The Opelousas courier., 1886-02-13
CHANGE THEIR COLOR
Wonders OF Animal Life in
California.
Rats that Live in TreG and Lizards that
Drop their Tails.

are reversed here, says a letter to the
New York Times. This is true as to eli
mate, and might be applied to the habits
Of animals, as some of the squirrels live
in the ground and rats in the trees. The
ground squirrels are particularly ~noticea-
BILE on the mesa land, and in the canon
the nests of the rats were met at every
step. The largest are ON the ground, in
the form of hillocks Or mounds three or.
four feet high, and made up of twigs and
sticks, corncobs, and various articles
stolen by the wood rats, which are noto-
rious thieves. Other nests are built at
the bases of trees and about them, the
mass of material being so securely bound
together that it is difficult to tear them
apart. The. nests in the trees resemble
the squirrel nests seen in Central Park i'll
he Autumn, though they were not more
than 10 feet from the ground. A similar
nest is found here by a rich steel-gray
squirrel. These graceful creatures were
extremely common, and were often freed
by the watchful hound that made occa-
sional ''sorties'' into the brush. On one
of these incursions a fierce snarl was
heard, followed by a deep baying and
yelping, music telling of large game, and
by the time we reached the spot beyond
some live oaks, a big wild cat was seen
climbing up the sides of an alder. A
bullet brought her down for the dog, and
being only wounded, the fur flew for a
few minutes, the hound soon silencing
her, getting well scratched in the melee,
but apparently satisfied with her share in
the sport. In climbing over the rocks
numbers of lizards and tree toads were
found, the latter afording a striking ex-
ample of protective resemblance. Most
of the boulders were of granite, and pre-
sented a notified surface. Several times
/ noticed a small toad leap seemingly
from in front of me, and finally, by ex-
aiming the rocks ahead, / saw a small
one, and, proceeding carefully, secured
it. In color it was a fac simile of the
boulder, having a streaked white ground
dotted with black, so that the animal
appeared to be a mere projection of the
stone upon which it rested. 1t was one
of the tree toads, and had delicate disks
upon its feet, which enabled it to climb
up a pane of glass later on. q
To determine the limit of the variation
of color this specimen was kept in con-
fnement, and placed on successive
objects of a different color. The first
was a sheet of white paper, and some
hours later the animal had turned several
shades lighter, the ground color becom-
ing lighter, and the black spots fading
out SO that they were almost invisible.
From this it was placed upon a black
base, and before long the black spots
grew perceptibly darker, and finally
seemed to pervade the entire surface, the
skin assuming ozark hue, quite sufficient
for protection. Before other expert
ments could be tried a horned toad, that
was being similarly treated, succeeding in
injuring it, SO that other specimens will
have to be obtained, but the above. serves
to show that this tree toad could adapt
itself to a black, white, or spotted rock,
and find almost perfect protection.
Among the damp leaves a number of
lizards were discovered, varying from
four to twelve inches in length, and were
noticeable for their snake-like appear
ance. One specimen had lost its tail,
and my companion suggested that it had
thrown it-a faculty possessed by several
geekos. The. operation of casting | had
observed in another though smaller liz
ard a few days previous, and it
is, perhaps, one of the most remarkable
methods of protection found in the ami
NAL kingdom. The lizard observed by
myself was a small road lizard of this
country, seemingly taking the place of
the chameleon, though being a strictly
ground animal, and very common along
the roadsides Ordinarily it is somewhat
difficult to catch them, but this specimen
I was fortunate in surprising in open
ground. In attempting to capture it !
struck the sand sharply in its near vicini-
ty, not, however, touching it. The mo-
ment the blow was given | saw the
lizard make a sudden turn as if lashing
its tail, and then the latter became de-
tached and hoped up and down, while
the lizard itself darted away SO quickly
that it was almost impossible to follow it;
indeed, the leaping and squirming tail
was quite sufficient to divert the atten-
ton. Immediately took out my watch
and placed the tail in my hand and it
moved vigorously for two minutes, and
for some time longer showed signs of life.
The dismembered part was remarkable in
its resemblance to a large worm, its mo-
tions helping to complete the smile, and
it was evident that the pursuer would be
Immediately attacked by it, thinking it a
worm, thus giving the willy lizard time
to escape. The loss of the tail might be
disastrous, were it not replaced by a new
one. and sometimes two new ones grow,
Giving the animal a curious appearance.