NATURE'S CALENDAR 



The snapping-turtle's eggs may also be June 19 



found at this time, buried in soil, often 

 in ploughed fields; and those of the spot- 

 ted mud-turtle. " Seldom seen away from 

 the water," notes J. A. Allen, "except 

 when about to lay its eggs, which I have 

 observed it doing [in western Massachu- 

 setts] during the second and third weeks 

 of June." 



Thoreau paid a great deal of attention 

 to the breeding-habits of the tortoises of 

 New England, and his writings contain 

 very full and interesting descriptions of 

 their methods of burrowing, placing and 

 concealing their eggs. He gives the fol- 

 lowing dates for Concord, Mass.: Painted 

 turtle, June 6th, loth, 12th, i8th; box- 

 tortoise, June 6th, i6th ; striated, or scaled 

 turtle, June nth, 12th; snapping-turtle, 

 June 7th; and remarks, under June 12th, 

 "turtles fairly and generally begin to 

 lay " ; and that the skunk is the most per- 

 sistent of their enemies, digging up and 

 devouring their eggs in great numbers. 



Lizards are breeding, too. The pine- 

 lizard of New Jersey, for example, is said 

 by Abbott to lay its eggs there in the 

 first week of this month, which are de- 

 scribed as long, elliptical, and leathery ; 

 and "deposited in conical pits, one ^%^. 

 the lowermost, being in the bottom, then 

 three above it and four in the third tier." 

 In the same State one may seek for the 

 eggs of the milk-snake, searching mossy 

 tussocks in the meadows in haying-time, 



