THREE COMMON REPTILES 



slowworm as might be imagined, for it can 

 grow another tail in the place of that which 

 has been left behind. The new tail, it is true, 

 is not so smooth and tapering as the old. 

 It grows out as a blunt point from the place 

 where the old one broke off, and you can 

 usually tell at a glance a slowworm which 

 has met with adventures and mishaps and had 

 to part with the rearmost portion of its long 

 slim body. Judging by the numbers of these 

 reptiles that I have come across which showed 

 signs of having had to renew their tails, it 

 must be a common, not to say everyday, 

 occurrence in slowworm life to cast off this 

 useful adjunct. 



The power of casting off the tail when 

 badly frightened is shared by other lizards, 

 including the pretty little common lizard, that 

 is so plentiful in many dry warm spots. I 

 once upon the Westmorland Fells caught a 

 number of these quick- moving little creatures. 

 They darted to and fro, catching a fly here, 

 sunning themselves for a moment on a stone, 

 then slipping into the crevices under the rocks, 

 but by a dint of patience and poking under 

 the stones I caught a good many of them. 

 They were charming little lizards with their 



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