at even they are not easily seen by the parrots
when they wriggle up among the orchids.'

'Can the parrots defend themselves against snakes?'

'Yes, they can, and sometimes even kill them. I have noticed this, but as
a rule they prefer to scare them off by screaming. And they can scream,
too. "As deaf as an adder," is a proverb; well, I believe it was the
parrot that first deafened the adder, if deaf it be.'

'Have you many birds of prey?'

'Yes, too many. But, see here.'

'I see nothing.'

'No, but you soon shall. Here in the sunniest bank, and in this sunniest
part of the wood, dwell a family of that remarkable creature the blind
armadillo, or pichithiego. I wonder if any one is at home.'

As he spoke, the hermit knelt down and buried his hands in the sand, soon
bringing to the surface a very curious little animal indeed, one of the
tenderest of all armadilloes.

It shivered as it cuddled into the hermit's arms.

Dugald laughed aloud.

'Why,' he cried, 'it seems to end suddenly half-way down; and that droll
tail looks stuck on for fun.'

'Yes, it is altogether a freak of Nature, and the wonder to me is how,
being so tender, it lives here at all. You see how small and delicate a
thing it is. They say it is blind, but you observe it is not; although
the creatures live mostly underground. They also say that the
_chlamyphorus truncatus_--which is the grand name for my wee
friend,--carries its young under this pink or rosy shell jacket, but this
I very much doubt. Now go to bed, little one.

'I have prettier pets than even these, two species of agoutis, for
instance, very handsome little fellows indeed, and like rats in many of
their ways and in many of their droll antics. They are not fond of
strangers, but often come out to meet me in my walks about the woods. They
live in burrows, but run about plentifully enough in the open air,
although their enemies are very numerous. Even the Indians capture and eat
them, as often raw as not.

'You have heard of the peccary. Well, I have never encouraged these wild
wee pigs, and for some years after I came, there were none in the woods.
One morning I found them, however, all over the place in herds. I never
knew where they came from, nor how they found us out. But I do know that
for more than two years I had to wage constant war with them.'

'They were good to eat?'

'They were tolerably good, especially the young, but I did not want for
food; and, besides, they a