286 TROPICAL WILD LIFE IN BRITISH GUIANA 



Photo hi/ ^\^. IJ. 



FIG. 98. YOUNG ALLIGATORS MOUNTED FOR SALE 



hands into a basin of water, where he dived and swam fraii- 

 tieally, tlie l)anoino- of the tail-suspended shell against the 

 tin fi'ightening the newly hatched reptile, and convejdng a 

 first impression of the world as a fearsome, undesirable place. 

 He blinked, rose to the surface, shook off the egg shell, and 

 turning sideways snapped at a spot of sunlight. For a day 

 and night, the past twenty-four hours, only the snout had 

 |)rojected. In three seconds more the whole being of the 

 j)ci-f'ect gatorling was functioning, fully launched on what 

 would normalK' be a long and checkered career. 



The mother alligator goes to the nests with the young, 

 and while some swim away and are lost, or forage for them- 

 selves, yet many female 'gators are seen at other times of 



