122 STARVING TORTOISES. 



a creature before, the tortoise is an object of sur- 

 prise, not unmixed with fear, for one woman 

 asked if he would " fly at her," and others seem to 

 suppose him a creature of ferocious tendencies, 

 judging by the way they keep at a distance and 

 eye him askance. 



I happened to be at the Zoological Gardens one 

 autumn day when some of the large Galapagos 

 tortoises were fairly active, and was fortunate 

 enough to see one digging a hole in a rather hard 

 gravel path. The excavation was carried on 

 entirely by the hind legs ; first one and then the 

 other went down and grasped a few stones with 

 the claws on the foot ; these stones were dropped 

 on the surface of the ground, and down went the 

 other leg, and slowly it brought up a little soil, 

 and this process went steadily on for ten minutes 

 or more, and the hole became about eight or nine 

 inches deep. The sturdy tail of the tortoise is 

 used as a sort of boring instrument in first be- 

 ginning the hole, and when deep enough the 

 tortoise cautiously deposits her eggs at the bottom 

 of the cavity, and when all are laid the hole is 

 filled up with earth, well pressed down, and the 



