AUGUST. 211 



seldom if ever made its appearance. I could only'deter- 

 mine that it was alive by searching for it, and invariably 

 was bitten. It then showed a disposition to come from 

 its intersphagnian retreat, but remained wholly suspicious 

 of every sound or object that approached. Concealing 

 myself, I watched it carefully, and found that the shutting 

 of a door, the crowing of a cock near the window, and 

 loud conversation in an adjoining room, always fright- 

 ened, it; while the singing of a canary, and of robins in a 

 tree near by, were not noticed. A quickly passing shadow 

 was particularly feared. Did it associate this with the 

 birds of prey that are the skink's most dangerous ene- 

 mies? Having disappeared, it never returned by the 

 same burrow, but, cautiously peeping from a hole in an 

 opposite corner of the case, studied the outlook for a long 

 time before reappearing. It showed no disposition to be 

 sociable until June 10th, when it seemed suddenly to gain 

 confidence, but only to a slight degree. June 19th it ate 

 for the first time, and then became somewhat tamer, but 

 still was essentially wild, and seemed perhaps the more so 

 because of the contrast with the pair of lizards that were 

 all the while its companions. July 29th it was transferred 

 to a roomy fernery belonging to a friend, where it found 

 a close resemblance to its lake-side home in all essential 

 features, and immediately it became more active; and 

 now, three months after capture, has become compara- 

 tively tame. 



The skink, as we have seen, is exceedingly shy, irritable, 

 and resents the slightest interference by biting savagely, 

 but of course is entirely harmless. Nearly every promi- 

 nent feature of the lizard is represented by an opposite 

 trait in the skink. What appeared to be evidence of more 

 sluggish wits than the former possesses, is the fact that it 

 did not learn to associate my presence with a supply of 

 food, as was true of the others, but the truth is it was its 



