The Swifts 



Vs. On each side of the back is an indistinct, paler band; these 

 bands are about ten rows of scales apart. 



The males have a black blotch under the chin, enclosing 

 more or less blue, also two large, bluish patches on the abdomen. 

 There is little or no blue on the underside of the female. 



Illustrated. 



Dimensions. The measurements represent the average- 

 sized specimen: 



Total Length 5^ inches. 



Length of Tail 2$ 



Width of Body f " 



Width of Head T 9 , " 



Distribution. The typical form occurs abundantly from 

 the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts, from about the latitude of south- 

 ern New Jersey, southward; in the extreme West it ranges as 

 far north as Oregon. 



Habits. It is in the dry and sandy pinelands of the south- 

 eastern United States that this sombre little lizard is found in 

 the greatest numbers. The writer has taken many dozens of 

 specimens in the coast regions of South Carolina and Georgia; 

 they show a marked preference for the fallen pines or sections 

 of cut timber, as about such trunks, with their loosening bark, 

 insect life is more numerous than on the living trees. We took 

 the largest numbers of specimens in the saw-mill yards, for the 

 swifts were always abundant on the piles of logs. Few spec- 

 imens were observed running up the living trees and these were 

 usually lizards that had been frightened from derelict timber 

 and taken to the tree in flight. Their movements upon a large, 

 fallen tree trunk, were very amusing. When approached they 

 would dart to the opposite side of the trunk to that upon which 

 one was approaching. As the collector's body loomed over the 

 trunk the lizard would shift its position until it was directly 

 beneath. If every movement of one's approach were slow and 

 cautious, capture was comparatively simple, for all to be done 

 was to make a rapid grab with the hand on the opposite side of 

 the log from that on which the bulk of the collector's body ap- 

 peared. But alas! This grab could not be regulated to the 

 nicety as if you were actually looking at your object, and, although 

 the hand approached with lightning-like rapidity, the lizard started 

 away from it at the same rate. The result was, in many cases, 



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