Woodville Republican. (Woodville, Miss.) 185?-current, 1889-08-31
stantly changing. their whole aspec


instinct with rage and determination.
At the end Of that time one Of them
had lost half of his tail. but he fought |
bravely on until another sharp jerk de-
priyed him of the remaining half. That
was the drop too much" He did not
''turn tail and run, simply because he
had none to turn; but he did run as
fast as he could 60, leaving the victor
to swallow the writhing stump Of his
tail, which he did with evident enjoy
ment. The conquered hero escaped
the same fate only by fight for it is
the fashion among the anolis tribes to
devour their conquered enemy, pro-
vided he will submit to it
felt sorry for that poor little de-
feated anolis; he had made brave
fight and / knew it would be his last
for once he has lost his tail he becomes
timid and languishes and often dies.
But all these family squabbles quiet
down as the warm season advances,
and during the summer and autumn
months the pretty little creatures may
be seen socially basking in the sun or
hunting together, with no more un-
seemly fighting in their midst
All that / have said about the green
anolis applies to his cousin, the red
throat, only the latter is rather smaller
and more slender, and is even more
brisk in his movements, regular little
busy-body. in fact. darting, here there.
everywhere, outdoors and in, over
rocks, stumps, roofs, walls, windows,
bureaus, desks, tables, sofas; all are
alike to this fearless, saucy intruder.
And, by the way. he is even more fero-
cious--if that be possible-than the
green anolis; that is, in the spring
time, and to his own male kindred, but
he is less timid with people than his
green cousin; he is even capable of
being convinced that you are not going
to injure him.
A few years ago l had the good for
tune to tame one of these little red
throated fellows. He first attracted
my attention by watching for flies on
the window close to my desk. Day
after day he appeared there, and it was
curious to see the business-like way in
which he selected his prey, and then,
cat-like, moved stealthily towards it,
until all at once, as quick as a flash,
he leaped right onto the unsuspectine
fly and whisked it into his little mouth
before it knew what had happened
Before long Red Throat concluded
that l was a harmless kind Of nobody,
so he began to pursue his game over
my desk, even while was writing, ant
finally l coaxed him into taking fliel
from my fingers, so that it became
regular thing FOR me to catch his dinner
for him. His appetite satisfed-no diff
ficult matter-he would perch content
edly on the window sash and stay ther,
by the hour, sometimes asleep, some
times watching my movements will
great curiosity.
Like the rest OF his family he wa
very fond of music. 1t did not matte
| much what kind it was. so there wa
: time and tune in it. The music-box
the jew's-harp. whistling, singing-al
entranced him, and he remained mo
tionless as long as the sounds reaches
his ears, his lustrous color constant.
changing, his beautiful red dewla
swelling and contracting and some
times his head keeping time to the mu
: sic. have noticed the same effect o.
: others Of the lizard family. They ar
r all susceptible to music.
But one day. alas! my little pet faile
to come dancing over my desk. Tw
days, three days, weeks passed, and a
: last, lowering the upper sash OF m
I window one day, there 1 found his fla
: tened skeleton. How it happened
I never knew, but there the poor littl
} fellow had met his death.
The everyday attire OF the rec
d throated anolis is beautiful GREEN'S
blue, but he changes his coat so Otter
s sometimes half a dozen times in q
a many minutes, that it is hard to to
i exactly what the original color ma
: be. When full grown he is about fv
or six inches long. There is no cre
y on the nape or back, but the tail
, slightly toothed above. Helen Ha
! court, in Philadelphia Times.