212 



Handbook of Nature-Study 



9. How much of the turtle's body can you see? What is its color? 

 Is it rough or smooth ? 



10. What are the turtle's enemies? How does it escape from them? 

 What noise does the turtle make when frightened or angry? 



11. Do all turtles live for part of the time in water? What is their 

 food and where do they find it? Write an account of all the species of 

 turtles that you know. 



12. How do turtle eggs look? Where are they laid? How are they 



hidden? 



Supplementary reading "Turtle Eggs for Agassiz," Dalles Lore Sharp, 

 Altantic Monthly, Feb., 1910. 



V. MAMMAL STUDY 



OR some inexplicable reason, the word animal, in 

 common parlance, is restricted to the mammals. 

 As a matter of fact, the bird, the fish, the insect 

 and the snake have as much right to be called animals as has 

 the squirrel or the deer. And while I believe that much 

 freedom in the matter of scientific nomenclature is permissible 

 in nature-study, I also believe that it is well for the child to 

 have a clearly defined idea of the classes into which the animal 

 kingdom is divided; and I would have him gain this knowledge 

 by noting how one animal differs from another rather than by 

 studying the classification of animals in books. He sees 

 that the fish differs in many ways from the bird and that the 

 toad differs from the snake; and it will be easy for him to grasp 

 the fact that the mammals differ from all other animals in that 

 the young are nourished by milk produced for this purpose in the breasts 

 of the mother; when he understands this, he can comprehend how such 

 diverse forms as the whale, the cow, the bat, and human beings are akin. 



