200 



•COMMON GUANA. 



reckoned an excellent food, being extremely nou- 

 rishing and delicate ; but is observed to disagree 

 with some constitutions. The common method 

 of catching it is by casting a noose over its head, 

 and thus drawing it from its situation ; for it sel- 

 dom makes an effort to escape^ but stands looking 

 intently at its discoverer, inflating its throat at 

 the same time in an extraordinary manner. The 

 Guana has been described and figured by several 

 authors, but the most expressive representations 

 are those given by Seba. 



Guanas," says Catesby, *^ are of various sizes, 

 from two to five feet in length ; their mouths are 

 furnished with exceeding small teeth, but their 

 jaws armed with a long beak, with which they 

 bite with great strength : they inhabit warm coun- 

 tries only, and are rarely to be met with any where 

 north or south of the tropics. Many of the Ba- 

 hama islands abound with them, where they nestle 

 in hollow rocks and trees : their eggs have not a 

 hard shell, like those of Alligators, but a skin 

 only, like those of a turtle; and are esteemed a 

 good food. They lay a great number of eggs at 

 a time, in the earth, which are there hatched by 

 the sun's heat. These Guanas are a great part of 

 the subsistence of the inhabitants of the Bahama 

 islands, for which purpose they visit many of the 

 remote Kayes and islands in their sloops to catch 

 them, which they do by dogs trained up for that 

 purpose, which are so dextrous as not often to kill 

 them, which if they do, they serve only for pre- 

 sent spending if otherwise, they sew up their 



