A Field Guide to Dragons

Volume 1

Lawrence W. Lee

Copyright by Lawrence W. Lee, 2015. All rights reserved.

“Wind be gentle, scale be strong,
sleep now while I sing this song.
Pass the night, though dark it seems,
in happy drift through dragon dreams.”

Ancient dragon lullaby -
Translation by Lawrence W. Lee, C.E., IDWS

This book has been reviewed and approved by the
International Dragon Watchers Society™

DragonGuide.com

I am not authorized to speak on behalf of all the many dragons with which we share this world, but feel compelled to note that climate change is having a massive impact on dragon species and societies both large and small. They are suffering greatly, and there seems little they can do to save themselves. That task is therefore left to me and you, and I cannot do it alone.

Lawrence W. Lee, 2015
C.E., IDWS

INTRODUCTION

ragons have co-existed with human beings for millennia. They are
most likely an intelligent, distant relative of the dinosaurs of old, though it
is unclear whether they survived the cataclysmic events resulting in the
extinction of their cousins because of some already extant trait, or
because adaptive mutations occurred during this period which resulted
not only in their survival, but also in their current physiology.
Dragons are almost always covered with scales, especially upon dorsal
surfaces, though the scales range from armor-like plates on some to very
fragile micro-scales—soft as butterflies’ wings—on others. Variation in
size among dragon species is remarkable; they range from the
diminutive pocket dragon to gigantic ice- and sand dragons.

Dragons are quite diverse in coloration as well. An astounding
number of hues and patterns decorate some varieties,
especially Draco Pratum Maculosus (spotted meadow
dragon), in which outrageous color and design seem to
perform an as yet ill-understood survival function.

Most dragons are strictly vegetarian, though some small types
are known to include a variety of insects in their diet. A few of
the larger dragons are omnivorous, however, and should be
avoided if obviously hungry. There are certain terrible tales of
dragons gleefully making a banquet of human flesh and
bones, but evidence of such behavior is circumstantial at best,
and the stories may well be merely further examples of the
inauspicious public image that dragons have suffered for the
past twenty centuries.

This fact is in turn due to perhaps the most vitally important
mystery of all when it comes to dragons and men:

all of us can see them, but only the pure of heart can ever hope
to remember what they have seen.

Yes, dragons are very real. They live with us on this Earth and
play no small part in the affairs of humankind. But some men will
forever refuse to believe, and will continue to ridicule those who
do. They will trot out their machines of science to prove that
dragons cannot possibly exist, and will demonstrate time and
again that what they claim is logically true. Nevertheless, logic
has nothing to do with the truth of primary assumptions, and
truth, in the end, is merely that which we believe to be true. Truth
is no more than a consensus of belief—beyond proof: in the end,
for all of us, it is merely a convenient illusion.

Handwritten note of first ever sighting of Draco Silvicola Viridis.

Those possessed of open minds and loving hearts, you may
be sure, will have no doubt of what they see. Dragons are,
after all, quite obvious, and as real as any forgotten dream
suddenly—breathtakingly—remembered.

One bit of human folklore relative to dragons is that they are
attracted to gold and may be easily enlisted to the task of
guarding treasures. This is true to a degree, but treasure
dragons are actually quite rare, and other dragons favor
freedom and mobility too greatly to accept lightly the restrictive
confinement that such guardianship demands.

Typical dragon watcher’s kit.

On the other hand, it is also true that most dragons are, in fact,
quite attracted to gold, as well as to the sparkle of silver and
the shine of copper and polished jade. In fact, they seem to be
almost compulsively curious about everything that sparkles
and shines—whether mirrors or marbles or crystals of snow.
Even the sun’s reflections upon the ripples in a stream may
hold a dragon spellbound for hours. It is not that they are
simple minded, but that they take great pleasure in even the
simplest of things—a trait which we humans seem to lose with
the passing of childhood and only rarely regain.

There are actually quite a number of dragon charms, ranging
from marshmallows to flute music to prisms and tears, a fact of
considerable importance in your dragon-watching activities. A
carefully laid trail of marshmallows can lead a dragon straight
to your door, and a single fallen tear may bring you a friend
forever.

