164 
The common snapping turtle or snapper (Chelydra 
serpentina) is so well known as to require no descrip- 
tion. Probably every boy and man who has lived near the 
coast or any fresh water has participated in the capture 
of one of these animals, and is well aware of its vicious- 
ness. The tenacity with which it will hang on to an ob- 
ject that it has bitten is also well known, but that it will 
not let go until there is thunder is a saying for which 
the author hesitates to vouch. The alligator snapper, 
apparently a rather uncommon animal, looks very much 
like its more abundant relative, but reaches a much 
larger size, and has a much larger and stronger head. In 
the United States National Museum there is a speciinen 
of this species, said to be the largest on record, which 
measures 5 feet 4 inches in length, and which weiglied 
155 pounds. In speaking of the alligator snapper, Prof. 
Fig. 2.— The Snapping Turtle (.Chelydra serpentina). 
Agassiz says: "They are as ferocious as the wildest 
beasts of prey, but the slowness of their motions, their 
inability to repeat the attack immediately, their awkward- 
ness in attempting to recover their balance when they 
have missed their object, their haggard look, and the 
hideous appearance of their gaping mouth, constitute at 
such times a picture as ludicrous as it is fearful and re- 
volting. Their strength is truly wonderful. I have seen 
a large specimen bite of? a piece of plank more than an 
inch ...ick. They take hold of a stick with such tenacity 
that they may be carried for a considerable distance sus- 
pended to it free above the ground. Fishes and young 
ducks are their ordinniy prey. They lay from twenty 
to forty or more rouiid" eggs only about the size of a 
small walnut, in hole;; which they dig in sloping banks 
not far from the water." 
The mud turtle, family KinosternidcB, as regards size, 
stand at the opposite extreme from the snapping turtles, 
none of the three or four species attaining a length of 
over six inches. In all the mud turtles the carapace is 
rather narrow and high, the outline usually rising toward 
the back of the shell so that the bulk of the body is be- 
hind the middle. In the genus Kinosternon the front 
and back of the plastron are movable on the middle por- 
tion so that the shell can be closed. In the genus Aromo- 
chelys, which contains the turtles commonly known 
as stink pots or skill pots, from their disagreeable odor, 
the shell cannot be so closed. In both genera there are 
twenty-three small plates around the margin of the cara- 
Fig. si— The Painted Turtle (Chrysemys pktd). 
pace, as against twenty-five in the families which follow. 
They are said by Agassiz to lay from three to five eggs 
in holes dug near the water's edge. 
In the family Emydidce, to which the name pond turtles 
has been given, there may be found an almost unbroken 
series leading from species which are strictly aquatic to 
others which are as strictly terrestrial in their habits. 
In the aquatic species the feet are broadly webbed and 
paddle-like, but in the terrestrial species they are hardly 
at all webbed, and are fitted for progression on land only. 
In all the species there are twenty-five plates around the 
margin of the carapace, and there are twelve plates on 
the plastron. A very common representative of this 
family in the eastern portion of the United States is_ the 
painted turtle, Chrysemys picta. It is an aquatic animal 
with a comparatively flat carapace very prettily marked 
with dark green, yellow, and red. It is most often seen 
perched on some log or stone above the water where it 
can enjoy the warmth of the sun, but never so far away 
that it cannot plunge instantly into the safe retreat on the 
approach of danger. Their food consists of insects, fish, 
frogs or worms ; in fact, almost any animal diet which it 
can capture. The species lays about seven eggs less than 
three-fourths of an inch Igng in Ijoles ^yhich it digs in tl?e 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
banks. These hatch in six or seven weeks, and the young 
go at once into the water. The growth is very uniform 
for the first few years, but later becomes rather irregular. 
In any case it is very slow, a specimen twenty-five years 
old and still growing measuring only five inches in length. 
The age in this species, and in most others as well, may 
be determined roughly by counting the concentric ridges 
on the plates of the carapace, but with advancing age 
these become indistinct, and at length disappear. For the 
winter the painted turtle digs a hole in the bank or 
buries itself in the mud at the bottom of the water and 
remains in hibernation until spring is well advanced. It 
is stated that this turtle, like some others, has a voice, a 
shrill chirp, which is uttered during the breeding season, 
probably to attract a mate. In the Mississippi Valley and 
further' to the westward the painted turtle is represented 
by other species of the genus Chrysemys, which differ 
from it in the arrangement of the plates on the shell, the 
proportions, and colors, but which are essentially like it 
in habits. 
