HAWK’S-BILL TURTLE. 3 
The structure of the whole family is admirably adapted 
to their marine habits. The body is flattened so as greatly 
to facilitate their progress through the water; the feet are 
formed into the most perfect oars, by means of which they 
are propelled with considerable force and velocity; “ the 
Green and Hawk-billed in particular,” says Audubon, ‘“ re- 
mind you, by their celerity, and the ease of their motions, 
of the progress of a bird in the air.” The head is so placed 
upon the neck as to allow of the nostrils being readily 
raised above the surface for the purpose of occasional 
respiration. The nostrils, also, are furnished with a fleshy 
valve, which is closed when the animal is submerged, but 
opens when required for respiration. 
The food of the Green Turtle consists of marine plants, 
especially the sea-wrack, Zostera marina; and they graze 
at the bottom of the water, coming at intervals to the 
surface to breathe. As this mode of taking their food 
renders them very liable to swallow, with their aliment, 
a considerable quantity of sea-water, there is a beauti- 
ful structure lining the interior of the csophagus, by 
which this circumstance is effectually obviated. This 
consists of a great number of horny pyramidal bodies, 
with which the whole interior of the csophagus is fur- 
nished, all of them directed backwards towards the sto- 
mach; by which means, although the food and the water 
together can be readily swallowed, yet, when the stomach 
is contracted for the purpose of regurgitating the water, 
the food itself is retained. “The Hawk-billed species 
feeds on sea-weeds, crabs, various kinds of shell-fish, and 
fishes; the Loggerhead mostly on the fish of conch shells 
of large size, which they are enabled, by means of their 
powerful beak, to crush to pieces with apparently as much 
ease as aman cracks a walnut. The Trunk Turtle feeds 
B 2 
