The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1910-05-21
DESERT JEWELLERS.

DESERT JEWELLERS.
Out in that treeless, waterless, sun
soaked land of sand known as the
Colorado Desert, runs curious va
riety of sand lovers, as alert ana
happy as if they lived where the rain
fell every day, and far quicker thah
their cousins that have a more de-
sirable dwelling place, writes Cece-
liza Henry in The Churchman.
One of these sand l5vers is rare
lizard, whose bite, under certain cir
cumstances, is as vicious and poison
Gus as the bite of a rattlesnake. he
may he tanned and kept as pet for
years without doing a bit Of harm'
but make him angry, and let MIN
seize you and turn over, then look
out. If he stays right side up, the
poison glands will not flow, and ne
knows this. So Selling you, VIII
lightning rapidity, over he goes, ano
then there is trouble.
There is another lizard, the chuck
walla, travelling about over the SANDS,
and getting a good living out OF the
insects that come in his way. He
also has the habit of turning over 10
bite, but unlike the other lizard, ne
has no poison glands, and his bite IS
harmless. Why does he turn over!
Because he can get a better pur-
chase and a better bite out OF his
prey or enemy.
What do lizards eat? Well. some
of the lizards in this land OF sand
live m,7tly on birds eggs. The liz
ards look clumsy and slow, but they
are expert bush climbers. High up
on the mesquite the clever five-toeo
hands and feet take the lizard, ana
his twinkling eyes show him just
where the nests are.
Not only do lizards eat birds eggs,
but they also eat ants eggs. The
tongue, with the sticky, glue-like SUD-
stant g that covers 1t, laps greedlly
the inside of birds eggs, or, put
quickly down into an ant hill. comes
up covered with the precious ants
eggs, and they are swallowed with
relish There are hundreds OF red
ant hills in the desert, and in the
early morning the ants work at their
crater-like homes, bringing up. labor
iously, a bit of stone in their jaws.
which they tumble over the outside.
After working at this for a Wnlle'
they go on their lookout for their dali
ly food.
Down near the ant hill lies the liz
ard; warily and motionless ne waits
until a long train of ants Is formed,
to the desired forage place, then,
with lightning-like rapidity, out darts
the sticky tongue, and whole families
are swallowed, until the whole train
is eaten up, except a few stragglers
that hurry back to the nest. Not con-
tent with this, he crawls up to the
verv edge of the ant community, and
does the rest of his damage, to re-
tire after he has eaten all that ne
can reach.
These curious dust-colored reptiles,
crawling about on the hot yellow
sand, have not the slightest resem-
blance to birds. yet Huxley says that
the only difference between a bird
and a reptile is just a matter OF
feathers. A bird floats about in the
air with so much familiarity that
some of them, like the martins, new
err think of alighting; in fact, birds
do everything on the wing, from tax
ing their meals to building their
nests.
There is something about lizard,
as he slips and slides about on the
soft yellow sand, that is delight to
anyone who watches it. True, lizards
have scales instead Of feathers. but
they are as beautifully marked as
the bluebird. Birds have their own
way of breathing, owing to their hol
low bones, and so do lizards, for they
can breathe with their heads buried
in hot sand. Birds shed their feath-
ers and lizards shed their scales, and
the only difference is that the feath-
ers of a bird drop off one by one,
and the lizard takes off his scales
all at one time. Birds shed their
tails and one can pull off the tail OF
a lizard and he will grow the tail
again in three months. Lizards eggs
are exactly like those of bird. ex-
cept that the birds eggshell is lit
tie harder than the lizards.
A lizard is a most curious creature.
t,o &C. hn