Several other characteristics seem common to most dragons.
They tend to catch colds easily and are not at all pleasant
company as long as the sniffles persist. They are often clumsy
and prone to falling out of trees and off ledges if there is
insufficient room for both tail and toes. And, finally, they tend
to be extremely stubborn, especially when it comes to matters
of the heart.

One of the most fascinating and least understood aspects of
dragon life is the mystery surrounding the hatching of their
eggs. Dragons are generally reticent about such matters,
refusing even to recognize that you have asked a question if
they consider it to be in the least intrusive or indelicate. Thus,
most of what is known of the intimate lives of dragons is based
on quite isolated instances of accidental observation.

Nevertheless, the most intrinsically beautiful phase of the
dragon’s procreative process is also the most celebrated and
oft-observed among humans. These events relate to the
hatching of a dragon egg, which is often heralded by the
appearance of a rainbow. No one knows whether the rainbow
plays some active part in causing the egg to hatch or whether
the egg, when hatching is imminent, somehow modifies its
external environment, thus helping to create the rainbow.
Whichever may be the case, the event is certainly one of the
most colorful and spectacular in all the world. When a rainbow
appears, many of the dragons in the vicinity will come together
in groups of a dozen or more in respectful celebration until it
finally fades from view. The heavenly arch has gone, the
solemn groups have dispersed, the egg has hatched, and a
new dragon is ready to begin sharing its life with us.

Scientific Name:

Draco Domesticus

Common Name:

House dragon

Habitat:

Human dwellings all over the world.

It is doubtful that there exists anywhere in the world a house without its
own resident dragon. House dragons are invariably small creatures—
usually smaller, even, than a mouse—regardless of the size of the
particular house in which they live. Their scales are very fine and soft
and usually a sort of dusty tan color, though quite a few local variations
have been observed from town to town. Perhaps the most notable
characteristic of these domestic types—other than the fact that they are
voiceless—is that they have a very strong compulsion to gather lint.
Whether for purposes of nest building alone or as the result of some
inherited drive for tidiness, no one knows, but the ever present tufts and
pillows of lint found in corners, beneath chairs and under the bed are a
sure and certain sign that your own house dragon has been busy while
you sleep. It is also believed that house dragons engage in mischievous
games of hide and seek with any cats or kittens which may share the
same abode, thus explaining those nightly noises of scampering feet
across the rug and down the hall.

Scientific Name:

Draco Thesaurus

Common Name:

Treasure dragon

Habitat:

Secret places.

Treasure dragons are typically secretive, but not unduly so by
human standards. They are known to keep watch over all manner of
treasure, from gold and silver and precious jewels to the more
prosaic but nevertheless valuable treasures of moth and butterfly
wings and shiny pennies and cat’s eye marbles treasured dearly by
children of all ages. They sport feathery wings and have been noted
to vary in hue from purple to gold and all the colors in between.
Befriend a treasure dragon and it will be your friend for life, but only
if tasked with guarding your own personal treasure. Those already
occupied with guarding the treasures of others are usually best
avoided unless you have been given the secret word or phrase that
will permit them to share a good view of that treasure under its
charge.

Scientific Name:

Draco Culina

Common Name:

Kitchen dragon

Habitat:

Domestic kitchens with crowded
pantries and cupboards full of
metal pots and pans.

Though it may seem reasonable to assume that kitchen dragons are
closely related to the more common Draco Domesticus, this is not the
case. In fact, the only real similarity is their size. The larger and more
easily distinguished scales of Draco Culina are invariably a bright copper
or silvery color that perfectly matches the pots and pans among which
they hide. A kitchen dragon’s voice sounds rather like a squeaky hinge,
and is apparently used to map out the contents of a pitch-black pantry
from the faint echoes received by its unusual, cup-shaped ears.
Seemingly misplaced kitchen utensils are often a problem in kitchens
called home by one of these dragons, though no one knows why they
move things around so. Usually, however, this behavior is tolerated with
a smile because of the additional fact that kitchen dragons refuse to
share the larder with any of the common kitchen pests such as crickets
and mice, and are quite thoroughly tidy and clean themselves.

