Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-01-10
RECOGNIZED THE RHYTHM.
These Terrapins Kept Time 10 the
Movement of Drumming
sounds.


1t is not generally known that Of all
animals the terrapin and other. tur.
ties seem to be most susceptible to
noises of a certain kind. IL there are
turtles in the water and a person beats
on the side or bottom of the boat with a
stick they will come to the surface and
cautiously poke their heads above wa
ter and curiously peer around taking
care to keep respectful and safe dis
tance from the man and the boat. SAYS
the Baltimore Sun.
A very curious illustration of the eff
feet on terrapins of the drumming
sound made by beating with stick
on a solid wooden substance was wit
messed by the writer few years ago.
Messrs. Robert Lowry, of New York,
and NJ. L. Goldsborough and Oswald
Tilghman, of Talbot county, had a
terrapin pond, about two acres in
extent, on Oxwell creek, near Ok
ford. Sometimes there would be sew
eral thousand terrapins in the pond.
The keeper Of the pond and the care
taker of the terrapins was Capt.
Charles Corkran, who lived In house
built for him on the bank of the
creek. This was his sole occupation,
and the captain studied the habits of
the impounded terrapin very closely
and intelligently. The terrapins were
fed on hard crabs, which were caught
in large quantities, crushed in farm
mill and thrown into the pond, al
ways at the same place, but not al
ways at the same hour. After throw
ing the food into the water the cap
tain would beat on the boards of the
pond fence with a stick and soon
from all parts of the pond could be
seen the turtle heads above the wa
ter making with all speed possible to
the feeding ground, although before
he commenced to thump very few
heads could be seen, perhaps none.
Capt. Corkran had some rhythmic
skill. He could beat the time of any
ordinary tune on the fence with his
stick and he found his terrapin heads
would respond. To the slow move
ment of the "Old Hundrcd'' they
would advance in SLOW and stately
procession, while to the rapid time
of "Old Dan Tucker" they would
move their necks in a jerly way from
side to side, and if he beat it very
fast they would dip their heads under
water and bob them up again two or
three times a second. ''Dixie" seemed
to be their fayorite, and they would
respond to it's movement with some
thing like military precision. The
captain would use frequently the first
stanza of "Auld Lang Syne," to Show
off the tuneful proclivites of his ter
rapins. He would hum the words and
beat the movement in four different
times. He first was very slow and
would be answered by very dignified
head and neck movement; then he
would pass to faster time and the
turtles would show much more ami
nation; the third was a double-quick
movement and the terrapins' anti-
phon was uouble-quick motion: the
great rapidity and sudden increase of
rapidity of the fourth rehearsal
would so increase the excitement in
the pond that the water would swirl,
almost foam and boil and the turtles
would lift part of their bodies out of
the water, and by this time Capt.
Corkran himself would be more or
less excited, He would give these
exhibitions only to a very favored
few. This was the only kind of mu-
sic the terrapins would respond to.
They were not affected by the music
of the whistle, the jews harp, the
violin or the accordion. Even bag
pipes were tried without effect. Capt.
Corltran is now the keeper of Miles
river bridge.