When the young are hatched only those on top are able to clamber out.
They represent but a very small percentage of the family. The majority
die miserably, being unable to get out of what is their tomb as well as
their birthplace. In the vicinity are sandy beaches on which other
hawks-bill turtle deposit their eggs in accordance with time-honoured
plans, and successfully rear large families. Why some individuals should
be at such pains to defeat the universal instinct for the propagation
and preservation of their species, is a puzzle. Moreover, hundreds of
these anomalous nests are excavated some distance beyond high-water,
in country where the growth of grass is so strong and dense as to
form an almost impenetrable barrier to those infantile turtle which
have the fortune to get out of the death-traps, and in obedience
to instinct, endeavour to reach the sea. Is it that Nature, "so careful
of the type" imposes Malthusian practices to avoid the danger of
overcrowding the "never-surfeited sea?" Notwithstanding the positive
check upon increase, the young are produced in myriads.
"Sambo," a black boy, who had visited this isle, on his return to
shores where turtle are less numerous, sought to impress his master with
the substantial charms of the faraway North.
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