Scientific Name:

Draco Hortus

Common Name:

Garden dragon

Habitat:

Small, colorful flower gardens tended by a
grandmother or other loving person.

Garden dragons are a joy to be around, both because of their
resplendently varied and vibrant coloration and because of their
pleasant personalities. Never growing much more in height than the
length of a woman’s hand, garden dragons tend to live with their
parents when young and as lifelong mated couples as adults. Their
daily obligations are few and simple, consisting largely of tending
the garden in which they have chosen to reside. Garden dragons
are much to be desired as helpers because of their happy
dispositions and their considerable gardening skills. Indeed, flower
gardens in which a family dragon resides are quite easily identified
because they are the least weedy and most beautifully arranged
and colorful in town.

Scientific Name:

Draco Desertus

Common Name:

Desert dragon

Habitat:

Near-equatorial and temperate zone deserts.

Of the two major types of desert-dwelling dragons, Draco Desertus is by
far the most widespread and easy to identify. Its range of coloration
tends toward the reds, browns and tans, and most have intricately
patterned scale designs which help them blend into the sandy texture of
the desert floor. These small dragons, in fact, resemble many desert-
dwelling lizards except that their hind legs are quite thin and long, lifting
their bodies as much as a hand’s width above the ground and
contributing greatly to their remarkable agility and fleetness of foot. Each
foot has four toes which form a perfect X in the sand where they have
trod, making it near impossible for others to tell by the footprints alone
whether the dragon was coming or going as it passed.

Scientific Name:

Draco Nympha

Common Name:

Fairy dragon

Habitat:

Wooded glades of lush grass and flowers where
the dew collects in the hollows of fallen
leaves, and the arch of a star-filled night may
be found reflected a million-fold in drops
clinging to the tip of each grassy blade.

Fairy dragons are creatures of the warm, dark hours before midnight,
slipping out from their hidden forest homes among the massive tree
trunks and exposed roots nearby to celebrate the passing of day in its
last ruddy glow. They live in groups of twenty or so and are hardly ever
seen alone, a fact which may be due to their obvious joy in singing
together in complicated counterpoint with magically sweet and clear,
high-pitched voices. Fairy dragons seem to subsist entirely upon the
cool, rich nourishment of new-fallen dew and are a threat to no person or
thing—other than perhaps with their well known weakness for
mischievous tricks played upon those who wander unknowingly into their
woodland domain. Some maintain that fairy dragons are truly and
astonishingly magical and guard a softly glowing entranceway to other
worlds. Sadly, this has yet to be proven.

Scientific Name:

Draconis Harena Vastus

Common Name:

Giant sand dragon

Habitat:

Desert areas consisting primarily of wind-formed
dunes extending over large geographic areas.

Giant sand dragons are relatively few in number but among the largest
found on this planet. Specialized coloration makes them almost
indistinguishable from their environment of rippled, sandy mounds. This,
coupled with an extraordinary ability to shape their massive bodies in
imitation of the surrounding dunes, makes them all but invisible to even
the most diligent observer. Very little is known about them, and how they
manage to subsist on the extremely sparse desert vegetation remains a
great mystery. One theory posits that they obtain moisture by utilizing
many thousands of micro-tubules that open just below each scale to
condense tiny drops of water from the desert’s relatively more humid
morning air. It is said that sometimes at dawn when the wind begins to
stir—if you are very, very quiet—you can even hear them sing.

Scientific Name:

Draconis Mel

Common Name:

Honey dragon

Habitat:

Wherever honey bees are found.

