150 DAYS OUT OF DOORS. 



long, and each as ill-tempered as the most patriarchal of 

 their race has ever been found to be. 



This discovery opened up a greater mystery : what of 

 the many other species known to inhabit the pond ? That 

 they were hiding in the woods waiting the return of the 

 waters was scarcely probable, but I commenced to search 

 for them forthwith. By accident, I found a spotted turtle 

 beneath a cluster of dwarf laurel, and then probed wher- 

 ever the ground was damp. At last I got a clew to their 

 whereabout. My probing attracted the attention of a 

 farmer living near, and he assured me that I would not 

 find the turtles where I supposed, for they had " wobbled 

 over the hill to the ditches in his meadow." This I found 

 to be true. Fully five hundred yards away, in a low-lying 

 meadow, separated from the mill-pond by a high ridge or 

 hill, I found scores of turtles of five species, but not a 

 snapper among them. I can not believe that under ordi- 

 nary circumstances turtles are ever as abundant as I found 

 them in this meadow, and accept the farmer's statement 

 that they had " wobbled over the hill " from the mill-pond. 

 And now we are confronted with two puzzling problems : 

 Why did not the snappers go? How did those which 

 crossed over to the meadow know of its existence ? 



They certainly did not look very happy. Some of 

 them gazed wistfully at me, as though expecting the an- 

 nouncement that the mill-pond was again full to the brim 

 and ready to receive them. I picked up four one at a 

 time and placed them in the woods midway between the 

 meadow and the pond, and found when I set the last 

 upon the ground the others had not moved. Then I re- 

 arranged them, tail to tail, with their heads pointing 

 toward the four cardinal points of the compass, and left 

 them to their meditations. Fully ten minutes elapsed be- 

 fore -any one saw fit to move, and then they all seemed 

 influenced alike and set out upon their journeys. The 



