The distance from the water was about ten feet, and there were evidences of the same place having been used for a similar purpose in former years.

A broad path led up from the water to the nest, and the dam, it was said by my companions, after depositing the eggs, covers them up, and returns afterward to assist the young out of the place of confinement and out of the egg.

She leads them to the edge of the water, and then leaves them to catch small fish for themselves.

Assistance to come forth seems necessary, for here, besides the tough membrane of the shell, they had four inches of earth upon them; but they do not require immediate aid for food, because they all retain a portion of yolk, equal to that of a hen's egg, in a membrane in the abdomen, as a stock of nutriment, while only beginning independent existence by catching fish.

Fish is the principal food of both small and large, and they are much assisted in catching them by their broad, scaly tails.