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CROCODILE AND TIGER. 



has been said of the stratagems employed by the crocodile to seize its prey: that it lies like a 

 log on the banks of rivers, or floats inactive on the surface, and then springs forward whenever 

 tho victim comes within its reach. This may be partly true, though it appears under many ex- 

 aggerations; for it is well authenticated that it remains motionless until considerable objects are 

 quite close, and evidently within its reach ; then it leaps upon them. The agility of the croco- 

 dile is not so great, even when in pursuit of prey, that a man may not escape at tolerable speed, 

 more especially by frequent deviations from the straight path. The blow with the tail, suddenly 

 given, is principally to be dreaded, and the irascibiUty of the animal when attacked, or the female 

 at the head of her young. 



Crocodiles are oviparous, and the eggs are but small in proportion to their size, not being 

 quite so large as those of a goose. They are, as is the case with the eggs of reptiles generally, 

 equally thick at both ends ; they are covered with an envelope w^hich hardens in the air, but it 

 contains very little carbonate of lime. The males are more numerous than the females, and 

 fierce battles ensue between them in pairing time. These battles of gallantry are generally 

 decided in the water, and they are accompanied by the most dismal bellowing that can possibly 

 be imagined ; this noise is said to resemble both that of the bull and the bittern, but to be much 

 louder, and more hoarse and husky than either. 



The female digs a cavity in the earth, in which she places her eggs in a circular form, in suc- 

 cessive layers, and with portions of earth between, the whole being afterward covered up. The 

 nest is generally placed in a dry hillock, and the earth is gathered up, so that on the average the 

 eggs are about ten inches below the surface. This being done, the mother abandons them to be 

 hatched by the heat of the sun ; yet instinct prompts her frequently to revisit the spot as the 

 term of exclusion approaches. She then testifies uncommon agitation, roaming about the place 

 and uttering a peculiar growling, as if to awaken her hideous offspring to animation. The pe- 

 riod of maturity being at length attained, the nascent crocodiles answer to her solicitude by a 

 kind of yelping like puppies. A hollow murmur in return denotes her satisfaction, and she 

 liastens to scrape up the earth with such anxiety that several of the young are generally crushed 

 under her unwieldy body. 



Having T\ithdrawn them from their nest, the mother leads them straightway to the neighbor- 

 ing water ; but now her utmost vigilance is required for their preservation, for, unlike the instinct 



