CROCODILES. 65 
purpose, the dirty water being replaced by clean of the right 
temperature. The platform ought to be scraped and sprinkled 
with clean sand. The whole operation need not take more than 
a few minutes. 
Unlike many other Reptiles, the Crocodilia (see Frontispiece) will 
feed readily on dead food, such as raw meat and fish. They are 
exceedingly fond of the latter. Large worms form a very suitable 
food for young animals of this kind. The throat of this Reptile is 
small, and consequently there is a danger of death from choking ; the 
meat, dead mice and birds, therefore should be cut into suitable- 
sized pieces. An Alligator less than 2ft. long ought not to have 
any single portion of food given to it bigger than a walnut. And. 
it is wise to allow some of the fur or feathers to remain upon the 
mice or birds: this is natural, and good for digestive purposes. 
As a Crocodile or ‘an Alligator swallows the morsel given to him, 
or seized by him, he lowers his mouth beneath the surface of the 
water. When I throw a dead minnow or other small fish to my 
Alligator, he will probably take it by the middle of its body ; it 
will thus be crosswise in his mouth, and in this position he can- 
not swallow it, but he gets out of the difficulty by throwing the 
fish up in the air, turning it as he does so, and, deftly catching it, 
receives it with its head or tail pointing to his throat, when the 
completion of the business is simply a matter of pleasure to him. 
In the same way his full-grown relatives act when in their native 
haunts they seize some unfortunate pig or dog. These Reptiles 
also occasionally use one of their hind feet to place their food in a 
suitable position for swallowing. 
The Crocodilia are by no means devoid of a certain amount of 
intelligence. For instance, my own Alligator knows strangers 
from friends, he recognises the tin in which his food is kept and, 
on seeing it, instantly makes preparations for taking a meal, “e., 
he climbs upon the platform of his tank, opens his mouth widely, 
and utters the low call of which I have spoken. He understands, 
apparently, what is happening when I change his water, for he 
crawls out of the way of the cold water with which I swill the 
bottom of the tank; but directly I begin to refill the tank he 
gets into such a position that the warm fresh water, coming out 
of the can, falls upon his back. This not only gives him a good 
F 
