Rural School Leaflet 1241 



it. The food of the musk turtle is any kind of refuse, prefcral)ly animal 

 niattcr. It is recorded that the male musk turtles can produce music, 

 which resembles grasshoppers' singing. On the hind legs there arc two 

 patches of small homy knobs, and by rubbing the lower set on the upper 

 one, the music is produced. Probably these sounds arc made only at 

 the breeding season. 



The laying season seems to be from June 10 to July i. The female 

 has only from three to six eggs to lay, and she usually seeks decaying 

 wood or htmius in which she digs a nest \\4th all four feet. The nest 

 is only from two to three inches deep, and is always covered. Mr. T. S. 

 Hankinson records that occasionally all of the females of an area lay 

 together in an old muskrat house, and in one such house he has found 

 from seventy to ninety eggs. The eggs are elliptical, one inch long, 

 and five-eighths of an inch in diameter. In Octol:)er musk tmlles go into 

 hibernation. 



4. The pond turtles, or the terrapins of the fresh waters of New York, 

 are eight in number. They are the painted, 

 the western painted, the Muhlenberg's, the 

 spotted, the wood, the geographic, the box, and 

 the Blanding's turtles. 



(a) The commonest and one of the best- 

 known water turtles of the eastern United States 

 is the painted turtle, the shell of which reaches 

 a length of six inches. The color is greenish 



black, dark green, or dark olive on the upper ,. ^ ■ , , . ,1 



' >^ ' '^^ Youtig painted turtle, vat- 



shell, or carapace. The edge of each scale on tmilsize. Adult six times 



the back has a yellowish margin. The under j"''^'^''- Note markings on 



■^ ^ lower edge oj carapace 



shell, or plastron, is clear yellow, and the under 



margin of the carapace is conspicuously marked with crimson. The 



head is black with numerous yellow stripes on its lower side, and the 



limbs have prominent stripes of crimson. 



The painted turtles are fond of basking on logs, driftwood, stumps, 



and banks, sometimes wholly out of water, and sometimes partly in the 



water, which may explain the frequent growi^h of alga; on the rear portions 



of the carapace. These turtles are timid, and when approached, tumble 



into the water, where they often rest under the surface alga? with only 



their heads out. They quite often travel on land for short distances 



from the water. When teased they may try to bite, but they usually 



rely on the protection of their shell. Their food may be either animal 



or vegetable matter, the latter especially when they are on land. They 



feed principally, however, on dead or live fishes, insects, tadpoles, and 



the like. 



