P. M. — Up Assabet.
See many painted tortoise scales being shed, half erect on their backs.
An Emys insculpta which I mistook for dead, under water near shore; head and legs and tail hanging down straight. Turned it over, and to my surprise found it coupled with another. It was at first difficult to separate them with a paddle.
I see many scales from the sternum of tortoises.
Three weeks ago saw many brown thrashers, cat birds, robins, etc., on wild cherries. They are worth raising for the birds about you, though objectionable on account of caterpillars.
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 15, 1855
Many scales from the sternum of tortoises . . .See August 31, 1856 ("A painted tortoise shedding its scales.”); September 3, 1856 (Painted tortoises with . . . fresh clean black scales . . ."); September 22, 1855 ("Many tortoise-scales about the river now.").
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