The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1894-12-01
POhITENESS DID HIM.
THE CAPTURE OF A LIZARD WITH A
BRITTLE BLUE TAIL.

Hunters Courteous Friend-CapturinE =
Prize In Trinidad Gardens.
, "In all my travels after things that
crawl and creep" snid G. r. O'Reilly, the
snake hunter, 81 have never found any
reptile as hard to capture as the big Trim
idad lizard. He's prize when you do
capture him. Besides being very beauti-
full he Ia unique, as far as ! know, for
never found any lizard like him anywhere
else than on the island Of Trinidad. In
length he Is about Is inches and is brown
In color, with beautiful leopard spots.
But his tail is his chief point of beauty.
1t Is q magnificent iric:scent blue, such
hue as you find nowhere else in nature
that know of except In the Brazilian
sun butterfly, whose azure wings reflect
the light like polished steel. This tail is
as brittle as 1t Is beautiful, and when tho
reptile is dug out of his hole the tail is in
varlably broken In the capture. Several
lizards thus taken were sent to me, but
not one of them was intact.
1.-THE first capture ever made of one
of these fellows was achieved by the ex-
ercise of the most ceremonious politeness
not on my part, but on the part of q
friend who was my unconscious assistant
in the capture. 1t was in the Royal Bo-
tanical gardens of Trinidad, Just outside
the city. Part of the gardens is quito
wild, and in this part several of the big
lizards had taken up their abode.
lone fine sunny day Assistant Botanist
Broadway and j. II. Hart, fellow of the
Linnean society, and were out walking,
], as usual, carrying my long snake stick,
a 8 foot rod with a bend at one end. In
the midst of tho least frequented spot in
the gardens we saw a splendid big lizard
hac V In fy,f ho hfsr
He was probably 90 yards from his hole,
and we were farther from him than that.
To try to catch him by dash would be
foolish, for he would be at his hole long
| before the swiftest runner could overtake
him. These fellows travel faster than any
| other creeping or crawling thing i know
of My two companions and / halted and
looked at the lizard. He had seen us and
turned his head in our direction.
"'I'd like to get that fellow said I.
| First catch your lizard remarked
Broadway, making imaginary quotation
marks in the air with his forefngor Or
catch the tail, which will do just as well.
| You won't get them both together.
| Eyes, will, said I, II you fellows
help mo, for an idea had struck me, and
| ! determined to put 1t into execution.
| ''They agreed to do anything they could,
| adding some skepticnl sarcastic side re-
marks. All this time the lizard had kept
his eyes fixed on us. Apparently he was
satisfied that as long as we moved no
nearer he was all right. proceeded to
arrange my plan Of campaign, giving or
ders to my two companions. Only one of
them was needful to carry out my scheme,
so / sent Broadway to climb tree, where
he could be out Of the way, and then said
to my other companion:
| Now. Hart. Won cot n rpnutntiDn
here for being polite, SO 1 hear. I want
you to get together all the courtesy there
is in you and display it for the benefit of
that lizard. just suppose the animal to
be the queen Of England and your biggest
creditor and the only girl you ever loved
all in one and address it accordingly.
1 What particularly want from you is &C.
ton, however, q sort of minuet perform
ance bows and scrapes and fourishes.'
Reilly, said Hart, eying me dis
trustfully, either you re trying to make a
guy of me or you're more of blathering
idiot than ever took you for, and that's
useless
"'You can revile me all you want to-, >
said 1, only be courteous to the gentleman
with the sky blue tail over yonder, and
now begin. I'm going to start
Then began the most beautiful exhibit
ton of gallantry that have ever Witness
ed. Hart began by taking of his hat and
making low bow to the lizard. He as
sured the beast that he had no intention
of intruding on its after dinner siesta
chow and scrape), but that the fame of
tho beauty of its iridescent tail (hand on
heart and another bowl had drawn him
hither to observe a spectacle of magnif-
cence such as never before had gladdened
his eyes (three dance steps, two waves of
the hat and profound obeisance). For five
minutes he went on giving tho lizard
taffy and could hear Broadway cackling
from his perch in the treo like whole
flock of chickens. But you never saw
anything so pleased as that lizard. The
whole performance just took him by
storm. He was immensely interested and
amused and dattered. Here was very
large two logged animal capering before
him in the most entertaining fashion and
making queer noises of not unpleasant
nature entirely for his benefit and all the
time having the good taste to keep at a
proper and respectful distance. What
more could a lizard expect than to have
amusement furnished him at his own
homer lie cooked his head first on one
side and then on the other. He blinked
his eyes and gently waved his tail. A
more contented lizard couldn't be found
in all Trinidad.
4
had made detour and was nearing a spot
where / would BIO between the quarry and
his hole Tho lizard was too much attract
ed by Harris continuous performance to
pay any attention to me, and presently
found myself within a few yards of him
and just behind him. About this time
noticed that Harris language bad altered
for tho worse. His stock of compliments
had been exhausted, and though his de-
portment was as ceremonious his gestures
as graceful and his voice as soft as before
the language he used comported i'll with
these manifestations.
1 oh, If only had you in reach, he
said, with a sweet smile and wave of the
hand and in dulcet tones, wouldn't
show you trick in polHenessl Yes, wink
at me, you miserable bloated, polka dot.
ted earthworm. Wag your greasy blue
tail In about two seconds therell be a
stick over your neck, you slithery, Shiny,
deformed mud grubber. I'll teach you
what politeness is when / get you in a
cage, but the boot will be on the other
foot then. There! How d'ye like that
Hurrah, we'vo got himF
81 had placed the stick over the lizard &
neck and pinned him to tho ground. II
was tho first intimation that he had of my
approach. Ho snapped viciously with his
powerful jaws, but ! soon had him safe
and we bore him home in triumph. The
secret of the capture and the efficacy Of
Hart S polteness, as explained it to him
lay in the fact that almost all animals ar,
curious, especially reptiles. So interested
had the lizard become in watching ant
listening to Hart that had no difficult,
In approaching him. New York Sun.