9 2 



ZOOLOGICAL SKETCHES. 



an ill-constructed automaton. He does not appreciate 

 caresses ; practical jokes delight him not. Even the 

 young ones have nothing of the vivacity and playfulness 

 of other infant mammalia. Grotesque little imps, with 

 woolly heads and preposterous claws, they will cling for 

 hours to the rump of their parent, with their noses 

 buried in her fur, never vouchsafing the external world 

 a look or sniff. Yet they can be easily weaned, and will 

 cling as tenderly to a " sham mother," — a milk-bottle 

 enveloped in a piece of fluffy cloth, — their attachment to 

 their natural nurse being merely that of a suctorial para- 

 site to its victim. They develop very rapidly, in weight, 

 at least, for in agility and intelligence the new-born tar- 

 dillos are faithful copies of their full-grown progenitors. 

 Their private life as well as their functions in the house- 

 hold of Nature could be successfully enacted by a big 

 caterpillar. I have often watched my tardos when they 

 thought themselves unobserved, and I do not think that 

 the conduct of a starfish could be more exclusively con- 

 trolled by what biologists call the " blind instincts." 

 They will ensconce themselves in a corner or squat down 

 in the very centre "of the shed, as chance directs, and 

 there they sit, not asleep, but contentedly inert, in the 

 languor of idiocy, for hours and hours. If their door is 

 left open on a chilly morning, they sometimes come out 

 to enjoy the sunshine at the rear of the shed, but, instead 

 of taking a bee-line toward the door, they will crawl 

 along the walls and nose around in the corners in a 



