HORNED TOAD.
A spiny lizard, somewhat resembling the Australian mountain-devil.
All the members of the Monitor Tribe are inveterate egg-eaters. An Egyptian species, the Nile Monitor, renders service to humanity through the gratification of this propensity in seeking out and devouring the eggs of the crocodile. The larger water-monitor of the North Australian and Malay regions has been reported to the writer to be particularly partial to the eggs of the turtle, digging them out of the sand in which the parent deposits them, and destroying them wholesale. The more strictly arboreal Southern Australian species preys to a very large extent on birds' eggs, climbing to the holes in the trunks and branches in which so many Australian birds build their nests, and not infrequently capturing and devouring also the parent birds and young. In the "bush" settlements this monitor is notorious for its depredations among the hen-roosts, both eggs and young chickens falling victims to its insatiable appetite. It is consequently regarded with but scant favour by poultry-farmers, who frequently organise a "gooana" hunt for its special destruction. If surprised out in the open, the quarry at once rushes for a tree, and manifests the most remarkable agility in "swarming" up the smooth, massive trunk, and in dodging round to the side opposite to that on which the sportsman approaches. Not infrequently, trees being remote, the monitor will make for what appears to its apprehension the best substitute for one—viz. the upright figure of the nearest sportsman. Should this happen to be a "new chum" enjoying his maiden essay in "gooana" hunting, he will undoubtedly experience a new sensation as the animal, with its sharp cat-like claws, unceremoniously scrambles up to his head and shoulders.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.
HORNED TOAD.
This species is highly prized for its insect-destroying proclivities.
Brought to bay, a monitor possesses a more formidable weapon than its teeth and claws wherewith to repulse the onslaught of the enemy. The long, tough, thong-like tail—not brittle and replaceable, as in many other lizards—is converted, for the time being, into a veritable stock-whip, wherewith it will most severely punish incautious aggressors who venture too near. The potency of this offensive and defensive weapon is fully recognised by the reptile-keepers at the Zoo, who freely admit their reluctance to enter the cage of one of these large, long-tailed, but conversely very short-tempered monitors. All of the monitors, in consonance with their pre-eminently carnivorous habits, are more or less savage and intractable. The several species which have fallen within the writer's cognisance proved no exception to the rule. An Egyptian example, injudiciously introduced to the select society of his extensive miscellaneous collection in a heated greenhouse, proved to be a veritable wolf in the fold, killing several of the choicest specimens before its vindictive propensities were detected and arrested. A comparatively small and rare spiny-tailed monitor, brought by the writer, in company with the frilled lizards, to England from North-west Australia, would harass and bite any other lizard placed with it, and resent every friendly overture on the part of its owner, even after so much as a whole twelvemonth's persistent attempts to tame it. Another, the South Australian monitor, or lace-lizard, was no exception to the rule, and had to be maintained in solitary confinement. This particular specimen, nevertheless, evinced, as the following anecdote will show, a very pronounced affection for its provided quarters. One day it effected its escape from the wire-enclosed cage with which it was accommodated in the writer's Brisbane garden, and after prolonged but unsuccessful searchings it was given up for lost. Considerable astonishment was naturally experienced some ten days later, when the animal was discovered in the garden making frantic attempts to regain access to its former prison-house. During its ten days' absence it had evidently fallen upon evil times, for not only was it in a very emaciated condition, but also bereft of its long and handsome tail. Apparently, after the manner of its tribe, it had been manifesting a too warm interest in some neighbour's hen-roost, and received across its tail a stroke with a spade or other cutting instrument that was intended for a more vital region. Disgusted by such unfriendly treatment, it evidently determined that free board and lodging at the hands of its former owner, albeit with the sacrifice of freedom, was a pleasanter line of life than liberty and a precarious commissariat, with added bodily risks. An almost identical episode of the voluntary return to captivity of an escaped monitor has been reported to the writer of a species from Borneo by Dr. G. D. Haviland.
Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S.] [Regent's Park.