262 A LONG RAMBLE IN QUEENSLAND 



doubt if it habitually feeds on terrestrial species of 

 animals. I have found the broken shells of water 

 tortoises in the stomachs of several that I have shot. 

 The largest of these reptiles was eighteen feet five inches 

 in extreme length. There were five toes on the fore-foot, 

 the four first being deeply webbed, the outer one un- 

 webbed ; four toes on each hind-foot, the three first deeply 

 webbed, the outer one half-webbed ; eighteen teeth on each 

 side of the upper jaw, fifteen on each side of the lower jaw. 

 The teeth were very unequal in size and length, the 

 largest being two inches long. This crocodile, in the 

 deep furrows of its hide and rough appearance of the 

 scales, etc., gave indications of being very aged. I caught 

 it in shallow water in a billabong of the Wickham river ; 

 but it was not killed without much trouble, and I found 

 that a shot through the body just behind the fore-leg was 

 more fatal than one in the head. 



The Australian crocodile lays its eggs in the sand 

 among the reeds on the banks of rivers, sometimes at a 

 great distance from the coast. I have found them on the 

 Burdekin River, for instance, which is quite an inland 

 river — the greatest part of its water, being lost in desert 

 sinks. The exposed sand-banks in the midst of rivers 

 are also favourite resorts of crocodiles for breeding 

 purposes. The number of eggs laid is about twenty, 

 and they are incubated, the crocodile always passing the 

 night squatting on the buried eggs. It is also often in 

 this position during the daytime ; but I could never learn 

 if it is the mother, father, or both parents which perform 

 this office ; nor am I sure whether the animals pair or are 

 polygamous. I have sometimes thought that the latter is 

 the case, but I have no certain evidence of it. The young 

 crocodiles when first hatched are very small and only 

 four or five inches in length. The mother watches and 

 tends them, and is, while thus engaged, exceedingly bold 

 and ferocious. At other times these reptiles seem timid 

 and anxious to avoid man ; they have probably learned 

 here, as they are said to have done in other countries, that 

 the lord of creation is a dangerous antagonist. 



