ALLIGATOR'S MODE OF SEIZING ITS PREY. 



637 



Thorpe gives an account of the alligator's method of securing his prey :* " The 

 tail of the alligator is his most efficient weapon of defense and attack. If one can 

 keep out of its way, comparatively little harm may be expected. If any animal that 

 he seeks for his prey is standing upon the edge of the water, the reptile will take its 

 bearing and swim noiselessly toward the shore, occasionally bringing an eye to the 

 surface for reconnoissance, then suddenly rising within striking distance will whirl 

 round his tail with lightning rapidity, and generally bring the victim into his jaws. 

 I was fishing on one occasion upon the Bayou Sara, a wild, desolate stream, and on 

 the opposite bank I noticed a tall crane which for half an hour had been standing 

 perfectly still and half-leg deep in the water, either reflecting upon the mutability of 

 ornithological affairs, or watching for minnows. My attention was also arrested by the 

 apparent phenomenon of a limb of a tree taking upon itself motion, and cautiously 

 moving down the bank of the bayou toward the crane. The alligator for such it 

 was by a strange sidelong motion, gradually reached his prey, but seemed in no 

 haste to seize it. For a long while he appeared to be sleeping on the bank ; when 

 suddenly he contracted himself into a half-circle around the bird, opened his jaws, 

 and drove the bird into them with a terrible certainty, and then with a nimble spring 

 disappeared beneath the muddy current." 



ALLIGATOR AND CRANE. 



The statement of Orton, that alligators rarely attack man, is hardly borne out by 

 other authorities. Indeed it is said that as in the case of the lion, when they have 

 once tasted human flesh they prefer it to that of any other animal. During Hum- 

 boldt's stay at Angostura, a monstrous Cayman seized an Indian by the leg while he 

 was busy pushing his boat ashore in a shallow lagune, and immediately dragged him 

 down into the deeper water. The cries of the unfortunate victim soon attracted a 

 large number of spectators, who witnessed the astonishing courage with which he 



* Harper's Magazine, December, 1854. 



