76 
HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
his numerous adventures. Not one of the com- 
pany had said a word during the evening. I 
trust he will forgive me mentioning one of the 
pleasantest evenings I ever spent in my life. 
May he have every success in his new ven- 
ture, but at seventy years of age it is very doubt- 
ful. 
JOHN D. HAMLYN, 
Some Observations on the Hairy 
Armadillo in Captivity. 
One other point in connection with this is 
worthy of notice. When he retires to sleep he 
invariably digs into the soil at the bottom of the 
burrow, and completely covers himself up under 
.several inches of earth. In this condition he will 
remain for hours at a stretch, and when he finally 
wishes to come out into the open again he has 
literally to dig himself out. One would imagine 
that breathing, in such circumstances, would be 
a matter of considerable difficulty , but it does not 
appear to cause him any inconvenience. It would 
be interesting to know if Armadillos behave in 
this way in a wild state. 
In the matter of food, these creatures are 
almost omnivorous and feed readily upon meat 
(raw or cooked), chicken's heads, bones, rats, 
mice, birds, snakes, frogs, liards, bread, fruit, 
bread-and-milk, potato peelings, biscuits, and so 
on. The present "Arma" happens to be an ex- 
ception to this rule, for he refuses almost all 
food of a vegetable nature. Once a day he is 
given a saucerful of meat, which may be either 
cooked or raw, and a good bowl of milk. Ap- 
parently he merely takes the latter because he 
likes it, for it is generally believed that Arma- 
dillos in a wild state rarely if ever drink. The 
above diet is varied, when possible, by a fowl's 
head or a bone. 
When he first arrived the "Arma" would eat 
nothing but bread-and-milk, but he has since 
abandoned this in favour of a meat diet, and it is 
now difficult to persuade him to take the bread- 
and-milk at all. He also shows a marked liking 
for certain sweets, especially cream chocolates, 
when obtainable. 
On one occasion the experiment of introduc- 
ing a rat into the run was tried. The Armadillo 
instantly scented the creature, and began to trot 
round and round the enclosure, nose to the ground, 
in search of it. Having finally located the rat 
crouching in a corner, he made a sudden rush 
at it, but the animal managed to dart 1 to one side 
and escape. Then followed a, chase which lasted 
for some minutes. An Armadillo can move with 
considerable speed, but he is so match for a rat 
in the matter of agility, and consequently the 
latter was able to keep well out of reach. The 
Armadillo seemed to follow his prey entirely by 
scent, for his eyes were kept fixed on the ground. 
More than once he seemed to lose the creature 
entirely, but only for a moment. A few hasty 
sniffs here and there, and he was off again. At 
last the victim paused for a dinut'e in a corner 
of the run. The "Arma" was on it in an instant. 
Jumping upon the animal from quite ten inches 
away, a most curious procedure to witness on the 
part of a heavily built and rather clumsy-looking 
animal, he crushed the life out of it with several 
well directed blows of his powerful fore-paws. 
He continued to worry it for some minutes after- 
wards, until, having finally satisfied himself that 
it was quite dead, he picked up the mangled body 
in his mouth, and carried it into the burrow. 
An hour or two later the skin was found lying in 
front of the entrance hole with almost every par- 
ticle of flesh cleaned out of i1j. 
It is interesting to notice that the teeth were 
not used at all in killing the animal. The claws 
are the Armadillo's chief weapons both of offence 
and defence. When handled they will never bite, 
but they will frequently kick so violently that it 
is almost impossible to hold them. 
The chief interest of the above experiment lay 
in its demonstration of the Armadillo's method 
of capturing and killing small animals in an en- 
closed space, but in the open it would be almost 
impossible for it to catch such creatures in this 
way, on account of their superior agility. In a 
wild state, therefore, it relies chiefly upon stealth 
for the capture of its prey, creeping up behind 
its victims when they are feeding or otherwise 
occupied, and suddenly flinging itself upon them 
as in the above instance. In addition to small 
mammals of this kind, its natural food consists 
of worms, insects, eggs, frogs, young birds, car- 
rion, etc. The carcases of the wild oxen on the 
Pampas, which are killed for the sake of their 
hides, are quickly devoured by the Armadillos, 
which dig burrows under the bodies and feed upon 
them from below. They are not at all particular 
as to their diet, and when animal food is not 
obtainable the will eyen content themselves with 
leaves and grass. 
(To be continued.) 
A CHAT ABOUT LION-TAMERS. 
" Fisher's Almanac and Annual" is respon- 
sible for the following : — 
There is a romantic glamour about our Christ- 
mas and Tombland Lairs which were in all their 
glory half a century ago, with their "Lion Kings" 
and Aztecs, their fire-eaters and sword-swallow- 
