Addresses & Papers / Collectanea Part 2

Once more. These creatures distinctly grow in size from year to year.

Our two measure respectively seven and seven and a half inches in length.

And they must have elongated fully an inch in the three and four years of our possession.

I weighed them this year, on May 29th, soon after their waking up for the summer, and again on September 8th. They weighed in May, 2 lbs. 7 ozs.

and 2 lbs. 3 ozs.; a fortnight ago they weighed 2 lbs. 10 ozs. and 2 lbs. 5 ozs.; having thus gained in weight through their summer feeding 2 ozs. and 1 ozs. respectively. {36}

When the due period arrives in which they naturally bury themselves, and so surround themselves with earthen bulwarks, and then retire for the winter into their carapace castles, we put them down into a cupboard in the cellar.

Mr. White remarks that his Tortoise did not bury itself into the ground before November 1st, but ours are cold and torpid, and quite ready to hybernate by the first week in October. Probably the different lat.i.tude and longitude of Selborne and Norwich may account for this difference of time.

In this cellar cupboard, the Tortoises remain until the end of April, when, though still dull and stupid, the weather is getting sufficiently warm for them to enjoy the sun for a portion of the day. But the frosts and cold of this period of the year are still dangerous. And a relative of mine lost both of his old friends (who for years had taken care of themselves in the winter in his garden) during the cold weather of this spring, after they had duly survived the far greater cold of the winter in the ground places in which they had buried themselves.

From October to April-fully seven months-they rest from their labours of eating, of breathing, shall I say, of thinking? (or nearly so, for they occasionally stir a little, and are found to have moved a little from under their straw). But they neither eat nor drink, nor see light, nor (I believe) open their eyes. And when touched during this time they feel of a stony coldness, and certainly appear to have none of their faculties in operation.

But with the warmer weather, they again gradually resume the precise habits of the preceding year. Gradually, their bright little eyes resume their intelligence; their memory re-awakens; and they return to the ways, and the habits, and the places of the preceding season, as if their sleep of seven months were but a single night, and last summer verily but as yesterday.

They are in many respects both curious and remarkable animals. We find them to have enough of intelligence, enough of quaintness, and apparently enough of affection, to give them considerable interest in the eyes of their owners, and to raise them out of the level of despised reptiles.

Whilst their remarkable construction, and mysterious power of hybernation, render them specially worthy of study and contemplation.

These specialities and peculiarities must be my much-needed excuse for having troubled you so long with these few details of their personally observed habits and ways.

IV.

A FURTHER NOTE UPON TORTOISES. {38}

In the year 1886 I read before this Society a paper in which I recorded some of the observed habits and peculiarities of a pair of Tortoises which I had then kept in my garden for three and four years respectively.

This paper was afterwards published in our Society's "Transactions" (Vol.

iv. p. 316), and will probably be remembered by some of our members.

I would like this evening to say a few further words upon these creatures, which are still living and in my possession-more particularly with reference to their _rate of growth and increase_.

The two Tortoises have now been in my possession ten and nine years respectively. Six years ago I reported to this Society that _they measured_, the one 7 and the other 7 inches in _length_. Now at the end of six further years their antero-posterior measurements are 9 and 9 inches respectively-the measurements being made from before backwards over the convex surface of the carapace. They have, therefore, each of them, thus measured, increased exactly two inches in length in the last six years, or at the rate of exactly one-third of an inch per year.

(The under flat surface of the sh.e.l.l now measures 6 and 6 inches from before backwards. These Tortoises are said not usually to exceed 10 inches in entire length.)

Then as to their _weight_. I have now kept an exact record of their respective weights in the spring and autumn of each of the past seven years, _i.e._ their weight on commencing to hybernate in October or November, and again their weight on returning afresh to light and more active existence in April or May of the following spring. And it is interesting to notice how almost continuously they have increased both in size and weight; and also how corresponding are the alterations, or otherwise, in the consecutive years, both of spring and autumn, of the two animals.

