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.
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