THE ALLIGATOR'S LIFE HISTORY 101 



Every three or four days after the young alligators were 

 hatched I would go to the edge of the pond near the old 

 nest with some chunks of raw meat, and give the popping 

 call which all alligators seem to understand means "come," 

 and she would come for her food, but she never brought her 

 young with her. 



On September 20, just twenty-nine days after the young 

 alligators were hatched, I thought I would find the old 

 one's den and measure some of the young. Taking a long 

 bamboo pole, to the end of which I had attached a telephone 

 line wire, bent to form an inverted V with the angle some- 

 what round and the free point flaired out sharply, and 

 which I thought would serve as well to catch little alli- 

 gators, as it did to catch herons by the legs while tagging 

 them, and putting on a pair of hip-boots, I waded into the 

 marsh through water about one to two feet deep to the spot 

 from which the old alligator always came when I called 

 her for food. Walking very quietly, I came to an opening 

 in the grass and lotus about fifty feet from the bank. This 

 opening was about ten feet long and eight feet wide, and 

 had been made by the old alligator biting and mashing off 

 the plant growth and then waving it clear from the center 

 to the sides with her tail, and then loosening the muck at 

 the bottom of the space cleaned, sweeping it to the 

 sides of the opening with her tail until the clearing was 

 open water about two feet deep, and the sides of it banked 

 several inches above the water with mud and plant stems. 

 At the far end of this opening her head was in sight and 

 around her in the water and on the banks of the opening, 

 quietly sunning themselves, were her young ones. In spite 

 of my quiet approach she heard me, for she was watching 

 intently in my direction. As I came through the grass to- 

 wards her she gave a few low grunts and all the young ones 

 slid off the banks and disappeared under the water. At my 

 nearer approach she raised herself high in the water by in- 

 flating her body with air until at least half her body was 



