CROCODILES. 14! 
of mechanism which gives way the moment the least strain is felt 
upon the line; the tree-point becoming thus released, straightens 
itself with great velocity, and drags the victim from the water. 
Frequently the alligator, from constant pursuit and interruption, 
becomes excessively wary and difficult to destroy ; when such is the 
case, a live bait is sometimes successfully employed. For instance, 
a dog with a hook tied to his back is taken in a canoe and dropped 
in the water ; it is seldom the unfortunate cur is permitted to swim 
c before being seized. . 
It is currently believed that Alligators prefer dogs’ flesh to all 
others, [he negroes on the plantations in the south-western 
portion of the United States, frequently lure these reptiles from 
their hiding-places by imitating the bapling of a dog, when a well- 
directed bullet terminates their career: 
Alligators are very voracious, but, like poner and Turtles, they 
can live a lonetime without nourishment. -—In Brown’s ‘ Natural 
History of Jamaica,” he asserts that he has known the Caiman to 
live several months without food.) The foliowing experiments have 
been made in that island: (After muzzling a Caiman, it was thrown 
into a reservoir of water, where it Aived several weeks before death 
supervened. ) Let us further add that Alligators bred in captivity in 
the nieitleehe of Natural History at Paris sometimes live for 
several months without eating | 
The female Alligator takes more care of her young than the 
female Crocodile properly so called. She conducts them to the 
water, and disgorges her half-digested food for their nourishment 
—— 
