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A TURTLE CRAWL 



I'hoto by Howard H. Cleaves 

 RACCOON KLY, BULLS BAY, S. C. 



The female turtle drags herself up the beach above high-water mark after dark and 

 digs a nest, where, according to the age and size of the turtle, from 75 to 200 eggs are 

 deposited at a single laying. 



of another. In this event a new course 

 must be devised, and if this fails a third 

 must be resorted to. It keeps one's wits 

 on the move and compels a close study 

 of the habits and idiosyncrasies of the 

 mimcrous birds zvhich one meets; and 

 this, after all, is the true end to be gained 

 and desired. 



The difference of temperament in dif- 

 ferent birds and, moreover, in different 

 individuals of the same species can best 

 be illustrated, perhaps, by the following 

 incidents : 



The first was furnished by a yellow- 

 billed cuckoo. She had her nest in a 

 dense piece of woodland and placed near 

 the top of a seven- foot bush, beneath a 

 canopy of leaves, which, together with the 

 shade of the forest, produced wretched 

 light conditions for photography. 



The time was late afternoon, and be- 

 fore the old bird came back to the nest, 

 with the corpulent caterpillar of a hawk 

 moth for the two young cuckoos, an 

 electrical storm had obscured the sun en- 

 tirely, and the rumblings of thunder made 

 it apparent that camera, tripod, and all 



would soon have to be withdrawn or be 

 drenched. But the young cuckoos were 

 so far developed that they would be out 

 of the nest by the following morning ; so, 

 if a plate were to be secured of the old 

 bird beside her young, it was plain that 

 it must be exposed within the next five 

 minutes or not at all. 



As this crisis was reached there oc- 

 curred a movement at the far side of the 

 bush and in an instant the old yellow-bill 

 was standing at the edge of the nest, her 

 tail drooping and head turned to one side. 

 The shutter had been set for a time ex- 

 posure and the thread leading to it was 

 given a cautious pull. 



At the opening click the old bird's head 

 turned slightly ; but from that moment 

 until the remarkable exposure of 57 sec- 

 onds (made necessary by the light condi- 

 tions) was brought to an end by a second 

 snap of the shutter spring, the cuckoo re- 

 mained like a statue, and the resulting 

 photograph was fairly satisfactory. Such 

 a course could not have been followed 

 with a less passive and apparently stupid 

 bird than the cuckoo. 



