HISTORY OF THE ALLIGATOR. 151 



terrific as it is, it seems not only to be the common noise of 

 the reptiles, but also their love song, which they emit fre- 

 quently and freely in the pairing season. The history of 

 the pairing is not very complete ; but there are some rea- 

 sons for concluding that they are polygamous. The males 

 engage in fierce though uncouth battles at that season, and 

 not, as has been observed, at any other ; and the fair 

 inference is that these are battles of gallantry. They 

 usually take place in the water, though in the shallows 

 rather than the depths ; and, at first at least, they are 

 bouts of cudgel-play, rather than battles with the teeth. 

 When it conies to the latter, it is desperate, and the death 

 of one, sometimes of both, is inevitable. It has already 

 been said, that the alligator can give no second bite ; and 

 as little is it disposed to leave the first one, till the object 

 which it seizes is fairly under water. The jaws close in 

 the same manner as those of the "biting turtles," and they 

 can with difficulty be wrenched asunder, even by a lever 

 of considerable length. 



As the case is w r ith all the larger reptiles which find 

 their food chiefly in the water, the alligators are oviparous ; 

 and the females deposite their eggs in holes of the banks, 

 above the water mark, which they excavate with their 

 paws and snout, and cover again after the eggs are depo- 

 sited. Though the animal is sometimes very large, 

 fifteen, twenty, or even thirty feet in length, and in the lat- 

 ter case little less than two feet in diameter where thickest, 

 the eggs are not larger than those of a goose, and indeed 

 generally not so large. They are eatable, as also is the 

 flesh of the animals ; but the flavor of both is rather musky 

 for delicate palates. As to the number of eggs which the 

 female drops, authors are not agreed ; some say as many 

 as a hundred, and others little more than a fourth part of 

 that number. Both are, probably, in so far right ; for as 

 the female returns to the water every day, it is probable 

 that she deposites part only in one hole. During that ope- 



