File:Reptiles and birds. A popular account of the various orders; with a description of the habits and economy of the most interesting. (1873) (14562900900).jpg

Identifier: reptilesbirdspo00figu (find matches)
Title: Reptiles and birds. A popular account of the various orders; with a description of the habits and economy of the most interesting.
Year: 1873 (1870s)
Authors: Figuier, Louis, 1819-1894 Gillmore, Parker
Subjects: Birds Reptiles
Publisher: New York : D. Appleton and Co.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
ir extreme gentleness they soon become familiar with theirkeepers, and return caress for caress, approaching mouth to mouth,and suck the saliva from between their masters lips with a grace thatfew people would allow them to display. In the Green Lizard (Z. vu-idis^ Fig. 26), the scales of the templeare many-sided and unequal, with a central layer; back granular andoblong, with shelving sides; throat fold distinct. Nothing can bemore brilliant than the variegated colouring with which it is orna- * Very doubtful—our experience of them in the wild state having been quitethe reverse.—Ed. THE GREEN LIZARD. 103 merited. Its favourite locality is a slightly elevated woody place,where the suns rays readily penetrate. It is also found in sunnymeadows. It feeds upon small insects, and shows no alarm at thepresence of man, but stops to look at him. Snakes, on the contrary,they seem to fear much; but when they cannot avoid them they fightcourageously. In length they are about eighteen inches.
Text Appearing After Image:
Fig. 26. —Green Lizard and Ocellated Lizard. Green Lizards are found on the African coast of the Mediterra-nean, in Jersey and Guernsey, and other warm countries of Europe,and they are not rare in France. _ How often have we admired their magnificent colours in theneighbourhood of Montpellier, where they rival the green of themeadows, and glitter in the sun like so many living emeralds. In the Ocellated Lizard (Z. ocellata, Fig. 26), the upper part of the 104 REPTILES AND BIRDS. body is green, variegated, spotted, and reticulated or ocellated withblack, having large round blue spots upon the flanks ; the under-partof the body is white, frosted with green \ in size it is about twentyinches. They are found at Fontainebleau, in the south of France, andin Spain. They secrete themselves in hard sand, often between twobeds of calcareous rock, upon some steep declivity, more or lessdirectly exposed to the south; they are also found between the rootsof old stems, either in hedgerows or vine

Note About Images