Iht  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1097 
were  others,  but  for  one  reason  or  an¬ 
other,  your  editor  felt  that  they  did  not 
give  true  pictures  of  any  particular  kind 
of  turtle,  and  that  it  was  not  best  to  use 
them.  As  far  as  they  go,  the  descriptions 
given  below  are  correct.  Of  course,  the 
whole  story  is  not  told.  There  are  other 
kinds  of  turtles,  and  there  are  many 
other  facts  about  these  turtles.  But  this 
will  serve  as  a  start,  and  some  of  you 
will  be  interested  to  study  up  the  sub¬ 
ject  for  yourselves,  and  to  observe  more 
closely  the  turtles  that  you  meet.  On  the 
whole,  they  are  timid,  cold-blooded  an¬ 
imals,  and  harmless  except  for  a  few 
species.  A  box  turtle  or  a  pond  turtle 
makes  an  excellent  pet  for  a  few  days, 
and  its  habits  can  be  observed  first  hand. 
Turtle  is  the  popular  name  for  any 
species  of  the  order  che  Ionia,  which  com¬ 
prises  three  sub-orders;  land  tortoises, 
fresh  water  terrapins,  and  sea  turtles. 
The  body  is  enclosed  in  an  outside 
skeleton,  or  shell,  consisting  of  an  upper 
convex  part — the  carapace  and  a  lower, 
flatter  portion,  called  the  plastron.  The 
jaws  are  encased  in  horn  and  have  a 
sharp,  cutting  edge.  The  tortoises  and 
terrapins  are  land  and  fresh  water  ani¬ 
mals,  and  turtles  are  marine. 
Turtles  have  limbs  modified  for  swim¬ 
ming;  tortoise  have  toes  furnished  with 
claws.  Sea  turtles  sometimes  live  at  a 
great  distance  from  land,  to  which  they 
return  periodically  to  deposit^  their  soft- 
shelled  eggs,  (from  100  to  250  in  num¬ 
ber),  in  the  sand..  They  are  found  in 
all  the  tropical  seas  and  sometimes  travel 
into  the  temperate  zones.  The  flesh  and 
eggs  of  all  the  species  are  edible,  though 
the  Indian  turtles  are  less  valuable  in 
this  respect  than  those  of  the  Atlantic. 
The  most  highly  valued  sea  turtle  is  the 
green  turtle  from  which  turtle  soup  is 
made.  It  attains  a  large  size,  some¬ 
times  'from  six  to  seven  feet  long,  with  a 
weight  of  700  to  800  pounds.  The  pop¬ 
ular  name  “green  turtle”  has  no  refer¬ 
ence  to  the  color  of  the  carapace,  which 
is  dark  olive  passing  into  dingy  white, 
but  to  the  green  fat  which  is  so  highly 
prized.  jiary  cook  (14  Years) 
N ew  York. 
The  snapping  turtle  is  one  of  the  larg¬ 
est  and  most  dangerous  turtles.  The 
only  safe  way  to  hold  this  turtle  is  by 
its  tail,  and  then  it  must  be  held  quite 
a  way  from  you  or  it  will  snap  you.  The 
under  part  of  the  body  has  a  very  small 
shell,  so  it  cannot  crawl  into  its  shell 
like  many  other  turtles.  If  a  snapping 
turtle  is  not  in  water  it  cannot  swallow. 
It  can  snap,  though. 
The  snapping  turtle  and  the  soft- 
shelled  turtle,  or  leather-back,  live  mostly 
in  water.  The  painted  turtle  and  the 
spotted  turtle  live  in  water  but  come 
on  land.  The  wood  turtle  and  the  box 
turtle  live  mostly  on  land.  The  box 
turtle  can  protect  itself  by  its  shell  the 
best  of  any  turtle.  The  under  shell  is 
divided  into  two  parts  by  a  hinge  which 
allows  the  lower  shell  to  close  and  fit 
closely  to  the  ends  of  the  upper  shell. 
The  musk  turtle  gives  off  a  queer  scented 
musk.  AJ1  turtles  lay  their  eggs  in  the 
sand  by  the  water.  The  snapping  turtle’s 
eggs  are  round  and  as  big  as  a  large 
marble.  Other  turtles  have  oval  eggs 
smaller  or  larger.  All  turtles  live  on 
dead  or  living  animals  or  plants. 
The  spotted  turtle  has  orange  spots  on 
the  back.  The  wood  turtle’s  shell  has 
prettily  marked  ridges.  The  soft  parts 
are  red  where  they  show.  Some  box 
turtles  have  yellow  streaks.  Painted 
turtles  have  red  marks  on  the  under 
side  of  the  upper  shell. 
ruth  bolton  (13  Years) 
'New  York. 
