A HIDDEN HIGHWAY. 



123 



my attention to the other creatures that I had 

 unearthed. Among them were four species of 

 turtles, each represented by several individuals. 

 One of these was the Muhlenberg tortoise, the 

 rarest of American chelonians. Probably just 

 here, over a few hundred acres of the Delaware 

 meadows, there are more of them than in the 

 whole world besides. The fact of their great 

 rarity makes them the more interesting to a nat- 

 uralist ; but to-day they proved exceedingly stu- 

 pid, far more so than the others, which in a mild 

 way resented my interference, and pranced over 

 the dead grass quite energetically, reaching the 

 nearest open ditch in good time, and to my sur- 

 prise they all seemed governed by a sense of di- 

 rection. They went but little if any out of their 

 way. Not so with the " Muhlenbergs " ; they 

 seemed dazed for a long time, and finally, after 

 much looking about, they started, the four to- 

 gether, in the wrong direction, and would have 

 had a weary journey to reach open water. Again 

 and again I faced them about, but they would not 

 go as I wished. Such obstinate turtles I had 

 never seen before, and I almost felt convinced 

 that they were impelled by some common im- 

 pression very different from that which actuated 

 the others. As is often the case, I was all at sea 

 in my efforts to interpret their purposes. Letting 

 them alone, they waddled through the grass for 



