THE TAMANDUA. 745 



moment when they are first touched and that in which they are drawn 

 into the mouth. It makes no burrows, but contents itself with the shade 

 of its own plumy tail when it retires to rest. While sleeping, it likes a 

 rough bundle of hay thrown on the ground. The eye is very sly and 

 cunning in its expression. It is a native of Paraguay, Brazil, and 

 Guinea. 



It is nocturnal, solitary, and listless in its habits, and delights in damp 

 forests and marshy savannahs, in which its insect food is most abundant. 

 The female only produces a single young one at a time, which she con- 

 stantly carries on her back. In the gardens of the Zoological Society of 

 London, which was in possession of two specimens, they were fed on 

 bread soaked in milk, and eggs ; but it became certain that they had 

 also a taste for blood, as they were one day noticed sucking the flesh of 

 a rabbit which had been given them. 



GENUS TAMANDUA. 



The two species of four-toed Ant-eaters extend from Guatemala and 

 Ecuador to Paraguay. They possess one of the characteristics which 

 are peculiar to American monkeys, that of grasping branches firm2y by 

 the tail, a portion of which is bare of hair underneath. 



The TAMANDUA, Tamandua tctradactyla, has four toes on the hind, 

 five on the fore-feet. It inhabits the same districts as the Great Ant- 

 eater, but extends into Peru. Its total length is about forty inches, its 

 average height about a foot or fourteen inches. The head is not so elon- 

 gated, nor the muzzle so prominent as in the Great Ant-eater ; the neck 

 is thick, the ears oval, and the hair short over the whole body. Its 

 color, too, is much lighter than that of the Tamanoir, and a black stripe 

 passes over each shoulder. It is much more active than the preceding 

 species, and is an excellent climber of trees, which it ascends in search of 

 the insects on which it feeds. The tail is long and tapering. 



A live specimen has been carried to London, where it soon came 

 to know its keeper, leaping upon his shoulder, and poking its worm- 

 like tongue into every fold of his clothing, as well as into his ears, nose 

 and eyes. When strangers approached, it ran to the bars of its cage, 

 and put its tongue out to lick their hands ; its food was milk, sweet bis- 

 cuits, and chopped meat. 

 94 



