CHAPTER XXI 



REPTILES 



FOR some unknown reason reptiles are looked upon with 

 a certain amount of repulsion by most people ; as a matter 

 of fact, they are creatures of the greatest interest, their 

 habits are often strange, their beauty is frequently 

 dazzling. Maybe they are less ingenious than the birds 

 or insects, the former of which are very close relatives 

 of the reptiles though so dissimilar in appearance. At a 

 casual glance the reptiles strike one as being an incon- 

 gruous crew tortoises and turtles have many points in 

 common certainly, but the legless snakes, the lizards and 

 the alligators and crocodiles make up a strange band of 

 animals. 



The turtles, of which one species is so much in demand 

 by gourmands the world over, are aquatic, creatures of 

 the sea and of rivers. They rarely leave their watery 

 homes, except for the purpose of egg-laying. The food 

 of many of these animals consists wholly of fish, and it 

 is remarkable how such slow-moving, almost lethargic, 

 creatures, whose movements below water closely resemble 

 the flight of a bird, can capture agile fishes. We all 

 know how the domestic cat, the familiar rabbit and many 

 other animals are in the habit of travelling along the 

 same route or run day by day. Many fishes also travel 

 along the same route each day, and the turtle is not long 

 in discovering this trait of his prey. Being a cunning 

 creature, he partially embeds himself in the mud below 

 the fishes' favoured way ; the unsuspecting fishes, mis- 

 taking the turtle for some muddy rock, swim near by and 

 are instantly seized in the powerful jaws of the keen-eyed 

 turtle. 



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