72 EASTERN ETHIOPIA vi 



Flies are often secured when held six inches from the 

 chameleon's mouth ; it seems to aim at the fly with 

 much more certainty at six inches than at four. Any- 

 one who has carefully watched chameleons will agree 

 with Gadow that the tongue works best when shot out 

 with full force. When a chameleon ejects its tongue 

 at a fly and misses it, the reptile appears to have more 

 difficulty in withdrawing the organ into the mouth than 

 when the fly is hit and secured. When the object is 

 missed the tongue hangs about like the loose end of a 

 rope. Protusion and retraction of the tongue, even 

 when performed vigorously, are actions sufficiently 

 deliberate to permit a photograph to be obtained of the 

 act. The chameleon even in its own natural surround- 

 ings occasionally misses a fly although the tongue may 

 be aimed with apparent care. 



The variation in the colour of the chameleon's skin 

 was another source of interest to us. Although the 

 movements of a chameleon seem very slow when care- 

 fully watched yet left to itself for a few minutes the 

 reptile generally escaped, and its power of altering the 

 colour of its skin to the environment soon taught us 

 the hopelessness of even a rigorous search. It is diffi- 

 cult to detect chameleons among the branches of trees 

 unless the reptiles move. The skin of the chameleon is 

 covered with granules. 



These reptiles can hold very tightly by means of 

 their awkward-looking feet " with triple claw disjoined." 

 They are also aided in maintaining a secure position by 

 means of their tails. The following observation related 

 by Selous bears on this fact : he saw a small owl 

 sitting on a bare patch of ground under a thorn tree. 

 The bird did not move until he was quite close to it. 

 The owl flew two or three yards and something could 

 be seen attached to its leg. He caught the owl and 

 found that a large chameleon had attached itself to 

 the bird's leg by twisting its tail round it two or three 

 times, 



