CLOSE TORTOISE. 



37 



together, so as to be in a complete state of secu- 

 rity; and so strong is the defence of this Httle 

 animal, that it is not only uninjured by having a 

 Av^eight of five or six hundred pounds laid upon it, 

 but can walk in its usual manner beneath the load. 

 Its length rarely exceeds four or five inches. It 

 is a native of many parts of North America, being 

 chiefly found in marshy situations ; though it is 

 occasionally seen also in the driest and hottest 

 places. It is principally sought for on account of 

 its eggs, which are reckoned a delicacy, and are 

 about the size of pigeons' eggs. It feeds on va- 

 rious kinds of small animals, as beetles, mice, and 

 even serpents, which it seizes by the middle, and 

 draws into its shell, and thus crushes them to 

 death : it also eats various vegetable substances. 

 It is so well figured by Edwards, whose representa- 

 tion is copied in the present work, that there is no 

 particular necessity for any other description of 

 its shape and colours than Avhat is given by Ed- 

 wards himself. 



* ' The head is covered with a hard or shelly 

 covering, of a dark brown colour on the top : on 

 the sides and throat it is yellow, with small 

 black or dusky spots : its nostrils are near toge- 

 ther, a little above the end of its beak : the eyes 

 are of a yellowish colour : the neck is covered with 

 a loose skin, of a dark purplish flesh-colour, which 

 partly covers the head when it is not fully ex- 

 tended : the hinder legs and parts about the vent 

 are covered with a skin of the same dull flesh- 

 colour as the neck : the fore legs and feet are 



