Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1890-02-27
NINE KINDS OF MEAT.
TO BE FOUND IN TURTLES OF THE
Pennsylvania SORT.

The Ugly Reptile from Which Favorite
Dish Is Made-What the Snapper Feeds
On, and Other Details Of His Interest
ing Career.
Swapping turtle soup and stews are dishes
never seen on the bills Of fare Of New York
restaurants or hotels, and the New York free
lunch counter has not Yet added them to Its
list. In Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Pittsburg,
and, in fact, every town on the line of the
Pennsy lvania railroad, from the Delaware to
the Monongaheia that is big enough to have
restaurant or q free lunch route, the snap
ping turtle, or snapper, as this pugnacious
fresh water chelonian IS locally called, Is
delicacy that is sure to draw crowd when
ever and wherever it is served. a popularity
Of the swapping turtle is that beneath Its for
midable she'll are hidden nine different kinds
of meat, and each one is tender, well favored
and juicy. The snapper does not provide
steaks. like the green turtle. although 1t
grows large enough. | have known one TO
weigh forty pounds and more, but turtle of
that size has got to be one OF great age, and
his meat is strong and unsavory. The snap
per should weigh not more than from tive to
ten pounds TO provide the choicest morsels.
HIS DEATH GRIP
With the exception probably of the snap
per of the waters southwest of the Mississippi,
with its three cornered mead, knotty shell,
and long, thick legs covered with spiny warts,
the Pennsylvania snapper Is probably the
agliest looking member Of the chelonian fam
lily we have. Its head is one-Quarter the size
OF its body. Its jaws are hooked like the
beak of q bird of prey. Far forward of the
upper jaw are set its large, prominent yellow
eyes. Its powerful scaly legs terminate in
long, sharp claws. four on the front feet and
three on the hind feet. Its tail is half as long
as its body, thick at the base, running to a
sharp point and crested with a sawlike row
of bony scales The shell of swapping tur-
tie resembles some curious tablet of Egyptian
hicroglyphics When angered, and it be-
comes furious on the slightest provocation,
the snapper rises erect on its powerful legs
and, with its long neck extended to its full
length its tail Strengthened out like an ALI
gators and its yellow eyes glowing, it APP
proaches the object of itsrage by savage jumps,
drawing its neck back into its shell and shoot
ing it out again with lightning rapidity when
within striking distance.
The swapping turtle is an awkward pedes-
trian, but in the water he is as quick as 3
flash. The wary and agile trout is no match
for the great amphibian, and no enemy Of
the trout is more persistent and destructive
The snapper lies in wait beneath the surface
of ponds and streams, where aquatic fowls,
especially geese and ducks, with their fat and
downy young, are apt to swim, and, coming
up under the unsuspecting prey as fleet and
silent as a shadow, seiZes 1t with one snap OF
his jaws, and the premature duck or goose
disappears beneath the surface like stone
dropped in the water. The snapper is partial
to muskrats, and watches at their holes for
them. II no rat appears, either going in or
coming out OF his house, the snapper pro-
ceeds to investigate He works his way into
the muskrat's burrow by the subterranean
passage the animal always tunnels to its nest,
and seizes his game literally on its own TIRES
hold
Veteran and veracious hunters who find
their game along marshy streams and ponds
declare that the swapping turtle is as wise as
he is cruel. He knows the instant he hears
the sound of a gun that some one is hunting
birds that feed along the shores and in the
reeds and flags. He loses no time in getting
IlluScli III pOSlll!u W lOOh OUb HOuuOet1
birds that may fall into the water. II any fall
they are the snapper's meat. One old Sus-
quehanna river hunter told me once that he
shot snipe one day that fell into tho water
in a bunch of flags. His dog, a small cocker
spaniel, jumped in to retrieve the bird. The
dog had no sooner got into the water than
the hunter heard great commotio1 and then
piercing yells from his dog. He waded out
to the weeds, and there saw his dog strug
Cling to get away from a big swapping turtle
that had seized the dog back of the fore
shoulder. The hunter grasped his dog by the
hind legs and drew him back. The turtle did
not let go his hold-they never do until they
are killed, and even then they don't--and
was dragged clear out on dry land, while the
dog filed the air with his yells. The hunter
placed the muzzle of his gun to the turtles
neck and filled it with charge of shot. That
disposed of the turtle, but did not compel the
turtle to dispense with the dog, the jaws re-
naming tightly closed on the dogs leg. The
owner of the spaniel was obliged to split tho
tenacious head in two before ne could recov
er full possession q his dog.
RAISING = FAMILY.
The snapper has its home in streams and
ponds. Every female lays at least twenty
eggs, but they will lay as many as thirty.
She goes some distance from the water when
she gets ready to deposit her eggs, which she