There are no two ways about it: honey dragons are cute. About the size
of a child’s teddy bear, they are almost always a bit on the pudgy side
and possessed of a constant and disarmingly happy, self-satisfied grin—
except, of course, when they are hungry and there is no honey in sight.
They tend to roam the gardens and glades where bee trees are most
easily found, but they are not above sneaking through an open window to
help empty a honey pot left unattended upon a kitchen counter or
abandoned at a breakfast table. Their small wings help them to perform a
sort of gliding hop from tree to rock to garden fence or window sill, but
the wings are of little use when the dragon’s tummy is too full of honey.
Honey dragons are not stupid creatures, although it is often difficult to
steer their conversation away from the topic of honey, about which they
have oh so much to say. In fact, they will occasionally say something
which sounds quite wise, then turn a knowing grin your way and smile
with both their lips and eyes.

Scientific Name:

Draco Murmurare

Common Name:

Humming dragon

Habitat:

Free ranging throughout the world, though most
often encountered in quiet rural areas.

Though humming dragons were once thought to be quite rare, it is now
believed that they are actually rather abundant, and that their shy and
retiring manner is responsible for their apparent scarcity. They are rather
small and nondescript as dragons go, save for the carefree melodies
they frequently hum. Their voices are soft and easily drowned out by
wind or waterfall or noisy human activity, and must be listened for
earnestly if they are to be heard in any but the most quiet of times. While
the tunes and descants of the Murmurare are most often original, the
dragons are not averse to mellifluously rendering melodies which they or
their ancestors simply overheard while lingering near some human
village or town. When two such dragons encounter each other in their
daily wanderings, they seem disposed to hum in beautiful close harmony,
and there are in fact reports that an occasional group of four will form,
and that this dragon counterpart of a barbershop quartet will hum in
concert until the last rich reds and violets of twilight are finally covered by
the star-flecked shawl of night.

Scientific Name:

Draco Caverna

Common Name:

Cave dragon

Habitat:

Worldwide in caves sufficient in size and
gentle in slope.

Cave dragons are almost always slate gray in color and ill in temper, a
condition perhaps best described as a sort of perpetual grouchiness.
This situation—coupled with the fact that cave dragons do indeed
breathe fire—is undoubtedly the root cause of most medieval dragon
lore. In actual fact, however, these creatures are some of the most timid
and shy of them all. The sad truth is that their bashfulness probably
caused their retreat into caves in the first place, their ill temper derives
from the obvious discomfort of living in such a cold and clammy world,
and their fire is merely an attempt to vent excess gas produced by a
complex and highly acidic digestive system. The cave dragon’s diet
consists almost entirely of mushrooms and moss—a fact which in itself
might explain their sour disposition. Still, when approached with gentle
sympathy, these dragons can become quite friendly and talkative.
Beware, however, of staying to listen too long, as they are not above
scheming to create a captive audience in danger of being talked to
death.

Scientific Name:

Draco Sacculus

Common Name:

Pocket dragon

Habitat:

Worldwide, wherever large pockets or small
cloth bags are found.

These small dragons (never more than five centimeters in height) are
typically shy and quiet creatures, and so retiring that you may search for
years before finding one, and certainly never without the help of the
person whose pocket it calls home. They vary considerably in color, but
most are either blue or brown, and they seem most attracted to older
gentlemen—such as grandfathers—or those quiet folk who watch the
passing days from a favorite park bench. Pocket dragons are fiercely
loyal and share much love with those who might otherwise be all alone.

Scientific Name:

Draco Palus

Common Name:

Marsh dragon

Habitat:

Lowland areas worldwide, except in the tropics.

Dragons inhabiting the coastal and near-coastal lowlands are semi-
aquatic creatures that share many of the personality characteristics of
cave dragons, as well as the ability to breathe fire. Living in a marsh can
sometimes be quite unpleasant, even for dragons so well adapted to the
demands of that forever damp and dreary environment. Marsh dragons
are most active at night, searching out the tiny mushrooms which grow
near the ghostly green light of rotting logs, and they may in fact be
responsible for countless reports of mysterious lights in the dread black
hours before dawn which have been explained away as “marsh gas.”
Marsh dragons vary considerably in size, shape, and coloration, and are
often quite awesome in appearance—especially one particular variety
whose luminescent scales manifest an eerie blue glow on any sufficiently
dark and humid night.

Scientific Name:

Draconis Pomarium

Common Name:

Orchard Dragon

Habitat:

Fruit orchards all over the world.

