OUR FLORIDA ALLIGATOR. 



335 



snorts which the creature can produce at will, no one will be likely 

 to dispute that his collection of diabolical noises is quite complete. 



During the period of incubation the female alligator is a devoted 

 mother. She does not desert her nest from the time that the eggs 

 are laid until they are hatched — lying concealed in the scrub close 

 by — and she is naturally, at this time, most dangerous to approach, 

 although her vigilance does not always save a portion of her un- 

 hatched progeny from the numerous enemies that have a fondness 

 for alligator omelet. 



The nest is a large, well-rounded heap or mound, composed of 

 sand and rubbish, which she drags and pushes together with her 



• ■ ; j 



Group of Captive Alligators. From photograph by 0. P. Hareus, Jacksonville. 



claws. Throughout this mound she deposits her eggs, from forty to 

 seventy and over. These eggs resemble those of a goose, only that 

 they are larger; they have a thick, tough shell, and are of about the 

 same size at both ends. In about sixty days, the heat of the sun, 

 combined with the warmth and moisture generated by the fermenta- 

 tion of the rubbish, completes thcprocess of incubation, and the little 

 ones begin to come forth. 



Forcing their way through the sand, they hurry down the sloping 

 sides of the mound, straightway seeking the water by instinct. While 

 these baby 'gators are thus kicking and flinging off their shell over- 

 coats as they emerge from their incubator, perfect little duplicates 

 of their mother — only that they are rather pretty in their clean, 

 glossy, black or dark-brown skins, which have orange-colored stripes 

 that completely ring their miniature tails and bodies — she wanders 



