THE HATCHING OF THE TURTLES 



HORSESHOE BEND was a long, shal- 

 low pond about a half mile from the 

 Naturalist's home. Here the boys and girls 

 of the neighborhood had loved to gather for 

 skating parties on bright winter days when he 

 was a boy. Here also, in summer, he found 

 many interesting creatures who belonged to 

 quite a different world from the little wood. 

 Beautiful dragon flies who spent their days 

 flying about in the bright sunlight, laid their 

 eggs on the stems of water plants, just below 

 the surface, and the young, when hatched, 

 were true water babies. Frogs sang a regular 

 chorus every summer night and whirligig 

 beetles spun round and round in dizzy circles, 

 while water striders skated on the surface of 

 the pond in summer, as the boys and girls had 

 done in the winter. These and other creatures 

 of the water world told their stories to the 

 Naturalist in the same language as the crea- 

 tures of the little wood, but their stories must 

 wait until a later time to be told. , 



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