The fully grown orchard dragon rarely exceeds twenty-five centimeters in
height and weighs only about as much as a large orange. Its coloration
ranges from pale yellow to a warm leaf green, and it is often covered with
spots of contrasting value from early spring to late fall, these spreading
or darkening to gray or brown as winter arrives in earnest. Orchard
dragons tend to be somewhat less than graceful even in their natural
world of trunks and branches, and their small wings appear to get in the
way more often than to aid in balance during frequent hops from limb to
limb. Orchard dragons are good natured and friendly folk—even when
embarrassingly intoxicated by the consumption of fermenting fruit which
may be left behind after harvest. The most notable consequences of this
spirited indulgence are incapacitating hiccups and a staggering
clumsiness, all of which result in an orchestration of hiccups punctuated
by the occasional soft thud of a dragon who has fallen completely out of
his tree.

Scientific Name:

Draco Tectum

Common Name:

Roof dragon

Habitat:

Worldwide.

Roof dragons are often heard but almost never seen—such is their
penchant for privacy and peace. They live a nomadic life, moving at their
personal, mysterious whim from rooftop to rooftop within the darkness of
night, rarely staying in one place for more than a few hours before
moving to another roof or the roofs of another sleeping town. No one
knows why these dragons have taken to the this wanderers’ life among
the chimneys and shingles above our heads, but there is speculation that
they are related to another and much more rare dragon species: Draco
Nomadis, which refuses to consider even a humble human’s roof as
home. Roof dragons are thought to range from one-half to one meter in
length including a short, dorsally serrated tail, and conspicuously tiny
wings. Little is known of their temperament save that we have nothing to
fear. In fact, the creaks and groans and scrabble-scratch noises we
sometimes hear above us at night should be considered the best of luck,
for no dreadful beast will ever come close to a dragon-guarded roof, and
children in bed below need have no fear as they sleepily drift into their
personal worlds of breathless adventure and happy dreams.

Scientific Name:

Draco Pratum Maculosus

Common Name:

Spotted meadow dragon

Habitat:

Bright meadows of green grass and flowers,
most notably in the United States and Europe.

Oddly, not all spotted meadow dragons are spotted. In fact, they have
come to be decorated with a myriad of shapes and patterns, some being
spotted, others checkered or swirled or striped. Each is different, but all
are brightly colored as the blossoms of spring. They are never much
larger than a three-month-old kitten and almost always as playful,
cavorting through their afternoons with enthusiastic, grass-topping hops
and never-ending rounds of follow-the-leader. With the coming of twilight
they end their games and browse through the sweet green shoots of
tender grass, finally settling down into happy dreams in which they
continue, forever and always, to play.

Scientific Name:

Draco Pratum Maculosus Juvenilis

Common Name:

Spotted meadow dragon (young form)

Habitat:

Bright meadows of green grass and flowers,
most notably in the United States and Europe.

Juvenile members of the Pratum species can be heard quite easily (a
soft, dry clicking sound) but almost never seen. They are tiny when first
hatched—no larger than the twinkle in and old woman’s eye—but grow
quickly through the first warm days of spring, rapidly developing the
characteristic Pratum crest, though a year might pass before it begins to
sport the adult Pratum’s loopy curl. And it will be yet another full year
before they show even a hint of a tail. For much of this time, they seem
to do little but eat and dream and watch their parents play.

Scientific Name:

Draco Frigidium

Common Name:

Ice dragon

Habitat:

The northern realm.

Draco Frigidium is generally known as one of the larger dragon types,
ranging from approximately two meters in the case of fresh-water Ice
dragons to as much as twenty meters in height for those magnificent,
crystal-clawed kings of the glacial north. Though large in stature, these
dragons are surprisingly light in weight due to special adaptations which
have allowed them to survive the rigors of dreadful cold. Their scales, for
instance, though appearing white, are in reality crystal clear, but filled
with tiny air pockets that lighten the body so movement through powder
snow and upon glacial ice is less hazardous. Some ice dragons even
appear to have colored scales, but this is actually because sunlight,
when striking these scales at an angle of less than twenty degrees, will
refract into brilliant spectra—a not uncommon but most remarkable sight.
Neither jovial nor sour, ice dragons tend toward a rather stolid
indifference, no doubt a natural consequence of their isolated existence.
They are not quick to anger but can cause considerable damage if
threatened—ranging from glacial fracture to avalanche—and are
therefore best treated with respectful consideration, even deference.

