REPTILEb. 



Catching Turtles on the Coast of Cuba. 



It is on such a low, sandy beach as that depicted, that the Turtles deposit their eggs, taking care that 

 they are placed beyond high-watermark. "On Hearing the shore." says M. Audubon, " and mostly on 

 fine, calm, moonlight nights, the Turtle raises her head above the water, being still distant thirty or forty 

 yards from the beach, looks around her, and attentively examines the objects on shore. Should she 

 observe nothing likely to disturb her intended operations, she emits a loud hissing sound, by which such 

 of her enemies as are unaccustomed to it are startled, and so apt to remove to another place, although 

 unseen by her. Should she hear any more noise, or perceive any indications of danger, she instantly sinks 

 and goes off to a distance ; but should every thing be quiet, she advances slowly towards the beach, crawls 

 over it, her head raised to the full stretch of her neck, and when she has reached a place fitted for her 

 purpose she gazes all around in silence. Finding all well, she proceeds to form a hole in the sand, which 

 she effects by removing it from under her body with her hind-flappers, scooping it out with so much dex- 

 terity that the sides seldom if ever fall in. The sand is raised alternately with each flapper, as with a 

 large ladle, until it has accumulated behind her, when, supporting herself with her head and fore-part on 

 the ground, she with a spring from each flapper sends the sand around her, scattering it to the distance of 

 several feet. In this manner the hole is dug to the depth of eighteen inches, or sometimes more than two 

 feet. This labor I have seen performed in the short period of nine minutes. The eggs are then dropped 

 one by one, and disposed in regular layers, to the number of one hundred and fifty, or sometimes nearly 

 two hundred. The whole time spent in this operation may be about twenty minutes. She now scrapes 

 the loose sand back over the eggs, and so levels and smooths the surface, that few persons seeing the spot 

 would imagine that any thing had been done to it. This accomplished to her mind, she retreats to the 

 water with all possible dispatch, leaving the hatching of the eggs to the heat of the sand. When a Turtle, 

 or Loggerhead, for example, is in the act of dropping her eggs, she will not move, although one should go 

 up to her, or even seat himself on her back ; but the moment it is finished, off she starts, nor would it 

 then be possible for one, unless he were as strong as Hercules, to turn her over and secure her." 



It is at this crisis that the Turtle fishery is carried on. The fishers wait for them on the shore, and as 

 they come from the sea, or as tliey return after laying their eggs, they either dispatch them with blows of 

 a club, or turn them quickly over on their backs, not giving them time either to defend themselves, or to 

 blind their assailants, by throwing up the sand with their fins. When very large, it requires the efforts 

 of several men to turn them over, aud they must employ the assistance of handspikes. 



