2426 



TORTOISES, TURTLES, AND PLESIOSAURS 



The European species inhabits both stagnant and running waters, and may be 

 found alike in slow or swift-flowing streams, or in open lakes. During the daytime 

 it leaves the water to bask in the sun on sequestered spots of the banks, where it re- 

 mains without moving by the hour together, but towards sunset it begins to move, 

 and remains active throughout the night. At the commencement of winter it con- 

 structs an underground chamber, in which it remains buried in slumber till spring, 

 usually reappearing, if the weather be favorable, about the middle of April, at which 



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EUROPEAN POND TORTOISE- 

 (Two-fifths natxiral size. ) 



time it reveals its whereabouts by a peculiar whistling cry characteristic of the 

 breeding season. An excellent swimmer and diver, the pond tortoise disappears be- 

 neath the water at the slightest sound, while when on land its motions are far more 

 active than those of the true tortoises. Agreeing with other carnivorous terrapins 

 in the absence of a median ridge on the fore-part of the palate, this tortoise feeds 

 chiefly upon worms, water insects, crustaceans, frogs, newts, tadpoles, and fish. In 

 devouring fish they reject the air bladder which floats on the surface of the water; 

 and from the number of such floating air bladders some idea may be formed as to 