I  have  seen  a  great  many  turtles, 
mostly  near  brooks,  but  sometimes  in 
sand  banks.  Turtles  live  near  swamps 
and  brooks.  They  like  to  swim  and  you 
often  see  them  swimming  in  the  ponds. 
They  like  the  water  very  much  and  stay 
in  it  days  at  a  time.  The  turtles  come 
out  of  the  water  to  lay  their  eggs  in  the 
sand.  First,  they  dig  a  hole  in  some 
sandy  hill,  and  lay  from  five  to  eight 
eggs ;  then  the  eggs  are  covered  up  and 
left. 
'When  the  eggs  hatch,  the  little  turtles 
dig  their  way  out  of  the  sand  and  each 
one  goes  by  itself  and  finds  its  own  food. 
It  never  sees  its  mother,  or  brothers  or 
sisters  again.  Turtle’s  eggs  are  white  in 
color,  with  very  thin  shells  and  about  the 
size  of  a  robin’s  egg.  Snakes  sometimes 
eat  the  eggs.  Coons  are  very  fond  of 
them,  and  hunt  for  them  in  the  dark.  It 
is  said  that  people  eat  turtle's  eggs,  but 
I  don’t  know  of  anyone  who  has  ever 
eaten  them,  ruth  Dudley  (15  Years) 
Connecticut. 
Editor’s  Note — Ruth’s  description  ap¬ 
plies  chiefly  to  the  pond  turtles  of  which 
the  painted  turtle  and  the  spotted  turtle 
are  the  most  common. 
THE  BOX  TURTLE 
The  other  day  my  mother  found  a  box 
turtle,  and  brought  it  home  to  show  me. 
I  had  never  seen  one  before  and  thought 
it  looked  very  much  like  a  box.  It  has 
a  door  on  the  front  end  which  _  opens 
and  closes  when  it  puts  its  head  in.  It 
On  the  limb  of  an  oak  sat  a  jolly  old  crow, 
And  chattered  away  with  glee, 
As  he  saw  the  old  farmer  go  out  to  sow, 
And  he  cried  “It’s  all  for  me !” 
Drawn  by  Anna  Mayers  (14  Years),  Connecticut 
Drawn  by  Ruth  Duffy  (15  Years), 
Louisiana 
Drawn  by  Helen  Upson  (10  Years), 
Connecticut 
|Sg 
Up||! 
Drawn  by  Ruth  Watts  (16  Years), 
New  York 
Drawn  by  Norman  Hallock  (15  Years) 
Connecticut 
Drawn  in  Pencil  by  Emma  Blalceslee 
(15  Years),  Pennsylvania 
Drawn  in  Pencil  by  Mildred  Croshaw 
Neiv  Jersey 
about  the  size  of  a  large  tray,  and  has 
a  hard  shell  like  the  upland  turtles  but 
cannot  close  up  at  the  bottom  like  them. 
Its  tail  resembles  an  alligator’s,  only  it 
is  much  shorter.  Its  ways  are  much  dif¬ 
ferent  from  those  of  the  small  upland 
turtle. 
These  snappers  live  in  the  small  brooks 
and  swampy  places.  But  every  year 
around  June,  the  female  turtles  come  out 
to  look  for  sand,  where  they  bury  them¬ 
selves  and  lay  their  eggs,  which  are 
about  the  size  of  a  pigeon’s.  They  us¬ 
ually  lay  about  half  a  quart  or  more. 
After  the  eggs  are  laid,  they  are  covered 
with  sand  and  left  to  hatch  as  they  will. 
When  the  little  turtles  hatch,  the  first 
thing  they  do  is  to  head  for  the  nearest 
water.  laura  hall  (17  Years) 
New  Jersey. 
THE  GREEN  TURTLE 
The  giant  green  turtles  will  grow  to 
be  six  or  seven  feet  long  and  will  weigh 
about  800  pounds  "when  full-grown.  They 
are  found  principally  along  the  warm 
coasts,  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  They  live 
chiefly  on  seaweed.  They  are  caught 
mostly  for  their  delicious  flesh.  The  best 
time  to  catch  them  is  during  their  laying 
time,  when  there  are  crowds  of  them  upon 
the  sandy  beaches  of  the  islands — mostly 
in  the  torrid  zone.  At  night  the  hunters 
upset  them  and  leave  them  lying  there 
until  morning,  when  they  are  hauled 
aboard  a  ship. 
