146 REPTILES AND BIRDS. 
The Moorish Tortoise (Zestudo mauritianica, Fig. 33) 1s com- 
monly found in the neighbourhood of Algiers and along the coast of 
Morocco, whence they are sent to be sold i in the Paris markets. 
When shooting in Morocco, scarcely a day would pass 
without the setters or pointers finding numbers of oe to which 
they ‘would stand with as much staunchness as game. ‘The scent _ 
they emit is so powerful as to be easily detected by a human being. | 
The carapace of this species is also convex; and the sternum” 
Fig. 33—Moorish Tortoise. 
movable: it is generally olive-coloured. ‘The plates of the disc are 
marked with blackish spots, and sometimes with a buckle of the same 
colour, which covers their circumference on the front and sides. 
The plates of the plastron, the ground of which is olive, have each a 
large black spot in the centre. This species is rather smaller than 
the Marginate Tortoise. 
The Greek Tortoise (Zestudo greca) is of small dimensions, 
scarcely exceeding twelve inches in length. They inhabit Greece, 
Italy, and the European shores of the Mediterranean generally. 
They feed upon herbs, roots, slugs, and lob-worms. Like all their 
race, they sleep during the winter season in holes which they 
excavate in the soil. About May they issue from their retreat, 
