578 Mr Audubon's Observations on the 



the tail from the body. They are afterwards cut up in large 

 pieces, and boiled whole in a good qnantity of water, from the 

 surface of which the fat is collected with large ladles. One 

 single man kills oftentimes a dozen or more of large alligators 

 in the evening, prepares his fire in the woods, where he has 

 erected a camp for the purpose, and by morning has the oil 

 rendered. 



I have frequently been very much amused when fishing in a 

 bayou, where alligators were numerous, by throwing a blown 

 bladder on the water towards the nearest to me. The alligator 

 makes for it at once, flaps it towards its mouth, or attempts seiz- 

 ing it at once, but all in vain. The light bladder slides off; in 

 a few minutes many alligators are trying to seize this, and their 

 evolutions are quite interesting. They then put one in mind of 

 a crowd of boys running after a football. A black bottle is 

 sometimes thrown also, tightly corked ; but the alligator seizes 

 this easily, and you hear the glass give way under its teeth as if 

 ground in a coarse mill. They are easily caught by Negroes, 

 who most expertly throw a rope over their heads when swim- 

 ming close to shore, and haul them out instantly. 



But, my dear sirs, you most not conclude that alligators are 

 always thus easily conquered : there is a season when they are> 

 dreadfully dangerous ; it is during spring, during the love sea- 

 son. The waters have again submerged the low countries; 

 fish are difficult of access ; the greater portion of the game has 

 left for the northern latitudes ; the quadrupeds have retired to 

 the high lands ; and the heat of passion, joined to the difficulty 

 of procuring food, render these animals now ferocious and very 

 considerably more active. The males have dreadful fights to- 

 gether, both in the water and on the land. Their strength and 

 weight adding much to their present courage, exhibit them like 

 colossuses wrestling. At this time no man swims or wades among 

 them ; they are usually left alone at this season. 



About the first days of June the female prepares a nest ; a 

 place is chosen forty or fifty yards from the water, in thick 

 bramble or cane, and she gathers leaves, sticks, and rubbish of 

 all kinds, to form a bed to deposite her eggs ; she carries the 

 materials in her mouth, as a hog does straw. As soon as a pro- 

 per nest is finished, she lays about ten eggs, then covers them 



