72 
EASTERN ETHIOPIA 
VI 
Flies are often secured wlieu held six inches from the 
chameleon’s mouth ; it seems to aim at the fly with 
much more certainty at six inches than at four. Any¬ 
one who has carefully watched chameleons will agree 
with Gadow that the tongue works best when shot out 
with full force. When a chameleon ejects its tongue 
at a fly and misses it, the reptile appears to have more 
difficulty in withdrawing the organ into the mouth than 
when the fly is hit and secured. When the object is 
missed the tongue hangs about like the loose end of a 
rope. Profusion and retraction of the tongue, even 
when performed vigorously, are actions sufficiently 
deliberate to permit a photograph to be obtained of the 
act. The chameleon even in its own natural surround¬ 
ings occasionally misses a fly although the tongue may 
be aimed with apparent care. 
The variation in the colour of the chameleon’s skin 
was another source of interest to us. Although the 
movements of a chameleon seem very slow wdien care¬ 
fully watched yet left to itself for a few minutes the 
reptile generally escaped, and its power of altering the 
colour of its skin to the environment soon taught us 
the hopelessness of even a rigorous search. It is diffi¬ 
cult to detect chameleons among the branches of trees 
unless the reptiles move. The skin of the chameleon is 
covered with granules. 
These reptiles can hold very tightly by means of 
their awkward-looking feet “ with triple claw disjoined.” 
They are also aided in maintaining a secure position by 
means of their tails. The following observation related 
by Selous bears on this fact he saw a small owl 
sitting on a bare patch of ground under a thorn tree. 
The bird did not move until he was quite close to it. 
The owl flew two or three yards and something could 
be seen attached to its leg. He caught the owl and 
found that a large chameleon had attached itself to 
the bird’s leg by twisting its tail round it two or three 
times. 
