TURTLES AND SNAKES 



The head is brown with yellow fleckings along the sides of the 

 neck but without the distinct yellow lines which mark the 

 musk turtle's head (PI. XXII). The male has a longer tail 

 than the female and there is a horny point at the end of it. 



Habits, habitat. — ^The mud turtle lives in muddy bottoms 

 similar to the haunts of the musk turtle but it is less fond of 

 the water. It also has a better disposition. Just after it 

 first appears from hibernation it is coated with dried mud 

 paste from its burrow, usually made in moist earth only fifty 

 yards or so distant from a marsh. At the end of hibernation 

 it is in the same shrunken condition as the musk turtle. Its 

 habit of absorbing water at this time is described by Wetmore 

 and Harper in their account of its hibernation: "The 

 turtle that we found was taken home and placed in a basin of 

 water. For several minutes it made no movement save to 

 emit a series of bubbles from its nostrils, or to close and open 

 an eye. Then it proceeded to extend and retract its neck 

 slowly. The jaws were opened and closed slowly. In a 

 short time movement of the jaws ceased, but the turtle con- 

 tinued to draw water into the mouth and then expel it. . . . 

 In a few moments the turtle became more alert and swam 

 and walked about, thrusting its head to the surface." 



Breeding habits. — In the Okefinokee Swamp in Georgia, 

 Wright found a nest of the mud turtle in rotten wood, con- 

 taining three elliptical eggs buried about three inches below 

 the surface. 



Size. — The carapace of adults is about 4 inches long. 



Range. — Probably not common anywhere. New York, 

 southward to the Gulf of Mexico and westward to the Missis- 

 sippi Valley. 



Pond and Land Turtles — Testudinidce 



Painted turtle, Chrysemys picta. — In New England the 

 painted turtle is the most common of all the fresh water 



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