CHAMELEON 



1264 



CHAMOIS 



city are Pen-Mar, Mont Alto and Wolf Lake 

 parks. 



On the present site of Chambersburg a set- 

 tlement was made in 1730 by Benjamin Cham- 

 bers, an Irish emigrant in whose honor it was 

 named ; it was known for a long time as Falling 

 Springs. In July, 1864, during the War of 

 Secession, General McCausland entered the 

 town and demanded $100,000 tribute in gold. 

 Upon its refusal to grant his request the place 

 was burned, the loss sustained being estimated 

 at $1,000,000. After the war the town was 

 quickly rebuilt. J.S.C. 



CHAMELEON, kame'leun, a lizard which 

 has the remarkable power of changing color 

 within a few moments whenever it desires to 



CHAMELEON 

 Small Illustration shows detail of "hand." 



do so. Although native to Asia, Africa and 

 Southern Europe, chameleons are also found in 

 the Southwestern United States and the West 

 Indies. The best-known species has a naked 

 body six or seven inches long, but the species 

 in the United States is hardly more than half 

 the latter length. The head is large, the tail 

 long, round and slender. The skin of the body 

 is loose, and hangs in folds at the throat. The 

 body is covered with very tiny scales or 

 granules. The animal changes its color, either 

 in accordance with its surroundings or through 

 anger, fear, temperature or light. From a 

 bronze-brown it can change to emerald green, 

 and again back to brown. Its power of fasting 

 and habit of inflating itself gave rise to the 

 fable that it lives on air, but in reality it feeds 

 upon insects, taking its prey by rapid move- 

 ments of an exceptionally long, sticky tongue. 

 In general habit chameleons are dull and slug- 

 gish, except in the use of the eyes and tongue. 

 CHAMINADE, shah me nahd' , CECILE LOUISE 

 STEPHANIE (1861- ), one of the best-known 

 women musicians of modern times, was born 

 in Paris. When only eight years of age she 



composed sacred music that won the praise 

 of Bizet, the composer of Carmen. She studied 

 for several years under excellent teachers, be- 

 gan a successful career as a pianist at the age 

 of eighteen, and became in time well known 

 as a music conductor. Chaminade's fame, 

 however, rests chiefly on her compositions, 

 which include such familiar instrumental pieces 

 as The Scarf Dance, The Flatterer, Morning, 

 etc., and many charming, melodious songs. 

 Among the latter are Madrigal, Rosamunde, 

 Berceuse and The Silver Ring. As a composer 

 she is distinctly original, and her compositions 

 are regarded as valuable exercises for the piano 

 student. 



CHAMOIS, sham' mi, a shy, goatlike ante- 

 lope, famed for its fleetness and its keenness 

 of scent. It lives in the high mountains of 

 Europe and Western Asia, and was once very 

 common in the Alps. In the summer it is 

 found near the snow line; in the winter, lower 

 down, in the forests. It is a rather small ani- 

 mal, with a brownish winter coat that changes 

 to fawn color in summer and gray in the spring. 

 Its head is pale yellow, marked by a black 

 band surrounding the eyes and extending from 

 the nose to the ears. Its horns, which are 

 about six or seven inches long, are round and 

 almost smooth, and they grow straight upward 

 until near the tip, where they suddenly end in 

 a sharp hook that is bent backward. The 

 tail is black. 



During the feeding time, which is in the 

 morning, one animal is always standing on 

 guard, in some prominent place, for the pur- 



CHAMOIS 



pose of warning the rest of approaching danger. 

 The pursuit of chamois is difficult and danger- 

 ous, as they live in the steepest, roughest 

 mountains, and are so quick and light they can 

 easily jump across a ravine fifteen feet wide. 



