NATURAL HISTORY. 317 



*' An alligator stuffed, and other skins of ill-shap'd fis-hes." 



SlIAKSPERK. 



1010. This is a disputed point in natural history, and is doubted simply on account 

 of its apparent improbability, rather than from any evidence which has been 

 adduced to the contrary. The following anecdote, however, related by Mr. Curzon, 

 goes far to confirm this seemingly incredible account : " I had always," says Mr. 

 Curzon, " a strong- predilection for crocodile shooting, and had destroyed several of 

 these dragons of the water. On one occasion, I saw a long way off a large one, 

 twelve or fifteen feet long, lying asleep under a perpendicular bank, about ten feet 

 high on the margin of the river. I stopped the boat at some distaiice ; and, noting 

 the place as well as I could, I took a circuit inland, and came down cautiously to 

 the top of the bank, whence, with a heavy rifle, I made sure of my game. I 

 nad already cut off his head in my imagination, and was considering whether it 

 should be stuffed with its mouth open or shut. I peeped over the bank : there he 

 was within ten feet of the sight of the rifle. I was on the point of firing at his eye, 

 when I observed that he was attended by a bird called the zic-zac. It is of the 

 plover species, of a greyish colour, and about the size of a small pigeon." The 

 remainder of the narrative corroborates the fact. 



1011. Why do both jaws of the crocodile move? 



Because its habits of life render it necessary to be able to seize 

 its prey with great rapidity the prey often lying on the surface of 

 the water. The power of moving both jaws facilitates this kind 

 of seizure, by bringing the level of the water surface instantly 

 and equally within the action of the upper and lower jaws. 



1012. Why is the alligator so catted? 



Either from the Spanish and Portuguese lagarto, meaning a 

 lizard, or from the Latin lacertus, the arm, in reference to the 

 arm-like appearance of the legs. 



1013. Wliy are the monitor lizards so catted ? 



It is said that when the larger reptiles approach them they 

 utter a cry of alarm, which gives warning to other creatures of 

 the dangerous approach of the crocodile and the alligator. 



1014. W}<,y has the chameleon the power of changing 

 its colour ? 



This faculty has been attributed to the protective instinct of the 

 animal, by which it seeks to render itself less observable by 

 enemies, by assuming the colour of the bed upon which it lies. 



