292 THE ALLIGATOR. 



In some districts they may be seen in numbers, pro- 

 truding their long snouts through the leaves of aquatic 

 plants, as they watch for their prey ; sometimes basking 

 in the sun on the bank, or floating on the surface of the 

 water. They are seen ashore more during the hottest 

 part of the day than at any other time, as during the 

 night they are actively employed in catching fish. 



Some idea of the general appearance of the alligator 

 can be easily formed ; yet the backwoodsmen of Ame- 

 rica, who have killed dozens — perhaps scores of them 

 — know very little of the manner of life of the scaly 

 monsters. If you ask for information from a regular 

 ' swamper ' — an amphibious man, who, from choice or 

 necessity, has fixed his abode in the swamps about the 

 mouths of the Mississippi, amongst creatui'es which in 

 many points he resembles — he will give you anything 

 but a satisfactory reply. 



' \Miat does an alligator look like ? ' you might ask. 

 'Mighty like an old log,' the squatter would reply. 

 ' What do they live on ? ' 



'Whatever they can get hold of; and when there's 

 nothing to be had, they will go without.' 



Nor has he anything further to say than that it grows 

 ten, fifteen, or thirty feet in length, but he — the squat- 

 ter — never took the trouble to measure one. 



The name alligator has been applied by the British 

 settlers in the Southern States to a species of reptile 

 resembling, in many respects, the crocodile of Egypt. 



