384 FOOD OF THE LAND LIZARD, [chap. xyii. 



broken off by the wind. I several times threw a piece to 

 two or three of them when together ; and it was amusing 

 enough to see them trying to seize and carry it away in 

 their mouths, like so many hungry dogs with a bone. 

 They eat very deliberately, but do not chew their food. 

 The little birds are aware how harmless these creatures 

 are : I have seen one of the thick-billed finches picking 

 at one end of a piece of cactus (which is much relished by 

 ii,\[ the animals of the lower region), whilst a lizard was 

 eating at the other end ; and afterwards the little bird 

 with the utmost indifference hopped on the back of the 

 reptile. 



I opened the stomachs of several, and found them full of 

 vegetable fibres and leaves of different trees, especially of 

 an acacia. In the upper region they live chiefly on the 

 acid and astringent berries of the guayavita, under which 

 trees I have seen these lizards and the huge tortoises 

 feeding together. To obtain the acacia-leaves they crawl 

 up the low stunted trees ; and it is not uncommon to see 

 a pair quietly browsing, whilst seated on a branch several 

 feet above the ground. These lizards, when cooked, yield 

 a white meat, which is liked by those whose stomachs soai 

 above all prejudices. Humboldt has remarked that in 

 intertropical South America, all lizards which inhabit 

 dry regions are esteemed delicacies for the table. The 

 inhabitants state that those which inhabit the upper damp 

 parts drink water, but that the others do not, like the 

 tortoises, travel up for it from the lower sterile country. 

 At the time of our visit, the females had within their bodies 

 numerous, large, elongated eggs, which they lay in their 

 burrows ; the inhabitants seek them for food. 



These two species of Ambfyrhynchus agree, as I have 

 already stated, in their general structure, and in many of 

 their habits. Neither have that rapid movement so character- 

 istic of the genera Lacerta and Iguana. They are both 

 herbivorous, although the kind of vegetation on which 

 they feed is so very different. Mr. Bell has given the name 

 to the genus from the shortness of the snout ; indeed, the 

 form of the mouth may almost be compared to that of the 

 tortoise : one is led to suppose that this is an adaptation 

 to their herbivorous appetites. It is very interesting thus 

 to find a well-characterised genus, having its marine 

 and terrestrial species, belonging to so confined a portion 

 of the world. The aquatic species is by far the most 



