WILD CREATURES OF GARDEN AND HEDGEROW 



quick bird-like movements and bright-eyed 

 intelligent looks. I brought them home, and 

 eventually turned them all out on an old 

 sunken wall in the garden. The majority dis- 

 appeared, but one, which I called Jemimia (or 

 Jimmy for short), could be seen almost any 

 warm day basking in the sun. She would 

 cling to a stone with her sharp-clawed long- 

 toed feet, flattening herself out in the heat 

 until twice as broad as usual. Alas ! one day 

 something else spied Jimmy when enjoying 

 her sun bath, and that was the household cat. 

 Now puss generally brought anything she 

 caught to me, and I regret to say that the 

 offerings laid at my feet varied from rabbits 

 down to smaller and more excusable game. 

 This time she arrived with what at first glance 

 I took to be a small frog kicking in her mouth, 

 but which turned out to be Jemimia minus 

 her tail. The cat had poimced on the poor 

 little lizard and in her fright the victim had 

 shed her tail. I rescued Jimmy, and returned 

 her to the wall, a bob-tailed lizard that had 

 at the same time lost the greater part of her 

 good looks. Whether she grew another tail or 

 not I never knew, as she disappeared shortly 

 after, having no doubt gone into hiding for the 

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