You may be quite sure that it has
come a long way, and that the poor creature is soon to be made into soup.
Very awkward it looks, poor thing; for its proper home is in the water, and
not on the hard pavement; its feet are rather like fins, so that it may be
able to make its way rapidly through the water, and it only comes ashore
to make its nest in the sand, where it scoops out a great hole with its
paddle-like feet, and then covering its eggs over safely, leaves them for
the sun to hatch.
I have heard that as many as two hundred eggs have been found in one of
these sand-nests; but not all laid by one turtle; for those who hunt for
the eggs have watched a crowd of animals come ashore, and have seen one
of them dig a deep pit with its broad paws, lay its eggs, and cover them
over; then another has done the same, until there have been several layers
of eggs: such a nest is a lucky _find_; for turtle eggs are said to be
delicious food, though some I tasted were very "strong" and nasty.
[Illustration: TURTLE.]
The turtles common in Jamaica, and other islands of the West and East
Indies, are great creatures five or six feet long, but they are not
difficult to capture, for when once they have been turned over on their
backs, the shell is so heavy that they cannot, owing to the shortness of
their legs, turn themselves back again, but lie helpless on the sand.
Of Lizards, the second division of the Reptile group, I doubt if you have
seen any, except in the Reptile-house at the "Zoo"; for although there are
two kinds of these active little creatures in our country, they do not
often court our society.
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