THE ALLIGATOR'S LIFE HISTORY 59 



damage to the birds and other wild life in my thirty-five 

 acre wild life sanctuary in which they lived, that I thought 

 it advisable to have some of them killed. In August, 1927, 

 I had lines set, on which were tied heavy hooks baited with 

 raw meat and hung about twelve inches above the water. 

 Eleven alligators were taken, killed, weighed, measured, 

 and their stomachs examined, and toe-marks checked during 

 1927 ; and others were caught and killed in succeeding years. 

 The average weight and length is below recorded : 



Aug. 16, 1927, at 6 yrs. old, 4 males, 6 ft., 5 l / 2 in., 68 Ibs. 

 Aug. 16, 1927, at 6 yrs. old, 6 females, 5 ft., 6 ft in., 36 Ibs. 

 Aug. 20, 1930, at 9 yrs. old, 4 males, 8 ft., 3 in., 134 Ibs. 

 Aug. 20, 1930, at 9 yrs. old, 2 females, 6 ft., 8 in., 87 Ibs. 

 July 29, 1931, at 10 yrs. old, 3 males, 9 ft., 2 in., 251 Ibs. 

 July 29, 1931, at 10 yrs. old, 2 females, 7 ft., 3 in., 113 Ibs. 



This comparison points to the conclusion that male alli- 

 gators at least from the sixth year on, grow both in length 

 and weight much more rapidly than the females. 



On July 15, 1932, when eleven years old, one of this lot 

 of alligators, a male, was killed that measured ten feet, 

 one inch, and weighed 354 pounds. 



There is plenty of evidence in the written records of long 

 past observers that alligators in Louisiana attain an ex- 

 treme length of, at least, eighteen or twenty feet. To my 

 certain knowledge, there has been taken in the vicinity of 

 Avery Island, three alligators exceeding eighteen feet in 

 length. One of these was an alligator known to we boys as 

 "Monsurat," killed by Mr. Robert Moony at Avery Island 

 in 1879, which was measured by my father. This alligator 

 was eighteen feet, three inches in length. The next large 

 one that I remember seeing measured, was killed by Robert 

 Dell, our plantation overseer, in October, 1882, at the 

 junction of the road across the marsh joining Avery Island 

 with the mainland, at the Avery Island end. Dell was com- 

 ing in over the road and saw this alligator crossing the road. 