Scientific Name:

Draco Nocturnus

Common Name:

Night dragon

Habitat:

Worldwide, but generally favoring woodland
areas and wind-swept strands of northern heath.

Though many dragon species are found to roam the countryside at night,
none are better suited to times of darkness than night dragons. They
possess an uncanny stealth even though they are usually quite large,
and their soot-black, leather-like scales absorb all but the brightest light
of a full moon at its zenith. They move slowly but with the grace of hidden
strength and self-confident power. They are reticent creatures and have
little patience with the questions of human travelers who might also be
about during those darkest hours, and the magically mellifluous rumble of
their voices, once heard, is not soon forgotten. Little is known of what
business these creatures might be about during their quiet hours beneath
the star-strewn, velvet sky, and few would dare to ask. Yet they do not
seem to trade in evil ways, and there are even tales told in which lost
children have found their way through the night unscathed while under a
Night dragon’s protective spell.

Scientific Name:

Draco Urbus

Common Name:

City dragon

Habitat:

Any city large enough to have more than one
apartment or office building over five stories tall.

City dragons frequent the alleyways, storm drains, subways and pipe-
covered rooftops of large urban areas. Most are constantly on the move
within the city, never staying in one place more than a few nights at most,
although a few have been known to set up semi-permanent
housekeeping on the rooftops of buildings where they can keep a
watchful eye on the streets below. In terms of personality the best that
can be said of city dragons is that they are unpredictable—often happy
and helpful but at times prone to fits of depression. When depressed,
they can cause no end of trouble by clogging up vents with wads of old
newspaper, short-circuiting elevator motors, and, in winter, knocking
great slabs of snow off building ledges to fall in a bothersome white flurry
upon passersby below. The voices of city dragons have come to mimic
many of the city’s own sounds, and one can never be quite sure that
those clatterings, chatterings and thumps are the noises of human
workers down the street or the calls of a dragon just around the corner.

Scientific Name:

Draco Nimbus

Common Name:

Cloud dragon

Habitat:

Aerial; concentrated in temperate zones at
altitudes ranging from 3,000 meters down to
less than 30 meters in some mountainous areas.

Although many in number and spread throughout areas of moderate
clime, cloud dragons are among the most elusive of all dragons in that
they have developed an uncanny ability to remain hidden among the
billows and folds of spring and summer clouds—in some cases
apparently even shaping the clouds themselves so as to create an
effective disguise. There are, however, occasions upon which the clouds
reveal or echo the form of the dragon hidden within. The reason for this
remains in some dispute, but there is a growing body of evidence which
suggests that an unbridled sense of humor may be the cause. In any
event, such occasions are by far the best for watching cloud dragons
because all dragons in the vicinity are likely to be caught up in the spirit
of fun, and an entire scale (the term used to denote any group of three or
more dragons) may thus be clearly observed.

Scientific Name:

Draco Fluvialis

Common Name:

River dragon

Habitat:

The shallow, slow-moving waters near the banks
of rivers and streams throughout the world.

River dragons tend to be fairly large as adults, averaging slightly less
than two meters to the tops of their heads. Their scales are usually
shades of greens and blues and appear in intricately deceptive patterns
across the dragons’ backs, often enclosed in a tattered web of lighter
colors. A long, spiraling tail provides most of the river dragon’s motive
force for swimming, and their bulbous cheeks are used as flotation
bladders for maintaining the dragon’s preferred level of buoyancy just
below the water’s surface. Well known for their gentleness, they are
strictly vegetarian and spend most waking moments searching out
delicacies from among the various aquatic plants at the river’s edge.

