114 



VERTEBRATES: REPTILES. 



their nests the whol 

 leading to the water. 



Fig. 167 



ground, except narrow walks 



The extinct Great Auk of 

 the Arctic regions was as large 

 as the Penguin ; its bones and 

 eggs are rarities in museums. 

 It has not been seen alive since 

 1844, when the last two were 

 killed near Iceland. Other 

 kinds are much smaller : those 

 called Puffins are not larger 

 than a Dove. The Puffin makes 



its nest in a burrow and lays but one egg in a season. 



REPTILES. 



Reptiles are Vertebrates which have cold blood, and 

 are co\'ered with hard plates, called scales, and which 

 lay eggs. In most Reptiles the eggs are not brooded 

 by the parent, and the young, as soon as hatched, look 

 just like the parents, only smaller. Reptiles are such as 

 Turtles or Tortoises, Lizards, and Serpents or Snakes. 



Turtles, or Tortoises. 



Turtles, or Tortoises, are Reptiles which have a shell 

 into which they can withdraw their head, legs, and tail. 

 Some of them live wholly upon land, like the Gophers 

 in the Southern States which dig burrows that are 

 tlangerous pitfalls for horsemen, and the Box Turtles 

 \\-hich live in the woods and can shut their shell so 

 tightly as to entirely hide their extremities, as seen 

 in Figure 170. Others, like the Painted Turtle with 

 its colors of black, yellow, and red, the Wood Tortoise 



