COLLECTING REPTILES. 67 



whatever specimens you require, for the chances are you will 

 not get any save what are brought to bag 1 with your own trusty 

 (or rusty) rifle. To kill a crocodile, proceed as follows : Find 

 where he is in the habit of coming out on the bank for his daily 

 sun-bath ; then, at precisely the right time, 



"Come where my love lies dreaming." 



Sneak up as close to him as you can, get a position so that you 

 can attack him broadside on, and post a couple of natives close 

 by, primed beforehand with instructions to rush forward and 

 grab the scaly monster by the tail as soon as you fire. Esti- 

 mate the distance carefully, wipe the perspiration out of your 

 eyes, aim at the neck-bone, or the vertebral column anywhere 

 in front of the shoulders, and let drive. If the reptile's body 

 lies still and his jaws fly wide open, run for him like a quarter 

 horse, for you have hit his spine, and he is your meat if you 

 only get to him in time to lay hold of his tail. Take your rifle 

 along, for you m.iyht need it again, particularly if the crocodile 

 is more than ten feet long. If he requires a coup de grdce, give 

 him another bullet in one of his cervical vertebrae, and the sub 

 sequent proceedings will interest him no more. 



It is quite a task to skin a ten-foot saurian properly, and to 

 preserve the skin so successfully that none of the scales will 

 slip off when the time comes for the skin to be softened and 

 stuffed. My method, which I have practised successfully with 

 the skins of eleven species of crocodiles and alligators, is as 

 follows : For the sake of science in general, and the taxidermist 

 in particular, measure the crocodile carefully and record the 

 dimensions. Divide the skin along the under side, following 

 the median line from the throat to the tip of the tail, in one 

 long, straight cut. Beginning at the end of each middle toe, 

 divide the skin along the bottom of the foot and the under side 

 of the leg, up to the point where the leg joins the body, but no 

 farther. Then begin at the edges of the first cut, and skin as 

 far down the sides of the body as possible. When the legs are 

 reached, detach them from the body at hip and shoulder with- 

 out cutting the skin, and continue on round the body until the 

 backbone is reached and the skin entirely detached. Sever the 



