26 . 
breeding Habits of the Australian S.A. nat., vol. xv. 
Long-necked Tortoise. Nov. 30th, 1933. 
As it was autumn when I established my observation pond, 
I anxiously awaited the following summer. Immediately the 
tortoises stirred from their winter sleep, I spent as much time as 
possible watching them. Considering that their breeding habits 
may have been similar to those of the marine turtles, which leave 
the sea on moonlight nights to deposit their eggs in the sand, I 
made frequent visits to their quarters whenever the moon was in 
evidence. 
It was on one of these occasions that I noticed one of the 
tortoises come out of the water and, after maneuvering around 
lor some time, apparently endeavour to settle itself down into 
the sand; in a short time, however, it returned to the water, not 
to appear again that night. 
I was at my post again the following night and at about 7.30 
p.m. the same tortoise left the water again; 1 recognised this 
particular specimen by the fact that, probably owing to an acci¬ 
dent when voung, it had an extra costial plate on the carapace, 
it proceeded up the sand bank to a distance of about 3 feet from 
the water's edge and without hesitation commenced to settle it¬ 
self down in the sand. After levelling the sand by this means 
over a space of a little more than the area of the shell, it com¬ 
menced to excavate the nesting burrow, the procedure being as 
follows:— 
first, the tortoise turned to one side sufficiently to bring one 
hind leg into the centre of the levelled patch; then, supporting 
itself by means of the other hind leg and two fore-legs, it scratch¬ 
ed with the hind foot, loosening the sand. Next, with the full 
webbing of the hind foot acting as a shovel, it scooped out a mass 
of sand and placed it carefully at the posterior margin of the 
cleared space. W ithout attempting a second “foot-full” (and this 
applies to all I have seen burrowing) it turned around to the 
other side, thus bringing the other foot into play, and went 
through the same process with it. 
Periodically it ceased operations to rest, for there is no doubt 
I I iat it found the work laborious; incidentally, respiration was 
considerably increased during these activities. 
It continued burrowing in this fashion until, with the leg 
lully extended, it could just reach to the bottom, and then, appar¬ 
ently, was content, 
