The Biology of the Crocodilia 33 



back to the generator in his pocket. This lamp 

 threw a blinding beam of light far across the swamp 

 into the eyes of the unsuspecting 'gator, which 

 usually remained fascinated until it could be ap- 

 proached to within easy range. A shotgun at 

 close range, of course, blows off nearly the entire 

 top of the animal's head and kills it instantly; it 

 is then seized before it sinks out of reach and is 

 either taken into the boat or dragged upon the 

 bank to be collected with others in the early 

 morning. 



In daylight, with no glaring light to hypnotize 

 it, the alligator is difficult to approach within 

 range and it usually disappears into its cave before 

 the hunter can get a shot at it. The daylight 

 hunter, then, should be supplied not, of course, 

 with a light, but with a ten- or fifteen-foot pole with 

 a large iron hook at the end. If the alligator be 

 vigorously prodded with this mammoth fishhook 

 he will usually finally seize it with his mouth and 

 can be pulled out of his hole alive. It is then an 

 easy matter to kill him with a bullet through the 

 base of the brain. I have seen an eight-foot alli- 

 gator thus killed with a little .22 calibre "cat" 

 rifle. An eight-foot alligator will often be all that 

 two men can manage to drag out of his cave in 

 this way; and, in the torrid heat of the Southern 

 swamp, this violent exercise is not to the liking of 

 the usually not very energetic hunter. 



While the manufacture of leather gives the chief 



