136 OUR BACKDOOR NEIGHBORS 



long delay, the second foreleg would also ap- 

 pear. There it would remain half way out of 

 the shell for hours longer. At last it would 

 deliberately crawl free from the shell, and, 

 since it was so far from the water, the Natu- 

 ralist would place it in a shallow aquarium. 

 Two or three days elapsed from the time the 

 first egg opened until the last baby turtle was 

 out of its shell. They took very kindly to the 

 quarters provided for their benefit and greed- 

 ily ate the flies and other insects which the boys 

 supplied as food. 



They spent much time resting on flat stones 

 with their noses out of the water. Sometimes 

 they would bury themselves in the soft sand 

 on the bottom of the aquarium and remain 

 there for long periods of time. When the 

 cold days came and winter drew near they be- 

 came less active and took less food. Finally, 

 when the ponds and streams froze up, they 

 refused food altogether, although they were 

 kept in a warm room by the fire. They be- 

 came very quiet and slept in the sand in the 

 bottom of the aquarium much as Mother 

 Snapping Turtle was doing in the mud at the 

 bottom of Horseshoe Bend. 



When spring came they were lively again 



