Harsher weather, and frosty mornings, would
have quickened its operations. No part of its behaviour ever struck
me more than the extreme timidity it always expresses with regard
to rain; for though it has a shell that would secure it against the
wheel of a loaded cart, yet does it discover as much solicitude
about rain as a lady dressed in all her best attire, shuffling away on
the first sprinklings, and running its head up in a corner. If attended
to, it becomes an excellent weather-glass; for as sure as it walks
elate, and as it were on tiptoe, feeding with great earnestness in a
morning, so sure will it rain before night. It is totally a diurnal
animal, and never pretends to stir after it becomes dark. The
tortoise, like other reptiles, has an arbitrary stomach as well as
lungs; and can refrain from eating as well as breathing for a great
part of the year. When first awakened it eats nothing; nor again in
the autumn before it retires: through the height of the summer it
feeds voraciously, devouring all the food that comes in its way.
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