32 THOSE OTHER ANIMALS. 



Their habits differ as widely as their structure. Of the 

 land tortoises, some prefer a vegetable diet, some insects, 

 worms, and molluscs, while some of the larger turtles will 

 feed upon fishes and small aquatic birds. Both land and 

 water tortoises are capable of fasting for upwards of a year. 

 Their tenacity of life is extraordinary, for their hearts will 

 continue to beat, and they are still able to move their limbs 

 with considerable force, for ten or twelve days after their 

 heads have been cut off. The tortoise is sensitive as to 

 weather ; it does not like too great heat, and lies in the 

 shade when the sun is strong. It equally objects to cold, 

 and buries itself under loose rubbish, or scrapes itself a 

 hole in the ground on the approach of winter, taking many 

 weeks about the operation. 



It might be thought that, clad in its waterproof coat, it 

 would regard rain with indifference ; but this is far from 

 being the case, for if a shower is at hand it will hurry 

 away to shelter. It can only be supposed that this extreme 

 sensitiveness to all atmospheric changes has been bestowed 

 upon the tortoise to afford it matter for interest and excite- 

 ment. Not only does it sleep throughout the whole of the 

 winter months, but in summer it retires to rest early in the 

 afternoon, and remains asleep till late in the morning. In 

 the Galapagos Islands the tortoises rival in size those of the 

 pre-historic period, weighing three or four hundred pounds. 

 The speed of these animals is relatively fast, for they can 

 travel as much as six yards a minute. The water turtle 

 attains even a greater size, individuals having been taken 

 weighing from sixteen to seventeen hundred pounds. 



The life of the turtles and fresh water tortoises is a 

 lively one in comparison to that of the land species. 