On  the  open  sea,  these  turtles  are  har¬ 
pooned.  In  the  Indian  Ocean  a  fish  is 
said  to  be  trained  to  capture  sleeping 
turtles  bicause  the  noise  of  the  boats 
wakes  the  turtles  and  they  can  escape. 
A  ring  is  fastened  on  the  fish’s  tail  with 
a  rope  attached  to  it.  The  fish  is  pointed 
in  the  direction  of  the  sleeping  turtle. 
The  fish  sees  it.  swims  to  it,  and  with 
his  head-shield  hangs  himself  onto  the 
turtle  and  swims  slowly  toward  the  ship, 
where  the  turtle  is  pulled  aboard. 
frani-c  brueckel  (12  Years) 
New  York. 
A  New  Rhyme  to  Draw 
There  was  a  large  response  to  the  re¬ 
quest  for  rhymes  about  rabbits,  and  after 
considering  them  all  in  view  of  the  pic¬ 
tures  you  might  draw,  choice  fell  on 
the  following  one,  because  it  is  simple 
and  yet  offers  full  chance  for  variety  and 
artistic  arrangement. 
Mother  rabbit  sat  under  a  tree, 
'With  her  baby  rabbits  three, 
The  baby  rabbits  run  and  play — 
Now  draw  the  picture  right  away. 
FAITH  LEHIGH  (11  Years) 
Pennsylvania. 
Puzzle 
It  was  fun,  many  wrote,  to  wrork  out 
the  Hidden  Animals  Puzzle  last  month. 
The  animals’  names  hidden  in  the  six 
sentences  were  as  follows :  (1)  bear;  (2) 
ape;  (3)  deer;  (4)  monkey  or  monkeys ; 
(5)  seal;  (6)  mink.  As  a  result,  a 
number  of  other  puzzles  on  the  same  or¬ 
der  were  sent  in,  and  we  will  have  them 
some  time.  But  this  month  the  puzzle 
is  a  little  different,  perhaps  a  little  harder, 
but  even  more  interesting.  Here  it  is : 
Each  of  these  statements  represents 
the  name  of  a  well-known  bird.  Credit 
will  be  given  when  all  six  are  answered 
correctly. 
1.  A  jolly  outdoor  time. 
2.  What  hunters  sometimes  cruelly  do. 
3  Used  in  decoration. 
4.  Material  for  Summer  trousers. 
5.  What  farmers  need  after  harvest. 
6.  An  unsteady  light. 
Rhode  Island.  ruth  chace. 
Notes 
Beatrice  Stevens,  a  15-year-old  Mas¬ 
sachusetts  reader  sent  the  words  printed 
in  the  box.  Surely  it  is  not  a  hard  task 
?ve  ask,  and  the  reason  that  Our  Page 
means  so  much  to  us  is  that  all  those 
who  do  help  put  their  heart  into  it. 
The  list  of  contributors  will  be  found 
on  page  1102 — more  than  300  of  them 
this  month,  representing  24  States  and 
the  District  of  Columbia. 
All  woi*k  for  the  September  page 
should  reach  your  editor  by  September 
8.  There  you  have  two  full  weeks  to 
prepare  your  letters,  drawings,  pictures, 
verses,  rhymes,  and  puzzles.  We  ought 
to  have  a  fine  collection. 
Draicn  in  Pencil  by  Clifford  Rodergren 
(6  Years),  Connecticut 
moves  upward  from  the  floor  of  the  shell. 
We  brought  it  into  the  house  and  left 
it  on  the  floor  until  the  next  morning. 
When  we  looked  at  it,  we  found  it  had 
not  put  its  head  out.  We  put  it  outdoors 
and  the  next  day  it  had  moved  only  a  few 
feet.  But  the  next  day  we  couldn’t  find 
Drawn  in  Pencil  by  Edna  Place  (15 
Years),  Maine 
it.  It  is  the  only  one  we  have  ever  seen. 
hazel  duntz  (16  Years) 
New  York. 
THE  SNAPPING  TURTLE 
There  is  a  very  large  turtle  around 
here  called  the  snapping  turtle,  It  is 
Before  our  next  page  you  will,  have 
returned  to  school.  I  hope  you  will  have 
a  fine  year  of  growing  in  all  ways  It 
will  be  so  if  you  go  with  the  right  spirit. 
Bet  me  hear  about  your  school  life  Ad¬ 
dress  Edward  M.  Tuttle,  in  care  of  The 
Rural  New-Yorker,  333  West  30th 
street,  New  York  City, 
