IN FEATHERS AXD FUR. 65 
Sea Turtles, that sometimes weigh many hundreds of pounds, and 
have shells five or six feet long. These big fellows stay in the 
water ; they swim and dive, and remain under water a long time. 
In fact, they scarcely ever come on shore, except to lay their eggs. 
You must know that turtles' eggs are very nice to eat, and 
not only men are fond of them, but fishes, and all sorts of sea 
monsters devour them, and it wouldn't be very safe for Mamma 
Turtle to display any eggs there, so she swims to some quiet place 
where there is a broad sandy shore. Sometimes she travels hun- 
dreds of miles to such a place, for it is said she will go nowhere 
except to the place where she was hatched herself. Then, in the 
night, when she thinks all men and other land monsters are asleep, 
she walks up on the shore, and digs a hole with her feet, nearly a 
yard deep. 
In this hole she lays the eggs, sometimes more than a hundred 
of them, and then carefully covers them up with sand. Funny 
way to raise babies — to bury them — isn't it ? But they don't stay 
buried very long ; the heat of the sand hatches them out in fifteen 
or twenty days. Odd little things they are, white and about the 
size of a frog. They know something, however, for they rush 
directly off to the sea, and those who don't get eaten by big fish 
grow up. 
Turtles have no right to complain about having their babies 
eaten, for they eat babies themselves, — crabs, and such little 
fellows. I don't suppose they care much about it anyway, for they 
don't stay to protect them. 
They have a curious way of floating on the surface of the 
water, perfectly still, apparently asleep. Then if men are careful 
to make no noise, they can catch them by slipping a noose over 
their head. 
The Sea Turtle is very useful to men. In the first place, his 
flesh is good to eat. Turtle soup is so nice that they are carried 
to distant lands verv carefully, alive. Then the eggs are eagerly 
sought for, both to eat and to make into oil. Some of the natives 
of the countries where thev are common, use the big shells for 
boats, and to bathe their babies, and for roofs to their huts. The 
shells of several kinds are useful in still another way. They are 
made into various fancy things, such as jewelry, boxes, combs, etc., 
and very pretty they are, too. The Hawk's Bill Turtle in the 
picture has the most valuable shell for this purpose. 
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