484 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



when excited to rage and exertion while 

 in his under-water den, will soon seek 

 the entrance for a breath of fresh air, 

 sometimes slipping away through the 



A tish hawk has built his nest in the top of 

 this moss-draped cypress tree in Great Lake 



muddied water outside if the entrance 

 is not closely watched. I once had a 

 specimen crawl over my feet while I 

 was standing in the water opposite his 

 hole. It gives one rather a creepy feel- 

 ing to stand perfectly motionless while 

 an alligator of unknown size and un- 

 judged disposition has one at such short 

 range of jaws and tail. But this one 

 evidently judged my feet and legs to be 

 a part of the landscape and was as gen- 

 tle with me as I with him. 



To sit on the bank above the entrance 

 to an occupied alligator hole, with one 

 foot in the water on each side, and with 

 body bent forward and hands open to 

 grasp the animal's jaws when the tip of 

 the snout slowly and cautiously breaks 

 the surface for a breath of air — gives a 

 rather thrilling period of expectancy. 

 I tried it once, and it worked success- 

 fully. The burrow was a comparatively 

 new one, which implies that it was of 

 smaller diameter inside than a longer 

 used one would have been. The mo- 

 ment the tip of the nose appeared at the 

 surface just outside the entrance, and 

 before it had time for the intake of 

 breath that might carry with it the tell- 

 tale scent of danger, I had the animal 

 with both hands, holding his mouth 

 tightly closed. The battle was over : his 

 tail was harmlessly out of the way back 

 in the hole, and his other weapons of 

 offense, his jaws, were out of commis- 

 sion as long as I could hold my grip. 

 This specimen was a little less than 

 eight feet in length. 



The largest alligator I ever collected 

 was secured in a somewhat unusual 

 manner. It was in October, and I was 

 wading across Lake Ellis, returning to 

 camp after a long and unsuccessful 

 prowl after deer in the big swamps on 

 the other side. The water in this lake 

 averaged less than a foot in depth, mak- 

 ing wading across less tiring than walk- 

 ing around the lake through the heavily 

 timbered swamp. 



I was carrying my 7mm Mauser rifle, 

 and I stopped near some holes that usu- 



