34 A NATURALIST ON DESERT ISLANDS. 



site, the " hen " puts out to sea again, where may be, she 

 rejoins her mate, who never comes ashore. All love- 

 making is carried on out at sea, and I have myself, in 

 the case of the loggerhead, been a spectator of these 

 tender moments. About ten days after the choice of a 

 nesting-site, the " hen " returns to it, scoops out a 

 hole in real earnest with her fore and hind limbs, and 

 lays her eggs. 



According to my medical informant, who has actually 

 timed the performance, the whole process of digging the 

 hole and laying perhaps one hundred and seventy eggs 

 may be over in fifteen minutes. Even if we allowed 

 her another five or ten minutes, this seems to us to be 

 quick work with a vengeance. 



It is said that the same " hen " will return two or three 

 times in the same season to nearly the same spot, and 

 each time lay about the same number of eggs, which must 

 bring her annual total somewhere up to the average of 

 four or five hundred. Considering the helpless condition 

 of the newly-hatched young, which apparently have 

 little or nothing in which to hide, unless it be among 

 floating patches of gulf-weed, these numbers do not seem 

 at all excessive. 



In addition to the heavy infant mortality that goes 

 on, full grown, and doubtless half grown turtles have 

 their enemies. Thus, I once saw, in company with Lady 

 Wilton, the following unconsidered trifles taken from 

 the stomach of a large leopard-shark on the shores of 

 Captiva Pass, in Florida : (1) Perfect specimen of a 

 cormorant (Phalacrocorax dilophus floridanus), with 

 plumage entire and barely spoilt ; (2) Larqe loggerhead 

 turtle ; carapace was broken into four or five large 

 pieces ; (3) Three " weak " fish (Cynoscion nebulosus) 

 each about 31bs. apiece ; (4) One fairly large whip- 

 ray and two smaller ones ; (5) A variety of odd bones 

 and several silver mullet which apparently had been 

 thrown overboard of some yacht or boat as unfit for 

 bait. 



