244 CROCODILES AND CAYMANS. 



it has changed its place, but in a manner almost 

 imperceptible, so quiet are its movements ; it might 

 then be taken for a piece of floating wood, and I have 

 many times been so deceived." This comparison has 

 presented itself to the minds of Adanson, of La Con- 

 damine, and of all travellers who have seen crocodiles 

 in their wild state. Their colour, their elongated form, 

 their immobility, the silence which they keep, deceive 

 their victims. Fish constitute their ordinary diet ; 

 as extras they occasionally add any of the animals 

 which come to repose on the water, or to quench their 

 thirst on its shores. 



When the saurian perceives its prey it dives, and 

 proceeds under the water towards it, and seizing it by 

 the legs or the muzzle, drags it down to the bottom 

 of the water. To use the words of the missionary just 

 quoted, " the unsuspecting game allows itself to be 

 approached so near that it is snapped up before it has 

 time to spread its wings for flight. " Large cattle are 

 not safe from their voracity. "It very rarely hap- 

 pens," says Livingstone, "that a herd of cows crosses 

 the Liambye without some of the young becoming tho 

 prey of the monster." M. du Chaillu witnessed the 

 following scene: As we were paddling along I per- 

 ceived in the distance ahead a beautiful gazelle looking 

 meditatively into the waters of the lagoon, of which 

 from time to time it took a drink. I stood up to get a 



