CHAPTER XIII. 



THK SENSITIVE-PLANT. GRINGALET AND THE PORCUPINE. 



THE MEXICAN CHAMELEON. THE KITE AND THE FALCON. 



AN AMPHISB^ENA SNAKE. A COUNCIL OF TURKEYS. 



T UCIEN, seated on the grass, amused himself with 

 - ^ touching all the plants within reach of his travelling 

 staff ; suddenly he noticed that the branches and leaves of 

 a small shrub shut up when he brushed them with his 

 stick, just like the ribs of a parasol, moved by some invisi- 

 ble spring it was a sensitive-plant. 



He called to us to ask for an explanation of this phenom- 

 enon, so we assembled round the shrub, which was about 

 three feet high ; its leaves finely cut and of a delicate green 

 color, with pink flowers in tufts half hidden among them. 

 The leaves, touched by the stick, shrank up close to the pa- 



