146 



REPTILES AND BIRDS. 



The Moorish Tortoise [Testudo mauritianica, Fig. 33) is com 

 monly found in the neighbourhood of Algiers and along the coast of 

 Morocco, whence they are sent to be sold in the Paris markets. 



When shooting in Morocco, scarcely a day would pass 

 without the setters or pointers finding numbers of them, to which 

 they would stand with as much staunchness as game. The scent 

 they emit is so powerful as to be easily detected by a human being. 

 The carapace of this species is also convex; and the sternum 



Fig. 33. — Moorish Tortoise. 



movable : it is generally olive-coloured. The plates of the disc are 

 marked with blackish spots, and sometimes with a buckle of the same 

 colour, which covers their circumference on the front and sides. 

 The plates of the plastron, the ground of which is olive, have each a 

 large black spot in the centre. This species is rather smaller than 

 the Margin ate Tortoise. 



The Greek Tortoise (Testudo grceca) is of small dimensions, 

 scarcely exceeding twelve inches in length. They inhabit Greece, 

 Italy, and the European shores of the Mediterranean generally. 

 They feed upon herbs, roots, slugs, and lob-worms. Like all their 

 race, they sleep during the winter season in holes which they 

 excavate in the soil. About May they issue from their retreat, 



