OF WILD ANIMALS 203 



day when his secret was discovered, and revealed to a grasping 

 world. Since that time, the Alligator Joes of Palm Beach and 

 Miami have made a business of personally conducting parties 

 of northern visitors, at $50 per catch, to witness the adventure 

 of catching a nine-foot crocodile alive. The dens are located 

 by probing the sand with long iron rods. A rope noose is set 

 over the den's entrance, and when all is ready, a confederate 

 probes the crocodile out of its den and into the fatal noose. 



Today the Florida crocodile is so nearly extinct that it 

 required two years of diligent inquiry to produce one live 

 specimen subject to purchase. 



Common Sense in the Common Toad Last spring, 

 in planting a lot of trees on our lawn, a round tree-hole that 

 stood for several days unoccupied finally accumulated about a 

 dozen toads. Its two feet of straight depth was unscalable, 

 and when finally discovered the toads were tired of their 

 imprisonment. Partly as a test of their common-sense, Mr. 

 George T. Fielding placed a six-inch board in the hole, at an 

 angle of about thirty degrees, but fairly leading out of the 

 trap. 



In very quick time the toads recognized the possibilities of 

 the inclined plane and hopped upward to liberty. In the use 

 of this opportunity they showed more wisdom than our moun- 

 tain sheep manifest concerning the same kind of an improve- 

 ment designed to enable them to reach the roof of their building. 



