44 BLIND-WORM. 



It is an agile and very pretty little creature, darting 

 about among the grass and heather, and twisting 

 about with such quickness that its capture is not al- 

 ways easy. Sunny banks and sunny days are its 

 delight ; and any one who wishes to see this elegant 

 little reptile need only visit such a locality, and then 

 he will run little risk of disappointment. 



There is one peculiarity about it that is rather 

 startling. If suddenly seized, it snaps off its tail, 

 breaking it as if it were a stick of sealing wax, or a 

 glass rod. Several lizards possess this curious faculty, 

 and of one of them we shall presently treat. 



The food of this lizard is composed of insects, 

 which it catches with great agility as they settle on 

 the leaves or the ground. If captured without injury 

 — a feat that cannot always be accomplished, on 

 account of the fragility of its tail — it can be kept in 

 a fern case, and has a very pretty effect there. 



One of the chief beauties of this animal is its 

 brilliant eye ; and this feature will be found equally 

 beautiful in many of the reptiles, and especially in 

 that generally-hated one, the toad. 



In the winter-time the lizard is not seen ; for it is 

 lying fast asleep in a snug burrow under the roots of 

 any favourable shrub, and does not show itself until 

 the warm beams of the sun call it from its retreat. 



The next British lizard that I shall mention is one 

 that is generally considered as a snake, and a 

 poisonous one ; both ideas being equally false. It is 



