apparently upside down, 

 and describing the figure of an arch. Should any one 



