52 TORTOISES AND TURTLES. 



places by following the trail of their footsteps in the dry sand ; the same method 

 being employed by some of the wild tribes of South Africa in the case of the 

 allied species inhabiting that continent. In the rainy season the elegant tortoise 

 is, however, extremely active, and wanders about in search of food at all hours of 

 the day. At the approach of the cold weather these reptiles select a sheltered 

 spot, where they conceal themselves by thrusting their shells into thick tufts of 

 bushes or shrubs, in order to be better protected from the cold. There they 

 remain in a kind of lethargic, although not truly torpid, state, till the hot season, 

 when they issue out to feed only after sunset and in the early morning. 

 Specimens kept in captivity were observed to be very fond of plunging into water 



ELEGANT TORTOISE (J nat. size). 



during the hot season, where they would remain for half an hour at a time. 

 They also drank large quanties of water at this period of the year, which they 

 took by thrusting in their heads and swallowing in a series of gulps. About 

 November the female lays her eggs in a shallow pit excavated by herself. One of 

 the aforesaid captive specimens in the course of about two hours " succeeded in 

 making a hole six inches in depth and four inches in diameter; in this she 

 immediately deposited her eggs, four in number, filling up the hole again with the 

 mud she had previously scraped out, and then treading it well in, and stamping 

 upon it with her hind-feet alternately until it was filled to the surface, when she 

 bent it down with the whole weight of her body, raising herself behind as high as 



