8 4 



ZOOLOGICAL SKETCHES. 



account of every idle movement, he rarely betrays his 

 whereabouts after the manner of squirrels and monkeys, 

 that often become victims to their passion for locomo- 

 tion. The large cats of the American tropics are not 

 sharp-scented, but hunt by sight in daytime and by hear- 

 ing at night, and sounds or motions seldom reveal the 

 hiding-place of the discreet tardigrade. In moonlit nights 

 his cry comes from the depths of the virgin woods with 

 a vibratory clang that makes it rather difficult to locate 

 his tree, and even in his honeymoon season the sloth 

 is very taciturn and rarely repeats his call in the same 

 hour. Before sunrise he retreats behind the screen of 

 the liana-shrouds, and remains motionless till the noon- 

 tide glow has silenced the voices of the forest. On cool 

 days he never stirs at all. He has to give his enemies 

 a wide berth : it is his one chance of safety. By harm- 

 ing nobody and competing with nobody's pursuits, he 

 hopes to enjoy his humble fare in peace. 



But, as Stanislaus Augustus said from sad experience, 

 " innocence is no excuse before the tribunal of war," 

 and, in the tropics at least, a state of nature is a state 

 of incessant warfare. In spite, therefore, of all his pre- 

 cautions and his monopoly of an almost unlimited food- 

 supply, the sloth is found nowhere in great numbers ; 

 his enemies are too many for a creature that can neither 

 fight nor fly. The harpy-eagle skims the tree-tops of 

 the tierra calicntc or falls upon him like a flash from the 

 clouds, the lynx lurks in the twilight of the shade-trees, 



