. Reptiles and birds. A popular account of the various orders; with a description of the habits and economy of the most interesting. . isits chief sub-generic character; the tail is thick, conical, andscarcely issues from the carapace. The plates of the disc are of ablackish-brown, presenting towards the centre certain spots of abeautiful yellow colour; the marginal plates are habitually orna-mented with two triangular spots, one yellow, the other under part of the body is of a dirty yellow, with one largetriangular black spot upon six or eight of the sternal scales. ThisTortoise is
. Reptiles and birds. A popular account of the various orders; with a description of the habits and economy of the most interesting. . isits chief sub-generic character; the tail is thick, conical, andscarcely issues from the carapace. The plates of the disc are of ablackish-brown, presenting towards the centre certain spots of abeautiful yellow colour; the marginal plates are habitually orna-mented with two triangular spots, one yellow, the other under part of the body is of a dirty yellow, with one largetriangular black spot upon six or eight of the sternal scales. ThisTortoise is of medium size. 146 REPTILES AND BIRDS. The Moorish Tortoise {Testiido mauritianica, Fig. ■^^ is commonly found in the neighbourhood of Algiers and along the coast ofMorocco, whence they are sent to be sold in the Paris markets. When shooting in Morocco, scarcely a day would passwithout the setters or pointers finding numbers of them, to whichthey would stand with as much staunchness as game. The scentthey emit is so powerful as to be easily detected by a human carapace of this species is also convex; and the sternum. Fig. 33.—Moorish Tortoise. movable: it is generally olive-coloured. The plates of the disc aremarked with blackish spots, and sometimes with a buckle of the samecolour, which covers their circumference on the front and plates of the plastron, the ground of which is olive, have each alarge black spot in the centre. This species is rather smaller thanthe Margin ate Tortoise. The Greek Tortoise {Testudo grceca) is of small dimensions,scarcely exceeding twelve inches in length. They inhabit Greece,Italy, and the European shores of the Mediterranean feed upon herbs, roots, slugs, and lob-worms. Like all theirrace, they sleep during the winter season in holes which theyexcavate in the soil. About May they issue from their retreat, MARSH TORTOISES. 147 resorting to some sheltered sandy place, where they bask in the sunsrays. Towards
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