Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 607 



cold of autumn benumbs thorn quite considerably. On November 

 30, while walking- along- the south shore of the lake, several turtles 

 of this species were observed to leave shore and take to the water. 

 They attempted to dive, but were unable to do so; they plunged 

 their heads below the surface, tilting up the posterior part of the 

 body, and finally succeeded in getting all under water except the 

 hind legs, which, projecting above the surface, fanned the air 

 frantically in the most ludicrous fashion. Seven of these turtles 

 were caught ; four of them were quite large. They were placed in 

 an open-bottomed live-box near the station where it was thought 

 they would bury themselves in the soft sand for the winter. All, 

 however, were soon frozen. 



In the autumn these turtles, along with the Painted, show a 

 tendency to migrate from the larger lake into Lost Lake. They 

 usually go down the Outlet, but in the autumn of 1906 a dam was 

 built across the Outlet at the railroad bridge, and the turtles were 

 seen in considerable numbers climbing over the dam or making 

 the journey over the road by land. 



The Map Turtle does not hibernate, but many, if not all of 

 them keep walking about on the bottom of the lake, where they 

 can be seen through the ice whenever it is clear. Throughout the 

 winter of 1900-1901 they could be seen any day when the ice 

 was not covered with snow. 1\\ the early winter of that year these 

 turtles appeared to congregate in considerable numbers in the 

 northwest corner of Lost Lake, in shallow^ water near shore. On 

 Dec. 15, 25 were counted in this place, and only one or two were 

 seen elsewhere. Later on in the season they w^ere found in various 

 other places ; a good many w^ere found in the bottom of Outlet Bay. 

 On Christmas day, 1900, in walking out 119 steps from Chadwick's 

 pier, 69 map turtles and one musk turtle were counted. They 

 were also found in some numbers in the Norris Inlet region. Those 

 turtles keep moving about more or less all winter, although they 

 are not nearly so active as in the summer ; and they probably eat 

 little or nothing. They do not appear to swim any or leave the 

 bottom. They do not appear to take fright easily and would prob- 

 ably be unable to make good time in attempting to escape even if 

 they tried; one can walk above them and study their actions in de- 

 tail through the clear ice. While walking about the motion of the 

 limbs is quite jerky and irregular. Where they walked ovrr soft 

 bare muddy bottom the tracks left by them could be plainly seen, 

 two parallel rows of dots, the distance between the rows indicating 

 the size of the turtle; by following these, the animal could fre- 

 quently be tracked down. 



39—17618 