Scientific Name:

Draconis Mons

Common Name:

Mountain dragon

Habitat:

Mountainous areas, usually well above the
tree line.

Mountain dragons are majestic lords of cold blue and gray who survey a
wind-swept kingdom of perpetually bitter winter wind and hard-packed
snow. They are related to ice dragons, with whom they share many
personality traits and basic physical features, including special
adaptations which allow them to survive even the most unrelenting cold.
Some mountain dragons are fire-breathers, though this is more the
exception than the rule, and some have wings, of a sort, as well. Not
much is known about their daily fare, and even less about their reasons
for choosing such a stern and unforgiving realm as their home, but some
say it could be that these dragons are great builders who sculpt their
castle dreams in ice and snow rather than in stone. Indeed, remnants of
such structures have been reported in northern minstrels’ tales, and
some will swear that there exists in the far reaches of the north a
magically beautiful dragon city of sparkling ice and pure white snow.

Scientific Name:

Draco Silvicola

Common Name:

Forest dragon or, in the southern United States,
woods dragon

Habitat:

Forests of all types (but usually dark and deep
and not including rainforests or
forests in the sea).

Forest dragons are most often one to two meters in height but are known
to exceed three meters in some European, North American, and
Eurasian forests—most notably in portions of Siberia and the Canadian
Northwest Territories. Their coloration ranges from a velvety navy blue to
pale grays and greens, and they are often variously patterned or mottled
so as to blend into the dappled colors of the forest floor. Usually
quiescent during the day, forest dragons begin to stir with the purple and
golden hues of twilight and use their keen sense of smell to forage for
berries until the wee hours of morning. Forest dragons are unabashedly
curious, and they are likely to startle the occasional traveler with their
innocent nosing about—an occurrence which has undoubtedly given
birth to many a fearful tale about hideous, red eyed and bloodthirsty
beasts that haunt the forests in the night.

Scientific Name:

Draco Sepulcrum

Common Name:

Grave dragon

Habitat:

Cemeteries and graveyards.

There is probably not a single graveyard or cemetery anywhere which
does not harbor at least one grave dragon. Even so, these dragons are
not often seen by human eyes. Grave dragons are a secretive and
unfriendly sort, living, as they do, with the damp earth and cold stone
markers of life passed into another world. They sleep silently through
each day and begin to stir only as midnight approaches, moving stealthily
from grave to tomb to mausoleum and back, stopping occasionally to
hiss or moan as in anger or despair. No one knows why grave dragons
live as they do, isolated within this ghostly world of ivy-draped marble
and forgotten dreams, and the dragons will not say. There is no proof
that these creatures are evil, but best beware. Stories are told of lost or
foolhardy children who have walked into graveyards on cold and
moonless nights never to been seen again. Their footprints wander the
frosty grass and then stop short. And with the gray light of morning, even
these disappear.

Scientific Name:

Draco Filix

Common Name:

Fern dragon

Habitat:

Greenhouses, sun rooms, and sunny parlors
frequented by one or more ladies of a certain
age and genteel upbringing who are well-
practiced in the art of afternoon tea.

One of the relatively few dragon species which has come to live
exclusively indoors, Fern dragons are most often a leafy green in color
and small enough to sit comfortably in an otherwise empty teacup. These
dragons do not lose their scales unless ill—a tidy adaptation to life
indoors—and in many cases they have adapted to such an extent that
they have literally taken on the personality characteristics of their human
roommates. Consequently, some fern dragons will be forever prim and
proper, while others persist in being angry and sour and spend most of
their time hissing at any unlucky caller from within their personal forest of
fern leaves and red clay pots.

Lawrence W. Lee has been a professional artist for over forty years. His paintings are in thousands of fine private collections, corporate collections, and museums around the world. Best known for his paintings of iconic shamanistic figures, he also has a playful side, is a veteran dragon watcher, and a Chairman Emeritus of the International Dragon Watchers Society™

DragonGuide.com

Find out more about Lawrence W. Lee,
his life and his art
at

LawrenceLeeArt.com

This book is dedicated to the color Blue.
You know that you’ve always been my favorite!