296 THE ALLIGATOR. 



it will die away in a strange mysterious cadence, which 

 harmonises with the dark gloom of the wild woods. 

 This is the love-song of the alligator, and strange emo- 

 tions it will sometimes awake in the bosom of the lonely 

 hunter as he lies by his fire in the forest glade. 



When several of them inhabit a lake, they may be 

 heard to grunt much like the breathing of a fat pig. If 

 penned up in a corner, or made angry, they will hiss 

 with the vigour of a dozen geese. 



The alligator is produced from an egg; the female 

 lays thirty or forty in one place, which she covers with 

 reeds and grass, or with sand, and then leaves them to 

 be hatched by the heat of the sun. She never, however, 

 moves very far from this nest, but endeavours, in its 

 clumsy manner, to guard it from intruders. Vultures 

 and other birds eagerly suck these eggs, and as soon as 

 the young leave the shell, they are liable to the constant 

 attacks of cranes, who evince a decided fondness for 

 young alligator. The old ' bulls,' either from hunger 

 or jealousy, or some other cause, destroy their own 

 offspring ; were it not so, the rivers of the South would 

 be choked up with these hideous monsters. 



The eggs of the alligator vary in size, most probably 

 according to the age and size of the animal which pro- 

 duces them ; they are longer and larger altogether than 

 a hen's egg. It very often happens that two, three, or 

 four females make use of one nest and lay their eggs 

 together. 



