so climbed up, and found lying on the top a Mexican chameleon, a
kind of round-shaped lizard, with a brown skin dotted over with yellow
spots, which seemed to change color in the light. Lucien tried to catch
the graceful reptile, which, however, glided between his fingers and
disappeared behind the rock.

The Mexican chameleon lives only in the woods and among the rocks. It
chiefly delights in the oak forests, where the dark color of its body
blends with the hue of the dry leaves, and enables it to lie
successfully in ambush for the insects on which it feeds. Sumichrast,
who had succeeded in taming a chameleon, told us that the reptile's
throat, which was white during the daytime, assumed during the night a
dark hue; also, that it liked to be caressed, and became familiar enough
to take from his hand the flies which were offered it. The Indians, who
hold the animal in great dread when alive, are in the habit of wearing
its dried body as an amulet against the "evil eye."

[Illustration: "The kite avoided the shock, and continued to rise in the
air."]

From our lofty observatory we were looking at the beautiful birds which
occasionally flew across the plain, when Sumichrast suddenly fired. He
had caught sight of a fine magpie, of an ashy-blue color, with its head
crowned by a tuft; its throat appeared as if it were bound round with
black velvet, a peculiarity which has obtained for it from the Indians
the name of the "commander bird." Lucien came down from the rock to go
and pick up the game, when an enormous kite darted on the magpie, seized
it in its sharp claws, and immediately took flight. Sumichrast seized
his gun to punish the impudent poacher, but a falcon, about the size of
a man's fist, made its appearance, and describing two or three rapid
circles, swooped down on the kite. The latter avoided the shock and
continued to rise in the air, while its antagonist came almost to the
ground, uttering a shriek of rage. Again ascending, with extreme
rapidity, by an oblique flight, it a second time overtopped its
antagonist, and darted upon it like a flash of lightning. Their wings
beat together, and a few feathers came fluttering to the ground. The
prey fell from the bird's grasp, followed in its fall by the falcon. The
kite, conquered by an enemy about one-fifth of its own size, flew round
and round in the air and then disappeared. The conqueror standing about
thirty yards from us, eyes glittering and foot firmly plante