ALLIGATOR-SHOOTING IN FLORIDA. 555 



When it oame to shooting two hundred yards or over, 

 unless the 'Gator would kindly wait for a second or third 

 shot, he usually escaped, and this escape was most always 

 due to under or over shooting; consequently the desirability 

 of a flat trajectory. To be sure, three-fourths of the game, 

 at least, killed in wooded countries is killed within one 

 hundred yards; but the remaining one-fourth is of sufficient 

 importance to justify special effort, first in securing the 

 proper rifle, and second in diligent and careful target 

 practice, until you can tell just where the ball is going to 

 strike at a given distance. In wooded countries, you should 

 carry the rifle sighted at say one hundred yards; then at 

 fifty yards aim a couple of inches under where you 

 desire to hit; at two hundred yards, six inches above, etc. 

 In a short time you will learn to estimate distances cor- 

 rectly, and to hold over or under just enough to bag the 

 game, in the majority of cases. 



On the west coast of Florida, between Tampa Bay and 

 the Gulf of Mexico, lies the little sub-peninsula of Pinellas, 

 which runs out from the west coast much the same as the 

 State does from the south coast of the United States, thus 

 making a little sub-Florida, with all of her climatic peculiar- 

 ities in a slightly intensified degree. Like its mother penin- 

 sula from which it springs, Pinellas has its fair number of 

 ponds, some creeks and small lakes, all of which support 

 their share of animal life; but in this respect Lago Magoire 

 outranks all the rest, for, from microscopic crustaceans to 

 fish, its shallow waters are unusually full of life. So rich a 

 part should have its guests, and so it has; for scattered over 

 the suface of its waters, and upon the banks of Lago 

 Magoire, lie many ' Gators. 



So much for our game and the arms to take him with; 

 and now for a few hunts for him in Lago Magoire. It is 

 often as desirable to know what not to do as to know what 

 to do; so let us begin with my first 'Gator. 



Looking across the smooth waters of the lake toward 

 its palmetto-lined shore, we saw its surface broken by many 

 a long, dark head and an occasional rough back, all lux- 