In the salt marshes along the sea shore from Buzzard's 
Bay to southern Texas the famous diamond-back terra- 
pin is found. It was fomerly extremely abundant in the 
Chesapeake Bay, and Chesapeake terrapin, as they were 
commonly called, set the price in all the eastern markets, 
but the persistent pursuit of the animals and the bar- 
barous method of catching and imprisoning the females 
has nearly exterminated the native diamond-backs, and 
the Chesapapeke Bay supply is kept up by importations 
from the south. A terrapin farm, if properly conducted, 
Fig. 4.— The Soft Shell Turtle (Aspidanectis spinifer). 
could probably be made a very profitable investment, for 
in captivity the females produce eggs in abundance, and 
the eggs hatch without difficulty. The care of the young 
is the only serious problem apparently, for if put back 
into the water with the adults they are never seen again. 
Another extremely interesting group belonging to this 
family are the box turtles, belonging to the genus ter- 
rapin, some three of four species of which inhabit the 
eastern half of the United States. They are strictly ter- 
restrial in their habits, and are usually found crawling 
slowly about in the forests, in some places so abundantly 
that five or six can be captured during a_ short walk. 
They make very amusing pets, for they quickly become 
accustomed to captivity, and their actions are droll and 
ridiculous in their stateliness. The ordinary diet of the 
box turtles seems to consist of vegetable matter, succu- 
lent shoots of plants, fruits, and similar things, but when 
hunger presses they will eat insects, snails, and earth- 
worms. They are inofifensive beasts, never offering to 
bite. When danger threatens they draw back into their 
shells, and, so to speak, close the door, for both the front 
and hind lobes of the plastron are movable on a fleshy 
hinge across the middle and can be drawn up so as to 
seal the opening very tightly. Although there are well 
authenticated records of box turtles which have lived 
nearly a hundred years, they have some enemies which 
destroy them in great numbers. The young are eaten by 
birds and foxes, and the adults are devoured by stronger 
animals, which can either crush their shells ^or drag out 
their flesh. Probably the greatest destructive agent is 
forest fires, the path of which is often marked by scores 
of whitened shells of these animals. 
The family Testudinidcc is represented in the pine bar- 
rens of the Southern States by one species (Gopherus 
Polyphemus) which is commonly known there as the 
gopher turtle. The name alludes to its habit of burrow- 
ing in the ground, its long tunnels in favorable localities 
honeycombing the earth. The species lives to a great 
age, and reaches a length of fifteen inches. So far as is 
known they never enter the water. Eggs^ to the number 
of five or six are deposited by the female in a hole which 
she digs near the nest, and the young are left to care for 
themselves. 
The soft-shell turtles belonging to the sub-order Tri- 
onychia may be recognized instantly by their flat, disk- 
like form and their naked, soft shells. The neck is long 
and slender, the head is narrow and ends in a pig-like 
snout, and the feet are strong and broadlv webbed. The 
five or six species which inhabit the United States are 
found in streams from the Great Lakes southward to 
Louisiana and Texas. In the Mississippi Valley they are 
very common, and again in the streams of the Southern 
States which empty into the Gulf of Mexico and the 
Atlantic Ocean, but from the Savannah River north to 
the Mohawk they are not found in the Atlantic drainage. 
By nature they are eminently ^tted for an aquatic life, 
[Aug. 29, 1903. 
and they spend nearly the whole time in the water, where 
they can swim with great rapidity and find their proper 
food of moUusks and fishes. During warm days, how- 
ever, they delight in a sun bath, and may be seen resting 
on logs and stones above the water. In the breeding 
season the female sometimes travels quite a distance on 
land to find a suitable position for a nest. The eggs, to 
the number of about twenty, are laid in holes in the sand, 
and on hatching the young go at once into the water. 
In spite of the small size of the head, the soft-shell 
turtles have strong" jaws which they do not hesitate to 
use when they are carelessly handled, and a bite from a 
specimen eighteen or twenty inches long would not be 
a laughing matter. Whenever it is possible, however, 
they make their escape, and even on the land can move 
with considerable speed. In some places they are eaten, 
and by those who are qualified to judge in such matters 
they are pronounced as equal to the best of the more 
highly prized food turtles. W. P. Hay. 
Birds and the Fruit Grower. 
The Rural New Yorker gives these observations and 
opinions on the birds and fruit question, as drawn from 
the experience of 1903 on the Rural's Grounds : 
As the earliest strawberries paled and flushed to 
ripeness the robins and catbirds descended in force, 
selecting, as usual, the best fruits first, but later became 
so numerous as seriously to reduce all marketable sizes. 
