THE EGYPTIAN CROCODILE AND THE ALLIGATOR. 493 



The Egyptian Crocodile 



( Ciocodilus vulgaris ) . 



swarms, and, though a most destructive and greatly-dreaded animal, 

 is without doubt as valuable in the water as are the hysena and vul- 

 ture upon the land. Living exclusively on animal food, and rather 

 preferring tainted, or even putrefying, to fresh meat, it is of great ser- 

 vice in devouring the dead animals that 

 would otherwise pollute the w^aters and 

 surrounding atmospliere. 



Human beings have a great dread of 

 this voracious reptile. Many instances f 

 are known where men have been sur- \\ff^ 

 prised near the water's edge or captured 

 wdien they have fallen into the river. 

 There is, it is said, only one way of 

 escape from the jaws of the Crocodile, 

 and that is to turn boldly upon the scaly 

 foe and press the thumbs into his eyes, so as to force him to relax his 

 hold or relinquish the pursuit. 



The eggs of the Crocodile are about as large as those of the goose, 

 and many in number, so that these terrible reptiles would overrun the 

 country were they not persecuted in the earliest stages by many crea- 

 tures, who discover and eat the eggs almost as soon as they are laid. 

 It is curious that the Crocodile is attended by a bird which warns it of 

 danger, just as the Rhinoceros has its winged attendant, and the shark 

 its pilot-fish. The Crocodile-bird is popularly called the Ziczac, from 

 its peculiar cry. 



We now come to the Alligators, the second family of those huge 

 reptiles, which may be known, as has already been mentioned, by the 

 lower canine teeth fitting into pits in the upper jaw. 



The Common Alligator inhabits Northern America, and is plenti- 

 fully found in the Mississippi, the" lakes and rivers of Louisiana and 

 Carolina, and similar localities. It is a fierce and dangerous reptile, 

 in many of its habits bearing a close resemblance to the crocodiles and 

 the other members of the family. 



Unlike the crocodile, however, it avoids the salt water, and is but 

 seldom seen even near the mouths of rivers, where the tide gives a 

 brackish taste to their waters. It is mostly a fish-eater, haunting 

 those portions of the rivers where its prey most abounds, and catching 

 them by diving under a passing shoal, snapping up one or two victims 

 as it passes through them, tossing them in the air for the purpose of 

 ejecting the water which has necessarily filled its mouth, catching them 

 adroitly as they fall, and then swallowing them. 



The eggs of the Alligator are small and numerous. The parent 

 deposits them in the sand of the river-side, scratching a hole with her 

 paws and placing the eggs in a regular layer therein. She then scrapes 



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