THE INDIAN TORTOISE. j 



tions. They seldom wandered far from their holes, and generally spent part of the day in 

 their burrows. They delighted in the sun in mild weather, but could not support the intense 

 heat of our summer noons ; at those hours they retreated to their holes, or sought shelter from 

 the scorching mys of the sun under the shade of broad-leaved plants. A tanyer {Arum escu- 

 lentum) that grew near their holes was a favorite haunt. They could not endure rain, and 

 retreated hastily to their burrows, or to other shelter, at the coming on of a shower. 



"As winter approached, they confined themselves to the immediate neighborhood of their 

 holes, and basked in the sunshine. As the cold increased, they retired to their burrows, where 

 they became torpid ; a few warm days, however, even in winter, would again restore them to 

 life and activity. 



"The adults are remarkably strong, sustaining and moving with a weight of two hundred 

 pounds or more. The female is generally larger than the male, with the sternum convex ; the 

 sternum of the male is concave, especially on its posterior part. The eggs are larger than those 

 of a pigeon, round, with a hard calcareous shell ; they are much esteemed as an article of food." 



Perhaps the best known species of these creatures is the Common Land Tortoise, so 

 frequently exposed for sale in oui- markets, and so favorite an inhabitant of gardens. 



This appears to be the only sjiecies that inhabits Euroi)e, and e\en in that continent it is 

 by no means widely spread, being coulined to those counti-ies which border the Mediterranean. 



It is one of the vegetable feeders, eating various plants, and being very fond of lettuce 

 leaves, wliich it crops in a rather curious manner, biting them oil sharply when fresh and 

 crisp, but dragging them asunder when stringy, by putting the fore feet upon them, and pull- 

 ing with the jaws. Tliis Tortoise will drink milk, and does so by opening its mouth, scooping 

 up the milk in its lower jaw, as if with a spoon, and then raising its head to let the liquid run 

 down its throat. 



One of these animals, which I kept for some time, displayed a remarkable capacity for 

 climbing, and was very fond of mounting upon various articles of furniture, stools being its 

 favorite resort. It revelled in warmth, and could not be kept away from the hearth-rug, espe- 

 cially delighting to climb upon a footstool that generally lay beside the fender. It used to 

 clamber on the stool in a rather ingenious manner. First it got on its hind legs, rearing itself 

 against the angle formed by the stool and fender. Then it would slowly raise one of its hind 

 legs, hitch the claws into a hole in tlie fender, and raise itself very gradually, until it could fix 

 the claws of the other hind foot into the thick carpet-work of the stool. A few such steps 

 would Inlng it to the top of the stool, when it would fall down flat, crawl close to the fender, 

 and tliere lie motionless. If it were taken off twenty times a day, and carried to the other end 

 of the room, it would always be found in its favorite resort in a few minutes. 



This Tortoise had a curious kind of voice, not unlike the mewing of a little kitten. The 

 Common Tortoise is known to live to a gi-eat age. 



To this genus belongs a very large species, worthy of a passing description. This is the 

 great Indian Tortoise {Testudo Indica), a native of the Galapagos. This species is also 

 known scientifically by the name of Testudo planiceps. It is seen in the accompanying full- 

 page illustration. Mr. Darwin writes as follows of this animal and its habits : "The Tortoise 

 is very fond of water, drinking large quantities, and wallowing in the mud. The larger islands 

 alone produce springs, and these are always situated towai'd the central parts, and at a consid- 

 erable elevation. Hence broad and well-beaten paths radiate in every direction from the wells, 

 even down to the sea-coast ; and the Spaniards, by following them up, first discovered the 

 watering-places. 



"When landed at Chatham Island, I could not imagine what animal travelled so method- 

 ically along the well-beaten tracks. Near the springs it was a curious spectacle to behold 

 many of these great monsters, one set eagerly travelling onwards with outstretched necks, and 

 another set returning, after having drunk their fill. When the Tortoise arrives at the spring, 

 quite regardless of any spectator, it buries its head in the water above its eyes, and greedily 

 swallows great mouthfuls, at the rate of about ten in a minute. The inhabitants say each 



