WILD ANIMALS IN CAPTIVITY 
The food of the land tortoises consists, principally, of 
vegetable substances, leaves of plants, fallen and decayed 
fruit, and fungi of various kinds. 
Many of the water tortoises feed upon dead fish, insects, 
or other animal matter. Some of them, however, are 
vegetable feeders, while others there are that feed partly 
upon vegetable and partly upon animal substances. 
Slow as the movements of tortoises generally appear, 
the species that live upon animal substances, and have to 
capture their ]3rey, are quick enough, when so engaged. 
The snapping turtle, so called, is well known, and is much 
to be feared in the localities in which it abounds. Many 
of the smaller kinds of water tortoises are expert fly- 
catchers ; swimming about close to the surface of the 
water, they capture, by suddenly darting forth the head, 
assisted by the long neck, any insect or other living 
creature within reach, with amazing rapidity ; the flattened 
feet give them great swimming power, by the aid of 
which they move about in any direction with ease and 
dexterity. 
The tortoise is about the last creature we should have 
suspected capable of, or have charged with, a display of 
anger, or of possessing a pugnacious disposition, yet, we 
learn, upon undoubted authority, that battles among them, 
in their native haunts, are not uncommon ; they meet and 
fight by biting and butting at each other like rams, 
backing a short distance to give greater force to the blows. 
These fights, like some of the other proceedings of the 
tortoises, are of considerable duration, frequently lasting 
all day. They seldom appear much the worse after an 
encounter, still it shows a determination on the part of 
these cold-blooded animals to resent a possible injury or 
offence, or probably to drive off an intruder upon their 
domestic felicity. 
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