288 TROPICAL WILD LIFE IN BRITISH GUIANA 



FIG. 97. GUIANA ALLIGATORS, ONE DAY OLD 

 a. Gooseway b. Abary c. Goomasaka 



cealed himself and called, and was surprised to be answered 

 by a big seven-foot bull 'gator which came out of the water 

 to the nest. In this and several other instances, so my hunter 

 argued, the male must have built the nest, as well as helping 

 the female to get out of the water whenever she returned 

 to it. 



When an alligator is trapped or caught in the hand it 

 utters loud chirping squeaks, not unlike the distress cries of 

 some birds. By imitating this, all the alligators within hear- 

 ing will answer and approach, most of them being females, 

 with now and then an occasional male. 



Every season my alligator hunter collects more than 

 three thousand eggs, of which sometimes only about eight 

 hundred hatch. In every 'gator's nest there are always a 



