Evening star., 1901-02-16
RECOGNIZED THE RHYTHM.
These Terrapins Kept Time to the
Movement of Sounds.

Movement of Sounds.
From the Baltimore Sun. -.
1t Is not generally known that of all ami
mails the terrapin and other turtles seem to.
be most susceptible to noises Of a certain
kind. If there are turtles in the water and
a person beats on the side or bottom of the
boat with stick they will come to the
surface and cautiously poke their heads
above water and curiously peer around
taking care to keep a respectful and safe
distance from the man and the boat.
A very curious illustration Of the effect on
terrapins of the drumming sound made by
beating with a stick on solid wooden sub
stance was witnessed by the writer few
years ago Messrs Robert Lowry of New
York and NJ. T Goldsborough and oswald
Tilghman of Talbot county had terrapin
pond, about two acres in extent, on OK
well creek, near oxford. Sometimes there
would be several thousand terrapins in the
pond. The keeper of the pond and the
caretaker of the terrapins was Capt. Chas.
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 terrapiHs
were fed on hard crabs, which were caught
in large quantities, crushed in a farm mill
and thrown into the pond, always at the
same place, but not always at the same
hour. After throwing the food into the wa
ter the captain 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 water, making
with all speed possible to the feeding
ground, although before he commenced To
thump very few heads could be seen, per-
haDS 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 movement of the "Old Hun
dred' they would advance in slow and
stately procession, while to the rapid time
of "Old Dan Tucker they would move
their necks in a jerky way from side to
side, and if he beat 1t 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 favorite. and
they would respond to its movement with
something like military precision. The
captain would use frequently the first STAN
"a of "Auld Lang Syne,'' to show off the
would hum the words and beat the move
ment 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 a faster time and
the turtles would show much more anima-
ton; the third was a double-quick move
ment and the terrapins' antiphon was a
double-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 Captain Corkran himself
would be more or less excited. He would
vored few This was the only kind of music
the terrapins would respond to. They were
not affected by the music of the whistle,
the Jews harp the violin or the accor-
dion. Even bagpipeS were tried without
effect. Captain Corkran is now the keeper
of Miles river bridge.