THE CROCODILE. 139 
is the Alligator (4. wmiississipensis, Fig. 32), belonging to North 
America, through the whole southern extent of which it is found. 
(They are gregarious, living t ggether An large herds in the Mississippi 
and its southern stare they @ also found in the lakes and 
marshes @f Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, Carolina, ‘and even as far 
north as thirty degrees f north latitude? Alligators do not appear 
to leave fresh water. (Ditting winter they hibernate in the mud 
on the margins of their haunts.. In the neighbourhood of Bayou 
Zara, on the Mississippi, vast flats of lakes and marshes stretch 
away on either bank ; every year these reservoirs are flooded by the 
ove:tlow of the river, when they are visited by myriads of fishes. 
The heat soon partly dries up these lagoons, leaving only about a 
few feet deep of water in them, thus exposing a vast amount of prey 
to the birds and crocodiles. Muilions of ibis, herons, cranes, and 
cormorants come here to feed. In the deepest portions vast 
quantities of these imprisoned fish accumulate, and these are known 
in the country as the alligators’ holes. ‘Thither these reptiles crowd, 
and, as evaporation proceeds, soon exterminate all the captives. 
Alligators principally feed during the night, when they are said 
to assemble in large herds, driving the fish before them into 
estuaries, when they. force the unfortunates into their mouths bya 
lateral movement of their tails.) On such occasions the clashing of 
their jaws may be heard at a great distance? sy ca are very 
numerous in Mexican and Central American waters. \In the beautt- 
ful transparent waters of Lake Claro they abound, where they are so 
closely pressed one against the other that they resemble a raft of 
logs, the resemblance being further increased by the colour of their 
backs being identical with the bark of a newly-felled tree) dn this 
united and motionless condition, while waiting for their prey, the 
approach of a boat is disregarded ; but they rush with avidity at 
everything animate which either falls or is thrown into the lake. 
Many children of poor negro women become a prey to the alligators 
of this locality.) {hey rarely, however, pursue men, yet they would 
not hesitate to do so if imprudently thrown within their power. 
The natives of Mexico, when they find an isolated alligator 
asleep, throw a lasso round its body, and, when secured, gaz it. 
After this, the victim’s career is terminated by repeated blows on the 
head. ‘There is another means which the Indians use to capture 
this animal. They provide themselves with four pieces of hard 
wood about a foot long, and as thick as a man’s finger, and pointed 
- at each end; round these they tie a cord in such a manner that, 
supposing the cord to be an arrow, the four sticks would form the 
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