Page:Natural History, Reptiles.djvu/110

102 away, and vegetation starts into universal verdure, the sportsmen are seen with a noose and a stick wandering along the sides of the river to take the Iguana. The animal, though apparently formed for combat, is the most harmless creature of all the forest: it lives among the trees, or sports on the water, without ever offering to offend; there having fed upon the flowers of the Mahot (Hibiscus tiliaceus), and the leaves of the Mapou (Eriodendron anfractuosum), that grow along the banks of the stream, it goes to repose upon the branches of the trees that hang over the water. Upon the land the animal is swift of foot; but when once in possession of a tree, it seems conscious of the security of its situation, and never offers to stir. There the sportsman easily finds it, and as easily fastens his noose, round its neck: if the head be placed in such a manner that the noose cannot readily be fastened, by hitting the animal a blow on the nose with a stick, it lifts the head, and offers it in some measure to the noose. In this manner, and also by the tail, the Iguana is dragged from the tree and killed by repeated blows on the head.” The mode in which the animal is induced to permit the placing of the fatal noose over its head has been described as follows; and we can in some measure confirm its credibility from personal experience, having often captured Dactyloa Edwardsii, and other West Indian Iguanadæ by this very artifice. “They are in the habit of sitting on the branches of trees, facing the sun, with only the front part of their head exposed. On these occasions the following method is