In my former paper, I mentioned that during the summer months of 1886, when I first weighed them, _i.e._ from May to September, my Tortoises had gained in weight, the one 2 ounces, and the other 1 ounces; whilst each of them became lighter in the following winter by 2 ounces. Since that time the spring and autumn weighings have been regularly continued, and the result is shown in the following table.

WEIGHT OF LARGER TORTOISE. OF SMALLER TORTOISE.

APRIL. OCTOBER. APRIL. OCTOBER.

YEAR. lbs. ozs. lbs. ozs. lbs. ozs. lbs. ozs.

1886 2 7 2 10 2 3 2 5 1887 2 7 2 10 2 2 2 5 1888 2 10 2 13 2 5 2 8 1889 2 13 2 14 2 8 2 8 1890 2 12 3 0 2 7 2 12 1891 2 15 3 2 2 10 2 12 1892 3 1 3 3 2 12 2 14

In the seven years, therefore, 1886 to 1892, the larger Tortoise has increased in weight from 2 lbs. 10 ozs. to 3 lbs. 3 ozs.; and the smaller Tortoise from 2 lbs. 5 ozs. to 2 lbs. 14 ozs., giving a total increase of weight in this period of exactly 9 ounces for each animal, or an average annual increase of about 1 ounce and 5 drachms (avoirdupois).

The general result also of the above weighings is to show that, in average seasons in England, these creatures gain from 2 to 2 ounces in each summer, and lose again a varying but considerable portion of this increase during the ensuing six or seven months of hybernation; but, on the whole, showing an average gain of a little more than one ounce in the year-the average gain of weight per month in summer working out at about 6 or 7 drachms, with an average loss in the winter months of about 4 or 5 drachms per month. This last fact scarcely agrees with Cuvier's statement that "during winter . . . their loss of substance amounts almost to nothing."

It will be noted that the foregoing table shows certain variations in the increases and decreases of weight in the several years; also that in two of the years there was but little change between the autumn and spring weights-this period of stagnation occurring in both animals simultaneously. Probably several causes for this were at work, but I have little doubt that the variability of our English seasons is by far the largest factor in the case; and that the variations in the gainings and losings of the different summers and winters depend very largely upon the special character of these seasons. Thus, when the summer months are hot the Tortoises eat much more abundantly and constantly, and consequently put on (or rather put inside their skeletons) much more flesh than in colder seasons. On the contrary, a warm autumn, with the temperature not sufficiently cold to make them go early and thoroughly to sleep, must conduce to greater loss, or rather waste, of their flesh, for it is well known that these animals cease to eat many weeks before they finally retire to rest for the winter; and necessarily during this period, especially on sunny days in which (even at this season) they are often moderately lively and active, they are doubtless breathing and consuming some of the material which has been stored up for winter consumption. Whilst again, in a very mild winter or spring they will, as is well known, frequently wake up from their dormancy, and of course, on each such occasion will make further inroads upon their reservoir of nutrient material.

It is therefore pretty certain that hot summers and cold winters are most conducive to their rapid increase in size and weight; whilst of course the contrary conditions would have an exactly opposite result.

Cetti says that the common Greek Tortoise seldom weighs above 3 lbs. My larger one now weighs 3 lbs. 3 ozs., and is still growing. But there is a Tortoise now in this city which weighs as much as 6 lbs. 5 ozs. I judge, however, from its size and form, that it may be a variety of the common Tortoise. This creature must be not only "an old inhabitant of this city," but thoroughly naturalised into a British subject, as it is known to have lived in Norwich for at least thirty years.

