Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1886-04-24
CHANGE THEIR COLOR
Wonders or Animal Life In
California.
Rats that Live in Trees and Lizards that
Drop their Tails

aie l1fcTSci ueTe. saws Z leLlcT 10 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-
bic 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-
riOas thieves. Other nests are built at
the bases Of trees and about them. the
mass of material being 50 securely bound
together that 1t is difficult to tear them
apart. The nests in the trees resemble
the squirrel nests seen in Central Park in
he Autumn, though they were not more
than 10 feet from the ground A similar
nest is found here by rich steel-gray
squirrel. These graceful creatures We're
extremely common, and were often treed
by the watchful hound that made occa-
slonal ''sortles' into the brush. On one
of these incursions fierce snarl was
heard, followed bya deep baying and
yelping music telling of large game, and
by the time we reached the spot beyond
some live oaks, 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 silencino
her, getting we'll 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 affording striking ex-
ample of protective resemblance. Most
of the boulders were of granite, and pre-
sented a notified surface Several times
| noticed small toad, leap seemingly
from IN front OF nc, and finally, by ex-
aiming the rocks ahead, I saw q small
one, md, 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 it5rested 1t was one
of the tree toads, and had delicate disk
upon its feet, which enabled it to climI
up pane of glass5later on.
n Il ha n lo
, of color this specimen was kept in cor
fnement, and placed on succcS~iv,
objects of a different color The frs
was a sheet of white paper, and some
hours later the animal had turned sevcra
shades lighter, the ground color becom
ing lighter, and the black s. pots fading
out so that they were almost invisible
From this it was placed upon blacE
, base, and before long the black spot
grew perceptibly darker, and fnall,
seemed to pervade the entire surface, TIL
skin assuming dark hue, quite sufficicn
for protection. Before other experi
mcnts could be tried a horned toad tina
was being similarly treated, succeeding il
injuring it, 50 that other specimens vii
, have to be obtained. but the above serve
j, to show that this tree toad could adap
itself to black, white, or spotted rock
and find almost perfect protection.
Among the damp leaves number Q
lizards were discovered, varying fror
four 10 twelve inches in length, and wer
noticeable for their snakc-like appear
ance One specimen had lost its tai
1 and my companion suggested that it ha
5 thrown it-a faculty possessed by sevcrs
I geekos, The operation Of casting | ha
Q observed in another though smaller Ii
ard few days previous, and
\ Is, perhaps, one Of the most remarkabI
methods Of protce ton found in the an
nal kingdom The lizard observed h
myself was a small road lizard sf tn
country, seemingly taking the place {
the chameleon. though being 4 strictl
ground animal, and very common alon
, the roadsides. Ordinarily il i someR Ii
difficult II catch them but this spcciEne
/ was fortunate in surprising in OPP
-roush In attempting t. capture II
struck the sand sharply in i,s fear vicin
u. not, however. touching IL The I'll
ment the blow Mas given | saw 4
i lizard make q sudden turn a # lasl;1
is tail. and then the latter became i
# tached and hoped up and down, VIII
r the liza1d itself darted away 20 quick
that it was almost impossible t. follow /!
~ indeed, the leaping and squirrning Il
was quite sufficient - divert the atte
ton. Immediately took out NY wate
and placed the tail in my hand and
moved vigorously for two minutes, q,
for some time longer showed signs of liz
The disncmbered part vas remarkable
It's resemblance 10 a large worm. - II
tlons helping to complete the simile, a.