""""»£ TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO ^*:.":::::: 



Indeed, if the remaining tail-stump is slightly injured 

 on top or on the side, a tiny extra tail may shoot out, 

 where it is never meant to be. 



Scattered among the cactus and under the boulders 

 Avere burrows larger than those of the Iguanas, and 

 in these lived the qviaint Nine-banded Armadillos. 

 Occasionally our Mexican dug out a young one and 

 we varied our bill of fare with his tender flesh; but 

 the tough, older ones Ave caught, watched, and freed 

 again. 



Very rarely one may come upon an armadillo, as 

 we did, asleep before his hole, sprawled out flat ujjon 

 the earth, his little pig eyes tightly closed, his tail 

 stretched straight out behind. But the long, delicate 

 ears stood stiffly upright, giving a ludicrously alert 

 aspect to his otherwise inert form. A pebble crunched 

 into the sand under our feet and the sharp ears car- 

 ried the warning, and, with a single glance, the Httle 

 animal turned with surprising agility, and literally 

 hurled himself into the entrance of his burrow. An 

 armadillo seems absohitely defenceless Avlien cornered 

 and never thinks of anything but escape. When 

 once his powerful claws have opened a way, even 

 but a few inches, into the ground, it needs a strong 

 pull to dislodge him. There are no weak joints in his 

 tail ! 



From head to tail the scaly armour protects the arma- 

 dillo ; his shoulders and haunches are each encased in 



«4 234 ^ 



