94 REPTILIAN WATER TRESPASSERS. 



diles feed mostly on animals which they catch upon 

 the banks of the river in which they live. It is evi- 

 dent, therefore, that they must not only be able to 

 exist for some time without respiration, but also with- 

 out food, inasmuch as the conditions of obtaining food 

 are of necessity precarious, and the animal may have 

 to pass weeks without obtaining food. When urged 

 by hunger, it rouses itself from its usual inactive state, 

 and displays much ingenuity in seizing prey. 



Crocodiles have even been seen to catch the little 

 birds as they drink from the stream. The birds perch 

 on a branch that overhangs the stream, and assemble 

 upon it in such numbers that the bough is weighed 

 down to the surface of the water, so that they may 

 drink. Seeing them, the Crocodile makes a rush and 

 a snap at them, when they fly off in great alarm. 



The reptile passes on, as if chagrined at having 

 missed his prey, and swims out of sight. . The birds 

 now settle again, thinking that their enemy has dis- 

 appeared. So he has, but he has only sunk himself 

 quietly below the surface. He then swims under 

 water until he has reached the spot where the birds 

 are drinking in apparent security, rises suddenly with 

 open mouth, and is tolerably sure to capture some of 

 them before they can escape. 



Such small game as birds, however, are not so 

 much to the Crocodile's taste as the larger animals, 

 which it usually captures by knocking them into the 

 water with a blow of its powerful tail, and then hold- 

 ing them under water until they are drowned. Human 

 beings, dogs, and even the large and powerful cattle, 

 are in this way destroyed, and it is chiefly on account 



