66 THE STORY OF REPTILE LIFE. 



quarry was descried, when the hunter, and h.'s 

 assistant, hid themselves in the canoe whilst 

 the hunter's son, a boy, entered the water and 

 commenced to splash about. At once the croco- 

 dile made for him, but the boy quickly beat 

 a retreat, and the monster coming up at the 

 exact spot where his intended victim had been, 

 was struck by a couple of harpoons. After a 

 long chase, the wounded crocodile was at last 

 secured and despatched with an axe. When 

 opened the stomach was found to contain several 

 gold and silver ornaments gruesome relics of 

 former victims. 



Perhaps one of the best-known species is the 

 Crocodile of the Nile (Crocodilus niloticus). It 

 is only slightly inferior in size to the Indian 

 Crocodile just described, and is nearly as danger- 

 ous. The steamboat and the modern rifle have 

 practically effected the extinction of this species 

 in Egypt, though in the upper reaches of the 

 Nile it is still abundant, and still exists in 

 Palestine. From thence it extends southwards 

 to the Cape, and northwards to Senegal. It 

 also occurs in some numbers in Madagascar. 

 Like others of its tribe this species has a habit 

 of lying half-asleep on sand-banks, with its 

 mouth wide open. At such times, the Nile 

 Crocodile invites, or at least permits, the en- 

 trance between his huge jaws of numbers of 

 Egyptian Plovers (Plumanus cegyptius\ who fear- 

 lessly enter this formidable cavern for the pur- 

 pose of clearing the mouth of insects which may 

 have intruded, attracted by the moisture of the 

 tongue. 