Close covering was needed to save fair samples of certain 
new trial varieties. Juneberries and early cherries came 
next. There was a splendid crop of the former of both 
tree and bush kinds. The cherries were comparatively 
scarce, but just as acceptable to the birds. Not a ripe 
fruit of either species was secured except where bagged 
or netted for seed saving. Currants and gooseberries 
followed as a side issue, the destruction of the red varie- 
ties being almost complete before sufficiently ripened for 
use. 
In previous years the fruit-eating birds have scattered 
as the later strawberries and cherries came on. The de- 
mand for insect food to raise the second crop of nest- 
lings has always before saved the bramble berries from 
serious depredations, but this season there was only a 
brief intermission as the blackcap and early red raspber- 
ries colored up. The usual toll of choice fruits taken 
from these varieties was not grudged, as good pickings 
could be had by getting out early in the morning. Be- 
fore the crop was gathered, however, the birds came 
back, bringing their families of fledglings, together with 
a great concourse of relatives and friends, and made 
short work of the remaining raspberries, a fine lot of 
dewberries and all the blackberries and wineberries to 
date. Not a berry is allowed to get to the edible stage 
from the human standpoint, but is promptly snatched off. 
Where pickings of 15 to 25 quarts should be had daily, 
not a good ripe fruit can be found. Since the days we 
explored "pokeberry clearings" in the Penn.sylvania tim- 
ber forests we have never seen such a persistent and 
clamorous gathering of berry eaters. 
Grapes and apples have not yet reached a stage invit- 
ing to the birds, but we are concerned lest they may be 
attacked in due course. There are practically no peaches, 
pears or plums this year to succeed the berries. The only 
fruits so far ignored by the feathered pirates are mul- 
berries, strawberry-raspberries, and the elsagnus fruits, 
all of which were in good quantity. The failure of the 
usual crop of roadside cherries and the local clearing 
up of waste lands and bramble thickets may account in 
part for the unusual destructiveness of the birds this 
particular season, but each successive year brings a 
noticeable increase in the birds infesting fruit gardens, 
until we may conservatively say that robins and catbirds 
not only form a greater menace to horticulture than the 
European sparrow, but are likely to cause more loss to 
the grower in the long run than the vagaries of our cli- 
mate, insect pests and fungus diseases combined, as our 
present experience shows that the}'- are capable of appro- 
priating the entire crop before full maturity instead of a 
reasonable fraction, as is so often urged. 
The Audubon Society and associated bird lovers have 
done grand work in furthering the legal protection of all 
harmless birds, but have gone too far in taking away the 
inherent right of the gardener to protect his crop from 
species having natural or acquired predatory traits. It 
is now a serious infraction of the law to kill or destroy 
the nests of robins, catbirds, thrushes, cedarbirds and 
other destructive birds in almost every State of the 
Union under any circumstances, and the fruit grower has 
absolutely no legal means of defense that is at all prac- 
ticable. He should be allowed at least to rid his fruit 
garden of individual pests that prey on his products. It 
is not pleasant to think of killing birds, but in some lo- 
calities they must be thinned if fruit is to be grown at 
all. To shoot robins or wildcats for the mere lust of 
.slaughter is alike reprehensible in schoolboy or Presi- 
dent, but we may be compelled in self-defense to war on 
unduly protected destructive birds as we do on potato 
beetles and codling moths. The trouble is due to misin- 
formation regarding the life history of these birds under 
our present conditions of semi-domestication. The 
European sparrow has ceased to become especially 
troublesome in most places since the mantles of sentiment 
and protection have been withdrawn, and he may be dealt 
with according to discretion. The gardening fraternity 
has generally a kindly feeling toward bird life, and may 
be trusted to distinguish real friends from enemies as 
they come under daily observation among cultivated 
crops. 
Many instances are recorded of alterations in the 
habits of native birds as affected by the rapid and dense 
settlement of localities. Species that were formerly able 
to glean their living in woodlands and pastures, often 
with apparent benefit to the farmer, have become annoy- 
ing habitants of the orchard and garden, and seem dis- 
posed further to curtail their insect diet in favor of the 
fruits now so abundantly cultivated. It is rare in this 
locality to see a robin at work in the meadows in the old 
way, but in the fruit garden they gather in coveys. The 
catbird always was a sly and cunning thief, but the 
schoolboy prejudice against his peculiar cry quite 
effectually suppressed un^qe increase, He is graceful in 