I have little to add to what I previously said (and to what White has said) as to Tortoise habits and manners. These appear to be very uniform, and to be guided by a most definite instinct; and it is very noticeable and very remarkable how the two Tortoises will constantly both do the very same thing at the very same time, often almost at the same moment of time. For example, when feeding, even when apart from each other, they will constantly suddenly leave off eating almost at the same instant; or they will in like manner, when basking in the sun, both at once get up and walk off to some other place; or they will both all at once suddenly get up and march off to their evening place of shelter and rest-and this without any definite atmospheric or other cause that is appreciable.

Cuvier has well called the Tortoise "_un animal retournee_," an animal inverted, or "turned inside out, or rather outside in." And it is said that the large Land Tortoise, when withdrawn into its sh.e.l.l, "can defy the whole animal world except man, from whom nothing is safe." And with reference to this point I have observed that our Tortoises, when retiring to rest, always take the greatest care to protect their noses and the anterior opening of their sh.e.l.ls. When they burrow, their head is of course covered up by the earth. But when, as is often the case in the warmer weather, they simply go to sleep in some sheltered place, they habitually place their heads close against the wall, or under the projecting roots of a tree or shrub, so as not to leave this part exposed. I presume, therefore, that they are conscious of some insecurity, and it would certainly appear that their heads would otherwise be open to the attack of rats or other predaceous animals.

Professor Forbes describes the peculiar way in which he has in Greece observed the Tortoises to do their courting, _i.e._ the method by which the male Tortoise seeks to attract the attention of his lady-love, namely, by repeatedly knocking his sh.e.l.l violently against hers. I have noticed the same process in my own garden. Both my animals are, I believe, males. But I have observed one of them, when in an amorous humour, to strike the other several times in succession a sounding blow on its sh.e.l.l; and this he does by suddenly withdrawing his head into his sh.e.l.l, so as to be out of harm's way, and then as suddenly throwing his body forward by a sort of b.u.t.ting process against the sh.e.l.l of his fellow. This proceeding causes a very considerable, and indeed, comparatively speaking, quite a loud and resounding noise; and at first sight these sudden and severe blows would appear to be more calculated to cause corporeal discomfort or injury than to excite affection. These very marked attentions are usually followed by the utterance of a quick and soft, or almost whining cry.

I will only add that my Tortoises show an increasing familiarity and sense of being at home as years roll on.

ADDENDUM.-On November 2nd, 1905, after a further interval of thirteen years, these Tortoises had respectively attained to a weight of 4 lbs.

and half an ounce, and 3 lbs. 13 ozs. as compared with weights of 2 lbs.

10 ozs. and 2 lbs. 5 ozs. in 1886. They are therefore still growing in size and weight. In October of last year (1907) they weighed respectively 4 lbs. 2 ozs. and 4 lbs.

V.

MY CHRISTMAS GARDEN PARTY. {44}

Norwich is proverbially a City of Gardens, and many of the houses in St.

Giles's Street, including my own, are fortunate enough to share in the advantage of possessing one of these valuable urban appendages.

As regards the birds that frequent these gardens, the neighbourhood of Chapel Field, with its trees and shrubs, is, or should be, an additional attraction to them; but I am bound to say that I have not observed so great a congregation, or so large a variety of birds, in Chapel Field Gardens as might have been expected.

My own garden consists of a plot of gra.s.s of fair size, with one large apple tree in its centre, a double laburnum tree close by, and with several other trees of good size on its confines. Some of the boundary walls are covered with ivy. In my neighbours' gardens are also both trees and shrubs, whilst Chapel Field is in the immediate vicinity, just beyond my stable yard.

There is thus a considerable variety of shelter for the birds, and, doubtless, a proportionate variety of food for them at the proper seasons.

In ordinary years, and in average seasons, the following birds come into my garden:-

1. Our constant town friends, the Sparrows.

2. Blackbirds and Thrushes (a pair of each of which usually build and hatch with me, though I am sorry to say that their labour and pains are usually devoid of result, as the young birds are got by the Cats, either in the nest, or as soon as they leave it).

3. Starlings.

4. Robins.

5. Jackdaws (occasionally-from the neighbouring church steeple).