208 DAYS OUT OF DOORS. 



these creatures. Certain snakes, too, that are now thought 

 only to hiss, will, I believe, be found to have a limited 

 range of scarcely audible utterances so with the pine-tree 

 lizards. I certainly have no reason to believe they talk, 

 but possibly they may whisper in each other's ears. 



Upon several occasions I sat, unseen by them, for a 

 long time, very near my pen of lizards, and listened 

 attentively, hoping to catch some sound that was clearly 

 a voluntary utterance of a lizard. I only determined that 

 one's ears, under such circumstances, become highly super- 

 sensitive, and a great deal is heard at a time when, in 

 fact, positive silence prevails. Generally, the lizards were 

 perfectly quiet, but at times one would move, and then a 

 general scuffling ensued; but how far the noises were 

 attributable to their activity I can not say ; probably en- 

 tirely so. The faint, snake-like hiss, that has fairly to be 

 squeezed out of them, is the range of their vocal utter- 

 ances, so far as I yet know. 



Concerning the breeding habits of this creature, I had 

 no positive knowledge prior to my visit to the pine-barren 

 regions of southern New Jersey. I had heard the state- 

 ment made that the eggs were small, quite numerous, 

 and deposited on the under side of prostrate logs, and 

 even in loose wood-piles that were constantly disturbed, 

 and that the eggs were not concealed or protected in any 

 way. All this I knew to be false ; but where were the 

 eggs of the pine-tree lizard placed ? Questioning observ- 

 ing residents of localities where the species abounded, I 

 was invariably informed that the eggs were laid in sand, 

 in pits dug by the lizards, and carefully covered up. They 

 were only discovered by accident, no trace of their pres- 

 ence being noticeable. Further, that after heavy showers 

 the eggs were sometimes exposed, and in this way a check 

 was put upon the increase of the animal's numbers. Of 

 course, solar heat alone was relied upon to mature the 



