An interesting phase in the life-history of the green turtle is the
deception the female employs when about to lay eggs. Her "nests" are
shallow pits in the sand. She may make several during a hasty visit to a
favourite beach, while postponing the laying until the following day.
Whether this is a conscious stratagem by which the turtle hopes to
mislead and bewilder other animals partial to the eggs, or merely a
caprice--one of those idle fancies which the feminine part of animated
Nature frequently indulge in at a time when their faculties are at
unusual tension--does not appear to be quite understood. When serious
business is intended, the turtle scoops new pits, leaving some of them
partially and others quite unfilled. These also appear to be intended to
delude. That in which the eggs are deposited is filled in and the
surface smoothed and flattened, and in cases where the nest is any
distance beyond the limits of high-water, it is frequently carelessly
covered with grass and dead leaves. The heat of the sun hatches the
eggs. But the guile of the turtle is limited. However artfully the real
nest may be concealed, the tracks to and fro as well as the tracks to
and from the many counterfeits are as unmistakable, until the wind
obliterates them, as the tracks of a treble-furrow plough.
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