i62 LOWER VERTEBRATES. 



delivers it from the fly which it finds there ; the crocodile sliows its recognition of the 

 service and never harms the bird." In the modern classification tliis bird is the 

 Charadrius agypticus. The eggs of the crocodile are laid in sand, and left to be 

 incubated by the sun's rays, though the female remains in the neighborhood and 

 watches the place of deposit with considerable maternal solicitude. V. nigra and C 

 cata2)hractus, the black and the false-crocodile, are confined to the rivers of the west 

 African coast. 



The Indian C. porosus is found only in the salt-water estuaries, and has been cap- 

 tured not only around the peninsula of India, but among the islands of the East Indies, 

 as far south as the coast of Australia. From a peculiar ridge over each eye, this form 

 is popularly known as the double-crested crocodile. The young show tjieir fierce 

 natures from the first, and will often allow themselves to be lifted from the water, by 

 retaining their hold on a stick that may have been thrust at them in way of annoy- 

 ance. During the warmer portions of the year, the double-crested crocodile -not 

 infrequently avoids the heat of the sun by hiding in the mud, and remaining thus con- 

 cealed until the approach of the wet season. The American crocodile, C. aniericanus, 

 was first sup])osed to be confined to the West Indies and South America, but it is 

 now known to be not infrequently captured in different parts of Central America and 

 occasionally on the peninsula of Florida. It can be at once distinguished from the 

 alligator by its narrow snout, as well as by other characters of the genus already 

 giyen. Specimens twelve feet in length have been captured. The Orinoco crocodile, 

 C intennedia, has a few times been known to wander north, and may jiossibly have 

 been met with in Florida. It differs from C. aniericanus in having the snout more 

 slender and the plates of the back more nearly uniform. 



Perhaps no reptile is better known to the American than the alligator. Abound- 

 ing in the low, stagnant pools of the south, its dull body a characteristic feature of 

 the unfrequented morass, and common not only in the cheaper menageries of the 

 north, but as a pet of the amateur zoologist, it is recognized by all and needs no spe- 

 cific description. Though but a few years since seen by the hundreds during a day's 

 journey along the low, muddy shores of the southern and gulf states, it has of late, 

 from the incessant massacre to which it has been subjected by travelers and sports- 

 men, become less common, and ^\ill undoubtedly retire before tlie advance of the 

 southei'ii settlers. Of its habits, when undisturbed in its native wilds, relatively few 

 have been the observers. It spends the most of the day lying on some low bank or 

 log, where it can receive the genial rays of the sun, though it retires to the water on 

 being disturbed. When thus basking, they are sometimes captured by the more 

 daring hunters, and, with limbs bound, .are hurried off to the northern showmen. 



The animals may resent being captured so easily, however, and may give the col- 

 lector no little trouble. That they often voluntarily attack jjeople is doubtful, though 

 there are several instances of their pursuing boats and regarding the inmates with the 

 most suspicious glances. In the water they are very active, and, being strong 

 swimmers, are able to catch the larger fish witli but little trouble. For animals, like 

 the musk-rat, swimming across lagoons, they are always on the watch, and many is the 

 disappointed sportsman who has returned home after seeing his hound seized by one 

 of these monsters. Of dog-meat they seem to be particularly fond, and it is said they 

 will congregate on hearing a puppy whine. On seizing its prey the alligator sinks 

 with it to the bottom, and there remains until all struggling has ceased, it is then able 

 with less trouble to tear it in pieces. While thus submerged, the peculiar collar at the 



