i8 The Alligator and Its Allies 



Voice. The alligator, unlike most other members 

 of its class, the Ophidia, Chelonia, and Lacertilia, 

 has a voice, which, in an adult bull, may be heard 

 for a mile or more. This bellowing is difficult to de- 

 scribe ; it is something between a moan and a roar, 

 and may be to attract the opposite sex or to serve 

 as a challenge to other large animals. It is usually 

 ascribed to the male, but whether confined to him 

 or not the writer is unable to say. 



In younger animals the voice is, of course, less 

 deep and in very young individuals it is a squeak 

 or grunt, easily imitated by hunters for the purpose 

 of luring the animals from their hiding places. 



Breeding Habits. Judging from the statements 

 of native hunters the laying season of the alligator 

 might be thought to be at any time from January 

 to September. As a matter of fact the month of 

 June is the time when most, if not all, of the eggs 

 are laid. S. F. Clarke gives June Qth and June 

 1 7th as the limits of the laying season in Florida, 

 but I found at least one nest in which eggs were 

 laid as late as June 26th: no eggs were found before 

 the first date given by Clarke. It seemed quite 

 certain that the laying, during the season in ques- 

 tion, had been delayed by an extreme drought that 

 had dried up the smaller swamps and reduced the 

 alligator holes to mere puddles. Nests were found 

 in considerable numbers as early as June 8th, but no 

 eggs were laid in any of them until the end of the 

 dry period which occurred nearly two weeks later. 



