and off they shuffle as quickly as they can. I have frequently
observed small fly-eating lizards, when watching anything, nod their
heads in precisely the same manner; but I do not at all know for what
purpose. If this Amblyrhynchus is held and plagued with a stick, it
will bite it very severely; but I caught many by the tail, and they
never tried to bite me. If two are placed on the ground and held
together, they will fight, and bite each other till blood is drawn.
The individuals, and they are the greater number, which inhabit the
lower country, can scarcely taste a drop of water throughout the year;
but they consume much of the succulent cactus, the branches of which
are occasionally broken off by the wind. I several times threw a piece
to two or three of them when together; and it was amusing enough to see
them trying to seize and carry it away in their mouths, like so many
hungry dogs with a bone. They eat very deliberately, but do not chew
their food. The little birds are aware how harmless these creatures
are: I have seen one of the thick-billed finches picking at one end of
a piece of cactus (which is much relished by all the animals of the
lower region), whilst a lizard was eating at the other end; and
afterwards the little bird with the utmost indifference hopped on the
back of the reptile.
I opened the stomachs of several, and found them full of vegetable
fibres and leaves of different trees, especially of an acacia. In the
upper region they live chiefly on the acid and astringent berries of
the guayavita, under which trees I have seen these lizards and the huge
tortoises feeding together. To obtain the acacia-leaves they crawl up
the low stunted trees; and it is not uncommon to see a pair quietly
browsing, whilst seated on a branch several feet above the ground.
These lizards, when cooked, yield a white meat, which is liked by those
whose stomachs soar above all prejudices.
Humboldt has remarked that in intertropical South America, all lizards
which inhabit dry regions are esteemed delicacies for the table. The
inhabitants state that those which inhabit the upper damp parts drink
water, but that the others do not, like the tortoises, travel up for it
from the lower sterile country. At the time of our visit, the females
had within their bodies numerous, large, elongated eggs, which they lay
in their burrows: the inhabitants seek them for food.
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